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Roman Chistokhodov edited this page Jan 7, 2025 · 11 revisions

Featureful SDK uses the same materials system as in Half-Life: the mapping between the material type and textures is defined in the sound/materials.txt. But there're few changes on top of that:

  • The maximum number of materials has been increased from 512 to 1024.
  • The mod developer can define their own material types and change the parameters of the predefined material types.
  • The snow material type is included as one of the predefined materials.
  • The console command dump_materials prints all material types and its parameters (developer mode must be enabled).

See also: TWHL article on materials.txt

Snow material

Snow material is denoted either by N (Counter Strike compatible) or O (Opposing Force compatible) character.

The following step sounds must be provided if your mod uses snow material:

  • player/pl_snow1.wav
  • player/pl_snow2.wav
  • player/pl_snow3.wav
  • player/pl_snow4.wav

You can take step sounds either from Counter Strike or from Opposing Force.

Note: technically N and O are distinct materials with the equal predefined properties. They can be configured separately.

Configuring material types

The mod developer can add new material types or change the parameters of predefined materials by editing the features/materials.json. This file is completely optional - the predefined material types existing in Half-Life (plus snow material) are included regardless.

Example:

{
    "materials": {
        "L": {
            "step": {
                "right": ["player/pl_gravel1.wav", "player/pl_gravel3.wav"],
                "left": ["player/pl_gravel2.wav", "player/pl_gravel4.wav"],
                "walking": {
                    "time": 700,
                    "volume": 0.5
                },
                "running": {
                    "time": 350,
                    "volume": 0.7
                }
            },
            "hit": {
                "waves": ["debris/concrete1.wav", "debris/concrete2.wav", "debris/concrete3.wav"],
                "volume_bar": 0.1,
                "volume": 0.7,
                "attenuation": 1.25,
                "wallpuff_color": [90, 80, 70]
            }
        }
    }
}

In this example the new material L is defined. To use it in the mod the developer should add entries that refer to this material type in sound/materials.txt.

Format of materials.json

The root object can have the following properties:

  • materials - the object that defines the named entries describing the material types, either new ones or providing custom parameters for predefined ones.
  • ladder_step - parameters to use when the player is on the ladder. It's not really a material type so it's configured separately.
  • wade_step - parameters to use when the player is at least knee-deep in the water. It's not really a material type so it's configured separately.
  • default_material - the name of the default material type which is used when the material type for the texture is not defined By default it's C (concrete) and indeed you won't find any material of this type in the Half-Life's sound/materials.txt because it's already implied. This option allows to change which material should be used as default one.
  • default_step_material - the name of the material type to use for footstep sounds if the other material doesn't define its own footstep sounds (e.g. wood and glass materials don't define the special footstep sounds in Half-Life). If not defined, the default_material will be used.
  • slosh_material - the name of the material type to use when player is feet-deep in the water. By default it's S.
  • flesh_material - the name of the material type to use as a flesh material (melee weapons depend on that). By default it's F.

materials

The property names are material type names that must be 1 character long. This can be the name of the predefined material type (if you want to change its parameters) or the name of the new material type.

Each entry in materials can have two properties: step and hit. The step defines footstep related parameters used when player walks on the texture of this material type. The hit defines how the material reacts to the bullet or melee weapon hits.

step

The step entry has the following properties:

  • right and left - the arrays of paths to sounds to play when the player takes a step with the right or left foot. The maximum number of sounds in each array is 5. Both left and right should have at least one sound defined for the material to have its own footstep sounds.
  • walking and running define various parameters to use depending on whether the player is walking or running.

Each walking and running entries can have the following parameters:

  • volume - the number between 0.0 and 1.0 to define a footstep sound volume. By default it's 0.2 for walking and 0.5 for running.
  • time - the delay in milliseconds between foostep sounds. By default it's 400 for walking and 300 for running.

If you define a new material type, you can omit both walking and running entries to rely on default values.

hit

The hit entry has the following properties:

  • waves - the array of paths to sounds to play as a hit sound. The maximum count is 5.
  • volume - the number between 0.0 and 1.0 that defines a hit sound volume. By default it's 0.9.
  • volume_bar - the number between 0.0 and 1.0 that defines a the sound volume of the melee weapon (e.g. a crowbar) when it's hitting this material. The melee weapons play its own sounds along with the texture sound. By default it's 0.5.
  • attenuation - attenuation of the hit sound. By default it's 0.8 (normal attenuation).
  • allow_wallpuff - a boolean value defining whether the wallpuffs (cl_weapon_wallpuff) are allowed to spawn when hitting this material. true by default.
  • allow_weapon_sparks - a boolean value defining whether the bullet impact streaks/sparks are allowed to spawn when hitting this material. true by default. Out of the predefined material the wood (W) has set it to false.
  • play_sparks - a boolean value defining whether the spark effect and sound should sometimes play when the material is hit. false by default. Out of the predefined materials the computer (P) has set it to true, so when you hit the computer screen the spark is produced sometimes.
  • wallpuff_color - the color of the wallpuff produced. E.g. the wood (W) has a custom wallpuff color. The default color is [40, 40, 40], i.e. light grey.

ladder_step and wade_step

Both ladder_step and wade_step have the same format as step entry of the material.

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