Feedback and a question on the editor after making my first map.

My first map is nearly finished and I have a question and some feedback on the editor.

First the question.

What is the purpose of using references other than being able to make prebuilt scenes you can add to your map? I didn't use any and don't plan to if that is all they are for. I prefer my maps to be unique and wouldn't use references to copy/paste from one map to the next but if there is some advantage in using them I would like to know.

Now for some feedback.

Watching the resource monitor on Windows and I noticed the editor, even when rendering, doesn't seem to use much at all. That's even when using the 4gb patch. Is there any other way to improve this on my own? I rebuild often to avoid crashes and it takes around 1:44 to rebuild each time. It would be great to cut that time down some if possible.

Can we expect to see any improvements made to the editor?

More keyboard shortcuts would be great. For example, being able to hold shift and selecting multiple objects at once would be amazing.

I would also love a way to toggle objects/overlays on/off. Working on terrain under a water overlay can be pretty frustrating.

Would it be possible to add a way to render a higher quality version of the map with all the effects added while in-game? Aswell as a way to disable the markers for all items on the map. This is just a want and not an absolute must be it would be great for taking screenshots of the map and to also get a better idea of what the map will really look like once in-game.

Can we expect to see more objects, terrain, etc. added to the editor?

One last want. Please, pretty please, increase the height limit if possible. I love making maps with large elevation changes but at this point that is not really possible. Also, I understand there are issues with textures stretching but could cliff overlays be added to alleviate this?

Thanks for reading. 😀

last edited by PicSoul

@PicSoul
Yes, the sole purpose of refs is to effectively copy/paste map sections.
Less than 2mins to rebuild terrain? I have to wait almost 10min, so I think you're good there buddy. 😉

Ok, thanks for the reply. 😎

Rebuild terrain takes less than a minute for me. I chalk that up to having a decent CPU and plenty of high speed RAM(i5-3570K @ 4.7GHz + 16GB DDR3 @ 2400MHz). Pretty sure it's CPU and RAM bound right? I mean I know GPU helps with rendering the 3D. But I wouldn't think it does much else(if anything).

They just added a new material(dirt dark), a few new plants(chunks spruce a, chunks fir a, lying fir a), and a new overlay, I think, though not entirely sure, since I never use them(dirt road smooth?). Possibly more too. I haven't had a chance to really use the editor since the DLC update(just opened it a few times and took a quick look around).

To help with height limitations(mostly with increasing steepness, but it also seems to help with flattening out where it shouldn't) you MUST install SpinTiresMod.exe. It makes all the difference with that. Plus it has the 4GB patch built-in. Also don't forget your total allowed height differential includes how far you can lower the terrain + how high you can raise it(from where it starts when you create new terrain). It's actually quite a lot. I estimate it's ~1000 ft. or so(more or less). Working with height is tricky. I could try and explain better what I mean by that. But for the sake of brevity, I won't. Just keep experimenting with it and you'll figure out how to make it do what you want better. Figure out what the red and white cube when you select a square of terrain stands for, and why you need to pay attention to it. That will help a lot. Then there's how to force it to fix the flattening out while still within the overall height limits deal. Keep messing with it and you'll get that figured out too. Yadda yadda yadda...I'm supposed to be shutting up now

last edited by MudHappy

I should have probably listed it in my opening post but I'm running I7 5820k @4.3 16gb DDR4 @2133 with a 980Ti slightly overclocked. I should also mention that it takes around 1:44 on the largest map size. It's not terrible but if I can improve it in any way that would be great!

I did see they were adding some materials and such and was just wondering if we could expect even more?

I am using SpintiresMod and it has helped immensely but as far as I can tell, it doesn't actually increase the height limit but adds a better height calculation (slope correctness). From my rough estimates, the current height limit is around 230ft (from base to ceiling) if the measurements used in the editor are in meters. I think they are but I'm not sure. This limit is what I would like to see increased if possible.

Thanks for your input MudHappy it's much appreciated!

@picsoul said in Feedback and a question on the editor after making my first map.:

I should have probably listed it in my opening post but I'm running I7 5820k @4.3 16gb DDR4 @2133 with a 980Ti slightly overclocked. I should also mention that it takes around 1:44 on the largest map size. It's not terrible but if I can improve it in any way that would be great!

From my rough estimates, the current height limit is around 230ft (from base to ceiling) if the measurements used in the editor are in meters. I think they are but I'm not sure. This limit is what I would like to see increased if possible.

Yeah, I'm only working on a 20x20. But it's jam packed with all kinds of stuff and massive amounts of height changes. I've never timed it. But It's got to be under a minute. Actually...lemme check real quick and see. Yep, 41 seconds.

I went back and had another look at total height limit. I changed my mind. It's nowhere near 1000'. You're probably way closer with 230'. I'm still gonna guess it a little more than that. But probably not much. Sure feels/looks like a lot more sometimes. Anyway, how are we measuring it? I'm thinking I'm gonna have to find a clear cut way to nail it down more precisely, just to quench my curiosity.

My technique/trick to measure was to create basically a cliff in the editor that went from the lowest possible height to the highest. Then load the game pull a vehicle up to the base and set a waypoint to the top. Things like not being able to build a vertical wall and not knowing exactly how accurate the waypoint is will surely throw it off a bit but it should be close.

I had an idea. So I tried it out. Here's what I did. I took some KrAZ-256 models and stacked them end to end. Then did a little math according to what they say the length of one is in the game. They say the 256 is 7.2 meters long. It took 9 of them stacked to be just slightly taller than tallest mountain I could make. 9 stacked end to end works out to be 64.8 meters, or 212.6 feet. So I needed a way to measure that height difference. I used a sign blown up to the appropriate size as a straightedge, and filled in the gap with another KrAZ-256 cab for height reference. The gap was less than a meter. I'm going to call it 2 feet. So, if everything is scaled roughly as accurately as stated, the height of the mountain is somewhere around 210.6 feet or 64.2 meters. You'll just have to trust that I lined everything up dead nuts perfectly(which I did to within a fraction of a degree at worst).

Here's the pics for "proof":
0_1518809825443_kraz256x9.PNG
0_1518810243560_kraz256gap1.png
0_1518810394056_kraz256gap2.PNG

"Close enough for me and the girls I go with".

last edited by MudHappy

Sounds about right. Thanks for checking.