Max Number Of Objects in .TOD?

[+JSF_Aggie]

Is there a hardcoded max number of objects allowed in each tile's .TOD?

I know there is a limit associated with AlphaObjectVertexCount & AlphaObjectIndexCount.  I started with Stary's numbers for these, and it seems no matter what I set these numbers to, I can't get more than about 1024 objects.

Some WIP shots...

 

[Wrench]

yes, it's hard coded. 

My TE usually crashes around 350-400 total items. (individual solids and alphas).

Baffmeister was working on someway if cheating the system, but he'll have to explain it

[+russouk2004]

Quote

Baffmeister was working on someway if cheating the system, but he'll have to explain it

making one object actually two....rather split one to look like two ?...like one large tga with 2 trees on it rather than one?

[+JSF_Aggie]

I haven't had any TE aborts, I just don't get objects much beyond 1,000 showing up in game.

I thought about that Russ, just wasn't sure how it would workout on mountainous terrain.  I was going to look at Stary's stuff, and see if I can steal any ideas.

[Wrench]

i know stary imported the '3d objects' for his forests and jungles as a large mass of (whatevers!), then just used a repeating texture. How THAT work (importation) is the only thing I can't figure out (well, not having and skills with MAX probably don't help...)

 

[mue]

7 hours ago, JSF_Aggie said:

I haven't had any TE aborts, I just don't get objects much beyond 1,000 showing up in game.

How do you determined that limit number. Have you counted the objects manually that show up in the game?

Do you know if the first 1000 objects of the TOD are shown and the later are discarded, or does the game pick 1000 objects that are shown randomly from the TOD file?

I wonder, if it's a limitation of the TE or the game? Are the TOD objects showing up in the TargetAreaEditor?

[Stratos]

30 minutes ago, mue said:

How do you determined that limit number. Have you counted the objects manually that show up in the game?

Do you know if the first 1000 objects of the TOD are shown and the later are discarded, or does the game pick 1000 objects that are shown randomly from the TOD file?

I wonder, if it's a limitation of the TE or the game? Are the TOD objects showing up in the TargetAreaEditor?

How many toilet paper do you want in order to develop a TOD editor? 

[+JSF_Aggie]

4 hours ago, mue said:

How do you determined that limit number. Have you counted the objects manually that show up in the game?

Do you know if the first 1000 objects of the TOD are shown and the later are discarded, or does the game pick 1000 objects that are shown randomly from the TOD file?

I wonder, if it's a limitation of the TE or the game? Are the TOD objects showing up in the TargetAreaEditor?

I put out 1,000 smaller pine trees and then one large redwood. 

All were set to 100% chance.

The redwood was there, So I assume the previous 1000 were there. I placed them all in sections, not randomly around the tile, and there were no blank areas.

The terrain editor had no problem with 1600 objects, but that's when I started to get blank spots in game.  The blank spots are 100% in the sections that I did last, when I was over 1,000 objects.  They were completely blank, so it appears the game places the objects in order, not randomly.

The .TOD generated with 1600 objects, was significantly larger in size, than one where I stopped at 1,000, but I didn't look at it with hex editor, or anything like that.

Edited March 20, 2020 by JSF_Aggie

[mue]

2 hours ago, JSF_Aggie said:

I put out 1,000 smaller pine trees and then one large redwood. 

All were set to 100% chance.

The redwood was there, So I assume the previous 1000 were there. I placed them all in sections, not randomly around the tile, and there were no blank areas.

The terrain editor had no problem with 1600 objects, but that's when I started to get blank spots in game.  The blank spots are 100% in the sections that I did last, when I was over 1,000 objects.  They were completely blank, so it appears the game places the objects in order, not randomly.

The .TOD generated with 1600 objects, was significantly larger in size, than one where I stopped at 1,000, but I didn't look at it with hex editor, or anything like that.

Have you tested the TOD/terrain with the TargetAreaEditor? Are the TOD objects showing up in the TargetAreaEditor? Just to be sure that the TOD file is valid. Alternatively you can send me the TOD file and I will check it.

[+baffmeister]

4 hours ago, JSF_Aggie said:

The terrain editor had no problem with 1600 objects, but that's when I started to get blank spots in game.  The blank spots are 100% in the sections that I did last, when I was over 1,000 objects.  They were completely blank, so it appears the game places the objects in order, not randomly.

I think that's about where I was at when I started suspecting missing Tods. Possibly around 500-600KB for the size of the "Game Tod"

Have you figured out the "Safe Saving" technique for the Tod.Ini, that the Terrain Editor uses? If you get a good save on the Tod.ini it can be re-loaded into the Terrain Editor and you can try again. I was having issues getting the Tod.ini to save much over 500 objects but if you do multiple saves, and check the results prior to closing the TE, you can have a good Tod.Ini to re-load. Prior to closing TE, open the Tod.Ini and check the object count at the top, then scroll to the bottom and check the number for the last Tod. It should be one less, because the count starts from zero. To re-load the Tod.Ini, place it in the TileSet folder. The updated Tod.Ini will save in the Terrain Editor folder while the one in the TileSet folder will be unchanged.

Regarding the "GameTod", the multi save approach doesn't seem to help so I tend to think there may be a hard limit or fatal flaw. It may be worth monitoring the size of the GameTod to get an idea of when you're near the limit.

[+JSF_Aggie]

Mue, I haven't looked at it in your editor, but I will. Thanks.

Baff, thanks for the info. I haven't yet tried reloading a .tod. I've been leaving the TE open, while I test in game.

I'm out of town until Sunday. Took the kids out of town to do some hiking.