few questions from a rf noobix

[odd_bod]

hi peeps, just dl-ed and done the box tutorial all went well and its pretty stright forward design (i can see the light)

before i dive in i have a few question's (not sure what the right forum i should post this in).
1. is there a rule on the amount of entitys that can be used on a level before the frames are killed (eye candy and charactors )?
2. whats the best 3d model format to port into RF, and do models have to be uvmapped or can rf read multi textures on a model ? (like some mod software say it can take .dae .3ds .obj and on import you end up with a messed up model)
3. is collision automatically set on model (i.e bullets pass through opening and walls are solid)?
4. outdoor maps! am i right in thinking huge tranparent leak proof box with terrainmap ect build inside ?

il leave it at that for now

ty

[Jay]

hello and welcome.

1. Leaving out the polycount of a scene, i wouldn't go over let's say 150 entities (any kind) in a level because rf has to cylce through them all every frame and decide if they are going to be used, for example. For the polycount, i wouldn't go over let's say 1200 for characters when there are like 5 on the screen at one time. This is due to hardware T&L not being implemented yet. But normally it's better to try it out, it all depends on different thinghs. It's really hard to find the 'last truth' here.

2. Best are milkshape3d, gmax, 3dsmax and Truespace (the old 3.2 is free i believe), because there are converters for those programs. RF uses an own model format, the ACT format. Milkshape3d exports to BDY(body) and MOT(motions), which are then combined with ActorStudio(in the tools underdirectory) to form an actor (=>model). gmax exports to KEY and NFO which can also be used by ActorStudio. 3dsmax files can be imported natively i think by ActorStudio. But Truespace can only be used for modelling because it lacks bones. The converter converterts directly to ACT. (uh i hope i have not confused you much with all those extensions). Onve you have the model in the ACT format, there is no further conversion to be done. Models can be uvmapped, but Rf can also use more than one texture on a model (one for the head, one for the trousers, etc.). I hope that's what you meant.

3. In RF, there are different types of bringing an actor (=model) into the game. There are Pawns which are for enemies and NPCs, StaticEntityProxys for your small props that don't need to have per poly collision, and staticmeshes for your big ones that need per poly collision (like terrains, or your wall where the bullets can fly through the hole). But be warned, with big models (in terms of polycount) the per poly collision is really slow. You are better off when you break the model into parts which then are different staticmeshes. Read the manual under Pawn, StaticEntityProxy and Staticmesh for more information.

4. Yes you are right. In Rf, there is also an entity called Skydome, which simulates a sky. A farclip plane would also be good for such a level. If you want to know more, you should read the sections in the manual under Skydome(the sky), EnvironmentSetup(farclip plane), and maybe Staticmesh (for the terrain maybe)

This should be enough for now, there is also an ebook for rf, it was not written for the current version but still gives a good overview. It is found on the downloads page of the rf site. ("Making games..." is its name)

[zany_001]

Welcome to the forums!!!!!

once hardware T&L is implemented,i reckon u could go to about 3000 polys for a character,with the same for firstperson weapons,but thats if ur using different models for wat the NPCs are holding.

[Spyrewolf]

T&L is implemented,i reckon u could go to about 3000 polys for a character

that's pretty expensive even for today's standards. you can still pump the detail, with lower polycounts, what we really need support for is multiple materials, we sort'uv have it for normal mapping but what we need to take thing to the next level is diffuse, specular, and occulsion mapping to make some real sweet models, that with a touch of shaders thing will be real pretty, im unsure if TnL will give us this or not i think quest is the only one who can answer this for me.

what most people think is the super hi-poly = beauty, this is major misconception, most modern engines use materials to give the illusion of super hipoly when in reality they're not.

we can almost pull it off now, with normal mapping, by 'digital sculpting' with programs like blender zbrush and mudbox then baking to a texture the normal mapping can have almost identical looking models from from a sculp that is 10000000 poly's to a model of that of 1000.

take a look at this tute to see what i mean.
http://www.pioroberson.com/tuts/tut_tex ... tricks.htm

[odd_bod]

thanks peeps,

by what your saying its worth investing sometime in RF for a free engine + toolkit its pretty powerfull.
iv been reading up of a fair few dev kits and even some retail (no names) seem to fall short when populateing a map.
i guess some planning on style of graphics will boost performance i.e more cartoon low poly rather than reach out and touch doom3/prey multi layerd graphics.

thanks again peeps, u prolly see me about asking more stuff as i progress


!!now what folder did i put the manual in!!

[zany_001]

T&L is implemented,i reckon u could go to about 3000 polys for a character

that's pretty expensive even for today's standards. you can still pump the detail, with lower polycounts

well i read a book by a professional game weapons modeller,and he said 4 fp weapons,3000 polys is how high he would go,for NPCs id say the same,altho he didnt say that specifically.i also meant that 3000 is 4 just the weapons u r currently holding,the weapons the NPCs r holding would b less.i agree that low poly looks pretty good if done right tho.

[paradoxnj]

This is what normal mapping is for. The correct way to normal map a character is to make a high poly character, generate a normal map for it, reduce the poly count to an engine managable number, then apply the normal map to the character in-game. By doing this, you are simulating the high-poly version of the actor through normal mapping.

You should not be looking to increase poly count on your geometry, you should be looking to use as least as possible. Remember, the fastest polygons are the ones that aren't rendered.