UV Texture mapping errors in custom maps

[john_smith_account]

I need help. Am I the only one having UV mapping textures errors with my custom maps? I'm currently on my 3rd attempt at a custom dungeon, but I spent THREE TIMES AS MANY HOURS trying to fix the UV mapping errors as I did building the orginal map. I don't give up easy, but quiet frankly I'm ready to quit!

 

Anyhow, I'm using Google Sketchup 7, Sharp Ocarina, and TIG's exporter. I don't think the fault is Sharp Ocarina, since it displays the maps fine. But when insert my maps into the game, the UV mappings get ruined. Sure I could use ZLE2 and manually fix them one by one, but that's just too much work.

 

So my question is what am I doing wrong? Is there a modeling program or exporter that works better than what I'm using? URA team, what's your secret? I can't believe you got so much done if you're having the same issues. Any help I can get is welcome!

[xdaniel]

I don't think the fault is Sharp Ocarina, since it displays the maps fine. But when insert my maps into the game, the UV mappings get ruined.

SharpOcarina's 3D preview is not representative of how it's going to look like in-game. It's just an .obj viewer and does not read back and interpret the Display Lists it generates, although I'm starting to think I should implement this in the current SO too, not just the rewrite if I ever get there...

 

If you're encountering what I think you do, then it's the limited precision of texture coordinates on the N64... it's late and I'm not at my PC, but if I recall, N64-side texture coords are signed 16-bit values which will overflow/wraparound if the original value from the .obj model is out of range - that results in extremely stretched/warped texture mapping.

 

I don't really have much of an idea what to do against this, besides making sure that triangles aren't too big, textures don't repeat across it too often, things like that. Although that didn't always work for me...

[john_smith_account]

SharpOcarina's 3D preview is not representative of how it's going to look like in-game. It's just an .obj viewer and does not read back and interpret the Display Lists it generates, although I'm starting to think I should implement this in the current SO too, not just the rewrite if I ever get there...

 

If you're encountering what I think you do, then it's the limited precision of texture coordinates on the N64... it's late and I'm not at my PC, but if I recall, N64-side texture coords are signed 16-bit values which will overflow/wraparound if the original value from the .obj model is out of range - that results in extremely stretched/warped texture mapping.

 

I don't really have much of an idea what to do against this, besides making sure that triangles aren't too big, textures don't repeat across it too often, things like that. Although that didn't always work for me...

 

Wow, fast response. Thanks XDaniel.

 

Don't worry about the display on SO, it's fine. There are other parts of SO that need more attention.

 

I'll look into the issue based on what you've told me here. The funny thing is I can fix the errors manually in ZLE2, but it takes so much time and that doesn't let me tweak and rebuild levels easily. That puts a hurting on the creative process, ya know.

 

I still think theres more to it, and I tend to want to blame the exporter or Sketchup. Why do I think that? Example: I model a map, and build it, and it turns out fine. Then I decide to "paint" a room of the map with a differnt texture that has the exact same diminsions. Then on a new build the UV is messed up.

 

I've found some work arounds, but they're not always fool proof. It's really slowed my progress. I've got only one map done(modeled) and three throw aways (ruined UV mapping).

 

Again, I think I'm doing something wrong. The URA team surely encounter this allready. Is there a good work around? HELP!

[Jason777]

I know it's older software but have you tried importing with Obj2Area or (relatively new) OBJN64Tool? I've also noticed that if you increase the scaling of the texture, there are less chances for errors. The same goes with grouping individual textures.

[john_smith_account]

Yeah, most of my test maps were prototyped in Obj2Area Version 12. I had to refix the collision, remove shading errors introduced by the place holders code in the display lists, and it always forgot the setting for normal shading when you "repeat last build" or whatever it was called. Still it was the first of it's kind, and I got my first maps done using it.

 

That said, I got UV errors with Obj2Area too. I have to admit the Obj Exporter I was using at the time was pretty awful. I may give it another try.

 

Again, I plea for the secrets of the URA team. How did you get it done? What am I doing wrong?

[Okami Amaterasu]

Sometimes rebuilding the affected triangles/faces seems to help when I have this problem.

[Secant]

Hate to say it, JSA, but xdan's basically hit the brunt of the problem--you just can't have a texture repeat too many times across a single polygon or it will warp the mapping. If you absolutely can't adjust the mapping, then it may be simpler to subdivide a polygon so the mapping occurs less times per polygon where the group constructs an entire surface.

[spinout]

JSA: I don't know if you've tried this or not, but you might want to give objn64tool a shot. Try setting the base address to something like 0x03000400 - whatever the offset would be in a map at the end of the mesh data header. Then take the output and stick it at that address in a map, and point the mesh data header to the proper address.

[john_smith_account]

I figured out what I was doing wrong. Anyone you're getting UV errors, or making simple maps just to avoid errors might try this:

 

http://core.the-gcn.com/topic/675-sharpocarina-zelda-oot-scene-development-system/page__pid__19041__st__300#entry19041