Overgrowth Levels

NOTE: This page is a work in progress.

A level for Overgrowth comes in the shape of an XML file. This is a human readable format, so you can open a level up as a text file and see everything that's in it. This page will go through all the aspects of these XML files, with extra focus on the ones you can't change via the editor.

Example Level

This is what the "new level" file looks like, which can be found in ../Overgrowth/Data/Levels/nothing.xml. If you want to you can copy everything in the box below into a text file, save it with the .xml file ending and load it in the game.

<?xml version="2.0" ?>

<Type>saved</Type>
<Name>nothing</Name>
<Description></Description>
<Shader>post</Shader>
<OutOfDate NavMesh="true" />
<AmbientSounds />
<Script></Script>

<LevelScriptParameters>
    <parameter name="Achievements" type="string" val="flawless, no_injuries, no_kills" />
    <parameter name="HDR Black point" type="string" val="0.005" />
    <parameter name="HDR Bloom multiplier" type="string" val="1" />
    <parameter name="HDR White point" type="string" val="0.971" />
    <parameter name="Level Boundaries" type="string" val="1" />
    <parameter name="Objectives" type="string" val="destroy_all" />
    <parameter name="Saturation" type="float" val="1" />
    <parameter name="Sky Brightness" type="string" val="1" />
    <parameter name="Sky Rotation" type="string" val="-62" />
    <parameter name="Sky Tint" type="string" val="255, 255, 255" />
</LevelScriptParameters>

<Sky>
    <DomeTexture>Data/Textures/skies/CloudySunset.tga</DomeTexture>
    <SunAngularRad>0.153056</SunAngularRad>
    <SunColorAngle>353.589</SunColorAngle>
    <RayToSun r0="0.843168" r1="0.508385" r2="0.174962" />
</Sky>

<ActorObjects>

    <CameraObject t0="-0.344697" t1="0.0453395" t2="2.04932" s0="1" s1="1" s2="1" q0="0.0216842" q1="0.703856" q2="-0.021506" r0="0.00824849" r1="3.72529e-008" r2="-0.999966" r3="0" r4="0.0610501" r5="0.998135" r6="0.000503631" r7="0" r8="0.998101" r9="-0.0610522" r10="0.00823313" r11="0" r12="0" r13="0" r14="0" r15="1" id="1">
        <parameters />
    </CameraObject>

    <EnvObject t0="3.42549" t1="-3.42134" t2="2.37398" s0="6.46988" s1="1" s2="6.38524" q0="0" q1="0" q2="0" r0="1" r1="0" r2="0" r3="0" r4="0" r5="1" r6="0" r7="0" r8="0" r9="0" r10="1" r11="0" r12="0" r13="0" r14="0" r15="1" id="1" color_r="0" color_g="0" color_b="0" type_file="Data/Objects/primitives/edged_cube.xml">
        <parameters />
    </EnvObject>

</ActorObjects>

Unimportant or Deprecated Tags

Since Overgrowth has been in development for such a long time, some of these tags are nothing but remnants of old systems that have been replaced with something else during development. For instance, levels used to store their names in their xml file, but now that's stored in the mod file instead.

This is a list of those tags

<Type> - This value is always equal to "saved".

<Name> - Is automatically set to the name of the file without the file ending. Is not used by the engine.

<Description> - Map description. Is not used by the engine.

Terrain

Terrains in Overgrowth are controlled entirely by manually editing XML files. They are either generated from a height map, color map, weight map and one or more detail maps, or you can specify a specific object to use as terrain. Using a specific object is useful if you want to create holes in an existing terrain for your level, or if you have a specific model you want to use instead of a heightmap.

You can also have no terrain at all in your level. If the player won't be able to access the terrain, you can decrease loading times and improve performance for your level by removing the terrain tag entirely.

Here is an example of a terrain tag, taken from the 02_Slaver_Camp.xml level from the Overgrowth story:

<Terrain>
    <Heightmap>Data/Textures/Terrain/patchy_highlands/patchy_highlands_hm.png</Heightmap>
    <ShaderExtra></ShaderExtra>
    <DetailMap></DetailMap>
    <ColorMap>Data/Textures/Terrain/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers_c.png</ColorMap>
    <WeightMap>Data/Textures/Terrain/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers_weights.png</WeightMap>
    <DetailMaps>
        <DetailMap colorpath="Data/Textures/Terrain/DetailTextures/lichen_stone.tga" normalpath="Data/Textures/Terrain/DetailTextures/lichen_stone_n.tga" materialpath="Data/Materials/rock.xml" />
        <DetailMap colorpath="Data/Textures/Terrain/DetailTextures/dirt_rocks.tga" normalpath="Data/Textures/Terrain/DetailTextures/dirt_rocks_normal.tga" materialpath="Data/Materials/dirtyrock.xml" />
        <DetailMap colorpath="Data/Textures/Terrain/DetailTextures/grass.tga" normalpath="Data/Textures/Terrain/DetailTextures/grass_normal.png" materialpath="Data/Materials/grass.xml" />
        <DetailMap colorpath="Data/Textures/Terrain/DetailTextures/dirt_grass.tga" normalpath="Data/Textures/Terrain/DetailTextures/dirt_grass_normal.tga" materialpath="Data/Materials/dirt.xml" />
    </DetailMaps>
    <DetailObjects>
        <DetailObject obj_path="Data/Objects/Plants/Groundcover/Grass/WildGrass.xml" weight_path="Data/Textures/Terrain/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers_wildgrass.png" normal_conform="0.1" density="10" min_embed="0" max_embed="0" min_scale="1" max_scale="1.3" view_distance="30" jitter_degrees="0" overbright="0" tint_weight="1" />
        <DetailObject obj_path="Data/Objects/Plants/Groundcover/Grass/tall_wild_grass.xml" weight_path="Data/Textures/Terrain/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers_tallgrass.png" normal_conform="0.3" density="7" min_embed="0" max_embed="0" min_scale="0.7" max_scale="1.2" view_distance="30" jitter_degrees="15" overbright="0" tint_weight="1" />
        <DetailObject obj_path="Data/Objects/Plants/Groundcover/Grass/brushgrass_clump.xml" weight_path="Data/Textures/Terrain/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers_grass4.png" normal_conform="0.3" density="12" min_embed="0" max_embed="0" min_scale="0.7" max_scale="1.2" view_distance="30" jitter_degrees="15" overbright="0" tint_weight="0.4" />
        <DetailObject obj_path="Data/Objects/Environment/Rocks/lichen_rock_c.xml" weight_path="Data/Textures/Terrain/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers_grass3.png" normal_conform="0.9" density="0.2" min_embed="0" max_embed="0.4" min_scale="0.3" max_scale="0.8" view_distance="15" jitter_degrees="10" overbright="0" tint_weight="0.35" />
        <DetailObject obj_path="Data/Objects/Environment/Rocks/lichen_rock_e.xml" weight_path="Data/Textures/Terrain/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers_wildgrass.png" normal_conform="0.9" density="0.1" min_embed="0" max_embed="0.4" min_scale="0.3" max_scale="0.7" view_distance="15" jitter_degrees="10" overbright="0" tint_weight="0.35" />
        <DetailObject obj_path="Data/Objects/Plants/Groundcover/Groundcover1.xml" weight_path="Data/Textures/Terrain/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers/03_Villagers_vs_Slavers_grass3.png" normal_conform="0.9" density="7" min_embed="0" max_embed="0.4" min_scale="1.2" max_scale="2" view_distance="15" jitter_degrees="5" overbright="0" tint_weight="0.5" />
    </DetailObjects>
</Terrain>

<HeightMap> - A 16-bit grayscale image in the png format, with the value of each pixel corresponding to an elevation in the terrain.

<ShaderExtra> - TODO: Write this.

<DetailMap> - TODO: Write this.

<ColorMap> - A .tga file which maps the color of each pixel to the color of a point on the terrain. This is used for rough texture, and can be used for example to make valleys green and mountain peaks grey.

<WeightMap> - A .tga in which colors (RGB + Black) are used to define which DetailMap to use on which part of the terrain.

<DetailMaps> - DetailMaps are used to tile various objects across the terrain, for example of a patch of gravel: a local change in terrain color to grey, a normal map that gives the impression of gravel, and the corresponding materialobject which generate a "gravel" sound when interacted with.

<DetailObjects> - TODO: Write this.

Sky

<DomeTexture> - Filepath to the texture of the skydome. Some already exist in Data/Textures/skies/

<SunAngularRad> - Angular size of the sun.

<SunColorAngle> - ??

<RayToSun/> - This Tag has 4 Attributes, r0, r1, and r2. NOTE: Range? they have floating point values, generally close to 0. what do they do?

Other

<Shader> - Shader that is used in this map. This value should be set to "post", unless you plan to use a custom shader in your level.