Terrain Editor

[Greebo]

I think that from the point of view of realism a bump mapped CBM would be an odd thing to have. What I mean is that the CBM is supposed to represent a printed map on a clip board so where would the bumped elevations come from?

[Chilli]

How much of the tree shapes can be altered?  I noticed something called SpeedTree, and wonder if they are "set" shapes or could be edited or replaced, especially low level of detail tree trunks.

It all looks great, and I am not looking at perfection, but could see a significant improvement if the tree trunks at low level were thinner.  Is this at all a possibility?

Check out Zuum's video to compare the thickness of trunks in the distance.

 

Notice in this alpha flyby, the tree trunks at distance are thick, but as they come into focus show a thinner profile. [edit] I just realized that external compression is done by youtube videos, and other filming software, so forgive the unfair comparison, to actual in game graphics.  I only meant it as an example of what I would like to see.

[hitech]

How much of the tree shapes can be altered? 

No on editing the tree shapes. They are copyrighted by Speed Tree.

HiTech

[Chilli]

Thanks HiTech,

It's a very small detail, and your answer does explain it very well.  Are there any differences the shadows along the tree trunk have made in the past? (not wanting to ask for anymore time dwelling on such a small difference, that has nothing to do with editor).  In essence, do the shadows in anyway hide the tree trunks?

I still love it as it is, no matter. 

[Greebo]

I guess its going to depend on the sort of frame rates players get but are there any new guidelines relating to weather creation for MA terrains yet? For instance in AH1 the maximum number of clouds visible in an MA terrain at any one time was capped at 900.

[hitech]

I guess its going to depend on the sort of frame rates players get but are there any new guidelines relating to weather creation for MA terrains yet? For instance in AH1 the maximum number of clouds visible in an MA terrain at any one time was capped at 900.

The limits are much larger now.

I believe the limits are in the range of 2048 cloud rows. But I would not try to cover the entire arena with clouds.

HiTech

[Easyscor]

In the TE, when I run the Object Report / Check for Errors, it reports my custom shapes are missing, yet they're there in the final build and they show and work properly in offline mode.

[Greebo]

I believe the limits are in the range of 2048 cloud rows. But I would not try to cover the entire arena with clouds.

I mis-read your answer at first and was thinking "how could you possibly cover the arena in 2048 clouds". 

To prevent framerate issues on low spec PCs I have kept the cloud fronts seperated from each other and limited each front to fewer than 100 clouds. Does that seem a reasonable number?

There are a couple of issues I'd like to mention with the cloud editor:

First the cloud editor has always had an issue where a save overwrites the first line of text in the awa file. This version also has this issue but it is a little different from before. On previous versions it would overwrite line 1 with the default 8 by 8 cloud front. This version overwrites some random data from line 22 over line 1. On one save it replaced everything, timing, cloud numbers, alt and types etc and on another it just replaced the start time of the front.

The other thing is just a suggestion to make the editor easier to use. In order to prevent surges in cloud numbers I have been careful to make sure each fronts' life time is exactly one hour. What this means in practice is getting the "V" of each front positioned very carefully until the "life time" shows "1.00". Since I have to update the front to see changes each time and I can't zoom in the map this can take 5 or 10 goes for each front. My suggestion is a "lock life time" button. So after typing 1.00 into the box and clicking the button I'd then use the V to just set the angle of the front on the map.

[hitech]

I mis-read your answer at first and was thinking "how could you possibly cover the arena in 2048 clouds". 

To prevent framerate issues on low spec PCs I have kept the cloud fronts seperated from each other and limited each front to fewer than 100 clouds. Does that seem a reasonable number?

There are a couple of issues I'd like to mention with the cloud editor:

First the cloud editor has always had an issue where a save overwrites the first line of text in the awa file. This version also has this issue but it is a little different from before. On previous versions it would overwrite line 1 with the default 8 by 8 cloud front. This version overwrites some random data from line 22 over line 1. On one save it replaced everything, timing, cloud numbers, alt and types etc and on another it just replaced the start time of the front.

The other thing is just a suggestion to make the editor easier to use. In order to prevent surges in cloud numbers I have been careful to make sure each fronts' life time is exactly one hour. What this means in practice is getting the "V" of each front positioned very carefully until the "life time" shows "1.00". Since I have to update the front to see changes each time and I can't zoom in the map this can take 5 or 10 goes for each front. My suggestion is a "lock life time" button. So after typing 1.00 into the box and clicking the button I'd then use the V to just set the angle of the front on the map.

Will try get the v thing. Also have you tried the negative Initial times? That way you do not have to wait for the bank to form.
HiTech

[bustr]

alpha 75 has a test cloud rectangle over TT. If you are still testing clouds, any chance of adding a few scattered small cumulous groups to work with in alpha 76? 

[Greebo]

Will try get the v thing. Also have you tried the negative Initial times? That way you do not have to wait for the bank to form.

No, I wasn't aware I could do that. I'll alter the file accordingly.

BTW is there a way I can insert reminder statements into the awa file to make it easier to understand?

[hitech]

BTW is there a way I can insert reminder statements into the awa file to make it easier to understand?

Do you work with the files directly? Or are talking about putting a comment in the cloud editor?

HiTech

[Greebo]

I find for some jobs it is sometimes quicker to edit the weather file directly using a text editor rather than the cloud editor. So I was just wondering if there is a way to add comments into the awa file like "Tank town clouds" to make it easier to read.

[Greebo]

I did not describe the cloud editor 1st line save bug correctly in my previous post. What is actually happening is this:-

Lets say I am editing line 10 in the cloud editor and I do a save but keep the editor running. I might make some changes to this file with notepad and then reload the file into the editor. The editor then moves me to line 1 of the newly loaded file but copies some data across from the line I was previously on, line 10 in this case.

Knowing this I can work round the issue by just shutting down the editor after each save and then restarting it.

[Greebo]

I notice that cloud shadows do not display on terrain that is above 8K or so altitude. Is this as intended or a bug?