[TF2] Add in the "render target" stuff that Gmod has?

[TF2CutContentWiki]

This is a wish list thing I've been hoping for for years as it would allow for some neat things in TF2 community servers.

Garry's Mod already has this feature and it allows for some really neat stuff to be done like those gmod Cinema servers.

I'm not 100% certain on this but there could be some potential security concerns when it comes to displaying web content through render targets. I've not heard of any issues of that sort arising from Gmod's version of the setup though.

[kisak-valve]

Hello @TF2CutContentWiki, please describe in detail what you'd like added to Team Fortress 2 under the assumption that the game developer who reads this has never seen this before, then give me a ping and I'll re-open this feature request.

[TF2CutContentWiki]

Hello @TF2CutContentWiki, please describe in detail what you'd like added to Team Fortress 2 under the assumption that the game developer who reads this has never seen this before, then give me a ping and I'll re-open this feature request.

Apologies @kisak-valve 😅 It's kind of tricky to explain as well as to find extended information on, but there are a few links I can provide on the topic:

• https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Adding_a_Dynamic_Scope - this has some cpp code for rendertargets
• https://wiki.facepunch.com/gmod/Global.GetRenderTarget
• https://wiki.facepunch.com/gmod/render.PushRenderTarget

And for what this can accomplish, if you were to check out this video;

https://youtu.be/PpVYU7PiBwc

Whenever you can see a YouTube video playing in the map, that's done through the RenderTarget system.

[kisak-valve]

Sorry, but this still lacks a clear description here of what you want added to the game and why.

It seems like your request is asking for an embedded web browser element for arbitrary video playback or is it a wildcard from anywhere? It might make more sense for this feature request to be for a steamwebhelper mapping element so that it will be maintained along with the Steam client, and doesn't have new cross-platform considerations to evaluate. The same web browser component as rendering a MOTD.

[TF2CutContentWiki]

@kisak-valve It is indeed a bit confusing to explain, but I found another video that shows off RTCamera and RenderTarget functionality in Source Filmmaker: https://youtu.be/VOeHkZsIJs4

Basically, you're pointing a "camera" at something and displaying what that camera sees on a surface. It's the same thing as the camera tool in Garry's mod.

If I'm not mistaken, I believe HL2 may also use RTCamera stuff for showing Dr. Breen on those displays in many levels. I'm not 100% certain though.

TF2 does not support this type of entity as it is. Having this entity added would allow for some neat map making opportunities as well as potentially allow for the creation of a GMOD Cinema-style server plugin for TF2 to be made.

The thing is, I don't know how the Gmod Cinema server add on handles the displaying of a webpage through the rendertarget texture. I probably should have looked into that before writing this suggestion.

But regardless of if it can display web content or not, it would still be neat to have proper RTCamera/rendertarget support in TF2. As mentioned earlier, it could open up a lot of map making opportunities that we couldn't do before. For example, proper security cameras in maps that actually show you on a rendertarget-textured panel what's going on in the area where the associated RTCamera is pointing.

[Ashetf2]

Security cameras can be done now that func_monitor and point_camera work in TF2. They were fixed in the vscript beta