City streets
by Casey Wylde · in Torque Game Engine · 07/15/2004 (6:28 am) · 8 replies
My first impressions of the Torque engine is that it is great for exterior levels with inside transitions, but for, say, a city, or city block it might be difficult to achieve. Here is my problem. a street is at terrain level, sidewalk above street level, property where buildings and houses are have to be at sidewalk level but the terrain is lower than the sidewalk. I hope someone might be able to decipher my meaning hehe. Anyway what I'm wondering is if I want terrain to be above my street .dif, I have to import a .dif for the property also since the terrain in the editor cannot be sloped to be flush with the top of the sidewalk .dif
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||street||<===sidewalk
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||street||<===sidewalk
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About the author
#2
07/15/2004 (6:59 am)
Ahhh! Thanks. I'm anxiously awaiting my 3D Game programming all in One book to arrive so I'm not too familiar with Torque's tools and didn't know you could carve the terrain as you said. That was a great way of putting it. :)
#3
07/15/2004 (6:04 pm)
Hmm.. When I 'set empty' and try to clear and carve terrain the terrain doesnt visually dissapear yet i can fall through it. I think it has something to do with my minimum height settings. any ideas?
#4
1. Startup Torque
2. Press F11 to go into the Editors
3. Choose File | New Mission
4. Press F6 to go into the Terrain Editor
5. Change to a box brush with hard settings and a size of 25x25
6. Change the setting in the menu to 'Flatten'
7. Create your city blocks
8. (optional) Go into the Texture Painter, add a new cement texture and paint the new area with it.
Add buildings and *poof* instant city.
07/16/2004 (1:49 am)
@Casey: You don't want to use the 'set empty' option as that just removes a chunk of the world. To create your cityscape:1. Startup Torque
2. Press F11 to go into the Editors
3. Choose File | New Mission
4. Press F6 to go into the Terrain Editor
5. Change to a box brush with hard settings and a size of 25x25
6. Change the setting in the menu to 'Flatten'
7. Create your city blocks
8. (optional) Go into the Texture Painter, add a new cement texture and paint the new area with it.
Add buildings and *poof* instant city.
#5
07/16/2004 (3:26 am)
Great thanks. Someone on irc told me to use empty and I hadn't used the flatted tool before but now I'm clear. Thanks:) I sure hope 3D Game Programming All in One arrives soon hehe.
#6
07/16/2004 (3:43 am)
Bill, would you happen to have any screenshots of the city level you made?
#7
P.S. Of course you've now sparked me to investigate procedural city generation so this is about to become a full blown resource shortly.
07/16/2004 (3:46 am)
@Casey: I'll put something together and post images here later tonight when I get home. P.S. Of course you've now sparked me to investigate procedural city generation so this is about to become a full blown resource shortly.
#8
07/16/2004 (4:03 am)
Thanks Bill. I'm amazed at how helpful everyone is. Torque was a great investment. 
Torque Owner Bil Simser
I did this on something I'm working on. Works great and easy to do (you could almost generate it with a script but there wasn't that much to do). All you need is some basic building blocks in dif format like a full sidewalk piece, nw corner, ne corner, 4-way, etc. and you can build anything.
Personally I would add a slight raise to the terrain here and there to give it a realistic look (and to break up the monotony of a plain flat surface). Just some subtle slopes here and there and you're all set.