PDA

View Full Version : Bit of geometry too much work for SWR, instance geometry?



Longshot
December 3rd, 2008, 06:22 AM
Hey guys,

So in my map I have hand railing, and it seems like a lot of work to go through making it appropriate for the sealed world rules. I'm not 100% sure on what instance geometry is, but from my understanding it's used for light fixtures, railing etc, so if I make it instance geometry, will it compile properly and how do I do it?

I've searched the forums but haven't had much luck, I read in one post that I'm supposed to apply a % material to it, but I don't know, that's why I'm here. :p

So is there anyway I can get this to work? Thanks.

Timo
December 3rd, 2008, 06:47 AM
You can make it non-collidable but then it's not the best hand rail in the world. I remember seeing a tutorial a long long time ago that showed a guy putting in a handrail into a map. He just sealed the thing up on its own (bottoms of the rail supports too) and put it rediculously close to the main geometry that the game compiled it as if it was sealed.

E: Oh, if it's just a 2d plane then you do need to use %. Shouldn't be too much hassle to reattach the faces at the bottom of each rail support if it is 2d.

Kornman00
December 3rd, 2008, 08:09 AM
instance geometry is in halo 2+, not halo1

PenGuin1362
December 3rd, 2008, 12:24 PM
You can do either scenery, or attach to the bsp. Doing as Timo suggested, making it close to the bsp, often results in collision errors.

Corndogman
December 3rd, 2008, 02:00 PM
You could also make it a separate object and attach it to to the frame, much like you would a fog plane, but that can also cause errors.

PenGuin1362
December 3rd, 2008, 04:14 PM
Railings won't have enough effect on gameplay or appearance if you make them scenery, so if you wish to make your life easier that's probably your best chance. Most other methods leave too much margin for error.

Pooky
December 3rd, 2008, 06:01 PM
Chronopolis had hand rails iirc, try dissecting those.

Longshot
December 4th, 2008, 05:16 AM
Thanks for clearing that up for me guys, but I've run into another problem when creating collision geometry for the railing itself. I'm using FireDragon's tutorial.

Tool just gives me the following error:


C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Halo Custom Edition>tool collision-geometry rai
ling
Couldn't read map file './toolbeta.map'
### railing_collision.JMS
### ERROR couldn't build bsp because of overlapping surfaces (orange).
### ERROR couldn't build bsp2d.
### ERROR couldn't build leaf.
### ERROR failed to import collision bsp.
### ERROR couldn't import permutation 'railing_collision' of node 'frame'.
### ERROR failed to import collision model 'railing\railing'.I'm using Max 8 and exporting using Editable Mesh. Poly just gives me errors with Tool so I don't use it anymore. I mean I know my model has tons of errors but isn't that the point of scenery? To allow objects that aren't suitable for the sealed world rules to export in-game properly, if that makes any sense? Or am I totally missing the point here?

Here's a quick wireframe of the model I'm trying to export.

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/6942/wirewe8.png

p0lar_bear
December 4th, 2008, 01:30 PM
Collision geometry must follow sealed world rules. I see your bars intersecting each other.

PenGuin1362
December 4th, 2008, 03:22 PM
PM me that railing if you want and I will show you how to make it for scenery.

Longshot
December 7th, 2008, 09:45 PM
Sorry for the delays guys, went out on the weekend.

I PM'd you that railing if you're still up for the job of showing me. :p

Just a quick question, what would be the easiest way to create railing that would fit the sealed world rules, surely there would be an easier way, right? Thinking of the hand railing in High Ground just makes me cringe every time I see it because its so thin, it almost seems impossible to create.

KiLLa
December 8th, 2008, 02:34 AM
I'd just make the rails render only, then make a small boxy type extrusion from the stairs or whatever, and make them collision only..that's if that would work, I don't know really, never tried it, and haven't touched the HEK or even 3ds in years XD

Phopojijo
December 8th, 2008, 03:31 AM
I didn't play with Halo 1 much at all... gave up and jumped to UnrealEngine... but it seems like what Killa said would be true. 2 caveats though.

1) If you'd want to shoot between the railing bars... that would be blocked by the invisible collision model.

2) Your railing could work on its own... I think at least... but your problem (which is probably what the PM was all about) is that each bar is sealed.

You were nervous about the hand-railing intersection world geometry breaking sealed world rules, etc... and yet the railing bars are capped which intersect with itself, breaking it's own sealed world. If you were to like -- boolean union them all to 1 object (or, preferably, manually joining them) then it should compile no problem.

Butttttt as stated... UnrealEngine dude... I don't ever deal with this crap... UnrealEngine doesn't have sealed-world rules or anything like that. (It's all due to the Physics engine...) Halo's best left to the Halo dudes. Just my 2 cents.

KiLLa
December 8th, 2008, 01:46 PM
well it would be best to just have it render only, cause it would take massive ammounts of polygons to seal it correctly..not to mention hours of wig splitting errors, piles of wrl files and runs through tool..
so your options are crappy fps due to over-polyied rails, or bars ya can't shoot through..