Download: Complete WolfcamQL tutorial

Complete WolfcamQL tutorial Written by earth_quake in November 2013. Update for WolfcamQL 10.3 Please distribute, but credit earth_quake. I hope this is useful! Post problems to “WolfcamQL :D” on QL forums, or visit #WolfcamQL in IRC ~Basics~ Important Terms Recording Demos ~WolfcamQL~ Installing WolfcamQL Creating a wolfcam config Useful cvars ~Advanced customisation~ Customising Textures and Models Custom Player Models and Skins Q3 Style Bleeding and Gibs Fx Scripting Using/ Making Shaders ~Recording~

Basics Important Terms

Cvar: console variable Var: variable Cvars are given in the following manner /cg_autoaction <0|1|2|3> “/cg_autoaction” is the cvar. You then leave a space and enter a value; anything inside “<>” is what you can enter. The “|” shows you the different possible values. Sometimes this will be a range, such as “1-360” Config: configuration file Fx: Short for “effects”. The .fx files in “WolfcamQL 10.3/scripts” controls all ingame effects, Script: A line of code Skin: A .jpeg or .tga image which covers a model (under the control of a script)

Recording Demos

While you play QL, your computer is constantly receiving data from the server about the position and status of every map object, known as an entity, and player. Your QL client then reconstructs this into a 3D game situation. It might be tempting to think that you are simply receiving an interactive video of sorts, but this is far from the case. You can record the game data into a ‘demo’ file (.dm_73), which can later be played back. A demo file is typically a few hundred or thousand kb large, depending on number of players, how much they spam and match time. To record a demo, you can type in the QL console: /record Alternatively, you can tell QL to automatically record a demo every time a game starts by using: /cg_autoaction <0|1|2|3> (0 - do nothing; 1 – record demo; 2 – record end game screenshot; 3 – record screenshot and demo) Once you have recorded some demos, you can locate them in the QL homepath. For those who don’t know: Vista: %appdata%\id Software\quakelive\home\baseq3\demos Windows XP: %userprofile%\id Software\quakelive\home\baseq3\demos GNU/Linux: ~/.quakelive/quakelive/home/baseq3/demos Windows 7: C: \Users\\AppData\LocalLow\id Software\QuakeLive\baseq3\demos Mac: Users\Library\Application Support\QuakeLive\QuakeLive\baseq3\demos

WolfcamQL Installing WolfcamQL

First off, download the latest version of WolfcamQL (at time of writing 10.3) from: http://wolfcamql.fr/en/download/category/wolfcam or; http://www.esreality.com/post/2447913/wolfcam-10-0/ Copy this zipped file into wherever you want it to be and unzip it. First thing to do is add the .pk3 files from QL: Go to your QL homepath (as mentioned in Basics) and copy all the .pk3 files from “/baseq3” to your wolfcam homepath: “/WolfcamQL 10.3/baseq3”, You are now ready to run Wolfcam. You can do this just be double clicking “WolfcamQL 10.3/ wolfcamql.exe” but it’s highly recommended that you do this with a .batch file instead, as it allows you to force Wolfcam to save files where you want it to (if you just run the .exe files will save to “%appdata%/wolfcamQL/”) and start up with some cvars ‘forced’. I would recommend that you now download a text editing software that is better than notepad, so when you’re writing configs, fx files, batch files etc paragraphs are properly structured, brackets are coloured and you generally have more options. I’ve been using the free “notepad++” for a few years. Open up your software and type the following: @echo off start "wolfcamql" "\WolfcamQL 10.3\wolfcamql" +set fs_homepath "\WolfcamQL 10.3\" +set r_fullscreen "1" +set r_mode "-1" Which translates roughly to: Don’t display the following text on screen Start “a file with this name” “which is found here” save all files “in here” make wolfcam fullscreen and allow me to customize the window size When you’re done with that, save the file as “run_wolfcamql” as a .batch and put it somewhere useful. Double click it and a black box will pop up and then disappear quickly (@echo off), and then wolfcam will open. If you put all the correct .pk3 files into “WolfcamQL 10.3/baseq3” you should see the wolfcam screen (similar to Q3); if not a polite message will inform you so. The screen may be looking pretty weird at the moment, but that’s fine as we haven’t explicitly told wolfcam how to display yet.

Creating a wolfcam config

This is really one of the largest parts of QL movie making and it’s a continuous process. There is no ‘perfect’ config, and movie makers tend to guard their own very closely. That said, there are a number of sample configs on the internet which will work just fine. I recommend you download the following, as it includes a convenient explanation for many cvars alongside. http://wolfcamql.fr/tutos/KittenIgnition_0.9.cfg If you go to “WolfcamQL 10.3/wolfcam-ql/”, somewhere in that mess of loose files you will see “q3config.cfg”. This is where all the fun happens. Drag it into notepad++ and you will see a vertical list of roughly 1000 cvars, many of which make very little sense to you. You should be able to go through the /bind X “do this” area and make a few alterations to suit yourself., When looking through cvars, unless there are many different options “1” will always mean “yes” and “0” “no”. You can either edit the cvars in notepad++, or type them into the console; changes will not be permanent until you resave q3config.cfg.

Useful cvars

I’m not going to go through everything, but a few useful cvars are below. I strongly recommend you visit http://wolfcamql.fr/en/cvars-list as not only does it list all the cvars, but it mostly provides a correct description of that cvar. /r_visibleWindowHeight "720" - Keep the same as r_customheight "" /r_visibleWindowWidth "1280" - Keep the same as r_customwidth "" /r_customwidth "1280" - The width your wolfcam screen will appear /r_customheight "720" - The height wolfcam will appear /r_mode "-1" - Allows the use of r_customwidth and r_customheight (we forced this with the .batch anyway) /r_fullscreen "<0|1>" - We’ve already forced this to “1” in the .batch file /cvarsearch - Incredibly useful. If you can remember part of a cvar, but not all of it; search a keyword and the results are shown in the console. /cg_drawstatus “<0|1>” - 0=no weapon bar, ammo, timer etc /cg_draw2d “<0|1|2>” - 0=display nothing of the HUD, 1=display all HUD, 2=display some HUD /bind “freecam” - allows you to switch between freecam and pov mode /bind “pause” - press once = pause, press again = unpause /cg_drawfragmessagetokens - Customise the frag message. You can use some tokens which display the relevant details in game: %v=victim name, %k=killer, %i = weapon icon, %a = weapon accuracy. Full list can be found in “WolfcamQL 10.3/README-wolfcam.txt” /timescale “<0-100>” - speed the game happens at. 1=normal, 0=paused, 2=2x faster than normal. /fastforward “” - can be a bit buggy sometimes. Stick to 60 or 120 max. /rewind “” - see above /bind “+scores” - Press and hold for the scores /bind “+acc” - Press and hold for weapon accuracy /bind record - Records a new demo without altering the current one /bind stoprecord - Stops recording the new demo /bind video avi - starts recording an avi video. See next two cvars, /cl_aviframerate - The framerate of recorded avi video (use between 30 and 60 for normal speed, use something like 200 for ¼ timescale) /bind stopvideo - Stops recording the avi video /fragforward - Skips through the demo to frags /cg_killbeep “0” - Remove that annoying chime when you frag someone /players - Displays a list of players and their numbers in the console /follow < number> - Allows you to follow other players. Note that if the player moves too far from the pov (demo taker) it will switch back to pov as the demo doesn’t record data very far from the pov. /cg_ fov “” - the field of view in degrees /cg_ zoomfov “” - the field of view in degrees while zoomed /bind “+zoom” /cg_gunx “” - align weapons in the x (left/right), y (up/down)and z (back and forwards) axis /cg_guny”” /cg_gunz”” /cg_freecamcrosshair “<0|1>” - Show/hide crosshair while freecamming /cg_freecam_noclip "2" - You can pass through walls while in freecam mode /cg_freecam_speed “” - Speed you move while in freecam mode Some cool and often pointless effects are below: /r_showtris "<0|1>" - "1" draws the vertices of the map and all sprites in white /cg_thirdperson "<0|1>" - "1" follows the player from just behind their head /cg_shadows "<0|1>“ - 1 = player shadows on, 0 = player shadows off /cg_drawentnumbers “<0|1>” - draws the numbers of every entity /view - Locks the camera onto that entity. /view -1 undoes this. /r_drawentities “<0|1|2>” - Show/hide all entities for some reason

Advanced Customisation Customising Textures and Models

This section is copied near-directly from a tutorial I wrote on esr a while ago. Feel free to refer back to it: http://www.esreality.com/post/2465741/all-ql-textures-compilation-for-wolfcam/, A while ago I compiled all (or pretty damn near) of the files found inside the .pk3 files. The result is an incredibly useful tool for movie makers, or indeed anyone who wants to modify the appearance of maps, players and objects while watching back demos. How it works: When wolfcam runs, it constantly calls upon the files that "skin" maps, weapons, ammo etc. These files are mainly located in the pakXX.pk3 files, but some are strewn around in random map files (hence why my compilation may not be quite complete). By de-crypting the pk3 files and copying the relevant contents into "wolfcamQL 10.3/wolfcam-ql/", wolfcam uses those files (instead of the ones in "wolfcamQL 10.3/baseq3"), meaning you have easy access to the files that decorate QL’s interior! 1. Download the .zip file: http://auri.co.uk/files/quake/skins/misc/eq_a...xtures.zip http://q3.atdan.net/pub/misc/eq_all-default-quake-textures.zip (cheers to auri for hosting and uZu for mirroring my file) 2. Unzip. You will notice loose in the initial structure a .jpeg called "howto" (Clickme). Folders with a red dot are the ones that you have just downloaded, and this is where you need to put them! As you can see I'm using wolfwhisperer, but this doesn't change anything. If you already have some of these folders, you can just merge them. 3. Now if you see a texture in wolfcam that you dislike or want to brighten etc you can do something about it! You need to locate the relevant file (try searching keywords, and most map textures are in textures/[base_wall|base_floor|gothic_block]). Worst case senario typing /shaderlist will output a list of all the shaders used in a map. Not fun. Useful locations: "textures/ad_content" - Easiest way to override ingame ads "icons" and "menu/icons" - you might want to edit the weapon and item icons "menu/medals" - can change impressive, excellent etc "models/ammo" - edit grenade and rocket, for example "models/weaphits" - get really good and edit the rocket explosion. You'll want to read about fx scripting first "models/weapons2" - make a skin for weapons If you want to actually modify weapon models, then you will want to download a software such as blender that allows you to edit skins by projecting the skin onto the model (.md3 file). Blender does not import .md3 by default, but it is possible to modify it to do so.

Custom Player Models and Skins

, You can quite easily change models of enemy, team and pov (first cvar given for each), but if you want to use a custom skin it’s a bit more tricky. Download from http://ws.q3df.org/models/?model=&page=0 and place in “WolfcamQL 10.3/baseq3” Use cg_forcepovmodel "1" Now you have a fair few cvars to change... Team /cg_teammodel /cg_teamtorsoskin /cg_teamlegsskin /cg_teamheadskin Enemy /cg_enemymodel /cg_enemyheadskin /cg_enemytorsoskin /cg_enemylegsskin POV player /model

Q3 Style Bleeding and Gibs

You can do this the proper way (if you have Q3 or can be bothered to download pak0.pk3), or find it somewhere else (http://wolfcamql.fr/en/download/category/scripts-modifications). Some downloads will include all you need, so you can just put it into “WolfcamQL 10.3/baseq3” and run wolfcam, but I’ll go through each step. Copy the following from pak0.pk3 of Q3 to “WolfcamQL 10.3/wolfcam-ql/gfx/wc”. models/weaphits/blood201.tga models/weaphits/blood202.tga models/weaphits/blood203.tga models/weaphits/blood204.tga models/weaphits/blood205.tga, Also, copy these to “wolfcamql/wolfcam-ql/damageq3”. gfx/damage/blood_spurt.tga gfx/damage/blood_stain.tga Not to forget these to “WolfcamQL 10.3/wolfcam-ql/models/gibsq3/” models/gibs/gibs.jpg models/gibs/leg.md3 models/gibs/skull.md3 models/gibs/abdomen.md3 models/gibs/chest.md3 models/gibs/intestine.md3 models/gibs/brain.md3 models/gibs/foot.md3 models/gibs/forearm.md3 models/gibs/arm.md3 models/gibs/fist.md3 And finally copy these to “WolfcamQL 10.3/wolfcam-ql/sound/player/” sound/player/gibimp1.wav sound/player/gibimp2.wav sound/player/gibimp3.wav sound/player/gibsplt1.wav You can now activate Q3 style gibs with /cl_useq3gibs “1” , because the script necessary is already there; “wolfcamql/wolfcam-ql/shaderoverride/wcq3blood.shader”. However for Q3 bleeding you need to do a bit more. Paste the following into notepad++ and save it as: "wolfcamql/wolfcam-ql/shaderoverride/q3bleed.shader"; leave “Save As Type” as .txt bloodExplosion { cull disable {, animmap 5 gfx/wc/blood201.tga gfx/wc/blood202.tga gfx/wc/blood203.tga gfx/wc/blood204.tga gfx/wc/blood205.tga blendFunc blend } } Then set /com_blood "1". All of this information can be found in “WolfcamQL 10.3/README- wolfcam.txt”

Fx Scripting

This is perhaps the hardest thing to write a tutorial for, and it’s easily the most complicated. Few people spend the time necessary to learn how to write their own Fx scripts, and there are many to download. I’ll attempt to patch together information I’ve found and learnt over the past few years on this topic, so I’m not taking much credit here. FX scripting works by taking an input of certain parameters and processing them in a way described by the scripter to produce an output effect. The FX system is made up on float, vector and string variables. Float variables: Floating point variables can store a single number. can be a mathematical expression using any valid arithmetic, Boolean or comparative operator. Size The number of game units diameter an fx object is Width The number of game units wide an object (e.g. spark) is Angle Draw a shader every X degrees around dir (e.g. angle 45 draws 4) t0 You can save floats to these temporary values for complex calculations. Also t1, t2, t3 etc red The first float component of the vector color. Also blue and green. origin0 A component of a vector. Also v”elocity2”, for example. See Vectors rotate A sprite or spark is rotated by degrees. Often 360*rand rand A random value between 0 and 1. (read only variable) crand A random value between -1 and 1. (read only variable) loop Goes from 0 to 1 during any kind of repeating action in a script (read only variable). See repeat, loopcount The same as loop, but goes from 0 to in the example of repeat. (read only variable) lerp Moves linearly from 0 to 1 during the life of an emitter (read only variable) pi A read-only mathematical constant: 3.14 time The time in seconds since the beginning of a map (read only variable) life Amount of life in seconds that an entity got when it was emitted. (read only variable) alpha <0-1>: The opacity of a fx object; “alpha 1” is fully visible, “alpha 0” is invisible Vectors: 3 floats grouped together as an [x,y,z] vector, under one name. You can also access a specific float from the vector by adding 0, 1, 3 to the vector name, for example origin0 refers to the x float of the origin vector. Also red. blue and green are the float components of the vector color. origin The position in the map a script event happened at velocity The velocity in u (game units/second) of a projectile. dir A normal (magnitude 1) vector in the direction of an event, such as an impact. There is a bug with lg so that dir is in the direction of the beam, but normally dir is perpendicular to the impact surface, regardless of impact angle. angles Don’t really have a clue parentvelocity velocity of the script’s “parent”, normally a projectile parentangles parentorigin origin of the script’s parent parentdir direction of the script’s parent color The colour of a sprite is technically a vector. Uses RGB e.g. “color100” is red. You can also use v0, v1, v2, v3 to store temporary vectors, in a similar way to t0 etc. String Variables A string is any argument comprised of characters, for example a word. model The .md3 model a block is using shader Loads the named shader from Wolfcam folder for use in a block pop No idea. e.g. color pushparent Something like ‘use this variable from parent’. Not sure., Emitter Specific Float Variables All of these values are floats, but I felt it important to differentiate from other float variables as these can only be used within an emitter . alphafade <0-1> The fraction of “life” at which alpha starts to fade; 1=fade immediately, 0=never fade. If life is 5 seconds and alphafade is 0.2, alpha starts to fade after 4 seconds. colorfade <0-1>: The fraction of “1- life” at which color is faded; 1 = fade immediately, 0=never fade movegravity : The amount of gravitational acceleration a particle feels e.g. “movegravity 98”. Note that can also be negative, making the particle move upwards movebounce : Same as movegravity, but also with another parameter. Coefficient of restitution is the speed of rebound divided by speed of impact. Basically how much a particle bounces back from a surface. Can be 0-1 impactdeath Same as movegravity but the particle dies upon impact sink Make the particle sink into a surface upon impact Block Statements All of the following statements are used to define when or how a block will be run. Each block has to be preceded by one of these. repeat is run times. The variable loop goes from 0 to 1 in steps, i.e. the first time is run, loop = 1/, the second time 2/etc. distance will be run every time the parent (e.g. rocket projectile) has moved game units. interval Since wolfcam 8.5 distance was introduced. Interval is essentially useless; is run every seconds, but is timescale and fps dependent. emitter Particles created in live for seconds. lerp runs from 0 to 1 during the life of the entity. The variable life contains the age of the entity in seconds. Apparantly entity is an alias for emitter if [else ] [elif ] Each is executed only if is true. e.g. cg_oldrail 1 or time > 300 once will only ever be run once, regardless of how many times it is passed shaderlist A way to choose from a list of shaders. chooses which shader is chosen from the list; 1 refers to the final shader and 0 the first, etc. It is often useful to make rand. colorlist A list of colours in , chosen by . See shaderlist. modelList Same as shaderlist, but for models., colorblend is a list of colors. Unlike colorlist, colorblend interpolates the two colours adjacent to impact is squared, other than that I don’t know death No idea Float math commands: Some float variables can be used like an algebraic character. These can even be used in math that includes themselves, as the script is read sequentially. Examples: size 5*size -> Size is now 5*original size angle 360*rand + size -> angle is now a random value * 360 + size rotate 360*rand -> Sprite is rotated randomly within a full circle of 360 degrees Vector Math Commands: Most math commands take several inputs and a final storage vector name. They are sometimes also followed by a math value. Src stands for source, dst stands for destination, i.e. the vector you’re starting with is , the vector you’re saving the answer to is . Math is any float expression. scale

Using/ Making Shaders

Instead of using the same old shaders that quake includes (flareshader, smokepuff, burn_med_mrk etc) for everything, you can make your own with a little photoshop work and a .shader file. I’ll run you through making a custom lightning impact shader that I made. First, all shaders have to be square unless you want them to get messed up when you use them. Create a square file (I recommend 64x64 px but the larger the better, if your computer can handle it) and get drawing your sprite. Remember that your color will only get placed in white areas, and none in black ones. Save it as a .tga file. My completed “lgspark.tga” looks like this and I put it in “gfx/misc/lgspark.tga” (see section on Customising Textures and Models). Now you need to write a script to let Wolfcam know what you want it to do when you define shader lgspark in the script event weapon/lightning/impact{. You can adapt this template for your own use: // lgspark.shader (just to remind me, I’m very forgetful) Lgspark //here we’re telling wolfcam what the name of the shader is. { Nopicmip //we don’t want any picmip, thanks cull none //draw it no matter where it is, or where it’s facing { map gfx/misc/lgspark.tga //make sure this is the correct location blendFunc GL_ONE GL_ONE//some openGL stuff rgbGen vertex, } } Save this as lgspark.shader (keep “save as type” .txt) and stick it in shaderoverride/. Now we can write an lg impact script including the shader called “lgspark”. Here’s mine for example: shader lgspark //use our new shader alpha 1 //make it full opaque color 1 0.4 0.1 //make it orange repeat 3{ //every impact, repeat the following code 3 times scale velocity velocity 0 //make the sprite stay still emitter 0.2{ //give the sprite 0.2 seconds of life size 5-lerp*4.5 //start with a size of 5 units and decrease to 0.5 after life colorfade 1 //start to fade the colour straight away movegravity 0 //don’t let gravity effect the sprite sprite //this is the command line } } //don’t forget to close brackets!

Recording

The previous section makes this look easy. I’ve always used the simplest method for recording, although there are many more complicated (and arguably better quality) methods for recording, for example you can use wolfwhisperer which has a built in ffmpeg engine. /Cl_aviframerate “” - I recommend using 60 for high quality, or 30 if you just want to put on youtube quickly (youtube is limited to 30fps). If you’re using a lower timescale, you can keep the quality the same by increasing the framerate. For example timescale 1 ~ cl_aviframerate 50 is equivalent to timescale 0.25 ~ cl_aviframerate 200. /bind video avi - Starts recording an avi video to “WolfcamQL 10.3/wolfcam-ql/videos”. Size will be very large. /bind stopvideo - Stops recording the avi. You’ll need to re-render it in another program (e.g. Sony Vegas) before uploading it to youtube.]

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