Would anyone be interested in a tutorial on how to create a custom terrain model from a heightmap, import it into cod4 or cod:waw & how to use the terrain model to mold terrain in a map?

heightmap -> terrain?

did you write your own application for this job?

Lol....was tired of measuring one vertice at a time from the terrain of another game's map....after about 100 hours of measuring the terrain & only being about 10% done, I HAD to figure out a better way. It was cool to learn that there are even heightmaps of real-world terrain taken by our government's own sattleites that one can use. Anyway, I forgot to mention that you don't need Maya to create this terrain model or to import it. You can do this using Blender and the TOXEC utility...both of which are free.

edited on Nov. 28, 2008 04:30 pm by timb0

Sevenz writes...

The Obj to Xmodel_Export Converter was written by one Brandon Haston. You can find him posting @ katsbits. =)

Ok, I made a video tutorial & submitted it.

The tutorial currently resides in: Downloads>>COD:WW>>tutorials. The method described works for both Cod4 & Cod:WW.

edited on Nov. 30, 2008 09:16 am by timb0

For those who don't know, the video tutorial is in: Tutorials>>CoDWW Mapping>>Video Tutorials.

thanks for the effor timb0. but it is the most time consuming mapping thing i've ever seen xD

have to think of a better way...

Sevenz writes...

A couple points:

1) IW decided to make models without player collision, if there were an easier way, I'd like to know also.

2) One can determine how many vertices will need welding for the terrain molding in Radiant by simply adjusting the resolution of the mesh grid in Blender & how large the map is made.

3) It can be used to make & import static models of any type, not just terrain models. That in itself is very useful. Don't see ANY other contribution that enables the importing of models into Cod series outside of spending several thousand dollars on Maya. Even if using Maya, how would you suggest making and importing a model of any type less time-consuming?

4) What exactly is 'too time-consuming' by your subjective definition? I can make a complete, nicely detailed terrain from a heightmap with this method in about 2 hours. That's a miniscule investment for the return one gets. And I'll tell you why I believe this: Maps take a considerable amount of time to create, if they're well-made. Being that the vast majority of maps in Cod4 are completely flat, it gets monotonous. There's only so many variations of a group of buildings plopped into a map, then it gets stale, imho. Now add variable terrain! Then you got yourself something! =D Variable terrain obviously adds a whole new dimension to maps, it has character of its own accord & supplements & defines the nature of play within area of buildings interspersed or centrally located within that terrain. The terrain also itself is a major element of it's own as it affords the possiblity of flanking among hills and valley, bluffs, draws, etc. Rather than creeping amongs buildings, one has the opportunity of & the need to consider the flanking of opponents through surrounding terrain. I've played video games for 30 years, my favorite being fps shooters, & the titles that have held the greatest appeal and variety to me are the ones that featured variable terrain. That's why I believe that the few hours needed to invest in creating a terrain from a heightmap when compared to the amount of time invested in the rest of the process of making a map gives a manifold greater return on one's efforts. Again, I might add that this method can be used for creating & importing any static model saved in the .obj format, be it in the free modeling program Blender, or any other modeling program.

Tim

1) if you tried to say, that you would use terrain _models_ if they had collision, then let me tell you why IW did not do so: a BSP-collision map is build during the compile process of a map. you can't modify anything of it while the game runs. Models can be spawned by script, at runtime. They are handled differently. The collision map is optimized to detect collisions / prevent you from flying thru the geometry while models are meant to give you some eye candy. performance is another reason.

2) still lot of work to do manually

3) i know, the perfect free tool for static models. real good work, can't argue with that! but you can't do animations, rigging etc. using TOXEC.

4) 2 hours connecting vertices? thats what i call time-consuming. Of course good maps need a lot of time, but you can do variable terrain in Radiant as well. I understand why you want to use a heightmap instead, but spending all that time to manually get it into Radiant sounds ridiculous to me. i'll investigate the OBJ format and talk to Daevius if we can do a OBJ to MAP converter. He is already working on a heightmap to MAP converter, so stay tuned.