"Wide open" maps in Source Thread

	Posts
"Wide open" maps in Source (Forums : Ideas & Concepts : "Wide open" maps in Source)		Post Reply
Thread Options
RedQueensAce	Nov 3 2009, 2:47pm Anchor
RedQueensAce	Hey, first poster here. I've been pondering the use of the Source engine for "wide open" rolling hills, forests, deserts. I'm aware Source's greatest potential is in small streets, indoor areas. However the type of mod I want to create is based around the players engaging in "mech" battles; so the scale would be larger than typical source mods. That means trees as large as the player. What is the general conciseness about larger scale Source maps? Any huge shortcomings?
SpaceRanger	Nov 3 2009, 2:50pm Anchor
SpaceRanger	With view distances there wouldn't be too much lag. Loading times may suck.
figalot	Nov 3 2009, 3:14pm Anchor
figalot	i would highly segust you dont make it multiplayer. i have tried this in single player befor ( the big maps ) i would say dont use all of hammers grid because the render distance is to small. -- Omgbffwtfftwbbq
ambershee Nimbusfish Rawks	Nov 4 2009, 9:38am Anchor
ambershee Nimbusfish Rawks	Source mostly just isn't suited for open spaces, it's not optimised to deal with them well; the more open your spaces, the worse performance will get, especially if they're relatively 'cluttered' in terms of number of objects within that space.
zenarion Non-Player Character	Nov 5 2009, 10:55am Anchor
zenarion Non-Player Character	Take a look at the mod Empires. It has big open maps, on Source. It isn't too pretty. --
Wraiyth That Guy Who Does Those Things With The Stuff	Nov 7 2009, 4:47pm Anchor
Wraiyth That Guy Who Does Those Things With The Stuff	Yeah, +1 to what the others are saying. Its a little bit better with Episode 2 than in the past, but the engine just isn't suited to large outdoor areas, unless you cleverly design them. Ep2's outdoor areas were well designed with cliffs and mountains and stuff so visibility was blocked and things could be well optimized, but that's about the only way you could do it. -- My Homepage
zenarion Non-Player Character	Nov 11 2009, 10:26am Anchor
zenarion Non-Player Character	Or, you just make helluva small trees. And have the players appear big by comparison. --
Johnchief117	Nov 22 2009, 7:23pm Anchor
Johnchief117	That would be neat to make it something like Oblivion or Fallout 3. The only problem would be multiplayer, the large area would take up enough data as is and could cause lots of issues if you add more people