14 réponses à ce sujet

[georage]

I am thinking of one giant forest level 512x512.

Am i mad?

Most other levels are 256x256 or smaller. 

Modifié par georage, 20 novembre 2009 - 08:47 .

[hitoruyumi]

I think a gigantic forest level like that would be pretty fantastic. I think it'll be difficult to make the map for that level, but as loading too often broke my game on more than one occasion, I admire your contributions to limit frequent loading!

[Astorax]

Something to keep in mind when thinking about how big to make an area is, what's the story of that area...what are you trying to accomplish.



A good rule of thumb is make the area as small as you can while still accomplishing the area's design.



Is there a reason to make it really big? Perhaps...but might it make more sense to break up a big 512x512 area into several say, 128x128 areas and slap them onto an overland map instead? That way you get some loading times, but the payoff is the whole area feels larger because there's a sense of travel...to a point of course. If a quest you're using is going to send the player back and forth, making an area transition is likely not such a great option since then they'll have to wait for the same loading screen several times.

[JasonNH]

You can always make your level 512x512, and if for some reason you think it is too big for a single area, you can break it up into more serviceable sizes. This is one of the nice thing about being able to define several exportable areas from one level. Plus, since the subset of areas are all created from the same level, you get visual continuity between them. I have an area that is 512 x 384 and works well. Keep in mind that you may need a pretty decent buffer of unused spaced as a border if you don't have something to block the LOS, so the usable real estate may not be as much as you think for a "big" area.

[stuntpope]

From a quick look at the Bioware areas it seems many of their outdoor levels are of that size or larger. I have certainly seen ones that are 768x512. That is the total area mind you including all the border area that is non-walkable. Given that you will usually need some buffer between the playable area and the edge of the level I think 128x128 for a level is extremely small.



I think 512x512 seems like a good starting point for a decent outdoor area but it really depends on the kind of visibility that there is. If the player should be able to see a long way into the distance (other than just vistas) then you will need plenty of buffer but if the area is craefully closed on all sides in a way that prevents the player from seeing directly beyond then you could get away with the playable area taking up most of the space. IN this case the level could be made smaller.

[georage]

Thanks for the input guys.



The area is going to be known as the Great Forest (or something similar) and is basically in a mountain valley, so I think 512x512 would work with little border area.



Has anyone had much luck making nice outdoor areas? I will glady include your awesome terrain in my module

[Metro_Cube]

I'm starting small; just working on a single medium-sized room inside a ruin, for the moment.

[Scarmiglion]

I agree with Astorax that going smaller seems to work better. I'm starting with some small areas to see exactly how much environmental detail I can get and still keep the actual walkable area somewhat small. The more you practice with it you start getting a feeling for what you can pull off.

[Beerfish]

In my brief foray into the level editor I have found I need to make the levels much larger. Now when I say this I'm not talking about the playable are but to use the vista model props such as the mountains you need a lot of unplayable area to place them as they are so large. So that is one thing to think about when you 1st create your level, will you be using large vista models or not.

[KalDurenik]

the maps i do are the following sizes:

1000x1000

500x500

And the smallest i will do is 250x250

[Languard]

Well if you're doing those sizes I would very strongly recommend you change to powers of two, 1024, 512, and 256. It is a rare situation that not keeping to powers of two for levels (especially the exterior ones) won't make things more efficient for performance.

[Hakmon]

Beerfish wrote...

In my brief foray into the level editor I have found I need to make the levels much larger. Now when I say this I'm not talking about the playable are but to use the vista model props such as the mountains you need a lot of unplayable area to place them as they are so large. So that is one thing to think about when you 1st create your level, will you be using large vista models or not.

Vista models (or any other models, for that matter) do not have to stay within the grid of the level - actually, if you check e.g. some of the Denerim levels, you will see how the background models are often placed outside the level.

Still, I hope someone smart could post some recommendations for level size (exteriors) and grid size (interior rooms) on the wiki - especially as it concerns performance!

Edit: In fact, I find the wiki section about creating a new level a little vague. This is the article. I was hoping someone could expand on these topics a bit in the wiki:

-Cells Per Sector
-Chunk Size
-Base Cell Resolution
-Blend Texel Size

:?There are even more factors when creating a level and I can't seem to comprehend which are important/relevant.

Modifié par Hakmon, 21 novembre 2009 - 04:38 .

[KalDurenik]

Ok i will try to say from my experience with each size...



1000x1000

Toolset:

*Slow loading

*Random "slow downs"

*If you do to many actions to fast it might crash

*Generating Pathfinding takes up to 10min

*Posting to local (when my map was at it largest size with models and so on (reworking it now) took 3 and a half hour.



In game:

No problems at all... Loading time might take up to 30sec





500x500

*No real slow downs or random lag (unless you make the grid smaller)

*Decent Pathfinding generating speed

*Posting to local is ALOT faster.



250x250

*No slow downs

*fast

*Size might be abit short (due to lack of being able to "hide" the borders.)



Anyway i recommend the size 500

1000 looks epic but huge loading times

250 for smaller areas for fast loading (combat areas and so on)

[Noahhova]

Hey guys sorry if there is a thread for this but i can't find it. Is there a spot to get levels that other people created and play them/rate them and give feedback. Thanks

[Proleric]

Well, not exactly, but the Community Index lists the Standalone Campaigns and New Adventures folk have made. That's probably the best source of custom levels (though there are others, such as the Community Contest).