ET: Simpsons map shots!

(=DaRk=CrAzY-NuTTeR) #201

autosave is a wonderful thing :smiley:

(buttrot) #202

after losing my work many times I now save every few minutes under a different map name you end up with tons of map files but if u use numbers in the name theyre easy to organize.this has saved me lots of headaches when an error happens you can just go back 10 minutes in time.party on wayne.

(Maggumaster) #203

Well, after i finished most of the structural things and models, i´m on scripting now.
I never thought that scripting can be so boring. But i think i can do that on my own. Ok, with the help of a file called goldrush.script g

And one more thing:
I finished all the performence stuff with hints, structural and detailbrushes and so on. But now the compile times on vis are incredible long. I let the computer compile over night on vis and after 14h the vis stage was at 70%.I canceld the process, because i wanted to work on. That means i would need 20h for a full compile only on vis! Plus full light with all the extras makes at least 22h! Is this normal for a final compile? Or did I something wrong? I don´t think so, because i managed the structural stuff very well i think, and hinting as well. At least, i hope so.

greetz
Maggumaster

(Genesis) #204

It also depends on how good a system u have…
if u have 1 of them slow pc’s (like me) i recommend u send it 2 some1 with a bit more powerfull pc…

(MadJack) #205

VIS can take a very long time BUT there are lots of variable in the equation. Mainly: Strutural brushes, detail brushes and big empty terrain.

What should be detail? Anything that is NOT a wall. Meaning stuff like: all appliances, bars, chairs, posts, name it and it probably has to be detail. What should be structural? The caulked hull first and foremost. Outer walls of houses (ceiling and floor too), any corridors in big buildings like an underground passage or similar. DOORS should be structural too so they stop the client from drawing what is inside the house. It would be better to have most windows solid instead of alpha ones. Alpha being transparent defeat the purpose of structural.

If you want to have an idea of the VIS process, after making some brushes detail, hit CTRL-D, that will hide detail stuff and what is there will be used to block PVS. The more there is after hitting CTRL-D, the longer it’ll take for VIS to complete.

If a big empty area exist in the map, by default q3map2 will split the bsp (or make a portal) every 1024 units on the X/Y axis ONLY! If you want it to break “visibility” you have to use Hint brushes but that will make VIS longer.

That should help you some.

If you need help on VIS’ing your map I could do it. Just PM me and I’ll do it asap.

HTH

(badong) #206

maybe you made too many structural brushes. It’s a little hard to tell sometimes what should be structural and what shouldn’t and so most people end up making a lot more structural
then they should just to be safe. I don’t know if you used a caulk hull for your map but just in case here’s a link to the best tutorial i’ve found for it(follow the forum thread cause it has a lot of Q/A which can be very usefull)http://www.csis.gvsu.edu/~bickelj/quakin/Welcome.html
If it doesn’t block the view don’t make it structural, even if it’s a house wall. For example a house that you can’t go in can be made detail because its walls are not blocking anything. Only brushes that separate different self contained areas shoud be made structural, for the rest just use hints.
Also 2 hours for the light seems a little low to me. Are you doing any samples and bouncing? I would hate to see this map get ruined by the lighting.
Also I hope you’re using q3map2 toolz or a batch file so that you don’t have to use the radiant compile options and do everything at once.
This way you can do the vis compile one day and the light compile another day whenever you can free the computer.

(seven_dc) #207

Outer walls of houses (ceiling and floor too), any corridors in big buildings like an underground passage or similar. DOORS should be structural too so they stop the client from drawing what is inside the house. It would be better to have most windows solid instead of alpha ones. Alpha being transparent defeat the purpose of structural.

Sorry to say but this is not true. The doors that can be opened cannot block VIS even though they are structural because they are entities and they do not block VIS. If you count static brush that cannot be interacted as a door then they can be structural.

For doors to block VIS there are area_portals that are thin brushes inside door brush that block VIS when they are closed. I haven’t made this work though and in map center they stated that area_portals can have weird results in MP like other players are appearing and disapearing weirdly around area_portal.

The cigar boss

(MadJack) #208

oh yeah… you got me there seven (must be the 1 hour sleep I got last night or old age. Pick one :D)

(Genesis) #209

i pick old age! =P

(MadJack) #210

pfffffffff… :stuck_out_tongue:

:bump: :poke: :smiley: Maggumaster!? What’s up? Haven’t heard from you since… huh… May 3rd! 8 days no news is not good news :frowning:

(=DaRk=CrAzY-NuTTeR) #211

magumaster, did u get ur script for the truck working?

(Maggumaster) #212

Hello guys, I´m alive and i just finished the beta map.
The beta test will be tomorrow. Invited from this forum are:

-Shazam
-Sippenhaft
-ECE-666
-elcohne
-MadJack
-=DaRk=CrAzY-NuTTeR

These guys should send me an e-mail, so i can see who is ready. e-mail is maggumaster_1@hotmail.com
There are still free slots and I´m still looking for testers! So everyone who wants to join the test should write an email. The test will be tomorrow, in the evening. Around 4,5 or maybe 6 pm. Ip and so on will be deliverd in the email.

The final version will be released a week later! And this time it is really a week later! Maybe even less. The beta test is only there for balancing and bugfinding.

greetz
Maggumaster

(Mr_Tickles) #213

Lol, you should get someone to make a mod for this and include Bart’s slingshot as a weapon and stink bombs as grenades etc etc. The one-legged, one-armed ex-army guy (sorry, forgotten his name, the one who organized all the kids to fight Nelson) He’d be great as one of your skins :slight_smile: I’d email you about testing also, but unfortuantely I have a BBQ tomorrow evening, if it’s cancelled though, due to rain, … or false rain, then I’ll mail you. hehe. Looks absolutely stunning, can’t wait for a run around in Springfield :slight_smile:

(ThompZen) #214

Sweet! Have been waiting for this since this thread was posted :clap:

(Leviathan777) #215

I have been waiting on this since it first showed up too, and now that my clan has finally switched from RtCW to ET I really can’t wait!! Please post an IP or 2 for us to check it out! I gota see it in action!

(Maggumaster) #216

Well, the beta test did not work today. The server had problems with the hunkmegs. Maybe we will find a solution the next days. This is really too bad…
But on LAN the map works perfect.

I´m sorry, but in this case i can´t release the final within a week i guess. Please don´t hate me g, i don´t like delays, too.

greetz
Maggumaster

(Big Boss) #217

Hope everthing turns out alright and the map can be released before to long.I know alot of ppl who are really looking forward to this one. :clap:

(sock) #218

The problem with the map is the maths …

30Mb on BSP, 26Mb on textures, 5Mb on Lightmap, it does not add up right.
Simply saving textures JPG will not save you memory in the final map just the zip file to distribute. Ok, on to the map …

First you have large sections of the map you cannot get to? I understand you need add to the realism of a large place, but the playing area is really small compared to the overall map size. You dont need to model everything to exact detail, give an impression and the player will fill in the rest for you.

When making ET alot of stuff had to be cut and BSP had to be reduced to under 15Mb in size through careful cutting of excessive detail. This is possibly the hardest thing about mapping, having to work within the limits of the engines and tools.

Here is a checklist of things:

  • Decide what is needed for gameplay only. Make the map with just the gameplay components first. Add all the other stuff in later once you know the gameplay is right and the BSP works fine with the default 56Mb map limit.

  • Decide on what details are really necessary. Like for example road markings on roads not accessable by the player. Too many fire hydrants on the streets, too many bushes, too many houses.

  • Use lightmap grid to specify where the lightmap should be. Don’t waste the light and use vertex light for the outside areas of the map. Also alot of models are black because the vertex lightgrid is spread out too thin.

  • Reduce buildings down to prefab ASE’s and rotate/repeat to get more variants. People are not really interested if they cannot reach the house anyway. Change the base colour of the house via shaders not textures. (Use the remap shader command)

  • You should take some artist license with the layout, the roads are too straight and things feel too neat and tidy.

  • It seems like you have spent all the detail in the simpson’s house, why? How much gameplay will be in the house? The rooms have too much clutter in them to realistically move about in.

  • Use “rgbgen const” colours in your shaders. ( rgbGen const ( 0.280000 0.250000 0.220000 ) ) You are working with single colour textures which could be reduced down to a single vertex colour.

Some side notes …

  • The axis sandbags and barbwire is very strange for this theme, should use something else. Also where is the power station? You talk about it in the description of the map and its not in the map?

Anyway
Good luck

Sock
:moo:

(S.S.Heirpie) #219

Once the map is trimmed, maybe he could send it thru the silicone slicks map terminator proggie to cut more fat outta the file, might be worth a try before any trimming, that way the issues can be discovered, the proggie seems to works pretty good…

(Mr.Bandula) #220
  • It seems like you have spent all the detail in the simpson’s house, why?

I guess he started with the House and build the rest around it… :wink:
and as it is an “Simpson” map I don´t mind the details in the House, because every Simpson Fan will look forward to walk through it.
I would just recommend to make more “destroyable” Brushes in the House,
to make it easier to walk through.

Having a look at the Map (Overview) you see that almost 50 % of the map are detailed Terrain,
so maybe it is really an opportunitie to “trimm” the Map. I´m not sure but maybe it´s possible to take this detailed Terrain, scale it to a really small one and put it in a skybox. So you still get the Springfield Atmosphere.