Terrain Generation & World Editing

Hey All,

Just getting going with the terrain generator and world editor software. My intent is to take the fantasy world I've created on paper and translate it into multiverse-speak. I have successfully gotten the terrain generator to build the seed-thingy to my liking and then generate a slightly randomized terrain out of it. I do have one hope though - and that is: Can the actual terrain ever be edited in a similar manner that the seed-thingy can? Could I generate the randomized terrain over my seed image, and then do further editing in a similar manner? I'd love to be able to say, flatten out the top of a mountain into a mesa, or create some land-art, etc. My fear is that by wanting that level of detail I may forfeit the fractal randomization that the terrain generator offers... which is annoying but okay.

Second: Say I create a landscape and use it on my worldserver and then six months later I want to release a world update that causes a corner of the map to be edited or expanded... would that be possible? It seems to be really easy to make incredibly large changes to the map elevation, but extremely difficult to make small changes. Is that a fault with the way the software was designed or am I using all the wrong tools. ...or are maps saved in a standard format so that I can use third party software to do the editing.

Third: Landscape colors and styles - are they editable? It appears that all floor/land coloring is predetermined based on the heightmap... Is there a way to repaint part of it? Or if that's not possible, can I repaint the entire map? Example: I'd love to include a sand/beach area around the water, but if the pond is elevated at all the water just seems to wash up on the grass. I can easily create ocean levels just below the sand texture limits, which creates ocean beaches, but then ponds, lakes, etc all appear to be in the grass.

On an entirely different note - has anyone tried using 3d software other than 3ds max with any success? I've been trying to get the collada importer to work but I get errors for all my collada files... (tried Blender & Wings3D so far) I have absolutely no budget for this project so far, which is rather limiting. Also are there alternatives to "Speedtree" that I can use? I noticed a message about having to own a license and that software will most definitely never be an option for me... same with 3ds max obviously. And don't just tell me to pirate them please

Edit: Blender exported (completely triangulated model, no custom textures) collada file, when imported, gives this error:

"The path is not of a legal form."

Thanks!

You can try Deled CE for static models. I haven't try adding animated ones. I know you can use the ConverterTool but tried it once with Collada file. For the terrain use heightmap and Earthsculptor to make some changes.

Thanks rotello, I'll try those out and let you know how it goes... can't wait to get some custom models going!

~Tele

Sure thing. Ok, let me know how it goes..

Okay it seems I've still got some issues to work out. DeleD downloaded correctly and appears to be working fine. I still get that same error "The path is not of a legal form" when I try to convert the .dae file into multiverse type. What does that mean exactly? It almost sounds like the filename is bad, but I just name them "test.dae" or "test2.dae" every time which really shouldn't be an issue! Could it be the output location? I tried everything from sampleworld to desktop to no avail.

As for the models, I export either triangulated-on-export (with the menu option on the DeleD exporter) or pre-triangulated models (both fail). Mostly I just try to get a tetrahedron into multiverse because it's the least likely to contain errors. I don't even model it by hand, I just use the automatically generated one, so the model shouldn't have any issues. I did notice that the Wings3D and Blender exports contained a few lines at the top to the tune of "exported by blender." I assumed they were comments - no way that could break the MV importer, right?

Anyways I didn't have time to download earthsculptor last time, but I'll let you know how that goes in a few days. Between jobs and don't even have the cash for home internet! LOL good thing there's a library nearby

Cheers
Tele

Deled is used for static models only. I only import obj format then remap the texture files which is easy with Deled, particularly alpha maps like leaves and cutouts.

If you want a WYSIWYG method of your terrain or world, Earth Sculptor is highly recommended over other terrain editors. If you purchase their pro version, you got to paint 8 texture alpha splitting maps and make your terrain more realistic. MV's own Mosaic Editor is best fit with ES, which exports your terrain and texture to MV.

cheers

Just so that we're on the same page: Static model would be: a house, a tree... Not: a person, armor.

Is a sword considered static? The geometry doesn't deform the same way as a person, but it does move around.

So you're saying that your process is: model the mesh in blender/wings/whatever and save as obj, then import the obj file to DeleD and add the texture, then export as collada so that the multiverse collada import tool can put it into the repository? I super appreciate the help so far - feels like I'm finally getting close...

Cheers,
Tele

Yes, all non animated are static. Sword or weapons are static and its categorized as Attachment Models

http://www.multiversemmo.com/site/w/index.php/Creating_Attachment_Models

You're right about the process, but once you apply all the textures and collision to Deled, there's the MV export tool for Deled, download it under plugins page No need for other tools, collada or anything.. It's a direct conversion.

You can try other import formats with texture to Deled so you don't need to do the remapping. I just got used to import obj files as they are easy to work and with portable to other 3d software without breaking.

cheers.

Damn! So close yet so far... I got the Mverse exporting tool for DeleD and it doesn't appear to be working.

Open DeleD > draw a box > export Mverse tool > cannot create box.mesh

Open DeleD > import .obj of a triangulated closed mesh (aforementioned tetrahedron) > export Mverse tool > cannot create tetra.mesh

I've tried all the scale options and I even tried adding a texture to the models. I think my computer really doesn't want to create .mesh files

Any other ideas for creating .mesh files?

PS The terrain is going well - thank you for pointing out Earthsculptor

Hey Tele,

I'm sure it's just a small problem. I had a problem once with EarthSculptor, it turned out it doesn't render textures using integrated intel graphic cards so when I bought my GTX650 on a new pc, everything is back to normal again.

I'm not saying it's a hardware problem or anything like that, probably just settings or something got mixed up. Did you try a re-install?

Glad ES worked for you. It's a very nifty tool.

Ah - it could be something like that. I'll try reinstalling all the stuff and hopefully then it will work. If all else fails I may be able to install it on my server just to make the .mesh files lol...

Thanks dude!