Layered Terrain Surface Representation – Talk

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==Layered Terrain Surface Representation For Dummies?==
''mods, is [[Ceeeb%27s_Sandbox]] information worthy of addition to the main article? I don't want to dumb Suma's text down.'' --[[User:Ceeeb|Ceeeb]] 17:34, 20 January 2007 (CET)


''mods, is this information worthy of addition to the main article? I don't want to dumb Suma's text down.'' --[[User:Ceeeb|Ceeeb]] 17:34, 20 January 2007 (CET)
:Just add it in in the appropriate locations so that the information has a logical flow compared to what is there already.
:Don't be afaid to add stuff that you believe is relevant to an article, chances are if it is not completely relevant it will be moved to a more suitable location and/or edited or corrected by people who notice any mistakes or omissions.


This information is intended to be a more simplistic reference than Suma's technobabble. It is based on game engine needs rather than tool needs. The aim to understand the work required for new terrain (island) creation.
:[[User:Planck|Planck]] 13:43, 21 January 2007 (CET)


==Textures==
I have a couple of suggestions, having just read this article for the first time as a newcomer to modding:
* a link to a definition of "Visitor" would be helpful.
* a link to a definition of "rvmat" files would be helpful.
If I ever find out what these things are, I'll come back and add a link in myself!


*Satalite map provides basic colour information for distant terrain. Satalite map and layer map are divided into segments for game use, each being 512x512 pixels. On SaraLite each 512 pixel segment covers ~1000m, and each segment overlaps with each of it's neighbouring segments by 32 pixels. Note that terrain is visable beyond the range that objects are, therefore basic representations of objects such as trees, roads, ocean and buildings are all included on the satalite map. SaraLite is made up of 11x11 segments, covering a total of 5312 pixels.
[[User:Loophole|Loophole]] 15:08, 22 March 2007 (CET)


*Layer map determines which detail texture to use for each pixel of the satalite map. Each segment uses it's own colour table. For example, in one segement red may be sand, while in another it will be stones. Each segment uses the following colours in order requirment : BLACK, RED, GREEN, BLUE, (YELLOW?). The colours seem to be assigned in the order in which the terrain types are numbered in the RVMAT config. For example, "travajih" (grass) is terrain 01, and therefore if a segment contains grass, it will be represented by the colour black. Blends of details seem to be allowed, although very rarely used on SaraLite (presumably to improve performance?). Different blended colours appear to be able to have different detail texture scales. The layer legend in the main article seems to relates to a tool rather than the game engine.
: I have added a link to the Visitor3 article. The lack of information is due to the people with the knowledge and the tools being busy with more important tasks such as improving the game engine. Much of the information I added is observations about how the game engine uses the data, but I am no expert, just an island maker finding out what workload to expect. I believe each RVMAT (material?) files tells the engine what textures it needs to display the surface each single "texture grid cell" (40x40m). They are simple text config files, if you are curious they can be extracted and de-binned from sara.pbo. I doubt we will need to create them by hand. --[[User:Ceeeb|Ceeeb]] 15:26, 22 March 2007 (CET)


*MCO texture is used to add detail to the satalite map at middle distance (before the detail texture becomes visable). Each 1024x1024 MCO covers ~40m (may be flexible). There is an overlap between the MCO fade out and the detail texture fade in, meaning it is possible to see all 3 terrain textures at once.
Thanks, Ceeeb; that was fast!  I'd just found the relevant references and was coming back to add a link, but you beat me to it!


*CO texture provides the detailed ground texture. On SaraLite each 1024x1024 detail generally covers ~4m (may be flexible).
[[User:Loophole|Loophole]] 15:45, 22 March 2007 (CET)
 
*NO(*) texture provides the normal map used with the CO detail.
 
Satalite map segments are named s_XXX_YYY_lco.paa, where XXX = column number from west to east starting with 000, YYY = row number from north to south starting with 000. Layer map segments are named m_XXX_YYY_lco.paa, where XXX = column number from west to east starting with 000, YYY = row number from north to south starting with 000. For example, s_005_002_lco.paa would be the 6th segment from the east, 3rd from the north.
 
== RVMAT Configs ==
Each segment has several binarized config files. These are generally named p_XXX-YYY_AAA_BBB_CCC_DDD.rvmat, where XXX = column number from west to east starting with 000, YYY = row number from north to south starting with 000. AAA,BBB,CCC,DDD are of either "n" or "l##". If of format l##, AAA is always lower than BBB,CCC and DDD. "n" apparently corresponds with no terrain, while each of the l## correlates with a single terrain type. Some have only 1,2 or 3 letters (eg p_009-006_l01_l02_n.rvmat), depending on the maximum number of terrain types in that segment. These configs seem to specify transformation and scaling of the detail textures.

Latest revision as of 15:45, 22 March 2007

mods, is Ceeeb's_Sandbox information worthy of addition to the main article? I don't want to dumb Suma's text down. --Ceeeb 17:34, 20 January 2007 (CET)

Just add it in in the appropriate locations so that the information has a logical flow compared to what is there already.
Don't be afaid to add stuff that you believe is relevant to an article, chances are if it is not completely relevant it will be moved to a more suitable location and/or edited or corrected by people who notice any mistakes or omissions.
Planck 13:43, 21 January 2007 (CET)

I have a couple of suggestions, having just read this article for the first time as a newcomer to modding:

  • a link to a definition of "Visitor" would be helpful.
  • a link to a definition of "rvmat" files would be helpful.

If I ever find out what these things are, I'll come back and add a link in myself!

Loophole 15:08, 22 March 2007 (CET)

I have added a link to the Visitor3 article. The lack of information is due to the people with the knowledge and the tools being busy with more important tasks such as improving the game engine. Much of the information I added is observations about how the game engine uses the data, but I am no expert, just an island maker finding out what workload to expect. I believe each RVMAT (material?) files tells the engine what textures it needs to display the surface each single "texture grid cell" (40x40m). They are simple text config files, if you are curious they can be extracted and de-binned from sara.pbo. I doubt we will need to create them by hand. --Ceeeb 15:26, 22 March 2007 (CET)

Thanks, Ceeeb; that was fast! I'd just found the relevant references and was coming back to add a link, but you beat me to it!

Loophole 15:45, 22 March 2007 (CET)

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