Hi there,
what do you think is the best 3d map format to use with an engine that sometimes needs to have a wide range view…
I don’t understand, do you want to know a map file or a way of storing geomtery in memory. What do you mean - a wide range view?
I mean this:
I want to use a standard map format, like .bsp (q3,hl,…), so i can use a standard mapping tool.
I want to create a racing game, so it may be, that the viewer happens to see a wide, open landscape (i.e. a desert). A friend told me, that the .bsp format (using bsp trees) is a good way for indoor engines, but not for outdoor stuff… Make sense?
Most of the FPS formats aren’t well designed for non-enclosed environments. If you are using a height-map, I would suggest storing it as a grey-scale image. That way, you can compress it with image compression formats (though you should avoid lossy formats like JPEG), edit it with advanced tools like Photoshop, and have a way to get a good idea of what it looks like without loading it into a viewer.
If it is not a height-map, you may want to come up with your own format and write an exporter for a modelling program (or even a modeller of your own, but that is very ambitious).