Forest Pack Q&A

#161 Okay, I think that was a problem. The names being the same so then I remove Tree2 datablock and rename the Tree1 datablock to Tree and tried that.

The game started and see this in the console.log

Missing file: newForest.cs!
CreateShapeInstances in 0.03 seconds.
Forest::createForest - Forest count is zero. To save on memory hits, you should set it to the number of items this forest generates.
(newForest) Forest grew - itemIdx: 0  numOfItemsBefore: 0  numOfItemsAfter: 5000
(newForest) Forest grew - itemIdx: 5000  numOfItemsBefore: 5000  numOfItemsAfter: 10000
(newForest) Forest grew - itemIdx: 10000  numOfItemsBefore: 10000  numOfItemsAfter: 15000
(newForest) Forest grew - itemIdx: 15000  numOfItemsBefore: 15000  numOfItemsAfter: 20000
(newForest) Forest grew - itemIdx: 20000  numOfItemsBefore: 20000  numOfItemsAfter: 25000
---- End createForest: RandomSeed: 100  Forest Array Size: 25000    Num ForestItems: 22712    Number of ShapeInstances: 1

But then I got this error

Fatal: (d:\torque\hammerhead\afx_1.1_combopack\engine\forest\forest.cc @ 575) Forest::getDetailLevel: detail error

So now I'm guessing that error is the model?

#162 Okay, I changed the tree model to another one and got the game to load and it spawned the trees but I think I have the fog bug.

This you can see the fog in the trees
[image=http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/6162/screenshot00100001bk2.th.jpg][/im...

Then in this screenshot, what is the black around the trees


Is that because of the LOD (the image)?

Now when I move around the trees flickers between the first and second screenshots.

#163 Anyone know whats going on?

#164 Looks like the alpha blending is getting messed up. Does Arcane FX patch DTS rendering or the scenegraph at all?

#165 I have applied all the lighting fixes and I'm still getting the light/fog problem.

#166 I think maybe I've become invisible...

#167 The lighting is actually worse now with those "lighting fixes".

#168

Quote:I think maybe I've become invisible...

You weren't before?? hahaha, just kidding. This resource is awesome.
Tek0, your problem is eather what Ben Garney stated, or it's with your trees. Tests show that some of the trees that come with stock torque are messed up with this pack. (it's the fault of the export, not the code)

#169 @Tek0: Good to see that you've got it working. As far as the lighting/fog issue goes, well noone has ever completely fixed that. As mentioned by Mike Rowley some trees are simply messed up when used here. Some others work fine. And sometimes a subtle tweak to fog and lighting will make the problem go away, sometimes.

Quote:Looks like the alpha blending is getting messed up. Does Arcane FX patch DTS rendering or the scenegraph at all?

. I don't use Arcane FX alongside the ForestPack, I haven't explored it's code, and there are numerous resources that aren't 100% compatible with it, so I think that could be something for you to check into if your problem persists with other trees.

#170 @Tek0

Those trees look a little bit familiar, are they your own work or are they by chance from the "Sticks & Twigs" Pack?
The reason I ask is that I had trouble with this resource and the trees that I produced for that pack and it seemed to be LOD related. I was never able to resolve it...with the exception of removing all but the highest LOD...which kind of defeats the purpose.

If in fact they are from the S&T pack, I'd be curious if anyone has an idea why they would display properly in both vanilla TGE 1.5.2 and TGEA 1.7.1 but not with this resource? The final models are exported using the DTSPlus! exporter and I've never had any trouble with it. If they're not from the S&T Pack I'm still not convinced its not a LOD issue somehow, since it has the same appearance as the issue that I ran into and couldn't resolve.

I hope you're able to figure this out either way, since I was never able to do so.

Good Luck!
Alan

#171 I looked over the Forest Pack code and I don't see anything there that would conflict with any AFX engine mods.

#172 It does take over the scenegraph and mess with a lot of alpha state including the innards of DTS... are you sure? Not trying to be contradictory, just noting that it ate a lot of debugging time trying to get it to all work right, and AFX might introduce some extra wrinkles...

Also, 1.5.x might have changed something, too. You never know.

#173 @Alan,
yes those trees are from the S&T Pack.

I replaced those trees with the trees that came in the Forest Pack and this is what I got.

#174 @Tek0

Those look like it's working relatively correct (I guess "more" correct would be closer). Does the tree that you used have multiple LODs? If that tree has multiple LODs then I need to figure out what's happening between the 3D App/exporter that was used for those trees and what I'm doing.

What's interesting is that I recall when I first implemented this resource I'd used several different tree sources myself and some had the non-transparent LOD effect and some didn't...I just don't recall if I'd checked how the original DTS objects were produced (i.e. Max>DTS, Milkshape>DTS, etc.). Is it possible it is merely an exporter/setting/art issue and one exporter does something different than the other?

#175 @ Ben -- I'm not sure of anything I haven't actually tested. So far, these artifacts don't look like a conflict with AFX, but I've seen my share of strange interactions, so anything is possible.

If anyone can point me to a Forest Pack project that works with stock TGE 1.5.2 (plus ForestPack mods) I'd be happy to do deeper verification.

#176 Here's screenshots of the oakadult1 from Forest Pack.






And screenshots of the oak tree from S&T Pack.

#177 @Tek0
Which oak in S&T is that exactly? It appears that you don't have a code issue, you have an artist with a problem issue...namely me...the 2nd LOD isn't either a)properly named (my issue) b) a power of 2x (again, my issue).

Try another model from the pack, like one of the pines and see if you get the same issue I'm pretty much absolutely sure that their LODs are correct and working properly. I'll start loading up the oaks and see if I can find the issue.

Thanks, Alan

#178 @Alan

I think RRGTS_TREE_GRNSPLT001LOD or 002. Now if you can fix the LODs, are you going to have a update for the S&T Pack?

But I think right now the lighting/fog problem is with the LODs of the models. I'll try some other tree models later to find one that works so I can make sure that the problem is the models and not the code.

#179 Yes, there is already one in the works.

I'm updating the TGEA installation documentation, fixing some "odd" collision meshes with several rocks, a few things also related to the TGEA missions and a few transparency issues and other things that Devon Winter pointed out to me. The revision will be seamless on the end user side of things, i.e. no naming changes, directory structure or anything like that, just a patch for those who want to go that way, or a new revision download.

Let me know what you find out when testing some other tree models. But at least by the Show Tool Pro image, it appears that that particular models 2nd LOD is messed up.

#180 Try this one, see if it makes any difference:

www.monsterpacks.com/contentpacks/sticks&twigs/RRGT_TREE_GREEN002.zip

The 2nd and the third LOD were set to 0, it shouldn't have caused the problem you're seeing as far as I know, but it definitely wasn't right. It will be part of the revision/update.

.