Dts LODs (level of detail)
by Harvey Greensall · in Torque Game Engine Advanced · 02/24/2007 (5:56 am) · 20 replies
Hi all, yes me again...crazily posting on the forum as I try and port our game into TGEA.
Has anyone seen their LODs working in TGEA?
All of our DTS models LOD a treat in TGE, we've so many trees and buildings etc. with a pretty large draw distance and so it's very much needed. I've just dropped all out trees in, and it has totally KILLED the framerate. On closer inspection, I don't seem to have and LODs working on any of my models in TGEA. A pretty big problem.
Is there anything I'm missing? Is there a special way of getting the LODs to work in TGEA vs TGE ?
Thanks,
Harv
Has anyone seen their LODs working in TGEA?
All of our DTS models LOD a treat in TGE, we've so many trees and buildings etc. with a pretty large draw distance and so it's very much needed. I've just dropped all out trees in, and it has totally KILLED the framerate. On closer inspection, I don't seem to have and LODs working on any of my models in TGEA. A pretty big problem.
Is there anything I'm missing? Is there a special way of getting the LODs to work in TGEA vs TGE ?
Thanks,
Harv
#2
We've worked very hard with the LODs in the TGE version. They all display fine in TGE and in Showtool, but as far as I can tell, don't LOD in TGEA. Again, I'm sure there's something very simple we've missed...It's just finding that simple thing eh?
Harv
02/26/2007 (4:57 am)
Yes, I agree...we need a nudge in the right direction on this....We've worked very hard with the LODs in the TGE version. They all display fine in TGE and in Showtool, but as far as I can tell, don't LOD in TGEA. Again, I'm sure there's something very simple we've missed...It's just finding that simple thing eh?
Harv
#3
Try forcing LOD to a low value via preferences to easier spot if it really does not LOD.
02/26/2007 (6:17 am)
LOD works in our build.Try forcing LOD to a low value via preferences to easier spot if it really does not LOD.
#4
02/26/2007 (6:26 am)
Okay, fine. Maybe it's me. I'll look into it later in the week though, just to make sure. Cheers Stefan. 
#5
Could please describe what do you meant by "forcing LOD to a low value via preferences "?
Thank you.
02/26/2007 (7:02 am)
HI Stefan, Could please describe what do you meant by "forcing LOD to a low value via preferences "?
Thank you.
#6
All models in the game are green. Hence, all models are displaying highest LOD always. All worked fine in TGE.
@Stefan, do you have any special exporters etc. new to TGEA ? ...
03/01/2007 (12:51 pm)
Okay, we've applied a bright green texture to our highest LODs, orange to our medium LODs, and red to our low LODs ( a handy trick for ya ) All models in the game are green. Hence, all models are displaying highest LOD always. All worked fine in TGE.
@Stefan, do you have any special exporters etc. new to TGEA ? ...
#7
03/01/2007 (1:56 pm)
Have you run "unmess" on them? That often seems to fix detail level problems like this.
#8
03/01/2007 (2:16 pm)
Yeah... In fact, we've just seen a LODding seagull working from before, so lodding IS working....Looking into it...
#9
In our case the LOD seemed not to be working for our own developed contents. Though the LOD worked for the same content in ShowTool. I think we are missing something silly. I'll try the different texture techniques suggested by Harvey to be sure LOD is not working.
Let me know if you guys have any suggestion for me.
Thank you.
03/01/2007 (11:23 pm)
Yes, Like I said, we got the LOD working for the Trees in the content pack. In our case the LOD seemed not to be working for our own developed contents. Though the LOD worked for the same content in ShowTool. I think we are missing something silly. I'll try the different texture techniques suggested by Harvey to be sure LOD is not working.
Let me know if you guys have any suggestion for me.
Thank you.
#10
I used to have the same problem.
Now I'm using 3dsmax 9 + Adjust LOD.mcr + UnmessDTS, and LOD's work just fine,
if it helps any.
ALWAYS use Unmess DTS after exporting the DTS shape for making working Lod's with the TGEA.
it seems.
03/07/2007 (12:09 pm)
Hi !I used to have the same problem.
Now I'm using 3dsmax 9 + Adjust LOD.mcr + UnmessDTS, and LOD's work just fine,
if it helps any.
ALWAYS use Unmess DTS after exporting the DTS shape for making working Lod's with the TGEA.
it seems.
#11
Try using the crossbow from TGE and bring it into TGEA. It uses LOD and is what I tested with.
To force LOD lower (Mahmud) tinker with these:
03/07/2007 (12:24 pm)
Nope, we use the downloadable DTS exporter from this site - I believe.Try using the crossbow from TGE and bring it into TGEA. It uses LOD and is what I tested with.
To force LOD lower (Mahmud) tinker with these:
Quote:
prefs.cs
$pref::TS::autoDetail = "1";
$pref::TS::detailAdjust = "1";
#12
addikt
03/07/2007 (12:38 pm)
We have LOD working in general except Billboard detail levels dont work. We export it correctly and they work in Showtool, but once in game they never switch to the Billboard... Any ideas?addikt
#13
What is all about LOD.mcr?
What is UnmessDTS?
Could please explain a bit?
@Stefan
Thank you for the tips for forcing LOD in lower level.
@anyone
Could you please give me a pointer how can we use a billboard as last LOD level?
Thank you for all kind of helps.
03/08/2007 (12:13 am)
@ PetteriWhat is all about LOD.mcr?
What is UnmessDTS?
Could please explain a bit?
@Stefan
Thank you for the tips for forcing LOD in lower level.
@anyone
Could you please give me a pointer how can we use a billboard as last LOD level?
Thank you for all kind of helps.
#14
Here's the link to Adjust LOD and other exporting related things:
tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/DTS/OldDoc/Introduction
And UnmessDTS is a Max plugin which I'm not sure what it exactly does,
but it fixes the LOD level transition intervals to work better in TGEA .
03/08/2007 (12:35 am)
Hi Mahmud !Here's the link to Adjust LOD and other exporting related things:
tdn.garagegames.com/wiki/DTS/OldDoc/Introduction
And UnmessDTS is a Max plugin which I'm not sure what it exactly does,
but it fixes the LOD level transition intervals to work better in TGEA .
#15
03/14/2007 (2:31 am)
I thought billboards were broken? Maybe they were fixed since I last looked. 
#16
But the "master in charge" mentioned that he will put his fixes online.
03/14/2007 (4:31 am)
According a post in the bug board, autoorienting billboards are still bogus.But the "master in charge" mentioned that he will put his fixes online.
#17
All of our billboards still work in TGEA, the BBZ:: doesn't out of the box, but the normal BB:: billboarding works fine as far as I can tell.
I still have no LODs though, I'm looking into it today... By the way, this Adjust LOD.mcr script...Is that used to automatically generate the LODs? Because we just want it to use the LODs we have hand-made in the model, as it used to in TGE. Does anyone have this working in their TGEA ? I'll let you know my findings if I get this thing up and running today.
03/14/2007 (6:13 am)
Hi Guys, All of our billboards still work in TGEA, the BBZ:: doesn't out of the box, but the normal BB:: billboarding works fine as far as I can tell.
I still have no LODs though, I'm looking into it today... By the way, this Adjust LOD.mcr script...Is that used to automatically generate the LODs? Because we just want it to use the LODs we have hand-made in the model, as it used to in TGE. Does anyone have this working in their TGEA ? I'll let you know my findings if I get this thing up and running today.
#18
03/14/2007 (6:36 am)
Right, just to let you know, LODs are working...... None do as it stands, but if I just re-export the model, run the UnmessDTS again ( the dts's already had this before) then everything is fine. Seems strange that it only works if I re-export, but if it works, it'll do for me. Will take a day or two to go through everything to double check and fix etc. But, another job off the list. 8) 
#20
We got our LOD working at last. Thanks for the help.
Could you please point me any resources, how can we add billboard as a LOD level.
That would be a great help for us.
Thanks a lot.
03/14/2007 (10:45 am)
Hi Guys,We got our LOD working at last. Thanks for the help.
Could you please point me any resources, how can we add billboard as a LOD level.
That would be a great help for us.
Thanks a lot.
Torque Owner Mahmud Hasan
Mahmud again. We tested some tree DTS from torque content pack in TGEA and the LOD was working fine. But we got some problem. Our self developed DTS LOD was not working accurately. although we tested our DTS in the ShowTool Pro and it was showing different detail level. But in the engine the LOD was not working or seemed not to be working.
Anyway I could not find any good documentation about implementing LOD in the DTS except the TDN simple shape document.
I think we will need some proven help from Torque community.
Thanks.