Viking willage (level pieces)

#1 Nice work! I have to ask though could you not have made the houses DIF? It doesn't appear that the house structures have alot of surface detail that couldn't be replicated in a BSP editor.

Again, nice job.

#2 Several reasons- main being crappy UV coordinates control in all level editors.

Apart from that- if I can make it working without loss of FPS (and with full functionality) I do not think there is a huge difference. Unless you need interiors (large ones) I see no point in using dif shapes. They are hard to edit, hard to convert (all this supposedly non planar surfaces appearing out of nowhere) and in most of cases results are "bulky".

That's of course just my approach- not everybody has to agree with me ;).

#3 ... but DIF files have better lighting in TGE.

#4 I agree, in unmodified version that's true. Thing is- TGE- no matter how much I like it- is a bit obsolete nowadays (no pun intended) and I do not think lighting will be a big problem in TSE. Might be just my wishfull thinking.

#5 Yeah, I agree. BSP is on its way out. Even with Constructor coming out soon I think it'll be obsolete as soon as it hits the web for distribution. There're so many efforts now to get better collision with interior models exported from modeling packages that it won't be too long before even indies can use this approach. Till that time don't put DTS interiors in any demos that have vehicles. You'll end up driving right through them:)

#6 I dont really agree with going all DIF or all DTS... they both have their own merits, and finding a good balance between the two would have a much better effect.

for smaller buildings i think DTS works much better. for a large building or spaceship interior, using a DIF for the basic structure, then DTS objects for details would prolly work better.

i havent played around with TSE yet, but this may all go out the window with TSE and newer computer hardware :)

#7 I disagree with obsoleteness (?) of BSP- after all it's a very good way of minimizing number of calculations (any calculations, not only collisions) BUT implemented through current system it makes no sense in open areas (landscape levels for example). Not because it's not working but because with tools most indies have at hand (quark/hammer and engine) it's hard to implement and results are not outstanding.

If we can't avoid this topic let's put all pro and contra for both formats here:

DIF:

pro

- no worries about collision
- nice management of calculations in complicated indoor levels
- good lighting in unmodified TGE

contra:

- problems with compile ( creating a sphere anybody ?)
- limited control on UV maping
- limited (ok, very crude) tools for sculpting

DTS:

pro

- unlimited freedom of creating shapes (modeling and UV's alike)
- very small size of files
- possibility of using per vertex colours
- animation implemented into shape
- possibility of creating destruction models

contra

- troublesome collision shapes creation (ok, it's not troublesome- it just requires attention)
- to have them lit propertly you need some minor tweaks in engine
- TOTALLY not suitable for interior levels

That's why I prefer using DTS against DIF when it comes to such destination. Interior levels are something totally different and -for this set of models- talking about them is pointless.

#8 @Radoslaw: Have you tried 3D World Studio? I absolutely love their editor, and the texture coordinates are both flexible and easy to work with. Like any editor, it has its flaws, but it's miles above Quark IMHO.

@ N R B: I think BSP still has some life in it; the collision-processing advantages still outweigh the limitations of the editors.

@Genesis: Agreed, DIF and DTS both have their strengths. The trick is figuring out which approach to use in a given situation. I'm currently using DTS for a large interior, and DIF for some of the smaller structural elements. It's counterintuitive, but it turned out to be exactly the right approach for my project.

#9 Doppler- thanks for clue, never heard about it. Doubt if it will be as good as Maya (my tool of trade) but I'd love to find something usefull for Interior structures- map2dif kills me when takes on hammer created maps.