The Making of CTF-Dreary3

[Bazzwano]

Dammit, I just posted my excitement as I thought I finished the actual geometry and meshing but I fully forgot about the room with the shield belt, when I posted that.. O well. Ill still post some update images.. but Im sooo close to finishing, so all i have to do is the room that connects the top paths, that contains the shield and the bio gun, at least from memory I think thats where the bio goes.

Quick update to show my new flag room.

 

[Mr. UglyPants]

Ya might have to delve back into the map to make sure.

But man, that lightning is going to be soo cool.

 

[Bazzwano]

I would like peoples Opinion, In the centre where the lifts are located, the Singer at this stage is located on the lower level and the health remains on the top level, how do people feel about that. on the origanal, the lower level had neather and both the stinger and helth were on the top level..

Also I have added something that no version of dreay has ever had (thanks to mruglypants who sparked this Idea back in march when we were discussing my thoughts on making dreary) he told me that I would have to add some new route or something of the like to make it a bit more exciting, so I have increased the number of ways the flag runner can return by adding an elevator that will lift the player up to the shock rifle area located just outside the flag room, this will allow the flat carrier to traverse the pipe beams along the top of the map on the way back to base.

Any thoughts on this?

 

[Anuban]

I'm all for whatever it is you decide to do with this level. Your prev CTF level is still the best around and so I will just defer to your wisdom.

 

[Bazzwano]

yay done the Bio room, I gave it a test in game, was finny that the FPS was higher then the game menu IU haha funny
anyway, I did this room REAL quick, now that im close to finishing, I didn't need to come up with any new ideas. I used mesh arrangements that I did in other rooms..

I made this room allot bigger then the original, simply because I feel It should be a large room. ummm yeh not allot to say about it. Just hope you like the look.

Here are some shots showing the last area I needed done.
I also updated the Bio room pictures on the other page. Im going to replace these nasty PNGs with JPEGS, as its not easy on dial up users.

Currently testing my final build, before release

 

[vybz]

wah does that mean there's going to be a release today?

 

[Bazzwano]

I have some sad sad news.... and I must say its very upsetting after the amount of work Iv put into the map... there seems to be some performance issues that Iv noticed once I played the map on my sig machine,

First off Iv had to remove the Lightning effects altogether, as It was a HUGE performance hog, reducing frame rates into the 10's sometimes... SO sadly that had do go

Edit, Fixed the Studders

PS: map is 65MB

 

[toniglandyl]

good luck optimizing the map then

 

[Bazzwano]

At this stage It runs quite well, but at the cost of no lightning... which is quite disappointing.. but I'm sure people will still love it without that... Iv got a few people looking into it... though I don't think there is anything I can do to keep the lightning..

 

[TheIronKnuckle]

You could search for a different way of implementing it. A way that can be easily optimised and doesn't hog system resources.
Or you could find a replacement effect if the level really feels like it is missing out without the light effects.

 

[Bazzwano]

Hi everyone...
Lets put your hands together for DGUNREAL, after I found that my map was unplayable with the lightning I found a solution thanks to DG who showed me what I did wrong, and helped me to understand what the engine was doing when the lightning striked, I already optimized the lightning in most areas but I did not in the main vest rooms, but I have now As im determined to keep it in..

Basically To give a comparison. the total lightmap of my map was 70MB, compare that to deck or hydro of arround 18-20MB so as you can see mine was quite high. This is why my map file was 65MB, thats 20MB more then Hydrosis. So thanks to DG who sugested using allot more light maps and less vertex lightning, After changing a few settings my lightmaps currently 18MB

But Iv been advised to warn those with a low end gaming PC that you will most likly not be able to play this map.. But ill say that if you can play epics most demanding maps then you should be able to play this one.

The thing that will make it dificult for Low end gaming PCs is the ammount of mesh detail that I have put in. to give you a comparison, deck and hydrosis is about 2.25 Million triangles and my map is 6.25 million triangles. I consider my culling volume to be quite aggressive so it will cull allot of this out. But I dont want to change this because this is the level of detail that I wanted and im not going to remove any key meshes.

My testers seem to be running the last version almost just as good as epics maps (which is unfare to be disapointed if it doesnt because it does have better visuals) so anyway I think everyone will be happy to hear they should get an extra 10 - 20 FPS

To give those low to mid range users and Idea:
I make and test this map on a AMD 3500 (939), with 2GB ram and 2x7800gt's SLI, now this PC is quite poor at playing UT, my high settings give me 30-50 FPS in corret and basicly between 30 - 50FPS on most epics maps.
on this PC playing my Map I mainly average in the 45Fps. So in my opinion if you can play epics map - you can play mine

So the good new is at this stage Lightning IS included, but I have taken out my kismet Pot mover which I do not like anymore.

 

[Anuban]

So what version do I have? Should I even bother testing it or wait until you send the testers the latest one. Let me know ... I plan to spend time PC gaming on Friday and that's when I'll be testing your level.

 

[RennyManJr]

The thing that will make it dificult for Low end gaming PCs is the ammount of mesh detail that I have put in. to give you a comparison, deck and hydrosis is about 2.25 Million triangles and my map is 6.25 million triangles.

Did you make use of the LOD filters to cut some details out for those who want to play with lower detail settings? You can really help someone gain a lot of more extra fps with this...

 

[Mr. UglyPants]

Poor pots, they will be missed.

 

[Bazzwano]

So what version do I have? Should I even bother testing it or wait until you send the testers the latest one. Let me know ... I plan to spend time PC gaming on Friday and that's when I'll be testing your level.

Its not easy for me to upload so that version you have is the only version ill distribute for testing, I wouldn't even call it testing, I think that's something I can do myself, I gave that file out early as a thanks to those who have supported me and also too get game play related feedback. so sorry Anuban ull have to work with what you have got, No tester so far has found a "bug" even though I know of several in that file (fixed already) the feed back im looking for exsample "lifts are to slow" that's what im after.

Did you make use of the LOD filters to cut some details out for those who want to play with lower detail settings? You can really help someone gain a lot of more extra fps with this...

not as yet, only on transparency any effects.. but ill look into it for meshes also

Poor pots, they will be missed.

Did you see the shadow (light function) that I made special for that... work wasted.. o well, its just gota do.. Ill leave the trackes in though.. they look kool