Collision brushes not working

#1 Put the NULL texture on it.

Note: It will still cast shadows even though it shouldn't. This is a bug in the torque shadow code (it should ignore invisible collision brushes, because invisible things should not cast shadows. )

#2 I also am having some trouble with collision. I created a basic square and the collision was working great. Then I hollowed out the object and the collision stopped working. I have tried to add the collision brush and null textures but still nothing. Any Ideas?

#3 Never Mind I downloaded the patch and it worked with out any issues.

Thanks,
Chaz

#4 Where do I find the 'NULL' texture?

#5 @Nmuta: Materials -> Texture Album: Auxiliary -> NULL

#6 GREAT! Works fine. Only problem now is that when colliding with my "invisible" collision object, (the pink ramp in the picture below), the frame rate of the game slows down to a grinding crawl. As soon as I am OFF the ramp, on any other surface, gameplay resumes to a descent rate.

What could be causing this? The collision mesh is very simple!


And here is the zipped folder containing all the files. The file in question is called "arch.dif":

www.mediabreeze.com/torque/arch.zip

And below is my arch.txt file that constructor generated:

-------------------------------------------------------------

C:/THE GAME/arcane.fx/data/interiors/temples/arch.dif

Constructor Version: 1.0.3
Date: 2009/03/02 01:55:57
Detail Level 0
Zones: 1

Points: 685

Surfaces: 408

Null Surfaces: 42

BSP Nodes: 1174

Textures From Brushes:

WALL_BLOCK01

FLOOR_SLATE01

OAK2

OAK2_END

NULL

Static Meshes and Textures:

-- None --
/////////////////////////////////////

thanks in advance!

#7 Actually I am seeing that my pink 'ramp' was not even working at all. All of the stairs in this file already have a "structural" brush applied to them. So when I delete the pink ramp, you can still climb the stairs and there STILL is a slow down.

Which means the ramp is irrelevant.

I deleted the stairs and just put the ramp and the character runs right through it. I've tried making the ramp collision brush and also structural brush, (both with the null texture of course) and neither work......character still runs right through the ramp.

So my meshes with null textures on them are just not working as collision meshes.

#8 All of your stairs should be "detail" brushes. And as you saw, you don't need a collision brush.

#9 I've always felt that the collision ramp trick for stairs wasn't necessary, with a little attention to step height in the scene and the player datablock.

For the collision problem, update constructor... I see you're using an older version: 1.03. The update to 1.051 patch, solves the random non-collision bug (sometimes re-exporting would cause it to work).

#10 AH!!! its about the patch then.

You see, I need collision meshes, because I will be modeling meshes in 3ds Max and then importing the detail meshes from 3ds max into constructor.

So I'm using constructor for collision brushes only. No modeling.

#11 You are modeling the stairs in 3dsmax and importing them as meshes? Why not just use the stairs plugin?

#12 No, you don't understand. The mesh above was just a dummy to practice collisions. I have custom interiors that I am building, like a Buddhist temple, for example, that has a lot of detail that is MUCH easier made in 3ds Max and then just imported into Constructor.

For example, the huts in the original TGE demo (the Realm Wars one) ....I would bet that those were NOT made in a tool like constructor. I could be wrong, but they look like they were made in a full featured modeling program and then imported into a program like QuARK or Cartography shop or whatever they were using back then.... and then exported to difs with collision brushes. Correct me if I'm wrong.

#13 Ah, OK.

Well, here is a few things to remember: If you import from 3dstudio as a .Map file, then you don't need collision brushes, the existing brushes are fine. If you import as DTS, then the lighting will be pretty, but dynamic shadows will not work.

#14 Import from 3dStudio as a .map file???? This is possible? How do you optimize it so that only certain things are collision enabled.... to ensure for optimal speed?

#15 you don't ... you import them as embedded DTS in the DIF, and then add collision brushes.

#16 There are a couple of plugins you can use to export .Map files from 3dsmax. here is one: www.maple3d.com/ He has a freeware one (Game Level Builder), and a commercial exporter (Convexity).

There is another one that keeps floating around the forums here that is free also, but I can never recall the name.

#17 So, with Maple 3D inside of Max, I would not need Constructor anymore then? I went to website. Very impressive.

Is it as simple as:

1. Export to .map from 3dsMax
2. Use a map to dif converter tool
3. Load into Torque

that easy?

#18 I found this video that explains exporting directly from 3ds Max into Torque using Maple3D:

www.maple3d.com/Convexity/Convexity/Videos/ConvexitySettingUpForTorque.wmv

About 10 steps total, so it's not 1,2,3 but it looks pretty straightforward and intuitive. This tool looks very powerful.

#19 I just bought Maple3D. I'll let you know how it goes.

#20 You may want to use constructor to import and build the map files - the internal dif compiler has been updated, and the external ones have not. But it's up to you - YMMV.

edit:

It's important to note that DIF files are required to be built from convex solids, so keep that in mind with Max.

Also - I just watched the tutorial, that's pretty good stuff, now I want a copy too. Too bad my wife would kill me if I spent that. I'm eager to hear your results though.

My stair builder is better than his though.:)