A question of complexity. | Forums

[rlmergeuser]

Another problem I had was when I put a texture really far in the background, once I got to the driving line you couldn't see it anymore. The game will only render it from so far. So I really had no other choice but to do what I did. Well I guess I could have moved my entire track to another area, but that wasn't very realistic

You could try messing with the view distance and fog settings. They can help blur out distance so you do not need to concentrate on them as much.

[rlmergeuser]

You could try messing with the view distance and fog settings. They can help blur out distance so you do not need to concentrate on them as much.

I tried turning the object view down, but it was taking away the landscape and feel of my track. So i decided not to go with that. I worked out really in the end, because i like what I have now more than how I was originally going to do it.

I messed with all of those, but it made my track look different than how I wanted and how i was building it

[Ajuvix]

Lots of good trial and error tips here fellas. When I figured out the terrain tool expansion w/ RB I wondered how many people were out there were dropping dozens down where one big one would do, lol. Also wanted to ask before I waste my time trying and fail:
Is it possible to alter the terrain in the distance to make it look like a specific mountain range or landmarks? A silhouette of Monument Alley in Arizona on the horizon, for example. Or, like Crow said, does the terrain tool not work when placed far away from the camera/driving line? Would make for some really scenic backgrounds if possible.

[Barrybarfly]

Lots of good trial and error tips here fellas. When I figured out the terrain tool expansion w/ RB I wondered how many people were out there were dropping dozens down where one big one would do, lol. Also wanted to ask before I waste my time trying and fail:
Is it possible to alter the terrain in the distance to make it look like a specific mountain range or landmarks? A silhouette of Monument Alley in Arizona on the horizon, for example. Or, like Crow said, does the terrain tool not work when placed far away from the camera/driving line? Would make for some really scenic backgrounds if possible.

Might be possible to build a silhouette of a particular mountain using the rocks, cliffs or just other objects? Lets face it, if its on the horizon, odds are it will only show as a silhouette, so you may not need to use the terrain mod. A combination of lighting (sun behind the mountain), draw distance and clever use of the objects might make it possible to create a skyline/silhouette Monument Alley, without needing to recreate the "face" of it. Just thinking off the top of my head out loud here, so feel free to ignore/disregard/correct/poke fun at anything I just typed! LOL

[Ajuvix]

Might be possible to build a silhouette of a particular mountain using the rocks, cliffs or just other objects? Lets face it, if its on the horizon, odds are it will only show as a silhouette, so you may not need to use the terrain mod.

Good point. I was just thinking the texture of ground would be better for the illusion than clustered objects if it was background (silhouette) and middleground (shadow/highlight) based scenery. I envision a view like you might see in Red Dead Redemption in the background/middleground as you ride a "horse". Could be gimmicky, could be awesome. Its what I love about making tracks. Its all about creating an illusion, I love that challenge.

[Barrybarfly]

I have enough trouble making a hill look like a hill and not a cluster of hill textures tbh. I just cant use that terrain mod and make it do what I want! And if I do, its taken loads of mods and caused a heap of lag. So, I steer clear of it now! lol

[rlmergeuser]

I'm pretty sure that hills and stuff like that are still visible from very far away, and the can have their own decals/textures. But the textures themselves on a flat surface can't been seen once you get far enough away. As far as making custom mountains and so forth is absolutely possible. Once you make hills really big and stack numerous ones on top of each other to make them even larger, the shadows start to act all weird and glitchy. If its pretty far back it shouldn't matter, but if your doing it fairly close to the driving line, I wouldn't recommend it. I tried it and it didn't look right or natural.

If you were trying to achieve a certain look that involves the terrain like that, I would suggest looking for a place in the editor that doesn't need a whole lot of changes. You want a place that aids your build, not hinders it. That's what cool about this environment, it has areas that are already kind of setup to aid you for a particular build. But on the flip side that can also be a draw back. When you start off thinking you want to take your line in one direction then decided to take it in a different direction that what you had planned, you may have to "hide" some of the base world. Double edged sword i guess

[emcee]

The biggest thing i learned from this mistake is to take time over choosing the location for your track. You can cut down on complexity just by putting the track in a suitable area to start with

Great tips here guys thank you