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102 lines
5.3 KiB
HTML
102 lines
5.3 KiB
HTML
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<html>
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<head>
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<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
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<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0">
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<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
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<title>Blocking Vis</title>
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</head>
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<body background="../pics/background.jpg" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFFFF" vlink="#FFFFFF" alink="#FFFFFF">
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<b>
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<p align="center"><font size="5">Blocking Vis</font></p>
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<div align="right">
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<table border="1" cellspacing="1" width="100%" bordercolor="#808080" bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding="10">
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<tr>
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<td width="100%"><font FACE="Times New Roman">
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<p> Terrain maps still have to follow the rules that apply to all Q3A engine
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maps. There<72>s only so much that you can allow to be seen at one time, or the
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game starts slowing down. The good news is that the engine will only draw the
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terrain triangles that are in the player<65>s PVS (potential visible set). It
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doesn<EFBFBD>t have to draw all the triangles in the terrain entity just because part
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of the entity is in view.</p>
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<p> At first, most of the usual bag of tricks that mappers use to create vis
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blocking structures in architectural maps don<6F>t seem to apply to terrain. But
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that is not the case. If anything, you <font color="#FFFF00"> NEED</font> to think of terrain in much the same
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way as you think of buildings. You are still dealing with open spaces that could
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be considered corridors and large rooms <20> even though they look like large
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valleys.</p>
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<p> In fact, it would be best to plan out the layout of your terrain
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<font color="#FFFF00"> BEFORE</font>
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creating your height map. If you know you want to block vis, you can design your
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terrain to work with vis blocking techniques and avoid the agony of having to go
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all the way back to the start when you discover that your killer terrain map
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lets you see too much at once.</p>
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<p> If you want the player, even in spectator mode, to be able to fly everywhere
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and see the whole world laid out below him <20> an unrestricted vista, so to
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speak, you<6F>re going to be much more limited. Every single triangle in the map
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will essentially be viewable at any moment in time. However, if you<6F>re willing
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to place restrictions on your players - limit how high they can fly or climb,
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you suddenly have more options for blocking player visibility.</p>
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<p> First, the terrain entity is entirely detail content, so it doesn<73>t block
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vis. That<61>s a key part of how this whole process works. Otherwise, vis time
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would be measured in eras (not minutes or hours) and visdata size would be very,
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very large.</p>
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<p> To block vis in the terrain, start by creating simple
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vis-blocking structures
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out of caulk texture inside the forms of the terrain (they are not part of the
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terrain entity). You can try to match the silhouette of the terrain, but in the
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end, you may only end up complicating the visdata without gaining any real
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benefit.</p>
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<p> Next, and this is going to sound strange, build thin walls of caulk that
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follow the divide line (where the terrain falls away on both sides) of the
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highest mountains, buttes or hills. Only do this where you know that you will
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not allow the player to move over or see over </font><font FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR="#000000">that
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part of the terrain (we<77>ll talk about clipping real soon).</p>
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<p> </p>
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</font><b><font SIZE="4">
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<p>Other Tips:</p>
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<blockquote>
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<blockquote>
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</font></b><font FACE="Symbol" SIZE="2">
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<p><EFBFBD> </font><b><font FACE="Times New Roman">Sky Texture in Place of Caulk:</font></b><font FACE="Times New Roman">
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You sometimes want to apply the sky texture to some of the surfaces of the thin
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walls used as vis blockers. This can remove some HOM effects. The caulk brushes
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that block the vis around the bases in mpterra2 have sky texture painted on the
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surfaces facing the base.</p>
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</font><font FACE="Symbol" SIZE="2">
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<p><EFBFBD> </font><b><font FACE="Times New Roman">Hint Brushes:</font></b><font FACE="Times New Roman">
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Use these extremely sparingly and only after trying to solve the problem in
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other ways. Hint brushes can add hours to vis compile times. Even so, they can
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make a difference. One trick you can try is to put a horizontal hint brush at a
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point about midway up the slopes of your terrain. It can add some additional vis
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break points.</p>
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</font><b><font FACE="Symbol" SIZE="2">
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<p><font color="#FFFFFF"><EFBFBD> </font> </font><font FACE="Times New Roman" color="#FFFFFF">Adjusting Terrain:</font></b><font FACE="Times New Roman" color="#FFFFFF">
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Vis times totally depend on the placement of your vis blockers. Vis times are
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not affected by modifying the terrain surfaces (terrain entities are detail
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content, remember?). With that being said, you may want to modify the terrain to
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allow you to more effectively position the vis-blockers.
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</font>
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</p>
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</blockquote>
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</blockquote>
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<p align="center"><a href="terrain_texture.html">Back</a> - <a href="table_of_contents.html">Table
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of Contents</a> - <a href="clipping_the_terrain.html">Clipping the Terrain</a></p>
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<p> </td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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</div>
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</b>
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<p> </p>
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<p> </p>
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<p align="center">-18-</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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