SOLVED: Alpha Bleeding (White Edges) BAT4MAX 3DS MAX

[kaimai 1,042]

The images describing the apparent solution for this problem seem to have disappeared, if anyone still has their explanation from 5 years ago. @Barroco Hispano @Jasoncw @ anyone else who's still active. Neither black nor white edges really works here.

[Barroco Hispano 26,696]

@kaimai I'm almost sure you're using 3dsmax 2014 or 2017. The gamma fix has a problem because the author applied gamma correction to the alpha channel and that makes the halo worse (It's important to note that even with "my" modified version of the script, if you use version 2014 or later it produces a bigger halo effect than version 2012 because for some reason after exporting, the grey pixels become whiter).

You can find the modified script here:

(Be careful, if you are using the 2012 version, don't replace anything)

Add the lights (Day or night) to the scene, then press 8, move mr_physical_sky to the material editor

Then use this image as background since the default BAT4MAX background color ends up exacerbating the problem:

For the day version make sure it looks like this:

For the darknite/maxinite version make sure it looks like this:

In case the halo is too unbearable for your eyesight and you want to improve it a little more, do the following:

Install SC4 Model Tweaker, open the .sc4model file, then enable transparency (I usually enable it only at zoom 5 for trees, cars, sims, etc. I use max 2012 to export most of my buildings so I don't need to enable transparency, just changing the background color is enough. I export my ships with Max 2017 and then I do enable transparency at zoom 5 and 4).

Then you need to open the .sc4model file with the reader and manually change one by one the "Alpha Func: Always" to "Alpha Func: Greater". If your model is big, then you will see a lot of "Material id's", make sure to select one by one and change that parameter manually and finally click on "Apply". Don't think that with "shift + click" you will change the parameters of all the Materiald ID's automatically.

If your model is to be used underwater, do not activate transparency as the part that is underwater will become invisible. The "Always" parameter makes SimCity 4 use 100% transparency (alpha channel) but at the same time it generates a problem that is impossible to fix and that is why it is mandatory to change that parameter to "Greater".

[kaimai 1,042]

@Barroco Hispano Thank you! Yes, I use 2014 (I have a pretty old computer), and the gamma fix is already installed but I hadn't been able to export anything using 2014's "Use automatic gamma settings"; will try with the override and tweak the models if necessary.