[Final] Quadwell

[DaEngineer]

EDIT: The map is now final, you can download it for classic Quake 3 and Quake Live on my website.

It has been around 6 years since I've posted a map here. I finally wanted to create a really nice looking one with the skills I've gathered since then, so here it is. It will most likely be my last Quake 3 Map, because I want to focus more on UE4/UT4 now.

[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-13-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-10-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-17.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-16.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-11.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-12.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-14-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-03.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-15-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-05-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-06.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-18.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-04.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-08.jpg[/lvlshot]

In the spoiler below are the screenshots from Beta3, the last iteration before the final release.

[spoiler][lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-04-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-01-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-09-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-03-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-05-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-07-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-02-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-06-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-10-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-08-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/teleporter-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot][/spoiler]

About the map
My goal was to create a small Tourney/FFA/TDM map for 2-4 players. 3 player FFA was the most fun for me when testing it.
The level spirals counter-clockwise from bottom to top around one hall with a pillar in the middle. In the past I've had problems with too many large and open areas, that's why I've condensed the level this time and tried to get creative with jumping around the map. I'm not a pro player, so it's not too complicated to perform any of the jumps, but I felt they helped a lot to get a nice flow.

ToDos / Bugs / Known problems

• Gameplay feedback from you guys would be great. I'm quite content with the way the items are placed and how the map is connected, but there is most likely something that can be done better
• The performance is a problem. Q3 doesn't handle the tri count and many alpha surfaces well and I've not yet VIS optimized the level
• The jump pad vents don't have sound
• The tree trunk and branches have sharp lighting edges. This happens with lightmapped meshes and so far I couldn't find a solution for it

Development up to this point
If you are interested in how the map developed from the start, take a look here. The automatic translation is a little wonky, but there are a some pictures from the early stages when the level was meant to become a cyberpunk styled back alley. If some of the attached screenshot do not show up there, try reloading the page.

Download
You can download the map on my website.

[Fjoggs]

It looks really cool. I ran around on it last month, but forgot to comment. The performance is absolutely ridicolous. IIRC you had triscounts in the hundred-thousands? Either way, my Ryzen 1800x and nvidia 1070 gpu actually experienced fps drops I think

At this point though, it doesn't really matter. I probably wouldn't bother fixing it, unless it was selected for one of the regular cpma tourneys still going on.

Love the brick+nature style, and the lighting is really good.

Good work!

[Obsessed]

Hi, Victor! As for me, the level is a bit too open for it's compact size and needs a little expansion (especially near SG, where the garage-style door is). It might be worth adding PG instead of a SG, and putting SG here, no?

The whole level seems to be superb, vertical gameplay r00lz, definitely!
You going to add 2 teleporters or I'm mistaken?

[DaEngineer]

This map was stuck in a close-to-finished state for 4 years now, but I finally gave it a last push.

[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-04-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-09-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-07-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/teleporter-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]

I've updated the pictures and fixed the broken download link in the first posting of this thread. Scroll back up to see all of the latest pictures, I didn't want to repost every single one here in this posting.

Changes since the last version

• better performance
• added new playable areas to the map
• added a stair to the center area to connect a route that was previously a one-way ledge down to the center
• created backdrop areas around the level (hills with forest, more buildings, partially opened some of the blue gates) to make everything feel more like a real location
• added a new teleporter model
• optimized the tree and fern meshes
• added a pulley mesh
• moved one of the two teleporters to a different location
• moved items around
• adjusted water sounds, added sounds for jump pad fans, teleporters and the quad area
• tweaked lighting

You can download the map on my website. Let me know if you can find any graphical issues or have gameplay feedback, so I can make some final adjustments if necessary.

[Theftbot]

I get a q3 error:

[Theftbot]

solution: https://www.katsbits.com/smforum/index.php?topic=744.0

[Eraser]

I ran into the same problem.
I found it's the window1.jpg texture that's causing the problem. All other textures are fine.
I opened the texture file in Paint.NET, hit the save button and that fixed it for me. Makes me wonder how DaEngineer managed to play his own map then. Even ioQuake crashes because of this.

I'm going to quote the solution you linked to here just so it's preserved just in case Kat's website goes down before Q3W does:

> Requested feature was omitted at compile time
This problem occurs if you're using a jpg saved with progressive encoding as your levelshot [or texture]. Use standard encoding instead.

[Eraser]

Ok, I gave the map a playthrough against bots. What a work of art! It's absolutely gorgeous, and it plays well too!

Submit this to Lvl and I'll write you a proper review

[DaEngineer]

Thank both of you for figuring that out. I've uploaded a new version where window1.jpg and the levelshot are resaved without the Progressive flag. I forgot to test the last version in vanilla Quake 3 on Windows. I was using Quake3e on Linux, which didn't throw any errors.

The new pk3 is slightly smaller, because I have removed the .ase models. I've noticed that they aren't needed because they are apparently baked into the bsp. I would never have noticed that if Eraser wouldn't have mentioned it in the EntityPlus thread. I might scale some of the textures down in an upcoming version to save more space, because the textures folder is quite large (50mb) for a Quake 3 map.

Ok, I gave the map a playthrough against bots. What a work of art! It's absolutely gorgeous, and it plays well too!

Submit this to Lvl and I'll write you a proper review

Thank you, happy to read that! I will once I'm sure I don't find anything else that needs to be fixed.

[Eraser]

I might scale some of the textures down in an upcoming version to save more space, because the textures folder is quite large (50mb) for a Quake 3 map.

Aw no don't do that! I think the high res textures are making it look very crisp and modern. And what's 50mb more when people have gigabit internet connections these days.

[DaEngineer]

Good point, there's probably no need to overoptimize areas that don't really hurt anyone. Besides, resizing textures makes it necessary to adjust the horizontal and vertical stretch on all affected faces.

[Theftbot]

great map

[v1l3]

I like!

[Obsessed]

Let me know if you can find any graphical issues or have gameplay feedback, so I can make some final adjustments if necessary.

hi! very nice to see you've finished it at last! the only issue I've noticed - there's no clip brushes (L/R side of this [only] arch):
[spoiler][/spoiler]

[DaEngineer]

@Theftbot and @v1l3: Thank you!
@Obsessed: Thank you for finding that, it's fixed now.

I've made some changes and uploaded a new version. Here's the changelog:

- Clipped two walls at the YA teleporter to keep the player from getting stuck
- Textured some surfaces out of bounds that were caulked but could potentially be seen if you really tried
- Rotated some brick textures on bevels by 90°
- Deleted some stray duplicated endcaps in background building windows
- Fixed some misaligned endcaps in background building windows
- Replaced the white plaster background on the arched window texture (window1.jpg) with bricks. This fixes the thin visible line of white plaster on arched windows
- Removed four unused textures from the pk3
- reduced -dirtscale from 4 to 2, replaced -scale 1.2 with -gamma 1.2. This makes the map slighty brighter overall and especially helps with super dark shadows under ferns

[Eraser]

Soooo is this the final version or is it going to be close-to-finished for another four years? :p

[DaEngineer]

Really close to final, but I'm not there yet I've added more details since the last version, fixed some things, tweaked the lighting (thanks to cityy's recent thread) and improved the skybox. There will be a new version within the next couple of days.

[DaEngineer]

The map is now finally done. The most noticeable improvement is the new lighting. I've added a new eye candy area out of reach and made various small fixes and changes. I'll sent it to lvlworld soon. As usual, you can grab the latest version on my website.

Here are the latest pictures, full change log below.

[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-13-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-10-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-17.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-16.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-11.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-12.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-14-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-03.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-15-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-05-1024x576.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-06.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-18.jpg[/lvlshot]
[lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-04.jpg[/lvlshot] [lvlshot]https://victorkarp.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Victor-Karp-Quake-3-Quadwell-Final-08.jpg[/lvlshot]

Lighting improvements

• Used the q3map2 switches from cityy's lighting thread. Mine are slightly different, but the concept is the same: -light -extlmhacksize 1024 -brightness 2 -bounce 3 -dark -dirtdepth 32 -dirtscale 3 -dirty -exposure 200 -patchshadows -bouncescale 2 -shade -cpma -samples 3 -fastbounce -samplesize 4
• Boosted the vibrance and saturation and tweaked the color balance of the external lightmaps
• Rotated the skybox by 180° to make the lighting and shadows more interesting and less flat
• Shifted the large round ceiling lights' hue from light yellow towards orange
• Added a blue point light to the Quad platform. Previously only the ceiling was lit and the floor looked a bit dull
• Moved and removed some lamps and removed most point lights because they were no longer nessary due to the new light compiling switches
• Ivy planes now use q3map_shadeangle, which removes hard light and shadow edges on ivy planes that are wrapped around pillars and corners

Texture improvements

• Made the skybox colors more vibrant and saturated
• Removed the dark gaps on the wooden planks texture that formed individual planks. This improves the look of many wooden walkways that had this dark texture gap on the edges of individual planks
• Replaced all remaining appearances of the standard Quake 3 wood texture with the new wood texture

Mesh improvements

• The teleporter mesh is now unlit, the lighting is entirely prebaked in Blender. I previously had collapsed the PBR material in Substance Painter down to a Diffuse texture and then lit the mesh using q3map2, but the results from doing this in Blender are better. The only drawback is that the lighting does not fit the environment exactly, but that was a compromise I was willing to make
• Birch trunks are rounder (from 4 sides to 8) and the bent birch trunk is now mapped correctly
• Ferns now use lightmaps instead of vertex lighting

Level improvements

• One of the buildings now has open windows that allow you to look into its abandoned and overgrown top floor
• Redesigned the railgun roof. Things looks less messy and random now
• Moved the Railgun ammo and the three 5HP bubbles to the opposite side of the small room and added a tree
• Removed the wooden frame around the small blue door close the Grenade Launcher and moved the door into the wall
• Added more trees
• Added two large windows to walls that looked a bit empty
• Replaced some gray brick walls with red ones
• Large floor tiles were oftentimes cut in half or didn't align nicely with the surrounding geometry. I've cut up many large floor tiles and replaced them with smaller ones for more appealling patterns
• Shingles of the broken house with the blue pipe are more detailed, fixed some misaligned textures on them
• Added ferns on top of the house with the broken roof and blue pipe
• Diagonally clipped off two large roof areas of the central house above the Quad to match the house shape

Fixes

• Adjusted the step size of the three wooden walkway stairs above the Grenade Launcher area. The steps were too irregular before, which caused a jerky camera movement when you walked on them
• Fixed some brush faces on wooden walkways that were entirely black
• Corrected the water shader's blending mode
• Fixed the z-position of countless ferns that were floating 1 unit above the ground.
• Fixed z-fighting in some spots
• Fixed some small geometry gaps

[Eraser]

Hooray!!

Congratulations on this outstanding release!

[v1l3]

Excellent work ... thanks for finishing this up!!

[Hipshot]

This is pretty cool! There are some really nice angles and views you get in this map. Like, it's fun to explore levels like this.

[DaEngineer]

Thank you guys The map is in lvlworld's map queue and I've also made a Quake Live version. There will be a lite version with regular lightmapscale and fewer props soon, because I've heard that the performance is too bad for competitive play.

[Obsessed]

the concept is the same: -light -extlmhacksize 1024 -brightness 2 -bounce 3 -dark -dirtdepth 32 -dirtscale 3 -dirty -exposure 200 -patchshadows -bouncescale 2 -shade -cpma -samples 3 -fastbounce -samplesize 4

if you know how K1llsen pronounces it, imagine his voice here: "- Oh, my God!"
congrats with the finishing of the map!

[Whiskey 7]

Hooray!!

Congratulations on this outstanding release!

It has all been said but still I throw in my thanks DaEngineer

[Johnny Law]

Congrats on bringing it home. :-) Pleasant aesthetic. I particularly like the subtle two-toning of brick layers, and the really nice shadow variation that brings out the feeling of poking around through a structure that is just lit by the sun. (Without hurting playable visibility.) Also good job using the photoreal-ish ground cover textures, often those can look pretty jank in environments from this era of game engines. The partly-open rolling doors and the inaccessible buildings you can see into, those are :chefkiss: touches.

Gameplay-wise, eh I've just played with bots for a bit so what do I know? Feels like a map this size should have more armor? ... in FFA mode, other than shards I only saw one armor (yellow). But it sounds like you go with a smaller playercount than I would here. Anyway, you've got some wicked sightlines for rail craziness going on and generally it seems like good times!

It does chug a bit on my over-a-decade-old Quake-playing computer but that's life.

Did you put a "slippery" shader on the central roof surfaces to foil RJ campers?

I appreciate you sharing bits of your process, and your light args. If you are in the mood to share the .map file that would be interesting to look at too (but I understand if not).

Cheers!