I was recording a demo when I was playing with the id software dev team a little while ago, and before I released it to the public I watched it myself for a little recap on how I did.
There was one point in the demo (for those of you that have watched it) where I looked at the billboard right outside the GDF base in Refinery really quick, did a double take, and then looked at it again for a good 15 seconds. Watching the demo you'll wonder wtf I was looking at, because it was just a billboard saying something about the GDF and pictures of the different classes and troop movements.
However while playing the game with the id dev team, I clearly recall that there was an add (I don't recall which add, but I think it was the Golden Compass or something) on the billboard, and I looked at it for a good 15 seconds because I hadn't seen that add before. But it's gone with the demo? They obviously don't update adds via billboard textures with each patch, because that would take too long to cycle through all the adds and such. So what do they do? Is there an overlay texture that fits over the billboard or something via the master server? Does it work like sprays in CS:S?
Just curious
Spray's in CSS are decals. Polygons with texture maps on them.
I don't know exactly how they work. But I would assume the host server receives these files in some type of packet or something, and it plants it on the UV space of the billboard. I bet the name of each static object billboard is saved in the server, and when it receives a pre-made texture that is designed for the UVs of the static billboard, it just slaps it on in-game.
I did a lousy job of explaining my theory, but I'm modeling at the same time. Sue me!
EDIT: BTW, where can I download your netDemo of the id software game? I completely forgot about that id software thing. I've been too busy to game for the past week.
The materials for the ads have the "massive" keyword so I assume the game will simply stream in new .TGA/DDS files and override the local ones at run-time for all materials with that keyword.
Dinky wrote:
EDIT: BTW, where can I download your netDemo of the id software game? I completely forgot about that id software thing. I've been too busy to game for the past week.
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=C87A20FB04280053http://rapidshare.com/files/77503104/id_vs_public_demos.ziphttp://jamesw.jhnet.co.uk/id_vs_public_demos.ziphttp://files.mkdir.name/mirror/etqw/...blic_demos.zipThere are more, but these are good enough
And yeah, that's what I figured. I thought it might even be something as simple as replacing the uv image/texture file with a different picture but the same filename (something servers receive in packets on a daily basis?). Streaming new ones makes more sense though, so thanks