Vista object

Vista objects are large, low-detail props that are placed far outside the player-accessible area of a level layout to create a sense of scale that's much larger than the level would otherwise allow. For example, one can place mountains on the horizon.

For scale, the green terrain mesh visible in each shot is a default 64m x 64m size

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  Vis mtn 01 0

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  Vst cliff 01 1

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  Vst cliff 02 1

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  Vst frostbacks 01 1

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  Vst frostbacks 02 1

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  Vst frostbacks 03 1

The use of vista objects to create the sense of being in a large city is illustrated with these screenshots of the Denerim marketplace:

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  Distant overview showing all of the vista objects at their lowest LOD

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  Closer in, you can see that some of the vista objects have low-detail fake buildings on them.

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  Near street level, the horizon is obscured by nearby buildings and the vista objects can be seen in the distance over their rooftops. When the player moves about parallax shows how far away they are.