2012/02/05 - Shadows and Shaders vs. Interiors and Terrain [Fan Art Too]

[Awdax]

FOR THE FORUMS!

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[No Karma Loss]

Oh lord. I can't say I really want to read 28 pages of discussion so I'm just gonna toss my bit in here.

The new lighting looks fantastic. And I'll concede that terrains and interiors are pretty ugly. But I'm going to miss them dearly. I dunno about everyone else, but I've always had trouble working with slate maps because of a lack of inspiration. My fondest memories come from a map whose name escapes me, which had ugly low-res water, neon-green grass and trees that didn't always work right...but it was a map I could explore and have ideas spring to mind based on what I was looking at. With pure slate, that creative spark is much more difficult to find.

While I do believe that we need to move on beyond the current flawed terrain and interiors system, leaving them without a real replacement does not feel right. Pure bricks does not currently make an acceptable substitute. Vehicles and skis still interact somewhat poorly with them, and making brick terrain is tedious and takes much time.

Regardless, I'll look forward to this update. It'll be fun to load up old saves and see them in a new light :) _{(bah dum tish)}

[heedicalking]

wait, what

how does that work

it already generates brick terrain

brick repeating terrain would lag. i'm saying the completed build (1024 grid of brick terrain) would be saved as a static file. This brick terrain, once finished, would be loaded in repeating chunks like terrain is now. Except to prevent memory overload, it would not support the deletion of the terrain bricks. The rendering on this terrain can be saved and duplicated making it so it doesn't have to take the power of rendering 1,000,000 bricks. This would be cool as it would allow for repeating, lag free, brick terrain. With this, it should support floating bricks to "edit" this terrain, allowing efficient, thin, terrain like we have now (removing the need for support bricks that aren't seen). This would also support terrain CAVES.

Having the ability to mix and merge "chunks" in generation would be cool. Lets think of it as a top down grid. Say I want the chunk at -2,4 from the middle to be a desert. I could create a mission file and plug in for that point to load a different chunk. it would still be efficient as the rendering is saved. This would allow for big, unique maps with different biomes and hidden zones.

THIS would be the next generation of terrain. Efficient and fitting, but with more power and use than the previous.

[Masterlegodude]

your blconstruct map :c

;~;

[IkeTheGeneric]

wait wait wait

hold on guys

Just because they're removing the old interiors and terrain doesn't mean they don't plan on replacing them.

[Lordy Lord]

If anyone here actually bought BL due to it's interiors and terrains, I can understand why you are all pissy. Otherwise those who are complaining are simply getting in the way of progress just so their own selfish desires can be fulfilled.

Due to this update I see a renaissance in building and a return of players who have been put off by all these silly servers and poorly thought out maps. This update will encourage thoughtful constructions which are fun to be around, fight, RP, and tinker with. A lot will still be the same, but now a decent server will actually have to be thought out and built decently to be entertaining.

Also I recommend a default day/night cycle map.

[Nitramtj]

I'm 100% behind the update. It sounds like it means more potential for new engine changes in the future.

Here is how I see the terrain issue. What is it that people like about terrain?

• Spawned with map
• Looks real
• Goes off towards infinite
• Fun to wander around

All of those points but "Looks real" can be solved with a terrain generator, but you replace that point with "Looks Awesome." The problems with brick terrain are:

• Loads slowly
• Limit to max amount of bricks
• Doesn't look real
• Less resolution
• Bad collision
• More polygons to render

I honestly think that the brick limit and bad collision can be fixed in future engine updates. The "Doesn't look real" and "Less resolution" problems are style issues in my opinion. Also, the new bricks look so nice that I think that's made up for.

We're left with more polygons and loading slowly now. More polygons could be a problem depending on how detailed terrain you're generating, but it's manageable on newer computers and at worst the resolution and rendering distance can be turned down. The more polygons is actually similar and has the same solution.

Another solution is to only load bricks that are nearby and unload the others, the problems with a massive amount of bricks being created is solved from that. Alternatively, a system like this (but much more elegant) could be thought out and used instead.

[Aware]

I dont understand why anyone would want to get rid of interiors and terrain for complex lighting?

Why does a lego game need lighting like this, it is useless.

[Tammy]

How much control do we get over the looks? Like will we be able to control if it were more of a sooth or flat look?

[Bushido]

because it's beautiful and helps the building aspect a forgetton more then terrain did?

[Lalam24]

If anyone here actually bought BL due to it's interiors and terrains, I can understand why you are all pissy. Otherwise those who are complaining are simply getting in the way of progress just so their own selfish desires can be fulfilled.

Due to this update I see a renaissance in building and a return of players who have been put off by all these silly servers and poorly thought out maps. This update will encourage thoughtful constructions which are fun to be around, fight, RP, and tinker with. A lot will still be the same, but now a decent server will actually have to be thought out and built decently to be entertaining.

Also I recommend a default day/night cycle map.

Selfish desires?  You do realise that a lot of the original concepts for this game pertain to terrain, right?

[Wehrmacht]

glad this doesn't affect anything i've built.
anyways, I didn't check the topic but are saves going to be affected?

[Nitramtj]

I dont understand why anyone would want to get rid of interiors and terrain for complex lighting?

Why does a lego game need lighting like this, it is useless.

It simplifies the internal engine, more should be possible because of this.

[Daemon18553]

A LOT of the fun way back when I first got the game (v9; didn't buy until later) was just wandering around in the terrain and finding hidden areas.

[Uxie]

This is awesome, but also makes me very sad at no interiors. :c