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GitHub Repository :: CoD4 Shader Tutorial :: IW3xo :: Discord Server

Overview

• Shader based on: https://github.com/tuxalin/water-shader
• Fully tweakable via in-game GUI or fastfile hotloading (requires IW3xo)
• Vanilla CoD4 Support
• Dynamic heightmap generation
• Displacement
• Cubemap usage for reflection and radiance
• Waterdepth dependend refraction and color extiction
• High wave and shore foam
• Shore blending

General

• Supports both xmodels and world geometry while the latter has some visual bugs
• Supports fullbright and radiants fake-light mode by using a simpler second shader
• Will only look decent on the first and second day after a dedicated server was started (cod4 gametime bug making it choppy and hella buggy)

Usage:

1. Clone the repo or download as zip
2. Copy all files into the cod4 root directory
3. Open the shader_ocean.gdt in Asset Manager, compile the material and the xmodel
4. Compile shaders: worldfx_ocean and worldfx_ocean_unlit by either using ShaderGen, included within cod4-compileToolsXaml or shader_tool directly
5. Place the ocean_plane xmodel into your map or apply the material to any other kind of xmodel/terrain patch
6. Tweak in-game using IW3xo (The shader ships with in-game tweaking enabled, requiring IW3xo to be used, see below to disable this if needed)

Tweaking in-game using the GUI:

1. Use IW3xo and the built in /devgui command -> ocean tab to tweak the shader however you like. Use the export button to export your settings.
   • settings will be exported to root/iw3xo/shader_settings/ocean_settings.txt
2. Overwrite the static shader constants inside the #else block (if USE_CUSTOM_CONSTANTS is not defined) in both the vertex and pixelshader.
   • Note that both are sharing 3 of the exported constants.
3. The shader ships with in-game tweaking enabled, requiring IW3xo to be used.
   • This can be disabled by commenting “//” #define USE_CUSTOM_CONSTANTS in both the vertex and pixelshader.
4. Disabling USE_CUSTOM_CONSTANTS will enable vanilla cod4 usage. You have to do this before you ship your mod/map.
5. General shader features such as reflection probe usage or debug ouput can be enabled by defining certain pre-defined preprocessors.
   • eg. #define USE_REFLECTION_PROBES; #define DEBUG_NORMALS etc

Tweaking in-game using an addon fastfile:

• IW3xo supports loading/reloading of fastfiles and its assets in-game
• Expecting that you already have the shader up and running in your map/mod, do the following:

material,dynamic_ocean
techset,mc_worldfx_ocean
techset,wc_worldfx_ocean
techset,worldfx_ocean

• Modify the shader however you like and recompile it. Make sure you get no errors when doing so.
• Build the fastfile. Again, watch for errors.
• Load up your map/mod thats including the ocean shader
• Use the following command to load your zone file: /loadzone your_zone_name
• The ocean shader should now reflect your changes
• Rinse and repeat

Asset Manager Material Settings:

1. Template: the material template to be used for this material (deffiles/materials/)
2. String: the techset that will be used for the material. If you created copies of the shader files, you’ll need to edit this to reflect your changes
3. colorMap: cubeMap for reflections and sky radiance
   • use IW3xo to generate cubeMaps using the now fixed command /cubeMapShot 1024 filename (dvar r_smp_backend needs to be disabled)
4. normalMap: water normal map
5. specularMap: foam texture (both high wave and shore foam)
6. cosineMap: no longer in use, but could be used within the shader by sampling the alpha channel of the specularMap