Actor collision question

[Catalavos]

Goal- to have fences that can be run over/knocked down by a vehicle yet retain normal collision with a soldier (to have them also knocked over by artillery, too would be a real plus).

What I know so far- You can replace the standard static mesh actor with a RigidBody or convert it to a KActor (seemingly the same thing) and change the settings to:

Collision- RBCC_Default
CollisionType- Collide_RO_CanBecomeDynamic
KActor- Damage Applies Impulse-not checked
Limit Max Physics Velocity-checked
Max Physics Velocity-set to 0.00
Wake on level start-checked

These settings will allow a tank to run over the fence and knock it down (and it stays down) but a soldier is not blocked at all, as if the collision were set to "No Collision". Weapons do normal damage and weapon type has no effect on the fence.

I also tried using a blocking volume around the mesh but it just blocked everything regardless of the settings I tried.

What I don't know-If this is even possible.

[danh]

http://forums.tripwireinteractive.co...31#post1177531

[Catalavos]

Ahh, danh! You've fallen into my trap!

I would normally use the m_common_destructibles asset but have decided against it because I have a map with a mega-s***-ton of fences (more than 700 individual sections, with more on the way) and TWSwag noted that we should keep the number of destructibles under 450. Hence, my desire to come up with some other way of destroying the fences. I'm hoping this cuts down on file size, too.

[danh]

I had 1200 on winterwald once. The file size was 230 mb. Now I have 300 and the size is 160.

[Catalavos]

Originally Posted by danh

I had 1200 on winterwald once. The file size was 230 mb. Now I have 300 and the size is 160.

Not a bad savings.

The map I'm messing with now exceeds the maximum package size quite a bit (344 mb, with the max being 300 mb) but it's because of the terrain (and trees) more than anything. The problem is that I made the terrain size 32 x 32 x 256 and the NumPatches is 2048 x 2048. I'm going to have to re-make the terrain and re-position all of the darn static meshes (all 2100 of them) to make any real difference in file size. Getting rid of the destructibles was just a Hail Mary to try to get around having to re-build the terrain in order to save on file size.

[Twrecks]

Don't worry about the 300mb editor limit, it doesn't matter. Try to keep your map under 200mb when cooked so you can upload it to the Workshop or Mediafire (both have 200mb limits). Yakovlevo i had split the props package out thinking the 300mb was real, well it made a mess for ppl downloading 2 files. So I went back to a single file of 520mb unpublished, 175mb published.

The # destructible limit seems to be for an individual RO destructible replication actor, you can have more than one.

The only problem your terrain having so many patches will be the frame rate having to render them. If you have some geographical features that split the map, split the terrain into more terrain actors. Yakovlevo ended up with 3 for creating berms and embedded shadow maps. Just keep your terrain layers and deco layers under 4 and there shouldn't be any problems. You can also reduce file size dramatically by changing the lightmap texture size to 512 from 1024.

[Catalavos]

Originally Posted by Twrecks

Don't worry about the 300mb editor limit, it doesn't matter. Try to keep your map under 200mb when cooked so you can upload it to the Workshop or Mediafire (both have 200mb limits). Yakovlevo i had split the props package out thinking the 300mb was real, well it made a mess for ppl downloading 2 files. So I went back to a single file of 520mb unpublished, 175mb published.

The # destructible limit seems to be for an individual RO destructible replication actor, you can have more than one.

The only problem your terrain having so many patches will be the frame rate having to render them. If you have some geographical features that split the map, split the terrain into more terrain actors. Yakovlevo ended up with 3 for creating berms and embedded shadow maps. Just keep your terrain layers and deco layers under 4 and there shouldn't be any problems. You can also reduce file size dramatically by changing the lightmap texture size to 512 from 1024.

Thanks for the tip on the lightmap resolution! I'm going to give it a try before I ditch the existing terrain. The frame rate isn't great with the terrain as it is. I'm getting mid 20's with my crappy Radeon HD 5670 card.


One question- how does cooking the map reduce the file size so much?

Going way off topic here but on the subject of multiple terrain actors; I've never messed with using multiple terrains but always wondered if you could make a terrain "donut" with a dense terrain in the middle (kind of like what I have right now with 32 x 32) and a less dense terrain (maybe 128x128) surrounding it? I'm guessing that you create the larger terrain and then use the "hide" tool to make a hole in it so that you can see the terrain actor in the middle? Can you use the merge tool in the terrain editor to weld the edges of the terrain actors together so that there is continuity in the landscape or do you need to hide the edge at which they meet with something like a river?

[Twrecks]

AFAIK, "cooking" compresses the file (especially textures), plus removing data that is default for components and leaving property changes to be shared.

Yes to the terrain questions. In Yakovlevo the town sits on its own small terrain "donut". The rest of the map two terrains undulate above/below eachother to create interesting effects. I found that "hiding" terrain textiles isn't neccessary unless you don't want the collision (basments, trenches, tunnels, etc.). Hiding them does nothing for the lightmap calculations, frame rates or map file size. The map I'm working on currently has one large terrain actor (distance view + hills) and several smaller higher rez maps nestled into it for combat zones.

[Catalavos]

Thanks guys. This has been incredibly helpful!