problem Seams, trees visible through props - why?

[Nique 291]

Hello there! I decided to do some Noise Barrier modeling and the result looks kinda cool - in Max.. not in Simcity. See picture (2) below.

( 1 ^{see pic ref.} ) Why are the trees rendering in front of my props? 

( 2 ^{see pic ref.} ) When i put multiple lots next to each-other to form a wall there are seams in between. And that's just weird because i made the barrier exactly 16m wide and they are exactly at 0,0,0. Also positioned like that on the lot. My guess is that the shadows are casting on to the next piece... 

 

 

[T Wrecks 10,209]

1) This is most probably not the fault of your BAT, but related to the LOD shell of the Maxis trees. If you play around with them in the LE, you'll notice that they also render over other adjacent props or buildings.

 

2) IIRC, this problem is LOD-related. I'm not sure how to solve it, but I seem to remember something about making the LOD a tad smaller than the actual structure. An actual BATter would be a better person to advise you on this, but if you don't want to wait and your pieces are fast to export, you could try playing with slightly bigger/smaller LODs to see if you get it right.

[Nique 291]

Thanks, i will try. Is there also a way to make these top 3 rows of the noise barrier transparent? (so you can see trees anything through?)

[Jasoncw 11,841]

1: Like T Wrecks said, this is because of the LODs. The LODs of the trees are not necessarily very tight. In this case, the LOD of the trees is much bigger than that of the walls, and is actually so big that it overlaps/covers up the LOD of your walls. I don't think there's anything you can do about this, and if you look closely you'll find that trees and certain other objects intersect oddly with each other all the time. Just be reponsible with your own LODs in order to minimize this problem in the future.

 

2: This one isn't so much about the LODs. One problem appears to be that the antialiasing of the edges, which are normally subtle enough to be unnoticeable because they blend in with what is behind it, are clearly visible. To make these walls you'd use the same technique used for making seamless seawalls and canals. The LOD stays the same, but each piece also contains the model for whatever is adjacent to it. This way instead of seeing antialiasing you see more wall instead. So if you're making a middle wall segment, clone the wall piece to extend the wall, and re-export. To see it in action you can download one of the existing canal sets.

 

Another problem is that the game doesn't seem to be entirely consistent about how things are positioned. So even if you have everything lined up in the BAT, and you know that with your dimensions, everything should fit exactly together, in the game it won't fit perfectly and there'll be some shifting. As far as I know there's nothing that can be done about this.

[Nique 291]

Well, i just the plugin to the STEX. Maybe i will update the models in the future and replace the download. For now i'm really done with all the little programs open and rendering the big models takes time  . I thinks the end result is acceptable ()

Anyway nice tip (2nd point) i will use it in the future Thanks.