• Title: Dark Region
• Description: 3D Terrain Editor with Region/Paint/Object Support
• GM Version: Game Maker 7
• Registered: Yes
• Credit: Required if used, also required if you use any scripts from it (or any script segment) in your own project/engine
• File Type: .Zip
• File Size: Approx 1.27 MB
• File Link (The Terrain Editor): Download (Host-a-net)
• File Link (An example of how to load a DR map): Download (Host-a-net)

Additional Info
I have been working on this for just under a year (on and off), and I've decided to drop the project - but I am making it open source! Feel free to download HOWEVER READ THE GAME INFO WHEN THE GAME STARTS UP!

Dark Region Contains:
-A unique terrain system that can support up to a 800x800 terrain running at 60+ fps. (I get over 120 with 100+trees in view)
-Save the terrain in a single compressed file
-Load the terrain very easily
-Paint support (70+ textures and add your own).
-Every region has it's own unique highly compressed jpeg image as its background, this way you can use as MANY TEXTURES as you please to create the terrain
-A 800x800 terrain map has a 12800x12800 texture map overtop of it, yes 12 thousand eight hundred pixels wide AND high!
--This is only possible by splitting the texture up, so that each 16x16 region has it's own 256x256 texture.
-Object support (32 different objects types max, no limit on the number of objects themselves)
-A very easy to use engine
-More (much too much to list)!

-Bugs-
Undo/Redo does glitch occasionally with paint mode, but very rarely (unknown reason?, so never got fixed)


**It is strongly recommended to use halo shg's memory cleaning .dll with this, to massively reduce memory usage and increase performance Mem Clean.dll link


Comparison to Liquid Light
-The output maps run slightly slower than liquid light maps displaying the same amount because of an internal loop (slightly slower meaning about 1fps slower in the hundreds, so 119 vs 120.
-The output maps are highly compressed, leading to a MUCH smaller output file, and it decompresses fast (users a .dll) and it loads much faster than Liquid Light
-This supports regions, (Liquid Light doesn't, well atm apparently they are working on it)
-Both support tree generation
-Liquid Light has a better UI, and is more user friendly



~~Brett14;



PS: Please ignore a user named PiePerson!'s comments. Thank-you.

Great job! I look forward to experimenting with this.

i loved it. experimenting with it.
i made a awsome map with it,
Ratings
Easy to understand? 10/10
Memory usage? 10/10
use in a real game? easy as
i like it and look forward to more versions
One probelm. i can't load maps made with a older version into it....
y?

First off,

A) The only reason this is open-source is because it's a dead-project (I stopped working on it)

It can not load older maps because of a major file format change. If you wish to make a converter you can (I don't have the older sources, I deleted them sorry) But you can possibly figure out the file format from looking at 1.06 saving; and comparing to the output of the older version you are using. I would have included a converter (automatic, just older version ladoing support), but this was not getting any attention, so i quit the project

I have 1.06 source (in first post)
I have 1.02 source Here (Uploaded it in the WIP topic a ways back)

I had a look at it (again after like a month) and i decided i actually liked it. so i made a nice heightmap, and went looking in the help file. but it did not open. please upload it because this is a good engine.

Sorry, no height map support (the project was dropped so I'm not adding it), HOWEVER I might make a script that can create a regioned heightmap (wouldn't be too hard...)

i dont think i said that right...

i made a island with dark and i want to import it into my game. so i went to the help file to find out how but it didnt open. so could you please upload/fix it?

Just look at the example, it shows you how to do everything for importing maps

Is there a example? (like just playable)

Either way it would be really handy for me to take a look at the help file

**Bump**

Now includes an editable example (finally, I was going to get to it a few months ago, but I completely forgot until I saw a topic...) PLEASE LEAVE FEEDBACK!

Pretty damn incredible to be honest
Fantastic work... must have taken a long time to put together!

A couple of things holding this back big time:

1. It is *slooooooooow* I'm getting 12 or 13 FPS no matter how simple or complicated I keep the map...
needs to be optimized... (auto poly reduction with distance would be much preferable to just reducing draw distance.)

2. "argument0" should be set to maybe 100 rather than 1 by default (because the movement is way too slow, & 100 feels much more like a normal 3D 1st person movement speed.
(This is so people can see the potential & comment more.)

3. Textures need to be alot better than this - really really *really*. Ground textures need to be 64x64 minimum - ideally 128x128 or 256x256.

4. Mouse cursor jiggles & pops all over the place - needs to remain perfectly centered at all times.

Other than that, damn fine piece of work.
I'm really impressed with this.. you've nailed all the basics of a full 3D game here!
Keep it up!
If you can resolve the issues above, you'll be on to a real winner I think.
Best of luck!

I'm not working on this project anymore (It's why it's open source), so if you wanted you could add those if you want.
Or you can wait a little longer (if you want 3D regioned terrain) for another 3D region editor to come out. I know of 3 being developed ATM, and I'm in contact with the other 2 creators (well 1 of them, the other not so much). One I cannot mention, but is based upon Dark Region, and the maker had my permission to reuse the code etc. The other is Schyler with Liquid Light. We have been in contact, and I don't know how he's going to do it (the method I mean) but I think it is going to also be similar to Dark Regions (I don't know the progress of that one). The other one is being developed by me , I'm making another terrain editor that supports much higher resolution textures, better UI etc. (Also faster )

BTW:

The editor runs slower than maps loaded with this (different methods of drawing). And The new version I'm making has a 75% speed increase over this. (And higher texture quality)

I am using yourselfs 3D mouse positioning script(s). Since I don't understand 3D vectors etc. I cannot fix this.

Hey the collisions in the example kinda suck *hint*.



That is some real junk ^^^
I hope that I've made my point.

Because the tree can be represented with a cylinder, why not try something like this?

That should work. I don't remember exactly how I've done it in the past, but this one should work . Have fun man!

Hey PiePerson, like I said BESIDES THE OPEN SOURCE ONES, I DIDN'T FOCUS ON COLLISIONS IN THESE and tools don't need good collisions at all... tools don't even need collisions. This isn't a game.


[EDIT]

The only thing you have proved is that you cannot read, and you don't understand what an example is for that is not based upon collisions. You havn't proved anything.
[/EDIT]

Here, how about you actually prove yourself. Why are you asking me to prove something? If you really want to make an argument, then just prove yourself that you don't suck at collisions.

I expect you to make a full map with SILKY-SMOOTH collisions; something like this:


Yep, sprites do work for planar-based maps. But that map above isn't planar based. If people always expect sprites to do the justice, then they won't ever make a full 3D game. You can only make assortments of blocks and walls when you rely on sprites. So you think that you can make a map like as the one above, relying on sprites? If you say no, then I'm atleast getting somewhere.

But anyway, I think that you just missed what I actually ment by "stop using Game Maker's built in collisions". I mostly ment "don't enable solid". But eventhough our argument is mostly a mistake, just don't use sprites for 3D games. You should understand that it is incredibly hard to make a real 3D map based off of 2D plans.

That is a quote in which I agree. Never enable solid, you never said that though.


And I have to make you a map... why? I'm not going to spends hours making a map and then more hours coding collisions in it just to prove that I can do them. In the next game I make I'll include collisions like so.

Okay, we're fair. Good luck, I hope it's cool !

Strange, I made a map with trees and it loads fine with the editor. But, when I load it with the example loader it only loads the huge trees and ignores the various large, medium, and small trees scattered throughout the terrain.... Any ideas why?

You're probably loading them wrong, I honestly don't know. Since it is open source look how the one that is working correctly does it, and the one that is not working correctly does it, and change it to how the proper loading one works.

It may be because the loader was from the previous version, and since no file change was done I didn't bother changing it. If you fix it, can you send me a link of the working version? I'm busy with school, sports, GM projects etc, So I can't and probably never will.

Glen, if you give me the creation code of the controller object, I might be able to find the bug!