Droplets - Updated 11/10/2018!

[Josh771]

Aghck! I was going to add that, but it slipped my mind. I'll get that fix implemented and upload it ASAP. I might need to make one for DRPG, too, if people are using this with it.

I recently played around with translucent puddles, and it did look rather nice. I'll try to darken / desaturate / translucify the textures in the next release.

EDIT: Bugfix / Minor Update! I've added the appropriate MENUDEF fixes for Smooth Doom compatibility and made red blood darker and less saturated. I've also made blood slightly translucent.

EDIT 2: I'm not so sure about this blood translucency business. Real blood is quite opaque... I'll see if I can revise the textures to make the spatterings messier. Perhaps that will relieve it of its pasted-on appearance without sacrificing too much realism.

EDIT 3: I really wish 3D model skins in GZDoom supported opacity. As it is, I'm left with choosing between the sticker-like full opaque blood, or the strangely watery translucent blood. Neither one is ideal, but it feels strange to me to have blood that I can see through so clearly. Blood is quite opaque; I'll try adding lots of little scattery bits to the artwork or something. It may take some time, but I want this to look good.

[Caligari87]

With too much translucency perhaps, but I think maybe .7 to .8 is quite ideal. You can see the translucency if you stop and look, but it helps the blood feel more texturized, like it's seeping into the cracks in the texture. Blood is opaque yes, but it's not flat, and without being able to "bump-map", translucency is probably the best bet. Still, it's not my mod, just my opinion

[Josh771]

Yeah, I uploaded with a translucency of about 0.666667, which is probably pushing it. I may try 0.85 to try to retain the texture without making it look watery. Still, wish GZDoom would just let me load a skin with opacity. Then we could get some rather nice effects. Or, better yet: actual floor and ceiling decals. Oh well.

EDIT: I've uploaded the files with adjusted alpha. They should now have around 0.75, which will be a bit more realistic than the previous upload.

[Agitatio]

I think you should get back to full opaque blood. There is an issue with GZDoom rendering 3D flat models with textures that have transparency. Same issue happens when you play Brutal Doom in GZDoom. You can see blood through sprites. Corpses, items, dropped weapons and etc. This issue is not that noticeable for Droplets because blood models are a lot smaller than Brutal Doom ones. I'm in no way educated in all that stuff, but I tried to describe it the best way my knowledge allows me. Correct me if i'm wrong.

[Josh771]

I have noticed this effect before, but I don't recall it being fixed by full opacity. It seems to me almost as if the models were being sorted like sprites -- a simple check whether or not the actor is in front of or behind the other, instead of placing the sprite somewhere in between. But, I, too, am in no way educated in the ways of GZDoom's renderer, or OpenGL for that matter, so I can only guess.

I'll play around with the alpha levels and see what differences I can find. In the end, I may just make translucent blood a separate module to be loaded alongside the base file -- or even a new blood option so that players can decide precisely how opaque they would like their blood to be.

[Agitatio]

Mark's post on doomworld was my only source of information about that issue. And I have not noticed that bug before in previous versions of Droplets with full opaque blood. That is why I thought transparency was the culprit.

[Caligari87]

I've been playing around with it for a while, but I haven't noticed anything like that, transparency or not. But a translucency menu option would be a good compromise either way, I vote for that route.

[Josh771]

Alright, I'll see if I can't slip another CVar into the code. Also, I've been playing around with adding +SHOOTABLE and +NOBLOOD to the droplets to make them fly through the air when rockets go off nearby. It's amazingly satisfying, but it lags like nobody's business (and I imagine explosions in most things that aren't Brutal Doom SE don't apply force for long enough to produce the effect).

Ideally, I'd make the blood droplets always fire away from the attacker. The monster knows who's shot it, but the blood itself is totally unaware. I don't think there's actually any way for me to do it, really, but it sure would be nice. I guess it'll just be random directions for now.

Or maybe there's some hackery to be done with BulletPuff and +PUFFGETSOWNER? ... wait, it looks like +PUFFGETSOWNER has some very intriguing functionality with blood. Huh. Okay, I'm starting to think this is possible after all. This could end up being amazing.

[Caligari87]

I actually like how it is now, with the majority of the blood being in front, except for a few splats in back. Rounds don't always penetrate all the way through, and so the primary wounds are still on the front of the enemy.

Anyways, what's probably happening now is that since the actual blood splats are in front of the enemy, your random splats go all directions, but some are hitting the monster and falling straight to the ground. Maybe put +THRUACTORS on the blood splatter so they at least spread evenly for starters?

[Josh771]

I actually like how it is now, with the majority of the blood being in front, except for a few splats in back. Rounds don't always penetrate all the way through, and so the primary wounds are still on the front of the enemy.

Anyways, what's probably happening now is that since the actual blood splats are in front of the enemy, your random splats go all directions, but some are hitting the monster and falling straight to the ground. Maybe put +THRUACTORS on the blood splatter so they at least spread evenly for starters?

They've always had +THRUACTORS on them, so they shouldn't be running into anything. The real issue is velocity scaling, which is random and can result in blood that falls nearly straight down. I think the scaling needs some tweaking, perhaps.

I've actually got a working prototype that uses +PUFFGETSOWNER on my blood replacer coupled with an ACS script that uses VectorAngle to determine the direction the bullet came from. It works; the blood splatters mostly in the direction of the bullet impact, but you bring up an interesting point about bullet penetration.

Still, making the blood spray behind the monster creates nicer patterns on walls just behind them. It just feels right, especially with something like a shotgun or a chaingun. I guess I'll keep playing with things, and, when I finally settle on something, I'll release it.

[Caligari87]

You're right, it does look nicer for sure. Maybe make a "double-fan" spread, so it half goes behind and half in front in a cone, with not much to the sides, sort of best of both worlds. Leave a nice little directional vector "bloodprint" for each engagement so the blood tells a story instead of just being there.

[Josh771]

Update! Version 10 of Droplets is out with high customizability, plus no more need to load "lite" and "max" versions -- it's all manageable in-game. Tweak blood opacity, velocity, and the amount of blood all from the blood options on the fly.

Also, @Caligari_87, if I'd noticed your post before I started slaving away at this, I would probably have tried to include that effect. I'll work on it at some point and see if I can't get my experimental version of that (which is based on the old v9) to work with the new v10 and try to produce that sort of effect.

[Josh771]

I've got something experimental for everybody to try out and give some feedback on.

droplets_directed_experiment.pk3

It is supposed to do what Caligari_87 just suggested: direct the blood spray in a "double-fan," creating spatters in the front and back of an opponent based on the trajectory of the bullet. I'm not sure if it's doing just what I'd like; it could perhaps use a smaller cone, but I don't want it to create lines of blood either.

Some feedback will ease my suspicions -- whether I'm right or wrong, heh.

[Josh771]

Update! I've put the directional blood splattering in droplets_base_v10.pk3, as well as tweaked the behavior of ceiling blood a little more and added randomized splatter sizes on the floor. I've also reorganized the code a little to keep the different blood actors more tidy. I've been really enjoying testing this version for about a day or two; I figured you guys would probably like it too.

Go grab it from the OP. Oh, and I put up some new screenshots, since the older ones just weren't doing the mod justice.

[Caligari87]

Nice! Looking forward to trying this, although I may not get a chance this week.