Yes, the entire level is built from a very simple and compact dataset.
Here's a small level:
As you can see it's stored like a simple INI file. All the curves and slope are extrapolated from that. Stuff like trees\grass etc are placed automatically. Unique textures are blended according to the juxtaposition of neigboring terrain types (sand\grass\forest\rock etc.)
The map object layer allows a single 'object' per tile. Objects include units\pickups\vehicles etc.
The file format is stored in the above way just to make it human readable (& tweakable if need be). But as you can imagine it is massively compressable. When packed into a turn file the larges map I have is less than 2K bytes but that expands in game to maybe 100,000 polys (I haven't counted).
Of course there are many limitations to working this way but the key advantages are small data size (essential for the email system) and the fact that generating content is extremely easy. I think I mentioned before but the level featured in the attract mode video was built from scratch in a matter of minutes. My previous experience on full scale (PS2\GC\XBOX) games made me realise that content creation is huge bottleck and resource sink. Levels for my last game (Future Tactics) took at least 1 month to build in 3DS Max.
Here's a small level:
[map] Mazein Map 20 20 [sea level] 0.6666 [map height] AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAADDAIBDDDCAAAA AADDDDDDEEIDDEEDDDAA AADDDDDDDDDDDDEEDAAA AADDDDDDDIIIIIIDDDAA AADDDDDDDIDDDDDDDDDA AAABDDDDDIDDDIDDECDC AADEDDDGDIDDDGDDEDDA AADEDDDGDDDDDGDDDDDA AADDIGGGDDDDDGDDDDDA AADDDDDGDDDDDGDDDEDA AAEDDDDGDDDDDGDDDDEA AADEDDDGDKDDDDDDDDDA AADDDDDGDKKKKKKKKDAA AAADDDDDDKDDDKDDDDAA AAADDDDDDKDDDDDDDAAA AADDEDDDDDDDDJDEDAAA AADDAADEDEDCBJDEEAAA AAAAAAAACAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA [map terrain] AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAABBAHBBBBBAAAA AABBBBBBBCHBBBBBBBAA AABCCCCCBCCCCCCCBAAA AABCCCCCBHHHHHHCCBAA AABBCCCCCHCCCCCCCBBA AAACBCCCCHCCCHCCCBBA AABBCCCHCHCCBHCCBBBA AABCCCCHCCCCCHCCCBBA AABCHHHHCCCDCHCCBBBA AABCDCCHCBCBCHCCCBBA AABCCCCHBCCCCHCCBBBA AABCCBBHCHCCCCCCCBBA AABCCCBHCHHHHHHHHBAA AAACCBBCDHCCDHDCCBAA AAACCCCCCHCCCCCCCAAA AABBCCCCCCCCCHCCCAAA AABBAABBBBBBBHBBBAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA [map smooth] IIKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK KKKKKKKKKKIKKKKKKKKK KKKKKKKKKKIKKKKKKKKK KKKKKKKKKKIKKKKKKKKK KKKKKKKKKIIIIIIIKKKK KKKKKKKIIIIIIIKKKKKK KKKKKKKIIIIIIIKKKKKK KKKKKKKIIIIIIIKKKKKK KKKKKKKIIIIIIIKKKKKK KKKKIIIIIIIIIIKKKKKK KKKKKKKIIIIIIIKKKKKK KKKKKKKIIIIIIIKKKKKK KKKKKKKIIIIIIIKKKKKK KKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIKKK KKKKKKKIIIIIIIKKKKKK KKKKKKKIIIIIIIKKKKKK KKKKKKKKKKKKKIKKKKKK KKKKKKKKKKKKKIKKKKKK KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK KKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKK [map object] AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAiAARAAAAAAAhAAA AAAAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAARAAAAARAAAAA AAAAAiAARAAAAARAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAARhAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAARAAAAA AAAAAiRAAAAAAARAAAAA AAAAAARAAAAAAARAhAAA AAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAARAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAARRAAAhAAAA AAAAAAAAiJAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
As you can see it's stored like a simple INI file. All the curves and slope are extrapolated from that. Stuff like trees\grass etc are placed automatically. Unique textures are blended according to the juxtaposition of neigboring terrain types (sand\grass\forest\rock etc.)
The map object layer allows a single 'object' per tile. Objects include units\pickups\vehicles etc.
The file format is stored in the above way just to make it human readable (& tweakable if need be). But as you can imagine it is massively compressable. When packed into a turn file the larges map I have is less than 2K bytes but that expands in game to maybe 100,000 polys (I haven't counted).
Of course there are many limitations to working this way but the key advantages are small data size (essential for the email system) and the fact that generating content is extremely easy. I think I mentioned before but the level featured in the attract mode video was built from scratch in a matter of minutes. My previous experience on full scale (PS2\GC\XBOX) games made me realise that content creation is huge bottleck and resource sink. Levels for my last game (Future Tactics) took at least 1 month to build in 3DS Max.