Running Mental Beta1 - Bigfoot's come back

[bigfoot]

:icon25: Hey Dudes !

I'm an old member of this forum, i had lost my password and spent a lot of time in my studies etc these 2 past years.
I remember names like : Anwulf, wishkey7, qkennyq, amethyst, q, etc

So, I keep on mapping sometimes and managed to finish this one, that i would like to share with you for comments.
I know there are some things to fix, but i would like comments on the general gameplay and item placement.

screenie :



you can download it Here

Thanks

P.S : really happy to be back here :icon26:

[+JuggerNaut+]

wb back, man. you might get lucky and get your old account back. try posting here:

http://www.quake3world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=315

p.s. that's a nice looking map.

[Scourge]

I remember you. Very interesting looking map. I see you have an ATI card as well.

[Hipshot]

For you next beta, fix those sky lines, blend the bottom of the level with the sky =)

[Fjoggs]

welcome back. i remember this temple map, but not the name. :P

[Scourge]

but not the name. :P

For shame. But I guess you weren't around at that time.

edit: Well if you saw the map, then I guess you were, but not paying attention.

[schwim]

the map looks incredibly sweet, finally got it downloaded... thanks for putting this one up!

[EDIT]The .aas is b0rked, and the bots just sit until you tag them. Fix that, and it'll be on my nightly run due to the neat layout.[/EDIT]

thanks,
json

[bigfoot]

thanks dudes for quick comments, I posted it yesterday night and when i woke up this morning, there are 6 replies already, cool :-) !!

To answer to you all :

Hipshot : what do you mean by "blend the bottom of the level with the sky" ? can you explin me more (sorry, long time i did'nt speak english ;-) )

fjoggs and scourge34 : for information, this map has been sleeping on my hard drive for a long time, never posted it here.
The biggest maps i made were named : fortress of the lost souls, egyptian dreams, or nemesis payback (ctf), but thanks to remember me :-p !

schwim : yeah you're right, had a lot of problems with botplay even before posting it here, they were constantly jumping in the void before i put botclips in strategic points.
It's not everytime but that's right that sometimes bots stay frozen in a specific place. Don't really know how i can fix it, any ideas ?

Thanks

[obsidian]

Hey Bigfoot, welcome back.

We've found better ways to create skyboxes to fix the skybox seams issue on modern video cards, especially ATI ones.

I think Hipshot means that you should put fog in the bottom of the map and then use a mask in the sky the same colour as your fog

Something you may want to read (screenshots dead though):
http://www.quake3world.com/ubb/Archives ... 27973.html?

Instead of botclip, use donotenter. Botclip will prevent you from, say bouncing a bot into the void with a rocket since they will collide with the botclip as if it were a solid wall. Donotenter is a very strong suggestion for the bot to not enter that area, but they can be pushed in.

If you are compiling your maps, you should be using -bsp -meta. Consequently, when compiling your AAS, you also need to use the BSPC switch -forcesidesvisible. That should prevent the bots from being braindead and frozen in place.

[v1l3]

Cool map. It kind of reminds me of Hipshot's last map he just put out (which has lines also..heh)

Do you have any links up, to download the three maps you did in the past? I'd like to check them out if you do.

[Fjoggs]

edit: Well if you saw the map, then I guess you were, but not paying attention.

You think I remember the name of every single map posted here?

bigfoot: fortress of the lost souls was the map I meant.

[Hipshot]

@ bigfoot, well, as Obs said, I meant that you either should blend the bottom of the maps base, to fit the colors of the skybox, this method requires you to edit the sky box and also use either a fog to cover the ground, or in this case what would be even better vertex alpha. OR, you could make it a floater (which could be cool also) with some nice base, beams or whatever.

The skylines as I mentioned, check this out for the latest fix ( http://www.quake3world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22941 ) also, read the thread that Obs linked to, it has more info and a older fix, kinda the same though.

About the overall style, I think it looks good, I don't like the looks of the sky though, I think you might wanna go for something less sweat, more dramatic.

[Scourge]

edit: Well if you saw the map, then I guess you were, but not paying attention.

You think I remember the name of every single map posted here?

bigfoot: fortress of the lost souls was the map I meant.

Sorry about the confusion, I thought you meant his name. :icon30:

[bigfoot]

thanks obs for informations, i'll read the thread about skyboxes 'cause it's not clear for me.

But, what program do you use for making the aas file ? i use q3build, i don't know any other way to.
I do compile my maps in gtk with "(simulate old style -light -extra) BSP -meta - vis -light -super2"
Can you make an aas file into gtk ?

Concerning the botplay, i have tried to put botdonotenter, but they were still jumping in the void automatically.

For my previous maps, i'll put them online in the next weeks, time to remake the pk3 files and upload them, no problem guys ;-)

++

[Scourge]

Concerning the botplay, i have tried to put botdonotenter, but they were still jumping in the void automatically.

Have you put some 'nodrop' down there so that weapons don't stay and attract bots?

[Hipshot]

Make a batfile, put it inside the Q3map2 folder, copy the map from your /maps folder

Code: Select all

q3map2.exe -v -meta -patchmeta -subdivisions 64 "my.map"

q3map2.exe -convert "my.bsp"

run the batfile and after a sec you can find your "prefab" as a ASE model in the same dir. Move it to the model dir and your subfolder.

[wattro]

nice map =)

needs a big tall huge centerpiece that reaches to the sky (the area where you have the highest up teleporter maybe...)

maybe some fog at the bottom to hide the pillar bottoms that just seem to stop (judging from the pics)

$0.02

[bigfoot]

ok hipshot... Where is the q3map2 folder ??

Sorry but, this technic part of compilation is really unknown for me at this time, but it's time to learn :-)

EDIT : tried to put fog in the bottom of the map, does'nt work with the skybox shader, i'm making some tests to find a solution.

thanks wattro :-)

++

concerning botplay, of course there is a nodrop brush in the bottom, but i don't know why, bots can't resist the calling of the void maybe

[Hipshot]

Get Q3map2 first. ( http://www.quake.de/files/quake3/tools/ ... 32_x86.zip )
Install it where you like, I have mine in /Quake3/Q3map2

[4days]

nice map

add the fog if you can get it working, and make the columns supporting the map run lower down into the fog - it's odd if you fall off the edges at the moment because you don't fall very far before you die and the columns just stop in space.

on the jump pad with the invisible redirection back into the main map area, maybe you could add a floating jump pad so that people can see where they're going? the redirection feels awkward without the visual clue.

[obsidian]

But, what program do you use for making the aas file ? i use q3build, i don't know any other way to.
I do compile my maps in gtk with "(simulate old style -light -extra) BSP -meta - vis -light -super2"

Q3build is just a frontend program that creates a batch file to run the actual compilers.

Q3Map2.exe is the compiler of choice that handles BSP, VIS and LIGHT stages of map compiling among a few other things.

bspc.exe is the compiler used to generate AAS files.

I recommend using Q3Map2Toolz as a front end instead of Q3build (which is outdated) or the old fashioned batch file if you know how to write one.

Regardless, you need to add the -forcesidesvisible switch when compiling your AAS file with bspc.exe.

[Todtsteltzer]

Welcome back, bigfoot.

...on the jump pad with the invisible redirection back into the main map area, maybe you could add a floating jump pad so that people can see where they're going? the redirection feels awkward without the visual clue.

I really like the map so far, but I've the same feeling about these "curved" jumps. In fact I fall into the void most of the times when trying the jump to get the RG (via the acceleration pad). I think you should come up with something better.
Item placement: I would reduce the amount of ammo boxes, add a second YA (haven't found a good place for it yet though) and maybe exchange MH and Quad.

[Hipshot]

The est method would still be to vertex alpha the bottom of the map, when it looks like this, it's cheaper, easier and more flexible.

[bigfoot]

ok guyz, i think i'm beginning to understand the thing.

I got q3map2, but can't find q3map2toolz to d/l, does someone has a link to give, excepted fileplanet plz ?

When i make the bat file, it creates me a .bsp, .prt, .ase and a .srf file

I think the bsp file goes into the "map" folder in baseq3, but the others ...

Another question : i would like to put ydnar's moving sky in the map, would be great, but don't know how to get it working (shader is a bit complex for me)
i mean the sky which inf used in his speedmap.

thanks 4days and Todtsteltzer, i'll think about U both said.

Thanks obs too for explanations, i think q3map2tools would be a real greater compiler but can't get my hands on it grr !!

[bigfoot]

i managed to make a compile with a batfile, and put ydnar sky, cool !! but there's a problem, the lighting is not made i think, look how it's odd



how to solve that ?

i took all the files created by the batfile and put them into the "maps" folder in baseq3