DarkHorizon
18-03-2009 15:58:40
Hello,
I started reading about PCZ Scene Manager in the context of using it for my game, and many questions formed in my mind. I'll paint a picture of what I'd like to achieve, perhaps a knowledgeable few could point out whether PCZ is for me?
The game is a third-person isometric-influenced RPG (akin to Diablo/Ultima/Fallout camera style). The view can be rotated around the Y axis, or put into first-person "lookaround" mode (movement not possible).
There are two main levels of scene; the first is terrain, which is generated from a typical heightmap, uses the ST_EXTERIOR_CLOSE scene manager. In PCZ terms, terrain would be the 'root' zone.
The second are buildings. These are comprised of the exterior shell (one mesh per storey, one roof), interior rooms (one mesh per room), staircases, and doorways linking rooms to the exterior (or other rooms). In PCZ terms, rooms would be subzones of the terrain zone.
So far, sounds like PCZ could be a huge asset, time-saver, and fps-saver.
The additional features I considered implementing, before reading up on PCZ:
1) When a character is inside a building, the exterior shell disappears for all storeys above and including the storey in which the player character is located (leaving exterior shells below him visible), thus permitting visibility in a certain style.
2) Rooms' visibility are controlled by the state of doors. If open, attached rooms are revealed. There is no LOS-checking for parts of rooms, etc.
3) Staircases which attach floors are usable-objects rather than collision-detected objects, to trigger transition between storeys.
4) Terrain (ST_EXTERIOR_CLOSE), sky (Caelum), and water (Hydrax) can potentially be 'on' while inside buildings, since their visibility is possible indoors.
5) Room interiors are (for the most part) composed of walls, ceiling, and floor; backface culling prevents walls between player character and camera from obscuring the player character.
My questions regarding PCZ are:
1) What happens to terrain/sky/water (part of the root zone) when inside a building, from a third person view? Can zones be culled based on an arbitrary point, or are they culled according to the viewport?
2) Is #1 (features, above) possible? If the building is attached to the root zone, would the exterior of the building only cull if the exterior portal was invisible?
3) Can portals' visibility be controlled by the addition/deletion of scene node objects? (e.g. using a door mesh to obscure the room behind it.) Or is their visibility solely at the discretion of whether they are contained in the viewport (and not back-facing)?
4) In terms of using PCZ for terrain-object zoning, I'm assuming I would need to divide my world into X*Y equally sized zones, and define 4 portals along the edges of each zone. e.g. if a zone was 256*256 units, the four borders would each have a 256*height portal assigned. Is this right?
5) Do portals offer visibility through other portals?
6) Could I use portals for windows, enabling players to 'see outside' when nearby them, but are non-traversable (or are they
)?
I'm sure I sound like a n00b with these questions, please go easy on me (and watch the face!)
Thanks!
I started reading about PCZ Scene Manager in the context of using it for my game, and many questions formed in my mind. I'll paint a picture of what I'd like to achieve, perhaps a knowledgeable few could point out whether PCZ is for me?
The game is a third-person isometric-influenced RPG (akin to Diablo/Ultima/Fallout camera style). The view can be rotated around the Y axis, or put into first-person "lookaround" mode (movement not possible).
There are two main levels of scene; the first is terrain, which is generated from a typical heightmap, uses the ST_EXTERIOR_CLOSE scene manager. In PCZ terms, terrain would be the 'root' zone.
The second are buildings. These are comprised of the exterior shell (one mesh per storey, one roof), interior rooms (one mesh per room), staircases, and doorways linking rooms to the exterior (or other rooms). In PCZ terms, rooms would be subzones of the terrain zone.
So far, sounds like PCZ could be a huge asset, time-saver, and fps-saver.
The additional features I considered implementing, before reading up on PCZ:
1) When a character is inside a building, the exterior shell disappears for all storeys above and including the storey in which the player character is located (leaving exterior shells below him visible), thus permitting visibility in a certain style.
2) Rooms' visibility are controlled by the state of doors. If open, attached rooms are revealed. There is no LOS-checking for parts of rooms, etc.
3) Staircases which attach floors are usable-objects rather than collision-detected objects, to trigger transition between storeys.
4) Terrain (ST_EXTERIOR_CLOSE), sky (Caelum), and water (Hydrax) can potentially be 'on' while inside buildings, since their visibility is possible indoors.
5) Room interiors are (for the most part) composed of walls, ceiling, and floor; backface culling prevents walls between player character and camera from obscuring the player character.
My questions regarding PCZ are:
1) What happens to terrain/sky/water (part of the root zone) when inside a building, from a third person view? Can zones be culled based on an arbitrary point, or are they culled according to the viewport?
2) Is #1 (features, above) possible? If the building is attached to the root zone, would the exterior of the building only cull if the exterior portal was invisible?
3) Can portals' visibility be controlled by the addition/deletion of scene node objects? (e.g. using a door mesh to obscure the room behind it.) Or is their visibility solely at the discretion of whether they are contained in the viewport (and not back-facing)?
4) In terms of using PCZ for terrain-object zoning, I'm assuming I would need to divide my world into X*Y equally sized zones, and define 4 portals along the edges of each zone. e.g. if a zone was 256*256 units, the four borders would each have a 256*height portal assigned. Is this right?
5) Do portals offer visibility through other portals?
6) Could I use portals for windows, enabling players to 'see outside' when nearby them, but are non-traversable (or are they

I'm sure I sound like a n00b with these questions, please go easy on me (and watch the face!)

Thanks!