UT3 DM-Pentecost [Beta][37 Custom Meshes][Custom Skydome][Pics/Download]

[FragTastic]

DM-Pentecost [RC][42 Custom Meshes][Custom Skydome][Pics/Download]

Name:DM-Pentecost
Version: RC
Compatibility: UT3 patch 2.1 (Titan Pack not needed)

Description: Evil radiates from this place. Even the plants seem to have trouble surviving its malignant radiance. Wicked mages and warriors used to summon the wealthy with spells to this evil castle. They would then pick them clean of anything of value before sending them crashing to their death, through one of the many deathpits in the complex. Now the forces of darkness have resurrected this facility for the final battle and are using it to train their forces. Fear not sinner, your day of judgement is nigh!

My third map for UT3. A mid sized map, pentagon arena surrounded by 5 double floored building.
Includes 42 custom static meshes. A custom skydome and all custom textures.

I have implemented a little risk vs. reward for quite a few pickups. Ive also tried to focus on more z-axis gameplay and a blend of ramps, jump pads and lifts based on peoples thoughts in the "lets talk about DM gameplay" thread


Comments: RC version now available. Changelog is under download link for those interested. Please note this is the last chance to suggest anything youd like changed before release. Dont ask me to add anything as Ive had a hard time pulling this much performance back into the map lol. Tweaks, flaws, faults and small changes please feel free to report or suggest XD

Thanks to all

Pentecost Quick stats:
42 custom meshes
All custom textures
7620 Mesh instances
1.54 million instance triangles
300K-700K polygon count range in game
Players:6-12
Deployables: 1x UDamage, 1x Berzerk, 1x megahealth, 1x each armour pickup (4)
Weapons: 2x stinger 1x everything else (no dual enforcer or redeemer)

Screenshot: (RC)

Credits: FragTastic, Epic and all the helpful peeps on Epic forums who have assisted me with tech help so far (yet to make a list but i wil)
Homepage: click refresh

Download: Download Pentecost RC from Filefront

Map Includes
42 custom meshes
Custom skydome and textures
Botpathing
MapMenuPic, Readme and recommended playercount (6-12)

Changelog

Changes made from Pentecost Beta
-Added 5 new custom meshes
-Rebuilt all buildings from scratch to address some minor symmetry issues
-Added 2000+ mesh instances (mainly very low poly)
-Added clouds that randomly stop\start\reverse rotation
-Added point light function to give candlelight a flicker
-Added ambient sounds
-Added specular to all materials
-Added Post Processing
-Corrected some incorrect settings on normal map textures
-Raised platform that shield belt is on (required to make bots take it)
-Removed 6 Health vials that were on the way down to shield belt (no fall damage now)
-Various optimisation touches
-Lowered some custom sound volumes
-Moved corner stinger slightly further away from the edge
-Tweaked a few meshes
-Updated MapMenuPic
-Tweaked foilage layers (mainly slight reduction of mesh instances)
-Moved/adjusted all bone ramps slightly after rebuilding buildings and culled a few unnecessary bones
-Anything else ive forgotten coz ive been slacking on keeping a log

Changes made from Pentacost Alpha 2
-Added 10 new custom meshes
-Added and Painted Terrain
-Added BSP Trim around floor\ceiling cutouts
-Added Foliage volumes
-Put barricades on building roofs to make them look
more castle like
-Added some circular floor cutouts to a couple or rooms
-Replaced remaining Epic Textures
-Continued Deco Meshing (Floors, ceilings, walls)
-Brightened outdoor lighting a little
-Culling Distances added to current meshes
-Added Custom mapstingers
-Removed collision from small foliage
-Removed collision from all bones used for deco (non bridge)
-Removed all duplicate versions of meshes
-Adjusted courtyard foliage meshes
-Started enhancing all materials (better up close appearance)
-Tweaked rooftop texture
-"Blend" skydome texture

Changes made from Pentacost Alpha
-3 new custom meshes
-All 5 buildings have a unique external identifier
-3 Different building types constructed 2x jumppads 1x lifts and 2x ramps (ramps have been doubled in the
two rooms they were left in)
-Deco meshing continued
-UDamage moved
-Fixed collision on the gravestone that had none
-Fixed incorrect external identifiers on the outer side of some buildings



Planned Upgrades



*Redeemer on giant jump pad leap over level? (one side right to the other)
*Very mild fog?
*Removal of jump pads from lower pentagonal area? (Do these interfere with the flow thru building too much?)


Known Issues : None known at this time

 

[FragTastic]

Release candidate now available. If anyone would like anything changed speak now or forever hold ye peace

 

[SuperAlgae]

I just noticed this thread and am about to leave for work, so I cannot download it until later today, but from the screenshots my main comment is to create more variation in the lighting. I do like that the custom meshes give it a unique look.

________________________________________
Jesse (SuperAlgae) Banet
DM-HardFall .. download and screenshots

 

[SuperAlgae]

I gave it a try, and I definitely would like to see more contrast in lighting... perhaps brighter lights with smaller radii and higher fall-off rates. More distinct cast shadows would help too.

Some of the scaling is off. For example, I saw a table that was almost as tall as the player. You can use the "behindview" console command to help get the scaling right.

Regarding layout/flow, the power-up placement is pretty good, but I did notice some places in the surrounding terrain where movement is a little sticky. Also, it would be nice to have more variety in the design of the buildings. You've created some variation, but the basic shape of each one is a simple two story rectangle.

I like the rotating clouds, though you might want to adjust the effect to hide that it is a 2d surface. A second layer would help. Perhaps it could even be done in the texture itself.

________________________________________
Jesse (SuperAlgae) Banet
DM-HardFall .. download and screenshots

 

[FragTastic]

wooops been a while since I checked here superalgae sorry

Ive made the dynamic lighting a bit more efficient since.
Lighting variation a lot of the problem was the fact that i always forget to put lightmaps on surfaces down, not up
Ive corrected that now. As for more light sources, I cant really add any more as they have to be sunlight or flame based to suit the old world nature of the map. I really dont want to add extra emitters now as im trying to wrestle performance back into the map and that has me once again heading the wrong way.

I will reassess tables thank you for the tip

Also will have another look for terrain sticky spots.

I will add another layer of clouds into the texture for the moving clouds. Will definitely have to be done that way, as I dont want to add the performance cost of another huge interpactor like that one

TBH Ive already rebuilt the level from scratch once and the angles make it really tricky to place as UE3 doesnt give out precise 2 degree angles. Unfortunately for that reason I will not be modifying buildings at this late stage. I will certainly take your comments on board for later projects though thank you.

Thanks for your time and input again

 

[SkaarjMaster]

this DM version is different; still has purple devil-worship fort with bone bridges and too much falling; watch jumppads.