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Maps ready for full testing  XML
Forum Index -> UT2004 Maps
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Fox_N.E.X.U.S.

Dominating
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Joined: 05/04/2006 16:20:50
Messages: 193
Location: California
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Hi everyone, long time no see. But I've finally managed to complete both of the maps I've been working on. DM-Sandzone and DM-Tunnels

Since I know they both work well, I guessed I should put them here for everyone to see if they're interested. Both have spawnpoints in the walls so you can't get killed once you spawn in, plus you get a second assault rifle off the bat.

DM-Sandzone: http://www.mapraider.com/maps/?fileid=4522

It's my first map I ever finished. Now before you jump to any conclusions, it's not that great of a map. It's not graphically wonderful, and it's lighting isn't great. But it's no supposed to be. It's fast paced, run-and-gun style combat, close quarters fighting, and a lot of dark areas where the enemy can sneak up behind you. A good sniper point above all the action near the middle, but the second jumppad hurts on the way down...I advise a translocator instead.

DM-Tunnels: http://www.mapraider.com/maps/?fileid=4536

The second map. Much like Sandzone, Tunnels is fast paced combat, but more ambush style game play. It's also my first time using water. once again, not the best looking map you'll ever play, but I like how it came out. Plus, it has better pathing than Sandzone does.

A few friends of mine have played through both maps and enjoyed them for both DM and invasion. I've tested it with the Satore Monster Pack V1112, and it works fine. There are some areas the monsters can get stuck, but they're easy enough to find and dispatch. Titans don't like the hallways though...they don't fit into them well enough.


Furry and proud of it!

Medic: Cadpig
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Clone-Engineer

Killing Spree

Joined: 07/17/2009 23:40:06
Messages: 106
Location: Jersey City, New Jersey
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It's.... It's....A TALKING EVEE . I'm just joking. Hi I'm Clone-Engineer! Well let's hope it pass exam. Oh yeah i did it before because i never met you yet. Hope I can see you and your maps play in DC . Also atleast you know how to use a picture . Still trying to find good one

Hi!! Nice to meet you. Online, I will mainly play as Clone-Engineer. Please be sure to check on my other posts!
Clone-Engineer-Level 72
Clone Weaponary-Level ?
Clone-Medic-Level ?
Clone-Junkie-Level ?
Clone--Level ? ( General )

***WARNING***
Republic Scouts have found the location of the monster house. Apparently the monsters teamed up with the droids and come together to attack us. So the Republic and DC has teamed up to fight them!!!
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Fox_N.E.X.U.S.

Dominating
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Joined: 05/04/2006 16:20:50
Messages: 193
Location: California
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^^ hi Clone. I doubt Druid or Shantara will place them into the rotation. And trust me, you'll know if I'm around. So far, I'm the only one who uses the Miko fox skin.

Furry and proud of it!

Medic: Cadpig
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Jefe

Godlike
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Joined: 11/05/2008 22:52:53
Messages: 361
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I checked out both of your maps. Tunnels, your second map, is much better than the first. It has a more interesting layout, and I can see you've started to get more creative. It reminded me a lot of playing Turok 2 multiplayer on the N64 for a couple of reasons. First is texture use. Best I can tell you only used two textures on your BSP, Turok maps were similarly limited. They were also of the corridor-large room-corridor style, with a focus on 1 or two powerups.

Obviously UT2004 is a much more powerful engine, and is capable of much more. It's fine to let a couple of textures dominate a map, but it can also make it look very boring. You need to do something so that players can tell where they are in the map at a glance. Lighting, decoration (you've done some of this), and texture use can all help with this issue. Lighting, as you acknowledged, needs a lot of work. You also want to make sure that your static meshes fit in with the theme of your map; for example, the the curved ramp from the arborea package (seen in DM-Antalus) looks out of place. Often you can make it fit in by applying a different texture to the mesh as a skin, here I've used your wall texture:



Also you have to be aware that many static meshes are created with holes or no underside, to optimize rendering. In the above image, there is a gap at the base of the ramp. It's possible to translocate under the ramp, which can lead to exploits, such as spawning sentinels that monsters cannot hit. Always watch out for things like this. You can fix issues like this by resizing the mesh, moving the mesh, adding BSP or another mesh to cover the hole, and by using blocking volumes to prevent entry when the other methods aren't practical or needed.

Technically, there are a few other issues in both maps. The first is BSP alignment. You want to make sure that all of your BSP sections are snapped to grid when you create them (via the builder brush) or use vertex editing (Look for the icons at the bottom of the editor window.) This will eliminate the small edges you see all over the map where to blocks are joined. I find it helpful to keep a notepad file to keep track of the sizes of various elements (large rooms, ramps, tunnels.) I also use a frequently use a calculator to determine sizes of rooms so that they will connect to each other correctly on the grid. You always want them to be powers of 2, and avoid multiples lower than 32 if you can help it. An added benefit is that the map will be easier to rescale (if needed) later on if you pay attention to your BSP sizing.

You also need to use zone portals to optimize your maps. The game engine renders everything in front of you, including things that you can't see. Zone portals will break the map up into smaller rendering zones that tell the engine to not render the areas that aren't in view, increasing frame rates dramatically. It may not seem like an issue at first, but if your map is full of monsters and players, it will be noticeable.

I didn't look at weapon layout or flow in detail, but at a glance everything seemed adequate; i.e. there were plenty of weapons and ammo. I think there could have been better connectivity, for example a few lifts or jump pads to reach areas that were in view, but not otherwise accessible. Bot pathing looked pretty good; just be aware that any location without a nearby path will give you an out-of-bounds message on this server.

Also when you release a map, make sure it has a screen shot for the level description and a music track specified (level properties >> audio). Even if you don't use the in-game music yourself, many others do.

In conclusion, I liked the second map, but not enough to keep on my computer. I could see this map being very playable though if fixed.

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Fox_N.E.X.U.S.

Dominating
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Joined: 05/04/2006 16:20:50
Messages: 193
Location: California
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I can see what you mean now...and I had no idea I could actually do that. As for audio...it crashes the editor when I try. And those rooms with large areas and one power-up or weapon I liked, it lead into a lot of cross fire and plenty of action.

But hey, if you want to take a crack at them and improve them, feel free. I'll try to go back in and fix those little problems with the meshes and attempt some zoning. No promises on a final result though.

Furry and proud of it!

Medic: Cadpig
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Jefe

Godlike
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Joined: 11/05/2008 22:52:53
Messages: 361
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Fox_N.E.X.U.S. wrote:
I can see what you mean now...and I had no idea I could actually do that. As for audio...it crashes the editor when I try. And those rooms with large areas and one power-up or weapon I liked, it lead into a lot of cross fire and plenty of action.

But hey, if you want to take a crack at them and improve them, feel free. I'll try to go back in and fix those little problems with the meshes and attempt some zoning. No promises on a final result though. 


Yeah the music browser is left over from Unreal Engine 1, which used a different music format. The proper way to set up music is to open your level properties, click audio, and type in the name of the ogg file, minus the file extension (for example KR-Slaughter or SDG-ONS01.)

THe BSP problems can be fixed, but you'll need to rebuild most if not all of it from scratch. The good news is that your most of your BSP is fairly simple so it's really just a matter of figuring out what size you need. I also think it's important that you learn how to do these things on your own, not only for future UT2004 maps, but for whatever mapping or 3d work you may do in the future. Also take note that it's ok to overlap BSP sometimes, but for best results you should be precise so they "snap" together. This helps make texture alignment easier and transitions from one room to the next look more natural. For ramps and hallways you can either use the 2D editor then extrude it as a brush, or use vertex editing. I prefer the 2D editor, but both methods work well.



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Fox_N.E.X.U.S.

Dominating
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Joined: 05/04/2006 16:20:50
Messages: 193
Location: California
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So I finally got DM-Tunnels completely done. Added music, thank to Jefe telling me how, managed to fix a lot of the BSP errors, and even was able to make it look and play a bit better.

Link: For the map: http://www.filefront.com/15630611/DM-Tunnels.zip/
For an overview: http://www.furaffinity.net/full/3357036/

I'm really hoping I managed to fix it up so people will like it better.

Furry and proud of it!

Medic: Cadpig
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Jefe

Godlike
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Joined: 11/05/2008 22:52:53
Messages: 361
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Ok, just some real quick stuff, a bunch of this I covered already.

First you're missing a texture package. It won't load outside of unreal ed unless you include it.

Add a detail texture to the brick texture - set this in your texture's properties. This superimposes another texture on top of yours to make it look good up close. Detail textures are in UcGeneric.utx

Again, I'd suggest varying your textures, you still have basically just 1 wall and 1 floor texture.

No zone portals - Add some! The game engine doesn't occlude monsters and players on the other side of the map if you don't do this! Optimizing is a MUST!

You've got that fast scrolling water texture in a small pool and your ambient sound has a small radius. It doesn't look right there and it shouldn't be quiet nearby if you keep it. A basic reflective surface would look better.

Fix you weapon bases! Select all xnewweaponbase and clear the skin so the right texture is applied (long-standing bug causes this)

Still could use more connectivity. Too many rooms with just 1 exit and places monsters can't get to. The rule of thumb is to make it fun for DM first, then INV. For example, Keg of health and Shields in the same place makes the map much too easy to control, and encourages camping. In INV, WMs and AMs need that out in the open. Spread these things out and avoid making pre-made bases full of goodies.

There are several green switches. Some mappers make these functional to open/close doors. They're confusing if they don't work.

Light sources plz! Don't just put lights in random spots. Find a good static mesh or two for your lights, then place a small light next to each one, and a larger light a bit farther away. Look at other maps to see how this is done. Change your light map settings to from DXT3 (default when you open unreal ed) to RGBA8 for smoother shadowing.

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