Player Invisible at distance
by Joel Hargarten · in General Discussion · 04/18/2007 (5:41 pm) · 9 replies
Hey,
I currently have two models on display when I load the game. I have the space Orc and I have my own. When I click Alt + c and go into the camera mode, I can see them both. But when I go to a far away point. I can only see the space Orc. It still lists both names above the models, but my model is invisible! When I get close again, it reappears. The space orc DTS is 184 kb, and mine is 191kb. Is this some kind of culling thing to reduce stress when running the game? Because its really getting in the way. It doesnt seem to matter which player datablock I use either. Any thoughts? Thanks.
I currently have two models on display when I load the game. I have the space Orc and I have my own. When I click Alt + c and go into the camera mode, I can see them both. But when I go to a far away point. I can only see the space Orc. It still lists both names above the models, but my model is invisible! When I get close again, it reappears. The space orc DTS is 184 kb, and mine is 191kb. Is this some kind of culling thing to reduce stress when running the game? Because its really getting in the way. It doesnt seem to matter which player datablock I use either. Any thoughts? Thanks.
#2
04/18/2007 (7:25 pm)
I have a model that has multiple meshes attached to it. I have a LOD of 3 attached to each. Could it have something to do with having several meshes?
#3
04/20/2007 (7:03 am)
When I set the LOD on each mesh to anything except 3, the model cannot be seen at any time.
#4
04/20/2007 (10:22 pm)
Have you checked the log of your exporter for any error messages? I'd start there, i cant think of any reason the engine would behave that way.
#5
05/23/2007 (8:47 am)
After some testing, I've realized that my problem has to do with the detail level's I am setting. If I add a detail of 3 to the mesh, which I have had up to this point, its only visible when your close to the model. If I set 2, its only visible from far away, and the mesh disappears when you get close. I guess I don' t know how to set the detail level for each mesh. I need to set it for both 2 and 3 details levels. And how does the mesh name have to correspond to the detail level? Thanks.
#6
Can you tell us the names of the meshes in your heirarchy? For example . . .
myorc2
myorc32
myorc64
myorc128
That's the naming convention that I use and it works well for me. You probably already know this, but the numbers at the end of each mesh name are important for the LOD switching process. Those numbers tell the engine when to swap out a mesh, based on pixel sizes of the object as it's being drawn on the screen.
Whenever I have a mesh that appears and disappears improperly at various distances, it's usually because I set up the naming incorrectly. This could be the case for you as well.
Also, you'll want to have a matching set of _detail markers in the hierarchy to let the engine know when to look for your meshes.
Hopefully this info will help. And hopefully someone will correct me if I've misrepresented some of the technical stuff. :)
05/23/2007 (9:35 am)
Joel,Can you tell us the names of the meshes in your heirarchy? For example . . .
myorc2
myorc32
myorc64
myorc128
That's the naming convention that I use and it works well for me. You probably already know this, but the numbers at the end of each mesh name are important for the LOD switching process. Those numbers tell the engine when to swap out a mesh, based on pixel sizes of the object as it's being drawn on the screen.
Whenever I have a mesh that appears and disappears improperly at various distances, it's usually because I set up the naming incorrectly. This could be the case for you as well.
Also, you'll want to have a matching set of _detail markers in the hierarchy to let the engine know when to look for your meshes.
Hopefully this info will help. And hopefully someone will correct me if I've misrepresented some of the technical stuff. :)
#7
05/23/2007 (10:18 am)
Well, I have my models divided into different sections. But each one is named in the same way. For example, LeftArm3, Head3, Torso3, etc. I use 3 at the end of each one. I've switched it to 2 then I can only see the model from far away. How do I get it to work for both 2 and 3? Do I need to add detail2, detail3, dummies to each mesh I have?
#8
For example lets say you have two meshes in your hierarchy . . .
myorc2
myorc32
If I remember correctly, from 2 pixels up to 31 pixels, the myorc2 mesh will be drawn on the screen. When the player moves closer so that the orc takes up 32 or more pixels on the screen, then myorc32 will be drawn. If the player moves even closer, so that the orc occupies 280 pixels of the screen, the game would still only draw the mesh named myorc32. If you wanted an even higher quality version of the orc to appear at that distance, then you should probably create another mesh version (with more polygons and/or better texturing) and name the new mesh myorc256.
As I understand things, this is the general way that LODs work in TGE and TGEA. Again, if I'm a little off on my technical details, maybe someone will clarify things.
05/23/2007 (11:43 am)
Ok. That's the problem then. The number at the end is not a reference to the 'level' of detail, but the pixel height that a particular mesh will appear at (or between).For example lets say you have two meshes in your hierarchy . . .
myorc2
myorc32
If I remember correctly, from 2 pixels up to 31 pixels, the myorc2 mesh will be drawn on the screen. When the player moves closer so that the orc takes up 32 or more pixels on the screen, then myorc32 will be drawn. If the player moves even closer, so that the orc occupies 280 pixels of the screen, the game would still only draw the mesh named myorc32. If you wanted an even higher quality version of the orc to appear at that distance, then you should probably create another mesh version (with more polygons and/or better texturing) and name the new mesh myorc256.
As I understand things, this is the general way that LODs work in TGE and TGEA. Again, if I'm a little off on my technical details, maybe someone will clarify things.
#9
Just a lurker here as I havent bought the engine yet
I just want to say that the above was a nice explaination even I could understand!
Jim
05/23/2007 (12:58 pm)
Hi AaronJust a lurker here as I havent bought the engine yet
I just want to say that the above was a nice explaination even I could understand!
Jim
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