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DarkBASIC Professional Discussion / Patch 4 Update and Terrain Question

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SoulMan
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Posted: 22nd Jan 2003 06:32
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Hey, I was kinda curious. What is going on with Patch 4 and how much closer are we to getting it?

Now onto terrains.
Which is better.
Height Maps or Matrix for terrains?
I need to be able to do a Morrowind type game. Which type would be the best choice?
Plus are there any programs out there that make Matrixs? Or are any in the works.
Thanks.
SoulMan
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Necrym
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Posted: 22nd Jan 2003 09:57
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Patch 4 Beta 1 is being tested by DBDN members at the moment so it shouldnt be too long before somthing comes your way. The new DBO pipeline makes BIG speed increases on any 3d object so either an x model or matrix terrain should run really fast. I would use heightmaps for your terrains annd go down that road so when then enhanced 3d pipeline is in full force your game should scream.

Watch the bouncing cursor - now in 3d
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SoulMan
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Posted: 22nd Jan 2003 22:46
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Ok
I think heightmaps will work ok for the moment.
Though a few things kinda bother me.
How do I do water? Use a matrix for that?
Or....
Then, how do I place objects in the world.
See, I would almost think a Matrix would be better for this stuff, but then again who knows.
It's basically, do what works for you, but then again, what works good for me???
Let me also explain another problem that I am going to run into.

[6][2][7]
[3][1][5]
[8][4][9]
This is a 3x3 representation showing what I want loaded for a map while the player is playing. 1 is the spot in which he is standing. The rest are just areas that he can travel to, but they are also loaded into memory.
When he takes a move say to square 3 which is left, squares 7 5 and 9 are deleted from memory and a new set of squares 10 11 and 12 are loaded to the right. So it now looks like this. The player is standing on square 3 now.
[10][6][2]
[11][3][1]
[12][8][4]
What I am refering to is loading different parts of a map at different times. So when I moved from Square 1 to Square 3 a new part of the map was loaded and Squares 7 5 9 which are no longer needed to be loaded are removed from memory.
If any of you are having a problem figuring out what I am talking about, let me know and I will actully draw a diagram in Photoshop to show what I am talking about.
For those that understand, what type of data structure would this work well with?
Would a tree linked list, doubled linked list or stack work for what I am trying to do. A tree is what I am guessing, but how is that tree structured?
Any clue as what I could do?
Thanks.
SoulMan

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Necrym
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Posted: 23rd Jan 2003 09:42
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Your talking about LOD type system. This can be done using memblocks. As for water the new stuff coming out with the new dbo format will make that easy but u can use a plain object rotated and textures with a water texture even animated.

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The Darthster
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Posted: 23rd Jan 2003 19:44
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I always thought LOD (level of detail) meant zooming into a map or object and getting progressively detailed renders, which could be the same thing.

You can do that using 2 dimensional arrays, or memblocks, it doesn't really matter. I wouldn't use trees for map movement, or linked lists really.

It depends what you want the water to do. I've got some nice matrix rippling effects that are fairly fast.
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SoulMan
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Posted: 24th Jan 2003 04:20
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Ummmm
I wasn't talking about LOD. Not sure where you got that idea. Of course the way I bloody explained it might have confused you in which I am sure it has.
Once more and this time I'll explain what I want.
Say you have this island that you want your player to run around on.
The island would be too big for memory.
What do you do?
You sector it into sub sections.
When you play the game, you start out by loading sctions 1-9,
Basicially like this.
[6][2][7]
[3][1][5]
[8][4][9]
The section you start in is labeled 1.
Then when you move to the section labled three, sections 5, 7 and 9 are deleted from memory because they are no longer needed for play until you return to section 1 in which they would have to be reloaded.
Now it looks like this.
[10][6][2]
[11][3][1]
[12][8][4]
As you can see, 5, 7 and 9 are no longer in memory. When you move back to section 1, they are reloaded and section 10, 11, and 12 are removed from memory.
At any given time, only 9 sections are loaded into memory.
That way, when you play the game, it runs great and looks like the world is very vast.
Thats what I want to do.
Now about data structures. What would work best for me?
SoulMan

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Necrym
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Posted: 24th Jan 2003 09:46
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LOL yes your right LOD is level of detail as commonly used but it also refers to Load on Demand (or commonly called cacheing) situations in some programming. This is what i meant by LOD. I stand corrected no harm done i hope!
This can be used via memblocks. Try making a system where memblocks are called for each section.

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Arrow
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Posted: 24th Jan 2003 19:25
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LOD, huh? That the cause of pop-ups in games that forget to use fog?

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...at least for now.
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SoulMan
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Posted: 25th Jan 2003 06:48
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If I plan it right, you won't have to worry about bloody pop ups.
The sections are going to big themselves that by the time you get to the edge of the section, the new section is going to be waiting for you to run across.
I will make it work.
SoulMan

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