Catastrophe in Copenhagen

Lithtech Jupiter engine

Aggy
Member
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:02 pm

Post by Aggy » Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:04 pm

Hey folks

I have an idea of a kewl map.. I've drawed my thoughts:

Image

I need help to make The Little Mermaid... someone good at 3D models?

Image

And a person who got some experience with mapping..

The Round Tower looks like this:

Image

What do ya all think?

ty :D

My msn is Askervruge@hotmail.com

User avatar
Spawn
Admin
Admin
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:50 am
Location: Norway
Contact:

Post by Spawn » Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:19 pm

It looks like a cool idea Aggy :D

The sad part is that I don't have much time for mapping these days.. I already have a map that I barely work on :unsure:
Image

Aggy
Member
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:02 pm

Post by Aggy » Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:33 pm

Thats ok champ!

Feel free to contact me if you get some time :=)

User avatar
SPYDAVE
Pegasus Modteam
Pegasus Modteam
Posts: 302
Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2004 4:52 am
Contact:

Post by SPYDAVE » Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:49 pm

Why don't you have a try at it yourself? ... Granted you will not be able to model the mermaid with not prior experirence, but the rest I'm sure with a little hard work and determination you can manage (no one expects a masterpiece) ...

I'm afraid you'll find that most people who did map for the games have moved on ... so I'm afraid you won't have any takers.

Also ... if you do attempt it some advice ... you have a straight clear path from base to base ... not only is that going to hurt gameplay but the performance of the level as well. The engine will have to be drawing the entire map ... put some buildings on the sides and some in the middle (make it more maze like).

All the docs have a section on optomization in levels ... read that and understand it before even attempting to draw out an outline for a level. Not trying to discourage you but ... nothing is worse than spending days / months on a level that runs like crap and no one enjoys playing ... just trying to save you from that is all ...
Image

Aggy
Member
Member
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2006 3:02 pm

Post by Aggy » Mon Feb 27, 2006 6:20 pm

Ok bud, thx for the advice!

CateArcher
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 439
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2006 7:04 am
Location: Australia/Down under

Post by CateArcher » Mon Feb 27, 2006 9:00 pm

Wow that an awsome map but im no good to ya wen it cums to map makin sorry
i just get reallly confused :wacko:
Image

User avatar
Spawn
Admin
Admin
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:50 am
Location: Norway
Contact:

Post by Spawn » Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:30 pm

btw, you probably don't need a model for the mermaid if you place it outside the playable area :)

It could be made by using a regular alphamask (transparent) texture on a cylinder wall or something.

And yeah, what Spydave said there is a great tip :thumb:
Image

User avatar
Belladonna
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 260
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2004 8:12 pm
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA!!

Post by Belladonna » Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:16 am

Looking good, Aggy. I'd help if I could, but I made one attempt at mapping and ended up wanting to pull my hair out. Where is a good Dedit for Dummies book when you need one? :P

So you're saying having a large open map causes performance problems, Spydave? Or am I misunderstanding you?

User avatar
Spawn
Admin
Admin
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:50 am
Location: Norway
Contact:

Post by Spawn » Wed Mar 01, 2006 5:36 pm

Yeah, He's totally right there :)

but having fog in a wide open map will help to reduse lag a little though..
Image

User avatar
SPYDAVE
Pegasus Modteam
Pegasus Modteam
Posts: 302
Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2004 4:52 am
Contact:

Post by SPYDAVE » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:51 am

Belladonna wrote: So you're saying having a large open map causes performance problems, Spydave? Or am I misunderstanding you?
There's alot of things that can hurt performance in a map. Big open areas are usually the biggest downfall (especially for new mappers) ... It's not the size of the area but what's in the area that matters. The more surfaces (or polies) the engine sees the more it draws. You can have a huge area as long as you don't have alot of details in the surroundings. You can block visibility (vis) with walls, fences, cliffs (brushes) and you can hide vis blocking brushes behind these things ... using that alot of outdoor areas are really (as far as the engine is concerned) just a bunch of connecting rooms ... to the player of course they don't see rooms.

There's so much info about optomizing levels in the docs I wouldn't want to go through it all but basically the principle is ... you don't want alot of polies in one place ... even a small area (highly detailed) with alot of polies can hurt performance a bigger area just has more potential to get filled with detail. Also ... you have to take into account the player models that will be in the game ... the engine has to draw those as well ...
Image

User avatar
Belladonna
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 260
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2004 8:12 pm
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA!!

Post by Belladonna » Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:32 am

Oh, okay. Huh. Interesting. So a map like Sunset Showdown... which appears pretty open when you're outside... by having the hill in the middle that cuts down on performace issues, right?

I doubt I'll ever get around to mapping, but I think about it from time to time.

User avatar
SPYDAVE
Pegasus Modteam
Pegasus Modteam
Posts: 302
Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2004 4:52 am
Contact:

Post by SPYDAVE » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:24 pm

The high cliff walls will help with vis blocking ... also I know Fats used vis blocking brushes in his map ... alot of things work together to help performance. Basically the engine does some vis blocking on it's on ... alot the developer needs to setup so the engine knows what to draw and when ... and all these depend largely on map layout design ...
Image

User avatar
SPYDAVE
Pegasus Modteam
Pegasus Modteam
Posts: 302
Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2004 4:52 am
Contact:

Post by SPYDAVE » Fri Mar 03, 2006 2:22 am

Oh and btw ... it's alot easier to make good looking terrain with a low poly count versus buildings and structures ... Coty's the best I've ever seen at it (less polies and maintaining realism) ...
Image

User avatar
Spawn
Admin
Admin
Posts: 1310
Joined: Sun Jul 25, 2004 12:50 am
Location: Norway
Contact:

Post by Spawn » Fri Mar 03, 2006 10:13 am

Yeah, the montana terrain looks amazing :D
and it runs really good :thumb:
Image

sonic goo
Senior Member
Senior Member
Posts: 258
Joined: Sun Oct 02, 2005 9:36 pm

Post by sonic goo » Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:35 pm

vis blocking brushes
I think the word we need is 'occluders'.
Image

Post Reply
jedwabna poszewka 50x60