But isnt having more verts better so it allows for much rounder and realistic hills? If I want to make a huge wide open field in the middle of the map, like a forest area and the brush size Im using is 1024 x 1024 then only use a 15 x 15 patch its not going to make for a very smooth looking terrain... or at least I couldnt get it to with only that amount of verts... thats why I wanted to use a 31 x 31 patch but Im being told it dont work and why I questioned whats broke about it if I was able to do it.

edited on Jun. 19, 2009 04:00 pm by Mortician

I have never used a 31X31 as I have never needed to. For 1024 X 1024 (which is actually a very small area) to have 961 vertices is just ridiculous.

The more vertices means the more detail. In Call of Duty you can't make every lump and bump that a forest would have so instead you make focal points, shell holes, cliffs/hills/mounds/gulleys/rivers/waterfalls etc. But that would be over a whole map not a small 1024x1024 area (which is barely a farming field).

You would then use other things to make your terrain look good, especially Alpha Blending. And then you would use xmodels and some brush clutter.

Call of Duty can't handle too many vertices, once the map gets bigger you would see slow downs, limiting the vertex count earlier on will help greatly.

edited on Jun. 19, 2009 04:15 pm by techno2sl

Good deal, Im going to limit my use of verts as much as possible. And Im going to start with a single building first and and go from there. My question now is... I see on some of the tutorials they have a model that they move around to compare when making doors, windows etc and wondered how this is done so the model stays? I tried right clicking and placing a model and also right clicking and placing an actor but as soon as I hit escape to unhighlight it turns into a colored box.

The big green E on the tool bar (view entities as skinned and boxed). (something by going to "view" > "entities as"

Then check your Filters "F" and make sure everything is visible that you want visible.

Here you go mate! This is something that helped me out a lot when i first started, gives you a good perspective on sizes etc....

GAME PLAY STANDARDS

Doorways and windows 
Doorways = 56 units wide/96 units high 

For high traffic areas it is sometime best to make it a double door. 

Double door = 128 units wide/96 units high 

Window Height = 32 units from floor to the bottom of the window frame. 

Window Frame = minimum of 46 units wide 72 units high. (Inside diameter) 

Stairways 
Interior = 8 high / 12 deep 64 unit min. width 

Hallways 
Hallways = 128 units wide 

Walls 
Building wall/One story high = 128 units high 

Wall thickness = 8 units 

Columns = 32-48 units wide 

A 32 unit wide column is barely enough to still offer valid cover for the
player. And after the column_cover node animations have been added 32-48 
units will also provide valid cover and firing angles from both sides of 
the column for AI as well. 

Streets 
Large - Four car width = 512 units 

Small - Two Tank width = 320 units 

Alleyway – small street = 192 units wide 

Sidewalk 
Small = 128 units wide 

Medium = 192 units wide 

Large = 256 units wide (this is more for Singleplayer levels) 

Cover 
Standing cover height = 48 units high 

Crouching = 32 units 

Prone cover height = 16 units high 

Prone crawling height clearance = 32 units high 

Engagement ranges 
These would be the range at which a firefight takes place. These ranges 
make sure the player is shooting at a target that is a good size to hit 
and interact with. This will help keep the levels from getting too big 
and having pixel shooting distances. 

There is a model in the game called mw_scale_soldier. It has two rings 
around him, one at 512 and one at 1024. Based off of COD2’s weapons 
settings, 512 was a good distance to shoot an SMG at a target and 1024 
was a good distance for a rifle. These can be adjusted if the new weapons 
get changed drastically. You can drop the model in your level to make 
sure your geo is not getting too big. 

If you follow the sizes as closely as possible for your first map you should end up with a very playable map and in the mean time gain a certain amount of expertise come the end.

hope it helps.

Ian.

@ techno2sl... thanks bud, this helps.

@ arachnofang... nice piece of info there bud. Ya made me have to run out and buy some ink for my printer heh. TY

Another question, is there anyplace good to find more textures, prefabs and things of this nature?

I'm currently working on custom wall and floor textures which i will upload in the next few days, as for prefabs, have a look in the downloads, there are loads of prefabs, if you download prefabs from other call of duty games, some of them will end in .pfb. rename .pfb to .map load the map into radient, it will all be green chequered, press 'i' to hilight everything then choose a plain concrete texture and apply it, press escape then you can see it properly, then just delete stuff in there you don't want then re-texture to what you want it to look like. also here is a link for prefabs...

prefabs

Hope it helps.

Ian.