XMP-Silos: I got bored over the xmas holidays...

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EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
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Near Birmingham, UK
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Soooo... had some little 2v2 matches over christmas break and it was fun. I realise making maps for a dead game is kind of pointless but mapping can be fun so I decided to put the 2142 meshes I built for Quayside to some more use.

Now I don't tend to release stuff that's alpha or pre-alpha but I'm not likely to have much time to work on this now the holidays are over so I'll just post what I have for now, this is about 3 days worth so very rough stuff.

XMP-BSE-Silos (click images to enlarge)



The general idea is a small map, but not enclosed but subscribing to the battlefield style of a smaller playing area within a larger space, I am using deco items and buildings to delineate where the "boundaries" are. There are no blockingvolumes or anything yet but there will be when I've finished placing deco.

Some screenshots:



It's running on the BSE test server (77.74.192.61:7777) at the moment if you want to have a run around. Please bear in mind that

  • Terrain is very rough/not finished
  • There are no blockingvolumes and some places you can fall through the terrain which will be outside the "playable" area in the finished version
  • Lighting is not finished
  • Extra deco and buildings are to be added behind each base in the to-be-nonplayable area.
  • No landmarks
  • Likely some misaligned meshes
  • No ladder volumes yet
  • No antiportals
So basically very rough, but interested in hearing feedback on the general layout and idea if anybody actually cares :)

If for any reason you want to download it the map is here, the 2142 textures and meshes are in the Quayside rar here.

Happy new year everybody!
 
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EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
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Near Birmingham, UK
www.teambse.co.uk
You're right about the skybox, I'm still playing around with the distance fog colour so that'll be sorted, there's still a lot to do before it's properly playable/finished.

I actually made all those 2142 meshes about 2 years ago, and they were all done just via screenshots. The pipes are actually supposed to be hexagonal in fact:


Thanks for taking the time to look though, your comments are very welcome, I certainly wouldn't say it's of U2 quality myself :) Props to the Legend guys some of those maps are works of art.
 

GreatEmerald

Khnumhotep
Jan 20, 2008
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Hmm, looking at what you have it seems that the game smoothens your pipes while it shouldn't. Try selecting one and enter "STATICMESH UNSMOOTH" into the UnrealEd console and see how it looks then.
 

EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
244
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Near Birmingham, UK
www.teambse.co.uk
Good call on the unsmooth, looks more like it's supposed to now :) I don't want to break dependency with the 2142objectsM though so I've duplicated the mesh over into myLevel and unsmoothed that one. Also improved the undercarriage on the trucks in general:



Also some additional nonplayable deco:



Thanks for your comment Jackal, would be great to get some interest in XMP even for just a while, we even had 8 ppl on server tonight for a couple of maps, always good :)

Back to work tomorrow so it may be a few days before I can get another alpha done.
 

EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
244
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Near Birmingham, UK
www.teambse.co.uk
Well being snowed in and finishing all the work I can usefully achieve at home I've had some more time to work on this. So we have alpha5, which covers a lot of the things which weren't completed before.

  • More realistic terrain, just edge-turns and some smoothing left to do
  • Lighting & skybox fixed and tidied.
  • Lots of extra non-playable deco (see pics below)
  • Landmarks
  • Ladder Volumes
  • Ambient Sounds
  • Radar!
  • More stuff I forgot...

I haven't yet added blocking volumes around the "playable" area, so the "nonplayable" area is still explorable, mainly just for fun. Alpha6 will have the blockingvolumes.

Some pics:



Download from here or join the BSE server if you feel like checking it out.

Comments welcome as ever :)
 

EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
244
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Near Birmingham, UK
www.teambse.co.uk
Thanks so much for your positive comments, it's nice to know people like the map. :)

Presenting XMP-BSE-Silos-alpha7

This is a rollup from alpha6 which finally had blockingvolumes and added the monorail train. Basically alpha7 has some code fixes which deal with some replication issues in the first version of the train which meant that attachments (the lights, sounds and particlesystems) got detached after the first cycle on clients.

I'm quite pleased with the train, which comes through every 2.5 minutes and kills players it hits/touches. I did initially try to do the train as a mover but XMP just bombed to desktop repeatedly so I achieved it instead using an ordinary static mesh that follows a Matinee path. Attachments are torn off (not totally, just AutonomousProxy) and animated by the clients to reduce the replication overhead.

The train was actually where this map started and I built the model in 3ds before I started the map, but the time-consuming process of UVW mapping delayed its incorporation into the map. Here are some renders from 3ds:



And an in-game shot (unfortunately from alpha6 so the particles and lights have buggered off somewhere)



Some more small changes in alpha7:

  • Additional deploy behind the base, requested during playtesting of alpha6
  • Additional supply station behind base as the others are rather exposed.
  • Fixed the laddervolumes that were misaligned
  • Fixed some rather ropey bits of terrain which had been overlooked.

Download link for anyone that's interested (see note above about 2142ObjectsM and 2142ObjectsT from the Quayside package).

And of course it's currently running on the BSE Server (fast redirect) if anyone wants to check it out.
 

zombiewoof

Rokk Fiddler, Farmer
Oct 2, 2003
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Looking slick. Are the blocking volumes intended to keep it a small map? Will the be a larger version? Would be swell to get on other buildings, but that would make it campers paradise. Looks good though. And of course, Better with people..sigh.
 
Mar 6, 2004
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"hofosho tried to catch the train", No, i tried to avoid the train but ended up jumping ontop then falling through.
 

EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
244
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41
Near Birmingham, UK
www.teambse.co.uk
Looking slick. Are the blocking volumes intended to keep it a small map? Will the be a larger version? Would be swell to get on other buildings, but that would make it campers paradise. Looks good though. And of course, Better with people..sigh.

Yes they are, exactly that. Not sure if you've played Battlefield but I was trying to preserve the general Battlefield feel of playing in a small section of a larger, believable world. There's a tendency when making small maps to either come up with a device to make them small (eg, floating platform in space, arena with fence, etc) or make them fully enclosed and small (walls all around, feels very claustrophobic). I felt doing either of these would remove the BF feel of the map, but the BF hemmed-in-by-killvolume works fine in BF but I don't think it would work in XMP. Blockingvolumes aren't an ideal solution but the best I could come up with.

The reason for keeping it small is that I wanted it to be a small map, since the average number of players we get in XMP at the moment is about 4, so I designed for 2-6 players (8 is a push). Hence no hackable deploys, 2 energy, limited supplystations, lots of cover so that it doesn't just become sniper heaven with players not being able to even spawn.

As far as making a bigger version, hmm maybe, I had thought of it but I want to get this version done before thinking about it. Because of the design the level flow might be compromised by opening up what I have thought of all along as "deco" areas there for eye-candy but not for play. I won't stop you if you want to give it a try yourself, though I would ask that you wait till I reach beta with it. I can scan in my original layout sketches if you want to see them.

"hofosho tried to catch the train", No, i tried to avoid the train but ended up jumping ontop then falling through.

I admit the train isn't perfect, it's essentially a moving killvolume that's decorative as much as anything. I had to turn off the collision as it was making it have a seizure on clients, flickering up into the sky and whatnot. Its main function is a bit of extra decoration and interest in a small boring level that I hoped would just add to the feel of the thing. The fact that it kills you is just a gimmick and the deathmsg was designed to be a little tongue in cheek. If you don't like it I can change it.

When I get home I will upload alpha8 which has some terrain fixes and some extra particle effects for the train, and signals which change colour when the train goes through (again, purely decorative). I've also made changes to the supplystation locations which I hope people will like.

Thanks for the feedback though it is always appreciated.
 

GreatEmerald

Khnumhotep
Jan 20, 2008
4,042
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Lithuania
I admit the train isn't perfect, it's essentially a moving killvolume that's decorative as much as anything. I had to turn off the collision as it was making it have a seizure on clients, flickering up into the sky and whatnot. Its main function is a bit of extra decoration and interest in a small boring level that I hoped would just add to the feel of the thing. The fact that it kills you is just a gimmick and the deathmsg was designed to be a little tongue in cheek. If you don't like it I can change it.

Why not a mover with KillOnEncroach? It would be very realistic. Also, make sure you have/generate a collision model for it, material collision is not very optimal as you can see.
 

EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
244
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Near Birmingham, UK
www.teambse.co.uk
Why not a mover with KillOnEncroach? It would be very realistic. Also, make sure you have/generate a collision model for it, material collision is not very optimal as you can see.

This was my original thought but the actual result is the same, you still end up "inside" the train when you die so it isn't any different, and as I mentioned above
...I did initially try to do the train as a mover but XMP just bombed to desktop repeatedly so I achieved it instead using an ordinary static mesh...
I couldn't figure out what was causing the bomb to desktop although you're welcome to look at that version if you think you can solve the issue. I've not done a lot with movers to be honest so it could be something simple I've missed.

I've uploaded Alpha8 anyway but it's mainly cosmetic changes, small fixes and level flow tweaks.

Edit: also I forgot to mention, turning collision on doesn't make the train collide, all it does is make its position get screwed up on clients.
 
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GreatEmerald

Khnumhotep
Jan 20, 2008
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Edit: also I forgot to mention, turning collision on doesn't make the train collide, all it does is make its position get screwed up on clients.

Huh, that doesn't make any sense... Does that happen in a local game as well?

Anyway, what about making the collision model into its own, hidden mover? A mover so simple shouldn't fail. Or try cylinder collision.
 

EQ²

Code Monkey
Oct 30, 2004
244
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Near Birmingham, UK
www.teambse.co.uk
Yes that happens in a local game, but has the effect mentioned below.

Actually when I couldn't get the whole thing to work as a mover, I tried using hidden movers (well actually visible for testing but the idea was to make them invisible if it worked) to create a hull around the train, that didn't work. I also tried using dynamicblockingvolumes but they didn't work either. Using cylinder collision doesn't work for a number of reasons.

Interestingly, when you use collision hulls or turn on collision using a simplified hull, you can land ON the train, but then as it moves beneath you you don't go with it but instead just fall inside. Also, in all circumstances you hitting the collision hull causes collision, but it hitting you does nothing, so you end up inside it anyway.

I didn't just give up at the first hurdle, I've tried about every different solution I could think of, it's just that none of them have worked so far. Karma collision stops the animation from working in case you were wondering. What I have is a solution that seems about as good as any other but which works pretty well over net play.

I also can't help thinking that when there are maps like boxworld out there, and artidozenraptors and other atrocities, I feel I can be forgiven a train that doesn't collide properly :)