Zoning an out side area
by Svengali · in Torque 3D Professional · 07/26/2011 (8:35 am) · 4 replies
We have really large outside maps in our title. As we try and bring them online we continuously hit limits and have to fight direct draw calls for all the textures the different buildings have. I have read many of Steve's blogs about his level optimizations, and completely realize what our issues are.
I know that combining the materials into less is one of the best ways to deal with this issue, however the one thing our project is missing is an artist. So, I have to look at the issue from a different angle, from a coding stand point the solution seems like zoning and portals would also fix the issue, which brings me to my question, for all you Guru's out there.
What suggestions do you guys have for zoning an outside area? There seems to be innate difficulties such as no discernable points to setup the zone edges, and less than square areas. Any input would be helpful, thanks guys!
I know that combining the materials into less is one of the best ways to deal with this issue, however the one thing our project is missing is an artist. So, I have to look at the issue from a different angle, from a coding stand point the solution seems like zoning and portals would also fix the issue, which brings me to my question, for all you Guru's out there.
What suggestions do you guys have for zoning an outside area? There seems to be innate difficulties such as no discernable points to setup the zone edges, and less than square areas. Any input would be helpful, thanks guys!
About the author
Creator of SvengaliGames, and developing the once up coming title NightLife: The MMORPG Of Dark Horror. Now named ATROX NOCTIS: Daemons Cradle- www.svengaligames.com
#2
07/26/2011 (9:56 am)
Also, the main issue with using zones on the exterior zones is that objects inside the zone won't cast sun shadows. 
#3
Actually, that's not quite the case. In fact, the sun's shadow map rendering respects zoning like any other render pass. If the sun cannot look into your zone, then none of the objects fully contained in it will get shadows from the sun. However, if there are objects that the sun can actually see through portals, those will get rendered into the shadow pass and thus receive shadows from the sun.
To see the difference, create a zone in the empty level and put an object inside of it. It won't have a shadow. Then put a skyward facing portal covering the top side of the zone. The object will have a shadow then.
07/26/2011 (12:40 pm)
Quote:Also, the main issue with using zones on the exterior zones is that objects inside the zone won't cast sun shadows.
Actually, that's not quite the case. In fact, the sun's shadow map rendering respects zoning like any other render pass. If the sun cannot look into your zone, then none of the objects fully contained in it will get shadows from the sun. However, if there are objects that the sun can actually see through portals, those will get rendered into the shadow pass and thus receive shadows from the sun.
To see the difference, create a zone in the empty level and put an object inside of it. It won't have a shadow. Then put a skyward facing portal covering the top side of the zone. The object will have a shadow then.
#4
07/26/2011 (1:00 pm)
The areas that are organic, ie trees, grass, rocks, I have no issues with, its the buildings that just kill everything, and only one building in each town can be entered, so its all the outsides of buildings, that are tapping the direct draw calls. 
Associate Rene Damm
Occluders are meant to help with culling outdoor levels and especially if you have large, opaque shapes, they should help quite a bit. There's still an issue in the silhouette extraction breaking down in certain camera/occluder scenarios (there's a thread somewhere in the private forum) that needs to be resolved but even in their current form, they should help.