I'm raising the bar

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Dragon_Myr

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Mar 4, 2004
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Over the course of this week I will be releasing one high resolution screenshot each night of my new map XMP-UraniumEcho. These shots are 1280x1024 at max detail settings. I don't have a website or pack to promote what I'm doing so this is the best way I could think to do it. The release date is set at this comming weekend, May 22nd or 23rd. Hopefully it'll stir up some excitement like the AlienPod pack did last week (which btw was very good :) and damn, I wanted to make something in time but missed, oh well :/ ).

There are several things I'm doing differently though. When I set out to build this map I wanted to break all the rules, do things no one else has ever done successfully, use the resources of XMP to their fulliest, and kick some ass. In effect, I wanted to raise the bar on my skills as a mapper, provide a map with strategy, and make one standout map that I hope will appear and stay on servers.

The map is nearly done, but being tweaked now in testing. Little glitches or annoying things are also being fixed. You may randomly see it appear on one of two test servers. I may even invite a few people to join in testing through PM's, but I haven't decided on that yet. Once I release the map, I'd rather not make an updated version. I want it to be just right and that's why an extra amount of care has been put into every triangle of this map. Heavy optimization has also been used.

Here is the screenshot for tonight attached below which depicts the bottom of the hill facing the red base. Behind the player is water and to the right is a waterfall off camera (Note: base entrance outdated and texture glitch on terrain fixed. Rock shading area on right side of the screen also fixed). The final release I will attemp to make synchronized with the Axon Files if I can get on there without work interfereing.

Thanks to BoogityBoy and $ane for the name idea. :)

Comments, compliments, bashing, etc. are welcome but will not affect my intention to release this map. ;) (Screenshots may become out of date without notice if I fix things during testing)

-Myr

Edit: Btw, Prophet, here's the high res version of the screen at MYU. ;)
 

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Creig

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Apr 17, 2003
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AHHA this map looks like it will raise the bar. I already have my pallete being rocked by AP, but this might take the cake. Good luck and I look forward to playing it.
 

iddQd

Yours truly
Dec 26, 2001
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yea those red crystal thingies looks really kewl, just think they are a bit too transparent? Maybe they should be more red...
 

Twigathy

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Feb 7, 2004
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The red crystals are probably static meshes, and they dont contribute to lag (Unless you go absolutely nuts over them). iirc they are loaded into graphics memory at the start of the map, whereas stuff like terrain and BSP is rendered in real-time.

Please feel free to correct my idiocy :)
 

Dragon_Myr

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Mar 4, 2004
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Thanks :) Another screenshot will come out tonight.

flack ho said:
but will it lag the hell out of XMP?
I'm using every optimization trick in the book. ;) I cannot get the FPS to drop below 32 at any time. Most of the map plays at about 60-80 FPS on my system. The two spots where I got 32 at were where you can see the entire map. I am experimenting on ways to squeeze a few more fps out of the map. The terrain zones are heavily filled with anitportals right now and I'm experimenting with placing anitportals in the cave ceiling terrain section to gain some more speed in game. Right now I'm sitting at about 40 FPS in all areas, but having some terrain dissapearance issues with those new ceiling antiportals. I'm still perfecting it. :)

And btw, for comparison's sake, I run at about 28 fps on Lagoon, 30 on Naularn, 32 on Lowlands, and 30 on Garden. This is when you look at the most complicated areas of the map (lagoon from the outer shore looking in towards the center of the map; Naularn looking from one of the arti nodes at the entire terrain; Lowlands when behind a base and looking to the center of the map; Garden when looking at a base from the middle of a side of the map).

As for static meshes, I just keep count of the number of triangles or the apparent density of them on screen when I test out the map. The less, the better. :) It's cool to watch things dissapear in wireframe mode because of the zones or antiportals. Static meshes are always rendered completely unless they're totaly out of view. What effect they have on FPS I'm not sure of yet and haven't noticed.

Edit: And I wanted the crystals to look more ruby like to signal the red base better. The ruby texture I made ended up looking too dark and clashing too much with the terrain texturing so I went back to the red team transparent color.

-Myr
 
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~S~ZeRo

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Mar 20, 2004
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man i cant wait looks great the ap pack is great but had few maps in my opinion that would be good for scrimage or ladder maps maybe this one will be good for that. no offense to any ap maps i thought everyone was great. but maps like alc and lowlands sunset those are classics
 

i_am_Loki

god of mischief
Feb 21, 2004
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looks awsome myr! from your previous maps i know to only expect the best of you :) can't wait for the release
 

Dandeloreon1984

CXP Director
Jan 31, 2004
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Dragon_Myr said:
Thanks :) Another screenshot will come out tonight.


I'm using every optimization trick in the book. ;) I cannot get the FPS to drop below 32 at any time. Most of the map plays at about 60-80 FPS on my system. The two spots where I got 32 at were where you can see the entire map. I am experimenting on ways to squeeze a few more fps out of the map. The terrain zones are heavily filled with anitportals right now and I'm experimenting with placing anitportals in the cave ceiling terrain section to gain some more speed in game. Right now I'm sitting at about 40 FPS in all areas, but having some terrain dissapearance issues with those new ceiling antiportals. I'm still perfecting it. :)

And btw, for comparison's sake, I run at about 28 fps on Lagoon, 30 on Naularn, 32 on Lowlands, and 30 on Garden. This is when you look at the most complicated areas of the map (lagoon from the outer shore looking in towards the center of the map; Naularn looking from one of the arti nodes at the entire terrain; Lowlands when behind a base and looking to the center of the map; Garden when looking at a base from the middle of a side of the map).

As for static meshes, I just keep count of the number of triangles or the apparent density of them on screen when I test out the map. The less, the better. :) It's cool to watch things dissapear in wireframe mode because of the zones or antiportals. Static meshes are always rendered completely unless they're totaly out of view. What effect they have on FPS I'm not sure of yet and haven't noticed.

Edit: And I wanted the crystals to look more ruby like to signal the red base better. The ruby texture I made ended up looking too dark and clashing too much with the terrain texturing so I went back to the red team transparent color.

-Myr


You can always try zone fog, and that should help...
 

Butt_Turd

Banned
May 16, 2004
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XBrotha said:
Looks great man... I love the color vision you have when it comes to making map.... I think you have a great vision

You need an enema, you silly, silly little boy. That'll be $500, please see my secretary for billing methods.

Dr. Butt Spank, Phd.
Chairman of Kinky Sex Department at Harvard University
 

PF Prophet

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Dec 9, 2003
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nice dm thanks stupid myu and there mimited image size :p

when your readdy to test gime a pm and i will gladdly take a walk thru the map with you(or alone even :p )

oh and dm alreaddy thanked me for the idea about crystals in other places then the ground :D
 

Dragon_Myr

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Mar 4, 2004
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Thanks. :) I'm trying to get a multiple player testable version together, but got slowed by work and a rather large BSP hole in the blue base. I'm not sure why it was happening, but it's gone now.

Another screenshot. This one was taken just to the left of the crosshairs in the first pic. I took this one from the blue side too btw. You can see the beach type area, one of the two power gens, and the waterfall. The water divides this map into two mirrored sections. There are particle effects on the waterfalls, but they do not show until you get closer (for the sake of FPS). There are also spots in the upper part of the cave that have been cut out and covered up somewhat with brush so that light can peak through and light the lower parts of the map.

Tomorrow I will post a few shots of inside of the bases or the waterfall/cavern areas. I'm not sure yet which I'll pick to do. :)

-Myr
 

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Dragon_Myr

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Mar 4, 2004
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That's just the tip of the iceberg. ;) I'll do another exterior shot before I go to bed for the night. Then hit all the indoors/underground pics tomorrow and friday. There's a lot of enclosed spaces as well as a lot of open areas. I've got a good balance.

-Myr
 
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