.Map :: MoHAA Mapping

Forrests suck ( FPS, that is ).

Has anybody got any tips for making a forrest?

A forrest ( in my question ) is a "realistic" forrest, not a treeline texture with some branches sticking out of it...

That is:
1) It is dense.
2) You can hardly see beyond the first line of trees.
3) If you are concentrating, you can see movement about 4-5 trees in.
4) You CAN navigate through it ( perhaps with reduced speed ).
5) Most gunfire will pass through it.

So how can this be done ( without a resulting FPS of less than 5 that is )?

I was looking at the sample map that came with the SDK for spearhead and I noticed that they use a lot and I mean a lot of targeted vis leafgroups . Basicaly it looked as if they targeted all the areas beyond the farplane or view of the player so when you where in one of the leafgroups the neibouring leafgroups where not targeted and maybe a row farther out but all others were targeted . You whould need to do a lot of targeting selecting each of the vis leafgroups in turn and targeting them to the leafgroups that you don't want to be seen from them but I think it will be worth it .

You can scale the models up and burry the trunks in the ground. If the trees are bigger, you can use less of them. Other than that, you will have to make new trees (tik and shaders) that don't move in the wind.

Another way is to make islands of patch trees (or rocks) to block the view of the rest of the forest.

Ok, you are right about the VIS groups. Absolutely MUST have them. A couple things to consider:

1. Fog. Farplane color and distance. What you are describing seems to be a pretty thick forest, so you could have rather thick fog/short farplane, maybe 2560 units.
2. Build the entire map/place the trees, etc.
3. VIS groups and fog. What you want to do is start at the absolute edge of the map, pick one..best to be the one end a team starts in. Next, after you have decided on your FARPLANE distance, place your VIS groups the same size as the farplane. i.e. IF your farplane is 2560, then your VIS brushes should be 2560x2560.
4. When 'targeting' all the VIS groups, allow a buffer of one block to every side. That way, you can never 'see' farther than 2561 units away, even while standing at the very edge of one VIS looking into another.
crude graphic:

x=targeted (can't see) +=not targeted (can see) @=players VIS brush

x x x x x x x x
x x x x x x x x
x x x + + + x x
x x x + @ + x x
x x x + + + x x
x x x x x x x x

crude, but illustrates what I am talking about. So, maximum distance visable to the game engine is about 3740 units...of which, farplane is capping it at 2560...AND if you use a /caulk/sky texture, you can push your FPS up another 5-15%.

yeah you should have a dense fog im guessing 2048 for more atmosphere/loneliness.

ive never used/needed visgroups, so cant help ya there bud.

Hmmm.... well...

I guess the heart of the matter is that you can see through trees... and you cant use vis_leafgroup's on things you can see...

But VIS leafgroups are part of any FPS tight design as far as I see it.

However the fog / VIS combo that Slyk is describing seems strange to me. I thoght that using a farplane was "equal to" having a VIS bubble around you that targets everything outside the bubble?
And if so the VIS leafgroups Slyk describe will have no effect... or?

Or is it actually so that the gfx engine draws all VIS splits that is touching the bubble?

Do you understand my question?

the farplane is perpendicular to your view, so its not exactly like your in the 'eye' of a hurricane, its more like a big box.

ANYTHING on the other side of the fog is not drawn. (except some entities dont know which, but you can check always draw.) anyways, lets say you put a vis group in a doorway to a house. now lets say you got dense fog. if you are at a distance so that the house is behind the fog, the house wont be rendered period. if you are at a distance so that the house is inside the 'box of drawingness', the house will be rendered, BUT anything behind the door isnt, so the fog and vis work together.

edit: and to slyk, i dont think changing the sky from normal to caulksky would do anything...