JB-Relic

[ZedMaestro]

Remember JB-Relic from UTJB? Well it was a dark watery world with Sliths. And, since that theme is comparatively unique to many other maps, I thought it would be a good one to remake

So here it is; JB-Relic. Exact same layout, same weapons (except where the Bio Rifle has replaced the absent Ripper), Jump Boots, and the same amount of fun. You may know that UT2004 didnt come with the Slith monster, but thankfully it had been remade for UT2004 in the SatoreMonsterPack, the author of which I owe a lot of thanks to. Lets face it, the map wouldnt be the same with regular Skaarj

I also imported the red and blue ball-and-chain textures from the original JB-Relic too, as it provides some nice decoration. Oh, and I also imported the superb Nether music

Curiously, in the map I've had to manually place an SMPSlith (as its called) to keep the game happy. Without it, I get erros that the game cant find certain resources (eg some animations). However, I've tied up the Slith to a ScriptedSequence which tells it to... do nothing, so there shouldnt be any problems

Now, time for screenshots, and you know the drill by now... CoolDude will upload the map to FTP soon

Have fun!

[RevBillyG]

Aaah a classic indeed. Good choice Zed I don't doubt for a moment that this will be a cracker of a conversion.

Just one question. Where the hell do you get the time to pump out this many maps?

[ZedMaestro]

I'm at University... in your first year you don't need to spend much time actually working

[Angie]

Thanx for the great map Zed. It´s very nice to see you going on with the remakes.

[G.Lecter]

Mmhmm... looks good, I haven't played the original, but reminds me JB-Grudge for UT204JB.
Waiting for a link...

[CoolDude]

Here it is: JB-Relic-Beta1
Thanks Zed
//edit: Link removed due to a small Slith problem (be patience a bit).

[CoolDude]

OK, second try:

JB-Relic-Beta1

If you downloaded Beta1 in between my former post and this one, you should download it again ...

[Sexmachine]

My personal favourite returns ... great choice Zed. Compared to other "dark" maps (e.g. Grudge or Addien-Dwy) this one is really dark, maybe a bit to dark and the arena gets triggered way to often. Besides that it's a winner!

[Mychaeel]

Nice -- missing a scoreboard minimap though, doesn't it?

Nice Slith, too. Now if somebody was to convert JB-Phasma...

[CoolDude]

Originally Posted by Mychaeel

Nice -- missing a scoreboard minimap though, doesn't it?

I could have sworn I saw one yesterday ...

Is is possible the increase the size of the Sliths a bit, so they are the same size as the statues? The look a bit small in my opinion.

[tarquin]

Wahey! Looks great Zed.

[ZedMaestro]

• I suppose it wouldn't hurt to increase the brightness a little bit.
• The arena is currently triggered every 60-75... I'll make it 75-90 then.
• I coulda sworn that there was a scoreboard minimap too...
• Yeah, I noticed that the Sliths were a bit small. With manually placed Sliths you can make them bigger with the usual DrawScale X/Y/Z, which works to an extent; The Slith appears bigger, but its collision is the normal size (for example, when it slithers around the lower half of its tail cuts thru the ground). Fixing this would have to be done by modifying the code, which obviously I don't have a clue how to do. You can play around with it if you want to though.

Edit...

Originally Posted by Tarquin on PJB News

ZedMaestro informs us that in first year of university he is doing no work.

LOL. Well, I'm doing enough work to get thru the first year (need to average over 40% ), although my first semester's exams averaged at 86.5%

[Aersik]

Its a bit dark. Its not as bad as I thought it was at first, but being a little bit brighter wouldn't hurt. Couldn't find much wrong with it after that though

The screenies:

1. On the wooden bridge in the centre, and the two in the arena, you can fall through the edges of the sloped sections (circled).

2. Nitpicking here, but I assume these two sets of blocks are supposed to be symmetrical. you can also hide behind this set of blocks without being seen, but I don't really consider that an exploit.

Yes, there definately is a minimap. And I did no work in my first year either

[TheSpoonDog]

Nice Zed - glad the map has been remade so well If I may make a few suggestions:

-The slith in the cube - try making his AI script like in the attached pic. Coder, correct me if I'm wrong but I'm pretty sure pawns use less resources when they are in a scripting state, rather than on their AI. Those actions in the AI script should keep the Slith in state "scripting" (You should be able to check it if you can view the slith and type showdebug in console). With his current AI script, I believe he would do the MoveToPoint action and then leave the script for the rest of the game

-The large trim textures lining most of the structures in the bases would suit wood better I rekon, more natural/ancient and suits the rest of the map better, where the current one is quite "neat" and metal. Maybe "HourMoria.hourewoooodmod" or something similar.

-You should lower the camspots that are viewable from Jail just a little bit so you can see players on the ramp on the other side of the room.

-With the terrain floor - I rekon either give it more dirt & lumps or just make it BSP with some uplifted tiles... It's just so subtle at the moment that it barely warrants using terrain. Perhaps some tufts of plant growing out of it.

-Is definately a tad dark - maybe just up the radius/brightness of the lights a bit more as they, especially the ones in the red base, don't affect much at the moment.

-Last of all, try the water stuff in the attached map (the fluidsurface, emitters & waterfalls). Feel free to tweak it more but it just takes advantage of the fluidsurface a bit better with an environment map. You couldn't even notice the fluidsurface before with that old UT texture on it

[ZedMaestro]

• Fixed the bridge edges.
• Made those blocks assymetrical and moved them a little to prevent hiding.
• The Slith in the cube doesnt do anything once it has done the MoveToPoint, but I implemented what you suggested anyway.
• Bah. Do you know how much effort I put into aligning all those textures? OK, replaced, but now I've got to align them all again
• Lowered JailCams.
• The terrain is to provide a slightly varying floor level and to make use of a fade transition between different textures. The new Fluid texture and lighting makes it look more obvious now anyway. I've also added some ferns.
• Scaled all lights by 125% except in arena. The only dark area remaining is the bit of wall behind the release switches. I think it makes a nice contrast (and it was similarly dark in the UTJB version there too).
• I still havent got round to learning how to do environment maps etc. The only change I made was to make the emitter spawn a few more particles and an increase in the X Location (to spawn some spray a little nearer to the edges). I also applied the environment map to the arena's water.

PS... replacing and aligning the new texture took no more than a minute to do

[Mychaeel]

Originally Posted by CoolDude

I could have sworn I saw one yesterday ...

Originally Posted by ZedMaestro

I coulda sworn that there was a scoreboard minimap too...

Err... uhh... just ignore me then.

*scuffles back to his tax return form*

[Aersik]

Found another hiding spot behind this set of blocks by the flak. It's the same on both sides. Although the screenie hasn't come out very well, the map should show where exactly.

I was going to suggest using those propped up bricks as ramps to slide up, but I can't think of anywhere good to put them.

[TheSpoonDog]

Another small one - at some spots along the rock edge things at the waterfalls you get stuck - can make you mis-time your boot-jump over the pit - just needs a blocking volume or even just turn the collision off for 'em

[tarquin]

Did someone say something about darkness and colour?
Working with the screenshots for the news post, it all seemed very brown.

[Spudsy]

Wait a minute I'm a little lost are you guys still beta testing or is the map already out? Also, if the map is already out, where can I find it? It looks amazing btw.