Game Development Community

Terrain problems - looking for a best solution

by MarkVince · in Torque 3D Beginner · 03/11/2010 (10:22 am) · 4 replies

I've just started using Torque3D ( Pro version ), and I'm running into some problems with terrains.

(i) - The terrain blocks handle a max. heightmap of 2048 x 2048. So I create several terrain blocks and
line them up... but there are still some 'sparkly' issues where they are aligned but not stitched.
Is this the best way of doing large terrains at the moment ? - several 2k x 2k patches, and if so is
there no way of stitching them? and if not then how has anyone else got round it ?

(ii) - I had z-fighting between the water plane and the underlying polys - particularly when I zoom well
out ( A necessary feature in the game ). So I increased the near clip ( as suggested in another
forum post )... but I still get zome fighting where the water runs up a gentle sloping edge.
Any suggestions here ?

I appreciate that there may not be any perfect solutions to these issues, I'd just really appreciate the best ways of minimizing them. Thanks.
NextNext Thread
PrevPrevious Thread
More from Torque 3D Beginner


Torque Owner Ken Johnston
Indiestructable Systems
#1
03/11/2010 (11:41 am)
(i) the 2048x2048 height map does not mean you have a 2k by 2k world, changing the grid size will change your world size and changing the size of the player, you can easily create 30kmx30km world sizes with a single terrain block just keep in mind when changing the grid size the scale of your terrain features change with it...take a look at the documentation on creating terrian for more detailed information.

(ii)not sure on this one exactly what you mean perhaps a screen shot to better illustrate what you mean?

Torque 3D Owner Ted Southard
#2
03/12/2010 (11:21 am)
1) Also, scaling your objects down can also make the terrain bigger without increasing the size of the terrain (I mention this because if you get more than 10k out from 0,0,0 you will begin running into floating point accuracy issues which cause jitter).

2) I have this issue as well on the alpha version of T3D. Have you tried with the beta to confirm it?

Torque Owner Daniel Buckmaster
T3D Steering Committee
#3
03/12/2010 (9:48 pm)
Quote:1) Also, scaling your objects down can also make the terrain bigger without increasing the size of the terrain (I mention this because if you get more than 10k out from 0,0,0 you will begin running into floating point accuracy issues which cause jitter).
But it does reduce the detail of the terrain. Is there no optimal solution to allow large, detailed terrain?

Also on a slightly unrelated note, I was under the impression that floating-point precision issues are always present - it's just that at a scale of 1 unit = 1m, you only start noticing problems at 10,000m. If you scaled it so that 1 unit = 10m, wouldn't the problems start being visible at 1km, since the smaller objects show the problem more than larger objects? (A jitter of 1mm at a scale of 1:1 appears to be a jitter of 1cm at a scale of 1:10.)

Torque 3D Owner MarkVince
iEntertainment Source
#4
03/16/2010 (1:32 am)
Thanks, when I said 'k' I meant '1024 texels'.... anyway, I'm finding loads of other problems and limitations with Torque, not too impressed I'm afraid. I'm starting a new thread with these....