Enviroments

[Beowulf]

I think the enviroments should be updated graphically a little, and my idea on how to do these is attempt to get a license (or purchase, whatever game companies do) for an enviroment renderer, like SpeedTree. Now im a gameplay over graphics guy, but if SpeedTree was used for enviroments, I think it would add to the gameplay. There would be a few more enviroments to fight in, like you could use tall grass throughout a battlefield for grasslands, short grass where ever needed. There could be thick evergreen forests, or like tall redwood type forests. SpeedTree has all different kinds of vegatation, so every battle would look great.

Also the outside world where you travel should be touched up a little. SpeedTree might be usable (dunno). With the enviroment now tho, i think there should be somekind of transition from land to water, like a sand texture for the ocean, and a dirt texture for the river. Other than that for world, there could be a few more objects, like trees, grass, etc.


If SpeedTree is out, I've notice there are 2D weed like objects on the battlefield sometimes, so yall could make 2D grass textures, tall and short, and fill battlefields with it.


I just think enviroments really add to the feel of games, so if all else fails, I think there should be a some touch ups to Mount and Blades enviroments.


Here is the link for SpeedTree, there are some interactive demos, so try them out:

http://www.speedtree.com/

Demos:

http://www.speedtree.com/html/pangaea_main.htm

 

[Blackspirit]

Interesting thought.

Although, If you look at the example the trees at mid distance take up 630 polygons.

Thats going to take a lot more processing power then the trees they have currently.

Thats probably a bit less then the player model polygon limit, so I'd rather have another guy on the field then a tree.

Also, it uses a c++ library, but isn't Mount & Blade programmed in Python? Not sure how that would work, I think the site suggests using a wrapper to interface with the game engine...

It's also $6000, which is a bit of money...

In a related note, does anybody know if M&B uses LOD for the vegatation? Its interesting how this product scales the LOD of a tree right down to a 2 polygon model.

 

[Volkier]

Having a tree (or a rock) stand in the middle of the battlefield is one thing. Having the same tree sway in the wind is another.

Personally I would prefer to have an option to 'keep horses on battlefield without disappearing' rather than adding a few more trees. However, I have seen the memory usage / processing power reduced VERY much with adding fog to the area, and having a limited visual range. (Tribes 2 is very famous for adding fog to reduce lag. They also have a 'repeating map' which means you can run straight forever, and technically the map doesnt end)

This may be worth taking a look into, since if fog is added, visibility is reduced, and more models / objects and textures can be added in.
(And an option to keep horses on the battlefield without them disappearing.. I should add that line to my signature lol)

 

[Ryuta]

My opinion is just stick with curent vegitation but increase the variety. I always wanted to see flowers in battle field

 

[Sir Prince]

I think there should aslo be a slider for the level of vegie detail.

 

[barbaros]

My opinion is just stick with curent vegitation but increase the variety. I always wanted to see flowers in battle field

Agreed. Please do not make it such that game will run smoothly only on best PC's. I think the philosophy of M&B is "gameplay over graphics".

This may be worth taking a look into, since if fog is added, visibility is reduced, and more models / objects and textures can be added in.

Please note that fog is present sometimes, not always.

 

[Beowulf]

Well, since a new enviroment is out for now (maybe M&B 2), I like the variety of vegation idea. Maybe some bushes, but i would really like to see a grassland level with lots of 2d grass objects so it looks like a grassland.

 

[Sir Prince]

As I said, a slider for the level of vegies is a good idea, it has been done. In a game called "Jone of Arc" Not a bad game, but they abandoned it due to low slaes or something so no patch. I wonder if they learned much from it. THey could have reliesed a second one in the series in a couple of years and have made the game much better.

 

[Kdar]

That would be so nice if this game had such forest generator... Oh well maybe MB2