[Trigger] Transparency issue

[Ironside]

In the bellow trigger, for some reason the transparency only shows for some people, in most cases for no one.
It works perfectly in single player but in multiplayer there are issues.
The variables are definitely not the issue, as the debug action above always whows the correct results.

Execution trigger

• RGBA
  • Events
    • Unit - A unit Starts the effect of an ability
  • Conditions
    • And - All (Conditions) are true
      • Conditions
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Stone Wall --
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Stone Wall Connector
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Stone Wall I
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Sunken Ruins Wall /
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Sunken Ruins Wall \
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Sunken Ruins Wall --
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Sunken Ruins Wall |
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Wooden Spikes Wall --
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Wooden Spikes Wall /
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Wooden Spikes Wall \
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Wooden Spikes Wall |
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Icecrown Wall --
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Icecrown Wall /
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Icecrown Wall \
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Icecrown Wall |
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Gate (O) (H)
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Gate (O) (V)
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Gate -- (C) (H)
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Gate | (C) (V)
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Gate \ (O) (D2)
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Gate \ (C) (D2)
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Gate / (O) (D1)
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Gate / (C) (D1)
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Magical Prison (Active) [Activated]
        • (Unit-type of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Not equal to Magical Prison (Inactive)
  • Actions
    • Set TempInt = (Player number of (Owner of (Triggering unit)))
      • If - Conditions
        • (Ability being cast) Equal to Set RGBA
      • Then - Actions
        • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
          • If - Conditions
            • (Owner of (Target unit of ability being cast)) Equal to (Owner of (Triggering unit))
          • Then - Actions
            • Game - Display to (All players) for 5.00 seconds the text: ((Alpha[ + ((String(TempInt)) + ] = )) + (String(RGBA[TempInt])))
            • Animation - Change (Target unit of ability being cast)'s vertex coloring to ((Real(RGBR[TempInt]))%, (Real(RGBG[TempInt]))%, (Real(RGBB[TempInt]))%) with (Real(RGBA[TempInt]))% transparency
          • Else - Actions
      • Else - Actions

Define Alpha variable trigger

• Set Alpha Val
  • Events
  • Game - (it's added from a seperate trigger)
  • Conditions
  • Actions
    • Set RGBA[(Player number of (Triggering player))] = (Integer((Substring((Entered chat string), 7, 10))))
    • If (All Conditions are True) then do (Then Actions) else do (Else Actions)
      • If - Conditions
        • RGBA[(Player number of (Triggering player))] Greater than 100
      • Then - Actions
        • Set RGBA[(Player number of (Triggering player))] = 0
      • Else - Actions
    • Game - Display to (Player group((Triggering player))) for 5.00 seconds the text: (RGBA = + (String(RGBA[(Player number of (Triggering player))])))

 

[Dr Super Good]

Everyone is playing at maximum visual settings and colour depth?

I have never noticed any problems with the vertex colour changing natives in WC3 in all my time playing (next to logic errors of people using them).

 

[Ironside]

I for one am running warcraft with all settings at best and the alpha doesn't work in multiplayer, works fine in single player.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Try debugging it with some sort of on off toggle. If it is different for each player it must be caused by the local render and how it clips content not in the view area.

 

[Ironside]

It works on a princip of a spell, first you write -alpha N (N 0-100) then use a spell called RGBA and then the above trigger is executed

 

[Dr Super Good]

Does it fail when the unit is in view?

 

[Ironside]

It always fails, some players just see it and most others don't.

 

[Dr Super Good]

So it is boolean? Aka. if you see it you will always see it else you will never see it?

If that is the case it could be due to display settings (both ingame and driver settings) as well as compatibility problems (modern graphic cards no longer are required to run DX8 flawlessly).

Alpha is intrinsicly very difficult to create in computer graphics. Inorder to keep scene complexity down they do not render pixel information for obscured surfaces (Z culling I think it is called). Alpha however defies this as it allows you to see behind surfaces which in theory could allow you to see through a stupidly large number of layers. Although the exact calculations behind how alpha works are a bit of a mystery to me, I do know that a lot of alpha implementations are very limited and will display visual bugs such as only rendering a few layers of alpha or incorrect blending of alpha when in large numbers.

 

[Ironside]

Yes, until now it works through the whole game, no matter how many times used,for the rest never.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Just to make sure, you are not the only person who sees the alpha?

In that case I am afraid there is probly not much one can do. The alpha is working just their graphic drivers are not repdroducing the intended results.

I had such a situation with an old game called Empire Earth. The nuclear bomb explosion's alpha messes up and looks really wierd on new graphic hardware (only 1 layer visible).

 

[Ironside]

No, I only see it in single player but not in multiplayer. A clan member of mine saw both his and mine units transparent when we tested it.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Do you test it in the same mode as you play it online? This includes using the same graphic component (OpenGL or DirectX) as well as full screen / windowed.

Unless you change the unit's tint locally using GetLocalPlayer, what you are describing should not happen.

 

[Ironside]

I use everything the same and do not use the localplayer function.

I also updated main post with the trigger which assigns the RGBA variable.

 

[Dr Super Good]

There is no logical explination for this then. Between testing and playing online you must be running something differently.

 

[Ironside]

I've decided to post the rest of the triggers in the main post, maybe someone will spot something that may be wrong afterall.