LOD models! I hate ambassadors, diplomacy is dead.

lana

Currently On: ?????
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Sep 28, 2009
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I feel sorry for Rexy. He matches all Valve's requirements. Years of experience, past product that Valve bought, awesome last name. How can they seriously not hire him?
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
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Mar 4, 2008
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Unless you've done something particularly innovative it doesn't seem like a company as successful as Valve would be interested; even though they say otherwise. It's probably more along the lines of "if we feel like it, we'll hire you".

There was DoD and Portal... DoD was like, the most successful GLDSource mod (so when it went to Source, i guess there were plans for that mod team) and we all know the tale about portal. I don't think Notch got the same invitation the Portal team did, though. But maybe Notch is just hiding that information.

It seems strange though that the TF2 team have released a number of large models, seen at varying distances, without LOD models. Particularly the latest update to include maps.
 
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Seba

DR. BIG FUCKER, PHD
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Jun 9, 2009
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large models, seen at varying distances, without LOD models

arena_nucleus.jpg
 

lana

Currently On: ?????
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Sep 28, 2009
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There was DoD and Portal... DoD was like, the most successful GLDSource mod (so when it went to Source, i guess there were plans for that mod team) and we all know the tale about portal. I don't think Notch got the same invitation the Portal team did, though. But maybe Notch is just hiding that information.

I never heard of DoD until after DoD:S came out. I wasn't really in the Goldsrc loop at the time, though, so it could have whizzed by my head, but I'd still heard of Counter-Strike and Team Fortress Classic before they'd gone commercial.
 

Numerous

L4: Comfortable Member
Oct 14, 2009
150
72
What is this newfangled LOD you speak of?

Does it have something to do with decreasing the level of detail of the weapon-models etc, the further away you are from them?
..does LOD stand for level of detail?

whats this about C models, anyways? Is that just a weapon model that operates on the above principle, instead of having separate viewmodels and weaponmodels?

How would changing from separate models for different details levels to one single model with dynamic detail levels INCREASE the file size in TF2?

Is there something everyone's read that I've missed?
Explanation please.

Also, what does this have to do with the ambassador? Is it something to do with the extra detail on it or something?
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
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Mar 4, 2008
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I never heard of DoD until after DoD:S came out. I wasn't really in the Goldsrc loop at the time, though, so it could have whizzed by my head, but I'd still heard of Counter-Strike and Team Fortress Classic before they'd gone commercial.

CS and TFC were created by Valve and available commercially, DoD was not. It was a mod. IE free and created by the community.

DoD was purchased by Valve when it went Source, and i'm guessing the team got into Valve like Portal's did. I might be wrong though in that Valve only purchased the intellectual property/concept/rights. But the original DoD mod team did create the Source version.
 
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Pocket

Half a Lambert is better than one.
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Nov 14, 2009
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CS and TFC were created by Valve and available commercially, DoD was not. It was a mod. IE free and created by the community.

DoD was purchased by Valve when it went Source, and i'm guessing the team got into Valve like Portal's did. I might be wrong though in that Valve only purchased the intellectual property/concept/rights. But the original DoD mod team did create the Source version.

*BAAAAAAANHHH!* Sorry, wrong. Counter-Strike and Team Fortress were both free mods that got bought out by Valve, just like Day of Defeat. Likewise, Day of Defeat was rereleased by Valve as a GoldSrc game about two years before they finally released the Source remake.

[source: Wikipedia]
 
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Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
What is this newfangled LOD you speak of?

Does it have something to do with decreasing the level of detail of the weapon-models etc, the further away you are from them?
..does LOD stand for level of detail?

whats this about C models, anyways? Is that just a weapon model that operates on the above principle, instead of having separate viewmodels and weaponmodels?

How would changing from separate models for different details levels to one single model with dynamic detail levels INCREASE the file size in TF2?

Is there something everyone's read that I've missed?
Explanation please.

Also, what does this have to do with the ambassador? Is it something to do with the extra detail on it or something?

LOD models are not new-fangled, they are old. Yes LOD stands for level-of-detail.

LOD models are mesh's that replace other meshes inside of a model at different distances. (A model can be made of multiple meshes and each mesh can have multiple LOD models). The LOD models are stored inside the model and for vertices that they share they share information (decresing file size). The purpose of LOD's is to increase rendering time.

Non-TF2 source games use W_ models and v_ models, w_models are placed in the world for you to pick up and are carried by npc's/other players,, v_models are drawn on your view when your using the gun. Newer TF2 weapon models use C_models, i.e. the same model for both, and a separate model file for the player arms. If the c_ models have LOD's then rendering them is cheaper when you are standing far away from someone using that weapon.
 
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Pc_Madness

L4: Comfortable Member
Aug 31, 2009
164
51
I don't think Notch got the same invitation the Portal team did, though. But maybe Notch is just hiding that information.

He went to visit Valve a while back (err I think there was a Minecraft conference thingy?), I seriously doubt he visited them just so everyone could say "hey sweet game!"
 

Ravidge

Grand Vizier
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May 14, 2008
1,544
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For whatever it's worth, I updated the numbers and images. The polycounts are now accurate.
 

Ravidge

Grand Vizier
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May 14, 2008
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UPDATED!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1281220/levelofdetail/index.htm

New graph! To show that only 5 out of the total 75 weapons have received LODs.
While those 5 are pretty efficient (well, 4 of them at least). VALVe is far from done, and that is what I'm trying to illustrate here.

Let me know if I should add or clarify something.
 
Jun 19, 2009
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UPDATED!
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1281220/levelofdetail/index.htm

New graph! To show that only 5 out of the total 75 weapons have received LODs.
While those 5 are pretty efficient (well, 4 of them at least). VALVe is far from done, and that is what I'm trying to illustrate here.

Let me know if I should add or clarify something.

Thanks Ravidge! I show this to people when I get lazy and don't want to explain what LODs are :)