Quick questions for the experienced worldspace creator.

[JustinDK]

As I am reaching the completion point on the New Jerome worldspace I am unsure about a couple points regarding finalization.

 

As it stands, All static items have been placed, and textures 'painted'. Before I begin the Navmesh, I need to know about activators, namely consumable pickable items like Xander root, etc... Should they be placed prior to Navmesh? Is that stuff generated by LOD?

 

Also, LOD tree generation, whether it is necessary as I have placed static trees and plants by hand. The way I understand it, trees are randomly generated and placed during LOD generation - or are the LOD textures of the static trees being regenerated, replacing the vanilla LOD textures for said object. Does that make sense?

 

Finally, placeable water. I want two cells with varied water level, a small waterfall and pool specifically. Is this possible? Is it worth the hassle? I can't find a specific instance of someone trying it in the forums or online.

 

Thanks for having a look, please enlighten me oh wise sages.

[McclaudEagle]

Activators are an object type used mostly to initiate a script for something to happen, such as an electrical switch opening a nearby door. If the activator you're putting in the worldspace is a solid object and shouldn't be movable, then I'd place it before doing the navmesh, otherwise you could find NPCs trying to walk through it.

 

Navmeshing is not generate with LOD. LOD is the Level Of Detail, it is what creates distant objects, landscape, etc. Trees are not placed during LOD generation, you have to place the trees in the worldspace by hand. In order for distant trees to be rendered, you will need to use the Generate Trees option.

 

If you're creating a large body of water, such as a lake, then raising the water level in that particular cell could be a good idea. However, if you're wanting to create a body of water on one section of the cell, but non-flooded areas in another section of the cell, then using placeable water is a very good idea. Generally though, when building my worldspaces with waterfalls, I tend to build the waterfall in the edges of the cell so I don't have to use placeable water.

[JustinDK]

Alright, so I should check the generate trees option, to create the distant meshes of the trees and consumable plants I placed. It won't generate random trees within the worldspace.

 

I assumed I would navmesh around the plants, but needed assurance I just can't remember if they persist in game after being picked. Or if they are even in the activator class for that matter.

 

The water I am thinking of would be more of a brook than lake, but is only maybe a third of a cell in size, long, narrow and thin. Waterfall effects will just be FX trickles or drips, scaled up a bit. The lower pool will edge the cell directly north of the brook cell, and be about 20 units lower in elevation. Thus, maybe a combination of placeable water upstream and the in game water plane (under the worldspace) for the lower pool, or pond. These will actually be the lowest points in the worldspace (where the water collects), so perhaps I should bring the water level back up before LOD?

 

I remember early in this process being warned about the water plane level, probably worry too much about it.

 

Thanks for the quick response! I appreciate it.

[TrickyVein]

Water is generated along with terrain meshes. It's an all-in-one package. If you raise or lower the level of the water after generating terrain meshes, it will look bad when the water plane is unloaded and replaced with LOD data. Water isn't rendered out to infinity, so 'lod planes' have to be generated for water which should correspond to the real water level. My advice would be to do this for the lower water level and use placeable water for the elevated water.

 

Terrain meshes aren't generated for areas that are underneath of water. Keep that in mind.

 

You don't have to generate LOD for trees separately. They can be part of LOD objects for the wasteland. If you haven't placed trees in the world using the region editor I don't know if that would work, anyway.

[JustinDK]

Sounds like we are on the same page as how to approach this, but

 

"Terrain meshes aren't generated for areas that are underneath of water. Keep that in mind."

 

I imagine the water surface textures compensate for the lack of terrain mesh before the cell loads?

 

I understand what you mean about the LOD water planes (I think) that they are part of the overall LOD, are you just saying the water should be permantly placed as to avoid another LOD generation - because there will be 'holes' in the LOD otherwise (where the water level was originally placed).

 

Sounds like I am in the clear with the tree generation, from what I read I expected it to generate aditional trees randomly. I was worried I would end up spending (another) month cleaning them all out.

 

Thanks again, much appreciated!

 

EDIT* I forgot to clarify if I should raise the water level of the heightmap, or just the cells where the water will be within playable boundries.

Edited August 9, 2013 by JustinDK

[TrickyVein]

Of course! I forgot that you can do that. That's the better option. Forget about placeable water, it's finicky and hard to work with. You should totally just adjust the water level for the cells that you're interested in. I bet the LOD water planes will be generated for everything without a hitch that way.

[JustinDK]

Son of a biscuit it could be? The water drops off right at the cell boundry. Maybe I subconciously did it that way because it is so logically simple.

 

Thanks for the advice, if you guys want a look at the world for more pointers or advice drop me a PM and I'll get you an invite to the team Dropbox.

 

Otherwise I look forward to the Beta feedback.

 

- Justin

Edited August 9, 2013 by JustinDK

[JustinDK]

Here are some screenshots of the water in game. Always open to suggestions and feedback!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Polyfemus]

Hey I just wanted to say that those pics look really good. Truly awesome stuff. Can't wait to play.

[maybenexttime]

looks great, i miss fighing in towns and cities. Will this mod include quests?