Turbine Games Q&A/Dungeons/Q-13

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Non-portal dungeons do exist?



Asked: 2000.11.08
Name: Tuq'ad
Question Title: Non-portal dungeons do exist?
Category: Dungeons
Question: Given that the landscape is described as a "flat sheet modified by height and texture".. how were the underground rooms created near Qal?

I don't know if there is a name for them.. but there is a building leading down into the ground, usually populated with Lugians and Mountain Rats. This structure is extremely cool. Hard to duplicate?


Answered: 2000.11.08
Name: Stormwaltz
Answer: Those underground rooms are part of an instantiation - that is, a single complex-architecture model placed on the landscape. They're really just houses placed partially under the plane of the ground.

The problem with instantitations is, they can only be one land block cell in size without graphics sorting problems, and can never cross a landblock boundary. Cross a landblock in an instantiation, and you'll cause a server crash.

So you can have a building that goes down forever, but it would have to fit into rather small dimensions, and would be "expensive" to model and render in-engine.