Ellan Vannin

[Edonnon]

Hi, I was looking for a mapping program that would help me create a new 512 map for Ellan Vannin. I run on 4K res, so the standard maps are just too small. DAoC-MapCreator looks like the perfect program for me, I've tested on other zones and they all work great. For some reason when I try to use it for Agramon (North Sea) which I am guessing is the new placeholder for Ellan Vannin it falls over whilst rendering the centre keep (Even with structures turned off). I wasn't sure if the error is to do with the new zone only being available on the test client or if there are issues with the layered part of the zone, since the centre keep is actually underground.

The Error messages in the little log on the bottom right are: Unhandled Exception thrown! NiShadeProperty at NiFlib.NiFile.ReadNiObjects(BinaryReader reader)

There are also some "Unable to get texture for..." messages above, but I have seen these with other zones that have worked, so I don't think they are a problem. Let me know if there is anything else I can do to help, programming is not really my thing, so I doubt me looking at the code will help at all.

[Merec]

I have to check, how they have generated the underground area. I guess, it is not possible to generate underground areas with the default terrain generation technique. Maybe the whole thing is one large NIF, which need some extra love.

[Edonnon]

Hi Merec, wow, a very quick response. Thank you. Like I said I am not really a coder, but if you need me to help with testing or anything else just let me know.

[dol-leodagan]

Merec If you find any issues with newer Nif Handling I'll look at it, I didn't check how the Testing Client was implementing this underground keep...

Maybe they use a Nif version unhandled by the nif lib embedded in MapCreator.

[Merec]

Exactly as expected, the hole underground area is one large NIF:

Currently it is not possible to render it correctly, it will be displayed as a large white square. It may work with an image replacement but it will not look harmonic.

I will check out the error to get a first draft.

[dol-leodagan]

At least it's not under "Terrain Level" ! This would have needed a lot of work around...

You may be able to obtain drawable results if you try to pick only some Layers from the Mesh, or maybe exclude the exterior dome triangles, this would need a specific renderer just for this piece !

[dol-leodagan]

Merec

You can use this new Niflib to parse Ellan Vannin Meshes : https://github.com/dol-leodagan/niflib.net/releases/tag/1.0.7

I reimplemented the NiShadeProperty in C# from latest Niflib C++ Code...

I think you use the "SharpDX" Framework for your project ;)

[Merec]

I finally updated the niflib. It now renders Ellan Vannin. But, as expected, as a white fixture.

I try to find a fix for that.

[dol-leodagan]

You're going to need textures on the NIF mesh itself if you want to fix this... (All other mesh are rendered without texture, like bridges and miles gates)

Anyway the shadows looks like the terrain was rendered under the hill mesh, or the lighting was applied after the mesh was added to the final image !

You'd better try to filter out the whole big "hill" NIF mesh, and render the underground cave only (which should be rendered as terrain) as a fail-over.

[Merec]

I thought the same, but it seems like they dug a big hole in the ground...

Just posteted some more information in the dol forum: http://www.dolserver.net/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=23240

And I created a 3D model of the surface: https://sketchfab.com/models/5d027b01ea0f46a9933d9a3002c42bee