Faerie Gets A Face Lift.

[ProjectX]

Right guys, I've updated faerie a bit to brighten it up and make it look a bit more magical, I'll show you some shots soon. I want to know which you prefer (i'll have preferance shots up ASAP)

EDIT: ok, the're here (new shot on the left, old shot on the right)

 

[bobnine]

Could you please also optimise the level while your at it,that level runs very slowly on my computer(about 5-15 fps)

Looks alot better with the new lighting,you can actuly see.

 

[ProjectX]

Sorry, short of decreasing the fog distance there's not much I can do (I've got aniportals in all viable locations, I can't use zoning and the terrain only visible where it needs to be.

Sadly the new skybox will make things just slightly worse. If it's any consolation it works great on my PC. What r ure specs?

 

[bobnine]

2.4ghz pentium 4 hyper threading
512 ddr ram
128mb gforce 4 ti 4200 (my parents chose it,not me,and they dont care if games run slow)
ASUS motherboard

 

[bobnine]

you could shorten the veiw distance,and put cull distances on some of the static mesh's

Its the only UnWheel level that runs slowly,my comp doesnt seem to like lots of static mesh's

 

[$n][pErMan]

Cooly

 

[carmatic]

so thats why some of the unwheel maps have this wierd feeling of static meshes popping up in front of me... umm can the static meshes have different cull distances? like imagine, seeing a big rock from a distance , and the road goes around to the back of it... then when you drive around the side of the rock, you suddenly see lots of smaller rocks, and another big rock in the distance, etc etc etc...

 

[Shrimp]

Wow, looking a lot sharper and vibrant. Looks like the map will be fully realised this time around . It also definitaly looks a lot more 'magical' (is it the new colours/lighting helping there?).

The lightness will also hopefully help people navigate a bit easier .

The idea of using a culling distance for a lot of the Meshes may also be useful. If anything, you can use that to pretty up some parts of the map. For example the big leafy bits that hang over some parts of the map - maybe those meshes could be replaced with more detailed bushy/leafy plants as you get nearer?

GG!

 

[ProjectX]

The idea of using a culling distance for a lot of the Meshes may also be useful. If anything, you can use that to pretty up some parts of the map. For example the big leafy bits that hang over some parts of the map - maybe those meshes could be replaced with more detailed bushy/leafy plants as you get nearer?
GG!

I would have no idea whatsoever on how to do that.

I know how to cull things when they're a certain distance away, but culling them when they're within a certain distance - I don't think that's possible.

 

[carmatic]

how about, you dont cull them out when they get within a certain distance, instead the meshes are negigibly simple and very large, and other meshes will overlap onto the large,simple mesh to give it more detail as you get closer... just as long as theyre roughly the same colour, dont stick out that much, etc etc...

 

[ProjectX]

how about, you dont cull them out when they get within a certain distance, instead the meshes are negigibly simple and very large, and other meshes will overlap onto the large,simple mesh to give it more detail as you get closer... just as long as theyre roughly the same colour, dont stick out that much, etc etc...

That migh wok but it'd be ricky to pull it off well, hey Shrimp could you code an extesnion of the static mesh that disappears when the camera is within a certain radius? All you'd have to do is reverse the code for culling a static mesh when you go outside of the radius of a mesh. This would allow us to do UBER high-detail levels (since the camera moves so fast we have to make big levels, therefore we can't put in much detail, however with this culling technique for larger (low-detail) meshes and the standard culling technique for smaller (high-detail) meshes we can successfully produce much more complex out-door scenes.

It wouldn't even have to fade just pop out of existence like the current culling method, would that be possible Shrimp?

EDIT: hmm... according to a comment on the culling code of an actor, if you set the distance to something < 0 you get th effect I'm looking for. I'm gonna try it now.

 

[stevenhorton]

Hey ProjectX, here is your loop Scale it to about .7.

 

[JACK SH!T]

Looks great ! Can you make it easier to navigate? I think I speak for a lot of people when I say the only reason I never vote for that map, is becouse I can't tell where to go (insert wise crack here). The course is vage, and the direction arrows can be confusing/hard to see/find.

 

[ProjectX]

Hopefully the track is easier to see, and the arrows are definately easier to see, but I'll add some barriers to make it harder for you to go off-track.

PS. Thanks steve, that's perfect.

 

[carmatic]

hm, changing the visibility of staticmeshes sounds like a deep engine thing that's not what a mod usually does...

did that negative number trick work?i think that making them dissapear when you get within a certain distance is a better idea, because if you dont make them dissapear you can only make them expand, instead of giving them more refined forms

but, you should still think about the big rock - small rock idea, i think thats the idea that alot of proper racing games use

 

[ProjectX]

It's a shame, but the negative number for the culling property didn't work...

 

[ProjectX]

BUMP!!

an idea for the static mesh thingummy! (tell me if it's impossible, or code it if it's possible - please):

You do a trace every (what, 5 or something) ticks from the car to the SM and if the distance is below X then you don't show it, that way a mes is effectively culled when it is less than a certain distance! *beams happily*

 

[Shrimp]

I gave that a quick try a while ago, unfortunately it didn't quite work

Perhaps I'll try again though... That was before I got into the whole code swing of things again .

 

[ProjectX]

I gave that a quick try a while ago, unfortunately it didn't quite work

Perhaps I'll try again though... That was before I got into the whole code swing of things again .

cool because then we could effectively LOD our maps and make them the highest-detailed maps around

 

[craze]

soooooo, when is this map going to be ready?