Does anyone know what makes a heightmap legitimately different from a normal B&W image? If I go into L3DT and generate a heightmap, it'll import into Torque 3D just fine, but if I render a heightmap out from Blender, it imports into Torque mostly flat and super low-resolution. It's not bit depth or color mode, so what is it? Why do I have to paste a custom heightmap overtop of a generated one in order for Torque to recognise it?
There's only three things that matter: it has to be a single layered image with just a 16-bit precision gamma channel. If it's not bit depth or colour mode (how do you know?), it's layers.
Bit depth and color mode are both visible in the Image>Mode tab of Photoshop. I don't know what you mean by layers, though. I'm saving these out as .PNG's (which can't contain layered data), and even then, I'm flattening them out before hand.
while this topic is way over my head, its the one topic that needs to be talked about. we need smooth elevation changes that are gradual and not stepped. "your cars are too bouncy and handle like shit". if you drove a real car thru a turn and you had these stepped elevation changes your car would bounce too. most of east coasts difficulty is due to this issue. i only wish i could help because beamng will never feel right with this issue.
It's apparently well enough over your head for you to completely miss the point. This thread is about getting height maps to be imported correctly, and has absolutely nothing to do with Torque3D's height map resolution limits.
you have no idea how hard i will try to segway almost any topic to be about the garbage height maps. im just trying to bring awareness so it becomes something everyone complains about. the cars are great. the physics are great. that jagged ass maps are not. for me that is the heightmap x factor.
I almost need Google Translate to understand this form of english. The heightmaps are not garbage. Especially the ones in the default maps. If you have a problem with it, then why did you buy access to BeamNG? Everyone else is just fine with the heightmap system. Apparently you are not. If you dont like the "jagged ass" maps due to handling, Why not just use MESH ROADS? Or just not use the default smoothing tools in the editor. Are you setting up the heightmap correctly for import/export? http://beamng.com/threads/tutorial-adding-heightmap-roads-using-blender.16356/ You might've read this already, but I want you to follow every instruction here, even if its not Heightmap roads that you are trying to add.
ill ignore the bit about my poor typing and grammar because that's a petty way to start a rebuttal about a very real issue and you seem well educated so ill digress. about the "if you don't like it why did you buy the alpha" part. i purchased this game because the moment i watched the trailer i knew the game i was waiting for since 1996 was finally here. i payed for the alpha and gave input because i care. this is the only game of its kind and its not being developed by a billion dollar studio, its made by people like me, who actually have the skill to make it happen so im thankful because i dont have the skill to realize the dream and they do. if everyone who didn't like it retroactively decided not to join up and give input, this project would be dead. now that we are clear on that, the real issue. slopes in this game are made of short straight sections that meet at a very obtuse angle instead of smooth continuous curves. i only bring it up with such fervor because i believe this is the last piece of the puzzle. the suspension modeling is cutting edge. the tire model has a way to go still and its already better than anything i have ever seen. we need realistic roads now. roads in real life never have these jagged transitions when an elevation change occurs and as evidenced in my screenshot, you can barley see what im talking about but its enough to send the front of the truck into the air. at hi speed this competently throws any chance of an authentic feeling ride out the window. This gets fixed and i doubt ill ever play another driving game again. i don't want thus to turn into a dick measuring contest, i really just want everyone to ditch the "everyone else is a jerkoff i know best" attitude because its not doing us any favors. I only wish i could contribute more and help make the maps. ill read that guide tonight and i may have a few questions this weekend if your willing to school me a bit.
While I'm sure that the discussion about the technological limitations of the traditional 1x1 meter heightmap is worth having, this is not the place. At any rate, I believe I solved the issue; I actually wasn't stripping all the color data out of the images, and was still foolishly trying to import an RGB image. Thanks all for your answers, sorry to have wasted your time
