hppav's Town Development Thread

[hppav]

Hey, so I'm starting to work on that Town level again that I released in my release thread. I've set up a new clean level so I can export things from the old level, fix them up in Max, and then import them into the new clean level. This is why I went on the hunt for the set images that led me to Sliders screencaps... Here's some pics of the new Ops Center, which incorporates many changes as a result of the Sliders episode "Mother and Child":


By hppav1987 at 2012-02-29


By hppav1987 at 2012-02-29


By hppav1987 at 2012-02-29

[machf]

Looking good...

[hppav]

Well, since the Sliders pics revealed that the "office" was actually there, despite it appearing to not be in the Sliders episode "Mother and Child" I went and put it back in. The concrete wall actually lines up with one of the frames of the windows so no major changes will have to be done. I also imported the light fixtures and enlarged the doors to fit in the newer bigger frame:


By hppav1987 at 2012-03-01
I love this angle.


By hppav1987 at 2012-03-01
The higher ceiling in the lobby here makes it look more awesome than it did in the version I released...

The nice thing is that what was revealed in Sliders allowed me to reduce poly count in the roof mesh, which is awesome since Occlusions can't be too useful in a building full of windows so polygon real estate is very restricted. The main building is pretty much finished except for the occlusions, glass in the windows, blinds, and the various interior doors and repopulating it with the furniture from the released version.

EDIT: I added in blinds and the furniture from the released version. All the windows are done except for those which go on the office/comm center. When I got this set up in game and looked at it I was like "This is Trespasser!?" I still can't believe that something I did managed to come out looking this good in engine.


By hppav1987 at 2012-03-01
Seriously, look at how awesome this lobby looks.


By hppav1987 at 2012-03-01
This set of windows on the side of the building look like they are from a newer game...

Easily some of the best modding I've ever done.

[Second Illiteration]

It does look really good. You said you're planning on continuing work on the level you originally planned? That's pretty exciting news. There's a lot of detail in the shots, and I know you are going to add even more. Any concerns that trespasser may not be able to handle all the detail...I've always been curious if anyone has tried creating a seperate level for certain buildings, so that you can highly detail certain areas without the objects from the rest of the level causing slow downs

[hppav]

The key is careful placement of occlusions and having some objects intentionally not get rendered at a certain distance (like the lights and the foliage hanging down, they aren't rendered until you are pretty much at the Ops Center). That way you can save resources when you are far away while still getting the detail you are looking for when you are up close. You also can't use too many occlusions because Tres only truly occludes for a certain number of them at a time (which I'm not sure we really know how many at this time).

I'm not sure you saw the release thread from your post, but I released an earlier version of this level that included several other buildings and plenty of trees. The Ops Center in there wasn't too different than the one I have now, I just changed the roof, main entrance, and the one side wall with the windows, and added in the supports on the bottom. (and made a new texture). The major difference is how many detail objects I'm using, which even then aren't that much more than in the original level.

EDIT: Ok, I've done a check on FPS -

The FPS when looking at nothing more than an empty level and terrain is 50-60 FPS
The FPS when looking at the Ops Center from about 50 units away is about 20 FPS
The FPS when you get within 20 units drops to about 15 FPS as it loads the models.
Once inside the Ops Center the FPS raises back up to about 25-30 FPS

Keep in mind there are 0 occlusions in the level at this time and this laptop's hardware is crap. I need to test it on my desktop, it's got better hardware.

EDIT 2: Ok, tested it on my Desktop -

The FPS when looking at nothing more than an empty level and terrain is 50-65 FPS
The FPS when looking at the Ops Center from about 50 units away is about 30 FPS
The FPS when you get within 20 units drops to about 23 FPS as it loads the models.
Once inside the Ops Center the FPS raises back up to about 30-60 FPS

So, your experience may vary

[hppav]

A new post for a new day. I added in the tower and the helipad, with the helipad's height increased to match what was seen in the movie. I also added in a slew of occlusion objects so that adding in all these details doesn't change the overall FPS at all. I need to tweak the staircase to the helipad though... Step spacing is a bit too far apart, making it difficult to reach the helipad.



Doing a search through these forums, people have said that they get 200-300 fps in Tres... I don't know how this is possible? Is that Software Mode they are using... idk. As I said, base FPS is generally locked at 60 fps for me.

[Second Illiteration]

All that's pretty good news. Nice new screenshot as well

[machf]

200-300fps? 20-30, more likely...

[awesome24712]

Downloaded...

Installed...

Played...

Came here...

WOW! Everything in the release post was epic, especially the new ops center(s). A lot of nice new models, liked the new models you made for other buildings, the Town Hall, the gas station the embryonics place. It would look far better than the original town... if it was finished .

[RexHunter99]

It was me who said that, you can only get that much frames per second if you have a blank level I was experimenting wiht the terrain and speed. Terrain typically does not affect the games frame rate

[hppav]

Got some updates for ya!


By hppav1987 at 2012-03-06
Seems I've forgotten about the opacity map's being off by a few pixels, This is just a retexture of the retail model with some changes.


By hppav1987 at 2012-03-06
And here's the hole the raptor came through.


By hppav1987 at 2012-03-06
And the revamped Geothermal Plant. I obviously didn't put every single little detail in there, but I got most of them. The Geo Plant's size has been doubled!


Of course Sliders ended up making me remove a stretch of roadway there because the pipes go where the road was originally. Oh well.

EDIT: Oh and here's something that should be nostalgic for those of us who were around in the days of VHS:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHLI8Vti ... re=related[/youtube]
The Mercedes commercial that greeted us whenever we played The Lost World!

[machf]

Hmmm... I guess your opacity map is 24-bit RGB instead of 8-bit greyscale, otherwise it shouldn't be offset.
Did you see those pictures I linked to on the other topic?

[hppav]

Here's the building that the helicopter was originally going to land on.

Four stories tall that's a BIG building.

[Wajas]

Hey these are really cool! I remember -- ooh about ten or so years ago -- thinking about how I would improve Trespasser and making it canon in this way was right up there. I love the Town level (actually was home at my parents this weekend and picked up the game for the first time in years -- the Town was the first level I loaded up), but it always bothered me how it didn't quite fit with the films. I used to think perhaps the Trespasser town in film reality was hiding out behind or to the side of the TLW set.

[madppiper]

Looks fantastic, actually! How about some post on the frontpage?