Terraining question: mountain precipice

[Melth]

In part of an RPG, I would like one area to be an overlook above a precipice on a mountainside.

The terrain doesn't need to be functional or make sense beyond a sight range of 1600 from the overlook since beyond that it will be concealed in fog of war.

The trouble is that even after setting the initial cliff level of the overlook to be as high as possible, I still hit the minimum terrain height before the precipice is big enough to drop all the way out of sight.

Can anyone recommend a good approach here?

 

[Death Adder]

I don't fully understand the question, but if the problem is that you get to the minimum terrain height, then maybe you could just raise the default terrain level of the entire map so it can go lower?

 

[Melth]

I don't fully understand the question, but if the problem is that you get to the minimum terrain height, then maybe you could just raise the default terrain level of the entire map so it can go lower?

Sorry if I didn't explain that well. The problem is indeed the minimum terrain height. However I have already raised the default terrain level of the map as high as I can. I still hit the minimum terrain height before I reach what will be hidden by fog of war.


I could perhaps try using a bunch of vision blockers just before I hit the minimum terrain height, but that sounds clunky and inelegant to me, so I wanted to check whether there's a better way.

 

[Death Adder]

Sorry if I didn't explain that well. The problem is indeed the minimum terrain height. However I have already raised the default terrain level of the map as high as I can. I still hit the minimum terrain height before I reach what will be hidden by fog of war.


I could perhaps try using a bunch of vision blockers just before I hit the minimum terrain height, but that sounds clunky and inelegant to me, so I wanted to check whether there's a better way.

uhh that sounds weird, what exactly where you making again? Or can you give a screenshot to show what you're trying to do?

I still hit the minimum terrain height before I reach what will be hidden by fog of war.

I don't get this part in particular (and you mentioned 1600 sight range as well in the initial post).

 

[Melth]

uhh that sounds weird, what exactly where you making again? Or can you give a screenshot to show what you're trying to do?


I don't get this part in particular (and you mentioned 1600 sight range as well in the initial post).

1600 just happens to be the sight range of the unit type with the longest vision in this RPG.

I've done a crude mockup of what I want the area to look like (I don't actually plan on using blizzard cliffs and whatnot, this is just to show the idea):

This unit has average vision range for this game. He can't see to the bottom of the cliff, so it looks alright.

This guy though has much larger vision range. When he stands in the same place, the player can see that the cliff suddenly flattens out. That's bad because story-wise the cliff is supposed to continue steeply down.

 

[WhiteFang]

wasn't there like a MiscData.txt tweak for unlimited raise and lower

 

[Death Adder]

1600 just happens to be the sight range of the unit type with the longest vision in this RPG.

I've done a crude mockup of what I want the area to look like (I don't actually plan on using blizzard cliffs and whatnot, this is just to show the idea):

View attachment 315037

This unit has average vision range for this game. He can't see to the bottom of the cliff, so it looks alright.


View attachment 315038

This guy though has much larger vision range. When he stands in the same place, the player can see that the cliff suddenly flattens out. That's bad because story-wise the cliff is supposed to continue steeply down.

Ah I see, assuming that you still want the cliff to be steep rather than a (very long) slope, I don't think you could ever get it past 1600, that's just way too far away. The mountain would have to be insanely high.


However, what I think you could do is to use some fog and/or texture on the ground. Like for example, if you take a look at the 'outland' terrain textures you'll find the black "abyss" texture that's meant to look like black empty space.

And there's custom textures like this: Outland_Abyss.blp (I just searched for "transparent terrain" in the resource section) that you could use.

So with a texture, some fog or something, and some doodads to cover up the rough edges, making a hole which you can't see the bottom of shouldn't be too hard.

 

[Hermit]

Maybe you could try placing line of sight blockers on the cliff level where you want the vision to end.

 

[Lake]

However, what I think you could do is to use some fog and/or texture on the ground. Like for example, if you take a look at the 'outland' terrain textures you'll find the black "abyss" texture that's meant to look like black empty space.

I did something similar for my own map. Used a stone model, made quite big and all black, and used the smoke effect to smooth out the edges. It works quite well. Only problem is the actual smoke effect, but I think a simple custom model could fix this problem. Here are some screenshots:

Spoiler

Also used it for caves

And I'm thinking for my own map, thatI want to do something similiar as you (looking over a mountain ish). But I'm thinking to use some sort of intense fog effect instead.