A Simple First Terrain

This is the barebones guide towards creating your first simple terrain and adding it to a map. This terrain won't be as detailed or as attractive as a full terrain, but will demonstrate the basics of creating a terrain mesh, assigning a texture, and adding it in-game.

Introduction

For this tutorial you must:

• Have a modelling package that can export as OBJ
• Have basic modelling skills
• Have basic mapping skills

If you can't do any of the above things, this tutorial is not for you!

This tutorial covers:

• How to create a terrain mesh and caulk hull
• How to add a terrain mesh to a map
• How to assign a texture
• How to work with terrain meshes and map geometry

This tutorial does not cover:

• How to use Blender/Maya/Lightwave/ZBrush/Mudbox/3DSMax
• How to create a megatexture
• How to create displacement maps
• Anything complicated

Building the Mesh

A simple terrain mesh created in Blender

Use your preferred modelling package to create a basic terrain mesh that is exactly 32,768 units long and wide.

While a 32k*32k isn't necessary - you can use any value - it is strongly advised to stick to 8k*8k, 16*16k or 32k*32k