i know how to make the normal maps, how do i apply them to my models in med? forgive me if this is the wrong place to post this, but i am using c-script and i didnt know if using normal maps required scripts at all.

all you have to do is go to manage skins, add new skin, select your normal map tga and thats it. when you show the model inwed, just make sure your material is the normalmap material and it will show. i use the nm.wdl to use normalmaps.

so, say i have a ring i want to be shiny in med, all i have to do is bring in the normal map like you said, and the normal map will show in wed and it will show the ring in game shiny? do i have to set the normal map to the object in med? is there any sort of order the material and normal map have to be in in manage skins or some sort of name the normal map needs? im sorry im learning as i go here. hehe.

You have to apply a material like
fx_bump
mtl_bump
fx_specBump
mtl_specBump

Requires normal map on second skin.


You can read about it in the manual under "shaders" and "shaders library":
http://www.conitec.net/beta/amaterial2.htm

Quote:
*NM: Supports a normal map on the second or third skin, dependent on whether a lightmap is used.

i cant help but notice it says "beta", is this stuff safely implimented in games? if it isnt thats ok, my kind of texture work already makes things look shiny, im just hoping to learn so i can do more than one type of texturing

what says beta?
the website name -> ignore this.

The link is from the current manual.
Click on this site "online manual", Ctrl+F, fil in "shader" und search for it.

Add a second skin to the model (in MED), and add the material "normalmap.fx" on the SCRIPT, then apply it in WED on your model.
Course, FX materials can also be added completely by code, if your entity is being loaded by events or something.
The material supposedly WON'T show in th current version of MED (well, it doesn't show for me), but you can download SHADERVIEW from the resources:

http://server.conitec.net/down/shaderviewer.zip

... and load you model there to see if you correctly added the material.
Shaderview is simply a compiled game, with menus that show a doll in all suported shaders and filters of gamestudio, that you load and choose.
It also have a upper button that allows you to load your OWN model and check FX effects on it, so you can see if it's working right in your game.

Don't forget that C-lite and WDL intructions for .fx materials are different, and some bitmap formats might get non-working because of compression by some older programs.

i use NM.wdl, for all my normalmapping, it works fine. i make my normal maps with the normalmap generator. its pretty easy to use. you should give it a try. I use A6 commercial by the way.

wow all this help, ty guys, im touched! that shadertest program really opens my eyes. im just a bit confused on the steps needed to set it to the model:

1: is there any sort of order the materials need to be in in the manage skins window?

2: which one do i actually set to the model? if i set the normal map to the model what do i do with the other material?

3: is there any way i can do all this shading stuff without coding? and just applying in med? coding isnt my strong suit

4: also this is kind of off topic, but where would i find the best resource for learning c-script? is the manual all? if so i can work with it.

im real sorry to bother you with these questions, but ive exausted all my resources short of long hours of trial & error on these questions. i really appreciate all the help ive gotten so far. this site is really wonderful. its been set as my home page and ill go here every day! as a matter of fact, ive just been able to get a tool that will let me create normal maps in photoshop, so if you guys need any normal maps made let me know ill do em for free for ya cause you helped me so much!

::EDIT:: i think i did it! well kind of, what do you think??