ground textures

[jimbop 25]

bet theres an easy answer to this one, the older I get...my brain cells are rotting.

 

 

I can only see my ground textures in bulldozer when I'm zoomed in close to ground.

 

I have paths....but can only see a few yards distance.

 

just mugged myself in another thread trying to find fog setting [ yes, its in bulldozer F1 vid settings!]

 

this is a right nuisance as I cant see how my paths are fitting in the terrain. 

[cookies2432 105]

I know how you can fix this issue ingame but not sure if this will work for buldozer. Open your config.cpp and search for "fullDetailDist", that's the distance of how far you can see HD ground textures, maybe that will have an impact for buldozer but i doubt it. I belive it's only used for when you export your map but hey, what's it going to hurt if you try it? :)

[jimbop 25]

not sure what config.cpp I'm looking for here??

 

if its for my map, then it doesn't have that entry.

 

I can change :-

 

viewDistance
preferredObjectViewDistance

 

in the bulldozer profile in docs but they don't affect ground textures.

[1para{god-father} 105]

Roads will disappear at a short distance in game as it will move over to your Sat mask  so the only way around this is to Draw them onto your satmask that way you will still see them at Distance.

 

Export your road.shp into an image then add that layer to your mask that way it will all liner up correct - amend the colors as needed 

 

Same for ground textures it will move to your Satmask as well at a certain Height above the ground hence you will not see the ground textures only Satmask 

 

HTH

[cookies2432 105]

Oh, yea that works too :)

[jimbop 25]

thanks for the suggestions    :)

 

so I save roads as image file then blend onto my sat image?

 

hmm ive exported shapes to image but all I see is background colour when I preview it in paint.net

[1para{god-father} 105]

Right click on your ROAD layer and set it to a texture i.e dirt, concrete what ever you like

 

Then when you export select that texture you get an option  ( then change the color to say BLUE)  then export

 

You can then in PS  remove all the Blue which will leave you with the road network , blend that into your satmask

 

HTH

[jimbop 25]

thanx mate....sorted.

 

that 'see textures' around player is a very small radius. there must be a setting somewhere? :huh:

[RoF 241]

thanx mate....sorted.

 

that 'see textures' around player is a very small radius. there must be a setting somewhere? :huh:

 

There is, you put it in the config.cpp

  	clutterGrid = 1.2;
	clutterDist = 100;
	fullDetailDist = 12;
	noDetailDist = 65;

I had to add mine in. I think bushlurker (think that's his name???) did a post on here somewhere about what each means. I have it copied somewhere safe... so safe I can't find it at the moment lol. I'll go look and see if I can find it for you

 

*edit*

Found it! All credit to bushlurker, I just had it saved in a txt file

 

 

It's always a good idea to check out the BI terrains themselves when looking at parameters like these which are basically a compromise between visual quality and performance - see what sort of figures BI settled on for their various terrains.

You also might find that with a smaller, lighter-weight terrain, you can lean the numbers more towards visual quality, whereas if you're up there with Altis on the area/object count stakes, then leaning slightly more towards performance might be a useful compromise...

All four of these parameters basically control clutter (and ground texture) density, visual quality and range... Here's what each does in a little more detail...

clutterGrid = x.xx;

The clutterGrid size essentially determines clutter Density. You already specify the relative density of the different clutter models in your mix via the cfgSurfaces "Surface Character" section - this parameter controls the overall density. Lower numbers will provide higher density clutter (a nice thick "carpet" ), but possibly at the cost of some performance.

clutterDist = xxx;  (in meters)

Imagine this parameter as a large circle, centred on the player. The value specified is the radius of that circle. Outside this circle, clutter won't appear at all, so this is basically your overall Range Control. Remember that all the parameters affect each other, so a Big range combined with a High density is a double-drag on performance...

fullDetailDist = xx;  (in meters)

 

In game, directly under your feet - unless you have extremely high clutter density - you'll be able to see the actual underlying ground texture which is in use on this particular surface. It should/will be in nice hi-res quality and you may even notice a little parallax happening too - in other words, you're seeing the Ground Texture at "Full Detail"

This parameter is another "circular range around the player" - this time it controls the distance out to which those ground textures will be displayed at their full, maximum quality.

One important point to note with this particular parameter is that it MUST always be greater than your underlying heightmap cell size!

noDetailDist = xxx; (in meters)

 

As you've probably guessed, this parameter handles the other end of the range specified by the fullDetailDist above - in this case, it controls the point at which the detailed ground textures themselves fade out completely, and are replaced by the satellite imagery.

 

To smooth this transition slightly is the purpose of the "Middle MCO texture" which you specify elsewhere in your main config. That's basically an "additional detail overlay" texture.

It - should - start to kick in at round about this range so the general intention and aim is to achieve a reasonably smooth transition from...

Close-up texture (plus clutter) > Sat imagery+middle mco + clutter > Sat imagery + middle mco > Sat imagery only

If you get the balance between this lot reasonably good (always bearing performance in mind, of course), and your overall colours and tones of groundtextures/clutter/sat imagery all match reasonably well, you can achieve a pretty smooth visual blend between the different ranges...

[jimbop 25]

cheers rof

 

so the map config has total control over clutter and texture view distance. :angry:

 

really surprised that the user cant tweak these settings. the map maker might have a old shitty pute!