Tips on the Gap!

Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 11:03 pm

Hey everyone!

I'm having an issue. I'm in the middle of making my first mod, a Dwemer Dungeon. I've built it so that a wing of my dungeon wraps back around to connect to its beginning, sort of how Bethesda does on most (if not all) of their dungeons, to avoid backtracking.

Well, just today, I got to the point where I would connect the end of that wing to the beginning, but I found that there's a gap at the end, sizing in at about 512 Units (8 snaps @ a 64 unit snap).

Most of the pieces in the Dwemer set are 12 snaps (96 units) or 6 snaps (48 units). I've went through my work multiple times, and reworked multiple rooms, fixed a few errors here and there, and done in-game walk-throughs, but none of it has ultimately helped.

I can't be the only person who's ever had this issue.

So, what I'm looking for here are tips and ideas on how to fix this issue. What kinds of procedures could I take to get rid of this gap, or perhaps bridge it in a fashionable way?
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Cathrine Jack
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 9:21 am

Bethesda runs into this problem all the time, in all their games. And you know what they do? They cover it up.

Seriously, there are dozens of different static assets with names like 'norrubble01' 'rubblepile' 'rockpile' or 'MineRockM01', whose only purpose it to cover up seams, gaps, overlaps, and z-fighting in their dungeons.

So go ahead and put a 'rubblepile' on the floor to cover the gap between the two rooms. Then put some big CaveGRock's on each side to make 'walls' and finally shove a jiant rock in the air to form the 'ceiling'

maybe put a few rocks/rockpiles in both rooms, to make it look like there was a cave-in or something to justify the disparity.

They do this a lot in cave area's where it is easy to handwave a bunch of rocks coming out of the walls. So you might want to join these two parts of your dungeon with a cave room, to make it look better.

Take a few minutes to run through one of your favorite dungeons in Skyrim, and pause everytime you see some rocks on the floor or an irregular rock/dirt formation. You will be amazed at what you see, or more importantly, what you don't see.
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Pumpkin
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:48 pm

Also, having used the Dwemer set extensively, try looking in unexpected places. A lot of time you convert between small and big rooms, not to mention facades and partitions, so best practice I've found in your situation is to just type "dwe" into the object window filter, and probably specify to just static objects in you case. And if all else fails, there is a base floor piece in the small room set and you can build your own walls from that with just walls, or arches, or thing like that. Honestly, after spending all this time with CK, I agree with jediborg. Take a look at Vlindrel Hall in Markarth; the entry hallway is amazing in how much crap was put into it to fill space!
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Auguste Bartholdi
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 8:27 pm

As an old Valve Hammer mapper, I just couldn't live with this at first. Even though accurate snapping of the most kit pieces is important, don't be afraid to make objects overlap. It might seem plain wrong, but it's how the game works. You can shove loads of objects on each other as long as the total number isn't insane (I think it's hard to go overboard here even if you tried) and you keep an eye on z-fighting.

I never realized this when I was playing the actual game, but some stuff I've checked in the CK now makes my jaw drop.
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Jacob Phillips
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 7:03 pm

As an old Valve Hammer mapper, I just couldn't live with this at first. Even though accurate snapping of the most kit pieces is important, don't be afraid to make objects overlap. It might seem plain wrong, but it's how the game works. You can shove loads of objects on each other as long as the total number isn't insane (I think it's hard to go overboard here even if you tried) and you keep an eye on z-fighting.

I never realized this when I was playing the actual game, but some stuff I've checked in the CK now makes my jaw drop.
The amount of object oriented level design in Skyrim is amazing. In Fallout, literally 99% (If not 100%) of the level design was kit-based, or unique set pieces. In Skyrim there is a HUGE amount of objects that can be used to create unique shapes. It's really awesome. :D
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Brandon Bernardi
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 11:14 pm

Hey everyone!

I'm having an issue. I'm in the middle of making my first mod, a Dwemer Dungeon. I've built it so that a wing of my dungeon wraps back around to connect to its beginning, sort of how Bethesda does on most (if not all) of their dungeons, to avoid backtracking.

Well, just today, I got to the point where I would connect the end of that wing to the beginning, but I found that there's a gap at the end, sizing in at about 512 Units (8 snaps @ a 64 unit snap).

Most of the pieces in the Dwemer set are 12 snaps (96 units) or 6 snaps (48 units). I've went through my work multiple times, and reworked multiple rooms, fixed a few errors here and there, and done in-game walk-throughs, but none of it has ultimately helped.

I can't be the only person who's ever had this issue.

So, what I'm looking for here are tips and ideas on how to fix this issue. What kinds of procedures could I take to get rid of this gap, or perhaps bridge it in a fashionable way?

Bethesda runs into this problem all the time, in all their games. And you know what they do? They cover it up.

Seriously, there are dozens of different static assets with names like 'norrubble01' 'rubblepile' 'rockpile' or 'MineRockM01', whose only purpose it to cover up seams, gaps, overlaps, and z-fighting in their dungeons.

So go ahead and put a 'rubblepile' on the floor to cover the gap between the two rooms. Then put some big CaveGRock's on each side to make 'walls' and finally shove a jiant rock in the air to form the 'ceiling'

maybe put a few rocks/rockpiles in both rooms, to make it look like there was a cave-in or something to justify the disparity.

They do this a lot in cave area's where it is easy to handwave a bunch of rocks coming out of the walls. So you might want to join these two parts of your dungeon with a cave room, to make it look better.

Take a few minutes to run through one of your favorite dungeons in Skyrim, and pause everytime you see some rocks on the floor or an irregular rock/dirt formation. You will be amazed at what you see, or more importantly, what you don't see.

I tried messing with some Cave stuff earlier, but I wasn't very pleased with the result, so I scrapped that in place of my current layout. Do you guys have any tips for cave-making that I could benefit from then?
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Erika Ellsworth
 
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Post » Thu Jun 21, 2012 11:27 pm

just stick to the 'small room' subsection under static->dungeons->cave
those are really easy to put together. You probably need just one small room to bridge your gap.

But I was talking up using the cave kit because that's what I've been using lately. You don't have to take that route. I'd take BW117s suggestion and check out Vlindrel Hall in Markarth, since that's a good example of 'covering up' a gap that uses the dwemer kit.
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saharen beauty
 
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