help with terrain XSI objects in 3DS max 7 and other modellers

[TheJamsh]

ive noticed and i believe im right in saying that it is the very uppermost object in the heirachy of a building that shapes the in-game terrain below am i right? i also believe this frame MUST be called 'terrain' and nothing else?

ive also seen that some objects have two objects called 'terrain' in the XSI. the uppermost object in the hierachy shapes BZII's in game terrain and the other gives the base of the building its texture but doesnt shape the terrain?

first of all, if i create two terrain frames in 3DS max, with the proper heirachy, my uppermost (untextured) frame is NOT hidden by the game, whereas the other ones are...

second, removing the first terrain frame and only having one frame called terrain with the texture applied gives me an object like this in game:



it doesnt move the terrain at all! now are terrain frames actually very flat boxes or are they just planes? and do i have to move my frame up the Z axis a little to stop this happening?

whats the secret? chars

[shane ward]

The terrain model in side the xsi will shape the terrain and also if you make a hole, will allow units and players to cross over under the terrain. Normally this is not visible and another normal object added under it.

Little info I found when making tunnels

Also I beleave terrain will allow units to travel as low as it is. So if you have a terrin model under the groud, the unit will travel on the terain model untill it reaches the end. Little strange.

[Avatar]

It's "terrain__h" that carves the hole in the actual terrain, and "terrain" that takes the place of the actual terrain that was removed.  The presence of a "terrain__h" piece in the XSI automatically turns on 'ownsterrain', allowing things like "collision__hc" to work, consoles to operate, and nothing else to be built on that square.

-Av-

[bigbadbogie]

Threed doesnt show the '__h' part, but believe me its there. Change it in notepad.

[mrtwosheds]

And be careful when saving Terrain__h models in threed.
Sometimes it decides to destroy them for you.
This can be avoided by pasting
   Frame frm-dummy {

      FrameTransformMatrix {
         1,0,0,0,
         0,1,0,0,
         0,0,1,0,
         0,0,0,1;;
      }
above the
   Frame frm-terrain__h {

      FrameTransformMatrix {
         1,0,0,0,
         0,1,0,0,
         0,0,1,0,
         0,0,0,1;;
      }
entry in Notepad, before opening/saving with threed.
Remove it in notepad again before testing in game or it will look like your picture above.

[Warfreak]

OR, you can fo into 3DS Max, copy the terrain object and name the copy (leave it at the same position as terrain) terrain__h.

TONS easier and yo udont have to go out of Max to do it......

[TheJamsh]

ah yes, i imported an object into 3DS studio 6 and saw the added little bits.

one other thing... can vertex colours be changed in MAX? or is that a notepad thing?

[Warfreak]

Yes  it can actually, it's under Edit mesh..... let me jsut get a pic up.