Quote from Moth on January 26, 2012, 7:46 am

Which water texture are you using? Does it have Nodraw on all sides except the visible one?

Quote from DigitalMan on January 26, 2012, 7:54 am

I am using nature/toxicslime002a and yes, I have the nodraw texture on every side except the top.

Quote from Moth on January 26, 2012, 3:20 pm

Did you place a water_lod_control entity? and water doesn't display properly unless you do a proper full RAD compile (not FAST). Try changing your water texture to the 'laser-over-goo' one, since that one is known to work fine. Rule these things out and then get back to me

Quote from DigitalMan on January 26, 2012, 4:47 pm

Yes, I do have a water_lod_control in my map and I also compile my map with all settings on Normal, including RAD. I tried switching the texture to the laser over goo one and it still kept those reflections. It's reflecting what I want along with some other things that I don't want to because they are in a separate room. I guess water isn't really one of my strong points.

Quote from DigitalMan on January 27, 2012, 9:21 pm

So I've been testing and maybe it would be fixed if the cubemaps were actually built. I don't know why, but the cubemaps don't want to be built. I compile on FINAL in the expert compiler and then type buildcubemaps in the console, but the map looks exactly the same as it was before the cubemaps were built. I know there are a couple other threads on here about that, but they haven't helped me either.

Quote from Brainstatic on January 27, 2012, 9:59 pm

It could be caused by your graphics settings. If your graphics settings are below a certain threshold, most things won't render in water reflections. World brushes are included in the things that won't render. As a result, your indicator lights and glass lights render in the reflection through the wall.

Quote from DigitalMan on January 27, 2012, 10:13 pm

That makes sense, but I keep wondering how Valve has managed not to have this happen in any of there maps. I play on close to lowest settings (my computer doesn't have a graphics card, only motherboard graphics) and Valve's reflections still look good and reflect the correct things.

Quote from Brainstatic on January 27, 2012, 10:20 pm

With some entities, you can fire inputs to enable or disable fast reflections or just adjust the keyvalues as necessary. Also, Valve mostly avoided halls or outcroppings in reflective slime pits through which entities on the other side could easily reflect.

Quote from Robdon on January 28, 2012, 7:12 pm

Hi,

I've spent quite some time trying to get my reflections right recently.

There seems to be some bugs and things regarding them.

The 'problems' seem to be effected by the 'Shader Details' settings in the main video settings.

Low - No Reflections
Medium - Reflect just 'lights', including props like lasers, lightbridges, indicator lights etc.
High - Lights + Brushes
Very High - Not sure what else this adds

However, there must be some way to override these settings in the code or compile. Because Valve do it. For example, in sp_a2_brige_intro, even if you have Shader Details set to 'Low' you still get reflections in the water. But if I decompile that map, and recompile it, the new compile then doesnt override the settings, and reflections stop when on 'low' and 'medium'.

Then there are some bugs:

If you have the settings set as 'Medium' then it doesnt reflect the Brushes you have around the water as it should, BUT it also then makes all those Brushes not block light from any light entities, so they reflect on the water. I'm guessing this is why Valve have forced their water to always reflect in their maps somehow.

One way around it is, you could set all your Brushes that are around the water to func_brushes, and then force them to reflect buy setting the 'Render In Fast Reflections'. That seems to make it work better.

Also, there is a problem with reflections on the 'edge' of the water.
If you have an entity that emits light near water but blocked by a brush, and you move to certain angles, then it doesnt actually reflect in the water, but it does reflect a little bit of its light along the edge of the water. This happens in Valves maps also in some places.

There is a way around it though.

Its a bit difficult for me to word it, so its probably better to look at the attached example I've knocked up to test it.
It seems that the light leaks through brushes on the edge of the water. So we need to block them with brushes that have a texture. I picked tools/toolsblack.

If you look at the map attached:

Point '1' has no 'fixes' and in 'medium' shader mode you will see the lightbridge, laser and indicator lights reflecting in the water when you shouldn't, however in high or very high mode you dont see them.

Point '2' has the fix to stop those reflections in 'medium' mode (By making the brushes that should block the light a func_brush and setting the 'Render In Fast Reflections' property), but there is still a small amount of light leakage on the edge of the water at certain angles. noclip around and you should be able to see them come and go. If you cant find a point where you can see them, then noclip up to the ledge at the end near the point '4' and face them while your feet are on the white bar up there.

Point '3' has the above fix and also the one to stop light leaking (This is done by putting another func_brush with 'Render In Fast Reflections' property set and the bottom textured with 'tools/toolsblack' and sides and top with nodraw, 8 units thick, and placed ontop of the floor brush. There should be no reflections from the lights above or leakage now.

HTHs,

Rob.