I have a question... i want to increase to 300+



and increase area size

i can do?

No, you can't

So at the moment if we wanted to make a large world, we would have to keep the scale really really small?

For example, how would we be able to achieve a world like in Test Drive Unlimited 1/2 where you can drive seamlessly across and island that is hundreds of km in diameter?

Areas are not worlds. The world is multiple smaller areas. Area size is just the size of the Areas not the world. You can have a 300+ World Size but not Area size. Though I have never tested it. Never really had a reason too.

I don't follow.

Let me rephrase: right now there is a limitation of a 128x128 heightmap for 1 world, given what we have now how would we be able to depict hundreds of miles of land, besides making the scale of objects versus the heightmap really small, under 1 heightmap so that a player could travel seamlessly without having to "teleport" to a different world?

No you got it wrong, the max size of the HEIGHMAP is 128. But the world itself is unlimited. Just try it yourself... you can keep adding tiles without any problems. The engine is smart enough to stream other content without the use of a loading screen or teleporting.

With importing heighmaps you can set its position as well, so i dont think there shouldn't be any problem at all.

I can't keep adding tiles. I'm limited to the box once the world is created, I know the world size is unlimited and if I add say a city model that is 10 times the area size I can still go across the city. But I can't do that with the terrain.

so one world have 128 area maximum, for creation one city and more is to small map... my need is not teleport in other world or any things... i need more area space

(02-11-2011 05:43 AM)Dynad Wrote:  Just try it yourself... you can keep adding tiles without any problems.

Apparently you can keep inserting tiles but I am unable to.

(02-10-2011 06:36 PM)Esenthel Wrote:  No, you can't

Esenthel are you planning to increase area size in the future? I think increase area size to 256 and 512 max will be sufficient. Of course if it is not a big problem for you ;] It would be very useful for me and others too.
I need one quite large world without loading other parts, because my game is based on vehicles... and loading screens is not welcome...

If you're planning add this possibility then when?

(02-11-2011 08:13 AM)llynx Wrote:  

(02-11-2011 05:43 AM)Dynad Wrote:  Just try it yourself... you can keep adding tiles without any problems.

Apparently you can keep inserting tiles but I am unable to.

where's the problem?
you can create as many areas as you want. just move your camera around (space key), and use Insert.
also use [] keys to modify active range.

I won't increase the resolution limit on single area because it's not efficient.
256x256 would require 32-bit indexes for triangles instead of 16, which is 2x more memory for indexes.

just use many areas.

The only way I know of atm to get around the area size is by either scaling your objects or to import a huge terrain as a model and use that instead of the terrain in EE. But that means you have to texture/model it outside EE :\

No, you can keep adding tiles. That square is the range that is rendered. If you created a huge world and tried to edit it your computer would be destroyed. Try moving your camera.

Ok, so I'm new too the engine, so pls forgive dumb questions. That said, this the beginners forum so hopefully I'll get away with most. As this is important too us, I'm going to ask here now ...

So as I'm understanding it, you can add 'areas' to the world, each area can use a 128x128 max heightmap.

(02-11-2011 12:15 PM)Esenthel Wrote:  I won't increase the resolution limit on single area because it's not efficient.
256x256 would require 32-bit indexes for triangles instead of 16, which is 2x more memory for indexes.

That's really important .. so makes sense.

1)

(02-11-2011 11:57 AM)Mardok Wrote:  I need one quite large world without loading other parts, because my game is based on vehicles... and loading screens is not welcome...

Wait ... This part got me...
Does "loading screens" mean you get popup message saying "Wait ... loading" or something? Or does it just mean there is some lag as the areas are loaded / streamed in and out?


2) Further ... is it possible to have multiple worlds, with visibility between them? ... so I could put four worlds like this:
A | B
____
C | D

and see D's terrain while standing on A.

I guess this is almost like the existing 'areas' except areas seem to be a fixed size across the world (and only 128x128 h/map resolution).

3) From what I understand so far, I suspect the answer to (2) above is 'no'. So next question then : can the areas in the world be easily made dynamic in the game. eg. consider a sailing game where you might have small islands in the ocean.To be really efficient you want to create say 10 island 'worlds' (with some procedural differences - maybe textures and placing of foliage etc) and procedurally place them in game as you are sailing/exploring an endless ocean.

I'm not sure what the right terminology in Esenthal is for that : with C4 for example we achieve that using terrain blocks which can be tiled in code so loaded and unloaded as required to build infinite terrain. C4 allows visibility etc between those terrain blocks - similar to area's I guess except they can be any size and different sizes.


I would expect there is some way of doing that - as it would take a mega-effort to build a really huge (streaming) world loading 128x128 sized terrain areas at a time!

4) Regarding the streaming of worlds:
a. I assume the terrain as well as assets (buildings, foliage etc) is streamed?
b. Is that done one area at a time?
c. I assume they are unloaded too when out of range?

5) Dynamic loading of assets:
a. Is it easy enough to create the assets from code (and just as efficient)? For example, if the assets were stored in a dB.
b. Is there an event to know which part of the world is being loaded (to know which assets to load).

6) About occlusion:
a. Is there any sort of automatic or dynamic occlusion built into anything?
b. Does Esenthal have occlusion objects like occlusion volumes, shapes, or portals that can be placed inworld?

Sorry if this went a bit off-topic, but I think its still related (for us anyway).

1) http://www.esenthel.com/?id=feature/game...#streaming
no loading screens in 1 world, no matter how big it is
2) no, you can't have multiple worlds loaded at 1 time, you can teleport between them though
3) you don't need to do anything extra, just build your huge world in World Editor
4)
a. yeah, everything
b. it's depending on the view radius (active range Game::World.activeRange
c. yeah
5) if you have company license there's tutorial for that
6) only frustum culling, plus some automatic engine management/optimizations