Creating new Worldspaces.......how to get around the broken : V - Skyrim

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:03 am

It's all in the tutorial link I sent you for FO3: http://www.truancyfactory.com/tutorials/fallout3/fallout_lod.html#lodObjects. The folder has a different name (TGATextures vs textures TGA), but it is the same process: unpack the LOD textures, convert them to .tga, put them in the right folders, generate and voila. Problem is: there is still a UV mapping problem with the texture atlas it produces. We had that problem in FO3, too. Some objects render okay, others the textures don't map properly.

Ah yep. That'll be tomorrow's job then.

I think you were also the one that mentioned the black lines problem also being in Fallout 3? Is that correct? If so, did you manage ot find an info on it when you mentioned it?

It's late here, so I can't remember who said what right now.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:01 pm

Ok, so I'm having trouble with the heightmap editor. It crashes instanteously on save. No change in memory usage.

I have an i7-950 with 6GB of RAM.

So, how do I get it to stop crashing? Yes, I have ran it as admin.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:31 am

Here is a little screenshot of a region generated in the CK
NOTE: this is all generated, nothing was done by hand.
http://i.imgur.com/nQiGn.jpg

Is there a reason that that looks like a colorized photo from the 1920's? Can I see the normal looking one? (To see the finer detail and what kinds of objects you used)

Ok, so I'm having trouble with the heightmap editor. It crashes instanteously on save. No change in memory usage. Otherwise, that looks amazing! I hope my world can look that good when I'm done.

I have an i7-950 with 6GB of RAM.

So, how do I get it to stop crashing? Yes, I have ran it as admin.

I'm having the same issue (pretty much). I cannot save and it crashes. It appears to be random, so perhaps a hardware incompatability or something silly?

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:47 am

Dumb question, but how do you create a .raw heightmap image to import? Is there some application that can export an image to .raw format?

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:16 am

Dumb question, but how do you create a .raw heightmap image to import? Is there some application that can export an image to .raw format?

Photoshop, maybe Gimp, as well as other actual heightmapping programs like L3DT.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:48 am

For object generation-

It's different than Fallout 3. Convert all of your textures to TGA, and instead of placing them in Source\Textures TGA, they're placed in Source\TGATextures\LOD with no subfolders. All LOD textures should be directly in the \LOD folder, otherwise you'll get errors during generation.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:35 am

Photoshop, maybe Gimp, as well as other actual heightmapping programs like L3DT.

L3DT is what I needed, thanks. Too bad it crashes when I try to import. Guess I'll be doing it the long way.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:21 am

I'm having the same issue (pretty much). I cannot save and it crashes. It appears to be random, so perhaps a hardware incompatability or something silly?

So I guess the trick is to NOT use the heightmap editor. I'll try out what I am reading and then see what I can do to put it in easy to follow steps in a single post. Let ya know how it turns out.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:04 am

For object generation-

It's different than Fallout 3. Convert all of your textures to TGA, and instead of placing them in Source\Textures TGA, they're placed in Source\TGATextures\LOD with no subfolders. All LOD textures should be directly in the \LOD folder, otherwise you'll get errors during generation.

Did you ever figure out how to fix the texture atlasing problem with FO3? I was sort of poking away at it and then Skyrim came out....

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:42 am

Did you ever figure out how to fix the texture atlasing problem with FO3? I was sort of poking away at it and then Skyrim came out.... :biggrin:

I did not, unfortunately. I'm hoping Skyrim handles that better, because that gave me a headache.

» Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:50 pm

Photoshop, maybe Gimp, as well as other actual heightmapping programs like L3DT.

Don't use Gimp. It can't currently handle more than 8 (integer) bits per colour channel, and the height maps need at least 16 bits.

Photoshop, L3DT, GenControl2, WorldMachine, UDK's landscape sculpting tools and - for those more scientifically-minded - GIS applications like QGIS, GRASS or ArcGIS work well though.

» Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:53 pm

So I guess the trick is to NOT use the heightmap editor. I'll try out what I am reading and then see what I can do to put it in easy to follow steps in a single post. Let ya know how it turns out.

You could do what I'm doing and use the heightmap editor in the CS which is almost exactly the same, but it doesn't crash constantly. Then you can export your heightmap and use TESAnnwyn to get it into a Skyrim esp. Just dont go over 10000 units, that appears to make the height STUCK at that level and you have to manually go in and flatten it out... weird.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:13 pm

10k units is really really high, right? I think I'll do that, because the method I was trying is giving me a headache. Thanks.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:04 pm

10k units is really really high, right? I think I'll do that, because the method I was trying is giving me a headache. Thanks.

Yeah 10k units is very high because sea level is about 4000. However, the heightmap units are different than ingame units for some reason, so 4k heightmap == 0 in world, and about 7800 is about 8000-9000 units ingame. Not sure why it's off, but alrighty.

Also, it's very difficulty to make 'natural' looking land, so everything you make will be very soft. I'm working on trying to make all my mountains more jagged and abrupt with random ridges and stuff but it's difficult in this. I have a feeling that's why Bethesda stopped using it.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 3:46 am

@ Maegfaer: I hadnt noticed your post, I will try adjusting the LOD in game to see if I can prevent mountains fading in that unnatural way.

@ Alexander J Velicky: I have deleted the sepia rubbish one, re-edited it and I am uploading a proper video now. The sepia rubbish was a mess up in Live Movie Maker.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 4:09 am

Well, I am mostly just building an island. A fairly small island. Big enough only for a small village and mountain. So I wont be too fussed about soft and smooth.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:09 am

Yeah 10k units is very high because sea level is about 4000. However, the heightmap units are different than ingame units for some reason, so 4k heightmap == 0 in world, and about 7800 is about 8000-9000 units ingame. Not sure why it's off, but alrighty. :tongue:

The default sea level of new worldspaces is 4096 units, ingame units have an offset of -4096 units like that. In Skyrim's Tamriel worldspace, the sea level lies at -14000 though.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:16 am

The updated and all singing, all dancing version of the Mesogea landmass video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COIT5YwP1JI&feature=youtu.be

GIves an idea of the progress, detail, what can be done, issues etc.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 1:15 am

The default sea level of new worldspaces is 4096 units, ingame units have an offset of -4096 units like that. In Skyrim's Tamriel worldspace, the sea level lies at -14000 though.

It isn't a linear offset though, which is what confuses me. So 4096 in height is 0 ingame, okay, simple enough. So then shouldnt, say, 7096 in height be 3000 in game? because it's not, it's like 6000. And 10000 height isn't ~6000 ingame, it's like 15000. One height unit is like two ingame ones or something weird...

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:31 am

It isn't a linear offset though, which is what confuses me. So 4096 in height is 0 ingame, okay, simple enough. So then shouldnt, say, 7096 in height be 3000 in game? because it's not, it's like 6000. And 10000 height isn't ~6000 ingame, it's like 15000. One height unit is like two ingame ones or something weird...

Perhaps this article clears it up, I never really concerned myself with the CK/CS heightmap editor, so never bothered to comprehend what happens with unit calculations: http://cs.elderscrolls.com/index.php/Oblivion_Units

» Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:58 pm

You could do what I'm doing and use the heightmap editor in the CS which is almost exactly the same, but it doesn't crash constantly. Then you can export your heightmap and use TESAnnwyn to get it into a Skyrim esp. Just dont go over 10000 units, that appears to make the height STUCK at that level and you have to manually go in and flatten it out... weird.

Can't run the Oblivion CS without Oblivion(CTDs), NV Geck don't work either. -__-

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:04 am

Can't run the Oblivion CS without Oblivion(CTDs), NV Geck don't work either. -__-

Oh well yeah, I would assume you need the game to run it's devkit, as it loads some hardcoded values from the executable and whatnot. :F

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:18 am

Guys, those who created their worldspaces with TesAnnwyn, could you please try saving inside your custom worldspace, then restarting the game and loading that savegame? For some reason I always get teleported back to the Riverwood inn, as if the worldspace stored in the savegame didn't exist. Huge problem, and I can't find out what it is.

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:17 am

Guys, those who created their worldspaces with TesAnnwyn, could you please try saving inside your custom worldspace, then restarting the game and loading that savegame? For some reason I always get teleported back to the Riverwood inn, as if the worldspace stored in the savegame didn't exist. Huge problem, and I can't find out what it is.

This has happened to me too a couple of times but I didn't think much about it and just consoled back into my worldspace. I assumed I must have made some changes somewhere. At the moment I can't recreate it though because I'm working on a new test worldspace (still having the usual LOD issues)

» Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:56 am

I've done some research, I pasted the worldspace data behind a CK-created WRLD header through hex-editing, and then the bug was gone (but other problems occured). So I strongly suspect that the problem is that TesAnnwyn uses an outdated WRLD header. As you probably noticed, the Name field of worldspaces created by TesAnnwyn is also broken, in the CK it will tell "LOOKUP FAILED!".

I sent Lightwave a PM with a description of the problem, hopefully he'll show interest.