Design flaw? Why can't I climb on the roof at the end of Route Canal?

[rolfski]

Just before you hump into the airboat there is level where you have to fight the headcrabs in a sloppy and toxic environment with low roofs.

Although I pile up barrels and boxes the engine won't let me climb on the roof. Design flaw if you ask me.

 

[Quelaar]

Invisible wall? The game is designed to block you, it wasn't made for free-form exploring...limits are set to the environment.

Quelaar

 

[DragonGC]

invisible wall there... they don't want u going up there for a reason.
also may i ask something... how do u hump airboats? please tell. :rolling:

 

[rolfski]

also may i ask something... how do u hump airboats? please tell. :rolling:

don't mind my english, I'm not a native speaker

 

[DEATH eVADER]

don't mind my english, I'm not a native speaker

I can hardly speak English, even though I am English

 

[AJ Rimmer]

One wonder if computer games will always be only "cardboard sets" or if we one day can noclip around the building otherwise invisible to us, and find that it does indeed have a fourth wall...
The invisible wall is there so you won't see all the corners game developer cut, like not giving buildings four walls but instead only the three walls the player is ever supposed to see.

 

[rolfski]

One wonder if computer games will always be only "cardboard sets" or if we one day can noclip around the building otherwise invisible to us, and find that it does indeed have a fourth wall...
The invisible wall is there so you won't see all the corners game developer cut, like not giving buildings four walls but instead only the three walls the player is ever supposed to see.

Which makes this level stand out particulary weak because the other levels don't have such an obviously displayed invisible wall.

 

[spencerjrus]

This totally ruined my gaming experience.

 

[PvtRyan]

Which makes this level stand out particulary weak because the other levels don't have such an obviously displayed invisible wall.

Obvious? If I'm correct, you stated you stacked barrels and crates to get there.

And btw, it's called a clip brush.

 

[porus]

Obvious? If I'm correct, you stated you stacked barrels and crates to get there.

And btw, it's called a clip brush.

really? i thought it was called a blocking volume--at least thats what it is in unreal terms....interesting.......i didnt know there was a brush for blocking things.

 

[Ennui]

HL2 wasn't made in UnrealEd.

Who cares if you can't get up there? If they didn't cut some corners like that then we'd still be waiting for Half-Life 2.

 

[Xenethyl]

When the developers leave out that back wall on a building or don't create the inside of a building it's not in order to cut corners. In fact, the reason these characteristics are left out is to improve your frame rate. When you are walking around in the map it is much easier for your computer to only render the visible sides of a structure and furthermore texture them instead of producing parts of the map that will never be seen by the player. In reality, these sides that are seemingly left out are actually still there except they have what is called a 'nodraw' texture applied to them, simply meaning that the engine does not draw, or render, them. I have been mapping for three or four years now and I can tell you that properly hiding these surfaces and structures that will not be seen by the player, especially in a new engine where the graphics are very intense such as Source, reduces the amount of work your computer has to do and really does help.

As a side note, some good examples of this can easily be found in Counter Strike: Source. If you go into spectator mode and fly above some of the buildings in Italy, for instance, you will notice that many of the roofs are not being drawn and you get a certain effect where you can 'see through' the roof of that building. This is all based on the fact that if you will never be able to see that roof during a normal game then there is no reason for the engine to display it under any circumstances, thus improving your frame rate.

Hopefully this shed some light on the discussion.

 

[cirebackwards]

If you could go on the roof then couldn't you just walk out towards the exit without worrying about headcrabs? Also you wouldn't be able to trigger the things that make them come down.

 

[PriNcE oF SpAcE]

Just before you hump into the airboat there is level where you have to fight the headcrabs in a sloppy and toxic environment with low roofs.

Although I pile up barrels and boxes the engine won't let me climb on the roof. Design flaw if you ask me.

yeah major dissapointment there...seems that Valve opted for the invisible wall that they said they wouldn't be doing... :x

there are more places in the game where creative gamers will bump there head on invisible walls...