Working on my new map, I decided to take on the challenge of making a texture(s) with bump maps. I did what I thought was correct, apparently it wasn't. Look below to see why. If I did something wrong in the .vmt file, please let me know.

Are you wanting the texture to be slightly reflective? If you don't then remove "$normalmapalphaenvmapmask" 1 from the vmt as it's not necessary. Otherwise if you do then change your vmt to this ...



Be aware though that the amount of reflection is dependent on the actual bump map texture, as it uses the alpha channel of the bumpmap as the spec mask (more alpha = less reflection).

If neither of these suggestions cure your problem, could it be the bump texture that's broken?

The code got rid of the crazy shadows but now there are no shadows or any reflection. I rebuilt the normal map and still, nothin'.

*squints*

That's... odd.

Two things off the top of my head. Is it an ssbumpmap? If so, add $ssbump 1 to the vmt. If you have no idea what an ssbump is, you probably haven't made one, so don't worry.

Second thing, check the vtf flags. You want Trilinear and Normal Map checked. Remember to save before closing down VTFEdit; due to an annoying glitch/oversight/whatever, it won't ask you to save before quitting, it'll just straight-out close. (As it transpires, vtf format does not matter, so compress the bastards down)

Unfortunately, that didn't work either. It reverted to the image above. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG!?!?!?

Perphaps try making another texture and see if the problem persists to other textures.

You can also perphaps remove the normal map and see from there.

Could you post up the vtf files somewhere? If I could get a look at them, I might find what's going wrong.

There it is, it includes the base texture, the vmt and 2 normal maps. Maybe you can find the problem.

Think I got it. In the diffuse texture vtf (ie stelco_gravel.vtf), uncheck No Mipmap and No Level Of Detail. That might fix it.

EDIT: Your vmt also has a typo (no '$' in front of ssbump):



I've looked at your normalmaps; the ssbump tag is unneeded. They also have no alpha channels for using as envmapmask, so I'd remove the env_cubemap reflections too. So in other words, should look along the lines of this:

I got it! It was partially your solution. The texture lines you gave me solved part of it, but as it turned out I had to check No Mipmap and No Level of Detail as well as Trilinear and Normal map on the stelco_gravelnorm.vtf. Now there's reflection and shadow at the same time without error.

But... why do you want no LODs or mipmaps? They'll still be there, just disabled, so you're not making it smaller. LODs are for people on lower texture settings, mipmaps are for looking at things side-on (to prevent moire patterns occuring); you really should keep them where you can. Only exception is if the texture has writing on it you want to stay legible...

The point is, I got it working to a point where I liked it. Besides the other half of your solution didn't work, it made it worse.

Er... what the...

I just took another look at your vtfs. They don't have any mipmaps at all. No wonder it was going wrong when the engine tried to use them. What are you using to convert these?

And don't just discard LODs and Mips. You're screwing over anyone with lower texture settings, and inviting trouble when looking at the texture from strong angles.

I now redid the texture with Mips and modified it so that those two unnecessary flags aren't checked. I don't know if I did it right, but (for now) the game's not crashing and any freaky errors aren't appearing.