Okay, I posted it on the main page because I was like really glad to actually had finished this map to a working state. I've been experimenting with Unreal tech through this map for some time as you can see the UT99 version roots in one of the pics below. I wasn't going for pretty, just playable. Because of the funky off-the-grid architecture the BSP version met death and has been erased from my HD, could only get the exterior to rebuild, any interior work resulted in major BSP holes and out rageous HOMs. The main point was to make low poly geometry that didn't hang players up and was not the typical rectalinear stuff you see a lot of. Don't know if anyone noticed, but there is only one step in the entire map, making some interesting ramped surfaces fun.
When 2k3 was released I gave it another go, this time converting everything to meshes. Using MAX I lightmapped every mesh using a technique that I reverse engineered allowing several meshes to a single light map. The so called "terrain" is a UV painted mesh that I was able to lightmap. When my brother died last November I put it away again only to pick it up about a week ago, this time using 2k4. Unfortunately the lightmapping on UV painted meshes was broke in 2k4 so the terrian looks like poo, again. It was either grass or shadows, believe me no grass was not good dispite the wierd stretching in places.
Textures are more or less blanketted on with only minor attention to alignment. Their selection was based to more or less match the original Unreal Deathmatch map, Orion's Barricade by Cliffy B. Not all the meshes mapped well and are part of my MAX learning curve. Some effort went into learning the new dds texture format, this is shown by the radiant sun, panning clouds, scintilating bricks, recessed wall lights, grillwork and stained glass gryphon window.
The assorted sounds available in 2k4 really suck and I'm really dissapointed with some of the ambiance. I also mapped myself into a corner not being able to optimize the map through zoning and using antiportals, the geometry just isn't conducive. The only way the regain frame rates was to limit any frivilous decorations, making the map sparce in areas. The biggest surprise was at 10 o'clock found out my lifts had no saound FX, or rather, they were being generated at the MAX origions of the lift meshes which didn't coincide with the lifts at all, so a quick redo ensued. Then, I had 40 minutes to make some crates before the phase 3 entries closed just to break things up a little, 10 minute crates anyone?. Lighting also suffered by use of light maps. I really need to make shaders for each mesh package similar to Shane Caudle's CTF-Magma. Perhaps even replace the top of the island and main interior with true terrain maps (yea, and spend a year retexturing
)
here's the nalicity link: http://nalicity.beyondunreal.com/map_hub.php?mid=7319
Anyways, thanks for trying it out if you downloaded it, and any comments you may wish to make. I don't expect any awards or accolades, this is an average map made though unordinary means. I like it because it plays the way Deathmatch used to be played. Sure, it could be prettier, but it's only showing its age. BTW, the name is a synonym for Barricade... but being more round in nature. Go figure.
When 2k3 was released I gave it another go, this time converting everything to meshes. Using MAX I lightmapped every mesh using a technique that I reverse engineered allowing several meshes to a single light map. The so called "terrain" is a UV painted mesh that I was able to lightmap. When my brother died last November I put it away again only to pick it up about a week ago, this time using 2k4. Unfortunately the lightmapping on UV painted meshes was broke in 2k4 so the terrian looks like poo, again. It was either grass or shadows, believe me no grass was not good dispite the wierd stretching in places.
Textures are more or less blanketted on with only minor attention to alignment. Their selection was based to more or less match the original Unreal Deathmatch map, Orion's Barricade by Cliffy B. Not all the meshes mapped well and are part of my MAX learning curve. Some effort went into learning the new dds texture format, this is shown by the radiant sun, panning clouds, scintilating bricks, recessed wall lights, grillwork and stained glass gryphon window.
The assorted sounds available in 2k4 really suck and I'm really dissapointed with some of the ambiance. I also mapped myself into a corner not being able to optimize the map through zoning and using antiportals, the geometry just isn't conducive. The only way the regain frame rates was to limit any frivilous decorations, making the map sparce in areas. The biggest surprise was at 10 o'clock found out my lifts had no saound FX, or rather, they were being generated at the MAX origions of the lift meshes which didn't coincide with the lifts at all, so a quick redo ensued. Then, I had 40 minutes to make some crates before the phase 3 entries closed just to break things up a little, 10 minute crates anyone?. Lighting also suffered by use of light maps. I really need to make shaders for each mesh package similar to Shane Caudle's CTF-Magma. Perhaps even replace the top of the island and main interior with true terrain maps (yea, and spend a year retexturing
) here's the nalicity link: http://nalicity.beyondunreal.com/map_hub.php?mid=7319
Anyways, thanks for trying it out if you downloaded it, and any comments you may wish to make. I don't expect any awards or accolades, this is an average map made though unordinary means. I like it because it plays the way Deathmatch used to be played. Sure, it could be prettier, but it's only showing its age. BTW, the name is a synonym for Barricade... but being more round in nature. Go figure.
