I’ve learned that video game ‘clipping’ is caused by high velocity, thin colliders, and too-slow physics updates. Why are terrain surfaces in most 3D video games paper-thin? Why isn’t terrain given extra fill/thickness inside and under it to prevent ‘falling through the map into the void’?

Question

I could see why you might not want to fill under the terrain in a game that features things like underground caves, but thin terrain seems to be present in a huge majority of 3D games (even those without underground features) and is not engine-specific. Why is terrain almost always a fragile piece of origami that’s so easily punctured?

In: Technology

Answer 1

Because you don’t need to simulate the entire ground when the ground is meant to be completely static and unpassable; it only has to be a 2D plane that can not be passed. Making the ground thicker isn’t as important as having the physics update more often, but that would slow the game down. Making the ground thicker may be faster, but it would also still end up with things clipping through part of it. Instead, you can just add another check that says if they are beyond the threshold, treat it as at the line instead of under it. Or they simply check that you’re under the ground and teleport you to a safe spot, so you still see yourself fall through for a moment.