Increasing maximum lod for TS2015

[dewilkinson]

I have tried increasing the maximum lod for a tall church spire in 3DCrafter as it disappears from view before it should as it is a dominating feature of the area. However it still seems to disappear from TS2015 at the usual distance. Is it possible to do this, if so do I need to change something in TS2015 as well? If so, I presume this could have a profound impact on the frame rate.

Any thoughts welcome. This topic is also on the 3DCrafter forum.

[wacampbell]

There are two factors that control the visibility.

One is the distance LOD setting your model, eg 1_2000_ etc, as set in 3DC in your case.

The second is the tile loading distance. Every model is attached to a 1 km square scenery tile. When the player transitions across the half way point on the current tile, TS2015 loads the next tile. So if your model is on the near edge of the next tile, it will load when the player is 500 meters away regardless of how you set the LOD in the model itself. Of course if your model is on the far side of tile, it will be 1500 meters away when the tile loads. So assuming you have set a high LOD setting in your model, it will load at 500 to 1500 meters from the player, depending on where it is located on its tile.

The fix is to assign the model to the 'global tile'. This tile is loaded at the beginning of the session and stays loaded throughout. That way the only factor controlling visibility is the LOD setting in the model. Of course you don't want to assign too many things to the global tile since all such items consume resources throughout the game session.

Doing this 'global' assignment is easy. Just check the box in the scenery properties box after you have placed the object in the scene.

See the pic attached.

[dewilkinson]

Wayne,

Many thanks, that sounds a simple solution. I will try that later.

I also didn't appreciate how the tile loading works, it makes sense as the spire appeared/disappeared at about 1400 m when I had set the lod to 1_3000 or anything else.

As they say, "you learn something everyday".

Many thanks

[tluamiani1]

Wayne,

Many thanks, that sounds a simple solution. I will try that later.

I also didn't appreciate how the tile loading works, it makes sense as the spire appeared/disappeared at about 1400 m when I had set the lod to 1_3000 or anything else.

As they say, "you learn something everyday".

Many thanks

Have to say, I never knew about this. One for the Erskine Bridge for me for sure! Maybe some of the high flats too...

Thanks for the tip...

[wacampbell]

Yes, so two things to check.

1. The visible distance in the object name, ie 1_2000_ . You can go to 9999 meters if necessary, but as always, use the lowest possible to minimize impact on frame rates. And if you have a lower detail model, use that one instead, eg, your high detail might be called 1_0500_.. and your low detail 2_4000_ xxx .

2. The 'Global Object' checkbox in the properties panel.

[tluamiani1]

Yes, so two things to check.

1. The visible distance in the object name, ie 1_2000_ . You can go to 9999 meters if necessary, but as always, use the lowest possible to minimize impact on frame rates. And if you have a lower detail model, use that one instead, eg, your high detail might be called 1_0500_.. and your low detail 2_4000_ xxx .

2. The 'Global Object' checkbox in the properties panel.

Cool - and presumably there's never any point in setting anything above 1500 if the Global Object checkbox is not set?

[wacampbell]

Edited to removed some incorrect info.

[deltic009]

Every model is attached to a 1 km square scenery tile. When the player transitions across the half way point on the current tile, TS2015 loads the next tile. So if your model is on the near edge of the next tile, it will load when the player is 500 meters away regardless of how you set the LOD in the 45model itself. Of course if your model is on the far side of tile, it will be 1500 meters away when the tile loads.

It may be me being pedantic, but if the tile is 1000m square then the maximum distance from corner to corner is going to be more than 1000, it should be 1414m and plus the 500m distance at which TS will load it that would put the furthest a non-global object is rendered at to a maximum of 1915m - the chances of this scenario arising where you want an object to show from so far away and it still be visible, but I just wanted to check my understanding of the conditions behind the LOD and global object tick box.

[wacampbell]

It may be me being pedantic, but if the tile is 1000m square then the maximum distance from corner to corner is going to be more than 1000, it should be 1414m and plus the 500m distance at which TS will load it that would put the furthest a non-global object is rendered at to a maximum of 1915m - the chances of this scenario arising where you want an object to show from so far away and it still be visible, but I just wanted to check my understanding of the conditions behind the LOD and global object tick box.

Excellent point - and completely correct. I didn't consider the Pythagorus effect!

I apologize for the edits, trying to get the maths right.

To be exact, the actual tile size is 1024 meters. And you could be half a tile south and half a tile west of an object on the north east corner of the next tile. Which I think could put you 2172 meters from it. So depending on placement on the tile, and location of the viewer, an object could load/unload at 500 meters to 2172 meters from the viewer.

[dewilkinson]

Wayne,

I have now implemented this and it works just how I want, so thank you so much for this great learning point.

I have found I can wind down the lod a bit because of placement within the tile to minimise load. This effect also explains why a few objects actually disappear a bit sooner than expected. I think you are wise to say use the Global Tile carefully as I am sure too many objects assigned to it would have deleterious affect on the frame rate.