UT2kX Occupant 17, new pics.. (level 5)

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Median12

Mapper
Sep 18, 2012
133
3
18
GB
meettomy.site
I am still working on Occupant 17, a singleplayer mod for UT2004.

I just finished making/mapping Level 5 and it 's a Acid Storage Facility that has been taken over by the Enemy.

The NPC's are rock hard at the moment but I might keep them like that.

Playerstarts are offered after certain sections so you don't start always at the beginning after being fragged.













It's an open-plan map, it is quite easy to dodge the NPC's firing.

I used THE OSMT and Ballistic Weapons v2.5 Mod's plus the ECE Bonus pack, Credit to those people.. I used only the game and nothing else apart from that.

I'll add the OSMT and Ballistics Weapons Mod's to the game's ZipFile eventually.

Made new Textures and wrote some Music for it, used the ECE Music quite a bit and an old UT tune, Nether.
 
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Carbon

Altiloquent bloviator.
Mar 23, 2013
557
10
18
Looks great man! Good job on doing this alone. Really looking forward to a release, so keep it going!
 

Median12

Mapper
Sep 18, 2012
133
3
18
GB
meettomy.site
I tried working with other mappers/people before Carbon years ago.. and hated it.

I made a sections of maps that you *think* is great looking/playable and upload it to them.. good Frame rate etc, bots work well.... You get the map back usually a week later and your um Zone/section has been removed!

This is after usually after a couple of days work (The whole weekend) building that Zone/section and can be annoying.

I spend a lot of time on CTF or VCTF mapping, DM/ONS is fine but I like a challenge. I make sure the bot pathing is usually all white and the Teams play equally, so not always having the Blue Team cap the flag all the time sort of thing. I noticed they did a lot in the Retail CTF maps.

I just finished Level 5, basically called "Acid Treatment Facility" and I am hoping to make 12-15 levels. So far the whole game lasts about 2 to 2 and a half hours of play.

Singleplayer games last I found, well depends how good you are :) about 6 to 8 hours, saying that.. ResidentEvil 1 on the PS took me 6 months.

It's taken about 4 months so far so I might release it in sections.

I am not a Modder, I been making maps since 1999 and nothing else so I found Unreal Wiki Mod section which I read like the Bible and I got Occupant17 to run independently in the Community Mod section of UT2004.

Haha! I took the Black Ops, SAS and NeoTokyo Mods apart trying to find out the GUI and System files I needed to make, which had foxed me for weeks but I FINALLY I worked it out :)
 
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AlCapowned

Member
Jan 20, 2010
239
15
18
The terrain is looking very good! I'm wondering, have you had any problems with the monsters in OSMT? I tried using the latest version and the monsters seem really stupid compared to how they were in older versions, but I'm not sure if it's just my problem or not.

Keep it up! It would be great to see a good singleplayer campaign for UT2004.
 

Carbon

Altiloquent bloviator.
Mar 23, 2013
557
10
18
Thanks for the info Median. Yep, working with others can be a pain for a number of reasons I can imagine.

You know, it is clear that a lot of work has gone into this already and more to be done, but if I were you I would release it all together. Things tend to make a bigger splash when they come out complete as opposed to trickling out in bits. Again, I can imagine how hard it is sitting on a project that has consumed so much of your time, but IMO, it might be the best way.

Keep it up mate and keep us posted. It really looks great!
 

Median12

Mapper
Sep 18, 2012
133
3
18
GB
meettomy.site
The NPC's in OSMT (I use the latest version) you have to use the scriptedcharacters and in AI, properites use 'frenzy' and 'patroling' in orders otherwise they just stand there getting shot unless your right close to them, good for thin corridor battles that but use frenzy for large areas. Nothing seems to happen if you change eyesight and aggression for some reason.

I messed with their Alarm trigger tags but they are very good or very bad depending where the NPC is in relation to you. Usually they just crouch down once they been triggered.

They don't follow Pathnodes too well but do move and open doors, use the Use Triggers as well. I am very happy with them.

I changed their mesh's and the textures to some of the ECE Animations/textures.

The smartskeleton mesh or texture cannot be changed unfortunately.

I am releasing the Mod with my only a test-level I made/used to try the Triggers/NPC's out... I *might* add Level 1 so you can get a feel for it and the understand storyline. I see no problem with people having the Intro movie for now.

I don't know why but using the Mod to run the Levels it adds 8 Bots.... very annoying. If you run it from UT2004 no bots. I have to find a way around that. I didn't use Triggered PlayerStarts but messed with Teleporters to make you start further in. Playerstarts cannot move but Teleporters can on attach tag.

I understand uploading the whole thing is a better idea.
 
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Jefe

The Dark Rat
Nov 11, 2008
157
6
18
T E X A S
www.vgmp3.org
Not that your screens look bad, but once you've seen these meshes and textures used in 500 other maps, it's increasingly difficult for them to seem fresh, especially if they are used in the same ways as those other maps. Try to use stock meshes in new and unexpected ways. In your third screen, for example, you've applied other textures to a couple of stock meshes, like a rusty metal texture to those concrete pillars, it looks pretty nice, and I can't say I've seen that mesh look exactly like that. The rock-cliff + terrain stuff in the first and fourth shots, however, a style in use since 2k3's Antalus, does look very dated, as does the mostly bare room in the final shot. (Be careful with corona placement and size, they look way off in that pic.)

I know there aren't a ton of options without making a lot of new stuff, but I do recall that some UT3 cliff meshes were converted (and optimized) for this map by meowcat. Maybe he would let you use some? I think adding something like that, plus varying up the terrain textures (maybe add another layer, a weird color if it's an alien planet?) and adding some more deco meshes, and it would look a lot fresher.

Also a trick I like to use for softer lighting in wide-open maps is to set the fog to a negative distance like -200 along with a sufficiently far distance; it's a really cheap way to simulate light diffusion and get rid of dark black shadows without resorting to UT2004's lame method of applying ambient brightness (which also makes static meshes too bright.) Another trick you can do to get rid of ugly shadows like the one next to the spire in the first shot is set the static mesh to not cast a shadow, then use a negative light where the shadow should be. If the mesh still doesn't look right, set the mesh to special lit, then use dimmer/brighter special lit lights along its vertexes as necessary.

Regarding the bots thing, if you're using a bat file to start the mod, try adding NumBots=0 to the command line. Also, I think some playtesting, even if it's just a privately done test would do a lot of good.
 
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Median12

Mapper
Sep 18, 2012
133
3
18
GB
meettomy.site
It is an Alien Planet.

An acid extraction and treatment Facility due to the planets plentiful supply.

I understand jefe and the StaticMesh you mean is the jribbedcolumn01HA in Humanoid Textures re-textured.

I had found some really nice colourful rust pictures online and converted them to my texture file (nicerust.utx) which will be added to the Mod package.

I have pulled the fog back a lot and yeah the black patches are no good. they are okay now.

The 'Fresh' aspect I know only too well.. :) I re-textured most Staticmeshes and such. I added a few from the ECE Bonus pack maps and from the Ballistic weapons Mod.

Considering the storyline of the game vaguely follows the future llrandri Corp I suppose it should make no difference (I would have loved to use the old Harry Potter game Staticmeshes on Occupant17 but due to copyright I can't).

Numbots=0 I tried before. I might make another UT2k4Mod.ini and re-do the System files then transfer the Maps/Music/Help etc.. into that new one as it could be a bug.
 
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BigSpeck

Member
Aug 1, 2011
32
1
8
Single player mods for UT2004 sounds like a neat idea. I'll definitely keep an eye on this.