Tsoidahl Prad Project Thread

[Justintime9]

Hello everyone. Based on what was discussed in this thread (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6401), I've decided to make Tsoidahl Prad a more "open" project.

My first order of business is to release the Blend and age files. I'm hoping those of you who have a more current knowledge of age creation can look over it and make necessary changes or suggestions. I'll list a couple of the main problems I'm experiencing at the moment.

1. Lag. There used to be no lag, but I think I did something that increased it. Possibly something with the vis-regions. I thought it might be Shadbuf, but it's off for most things.
2. The couryard has disappeared! Again, I think something got screwed up with the vis-regions, because in URU the courtyard is gone.
3. Door animations. For some reason the door at the bottom of the stairs is stuck open.
4. Lightmap Issues. Some black squares and other problems.
5. Anything else you notice. I've never really done things "by the book." Some of my objects may have too many verts, etc. Or if a texture is done poorly feel free to do something.

Since I've begun renovations, I did two thing mainly: re-lighting the office and putting in better textures. I also added a cupboard to make the room less bare. Other than that room, I've been working on making the main staircase more interesting. In the old version the lightmapping was kind of bad, and the cracks on the walls were too excessive. Now there's no cracks, but it looks too bare.




Once some of the basic stuff gets done I want to work on redesigning the courtyard on the other side of the gate. And definitely redesign a lot of textures and lighting. . I've always used lightmaps for everything, but maybe we could try vertex paint, etc. It would be cool if Tweek could contribute something, but I know he's got a bunch of his own projects. Anyway, here's the blend and age files. Hopefully you can open it. For some reason my computer can't just make standard .zip folders.

https://www.mediafire.com/?f3zhbb13ov3e4gi

[Tweek]

I'll take a look but I can't promise anything, I have a lot going on these days. I'd suggest keeping any lightmaps you have they're always good to have but I may be able to take a look at vertex painting as well...again no promises.

[Justintime9]

Ok. That's what I figured. Knowing you're the best with this sort of thing, I figured I'd ask.

[Ehren]

2. The couryard has disappeared! Again, I think something got screwed up with the vis-regions, because in URU the courtyard is gone.

The problem is definitely related to a Vis Region. The BalconySV region to be exact.

Given the name I assume it should only make it vanish around the balcony area? Something needs to be fixed with it...

Actually, I think you may have just accidentally shrunk BalconySV to be too small?

[Doobes]

Hey Justin. I took a peek at your blend file. From what I can tell, your door animation is lacking a loopstart and loopend, so URU doesn't know exactly what the animation DoorAnime is.

I think if you change the AlcScript slightly to look like this, it might work:

Code: Select all

Door1:
    animations:
        - name: DoorAnime
          autostart: 0
          loop: 0
          loopstart: 0.0
          loopend: 2.7

Remember that 30 Blender frames equals about 1 second. I saw your door animation ended at about frame 80, so I believe that will set things about right. I'll see what else I can find, but figured I'd start with that.

EDIT: I just re-read your note up at the top and it mentioned the door at the bottom of the stairs. Door1 seems to be the only one with an animation. Did I miss another?

EDIT 2: Ah, just found QuarryDoor. The reason I didn't see the animation before was because the keyframes appear to be in the negative numbers for some reason, which would explain why it's wedged open. It also needs the aforementioned loopstart and loopend AlcScript too.

EDIT 3: I also just looked at the VisRegions. It looks like you've got objects that should be set for the QMusicSV VisRegion set for the BalconySV one, like "OffLCanyon" and such. That's why they disappear.

[Justintime9]

Ok, so I fixed the doors. And I sort of looked at the VisRegions a bit, but it's been awhlile, so I may have to read up on how those work. I also noticed that the blendfile I sent may not be the most current. I'll look more closely tommorow and maybe post an updated version. (Hopefully with the VisRegions fixed too.
It's annoying because I vaguely remember changing the VisRegions to test something, and then since I forgot what I did, it's harder than it was getting into it.

[Doobes]

And I sort of looked at the VisRegions a bit, but it's been awhlile, so I may have to read up on how those work.

Basically, any object set to a specific VisRegion will only be visible when the camera is within that region. That set of objects WAS visible, but only when you were in the wrong area and couldn't see them anyway.

[Ehren]

I noticed that without any Vis Region use at all, the courtyard goes partially through the building wall that you see from the balcony. My mind is blown!

[Sirius]

Hi there Justintime !

I can confirm the heavy lag issue is related to dynamic shadows. Turning them off in the settings made the game smooth again.
Looking in the PRP file, it seems many of your objects cast shadows... It lists about 200 casting objects.
You should indeed uncheck the Shadbuf box in the material settings, since most of your objects are static and already have a lightmap anyway.


Also, if I may say, collisions for a lot of objects should be redone on a separate collider. For instance, you use hull bounds for books on your shelves (which are about 1300 vertices for each set of books), while the shelf itself doesn't have any collision. I'd recommend turning collisions for books off, and do one of the followings:
- split your bookshelves object so that each object contains only 1 bookshelf, and use box or hull bounds on these objects,
- or create a simple collider around those objects. A simple cube with either box or hull bounds would be more than enough.
This makes walking in the Age much easier, and also increases performances, since the game has to compute collisions for only 6 faces instead of ~800.

[Justintime9]

Awesome, you guys rock. @Sirius, I'll definitely do that. I had a feeling it had to do with shadows. And do excess collides cause lag? I didn't know that.

I noticed that without any Vis Region use at all, the courtyard goes partially through the building wall that you see from the balcony. My mind is blown!

Yes, that's the reason I had a VisRegion there. The balcony was actually one of the first parts of the age created. I hid the courtyard from there because I wanted it to look like one of those Bahro stone balconies. Tsoidahl Prad is basically my manifestation of everywhere in D'ni we've never been able to explore. The gates in Ae'gura for example, And the doors on the balconies. I thought it'd be sweet to be sort of "behind the scenes" in D'ni.
But regarding the balcony, I had hoped people couldn't perceive the spacial issues of not seeing the courtyard. But since it is obvious, I'll find a way to make it look more natural. Think of the cliffs by the Library in Ae'gura. Something like that probably.

Once I finish renovations though, I'll probably write some article, or make a video about the making of the age and its inspiration. I think you might find it interesting.