Topic: spotty d3edit skills please help!

[randrew08]

Hey all, haven't played descent in a long time its good to be back into it! Started up the d3 level editor and I have been making caves, tunnels, buildings you name it. Im good at building things using the vertex and face modes in the program, but beyond that my level editor jargon is poor. I run into a lot of problems I don't know how to fix; my latest one is "bad shells" that prevent me from computing the BOA or lighting my mine. I'm just looking for any and all help from fellow descenters! I love making levels and I'd like to make one as good as you'd find in the main campaigns.

[Matthew]

Bad shell means there's a hole in the "shell" of the level somewhere, that is to say some part of your level is open to the mysterious void beyond, and this is bad. I believe newer versions of the Atan edition will tell you at least what room the hole is in, but I'm not certain. Make sure all your corners are joined properly, that seems to be the biggest problem I remember.

[randrew08]

Here's the order in which it happens.... I'll make a room-any room, cave, tunnel doesn't matter. And when I click verify room, I get 0's across the board. 0 bad shells, bad normals etc. I don't get any trouble until I add a room at a face or place a door. I made some progress when I made all the vertices snap to the grid; then it only showed 2 bad portals and no bad shells. Hope that helps narrow it down.

[-<WillyP>-]

Many of the doors have bad shells and nee to be repaired after placing. When you snapped to grid, you may have distorted the portals, they need to be on one plane, and not be concave.

You probably don't know what that means. Here are some tutorials: Archived "http://www.gameedit.com/" Descent 3 Editing Tutorials

I would suggest starting with 'The Level'. Even though it was written a long time ago and the editor has changed somewhat, I think it still is by far the best tutorial for getting started.

[Matthew]

Unfortunately I don't remember what bad portal means, so I can't help you there. It's been a LONG time since I've used d3edit (Like, since I was 14 or something. I'm 20 now). I don't know if the old tutorials and docs are still out there, I've since lost my bookmarks. Try using "remove extra vertices", that will merge any vertices that are on the same coordinates but part of different faces (IE you have 2 faces touching each other but not joined).

EDIT: WillyP found them, sweet! Take a look at those, those are awesome tutorials.

[randrew08]

That tutorial page is a life saver! Pretty much has everything I need to know. But, while I have this thread open I'd like your input on a few more things:

Is it mandatory or just a good habit to have all the vertices snapped to the grid, to prevent bad shells and other errors? I also perform the face planar check very often but sometimes ill have a new nonplanar face when I align all the vertices.

How hard is it to implement terrain into my level, for a guy who's never done it? To give you context im building a level that plays to the spirit of blade runner: a big open city with a lot of towering spires,  open sky and rain.

[Matthew]

It is not mandatory but it will make connecting faces together much easier, and will help you avoid non-planar faces and slightly concave faces as well. If you started building the level without being snapped to the grid then you're almost certain to mess things up when your align to the grid afterwards, you're basically taking all your vertices and moving them around slightly.

Terrain is not really difficult, it just takes some planning. I believe there's a tutorial in there about terrain somewhere, but basically you make a grayscale image in a certain format, and it converts the image into the heightmap of the terrain. Then you attach rooms to it.

[Kaiaatzl]

Although if your goal is just to make a city similar to level 4 of D3, you wouldn't really need to use terrain.  I forget how it's done but I remember making a test map where I started building a lava-flooded city for kicks and I didn't use terrain.

[randrew08]

Although if your goal is just to make a city similar to level 4 of D3, you wouldn't really need to use terrain.  I forget how it's done but I remember making a test map where I started building a lava-flooded city for kicks and I didn't use terrain.

Yeah basically what I'm aiming for is like d3 level 4. If I can avoid it I don't even want to alter the terrain map I just want to connect the two so I can have a sky in my level.

[Matthew]

Well you could just smack a face above the level and slap a skybox texture on it, otherwise I'm not sure you can move an existing level onto the terrain. Only one way to find out though, start looking through menus. The default terrain is just flat, so if you can just move the level above the terrain and you'll have a skybox to play with.