ProjectX on 6/8/2005 at 10:24
In surface properties there's a property "do not add to automap", and later I've found in books\English\StringTags\MapRooms.sch not only the mission names, but the namse of the rooms that appear on th maps in T3. Possibly there is a system that makes a map for you? Or does it simply label the map? I'll have a look.
EDIT: I've found you can add automap properties to ZoneInfo objects, so I'm gonna have a look at some OMs to see how they set it up.
Spitter on 6/8/2005 at 10:26
Automap cannot be explained... you have to see it for yourself!
ProjectX on 6/8/2005 at 10:31
ah-ha how droll...
Moving on...
I've found that every conceivable room in all the OMs is zoned off, even small corridor sections! Each has a zone info with automap properties set. I'm gonna see what happens if I do this with my FM.
Right this is what I think is correct...
In the automap system properties in Zoneinfo there are two bools, a string and one array.
The bools are named "bMapVisible" which is whether the AutoMap should be able to see the zone and "bMapZone" which tells the automap to draw that zone. In most zones both are set t true, ovously thy should bot be setto false in the skybox.
The string is called "RoomName" this is often left blank and I am therefore guessing that this is only used when you want a label to appear on the room.
The array is called mapfilter and I don't completely understand it. The bit I do understand is the filterenum which specifies which floor the room is on. This is used for discerning which room to draw on the map and also which floor the map should draw.
Finally there is ID and Name in the array, I don't know what these do.
Ziemanskye on 6/8/2005 at 10:48
If you work this out, I'll be rather grateful.
I don't think it allows thief2 style creating maps for you, but it does somehow label the parts of the hand-drawn map, and I think it's also what somehow tells the map what name it uses (one of my persistant niggles is that the map name when in menus is (Null) rather than the mapname)
ProjectX on 6/8/2005 at 11:13
I dunno, there's something about the way that all the zones have been split into simple polygonal shapes that makes me think we might have that function. Plus a couple of other features in the automap properties.
Ziemanskye on 6/8/2005 at 13:15
Well, if it does work, bonus.
Having experimented and not got anywhere with it before though (not that I was exactly exhaustive in my tests), it felt more like an intended rather than functional tool - just something else there are properties that don't do anything for.
And as for zones being simple shapes - well, they are easier to build, and make less BSP holes that way. Might be more efficient to render, though I doubt the shape matters so much as the number of vertices.
ProjectX on 6/8/2005 at 13:25
Quote Posted by Ziemanskye
And as for zones being simple shapes - well, they are easier to build, and make less BSP holes that way. Might be more efficient to render, though I doubt the shape matters so much as the number of vertices.
No, only zone portals that are simple shapes are easier. In fact the less zones you have (provided you have enough that the system is effective) the better. Basically the OMs arefilled with redundant zones, i.e. zone portals placed in positions where they aren't needed since the have no effect.
Ziemanskye on 6/8/2005 at 13:46
They don't always have no effect.
Some of them (though I can't even being to believe all of them) will be to make sure the lighting works right.
I can only say that because both Townhouse and Schism have had some odd zoneportals needed to beat the lights and shadows into submission though.
And by your comment I thought you meant the Zones were simple shapes (like normal, I guess, a subtracted cuboid, seperated from others by a ZonePortal) - I haven't really explored the OMs, except when looking for help on specific topics/effects, so if they've been subdivided further I didn't check.
The tutorial and first part of the first level are the only one's I've investigated the zones on, and while there were more than I'd say were needed, not so many as to stand out. I was just using the ZoneProperties dialogue though, so it just highlights the compiled zones - maybe I missed the extras, or was looking in the wrong maps.
ProjectX on 6/8/2005 at 17:05
I was looking in castle1.unr. You only need to (for occlusion purposes) place a zone potal in places where you won't be able to see it and the actors behind it for a lot of the time. Some of the zone portals were placed so that if you could see one portal, you could see another thus making one of them redundant.
Ziemanskye on 6/8/2005 at 17:26
Eh?
ZonePortals are like windows for occlusion - if you have two in a corridor then they aren't necessarily redundant, becaue from the room at the end of said corridor you have different angles onto the corridor, so sometimes you're portalling out one of the zones, and the other portal isn't even visible so anything behind it is automatically not rendered. If you can see the portal, then you test to see what beyond it to render, if you can't see the portal, then nothing beyond it is rendered.
Yes, sometimes it's bad to have more in the space, but sometimes you want to control zoneproperties on a small scale (if you're being really picky about sound for example, and want less reverb on places where there's a rug, for example). Or you need to force lighting, which is more of a Flesh thing than Unreal, meaning that lots of portals along a corridor will mean that you can have non-shadowcasters not visible through walls (since they are rendered if the Zone they are in is visible at all - they don't occlude on raycasts because they're a point entity with radius effects - only seeing the light cast when you can see the bulb is understandably not right) - by zoning off lights you can reduce the amount of time they are rendered, and since they are one of the most expensive things in Flesh that's a good thing in general.
One of the pains of this engine, I guess.
(aww crap, this totally sounds like I'm trying to argue with you...
yes, they might be there for the automap, I just kind of ranted why I think they might be there for something else instead)
