Terrain (Object)
- 4A Games
Overview
Terrain object is a surface of a game's location on which dynamic game objects move. The terrain is the base for the placement of game statics. There are valleys, mountains, caves, and uneven or sloped ground. You can easily modify both shape and appearance by using a range of tools.
Rules
- Terrain must be assigned to a heightmap. It doesn't create a "flat" heightmap as other engines do.
- You need to adjust the scale of the terrain entity. X, Y, Z should be the real-size of the map. So, if you are making a map that is 40km x 1km x 20km, the values for XYZ should be respectively 40000, 1000, 20000.
- The engine only allows ONE terrain per level.
- All maps (heightmap, diffuse, etc.) for your terrain must be in the level terrain folder (e.g. Maps/mycustommap/terrain/...). If there is no terrain folder there, please create one.
- Terrain is automatically assigned to a lightmap on the Super Static Tool. No need to create a sector.
- If your terrain has black shadows or artifacts, use the Super Static Tool to Calculate Terrain AO. Note:this takes a long time even with density 0.001, so consider this before you bake AO.
- Use the entity "Terrain → Rabbit Hole" to create holes in the terrain.
Terrain Setup
Before you launch the Terrain Tool, you need to:
- Save the level.
- Add the object of terrain to your level from the Entity List.
If you want to add the new height maps, you need to put them into the following folder: root\content\maps\your_level\terrain\
Properties
| Property | Description | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Base | Object name | ||
| Transform | Position | Moving the selected rabbit hole according to given numerical values along the 3 grid axes X, Y, Z. | |
| Scale | Scale | Scaling the selected rabbit hole according to given numerical values along the 3 grid axes X, Y, Z. | |
| Uniform | Multiplier that applies to all three axes at once, allows to edit the scale simultaneously on three axes. | ||
| Random scale | Recommended to use this option disabled. | ||
| Type | Static Data Key | Name of the object type. One class might have several different types. For example, you can create several weapons of the same type. They will have the same set of static properties but their values will be different. | |
| Group | Editor group name (optional). | ||
| Bounding Size | AABB (axis-aligned bounding box) size. | ||
| Last modified by | Name of the person who was the last to modify the selected object. | ||
| Tag | Tag assigned by the user. | ||
| Lock Transform | This locks the object's movement, scaling, and rotation in the scene. When the map reloads, this will automatically lock. | ||
| Lock to Heightmap | Terrain locked to the heightmap. | ||
| Layer | Layer on which the object lies. | ||
| Terrain | Edit | More details you can see in Terrain Tool. | |
| Heightmap | Allows to choose a height map. | ||
| Diffuse map | Allows to choose a diffuse map. | ||
| Shader | Allows to choose a shader. | ||
| preview_detail_paint | Allows to preview mask for foliage: true/false. | ||
| td_fade | Disabled / Clipped (1.000f) / Fade (2.000f). Recommended to use this option disabled. | ||
| Paint | You can see more details in the Terrain Tool. | ||
| Lightmap section | Force Density | Lightmap density on the level: true/false. Recommended: TRUE, can be turned off for performance. | |
| Density | Value of the density of the light map at the level. | ||
| Super Static Only | Allows to preview super static on level: true/false. | ||
| Use jittering | true/false (Recommended to use this option disabled). | ||
| Cache Results | true/false (Recommended to use this option disabled). | ||
| Cache Batches | true/false (Recommended to use this option disabled). | ||
| Pixels Batch Size | AO Quality: normal (362 rays) – normal AO detail; draft (16 rays) – this casts only 16 rays for every pixel of AO texture which speeds up the process significantly but degrades the quality. | ||
| Spatial Subdivision | Allows to subdivide terrain by sectors. | ||
| Ignored Cells | Recommended to use this option disabled. | ||
| Ray Length Indoor | Allows to set ray length indoor. | ||
| Ray Length Outdoor | Allows to set ray length outdoor. | ||
| Indoor Ratio | Intensity of the lightmap's short rays. | ||
| Outdoor Ratio | Intensity of the lightmap's long rays. | ||
| AO Scale | Allows you to set a number of rays per pixel of the AO texture. | ||
| Sector name | Sector name. | ||
Exodus SDK © 2005-2023, 4A Games Limited. Developed by 4A Games®.
4A Games® is a registered trademark, and 4A Games Limited, Exodus SDK and their respective logos are trademarks of 4A Games Limited.
Published by Deep Silver. Deep Silver is a division of PLAION GmbH, Austria. Deep Silver and Plaion are registered trademarks of PLAION GmbH.
Metro Exodus is inspired by the internationally best-selling novels METRO 2033 and METRO 2034 by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
By using this site, downloading or using the Exodus SDK or related content, you are agreeing to be bound by the terms of the End User License Agreement.