I became very interested in and began to follow a thread Stevo began on using Coliseum walls for flooring. On that thread, Ladnil gave me quite a bit of insight through a Bungie article discussing the same problem with Halo 3. Well I studied it and wrote an article discussing a simple three step process that you could use, and went in depth on the problem and solution. Then after I used it myself, I realized it could be reduced to even a much simpler 2 step process. You might find Coliseum Wall Flooring Issues a long read, but if you grasp the concept in the section on truncation of rotation values, then you will be able to recognize immediately how to rotate the wall just past the point you want it to settle at when it reloads from disk. I flattened a 2x4 flooring in 5 minutes. IT IS NOT COMPLICATED OR A LENGTHY PROCESS!
No, this is to make the walking surface appear smooth. If you snap the Coliseum walls to the grid so that they sit edge to edge with each other, then there would be no z-fighting. Additionally, once you reload the map, the rotation induced by truncating the rotation values will cause a phasing of the edges, by perhaps a few pixel width at the most. This is before you even begin to flatten the surface using the procedure in the article. The procedure in the article does not create additional z-fighting, but whatever you have as a result of reloading the map is still there. You could, after flattening the surface, move the walls ever so slightly to remove the z-fighting, if you find it objectionable. Personally, I don't see it as something that jumps out at me. Removing the bump effect is far more valuable and the purpose of the article.
I understand it now, somewhat. It just so happens I started forging a map today that required a 4x2 collosseum wall configuration. As everyone else, I am experiencing this problem cause by Bungie's "Brilliant" programming. However, I can't seem to understand what to do. It seems like he is trying to trick the system by putting it up some so that the game snaps it into the correct position, but it hasn't worked for me. You seem to understand, and it would be great if you could give me a watered-down version of the article you posted. Thanks!
I think the only thing left I can do to make it clearer is to actually add a video that shows the process in action. That way you can see just how simple it is and how I went about watching the wall as I rotated it just beyond the point I want it to settle at on reload. I will try to add that tonight.
I have updated the article on using Coliseum walls with a 2 minute video demonstrating the work around.