Terrain Development Guide

Chapter 1: Targetware Terrain Basics

Summary of Features & Capabilities

The terrain system has been designed by Targetware to be very flexible. For the most part you will find that any restrictions are a function of the practical limitations of today's computers to render the terrain (fill speeds, texture memory, etc), rather than the terrain system itself. Some of the features & benefits of the Targetware terrain system are:

• No restrictions on the overall size of the terrain, it can be as large as computers allow.
• No restrictions on the resolution of the terrain. Grid spacing can be as small as rendering will permit.
• Terrain can be built and edited using simple, readily available, graphics and text editing tools.
• Independent terrain "masks" or Layers can overlay the base terrain. This allows roads, railroads, airfields, etc to be smoothly blended onto the terrain.
• A single terrain can utilize up to 256 unique textures per layer. This provides the Player with an opportunity to use an almost unlimited number of different textures. The limit is only in your creativity.
• Detail textures can be added to base and layer textures to dramatically increase texture resolution.
• Blending between neighboring terrain polygons can performed automatically via multi-texturing. Therefore, there is no need to create complicated transition textures.
• The Player has control over all aspects of blending, mipmapping, and texture scale.