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Author
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Topic: Good news, and bad news...
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jedi
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 03:07 PM
   
The good news is that the Corsair, when you're not flying it, thinks it's a Mustang, AI-wise, so it will put up a fight against you. In fact, it puts up a pretty good fight, but it won't out-turn a Zero, so the few FM adjustments I've made so far haven't made it "uber."The bad news is that, at combat range, it also LOOKS like a Mustang, since I haven't done any work on the distant .lods yet. Here's my question: what if I just DELETE those .lods? Does something bad happen if the more complex shapes are visible out to infinite distance? Frame rate hit? CTD? Alternatively, can I just make the switchin distance some huge number so that when it turns into a Mustang, it's too far away to tell? Or can I just copy the main .lods and use them for the distant .lods? Really not looking forward to making two more simplified Corsair models to switchin at distance, but if that's what I gotta do.... It's a pretty funny lookin Mustang when it switches tho--maybe I should just leave it that way  ------------------
--jedi-- IP: Logged |
Falck
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 03:10 PM
Frame rate hit
use simpler lods at distance. Having high detail lods at all distances would force the engine to draw way to many polygons at once and the fps would plummet. Simplify your lods and replace the mustangs distance lods.IP: Logged |
jedi
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 03:25 PM
Thanks (I think) I suspected as much  Hopefully I can just remove a bunch of vertices on the complex model and move things around in OPS.------------------
--jedi-- IP: Logged |
jedi
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 03:25 PM
Thanks (I think) I suspected as much Hopefully I can just remove a bunch of vertices on the complex model and move things around in OPS.------------------
--jedi-- IP: Logged |
jedi
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 03:26 PM
Thanks (I think) I suspected as much Hopefully I can just remove a bunch of vertices on the complex model and move things around in OPS.------------------
--jedi-- IP: Logged |
jedi
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 03:26 PM
Thanks (I think) I suspected as much Hopefully I can just remove a bunch of vertices on the complex model and move things around in OPS.------------------
--jedi-- IP: Logged |
jedi
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 03:29 PM
Aaaagggghhh!Computer Twilight Zone! (Father-in-law's machine) Sorry ------------------
--jedi-- IP: Logged |
jedi
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 03:30 PM
Aaaagggghhh!Computer Twilight Zone! (Father-in-law's machine) Sorry ------------------
--jedi-- IP: Logged |
jedi
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 03:30 PM
Aaaagggghhh!Computer Twilight Zone! (Father-in-law's machine) Sorry ------------------
--jedi-- IP: Logged |
Falck
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 03:35 PM
Heheh
and I thought, 8 replies already?  you dont need too much detail at distance. Actually i think you can make your fuselage 2 interconnected flat sections. Open up a low detail lod to see how its done. And other stuff, such as landing gear, isnt needed at far distances at all IP: Logged |
JT
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 04:08 PM
Just to build on what Falck said... you really only need to build different LODs for the big shapes... fuselage, wings, canopy, etc. All the small stuff like flaps and ailerons and landing gear, etc. can simply vanish since you can't see those from far away, so no point in wasting rendering time. It's very important. It's actually not so hard either because the texture mapping of the less detailed meshes is far less critical so it doesn't take much time. In fact, for the furthest levels, you can probably just have polygon color and no mapping at all.
[This message has been edited by JT (edited 02-05-2000).] IP: Logged |
Spanky the Mad Dog
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 07:13 PM
Spanky here... Jedi- Yeah you need low and medium Detail LODS If you don't the FPS will suck ass. They shouldn't be too hard to do. Just model the plane really quick with half the detail of the first and half again. I personally hate the way the low level lods are done right now. They are just a cylinder with infanitly thin wings and tail feather. also they have no landing gear. I think that sucks ass. You wonder why you have a hard time seeing the baddies with out hud? Its cause they are just a pop can flying around with some strips of paper taped on at lowest LOD. We need to at least have another poly on the wing vertical to give the wing some thickness. What do you guys think?
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Sv
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 07:36 PM
Ya know Spanky, some sims like RB3D (2d?) only have flat wings even close up Distance LODS work very well - my question about the shipping planes is, why is the switch distance so high? It seems like there is so much detail so far away! It seems almost 10 times to far! Why? I just did my albatros. I have two levels. Most switch out at 1000 feet. The ailerons disapear all together and the ailerons are built into the flat wing. In much testing I relized that there was no way in hell you can see an aileron move at 1000 feet, unless you are running in 10240,8600 on a 200 inch monitor I must be missing something.. right? Any way my new albatros looks great and the FPS in my 10 albatros mission is MUCH better. I now see 60-80 where I used to see 40-50 with the old Fokker low-detail LODS. This was not a scientific measurement though Just import your wings, and trace them with flat polygons. The texturing is the biggest pain - I textured the whole wing at once and then broke it into the pieces. Also for the fuselege I just extruded a 6 sided poly instead of the 12 sided poly and I left out the cockpit hole. The polys are tiny compared with the high detail fuselege. It is important if you want your plane to big in big missions... if you want to fly it by itself then you can go nuts!
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-Sv =FC=
WWI in SDOE!
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Private Roger
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 07:43 PM
All this talk of LODS switching out at pre-determined distances explains why some planes appear to lose the flaps when I'm dogfighting with them and they get to a certain distance. I thought the idea was that you no longer model those things at a certain distance to help frame rate, but that they would not be able to be seen anyway. Clearly thats not always the case.Guess sometimes they go to far both ways. Or am I full of beans? PR=FC= IP: Logged |
Spanky the Mad Dog
Pilot
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posted 02-05- 08:34 PM
Spanky here.. I hear what you are saying SV but i am totally against a flat wing at any distance it makes it to hard to see with out hud when it is far away. I would make my P40 with a more thoughtfull low lever lod but that would penalize it in the air and make it more visible then other planes. Maybe i will do a topic on this and put some screenshots of my thoughts. Also remember the object detail slider in options effects the distance at which these lods switch. so thats why some seem to switch out too far away and too close to other people. One last thought . when doing a medium or low detail LOD. Don't make it all switch at once. Make each part a little futher away or closer or you will get a cpu spike of activity and a FPS hit when it switches all the lods. Thats in the creator book. and makes alot of sence
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