So i have decided to try my hand at a survival Game.
So i got it right for the player to pickup rocks and to place down a fire pit when player has the correct amount of rocks , but how can i get the Grass to automatically be removed when the player place the fire pit on the ground so that is does not look like this.:


But to have it look like this :


Any Ideas on this , or are we stuck again ?
it would be awesome if it could be accomplished

Ps. Hope this would be available in Max.

Pcs

I don't think that can be done.

The grass is hardcoded.
I believe that you will have to use a workaround.
For example, forcing the player to put the stones in specific places, places that you have previously left without grass, in the editor.
One question, have you already thought about how to get the player to put all the stones on the ground forming a perfect circle?

Is that a feature in any engine let alone Max ?
Will the firepit you place down be a premade model or the actual rocks ?

Would will need to be good at scripting and good with limbs. I am not sure classic or max has the ability to hide limbs and show them when a task is completed.

But essentially what you will need to do an easier method

1. Paint the grass around the firepit but not on the firepit.
2. Go to the grass bank as select the grass texture you just painted and create a grass entity that can be destroyed and place them around the firepit.
3. Make a premade firepit entity and place it where it needs to be, don't let it spawn at the start use the if field and if that condition is met by placing a rock as an example it will spawn the firepit and destroy the grass decals you have placed.
4. Place a fire decal and wood but don't let it spawn at start and use the if field for a branch as the key that will spawn the animated fire decal.

Quick and dirty there is probably some inaccuracies some else can probably explain it better than me.

If you great at scripting you can then script how many rocks and branches needs to be collect to spawn the firepit, and how many branches to spawn the animated fire decal even a smoke decal ect as well as how the fire last if for example more branches isn't placed in the fire at x amount of time ect.

You can then also place additionally unspawned entities as well as destroy previous entities like a spit if you collect food by killing rabbits, you could essentially build various firepit designs based on the progress the player makes.

Lua is limited I don't see a way to randomly being able to create a firepit anywhere on the map, so you will need additional scripts to tell the player exactly where to build the firepit ect.

So it can be done just requires some effort.

yes , the fire pit you see i the picture is a already made 3d model.

edited.
ps. the scripting part for picking up the correct amount of rocks, and to show and placed own the fire pit is already done.
I just need to figure out a way to get the grass to disappear once the player place down the fire pit.

@wizard of id, Yes it looks like one will have to find a way to work around this challenge. Or make the story in such a way that the player can only place the fire pit in certain open areas.

@PCS
If you want to make it simple, this what I did:

1- I use 1 trigger zone to inform the player of a place where fire is allowed.
2- I use 5 stones to delimit the place.
3- I use 1 stick to light the fire.
4- 1 fire decal and one smoke decal.
All of the above is hidden at the beginning of the level, everything will appear as the player collects the objects.
SpawnAtStart = no.

Note1: Attach the script "collect_tocampfire.lua" to each stone that the player must collect.
attach the script "collect_tocampfire2.lua" to the stick model.
attach the script: "plrinzone_campfire.lua" to the trigger zone.

Tomorrow I'm going to make a video with the rest of the instructions, upload it to yt, and post it here.



Edit: for any reason can't upload the zip file. try 2, if no to avail, I will upload it to another site and post the link here.

+1 Vote for sure PCS.
I think like wind movement, this is one of those "minimum" features Lee would support.
I probably caught most all MAX live presentations, and know that MAX grass and terrain will be -- AWESOME!
https://youtu.be/pDK7fQoekQw?t=450
This was one of the best MAX videos ever posted...
Objects effect (or erase) grass would help it even more ridiculously well. TGC can make it happen (as they consider the rest of terrain). Did I not hear that they had already considered adding footprints into the grass as the player walks? Oh yeah, @ about 13:00-14:00 at above vid.

Seems almost a cinch- especially if trampling effects are added- maybe just a setting in the .fpe or something. Or as useful and friendly as MAX is becoming, a tick in a box setting? But I would suggest just ERASING GRASS at that location, and not further effects to save FPS, and of course the developer must restrain their project. Certainly forthcoming projects would benefit no doubt and my GG Classic project suffers from grass pushing through rocks, and there is no work-around possible since the placement of rocks is random. or

Without being able to control the terrain objects, like grass with scripting, it makes it super tough and WOI and PCS procedure is about the best it will get.
This feature is in at least one other engine right now, but not this product.

@PCs
If you want to go destroying grass decals, you can burn them to make them the most realistic.

@3com, the burning of grass and tree video looks very nice.
and thanks for the script will check it out.


yes, maybe with a bit of clever game play one can convince the player that were he is aloud to place the fire that, that it was actually his diction

Daft idea maybe but couldnt you make the firepit model raised in a hump and wider outer base to cover the grass when spawned ? Kind of a false terrain added with an earth \ mud based texture round the outside to blend in to any terrain ?

@ PCs
Burning foliage is a very old video, not particles yet. LOL
You can use particles to get embers if you want, in fact, you can be all the complex you want to.
Long time does not mess with GG, but maybe you can mimic grass with particles, and ends up their lifetime when you want to.
You can hide the collectibles far from the player's view, so the player does not realize when the items appear, or you can recreate a well realistic campfire process, step by step, in front of the player, this last one takes more time and require big effort.