ase terrain...again :)

(RabidCow) #1

Hi everyone,
I have been working on large ase model terrains as of late, and am having a problem others on this forum have experienced. I have black spots and lines randomly around the terrain. I have tried the conventional q3map_lightmapSampleOffset and even the dreaded q3map_splotchfix with no improvement. Currently I am just using a single texture that is phong shaded. I have seen the problem on all of my terrain models, in varying amounts, so its not just this particular model. In case any of you have yet to see this problem, here is an example…

I won’t have time for a couple of days to try a dotproduct2 terrain shader, but I don’t expect that to make much difference…or am I wrong?
The map in this screenshot is very large…but smaller maps exhibit the problem at least as much. If any of you know any solution, I would appreciate it greatly! Thanks!
RC

(rgoer) #2

Very nice terrain! Is that ETF? As far as possible fixes are concerned, a lower -samplesize in the bsp phase of your compile can cure stubborn shadow acne. Try 8 at first, if that doesn’t get rid of it all, try 6, then 4 as a last resort.

If none of that works, you could always place structure on/near problem areas that will either obscure the glitches or cast light onto that area, potentially solving the problem.

I must reiterate, though: that terrain is fucking sexy.

(ydnar) #3

Wow, nice work.

If the terrain is entirely upward facing, you can add this to the shader:

q3map_lightmapMergable
q3map_lightmapSize 512 512

You should be compiling it with -game etut -external -lightmapsize 512 (or 256).

Adding q3map_lightmapSamplesize 8 to the shader might also help as well.

If you do use a dotProduct2 shader (or one of the new alphaMod volume shaders), make it two similar textures for a subtle effect. What you have now is really sexy.

y

(ratty redemption) #4

I agree, despite being a fury little ratty, I also feel particularly amorous at the site of your terrain there, and have desires to get very “friendly” with it :eek3: :banana:

seriously though, you might be able to use small alphamod blends with nolightmap stages, to cover up these artifacts.

and does anyone know exactly why they appear in the first place? I too have had them occasionally with my trisouped brush terrain… I wondered if they were a form of shadow leak?

ie the surfaces they appear on are trying to sample the lightmapping from the void and not an adjacent lit surface… I`m just guessing, so that might be totally wrong.

also I found they move when the angle of the sun is tweaked, so be warned about getting that right, before attempting to cover up yours, as they might appear some where else, if you then change the sun angle.

(RabidCow) #5

Thanks guys! I already had my q3map_lightmapsamplesize at 1 but have tried raising it to 4 with no change in the problem. I have been trying to determine whether or not some particular characteristic of my model was causing the problem but I haven’t found anything yet…although, if the terrain is built in max and then optimized, it appears necessary to limit the max edge length of the faces to 512 units or so to prevent auto-clipping of the model from failing (it usually works ok til you walk over an area that has a particularly large face at which point you fall through). I will give the rest of your suggestions a try and then dotproduct2…should be interesting…
RC

(ydnar) #6

Download the latest development build of Q3Map2 and see if that fixes your problem. I reverted a change from 2.5.13 to the way it was in 2.5.12 that dealt with large surfaces being merge-limited by lightmaps. This revert cured some similar problems I had on a large lightmapped model.

BTW, got any more screenshots?

y

(michi.be) #7

then i saw the shot i thought it was a photo firstly. (i have no eye problems) ;-p

(Hewster) #8

aye, V nice screen shot there :slight_smile:

These odd shadows are the only side effect that I know of when using .ase terrain,
they seem so random (although will contantly appear in the same place in a map)

I have had sucess before (not always) by exporting the model to .dxf, or .dwg, re-importing (into MAX)
and then re-exporting as .ase

I use .dwg, as it keeps the full names of your meshes (although it add a .01 to the end)
the only problem with doing this is that you lose your uvw data, you can of course
apply a Unwrap UVW, and save it, and then simply load it again after you re-import.

Hewster

(RabidCow) #9

sorry about the delay…my real life job keeps getting in the way :slight_smile:

this terrain is nearly 4000 units in height and 16kx16k in overall size

using the latest dev version of q3map2 the results are very acceptable, I think. Of course this is only a test map :slight_smile: . Thanks for all of your help guys!

[/img]

(Davros) #10

nice :slight_smile:

(ratty redemption) #11

agreed, very nice, and could we see more pics of your terrain? :slight_smile:

(obsidian) #12

… or you could post a PK3 of the map? :wink:

Amazing! It does have a very photographic quality to it.