Regarding maps:

I have just written a perl script which automatically fetches 30 meter (7.5 minute) DEM (digital elevation map) files off of the web. There are thousands of these files. Each one represents an approximate area equal to 7 x 7 miles. Each grid point in each map is spaced at 30 meters. This means that there are about 350 x 350 grid points per DEM file.

My perl script fetches the files, as clicking on each link is laborious. I then have another perl script which runs these files through a parsing program to convert the data to height maps.

And finally, a program stitches them together into one seamless map file. Subsets of the final giant map can then be loaded at demand or converted into other file formats.

Right now, my script is currently processing Inyo County in California, which is about a 100 x 150 mile area, featuring Death Valley and the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

I hope to have my scripts process most of Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Wyoming. Heck, why don't we throw in Montana, Idaho, Texas and a few other states as well.

We're talking gigabytes here, but having that kind of resource is great. One can then select the area they want to refine or develop.

[edited by - bishop_pass on December 16, 2002 6:14:45 PM]

The script is now fetching all 7.5 minute DEM files for the state of Arizona...

quote: Original post by bishop_pass
The script is now fetching all 7.5 minute DEM files for the state of Arizona...

All i have to say is... you are awesome

quote: Original post by Polish
ktuluorion: Try www.yabbforum.com It's free and I've used it a bunch of times, seems nice. If you have no luck I can set it up on my pc as a last resort. I'm on cable, but I don't have any backup capability right now so it would probably be temporary anyway.

I'm gonna take a break from paper-writing to check it out and try to set it up

Wish me luck.


Update: Being a pain in the ass. I'm workin' on it Hey, it's better than writing about Chaucer anyhows

[edited by - ktuluorion on December 16, 2002 8:07:33 PM]

I guess I should have stated my questions clearer, sorry.

I understand that a procedural system like you described creates an infinite amount of diversity, but my question was how much do you really need and how much will be noticed? At what point do you stop storing textures because it consumes so much space for the sake of diversity? Is it really worth it? I have no idea what kind of footprint a certain amount of textures for models take up, I''ve never designed a game before so I''m just learning here. Maybe you can incorporate hundreds of different skins with no noticeable down side?

When it comes to real-time rendering, my main question was pretty much asking if my horse will look slightly different each time I log in, or if skins will change dynamically when moving in and back out of sight. It would seem a little strange if that was the case, but maybe it wouldn''t be noticeable? Maybe they are dumb questions, but it wouldn''t be the first time...

Each breed can have distinctive coat colorings and markings right? (sizes, shapes too?) I''m not sure what I''m confused about. =)

Oops, forgot to log in.

I just wanted to add, I''m not knocking anyone at all here. I think the system you''ve described is a really trick way of doing things. I just basically wanted someone to clearly spell out the advantages/disadvantages of such a system, since I''m an idiot.

I''d like to help on the project. I think I could help in weather dynamics and/or character dynamics programming. I have about 3 years programming experience in c++, but none with any graphics api unless you count winapi. I have a big interest in AI and weather. Let me know if I can help out. The whole thing sounds like a great idea!

mentalrotation@cox.net

You wouldn''t have to worry about a horse''s texture changing when you turn your back on it. While procedural textures do incorporate some "randomness", controlling parameters can create the same random pattern by just remembering a couple of starting values.

As far as I know, a procedural texture takes up the same amount of space in video memory as a bitmapped one. Of course, if you find yourself in the midst of a large herd of horses, each with an unique texture, your video memory may be taxed. In this case, it would make sense to assign a couple of generic textures to the entire herd while keeping the unique ones for the main character''s horses.

Only skimmed this just now (have been pretty busy lately), but this seems like a worthwhile venture. I''m all for games in a non-standard setting.

As far as being able to help, I can probably whip together and host a pre-packaged forum in a jiffy as well as potentially offering web/image/file storage. Might be able to fill in some programming holes as well (anything from general systems to 3D) - the catch is that my time is fairly limited, and I don''t do windows (*nix, PS2 or mac would be cool for me).

It ain''t purty at all yet, but: you can use this forum if you wish.

This at least gets something up now, that can be refined over time as needed (I''m not afraid to crack open the source code of the forum software).

Currently it''s divided into 4 categories (general, setting design, art and programming) with one message board in each category.

Have at it.