Any workaround for huge objects fading in/out randomly?

[Franc[e]sco]

Hi, i'm trying to convert a single player modded map (Akina Downhill) to MTA by replacing some objects with the custom map models and placing them where they should be. The problem is, the map uses some pretty big objects (a huge unsolid hill plus 4 pretty big pieces of road with collisions). The pieces of road are almost decent (they fade in as you start driving on them), but the big problem is the giant hill that surrounds these pieces of road. Its completely invisibile except for a few view angles.

This mod works perfectly in single player, so it must be something with MTA object system.

[Oz.]

You're probably experiencing either of two problems.

Firstly, DFF's only stream to a maximum distance of 300m from the object's pivot point, so if you are more than 300m from that point, the object fades out and becomes invisible. This is the same value used for DFF cull distance in Single Player, except obviously Single Player has LOD models while MTA does not currently have that functionality. There isn't really a way to get around that limitation.

Secondly, in some cases if you have replaced a reasonably small object with a very large one that has no COL (this may be the case with your Hill object), the replaced object will disappear entirely if the position of the original object is off-screen. If this is happening, it can be fixed with scripting, but you will still be subject to the 300m max stream distance mentioned above.

In both cases, you could probably improve the look by splitting up the objects into smaller ones. There's supposed to be a LOD system for custom models in MTA1.2, but that version could be a year away for all we know, so best to work with what you've got now. Breaking down objects into smaller ones is probably your best workaround for now.

[Franc[e]sco]

That must be it :] I completely forgot about the LOD system. ill figure out how to split the hill I guess

[Xierra]

Yes, and even pothole studio's Sakina and most custom maps has this problem too. There's no way around for now. We're really sorry to say this.