Tremulous Forum
Media => Mapping Center => Topic started by: Supertanker on October 14, 2007, 05:27:05 am
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Yech...I was experimenting with ASE's a few days ago and one thing lead to another and....this...
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/coreb.jpg
It's supposed to be the bottom area of the shield generator of the original Gamma_core (you know, the big pit?) Anyways, my questions are....
How many particle systems can a low end computer handle without too much complaint? I've 3 for the steam here, as well as two fog brushes (one above and one below the core)
What is a realistic limit for an ASE? the reactor (the model) is about 2000 polies and is about 1.9 megabytes.
Does fog kill framerate too much? I'm using it a LOT, as well as loads of patch meshes.
Is it possible to use .trail files to make a lightning bolt from one entity to another, or should I just try a shader with autosprite2?
Should I bother making this a complete map? I've got some rough ideas for it already...
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Show us pictures of your map, so we can get a realistic idea of how much fog ect you are using.
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Yech...I was experimenting with ASE's a few days ago and one thing lead to another and....this...
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/coreb.jpg
It's supposed to be the bottom area of the shield generator of the original Gamma_core (you know, the big pit?) Anyways, my questions are....
How many particle systems can a low end computer handle without too much complaint? I've 3 for the steam here, as well as two fog brushes (one above and one below the core)
What is a realistic limit for an ASE? the reactor (the model) is about 2000 polies and is about 1.9 megabytes.
Does fog kill framerate too much? I'm using it a LOT, as well as loads of patch meshes.
Is it possible to use .trail files to make a lightning bolt from one entity to another, or should I just try a shader with autosprite2?
Should I bother making this a complete map? I've got some rough ideas for it already...
First up looking good.
Second, number of particles systems does have an effect but it can't really be predicted up front. Best would be to just ask someone with a lowend pc to playtest it for a while.
2 mb seems a bit large for a model in my eyes, but if it is the core of the theme you're trying to achieve you can make some exceptions.
Fog shouldn't affect fps that much.
Trail files aren't my forté, sorry.
Yes if you can keep this feeling up along the entire map I would damn well like to play it.
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Trail systems can actually imitate the lightning bolt. But it will be very similar to usual shader/texture. With little advantages.
If you want to test your map for FPS, Iv got a very sensitive P III wich can handle the stock maps at about 50-60 fps and very responsive for any load change.
And all of this is actually bounded by vis portals. You can have loads of particles throughout the map, but having just 1 visible at a time will not affect fps that much. Same thing for the fog and rest of the map objects.
Personally I wasnt sure if Q3 engine can handle 2000 polies model? Optimised for ~1000? I might be wrong though.
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That's a pretty looking Gamma Core. A bit more color would do it good.
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Don't question the fact "Should I make it a complete map?" I love Gamma Core and a Gamma Core 2 would make me very happy!
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Gamma core 2: This time, its personal?
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Ehhh....wha?
For what I mean with fog, about 8-9 rooms will probably look something like this:
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/corridora.jpg
This one is special, like the core area, because it has fog above and below the player-accesable area. I kind of tried to make it look like Half-Life 2's Citadael.
I've been experimenting with patch meshes to make this map a bit more detailed. Oh, yeah, that brings me to another point. I was going to try and make this for the mapping contest but I decided againts it; at the rate i work I'd be half-done by January.
I have a tendency to get bored with projects if I don't finish them so could you guys please do me a favor and every few weeks ask me when I'm going to finish this map?
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1. That dark effect is made by negative lights(at least it is in JKA), not fog.
2. Patch-meshes? Eww. If your using it for terrain, I suggest you make it yourself vertex by vertex, or use EasyGen. If your using it for detail, brushes can do the same job as a patch mesh.
Edit: And, Patch Meshes have a limit. It's 6 patchmeshes per map, I think. This may only be JKA, though.
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(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/detail2.jpg)
lol wut?
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Those arn't patchmeshes though, there cylinder patches.
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Those arn't patchmeshes though, there cylinder patches.
A 'cylinder patch' is also a patch mesh.
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Those arn't patchmeshes though, there cylinder patches.
Quote of the day.
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Nice work so far I like it. :)
Judging from those two pictures, I don't see anything that would cause too much trouble.
Also, when are you going to finish this map?
:P
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How many particle systems can a low end computer handle without too much complaint? I've 3 for the steam here, as well as two fog brushes (one above and one below the core)
The best you do is to boldly experiment where no mapper has gone before. I managed to cram 7 systems in one room and still have an acceptable framerate,
on the other hand I had a room where adding a second particle system made the framerate go down like the titanic.
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Yay! A new room!
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/hw2.jpg
I've been adding a few boxy rooms a day and filling them with detail as I go. Be warned, this *might* turn out to be a larger map.
Heh, that picture a few posts back isn't Trem; it's Ca3D and is a complaint about graphics problems--look at the other ones and tell me you spot the difference between one frame and the next. :P
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(http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/detail2.jpg)
lol wut?
wut kind of lame game is taht????
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HalfLife 1, dur.
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Yeah, DUH, can't you see that's Half-Life with it's advanced lighting engine, bumpmapping, patch meshes, and high-res skies? DUH!
Hehehehehehehe I finally figured out alphashadow so now I can make crappy looking lights that shine through grates!
by the way, is lightmapsample size 2x2 too small for the entire map?
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Well I've been working on it some more but still have to nail down the final layout. I have two sketch ideas here, but am not sure which is better
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/layout2.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/layout.jpg
Which of these would be a more logical and fair layout? Red is lower floor, green is upper. I've got ideas for some of the rooms but need to decide which layout to use before I can go much farther.
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Layout 2, 3 entrances to alien base will get it nailed.
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the layout does not really matter, IF you give both bases the same number of entraces.
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In layout 2 make alien base the red lower room that conects to upper and create a path that leads to where the alien base was like in layout 1.
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All right, I'll start working on it
Just out of curiosity, as a question to mappers: do you start with a floor plan and built walls up, or do you start with boxy rooms? I can't seem to get the boxy rooms to work.
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Floorplan? What happened to imagination? :O
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As for imagination, well... How imaginative was the floorplan? Mappers often make concept art just like modelers do.
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Floorplan? What happened to imagination? :O
Since when are a floorplan and imagination mutually exclusive?
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All right, I'll start working on it
Just out of curiosity, as a question to mappers: do you start with a floor plan and built walls up, or do you start with boxy rooms? I can't seem to get the boxy rooms to work.
neither really, i just build some interesting brushes and take it from there. i havent really thought about floorplans until i have most of the map done.
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I kind of do what gareth does...hmm....I'll think about that later.
I spent an hour or so going crazy with this room...I had a little too much fun with patch meshes, if you look really close at the lower-left boxy generator thingy.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/randomroom1.jpg
This would make an interesting base once I add the second entrance.
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Oh wow, that looks really cool.
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* Taiyo.uk has wet his pants.
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Woha, awesome supertanker.
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That had better be another long pit I can jump down....
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No, sorry, it's glassed in :)
Still working on my layout for this map...life *slammed* me with jobs over the weekend so I haven't had any time to work on this for a bit. I've got a bit of free time now, however.
Question: is it a bad idea to compile with _lightmapscale 0.1 or 0.05 if I don't mind long compile times?
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OOo, random hallways. Fun fun fun.
I hate making random hallways :(
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/hallway2.jpg
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Ooops. I hit MAX_LIGHTMAPS on my last compile.
Hmmm, I guess I shouldn't use _lightmapscale 0.2
Anyways, new hallway! I went a little insane on the patch meshes, if you look a the lights closely you'll notice.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/hallway3.jpg
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I'd like to eggspam in there...
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It's raining dretchen, hallelujah!
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Gee, I haven't played Karith in the last few days.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y124/supertanker13/hallway4a.jpg
Nope, not at all. :P
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* Taiyo.uk is baking a cookie for Supertanker.
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Finally your map is starting to look awesome! Please fucking continue!
@supertanker: Don't be stupid like me and set _lms to a low value in the worldspawn. It applies high resolution lightmaps to everything, including all those spots where you would never notice them. Best thing to do is to func_group specific pieces of your map and applying a low _lms to it. That way you have the best trade-off between looks, compile time and BSP size, not to mention the loading times of the map:)
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very good map
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Portal skies sure are annoying in a way.
Is it possible to keep the geometry of a _skybox entity from 'extruding' past the sky portal brushes into the actual map? I made a portal sky with some low-poly tri-soup ground, but I could see the ground in a room with no view of the sky if I looked down a deep pit!
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Not sure if this has anything to do with it, but was there a sky within the PVS from that spot?
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Not sure if this has anything to do with it, but was there a sky within the PVS from that spot?
If you have (for example) 2 windows in opposing rooms with a skybox inbetween and they share the same PVS, you can see 'through' into the other parts of the map (which currently are in the PVS). I hope I said this correctly, it's a really annoying problem.
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Bleh, I just gave up on the sky. I'll make little outdoor areas with terrain instead :/
I really need to finalize a design for the human control-room base
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You know, maybe I'll actually finish this after I get Station15 done.
Or maybe not....I think the map grew to be too big...