AEdm7 - AEon's DM 7 Redux - Final!

[Tabun]

It's pretty damned cool to see those (very old) textures of mine in a neat map. Never did think they'd see any use outside of Generations Arena maps. :]

[AEon]

To add more variation to the crates in the map, Tabun thankfully created a few additional crate texture variations. The crates without "logos" should help tone down the Strogg overdose. Also using silver crates now.

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The crates are ASE models, thus I can finally ignore the texture issues I had with rotating brushes using GTKradiant 1.2.13 (even in the most trivial z-axis rotation cases with texture lock turned *on*). All crates have spawnflags 4 set - I want proper lightmaps.

Note also the Tabun's smudge decals. Should Sock allow the usage of POM (Pyramid of the Magical) greenery, I'll have vegetation hanging from the open ceilings, causing these smudges on the floors. There will be trees pushing trough RL arena floors, and also small plants cracking up floor plates.

[AEon]

Changed the JP leading to the AP. It now connects the RL1 arena with the upper (GL) floor, existing near the TP. This way you can reach the upper floor much more conveniently.

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Also added decorative lights and barrels.

[sock]

Should Sock allow the usage of POM (Pyramid of the Magical) greenery, I'll have vegetation hanging from the open ceilings, causing these smudges on the floors. There will be trees pushing trough RL arena floors, and also small plants cracking up floor plates.

I don't see why not! Remember to get the POM source pack, it has all the ASE/LWO models I used for the plants etc. So you can rotate/scale/remap them as much as you want. Also the source pack contains plant skins I did not used, dark brown/yellow versions which might suit your map better.

If you are still want to use a winter skybox I recently merged an old one of mine with a Hipshot cloudy one. It is a lot better than the one you are currently using but it still odd for your current map. I could do a sandy/rock version instead? let me know if you are interested.

[AEon]

Sock,
thank you to letting me use your greenery. Looking at the POM source files I was very much surprised how you were able to make those "leaves" / "bushes" look good while still using such low-poly patches. Very neat. I'll probably have some questions once I start using your shaders.

One thing I noted you use the command "_remap" on the ASE models. It seems you can re-texture ASE model on the fly? That is something very interesting - if so. Presently I have over 10 crate ASE models, they only vary for the textures, not the "box" brush itself (though the boxes use *2* textures).

If you are still want to use a winter skybox I recently merged an old one of mine with a Hipshot cloudy one. It is a lot better than the one you are currently using but it still odd for your current map. I could do a sandy/rock version instead? let me know if you are interested.

Jo, the only nice things about "my" current skybox is the blue sky and the light. The ice theme is completely off. Will take a closer look at your skybox version. Even though sandy/rock would be better, I'm actually trying to find something like jungle... or abundant greenery. The idea would be the map is places somewhere in the tropics, thus all the erosion and the intrusion of plants in the map.

I am still wondering if it would be possible to take a set of panoramic screenshot in FarCry (i.e. in my jungle-themed AEcanyon), and stitch those together into one env-box. The floor would not really be very important, and the sky could probably be patched together. Trouble is I never tried creating a skybox before.

Anyway, thanks... will start adding your plants to the map, and post some shots... I am really looking forward to seeing some plant life in the map. Those "unseen before" plant textures may turn out to be nifty .

[Fjoggs]

sock, you should come on irc sometimes, im mapping again!

[obsidian]

What server/channel are you guys on?

[AEon]

Added the tree and some vines to the map (from Sock's POM):

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Lighting needs more work on the trees alas. Presently vertex lit.

Sock,
about your vine shader:

Code: Select all

textures/aedm7/pom_vine06		// Dangling from ceiling edges
{
	qer_editorimage textures/aedm7/pom_vine06.tga
	qer_trans 0.99
    // Does not do anything it seems!
	q3map_backShader textures/aedm7/pom_vine06_back
	q3map_vertexScale 2
	qer_alphafunc greater 0.5
	surfaceparm alphashadow
	surfaceparm trans
	surfaceparm nonsolid
	surfaceparm nomarks
	cull none					// Need to see both sides!
	{
		map textures/aedm7/pom_vine06.tga
		rgbGen vertex
		depthWrite
		alphaFunc GE128
	}
}

textures/aedm7/pom_vine06_back
{
	surfaceparm trans
	surfaceparm nonsolid
	surfaceparm nomarks
	{
		map textures/aedm7/pom_vine06.tga
		rgbGen const ( 0.2 0.2 0.2 )
		alphaFunc GE128
	}
}

The way you use them in your map you probably do not *need* to see the other side of the vine textures (shader). I had to add a cull none, to make them visible from both sides. I don't understand what pom_vine06_back is used for in this context though, since in-game I see no difference with or without the shader.

[sock]

The way you use them in your map you probably do not *need* to see the other side of the vine textures (shader).

The back face is a hack to make sure the vines are nice and dark on the back side because they were next to stone walls. If you hang the vines from free standing objects, yes you don't need the backface. Lighting vertex lit models is a huge pain in the arse and you will soon discover this because q3map2 has a habit of making one side of vertex lit polys completely black and then you got to add extra small light entities everywhere to correct the problem.

On a side note if you are going for the greenery route for this map you will need to at some point venture into floor terrain blending because tree's generally don't look good surrounded by concrete. A prime candidate for mud/rock is the lower floor, it will also gives you a good reason to push some of the crates into the ground a bit. (sinking in the mud) I also recommend you add some plants or bunches of plant leaves high up, like the hanging gardens of babylon so it feels more organic above the vines.

[AEon]

Good ideas... been thinking about those things as well. For now I can avoid terrain blending by "breaking" the floor tiles uncovering dirt (earth) below. Your smaller ferns will be showing all over the pace, even in a few indoor area with open sky above them.

The greenery "up there", yes, that would really look nice. I am presently trying to find out how to make the "jungle" out there invade the outer walls of the map convincingly. A "lame" way - that would look good though - would be to copy/paste some of your stone brushwork with greenery on them and place it behind all the walls giving the outdoor areas more depth plus a jungle backdrop. But copying your brushwork would be very un-nifty on my part, but I may be able to create a few low-poly rock faces myself.

Ironically a skybox derived from a panoramic view shot made *in* POM would create a quite fitting skybox texture. That would then be merged with some blue cloudy sky, like the present skybox. Hmm... maybe.


About the _back shader... I had though this is what you were doing, only for me it does not seem to do anything. In POM it seems to work. Will look into this some more.

[obsidian]

The trick is using q3map_cloneShader to create a second shader on the backface (q3map_invert) that takes a different lightmap. Probably can be modified for vertex lit objects as well.

Code: Select all

// Grate 02
textures/obsidian_blastburn_grates/grate02
{
	q3map_cloneShader textures/obsidian_blastburn_zero/grate02_back
	surfaceparm alphashadow
	surfaceparm metalsteps
	surfaceparm nomarks
	surfaceparm trans
	qer_alphaFunc gequal 0.5
	{
		map textures/obsidian_blastburn_grates/grate02.tga
		alphaFunc GE128
		depthWrite
	}
	{
		map $lightmap
		blendFunc filter
		depthFunc equal
		rgbGen identity
	}
}

// Grate 02 backface
textures/obsidian_blastburn_zero/grate02_back
{
	q3map_invert
	surfaceparm alphashadow
	surfaceparm metalsteps
	surfaceparm nomarks
	surfaceparm trans
	qer_alphaFunc gequal 0.5
	{
		map textures/obsidian_blastburn_grates/grate02.tga
		alphaFunc GE128
		depthWrite
	}
	{
		map $lightmap
		blendFunc filter
		depthFunc equal
		rgbGen identity
	}
}

BTW sock, qer_trans does two different things depending on which version of the editor you are using...

GtkRadiant 1.4.0:

• qer_trans
  • texture with no alpha channel: % transparency.
  • texture with alpha channel: alpha tested, alpha'ed parts are 100% transparent if value is less than 1, non-alpha'ed parts are transparent by value. (setting a value of 0.99 makes the non-alpha bits almost opaque, but alpha bits are transparent).
• qer_alphaFunc: does not work.

GtkRadiant 1.5.0:

• qer_trans: controls entire surface transparency.
• qer_alphaFunc gequal 0.5: alpha tests editor image (makes alpha'ed bits 100% transparent leaving the rest opaque).

[sock]

brushwork with greenery on them and place it behind all the walls giving the outdoor areas more depth plus a jungle backdrop

Sounds like an awesome idea, easy and quick to create. If you look at the Pom source map file you will notice there is a strange collections of caulk brushes that are like vertical slices of wall. These are the brushwork templates that were used to create all the rockwork. Pick a template and then follow this tutorial. You will be making rock walls bulging through concrete sections in no time. Once you are finished with the brush movement, just clip the bottom brushes flat and it is done. Also vertical stuff alpha blended is very cool. You could blend the rock to greenery for the top so that it will blend into a skybox easier.

Have you thought about creating a skybox portal? create some low poly brushwork terrain, plant some flat brushwork tree's in the distance and it will be fine as border stuff over the edges of the map. Also create some high rock blocks in the middle ground between skybox and map and stick some ferns over them.

[AEon]

Since the r_speeds are under 7k even *with* the tree models in the map, a skyportal could very well be an option. I had noted your "template wall parts" outside the map. Something like a ringwall, with a few higher rock formations with some plants for the portal could turn out to be nifty. I am still a bit hesitant, because Hipshot's Solar had such a skyportal, and that really impacted the FPS. One idea to *really* save tris would be to take screenshots of the tree, and paste that into the skyportal as "flat" tree decoration. I wonder if there are any jungle tree "spite" textures out there, that way I could actually make the jungle "look" lush. (If that was permissible those in FarCry would have been ideal, only that is not an option alas.)

Are there any good tutorials on skyportals? And on terrain blending?

Will read your tutorial on creating "rock corridors".

[AEon]

Sock,
followed your suggestion about "sinking" crates in "mud" (that gives those crates a really creepy feel). Do not really need to use that many ASE models and textures, surprisingly. Using your "glossy" leaves as waterlilies on all the water surfaces.

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Still need to tweak the lighting on the vertex lit plants though. The above was a test compile to make sure using GTKradiant v1.4 and all the models did not actually break the compile in some way. Everything still seems to work.

Would it be "bad" to actually lightmap all the plants?

[Pat Howard]

I can't remember, wasn't there a forest env in one of the burial grounds map packs? Search on LvL maybe.

Looks great btw, I'd put even more time into what you're doing now. Maybe even dirty up some of the textures if possible b/c some of them look a little clean given the new setting.

[AEon]

Pat,
thanks for the tip. Using the new forest skybox now (from Burial Grounds Map Pak II; bgmp8; skybox created by Mighty Pete), fits perfectly, the new more "up in the sky" sun also casts much more interesting shadows indoors.

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  (Skybox in shot does not look that bad because my in-game 1680x1050 screenshot was scaled down to 640x)

There is only one issue that hopefully a texture artist will be able to improve on. The original texture is 512x512, now it was either scaled up from 256x256 and/or saved at a far to low JPG compression value (50% or worse). The present .tga must have been created from the JPG images, thus show JPG compression artifacts.

• skybox_forest_ae.zip (5.06 MB) (Includes "originals" and my present version.)

I did this to the original images: Magic Wand the sky (Tolerance 50, AA, Contiguous), Despeckle sky selection, Invert Selection, Unsharp Mask non-sky. Removes most JPG artifacts, plus sharpens the landscape a bit.

I am hoping an artist can somehow further improve the skybox images with a few "clever" tricks I am not aware of. Thanks.

[AEon]

Started to experiment with brush rocks (lots of edge dragging). The rocks look relatively nice, though I am finding out you have to customize your rocks, to make them actually stand out in the map where folks will notice them. The present rock wall is simply to high up.

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I'll probably completely replace those outer walls with rock that was "conveniently" carved to fit with the architecture. The back wall here will also have a gate (Tabun's DOOM doors), because I always wondered how all those crates actually made it *into* the base.

Should read Sock's tutorial on rock creation to get the most out of this technique.

[AEon]

Edge editing a rock template replacing the crete walls will a rock formation is *way* too much fun... I have the suspicion I may have to redo it with a less complex template to save some triangles.

Anyway the Quad arena will probably be turned into a cave with "windows" cut into it. Those windows will be quite interesting to accomplish using several wall rock. And a few other walls will also have protruding rocks. They simply look too cool not to use them all over the place. Between the rock walls and my paths the free space will be used to plant some plants... "may the r_speeds stay with me".

[v1l3]

You're gonna have to tell Tigger-On to review this map..since it's kind of like a milestone map persay, like pom and several other maps. It looks amazing and original. I was amazed with Qfraggel's new map, and I didn't expect to be seeing something at that level coming out so soon. It comes a long ways from aedesert..Very Cool! Quite amazing when a mapper makes something that is worth money(imo) for free.
I'm not trying to kiss ass I just get excited..I can't wait to play it.

[Pat Howard]

Yeah I also have to say there is just something about this map that makes me very excited to play it. That almost never happens .

[AEon]

... hope it will live up to the expectations.

When I look at my beta 1 levelshot and compare it to the present arena, its quite strange to see how much "better" and more detailed you can actually make the map by adding deco textures, crates, barrels, some water, rock and especially greenery. I catch myself running through the map looking for the next plant .

The vertex lighting of the plants in a few areas is going to be a real pain though. I double-checked in POM, and even Sock had problems lighting the trees. I did a quick test using "spawnflags 4" on all the models, especially the plants, that did not really work, because the plant shaders are explicitly written for vertex lighting (as I later noted). My guess is that all-out lightmap usage on models will probably double the BSP file size. Though I'd expect many of the "black" plant issues to go away. And the light compile times will probably also "explode".

Anyway, I hope to release a beta 2, after the RL2 arena rock wall looks presentable. Mainly to get some feedback on the slightly changed layout / gameflow due to closing off two paths, plus the one changed JP.

[AEon]

A first impression of the replaced crete wall in the RL2 arena using rock. Rock wall on the right has yet to be worked on, using "flat" templates for now. I just noted that the phong shading is messed up because I use func_group for every wall "strip" (template), also the manually placed strong lights need to be toned down.

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Alas the rock wall is hard to screenshot, due to the tree and the tubes in the way. Hmmm... I may be adding detail were it can barely be seen. Worst case r_speeds at 11k, but a bit of hinting should bring that down by about 1k.

[Pat Howard]

Jurassic Park...

[cityy]

Oh please give us an update - I wanna play this cutie

[AEon]

Jurassic Park...

Come to think of it, that shot does remind of the movie. Might be hilarious to add a "dinosaur" roar that either gets rarely (randomly) triggered or when you actually touch that gate