Seamless World
by Brian Edey · in Torque Game Engine · 10/05/2003 (12:08 am) · 9 replies
Im looking at creating a very large map. Basically a seamless world to wonder around in. Now I can keep running in the demo, but it doesnt save changes I make to the world. Outside of the area the new mission starts me in.
Iam wondering how to do this? How to create a terrain with either multiple heightmaps and see them in a zoomed out mode, or have a way of placing them in the editor.
Also I have seen the A Guide to the Torque engine, which is helpful but not in this. Is there more documentation somewhere? The site isnt laid out very well.
Thank you
Iam wondering how to do this? How to create a terrain with either multiple heightmaps and see them in a zoomed out mode, or have a way of placing them in the editor.
Also I have seen the A Guide to the Torque engine, which is helpful but not in this. Is there more documentation somewhere? The site isnt laid out very well.
Thank you
About the author
#2
10/05/2003 (2:57 am)
Look for the terrain manager. The world is dulpecated over and over for infanty. The Terrain manager which is around soewhere trys to work around this letting you have multiple terrain blocks.
#3
The GORPE tree includes the most up to date copy of the TerrainManager code as well as some additional things (see my plan for more info). You can pull the GORPE tree from the GarageGames CVS by settign your CVS root to /cvs/gorpe instead of /cvs/torque.
10/05/2003 (4:44 am)
The TerrainManager code allows you to stich together multiple blocks of 256x256 terrain into a grid. You can find more information by searching for TerrainManager for some of the older dicussions as well as reading the terrain discussions forums for more up to date info.The GORPE tree includes the most up to date copy of the TerrainManager code as well as some additional things (see my plan for more info). You can pull the GORPE tree from the GarageGames CVS by settign your CVS root to /cvs/gorpe instead of /cvs/torque.
#4
I know i have said this before but i still cant get it to work becuase of python. First there is not python.h file then when i get that it cant find the python32.lib (or something like that). then i tried to use your python.h file but then get alot more error i fixed some but the more came after that. Is there a easy way i can get the .lib file. can someone e-mail it to me or something. I would really like to use the freatures of the TerrainManager.
Thank You
Ryan Zec
10/05/2003 (4:52 am)
J. Donavan Stanley:I know i have said this before but i still cant get it to work becuase of python. First there is not python.h file then when i get that it cant find the python32.lib (or something like that). then i tried to use your python.h file but then get alot more error i fixed some but the more came after that. Is there a easy way i can get the .lib file. can someone e-mail it to me or something. I would really like to use the freatures of the TerrainManager.
Thank You
Ryan Zec
#5
Python support requires that you have Python installed on your system. The Pyconfig and python headers I include are meant to go in your python22\include directory and then only if you haven't built the debug versions of the Python libs.
You can drop me a line at jdonavan@gorpe.com if you're still having issues after installing Python.
10/05/2003 (6:44 am)
Ryan,Python support requires that you have Python installed on your system. The Pyconfig and python headers I include are meant to go in your python22\include directory and then only if you haven't built the debug versions of the Python libs.
You can drop me a line at jdonavan@gorpe.com if you're still having issues after installing Python.
#6
10/06/2003 (11:03 pm)
OK I got those, but the Gorpe SDK says the worlds are in zones, not seamless. Before I go to far, is the docs with Gorpe false? or old?
#7
1) Terrain paging - The ability to swap terrain and the objects on that terrain in and out of memory.
2) Mutliple interconected servers - What looks to the user like one server handling a huge landmass is multiple servers each handling a segment of the terrain. As players and NPCs move across terrain they are handed off to different servers.
TerrainManager deals with #1. Or at least it will when it's complete. The paging support is limited in GORPE right now. The terrain blocks themselves and their lightmaps can be loaded / unloaded on the fly but I've not yet added support for paging out the objects on the terrain itself. It's also the only way to use anything beyond a single 256x256 heightmap in Torque.
#2 Is a whole different animal and requires massive changes to the client/sever setup within Torque. Seemless worlds make every interaction between a player and the world / other players much more complex.
10/07/2003 (2:11 am)
Seemless worlds involve two core areas:1) Terrain paging - The ability to swap terrain and the objects on that terrain in and out of memory.
2) Mutliple interconected servers - What looks to the user like one server handling a huge landmass is multiple servers each handling a segment of the terrain. As players and NPCs move across terrain they are handed off to different servers.
TerrainManager deals with #1. Or at least it will when it's complete. The paging support is limited in GORPE right now. The terrain blocks themselves and their lightmaps can be loaded / unloaded on the fly but I've not yet added support for paging out the objects on the terrain itself. It's also the only way to use anything beyond a single 256x256 heightmap in Torque.
#2 Is a whole different animal and requires massive changes to the client/sever setup within Torque. Seemless worlds make every interaction between a player and the world / other players much more complex.
#8
So basically its possible to have 5x5 heightmaps, then when past that 5x5 it loads like a zone?
10/07/2003 (12:20 pm)
Cool, thanks J. Donavan Stanley. So basically its possible to have 5x5 heightmaps, then when past that 5x5 it loads like a zone?
#9
Is the gorpe code still available ? Has the terrain manager improved ? #2 on the list ?
02/17/2006 (12:04 pm)
Hi,Is the gorpe code still available ? Has the terrain manager improved ? #2 on the list ?
Torque 3D Owner Jorge Luis Gandulfo
So far i couldn't figure out the built in map editor so well.