Doug/Jcl,

If we say its because of the near plane of the camera that we can see through the models, then why is it different in my case... I don't see through the wall.., instead i walk through the wall.... at some places and not other places in the same wall.... and the wall is a simple Block.. to be exact ... its a scaled version of plate from the primitives... and have copies of them placed all around... only some of the walls have these problems and not all... this is what is confusing me...

PLEASE help us.....

Regards,
Sac

Yes, walking through walls has obviously nothing to do with clippend polygons. Also the Descent engine restrictions don't apply for A5 models. So there must be a different reason for both problems.

If you can't find the reason, I suggest that you both contact the Conitec support about your problem (acknex_d@conitec.net). Include a detailed description, screenshots and if possible, the offending level or model. The time limit for support does not apply if the problem you have could be an engine bug.

[This message has been edited by jcl (edited 26 April 2001).]

Ok JCL, I will send to the support and try to attach the screen shots.. and if possible the level also.... asap....

Thanks for suggesting... can u please give me a aprox. time when the support will be back with us ???

Thanks once again...

With Regards,
Sac

sac:

Collision detection with .mdls occurs in two different ways.

Models collide with level geometry based on the level hulls and the 'orgin' of the model.

Models collide with other models based on the 'bounding box' of the model.

If your model is moveing through level blocks then check where the orgin of the model is. I have made the mistake before of haveing the orgin at the very base of my model. I could then walk through walls i.e. a human model with the orgin at the feet instead of the mid section.

If your model is moveing through other models then you may want to adjust the MIN_X, MIN_Y, and MIN_Z values for the model. These will essentially adjust the size of the bounding box for the model.

Hi James,

I accept what u say... but my model i use is the default gaurd model.. which is having its origin in its centre... but still i walk through the default blocks at some points of that block!!! Why does this happen ???

With regards,
Sac

Doug/JCL:

I am sending you my level in a few minutes with complete instructions. I am going to use Internet Explorer. If the file gets corrupted E-mail me an FTP address and I will put it there. And if you have any more questions please ask.

Thank you for all of your help.

Ron

I am just building a castle hallway and when I get into the hallway, these "streaks of color" stretch out from the other end of the hall toward me. It looks exactly like what your shots look like,,,,,BUT I am not able to MAKE SCREENSHOTS of these happenings, because I don't know how. I have tried "print screen" then going to Paint Shop Pro and pasting it as a new image, but the colors come out wild !!

QUESTION: How did you get your screen shots to be saved in the correct colors?

Into what file format .pcx, .jpg, .bmp did you save them to post up here?

------------------

Davidwr:

The short cut keys are in the manual but I cannot seem to find them at the moment. If you run a level and press F1 you will get a menu. F6 is the one to use for a screen shot. It will be saved in your level directory as "shot_X.pcx", where X = a number begining with zero.

You can use the image as is or bring it into a paint program. I am not getting streaks of light but the polygons are becomming transparent so you may have a different problem. I am communicationg with JCL concerning the transparent polygons. He has evaluated my level but I am waiting for one more responce before I can say anything.

ron

Ron is exactly right.......
if ur F6 is not working then write a small function in ur gaame.. whenre u use the command called
SCREENSHOT "name", var;

where the name parameter is the name of the pcx file it should save and var is a number which is attached to the name at the time of saving ur pcx... then take the pcx files to any paint program.. i used photoshop.. and do what ever u want to add... and save it as a gif or jpg and put it in a web directory and add it to this link using UBB code... so simple see....

Regards,
Sac

[This message has been edited by sac (edited 02 May 2001).]

Well everyone, we will all know now why we have polygon clipping on models. I received a responce from JCL and after he looked at my level with the model in question his reply was:

JCL:
The transparent polygons are normal behaviour of the engine - a model polygon is not rendered if any vertex is behind the camera. Therefore models can be used for actors, but not for large landscape objects - except
when they are built from a large number of small polygons. I admit that this was not documented so far, so I have included the following to the documentation:

"Note that for speed reasons model polygons are not rendered if they are
completely or partially behind the the camera. Therefore a model should
consist of relatively small polygons."

Ron:
When you say behind the camera that it is only necessary for the vertices to be out of the field of view of the camera and not necessarily physically behind the camera.

JCL:
No, only polygons physically BEHIND the camera are clipped away.

Ron:
If I understand you correctly if this particular model was a map entity instead of a model then the problem of transparent polygons would not arise even if I was to increase the size?

JCL:
Yes. The best way is to build them anew. Conversion MDL->MAP is not possible
through a program, for various reasons (well it is theoretically possible,
but the result won't be useable).

********************************************

So the blunt of this problem is do not use large polygons for large surface areas in a model like I was trying to do. so I guess I am going to have to either forget about the planet surface modeling and go directly underground or find a way to convert 3DS max files to a map format while retaining the textures. I came across one but it did not work and if it had it was only good for I think 16 faces. So now what to do? Any lightbulbs out there (smile)?

And thank you again Doug and JCL for all of your help and resolving this problem as fast as you did.

Ron