Im trying to make a solid object to stay always in the terrain level, but I am facing some problems. The terrain is not flat, I mean, it can have mountains and craters for example. I just have a ASE (ASCII Scene Export) file of the 3D map. The problem is, I know what is the object's X & Z values are, but I don't know how to determine the Y value for that specific location. I suppose I'd need Y value to always stays with the ground level, so I can realistically make the object walk through the cratter or the mountain.
The only info I have of the map (which I think it should help but I'm not that good in physics or in math, so I can't do much with it) is some vertex coordinates, like:
*MESH {
*TIMEVALUE 0
*MESH_NUMVERTEX 5424
*MESH_NUMFACES 8357
*MESH_VERTEX_LIST {
*MESH_VERTEX 0 32472.1055 52576.4922 1245.4102
*MESH_VERTEX 1 32660.6992 52576.4922 1245.4102
*MESH_VERTEX 2 32472.1055 52632.8086 1245.4102
*MESH_VERTEX 3 32660.6992 52632.8086 1245.4102
*MESH_VERTEX 4 32467.2617 52576.4922 1550.3711
*MESH_VERTEX 5 32607.6055 52576.4922 1550.3711
*MESH_VERTEX 6 32467.2617 52632.8086 1550.3711
*MESH_VERTEX 7 32607.6055 52632.8086 1550.3711
*MESH_VERTEX 8 32578.9648 52576.4922 1396.7617
....
*MESH_FACE_LIST {
*MESH_FACE 0: A: 7 B: 6 C: 4 AB: 1 BC: 1 CA: 1 *MESH_SMOOTHING 1 *MESH_MTLID 0
*MESH_FACE 1: A: 4 B: 5 C: 7 AB: 1 BC: 1 CA: 1 *MESH_SMOOTHING 1 *MESH_MTLID 0
*MESH_FACE 2: A: 15 B: 0 C: 1 AB: 1 BC: 1 CA: 1 *MESH_SMOOTHING 1 *MESH_MTLID 0
*MESH_FACE 3: A: 1 B: 12 C: 15 AB: 1 BC: 1 CA: 1 *MESH_SMOOTHING 1 *MESH_MTLID 0
*MESH_FACE 4: A: 12 B: 1 C: 3 AB: 1 BC: 1 CA: 1 *MESH_SMOOTHING 1 *MESH_MTLID 0
*MESH_FACE 5: A: 3 B: 13 C: 12 AB: 1 BC: 1 CA: 1 *MESH_SMOOTHING 1 *MESH_MTLID 0
*MESH_FACE 6: A: 13 B: 3 C: 2 AB: 1 BC: 1 CA: 1 *MESH_SMOOTHING 1 *MESH_MTLID 0
*MESH_FACE 7: A: 2 B: 14 C: 13 AB: 1 BC: 1 CA: 1 *MESH_SMOOTHING 1 *MESH_MTLID 0
*MESH_FACE 8: A: 14 B: 2 C: 0 AB: 1 BC: 1 CA: 1 *MESH_SMOOTHING 1 *MESH_MTLID 0
*MESH_FACE 9: A: 0 B: 15 C: 14 AB: 1 BC: 1 CA: 1 *MESH_SMOOTHING 1 *MESH_MTLID 0
....
Should I take all the vertices and faces and draw the whole map to simulate the object walking server-side to pass the correct Y values to the client, or can I use somekind of math equation to get them? I don't think it would be wise to "render" the map in the server aswell...