Thread: OpenGL Rendering problems

How do I set the render distance for objects? I've only gotten up to 20 units.. where my ship alone is 2 units. I doubt we'll have tiny maps like such, as we are making a space simulator, but it would be nice to see how far we can set the rendering. What should we look for?

Also, if anyone knows anything about the algorithm that the CryENGINE uses to render distant objects, please post something about it. I know they reduce the amount of polygons based on distance and use a good height maps system, but if anyone has any methods that they would like to share, do tell


Thank you!

I think you're looking for frustum culling and level of detail (LOD) rendering.

Do you know where I might be able to learn more about these?

Try googling for Frustum Culling, there's probably hundreds of tutorials on the net. For general OpenGL stuff, try nehe (http://nehe.gamedev.net). There's also a list of useful links stickied at the top of the game programming forum.

Also, if anyone knows anything about the algorithm that the CryENGINE uses to render distant objects, please post something about it. I know they reduce the amount of polygons based on distance and use a good height maps system, but if anyone has any methods that they would like to share, do tell

There are many algorithms out there but my guess would be it is some type of restrictive quad tree similar to the one in Flight Simulator X. There are only so many ways to actually do vast areas of terrain and still maintain interactive frame rates. They could possible be using ROAM but that really does not fit into today's hardware since it requires altering vertex data.

Moved to game programming.