Hmmmm I'll do that benchmark test. Funny thing is that I am working on my laptop for the moment, but the actual work I will do on my pc because it has lots more power. I just like sitting in the livingroom more

As you have seen I also opened a topic about my terrain being to bright, but according to what you guys told me about dynamic lighting, do I make the right conclusion when I say that a terrain file is also only affected by dynamic light? (Maybe I set the range at a too large number?)

Thanks again!!!

As to your terrain, try playing around with the entity's ambient color. The benchmark tester works on any type of computer, at least that can run DirectX 9.0c and can process 3D.

Terrains are entitys with just some less instructions (so it´s better to use models instead of terrains)

HMP terrains have some pros and cons that MDL terrains don't have, but MDL terrains have pros and cons that HMP terrains don't have.

HMP terrains use a grid system and must always be a full square or rectangle. This means having terrains be rendered beneath buildings and in unseen areas slowing the rendering process. MDL terrains don't have this limitation and can render faster in this case.

MDL terrains don't use the grid shape and thus have freedom of shape. This means being able to create overhanging/vertical cliffs, tunnels, and other such paths otherwise impossible with terrains. Plus, when you have large, flat areas or areas where the slope doesn't change for extended time, HMP terrains require adding additional vertices and polygons that could otherwise be removed using fewer polygons for faster rendering.

HMP terrains only use a top view and the UV map cannot be modified at all, except only the texture and texture size. MDL terrains don't have these limitations and are thus more flexible.

The only two downsides to MDL terrains is that they don't allow for chunking like HMP terrains in 6.4x and later. They can render more slowly if they do not use fewer than 30% of the polygons and vertices than the HMP terrains (I found this out from doing experiments). The other disadvantage, even bigger, is that they can take 3 to 5 times longer to make, but there are tricks to speeding it up.

Overall, MDL terrains have more advantages. Use them if you need these advantages, can reduce the polygon and vertex count by at least 30%, and/or don't mind spending a lot of extra time to make one.

Yes, one trick is just to create a terrain (with highmap or in MED) and then mark all vertrices and 'Convert to moded' ^^

I think in my case, since I bought GameSpace it shouldn't be that difficult because of all the options I have there. Damn, the feeling of just experimenting around and seeing things grow bigger (and nicer ) as I work is really awesome. Of course it cannot compete with you guys, but the feeling is really great.

So, I have been digging around, but I cannot find a real answer on how to overcome the lighting problem for models. Since you guys told me that it is only possible to place 8 dynamic lights. How do I 'cheat' this rule?

Matt_Aufderheide:

Quote:

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Regardless of the forecast, you can already use more than 8 lights. This only means 8 lights *visible at a time*, not 8 lights total. You can turn lights on and off depending on distance or visiblity.

Also, its easy to write a shader that supports unlimited lights. Just calculate the lights in the vertex shader, and pass the values to pixel shader.. if you run out of instructions for the vertex sahder use anotehr pass.. you could easily do many more lights this way with little rendering cost.

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Haha I really have a lot to read through... shaders and pixel shaders lol, it is all still abracadabra to me. I'll google for some tuts and all.

No, I wanted to tell you ' This only means 8 lights *visible at a time*, not 8 lights total. You can turn lights on and off depending on distance or visiblity.'

So you can have more then 8 lights, but not visible at the same time

You can have 15,000 dynamic lights, but only 8 of which can be on at any given time. A new light management system, in the forecast, will allow for you to work around this limit. Shaders are only available in the COM and PRO editions, not the two lowest ones.