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The TSL vis format explained


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Mod note: This post is copied from this thread, please post any comments there. ~M

 

Apologies if this is covered elsewhere. The VIS(ibility) format in TSL explained:

 

VIS files near as I can tell act as a sort of table telling the engine which rooms should render when you are standing in a given room. In the case of TSL this is done by simply listing the room models in a plain text file with a .vis extension. It can be placed in override.

 

Curiously, without the vis file, no frame buffer effects will work. This includes things such security camera effects as well as forcefields (ie "stacking" forcefields to make things very very obscured and the nifty wavy yellow forcefields found in the cut 8** modules). My suspicion is that this is due to the fact that it needs a list of other rooms with possible additions to the frame buffer.

 

This is the vis file I put together for 298tel (Czerka Military Sub-base):

298telg 5
 298telh
 298telf
 298teli
 298tele
 298telj
298telh 5
 298telg
 298telf
 298teli
 298tele
 298teln
298teli 5
 298telg
 298telh
 298telf
 298telj
 298teln
298tela 4
 298telb
 298telc
 298teld
 298tele
298telc 4
 298tela
 298teld
 298tele
 298telb
298teld 3
 298telc
 298tele
 298telb
298tele 7
 298telg
 298telh
 298telc
 298teld
 298telf
 298telj
 298teln
298telf 6
 298telg
 298telh
 298teli
 298tele
 298teln
 298telj
298teln 7
 298telh
 298teli
 298tele
 298telf
 298telo
 298telq
 298telj
298telo 3
 298teln
 298telp
 298telq
298telp 2
 298telo
 298telq
298telq 3
 298telo
 298teln
 298telp
298telj 8
 298telg
 298teli
 298tele
 298telf
 298telk
 298telm
 298teln
 298tell
298telk 2
 298telj
 298tell
298telm 2
 298telj
 298tell
298telb 4
 298tela
 298telc
 298teld
 298tele
298tell 3
 298telj
 298telk
 298telm
298telll 0


The format is:

<room model><space><number of rooms visible from this one>

<space><space><visible room 1>

<space><space><visible room 2>

etc.

 

-298telll (that's 298TELLL) is a ball. I think it's the planet model in room L. Having no doors it has 0 connections.

-It appears to be case insensitive.

-I'm not sure if the blank line is required but all the games vis files have it.

-The only way to determine which rooms are connected (as far as I know) is to open the map in KT and then import the models into gmax and figure out which room you're looking at and drawing pictures to see which connect.

-In the absence of a vis file it seems to assume that all rooms are visible from all others (obviously very inefficient).

 

(Saving the example above as 298tel.vis and putting it into override will make all the frame buffer effects work for 298tel :))

 

[Edit - Updated with information gleaned below (so far). Thanks all! :)]

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