tc isle terrain

Post by **Remdul** » Sat Nov 15, 2003 4:21 pm

I created some models for the river:

http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom ... rocks1.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom ... rocks2.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom ... rocks3.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom ... rocks4.jpg

Looks pretty neat, but the mipmapping will have to be disabled because the objects intersect with the terrain (see 2nd pic). Textures match each other pretty good.

Rebel, I got the suspicion that the terrain in TresEd is rendered a little bit lower than in Tres itself. Or is it just me?

In order to make the models fit seamlessly, I'll have to make some minor ajustments to the terrain. I assume you haven't been working on it since your last terrain update?

Post by **Rebel** » Sat Nov 15, 2003 8:21 pm

STuff looks good, Rem. Especially like the rock formation for that little waterfall drop. Nice work.

The terrain should be terrainx2 (not x1) just in case you downloaded that file before I had removed it.

*Yup, what you see in tresed is a bit different, terrain wise. The terrain is slightly lower than it actually renders in game. I'd guess about 6 inches to 10 inches.

*I'd rather stay away from disabling mipmaps if possible, Remdul. The nocache values pretty much do the same thing, but without the lost of a palette. How many objects are we talking here? All of the rocks, or just a few? If all the rocks share the same texture, well, then a mipmap false might not be so bad. Of course, whatever needs to be done, that's we'll do.

Post by **Remdul** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 4:42 pm

Imported the water objects. Stuff looks pretty good, exept for some water objects, which are at an angle so they mess up. I'll try to flatten the model and rotate it to get the same effect, allthough that might cause the physics to go bananas.
As I expected I had to chop up the water objects, but the seems are not to apparant, even when the water is animated it doesn't look too bad. I'll model a few branches that can ly exactly over the seems to hide them wherever possible.

There isn't a way to completely disable mipmapping on objects, right? I tried using the float Culling value but I didn't see much difference either.

Objects of the "Backdrop class" don't mipmap but when the object completely disapears whenever I change the class value to that (I think that's because these objects are not drawn to the z-buffer, other polygons are drawn on top).

Post by **Rebel** » Mon Nov 17, 2003 8:07 pm

Not sure just what tricks might work, Remdul, but we'll figure something out. The stuff sounds quite cool, bet it looks good.

*Take your time, though. Don't upload the setup until you're satisfied.

(However, as soon as you're done with the terrain touchups, upload the wtd file if you could as I need to fix another locale)

Post by **Remdul** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 4:27 pm

Done with the terrain:

http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom/minilev.wtd

Waterfall rock models are in place, sound triggers. I'll have to redo the water objects as the terrain changed somewhat and the rocks where moved around.

http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom/river1.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom/river2.jpg
http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom/river3.jpg

I also tossed in some water disturbance triggers, used more than one for each waterfall because a single trigger caused perfect ripples.

All 'n all, it looks great without the terrain objects already.

As soon as I got the new water objects done I'll upload the files and I'll start on the terrain objects for the river, which by then should be much easier as I got some objects for reference in my MAX scene (terrain import didn't really work out).

Post by **Rebel** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 4:41 pm

Sounds good, Martijn. We're our own worst critics, so if you think it all looks great, I'm certain that it does.

Multiple disturbance triggers should create an unsettled water surface. Good idea --

(got terrain -- will upload after I'm done with the fixes)

Post by **Rebel** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 12:55 am

Damn, Remdul.... I didn't notice that those links were new pics before.

Everything looks damn good; rock formations look quite natural and even the water looks great. I imagine with the riverbed in place, it'll look incredible.

Nice work, man.

Post by **Remdul** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 6:56 pm

Uploaded the models. Not a final version but I thought I'd upload it...

http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom/river_v1.zip

Waterfalls needs textures, I still prefer to use transparant textures but I'll create them when we got that problem solved. Otherwise I will create some like the ones in the original levels but, of cource, better looking ones.

Sound triggers need some tweaking Rebel, they don't really fade out as you leave them. Sound doesn't match the smaller waterfalls but I have some perfect ones lying around somewhere, we can import those.

Water is broken on one or two objects (though they look interesting), I'll fix those.

Post by **Rebel** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 7:03 pm

I'll check it all out, Rem. Fading only works with the ambient.tpa (and seemingly, only with the original sounds for some reason). We have several default waterfall sounds at our disposal, so I'll look into that. You can also use the float volume max/min to control the sound clip, so that by itself can add some differences into the overall sound between waterfalls.

Only difference between the one I'm using in the testzone and the one you supplied appears to be the maxvoldistance. Changed that, the fade seemed to work fine.

Stuff looks great, though the waterfalls missing look a bit weird!

Anyways, another piece of fine work, Remdul.

Post by **Rebel** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 8:29 pm

Rem, water model rvrwtr07 doesn't appear to be reacting as water. Is there some type of water object limit, or is there something else going on that I missed...?

Post by **Remdul** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:48 pm

Yes I noticed that. Sometimes it does react, but it is most likely due to the fact that the model isn't exactly flat.

I'll be working on that.

Ambient sound thingy makes sense.

If you like I can create a temporary waterfall animation that uses normal opacity maps. Yes, I think I'll do that, so we can post screenshots up on the next site update.

Post by **Rebel** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:51 pm

Sounds good, my friend.

Post by **Rebel** » Fri Nov 21, 2003 9:05 pm

Here's a quick, cinematic shot for you, Remdul. I've just begun trying to work out the details of the area. I'm trying to sneak just enough trees in the area so we can hopefully use our rainfall. I have to say, even without the animations, the waterfall drops and their rock formations look pretty damn cool.

Level Screenshot 20

Level Screenshot 21

Post by **Remdul** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 10:31 am

Looks darn neat indeed Rebel. Tree shadow magic.

Uploaded river terrain objects:

http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom ... obj_v1.zip

Edges can be covered up with the smaller terrainobjects. I thought that the gravel texture fits best with the animated water, and the river texture fits perfectly on the on the steep banks (like underneath the bridge).

I'll create a few extra terrain textures to be put near the small waterfalls so the rock formations blend in with the terrain itself...

* Done. Upped a zip with the textures and terrain object model + instances all in place.

http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom/rockterrain.zip

* In case you need more large terrain objects Rebel, it might be handy if you'd put in place the objects that will cover the edges and send them to me (exported to .3ds format so I can import them into 3dsmax without much trouble). Something like this:
http://home.planet.nl/~buijs512/trescom/tresed1.jpg
That way its easy to model the terrain object without having to worry about whether it lines up correctly.

Post by **Rebel** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 11:53 am

Okeedok, Rem. Unfortunately, must take off for work, but I'll check this all out when I return.

*Don't worry, if I need any size or shape specific objects, I'll be sure to let you know.