· A variant of the func_group entity
has been added to the game. When a func_group of brushes (only) is given a
terrain key and a numerical value (an ID number for that terrain) and several
other key attributes, it becomes a terrain entity and is treated differently
than other brushes during the compile.
· The map area has been expanded to
128,000 units in all extents (256,000 units on any edge of the map volume).
While this does not mean that a map that large could actually run on current
game hardware, it does give the designer room to explore what the actual
limits may be. As a point of reference, mpterra2.bsp is roughly 12K x 16K x 3K
units in size … the largest map in the game by far.
· A terrain texture mapping system
plots textures across the terrain entity using a specially created .pcx or .tga
art file as a map for planar projecting and blending shaders on terrain
surfaces.
· A “meta-shader” is used to
organize and calculate blends between the shaders that are mapped onto the
terrain.
· Textures designed for use under
vertex lighting can be substituted at map load time for more complex shader-manipulated
textures that may not look correct in a vertex light only situation.