Hi all.
I'm working on writing a MMORPG and would like to discuss some design issues.
On one extreme, I could model the entire world, or much of it in one single model. On the other hand, I could break up the world in to 100x100 units and model each of these units separately.
The single model design seems like it would be ugly to update. There are some neat scripts which will randomly generate entire cities for Blender3d. This would be a nice start.
The multiple model design seems like it might be difficult to "assemble." I'm leaning toward this design, though.
So, how well will Irrlicht "weld" adjacent meshes together? Any advise, or other things to consider?
TIA,
Mike.
Large world for a MMORPG
Using blender
One more data point. I'm using blender for the world generation.
What I would do personally is use some large tiling terrain plug-in such as Arras tiled terrain (It's in Project Announcements) and then scatter buildings etc throughout the land and load/unload sections when the player gets close enough. Hopefully with this you don't have to do any actual "welding".
I don't know how you would handle indoor dungeons, etc though, I suppose you would still have to split it up into large pieces.
I don't know how you would handle indoor dungeons, etc though, I suppose you would still have to split it up into large pieces.
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More questions
OK, I've got some more ideas and questions.
I'm thinking I'll break the "world" up into 100x100 or 1000x1000 units. Then I can load/unload these units on demand. The setting will be a mix of city, country and beach environments. Basically, I'm not going to limit myself
So, what do you think about modeling each of these squares as a whole? The alternative is to model just the land formation as a whole, then populate it with building, fountain, tree models, etc. The first method would probably be more efficient, but the second one would be easier to maintain. I'm leaning toward the second option.
Comments.?
I'm thinking I'll break the "world" up into 100x100 or 1000x1000 units. Then I can load/unload these units on demand. The setting will be a mix of city, country and beach environments. Basically, I'm not going to limit myself
So, what do you think about modeling each of these squares as a whole? The alternative is to model just the land formation as a whole, then populate it with building, fountain, tree models, etc. The first method would probably be more efficient, but the second one would be easier to maintain. I'm leaning toward the second option.
Comments.?
I agree with BlindSide, use a terrain tiling (or make your own) and then populate that with individual objects.
reason for this is you can use fancy LOD on objects, so if they are too far away you dont see them, but still want to see the base terrain of where that object is at.
from a designing point of view, yes making one chunk would be easier, but performance would decrease exponetially
reason for this is you can use fancy LOD on objects, so if they are too far away you dont see them, but still want to see the base terrain of where that object is at.
from a designing point of view, yes making one chunk would be easier, but performance would decrease exponetially