Best Method for Mapping in Torque?
by Jerane Alleyne · in Artist Corner · 11/30/2002 (6:09 am) · 3 replies
I'm pretty new to level design in general, so I just wanted to ask a question, as its another thing I want to get into...
Is there any really optimal way when it comes to terms with mapping large areas? Specifically, if you're making say, a city level, is it better to map one large city, with mainly everything as one big environment you can place in Torque, or is there any difference in putting them together piece by piece in the world editor? I am asking mainly to see if there is any difference in performance with a bunch of interiors added individually versus one large grouped one. Of course this wouldn't go for everything (especially if you need to do somethign with certain areas), but just to put as much stuff in a .DIF file.
Any help would be appreciated :)
Thanks
Is there any really optimal way when it comes to terms with mapping large areas? Specifically, if you're making say, a city level, is it better to map one large city, with mainly everything as one big environment you can place in Torque, or is there any difference in putting them together piece by piece in the world editor? I am asking mainly to see if there is any difference in performance with a bunch of interiors added individually versus one large grouped one. Of course this wouldn't go for everything (especially if you need to do somethign with certain areas), but just to put as much stuff in a .DIF file.
Any help would be appreciated :)
Thanks
#2
For the game I'm making ... I'ved decided to break things up into smaller pieces. Say for example a row of identical suburban houses with a water tank, pavement and a communal trash can. I would break it up into.
* Houses
* The water tank
* The Trash can
* The pavement
Hmmm. I may even throw in the sidewalk and some static cars.
My point is, by breaking up the map into smaller pieces, the project become manageable and I can actually use the objects in other places without breaking up an existing (albeit large) map.
Of course ... the effect is having a lot of small DIF files. Actually, right now I dont know the effect of having a lot of DIF file will have a significant penalty to game performance.
Alex
[EDIT]
Have you ever seen a full blown quake* map? Maintaining one is a daunting task if your not the original author.
11/30/2002 (7:58 am)
Hello. Just a thought.For the game I'm making ... I'ved decided to break things up into smaller pieces. Say for example a row of identical suburban houses with a water tank, pavement and a communal trash can. I would break it up into.
* Houses
* The water tank
* The Trash can
* The pavement
Hmmm. I may even throw in the sidewalk and some static cars.
My point is, by breaking up the map into smaller pieces, the project become manageable and I can actually use the objects in other places without breaking up an existing (albeit large) map.
Of course ... the effect is having a lot of small DIF files. Actually, right now I dont know the effect of having a lot of DIF file will have a significant penalty to game performance.
Alex
[EDIT]
Have you ever seen a full blown quake* map? Maintaining one is a daunting task if your not the original author.
#3
11/30/2002 (9:19 am)
If you brake it up you can have LOD for every single piece. But don't make the seperate pieces too small, becuase its quit difficult to align everything in the terain editor. If you are making a city, i'd split it up into houses and roads. 
Torque Owner Bryan "Over_burN" Lovely