Terrain help
by Michael Gaylord · in Torque 3D Beginner · 04/17/2014 (12:01 pm) · 9 replies
I made a terrain purely in the terrain editor. Well everything was fine. And then one day I launched Toqrue, went into the level I was working on and everything was all of a sudden dark like the lights were turned out. But they are not off, the light still shines in the far off distance but whenever I move the camera towards the light I never get any closer to it. So I went into free camera mode and zoomed out from the map. When I zoom out everything starts to lighten up but when I zoom back in the shadow appears again and grows larger the closer to the map I get until all the map is dark, except for far off in the distance.
I even created new maps and tried to copy what the settings were, but it never works. No matter what I set any of my settings to, the map never changes. I have moved and readjusted the map several times and still no changes. I am stumped with this and would like to use this map because it took me a couple of hours to get it how I wanted it in the first place.
I would even take suggestions as to how I can copy that terrain map to a new level to start off fresh. I have even tried to find out how I can import a height map created 100% in Torque to another level but have not seen any threads in the forums.
Thank you.
I even created new maps and tried to copy what the settings were, but it never works. No matter what I set any of my settings to, the map never changes. I have moved and readjusted the map several times and still no changes. I am stumped with this and would like to use this map because it took me a couple of hours to get it how I wanted it in the first place.
I would even take suggestions as to how I can copy that terrain map to a new level to start off fresh. I have even tried to find out how I can import a height map created 100% in Torque to another level but have not seen any threads in the forums.
Thank you.
#2
I had already tried both the creating new sun method as well as setting up a new blank level and added the .ter file to the blank. I have noticed that when I create the blank and add the .ter file that it is all the orange no material skin.
Now the strange thing is that when I zoom into the no mat terrain, the closer I get another smaller layer of the no mat texture appears beneath the other layer. And zooming in further there is a third and much smaller layer of no mat texture.
I would post screens of this but I do not know how to do that on these forums.
Thank you again for your response and help.
04/17/2014 (3:30 pm)
Thank you for the help. I had already tried both the creating new sun method as well as setting up a new blank level and added the .ter file to the blank. I have noticed that when I create the blank and add the .ter file that it is all the orange no material skin.
Now the strange thing is that when I zoom into the no mat terrain, the closer I get another smaller layer of the no mat texture appears beneath the other layer. And zooming in further there is a third and much smaller layer of no mat texture.
I would post screens of this but I do not know how to do that on these forums.
Thank you again for your response and help.
#3
04/17/2014 (3:59 pm)
Did you by chance add a skatter sky object beside your basic sun. If so delete it from the scene. Have both can cause trouble I think. 
#4
Ron
04/17/2014 (6:21 pm)
Besides all the other excellent suggestions, the only time I have had this occur is when I used .jpg image maps versus .png images on the terrain. I believe this is because T3D uses the transparent levels in .png and when they are not present it can cause conflicts with the terrain lighting. Just a suggestion.Ron
#5
04/18/2014 (1:45 am)
Quote:This is the terrain detail texturing at work - lets you have a low-detail texture show at a distance while adding detail to terrain features closer to the camera.
Now the strange thing is that when I zoom into the no mat terrain, the closer I get another smaller layer of the no mat texture appears beneath the other layer. And zooming in further there is a third and much smaller layer of no mat texture.
#6
04/18/2014 (9:31 am)
Is it possible that somehow your camera was moved UNDER the terrain? This has happened to me before, and it took me some time to to realize it. Try moving your camera all the way through the terrain to the other side. Just a thought. 
#7
04/19/2014 (1:59 am)
If I recall right its caused by a normal map on the terrain texture layer but no detail map assigned. have you moved the files or renamed a folder in the terrain textures you used ?
#8
It's a weird shadow and every time I am zoomed into the terrain or when using the player camera it gets pitch black on the terrain. When I zoom out away from the terrain the shadow shrinks and goes away.
I have even created a new terrain and map with no problems and tried to copy the exact settings of the new map and still cannot solve this problem.
04/22/2014 (9:04 am)
So I have tried all of everyone's very good suggestions, but to no avail. I have went as far as deleting everything, except the terrain, and creating all new objects like the sky and sun and still the same problem. It's a weird shadow and every time I am zoomed into the terrain or when using the player camera it gets pitch black on the terrain. When I zoom out away from the terrain the shadow shrinks and goes away.
I have even created a new terrain and map with no problems and tried to copy the exact settings of the new map and still cannot solve this problem.
#9
Also what file format are your detail and normal maps saved in
04/24/2014 (11:30 am)
Hey Michael, what is the strength of your detail/macro map in the terrain texture layer ?Also what file format are your detail and normal maps saved in
Jason Campbell
Failing that you can open a Blank Room and add a Terrain block from the Library/Level/Environment then in the properties of that terrain block look for Media. Beside terrainFile click the box with three dots and point it to your terrain file that ends in .ter.