Render Window Issues D:

[Kazekoru]

So here's my problem :

 

Loading up the G.E.C.K. has zero problems.

Loading up my plugin has zero problems.

Loading up my cell has zero problems... EXCEPT for the fact that nothing shows up in the render window!

 

In my other windows, everything is normal - as in, I'm able to see that I have all of the items inside the level [so I know it's not blank], but the render window simply refuses to load anything. All I see is gray. It's quite odd, and quite frankly, very disappointing. I was working on a big underground fortress of my own, and this only happened after I crashed during the optimization phase.

 

I was just finished adding the room markers, and was about to add the portal markers when the GECK crashed on me, and when I reloaded everything, the render window decided to be fussy. I've already looked this up, and it appears as though there's no real fix to this as of yet - any help will be appreciated!

 

Yes, I've already tried SHIFT+C.

 

*Edit :

 

Just did a little in-game test, and everything works fine - as in "it's all there", including the really messed up room markers, so I can't see anything except pure white void [which is a little weird, but okay.] and the thing is, everything works just fine.

 

Now I KNOW it's just the GECK, or something to do with the room markers. I have deleted the room markers, saved again, and tried to load again, but apparently the markers are still there, or something to that effect and causes the same issue to occur - the voidness is bothering me.

 

It's like "NO! DON'T WALK INTO THE LIGHT! ... Oh, it's just my room. ... NOOO FALLING!"

 

*Edit 2 :

 

Oddly enough, restarting the GECK a third time, and killing the program through task manager seems to fix this issue.

 

What I did :

 

Restarted the GECK after killing it through task manager

Deleted the room markers again [Why were they there at all??]

Saved

Closed it again

Restarted the GECK

--> Fixed

 

... Buggy.

[Kazekoru]

Oh boy, I can't do optimization unless I do it in one-try.

 

Seems like I've done some good research :

 

It appears as though the optimization boxes REALLY mess with the GECK, and it seems like it's a one-shot "do it right the first time or not at all" type thing.

 

The Issue : Render Window Dying

 

The cause (known) : Levels with optimization [using RoomBoundingBoxes]

 

What this issue basically does is that it seems to bug out every time I use the RoomBound tool. What happens is this : I make my roombounds, add my portals, all is hum-dee-doo up until this point. Here's where it gets complicated. After saving and what-not, and testing it in-game to see if it works properly, (which it does, at this point), it appears as though I need more work done, as more rooms are "voided" and still need more portals and room-bounds in order to function properly.

 

Here's the odd part :

 

After restarting the GECK and opening my plugin, loading up my cell, and realizing that the render window is being buggy, I finally have inferred that it's due to these roombounds. After deleting them, saving, and reopening the file, this problem is fixed.

 

Any reason as to why this happens? Anyone want to help?

[Skree000]

ive had a lot of funk with the preview windows as well as the cell view window.

If the camera flips out on you sometimes you can get lost in the cell looking into space forever, trying to figure out which way is up.

 

Preview windows i do know will go blank if the entity you selected has a broken template or invalid (badly constructed) Nif File (like the nif blocks are out of order or the nif has lint) it might break the template and refuse to show up properly (since Nifskope is a hack program rather than a streamlined Bethsoft tool)

 

I havent really worked with Geck on any cells or optimization, but

What you seem to be explaining is a basic idea of vis optimization by sectioning off environments into zones using portals and what you call roombounds, which im guessing are the same sort of thing as ZoneInfos, ZoneAttribs etc w/e

 

Vis (Visualization) is a procedure undertaken by the CPU and GPU to determine what to render for you. Its the 'decision making' process.

The Vis system in most editors is directly influenced, assisted or sometimes defeated (hijacked) by optimizations, zoning and portaling of the environments.

 

When you 'cant see anything' usually this means you are looking into an area or zone that has been culled by Vis, there might be a few reasons as to why you cant see anything there (if you know it should be there).

I guarantee its not deleted, but just hidden.

 

It might be because your visibility of your camera is locked (if GECK has that ability), the camera might be outside of the game space and requires tracking/panning into the game area to properly render the space... It might be a bad portal setup (multiple portals looking through eachother or lined up in rows causes vis trouble), insufficient room Bounds boxes, or maybe too many (?), that is a GECK specific thing so im not really sure how it works but it sounds just like zoning behavior in UDK or Evo engine.

 

 

Questions

 

Does the cell look fine in game?

if so, your vis is working fine, the trick is disabling the vis in editor so you can work on it, might be some button or feature to turn off vis in editor, since its not important when you are just doing content creation.

 

Are there properties of the RoomBoundingBoxes you can manipulate? checkboxes or settings at all? have a look and compare the settings (if there are any?) to those of a working level from Beth that is setup in a similar way.

Comparing side by side is often the simplest way to diagnose a lot of things :)

 

Are the portals done with sheets? Im ghastly unfamiliar with GECKs world/cartesian plane/grid setup, is there grid snap? Perhaps the portals are not snapped or conformed properly to fit the spaces? (if that even makes sense)

in UDK or Evo, the levels are made with CSG/BSP, and the portals are sheets that have to snap to a subtractions inner walls, making an 'air tight seal', effectively dividing up an area in two (or more depending on the complexity/setup)

UDK has ZoneInfos, and Evo has ZoneAttribs, but basically one is required in each 'zone' giving it an ID number, and assigning it settings or properties that might be important, like Sounds, fog, postfx or anything else i cant thing of lol.

Maybe the RoomBoundingBoxes being setup in an area are emulating the divisions of portals and zoneattribs/infos.... cant say cos i need more experience with GECK tho..

 

 

in 3d terms a 'bounding box' is the outermost region of a mesh entity, the 'farthest in all directions' it extends, all of those distances are connected by a box which is usually oriented (efficiently) to encapsulate the mesh. Bounding Boxes are used for collision, encroach detection, all kinds of things, but in terms of a Room's Bounding Box, i cant really say what that is and how it would need to be setup, but it seems to be an expression of the total dimensions of an area.

Im guessing its a wireframe box?

 

Im assuming here that RoomBoundingBoxes cannot be intersecting or overlapping, only snapping or adjacent? That seems to make sense to me :)

 

/rant off