Rendertype 28 and transparency

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giftheck
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Rendertype 28 and transparency

Post by giftheck »

Just a question on whether it's possible to have Rendertype 28 (spec map?) and also have a material with transparency properties. I ask because I'd like to have some transparent model parts but I'm wondering if the transparency would interfere with the rendertype 28. I'm trying to add Rendertype 28 to my weapon models.

(It seems, as an aside, you can't have an override_texture model with Rendertype 28, at least not in SWBF1).
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Re: Rendertype 28 and transparency

Post by AQT »

Render Type 28 is bump/normal with specular. You can use it with any of the transparency flags, but priority will be given to transparency. That means the alpha layer of your diffuse texture will be interpreted as an alpha map instead of a specular map. In other words, parts that you want to be less shiny than others will instead be translucent or invisible, whereas parts that you want to be fully shiny will be completely visible (and shiny).

The same will happen with Render Type 4, which is specular only.

The way to work around this is have the parts you want to be transparent use their own material cluster with only transparency while everything else uses a material cluster with only Render Type 28 (or 4) enabled.
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