Specular maps

[Expanix]

So, I have a problem here.
I've been trying to port all the characters from Smite to SFM and everything is working just fine expect for one thing: specular maps.
So here's the issue: I don't know whow Unreal Engine works, but ALL the models use colored specular maps (if I don't use them, some pieces of armor which are supposed to look shiny look matte and ugly). As far as I know, Source's specular maps are black and white, right?
So, I was wondering if there is a way to make use of colored specular maps in SFM, and if it's not possible, a method to chage a colored specular map into a black and white one (so I can use it in the Alpha Channel of the Bumpmap)

[Zappy]

Originally posted by Expanix:

- So, I was wondering if there is a way to make use of colored specular maps in SFM, and if it's not possible, a method to chage a colored specular map into a black and white one (so I can use it in the Alpha Channel of the Bumpmap)

I don't think it's possible to use coloured specular maps in Source FilmMaker (or if it is, not while using Phong, which you should probably be using). As for making it black and white... Just use a black and white/grayscale function in an image editor?

[Expanix]

Trust me, I have tried that, but it looks the same (if not worse) because black and white specular maps aren't just grayscales, but high-contrast textures in which the "white part" is the one supposed to shine (is this correct?), and I don't know how to create them using the specular map I alredy have as a base.

[Zappy]

Originally posted by Expanix:

- black and white specular maps aren't just grayscales, but high-contrast textures in which the "white part" is the one supposed to shine (is this correct?), -

If I understand you correctly, you're wrong. A black part of a specular map doesn't shine, a white part shines fully, and a 50% gray part shines 50%. That's regardless of whether a specular map is coloured or not, the only difference being that coloured specular maps can store the red, green, and blue shininess values independantly, where-as grayscale specular maps can only store whether something shines or not, without control over the individual colouring of the shine.


TL;DR: I think you're wrong. Just make it grayscale with as many colours from black to gray to white as you want, then use that as the specular map for it in Source FilmMaker.

[Expanix]

Ok, now. How do I apply it? Using it as the Alpha Channel of the bumpmap doesn't seem to work at all. I've also tried adding "$normalmapalphaenvmapmask" "1" to the VMT but there is no difference.

[Zappy]

Originally posted by Expanix:

Ok, now. How do I apply it? Using it as the Alpha Channel of the bumpmap doesn't seem to work at all. I've also tried adding "$normalmapalphaenvmapmask" "1" to the VMT but there is no difference.

Please copy-paste the entire contents of the VMT file here. It's possible you have something else that blocks $BumpMap's alpha from being used for specular mapping (which I may help you fix/work around if I can see the whole VMT).

[Expanix]

"VertexLitGeneric"
{
"$basetexture" "models/smite/skl_god_mercury"
"$bumpmap" "models/smite/skl_god_mercury_bump"
"$normalmapalphaenvmapmask" "1"
"$envmap" "env_cubemap"
"$envmapsaturation" "0"
"$envmapcontrast" "1"
"$envmaptint" "[1.0 1.0 1.0]"
"$surfaceprop" "default"
"$detail" "effects/tiledfire/fireLayeredSlowTiled512.vtf"
"$detailscale" "5"
"$detailblendfactor" .01
"$detailblendmode" 6

"$yellow" "0"
"$one" "1"

"$phong" "1"
"$phongexponent" "20"
"$phongboost" ".3"
"$lightwarptexture" "models/player/pyro/pyro_lightwarp"
"$phongfresnelranges" "[.3 1 8]"
"$halflambert" "0"

"$rimlight" "1"
"$rimlightexponent" "4"
"$rimlightboost" "2"
}

[Zappy]

What happens if you make $BumpMap's alpha be the phong map and $BaseTexture's alpha be the specular map, and use $BaseAlphaEnvMapMask instead of $NormalMapAlphaEnvMapMask? (Note that I have not tried that myself just now, so it might not work.)

[Expanix]

So it looks like this?

"$basetexture" "models/smite/skl_god_mercury"
"$bumpmap" "models/smite/skl_god_mercury_bump"
"$basealphaenvmapmask" "1"
"$envmap" "env_cubemap"
"$envmapsaturation" "0"
"$envmapcontrast" "1"
"$envmaptint" "[1.0 1.0 1.0]"
"$surfaceprop" "default"
"$detail" "effects/tiledfire/fireLayeredSlowTiled512.vtf"
"$detailscale" "5"
"$detailblendfactor" .01
"$detailblendmode" 6

[Zappy]

Originally posted by Expanix:

So it looks like this? -Snip-

I think so, yes, provided you also swapped the alpha channels of $BaseTexture and $BumpMap.

Edit: By the way, $EnvMapSaturation and $EnvMapContrast don't work when phong is enabled, which it is in your case (and disabling phong can often negatively impact how a model looks, especially considering ambient occlusion requires phong to be enabled, so don't disable it).

[Expanix]

Still looks matte. A bit better though, but not the result I expected.
Any ideas?

EDIT: Nevermind, I just found out what I was doing wrong, I'm dumb. Changing the $NormalMapAlphaEnvMapMask to $BaseAlphaEnvMapMask has done the trick.
Thank you a lot!