2014-03-25, 07:20 PM
If I fully understand what multilevel building is, then yes. Each part you place on in the map will be set to the same elevation of the layer you're working on. At the moment though, it's just to make building maps which aren't at 0 elevation less of a pain, so you don't have to keep setting it to the level you're making it at. You are also able to toggle the visibility of layers you don't have active, which leads me to:
The 3D map rendering. I figured that I'll just implement Frustum Culling to stop it rendering anything not in the map editors view... But yes, I do like your idea of disabling high poly objects (characters, clutter etc) at will. But with the layer system, I figure it won't render the map and draw a grey square like with the 'event' view in SoM.
More news:
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The engine is being swapped out. Before I was using a DLL based on DirectX, in game maker to do 3D... That's pretty bad.
Game Maker is still in the chain, but now it's using just that, and a DLL to 'Enhance' default GM3D. The reason for this is because DirectX8 sucks, the shader language is so old it actually slows the engine down to do minimal effects. Normal GM3D is based on DirectX9, so you'll need a computer with at least Windows XP.
It also means there's gonna be some more improvements. You can now have up to 8 dynamic light sources, this includes directional, spot and point lights. This'll be really good for anyone making outside areas. Mipmapping and Texture Filtering is also in, which basically just make things in the distance look better. LoDs and 3D particles, and something really good; smooth shadowing.
Something related to sound; I'm working on a custom engine for this, since FMOD requires licenses, and OpenAL is so outdated it's useless. It'll probably be based on DirectSound for now. What this means is eventually you'll be able to have some real time sound modifiers, such as 'Underwater Muffling', if you understand what I mean by that.
The 3D map rendering. I figured that I'll just implement Frustum Culling to stop it rendering anything not in the map editors view... But yes, I do like your idea of disabling high poly objects (characters, clutter etc) at will. But with the layer system, I figure it won't render the map and draw a grey square like with the 'event' view in SoM.
More news:
---
The engine is being swapped out. Before I was using a DLL based on DirectX, in game maker to do 3D... That's pretty bad.
Game Maker is still in the chain, but now it's using just that, and a DLL to 'Enhance' default GM3D. The reason for this is because DirectX8 sucks, the shader language is so old it actually slows the engine down to do minimal effects. Normal GM3D is based on DirectX9, so you'll need a computer with at least Windows XP.
It also means there's gonna be some more improvements. You can now have up to 8 dynamic light sources, this includes directional, spot and point lights. This'll be really good for anyone making outside areas. Mipmapping and Texture Filtering is also in, which basically just make things in the distance look better. LoDs and 3D particles, and something really good; smooth shadowing.
Something related to sound; I'm working on a custom engine for this, since FMOD requires licenses, and OpenAL is so outdated it's useless. It'll probably be based on DirectSound for now. What this means is eventually you'll be able to have some real time sound modifiers, such as 'Underwater Muffling', if you understand what I mean by that.