Hi Guys.

I've never had problems running in D3D, so I've never paid much attention to Glide mode, but I have tried to make sure my models do work in Glide.

The main problem with Glide, is the way the models are rendered.

Now, for the none professional 3DZ modders among us the problem is caused by the use of a Normals bodge, -32768.

If you make a 3dz, you need to build it in such a way so you will be able to produce a Rendering Sequence, and Normals.

In modern games these are created automatically by using the Z-Buffer, in DirectX. In EAW we have to add these to the model and then the 3D engine reads the settings and renders the model accordingly. The problems start when you take a preexisting model, and change the position of some elements.

Very minor changes can be fixed by just changing a Normal, but if you create a piggyback Element, you effectively split one element in two and there fore you only have one Normal for two or more elements.

This means only one of these new elements can be displayed properly, and the rest have to make do with the wrong Normal. The bodge for this, is to add -32768 to the last entry of the Normals.

This forces the one element and it's Piggybacks to be displayed at all angles. Now some times this is OK, as if you add a piggyback at 90 degrees to the original will work just fine in D3D and Glide.

The problems come when you try to add -32768 to elements which are being split to cover errors in the Rendering System, where elements have been moved out of their Sequence, and now shine through other elements.

In these cases you should re calculate the Rendering Sequence, but before Gurney made his little program, the only way was to bodge things. We were forced to borrow the Rendering Sequence and Normals from another adjoining Element to fix the problem, but then you would need to use -32768 to force the 3D engine cover the hole.

In D3D this works, and you don't have a problem, but in Glide, where you have two Elements above and below each other, the use of -32768 makes the Elements swap textures and shows above and below, reversed.

There is no fix for this and you should re calculate the RS and Normals, so It will work correctly in D3D and Glide. There is no other fix for this problem of reversed textures. The more times the -32768 is used, the more problems the model will display in Glide.

If these is a case where the model needs to be fixed properly, a few rules need to be followed.

Make sure the model has clear horizontal, and vertical lines of elements. Along these lines you will need to insert bulkhead elements, to cut the Rendering Sequence into small sections of the model. These Elements can be removed once the model is finished.

If you have landing gear which needs to fold. The gear has to be set in the down position, after removing the insert codes. Once the model has a good result, the original positions can be restored from a text backup of the model.

I hope the above information will be of some help overcoming Glide problems.

Thanks Col. Undoubtedly you have covered this elsewhere, but what implement does one use to recalculate a rendering sequence?

Here you go, but you will need a few other Programs to help you, but the versions I have all have problems, so it's really time to ask Tony, if he would make us some new ones, to make life easier.

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?2ipq2t32b0r2bkr

RSC folder goes in your C: root.

Thanks Col.