Hi I wonder if anyone could tell me the basics of rendering a town style level in a game? I’m thinking of something like in GTA Vice City. Would you still use a heightmap for this sort of game? Also would repetitive buildings be individually represented, or would there be some kind of tiling involved? And finally, what file format is ideal for storing the level data? I am using DirectX 9.0c. Any help very much appreciated.

I think it's probably worth suggesting that to achieve something like what GTA uses, you'd use a combination of pretty much every technique in the book.

I am sure that they use heightmaps, store repeated items commonly, they possibly use tile maps, as well as dozens of other techniques in some obscene combination.

Have a look at the source code for some open source engines (but beware of source-licenced commercial ones - read the licence carefully before deciding whether you can reasonably read the source without potentially polluting your IP) - to see how they do it.

I don't think whether you're using directx9 or anything else really makes any difference to the representation of things in your game.

Mark

Thanks Mark, that’s a good idea to look at some existing engines and anything I can’t gather from that I’ll just freestyle! At least now I know I’m not missing out on some secret that makes an easy job of it all!

Hi thanks for the link, the demo is pretty cool it’s just a shame there was no source code with it or I would have been in business! I think you are right that sectioning it up is a must and I guess some LOD should be added in as well? Also, could anyone tell me what to do if you wanted some mountains or hills surrounding the town that you would be able to walk right up to but wouldn’t be able to walk on? would it be ok to just import them as a .x file? Or is that to easy?!