Key changes that have been made include:

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A variant of the func_group entity has been added to the game. When a func_group of brushes (only) is given a terrain key and a numerical value (an ID number for that terrain) and several other key attributes, it becomes a terrain entity and is treated differently than other brushes during the compile.

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The map area has been expanded to 128,000 units in all extents (256,000 units on any edge of the map volume). While this does not mean that a map that large could actually run on current game hardware, it does give the designer room to explore what the actual limits may be. As a point of reference, mpterra2.bsp is roughly 12K x 16K x 3K units in size … the largest map in the game by far.

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A terrain texture mapping system plots textures across the terrain entity using a specially created .pcx or .tga art file as a map for planar projecting and blending shaders on terrain surfaces.

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A “meta-shader” is used to organize and calculate blends between the shaders that are mapped onto the terrain.

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Textures designed for use under vertex lighting can be substituted at map load time for more complex shader-manipulated textures that may not look correct in a vertex light only situation.

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