Unster wrote: ↑15 Oct 2022 07:46
The problem with that method is that you could notice floating wheels getting bounced up by nothing. It's not a pretty effect unless it's done in a minimal way that's not obvious, but then it may not even be noticeable. Some random surface variation would probably be best if the mesh is dense enough. You wouldn't be adding any collision points or polygons. The roads just wouldn't be so flat.
Look at the gifs I provided. That is literally what I am talking about. Wreckfest is a game that utilises this method and it looks super realistic while costing nothing. Hell, this effect is applied to all 24 cars on the field, all simulated physically, while in ATS/ETS2, the only physically simulated vehicle is player's truck. Ai has no physics here, they just follow a path. They become physical on collision with player, but then become static once more. In essence, Ai in ATS/ETS2 is on rails, being a physical entity only on collision with player, and by physical entity, I mean a movable object.
In those gifs all you see is a plane, a literal flat plane with just a texture. No actual variation. Your mind is filling the blanks, because the texture itself provides the variation couple with how fast the effect is. In ATS/ETS2 this is already covered by textures on the road. Plus there are no 'floating' wheels to be seen in that picture. The effect is so fast, you don't notice what actually bumped the wheel and your brain is filling the blanks thanks to texture itself.
It's not about actual flatness of the road. It's about how it /FEELS/. You don't need actual mesh/collision variation if you program something like this to mimic it. This is what we are trying to do - mimic it, without actually making the surface bumpy. It's how all games do this that are serious about simulation.
Yes, the effect needs to be subtle, but not too subtle, especially on gravel/grass.
