Everything I seem to read about vispatching Quake 1 maps says that it is an old utility that doesn't work on modern machines and doesn't even work in DOSBox, so how do you do this nowadays?

If anyone isn't aware, vispatching allows for water surface transparency so that you can see through the surface to see what is within the water without having to dive in.

Well, I found some vispatch files here:

[url=ftp://england.codedelta.com/pub/Quake/vis/patches]ftp://england.codedelta.com/pub/Quake/vis/patches[/url]/

Nothing for Abyss of Pandemonium though.

You can grab some pre-generated files on the Vispatch sourceforge page. I can't post a link for some reason (maybe because I haven't posted before).

Yeah, you need to hit a certain rep value before it lets you post links. But you should be able to write an address, such as: www dot gog dot com

I tried looking for pre-generated files and did find some for ID1, Hipnotic and Rogue (see the FTP address I put above), but those still require the vispatch to be run against the pak files using the contained data files. I'll give this a try tonight when I get home from work.

That's only for world rendering though, isn't it? If you're inside water, you won't see mobs or movable entities outside the water.

Can't recall if vispatching worked like that, though - it's been a while :)

I don't thinkg Abyss of Pandemonium needs vispatching.. did you try it? Oh, yes. I also recall something like that. Well, monsters cannot see you in the water. It is just fair ;)

Well I've set r_novis = 1 and the wateralpha to 0.7, and I can see both architecture and items and monsters within the water when I'm not in the water, so that all works fine. Haven't tested looking at stuff outside the water when I'm submerged in it though.

It is possible that my old Quake 1 and expansion pack files (from before my GOG purchase) are already vispatched, but Abyss of Pandemonium I've no idea. It is a re-released expansion so they may have vispatched it themselves. In any case, I can see into the water in that expansion, too. Just need to test looking out from within the water now.

EDIT: Oh, and I've been testing it in DarkPlaces, so I probably ought to test it in QuakeSpasm too.

Can you get screenshots? I'll try to get ones of the same area then to compare. I can definitely see items in the water from outside it, though. At least in DarkPlaces, that is.

Good news about impel. If the pak files I'm using are already vispatched then that makes a full set. ☺

Here's a screenshot taken in E1M4. It's the first big water area after you go down the spiral shaft.

I did cheat by using notarget as I didn't want the enemies following me into the water, but it does show that I can see enemies and objects (you can see a key and a health pack) that are outside the water even though I'm underwater.

Now it could be that I'm using old copies of the pak files that I vispatched many years ago, but wouldn't r_novis just do the same anyway?

Same location using QuakeSpasm. This time I've pointed out the items and enemies.

EDIT: Did another test using QuakeSpasm. This time, I used notarget to get to that location, and then I turned it off. The enemies didn't spot me until I popped my head above the surface. Once they'd seen me, though, they came after me, even though I'd submerged before they entered the water.

No, etb is right.

Both screenshots taken with notarget, r_novis 1 and r_wateralpha 0.7

They must be pak files that I vispatched years ago, then, as they are clearly visible for me.

There is a post on the quakeone forums that confirms our observations.