Prefabs.. comments welcomed

(Doc_A) #1

Just a suggestion… not sure how well this will be recieved.

I know lots of people who have wonderful ideas for maps, but get bogged down in the gorey details of construction and/or radiant. Whenever I build something in radiant that I think I may use again in another map, I save it to a prefab. Edit Save/Load in Radiant. Prefabs are reusable objects that can be shared among maps (and map makers).

If it requires a script I save a basic script along with it. Now just think about how many more maps the ET community might have if all of us weren’t reinventing the wheel and used other peoples prefabs for common objects?

Ideas for prefabs (some I already have): Ammo racks, Health racks, Allied Cmd Post, Axis Cmd Post, Neutral Cmd Post, MG42 with Sandbags, Raft, footbridge, small buildings, the list goes on…

I think the mapping community is missing an opportunity here. Sure… it’s fun to figure out how these things are built, but sometimes you have an idea and just want to piece it togther quickly and see how it runs. If you had hundreds of prefabs to choose from you could build a map in hours insteads of days.

I’ve seen the rtcwprefabs site, but if there was a place for ET specific prefabs, I honestly believe we’d all benefit.

Thanks.

DR

(Danyboy) #2

nice idea - personally am not looking forward to creating the construction site areas cause of all the brushes needed -

but if you have x hundred MB and good bandwidth - get some ASP/PHP and make an upload - download facility

(Doc_A) #3

Lets be smart about this.

it doesn’t even need to be a website. or require large amounts of bandwidth. How about a PREFAB request forum?

For example…

Topic: NEED PREFAB FOR FOOTBRIGE

Message

email to fred@hotmail.com

(evillair) #4

This has been a very popular thing especialy for quake/2,Hl etc. Alot of sites are dedicated to such thing but a ET specific one would be great. Especialy if they come with working .script files.

This would also prove to be a good learning prossess since looking at one object and it’s script file you’ll understand it better then trying to search a long ET game script.

I would be looking for a neutral command post. cough :slight_smile:

(MuffinMan) #5

well of course you can try it although i think that it’s not important if some prefab is for rtcw or et, there is not much of a difference… anyway - i think it’s possible to use some sort of prefabs like midnight oil’s steam engine or his plane (at www.wolfproject.net) - so things that don’t have to fit exactly to their environment, any other brushwork i rather do by myself as at least all the prefabs i saw even my own never really fit into a new scene… another thing is that rtcwprefabs has quite a lot prefabs but many of them are not worth a download because in the time i download, unzip and load them i can create them by myself and they often even look better - and more original…
anyway - i don’t wanna say it’s useless, just that it’s a difficult job to get a useful page for them up, have my best wishes if you really try it! :slight_smile:

(seven_dc) #6

The orginal idea is very good. I did not know this kind of feature existed in Radiant. :smiley:

I must agree with the MuffinMan that creating own brushes are more preferred, but I must disagree about that fact that it would be faster to create your own that downloading one. I am noob mapper and every time I need to create some scriting I must use lot of time in tutorials and forums to get the info. The scriting part is the most interesting (and needed) part of these pretabs. There are lot of noob mappers out there that would consider a pretab library a killer feature.

And can these pretabs modified after import to your own map? I think so (even I am not familiar with the feature).

I am willing to provide pretabs for the needing. But I am limited with my skills (only done dynamitable walls and ammo posts)

HOT BOX VAPE

(Doc_A) #7

Yes you can edit the prefabs if they don’t fit the exact need. For example, I have a barrier from Goldrush saved a as a prefab. When the need arises, I’ll edit out the barrier brush and insert what I want constructed.

Sorry to disagree, but it is not faster to build your own unless you can’t find an adequate prefab that fits your situation.

Let’s consider the ammo or health racks… 5 componets required for each (8 for both if you share trigger_object_info and cm_marker). I can have both inserted into my map in 12 seconds.

I haven’t seen a map maker yet who can build these in 12 seconds. If you insist on making your own stuff, fine… you don’t need a prefab resource. but it doesn’t mean many of us wouldn’t like the option.

(bsimser) #8

I’m a huge believer of prefabs (code, models, whatever). For those that don’t want to adapt, knock yourself out with building everything from scratch.

Personally I would be interested in setting up a new prefab site or adding to an exisiting one (RCTWPrefabs comes to mind).

I think contributions to prefabs has been highly underused. I mean, there are gobs of things that it really doesn’t matter if they’ve been used before (telephone poles, sniper towers, industrial buildings, etc.) because who’s really going to stop and stare at the architecture when bullets are flying over your head?

(Doc_A) #9

Finally… someone gets it… :wink:

(MuffinMan) #10

well, i do - for me it’s really important that a map looks good and original but i know that the normal player doesn’t look for things like that…

(Ozzie) #11

well, i do - for me it’s really important that a map looks good and original but i know that the normal player doesn’t look for things like that…[/quote]

I too look at the architecture, in fact when a new map is released, I put it up on my server and me m8s run around looking for sneaky was of acomplishing the objective or surprising the other team. Not only does this help ‘get into the game’, but also helps you to remember the sneaky stuff :cool:

I think the prefab site is a good idea, because it would still be up to the artist (mapper) to decide which ‘church’ to use or decide to create a new one. I mean, just because the ‘church’ is on the prefab site, doesn’t mean it will get used.

(Doc_A) #12

I wondered if people actually looked around when they played maps.

So as a test I changed some very obvious textures in some maps on our server. I wrote a huge message on on the door at the trackswitch on railgun. (Central enough location?)

Also wrote some names on the locker doors in florescent colors.

Sure enough… after 2 days of playing… hundreds of players later, 1 person noticed.

(chavo_one) #13

If no one cared about architecture and beautiful level design, then we would all still be playing Q1 without 3d cards.

It’s all about immersion, whether on a conscious level or not.

Sure enough… after 2 days of playing… hundreds of players later, 1 person noticed.

You mean, one person commented. Not necessarily the same number as noticed.

(SCDS_reyalP) #14

A lot of people play with settings that make the maps look less graphically advanced than q1. More people play various half life mods (a modified Q1 engine) than all q3 engine games put together.

I love pretty maps, but intense gameplay is what makes a game immersive, not eye candy.

All of which is very offtopic to prefabs…
Prefabs are good.
A site for prefabs would be good.
Never remake what you can legitimately borrow.

(bsimser) #15

I never said that the architecture doesn’t have to be original with prefabs. Sure if you just want to drop a church into your map because you’re not going to build one then go for it. Nobody will be harping on the map other than a comment like “I’ve seen that church before”.

Prefabs like small accessories are great too. Like various torches or doors or balconies. I means I can come up with my original factory then scatter prefabs all over in a unique and clever way, texturing them to make them look seamless, to make it unique. That saves me a lot of time. Building a big box and dropping a bunch of prefabs into it does not make a map.

It doesn’t mean you can’t have a church prefab that you use as a base then add to it to make it a gothic church, or a Christian one, or a shabby one. It’s all in the implementation.