mirror of
https://github.com/UberGames/GtkRadiant.git
synced 2024-12-11 04:51:10 +00:00
8037810110
git-svn-id: svn://svn.icculus.org/gtkradiant/GtkRadiant/branches/ZeroRadiant@177 8a3a26a2-13c4-0310-b231-cf6edde360e5
101 lines
5.3 KiB
HTML
101 lines
5.3 KiB
HTML
<html>
|
||
|
||
<head>
|
||
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
|
||
<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0">
|
||
<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
|
||
<title>Blocking Vis</title>
|
||
</head>
|
||
|
||
<body background="../pics/background.jpg" text="#FFFFFF" link="#FFFFFF" vlink="#FFFFFF" alink="#FFFFFF">
|
||
|
||
<b>
|
||
<p align="center"><font size="5">Blocking Vis</font></p>
|
||
<div align="right">
|
||
<table border="1" cellspacing="1" width="100%" bordercolor="#808080" bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding="10">
|
||
<tr>
|
||
<td width="100%"><font FACE="Times New Roman">
|
||
<p> Terrain maps still have to follow the rules that apply to all Q3A engine
|
||
maps. There’s only so much that you can allow to be seen at one time, or the
|
||
game starts slowing down. The good news is that the engine will only draw the
|
||
terrain triangles that are in the player’s PVS (potential visible set). It
|
||
doesn’t have to draw all the triangles in the terrain entity just because part
|
||
of the entity is in view.</p>
|
||
<p> At first, most of the usual bag of tricks that mappers use to create vis
|
||
blocking structures in architectural maps don’t seem to apply to terrain. But
|
||
that is not the case. If anything, you <font color="#FFFF00"> NEED</font> to think of terrain in much the same
|
||
way as you think of buildings. You are still dealing with open spaces that could
|
||
be considered corridors and large rooms … even though they look like large
|
||
valleys.</p>
|
||
<p> In fact, it would be best to plan out the layout of your terrain
|
||
<font color="#FFFF00"> BEFORE</font>
|
||
creating your height map. If you know you want to block vis, you can design your
|
||
terrain to work with vis blocking techniques and avoid the agony of having to go
|
||
all the way back to the start when you discover that your killer terrain map
|
||
lets you see too much at once.</p>
|
||
<p> If you want the player, even in spectator mode, to be able to fly everywhere
|
||
and see the whole world laid out below him … an unrestricted vista, so to
|
||
speak, you’re going to be much more limited. Every single triangle in the map
|
||
will essentially be viewable at any moment in time. However, if you’re willing
|
||
to place restrictions on your players - limit how high they can fly or climb,
|
||
you suddenly have more options for blocking player visibility.</p>
|
||
<p> First, the terrain entity is entirely detail content, so it doesn’t block
|
||
vis. That’s a key part of how this whole process works. Otherwise, vis time
|
||
would be measured in eras (not minutes or hours) and visdata size would be very,
|
||
very large.</p>
|
||
<p> To block vis in the terrain, start by creating simple
|
||
vis-blocking structures
|
||
out of caulk texture inside the forms of the terrain (they are not part of the
|
||
terrain entity). You can try to match the silhouette of the terrain, but in the
|
||
end, you may only end up complicating the visdata without gaining any real
|
||
benefit.</p>
|
||
<p> Next, and this is going to sound strange, build thin walls of caulk that
|
||
follow the divide line (where the terrain falls away on both sides) of the
|
||
highest mountains, buttes or hills. Only do this where you know that you will
|
||
not allow the player to move over or see over </font><font FACE="Times New Roman" COLOR="#000000">that
|
||
part of the terrain (we’ll talk about clipping real soon).</p>
|
||
<p> </p>
|
||
</font><b><font SIZE="4">
|
||
<p>Other Tips:</p>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
<blockquote>
|
||
</font></b><font FACE="Symbol" SIZE="2">
|
||
<p>· </font><b><font FACE="Times New Roman">Sky Texture in Place of Caulk:</font></b><font FACE="Times New Roman">
|
||
You sometimes want to apply the sky texture to some of the surfaces of the thin
|
||
walls used as vis blockers. This can remove some HOM effects. The caulk brushes
|
||
that block the vis around the bases in mpterra2 have sky texture painted on the
|
||
surfaces facing the base.</p>
|
||
</font><font FACE="Symbol" SIZE="2">
|
||
<p>· </font><b><font FACE="Times New Roman">Hint Brushes:</font></b><font FACE="Times New Roman">
|
||
Use these extremely sparingly and only after trying to solve the problem in
|
||
other ways. Hint brushes can add hours to vis compile times. Even so, they can
|
||
make a difference. One trick you can try is to put a horizontal hint brush at a
|
||
point about midway up the slopes of your terrain. It can add some additional vis
|
||
break points.</p>
|
||
</font><b><font FACE="Symbol" SIZE="2">
|
||
<p><font color="#FFFFFF">· </font> </font><font FACE="Times New Roman" color="#FFFFFF">Adjusting Terrain:</font></b><font FACE="Times New Roman" color="#FFFFFF">
|
||
Vis times totally depend on the placement of your vis blockers. Vis times are
|
||
not affected by modifying the terrain surfaces (terrain entities are detail
|
||
content, remember?). With that being said, you may want to modify the terrain to
|
||
allow you to more effectively position the vis-blockers.
|
||
</font>
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
|
||
<p align="center"><a href="terrain_texture.html">Back</a> - <a href="table_of_contents.html">Table
|
||
of Contents</a> - <a href="clipping_the_terrain.html">Clipping the Terrain</a></p>
|
||
|
||
<p> </td>
|
||
</tr>
|
||
</table>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</b>
|
||
<p> </p>
|
||
<p> </p>
|
||
<p align="center">-18-</p>
|
||
|
||
</body>
|
||
|
||
</html>
|