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Topic Starter Topic: AEdm7R - AEon's DM7 for Reflex - (D/L)

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PostPosted: 11-24-2014 01:44 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


As with any new project, you need something that motivates you to try to push the limits. And since the only map I really liked lately was AEdm7... I am going to try to recreate an abstract version of it (much lower brush count) for Reflex. IMO, AEdm7 had many things working, regarding proportions and gameflow, and it should be interesting to see if Q3A sizes are compatible with Reflex dimensions.

This is also an interesting opportunity to do something totally different from what I have seen in other Reflex maps. And having GTKradiant open on one monitor, with all dimensions marked out and Reflex on the other side should quickly have the layout built. I am hoping in a few days. Detailing would then be another step.

Since you cannot rotate brushes, and I have not been able to figure out how clipping brushes works yet... this may feel like shooting yourself in the foot... but hey... here goes.




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PostPosted: 11-24-2014 09:46 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Slightly less vapour mapping... this is how far I got after 6 hours (according to Steam). Using two monitors, left GTKradiant original AEdm7 map, right side Reflex (window mode)... interaction between the editors is surprisingly fluid. Though I do wish W,S,A,D would work in 3D view in GTKradiant... this works in Reflex... "yeah!".

    Attachment:
    reflex 2014-11-24 18-12-46-50.jpg
    reflex 2014-11-24 18-12-46-50.jpg [ 639.11 KB | Viewed 558 times ]

Obviously all very crimson alpha... using colour columns that should actually be a different texture. Depending on how Reflex progresses, map could then be completely re-textured. Presently going for the griddy look, since the 3D view has no other grid to orientate.

From running about a bit, Reflex can pretty much use Q3A sizes 1 to 1. The map feels pretty much the way it did in Q3A. So that should help.

It is amazing how quickly you can learn the editor... played around with it for 3 hours yesterday, and this is all mapping today. Adding water or the JP was very quick to do.

I do wonder about vis, and mitering though. AFAICT if I compile the map with an open sky, this is pretty much a space map.




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This is not Æon!
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PostPosted: 11-24-2014 10:12 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Looks simple enough, does reflex feature bots and/or have a net code for testing?

Cause I bought reflex a while ago, but I really haven't started it yet since it's some kind of early access.

That you can't use WASD in radiant must be some strange legacy thinking, at least you should be able to map them for yourself =)



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The hell good boy
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PostPosted: 11-24-2014 10:30 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Looks interesting, however I do not want to pay for the game to try it out, it's a shame since I don't have enough money for that :(



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PostPosted: 11-24-2014 11:31 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Hipshot,

Bots... none there... you have to play online. And the way things are going even with AAA titles, there will probably never be any... for me a big minus (so far). But there are so many other things that need work, e.g. in the editor... that I am hoping for those to get worked on. Multi-selecting more than one brush, rotate and mirror brushes, copy/paste between multiple instances of the Reflex editor, more textures ;).

But as that may be... presently this is my little project... to see how nice I can get AEdm7r to look with the new tech. Will need to learn about lighting more though and how the engine actually works. I like to push editors that are less expansive in function, to see what can be done... playing around with the Portal 2 editor was also such a thing. But it goes to show how thankful we really all ought to be about GKTradiant.

You can remap the Radiant keys, but when you do it with W,A,S,D I always has issues, don't remember what exactly, but it made the remapping useless to me, so I went back to the cursor keys... alas.

Since Reflex does the light compile *as you watch*, I noted that you really need to mark surfaces that are not supposed to have lightmaps covered with a special texture. AFAICT, everything you would plaster with caulk you now plaster with a "non-shade" (or something) texture to keep the light compile times down. Ironic that caulk in a different context is back.




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PostPosted: 11-24-2014 04:52 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I'll grab a copy after the mapcore contest is up. If you need peeps to help with testing I'm keen. So far your progress looks good.

I might also take the editor for a spin. Ive been following the discussion between you and castle and it does look very interesting.

:up:




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PostPosted: 11-24-2014 05:22 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I think I now have 1/3 of the flooring done. Another 2 days I hope to have the map paths all in. Without any form of detail... and any form of significant detail in Reflex is probably going to bring me to tears. But it is fun to run about in what is done. I can probably reuse all spawn point (player, items, weapons) locations again too. Unless I decide to change the map yet again.

I really hope the devs will be able to continue to improve the editor... it could end up to potentially be really nifty. The "I see a bug", go to edit mode and fix it, then instantly play and test it... is certainly something that will be difficult to live without in the future. Light compile times are high though... though I probably need to optimize more.

Alas the more I close the walls, the less one can see...
Attachment:
reflex 2014-11-25 00-40-29-31.jpg
reflex 2014-11-25 00-40-29-31.jpg [ 667.38 KB | Viewed 581 times ]

BTW, for those interested... in the Reflex forums someone recently added a map called textures.map that vertically adds all the lights and textures available. This way you can quickly select (k) the textured cubes, and then use them on your own brushes (m). I found it very handy. Alas the extra stuff does up the light compile time. And at some point all that needs to be deleted.




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Cool #9
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PostPosted: 11-25-2014 12:25 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


There's no way to import your own textures yet?




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PostPosted: 11-25-2014 01:53 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


No custom assets can be added. I read that there used to be a way, but that the devs are cleaning that up to avoid editor bugs that would be difficult to track if everyone starts dumping their own stuff in. Also seems to do with the way they cache content, apparently all is loaded into VRAM...

For me that is slightly a plus, as non-artist, its back to the roots... here I can actually create something that does not look too amateurish... whereas with Rage almost everything I could do would look that way.

Just checked, under \Steam\steamapps\common\Reflex\base\structural\dev... the grid textures exit as DDS so in theory one could replace those, probably. But since you really need the grid on the textures to build in 3D that would be a bad idea.

I am wondering if a .map file converter could work. I.e. cheat and use GTKradiant to do more complicated geometry and then export to Reflex. Obviously, that would lose the nice real time aspects... though when I edit I normally stay in edit mode almost all the time, and only use the real time bit to check and adjust e.g. JPs. Lighting compiles are too slow for me to be something you do often in Reflex.




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PostPosted: 11-25-2014 07:30 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


AEon wrote:
Though I do wish W,S,A,D would work in 3D view in GTKradiant... this works in Reflex... "yeah!".


Using AutoHotkey I remapped the W,A,S,D keys to the cursor keys, now I can fly around properly in GKTradiant. This is obviously a hack since anything that needs the keys W,A,S,D will not works. Started to change some binding in the shortcut.ini. If anyone is interested I could probably clear things up and post all the info. But this will help my editing SO much... I do not have to change between Reflex and Radiant... whee.

The bug with rebinding the movement keys in Camera view is that you can only press the key once. W will then keep flying forwards until you leave free view again. The good thing, finally installed GTKradiant v1.6.4.




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PostPosted: 11-25-2014 09:42 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Some tech testing: I did an optimization test to see how much using "darkcaulk" (or internal/editor/textures/editor_nolight) in Reflex actually gains in lighting compile performance.

Well my v016 of the map had only 85 such darkcaulk textures, and the lightmap file size was at 10.5 MB. The compile time for the map was 4:40 minutes on my i7 920 2.54 quad core.

I then went into the .map file and replaced each texture with darkcaulk, and then returned to the map to plaster the removed texture only on walls that can be seen. Thus outsides are all dark, and additionally all areas where brushes connect but are unseen are black as well. In v020 I ended up with 1520 darkcaulk faces (i.e. faces that will never be seen). The newly compiled lightmap file was smaller at 7MB and the compile time was down to 2:04 minutes. Less than half (44%). So using darkcaulk really helps speed up the light compiles... and saves a few resources.

I am still not quite sure about overdraw, presently my brushes do not intersect, but the edges overlap. I guess I'll ask at the official forums about how the engine reacts to overlap/overdraw.




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PostPosted: 11-25-2014 07:20 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


So, learned a lot today at the Reflex forum. Apparently no one there actually tried the darkcaulk in detail to test compile times for lighting.

Well, got a lot less done today, but the testing and reading up on a few things should help. Arena 2 pathing is almost there. The black walls are the darkcaulk...

    Attachment:
    reflex 2014-11-26 04-11-29-98.jpg
    reflex 2014-11-26 04-11-29-98.jpg [ 178.94 KB | Viewed 570 times ]

Quirky to see some of the strange brushwork that is not symmetrical and otherwise totally off. All the results of geometry and design that made compromises necessary. Obviously I could rebuild such areas, and I actually might. With this very low poly approach, changing the size of a room or path is relatively easy. Then again some quirkiness adds some charm...

Since the map is so without plants, I might try to rebuild some abstract trees using Socks great originals.




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Cool #9
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PostPosted: 11-27-2014 01:28 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


They really should replace that black nolight texture with something that allows you to differentiate between brushes more easily.




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PostPosted: 11-27-2014 01:41 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I actually started to work with darkcaulk exactly the way I do with normal caulk. Trouble is, the black texture makes it difficult to see what you are doing brush-wise. A selected darkcaulk is red, so easy to edit, so that is easy to see... but often I would try to select more than one brush just to better see them, and that is not possible.

Ironic... I am catching myself wanting to draw out brushes in 3D view, but in Radiant :)

So this is were I ended up yesterday... on day 3:

    Attachment:
    reflex 2014-11-27 00-25-58-98.jpg
    reflex 2014-11-27 00-25-58-98.jpg [ 219.83 KB | Viewed 548 times ]

Arena three needs pathing, yet. Note my abstract tree created from two cubes... so very low poly. White textures are too glowy by default so replaced those on my "square vent tubing" with darker textures. Note also the orange glow cube in the left arena... might be something of a theme hidden in the cube design... maybe.

Running about I am starting to thinking of putting a few paths more nicely "on main grid lines", and then avoiding some of the very straight lines of sight the original had in the map. Also thinking of changing some paths, but first I'll try to get pathing done as in the original. The great thing about all this, paths actually can be easily changed because it does not destroy hours on end of detail work... there is no detail there yet.




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PostPosted: 11-27-2014 02:21 AM           Profile   Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Nice. Looks like you're doing this pretty fast. How may hours are you into this?




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PostPosted: 11-27-2014 03:52 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


According to Steam I have been running Reflex for 23 hours... so about 19 hours of editing.

Created a DDS darkcaulk, that replaces the original file.

Attachment:
reflex 2014-11-27 12-34-47-12.jpg
reflex 2014-11-27 12-34-47-12.jpg [ 221.49 KB | Viewed 543 times ]


Nicely the forum lets me upload the new texture as zip:

Attachment:
darkcaulk DDS for Relex by AEon.zip [9.04 KB]
Downloaded 451 times


(It works for me in the editor, and hopefully still works for the lighting code. My first attempt to create a DDS, via GIMP, the DDS is uncompressed (thus the larger file) because I have no idea what compression Reflex uses for its files.)

Hope that is of some use.




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Will map for food.
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PostPosted: 11-27-2014 05:25 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


This is awesome!

I have been taking this week off from doing videos and side projects but I am starting to want to get back into things. Getting back into doing my reflex level design is a priority.

I absolutely love the caulk material you created! Is it possible that I can use it as well?

Are you planning to open a public mapping server for testing? I'd get a kick out of checking the map out and doing some DM while you work on the map. :D



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PostPosted: 11-27-2014 06:28 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Castle,
sure you can use the texture, that was it is there for. Mapped today using it, and it massively helped while working. The darkcaulk still looks ugly as hell though, even though I am using a dark pink/purple. The very black original definitely looks better, then again it is supposed to look ugly to get "fixed".

I think I should release my keys bindings from the editor.cfg... quite a few quite practical and nifty key combos have come up, making life a lot easier.

Since I saw you with a headset, I ordered one just a few hours ago, via USB, that should be nifty to actually talk while walking the map. cityy and I were Steam chatting, and the real-time looking into the map also came up. I still need to look into the issue with the ports. I have a relatively fast connect of 1.6 MB/s so running a server should work well enough, I hope.

I have to admit though, I am very protective of my map... and having someone else "meddle" into it fills me with less than enthusiasm. I am also not in the clear how such changes work. If someone changes something, and I save locally, that change gets saved right along?

Today's progress in AEdm7r:

So far, this is one of the few "indoor" areas of the map... lighting is bright enough it seems. Added a bit of glow to see how that goes:
Attachment:
reflex 2014-11-28 03-03-12-64.jpg
reflex 2014-11-28 03-03-12-64.jpg [ 140.1 KB | Viewed 607 times ]

It will be interesting to see how things look once I have the walls up and put in ceilings with a "central meandering" slit, and to then see how indoor lighting looks.

The third arena pathing is pretty much completely there... just one more JP to add and the TPs:

Attachment:
reflex 2014-11-28 03-01-19-12.jpg
reflex 2014-11-28 03-01-19-12.jpg [ 237.09 KB | Viewed 546 times ]


Already thinking of adding more changes to the original AEdm7 design... since paths at this stage are cheap... why not add a few ;). I am not very good at strafe jumping, but at least to me, I am already tearing through the map... might literally cut a few corners for easier SJing. I am getting soft of the trick jumping crowd.

I am not much of a fan of the trick-jumping... but may look into it in a few areas... i.e. when in a pit give the player to exit it in more areas than the ramps I added and things of that nature.




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Will map for food.
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PostPosted: 11-27-2014 09:51 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


If I am not mistaken, it is possible to disable other players from being able to modify the level. I have also observed that if you are a client then you are not allowed to save the level however the server is able to. With this in mind it should be technically possible for you to work on your level and people can jump on and play while you make changes and tweak things which I think could be fun.

Another point of advice is that they warn us to make a backup of our CFG files as they have a chance of being overwritten when a new patch comes out. So just a heads up on that.



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PostPosted: 11-28-2014 01:42 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Castle wrote:
Another point of advice is that they warn us to make a backup of our CFG files as they have a chance of being overwritten when a new patch comes out. So just a heads up on that.


Yeah, read about that as well... I also try to keep a copy of anything that changed from the default Steam download... in this case my own .map files and the darkcaulk texture. Just to be sure they do not get "lost".

And obviously, with you Castle or cityy... I know how good you guys are, so changing the map would not be so much an issue... but thinking of releasing the map and then having every "punk" meddle into the map has me less than enthused. Considering, I really respect that Sock let us all download and edit all his great maps. I have to learn to let go it seems... but not without some kicking and screaming ;).

Adding entities to the map should be a matter of an hour or less... since I already know where everything goes... until I figure out the weapons in Reflex. The SG, RL, LG (beam), MG (plasma machine gun), RG (lightning) and GL I have figured out sorta... but what is up with the 3-projectile weapon... of what use is that? Well and the strange Stake-Gun. Just occurred to me the MG might actually *be* the PG... hmmm.




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Will map for food.
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PostPosted: 11-28-2014 11:37 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


AEon wrote:
Castle wrote:
Another point of advice is that they warn us to make a backup of our CFG files as they have a chance of being overwritten when a new patch comes out. So just a heads up on that.


Yeah, read about that as well... I also try to keep a copy of anything that changed from the default Steam download... in this case my own .map files and the darkcaulk texture. Just to be sure they do not get "lost".

And obviously, with you Castle or cityy... I know how good you guys are, so changing the map would not be so much an issue... but thinking of releasing the map and then having every "punk" meddle into the map has me less than enthused. Considering, I really respect that Sock let us all download and edit all his great maps. I have to learn to let go it seems... but not without some kicking and screaming ;).

Adding entities to the map should be a matter of an hour or less... since I already know where everything goes... until I figure out the weapons in Reflex. The SG, RL, LG (beam), MG (plasma machine gun), RG (lightning) and GL I have figured out sorta... but what is up with the 3-projectile weapon... of what use is that? Well and the strange Stake-Gun. Just occurred to me the MG might actually *be* the PG... hmmm.


Build rank is one of the things that the Minecraft community showed me. On larger servers you have ranking systems that allow everyone different levels of authority over what can and cannot be done in the world space. Reflex is something that would benefit from such a system.

I believe that the 3 beam weapon is your default weapon, so it might be considered in the same way as the blaster from Q2.



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PostPosted: 11-29-2014 01:38 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


I took heed to your warning and yesterday they indeed updated the Reflex engine and overwrote the editor.cfg (not the game.cfg though)... and also removed some of the custom maps... they did not touch the .map I am working on luckily or the darkcaulk texture. I checked with the Steam settings, IMO it used to be possible to block any updates for games, but no longer... if there is an update it will simply overwrite... not so great IMO. I'd prefer a warning message, "Would you like to update"... letting you backup stuff first.

Today's work:
Attachment:
reflex 2014-11-29 10-26-03-79.jpg
reflex 2014-11-29 10-26-03-79.jpg [ 152.72 KB | Viewed 585 times ]


Most of the 2nd arena is now brushed out, added another JP and path to the left side area. All JPs and APs are also in and one teleporter... still thinking of exploring a few other paths.

The v0.28.x Reflex update did not speed up the compiles, and some of the bad light bleeding is also still there. Lightmap compile is now at 7:02 minutes, getting annoyingly long... and the map is not even 10% there brush-wise (compared to the original Q3A map that is). Even though to me the brush counts are still way low, they may already really be pushing the engine... in-game tests show the map still has 125 FPS though... so that is not yet a problem. Alas no editing tool updates...

Thinking of trying some landscaping outside of the playable map, using Sock's technique of creating rocks and terrain.




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PostPosted: 11-29-2014 03:30 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Ae, how long do you figure it will be until you can properly texture a level in that editor? Or can you do that now?



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PostPosted: 11-29-2014 04:20 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


The problem is there are no "proper textures" yet... they added these to have "something"... then it turned out that the grid look (like my texture set I did ages ago) is actually a "style". Well the grid on them without a real grid is needed. To the point... I checked the frequency at which they release updates, about every 7-10 days. Just my guess... but proper textures are at least another 2-3 months away I would say.

Texturing... well there are keys to rotate 90° and shift and scale them... but I had pretty trivial brushes I could not properly texture align... so the texturing features need work too. E.g. fit texture or reset texture would be needed, or enter an arbitrary angle.

The update yesterday kinda scared me... a la "oh no, if they get multi-select in and rotate, any lazy-ass matter will be able to map" ;)... but the whole thing feels like the mappers in the real industry working with tech that is in development... well at least Reflex is a *lot* less buggy than industry tech in progress.

I am still wondering if some genius that can program and knows brush coordinates creates a .map converter Q3A to Reflex... the other way around we could actually build maps in Radiant... hehe... and then in Q3A we would actually have bots for testing.




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PostPosted: 11-29-2014 02:12 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Added another path today... it really shows that when you try to create something new it takes very much longer. In this case I had initially placed it 192u or so to the right, and after some thought I noted the path was needlessly long, found a better location, one I always wanted to have more significance... and bingo path moved. Brush by brush that is... using a large grid makes it like placing Lego so no ugly offsets or misplacements.

    Attachment:
    reflex 2014-11-29 22-57-31-41.jpg
    reflex 2014-11-29 22-57-31-41.jpg [ 101.08 KB | Viewed 634 times ]

First time in Reflex I am using a deeper pool with some health (2x25) in it. You can reach the pool from above by jumping into it... build a slide on the wall and "filled" that with water as well.

    Attachment:
    reflex 2014-11-29 22-54-59-76.jpg
    reflex 2014-11-29 22-54-59-76.jpg [ 148.97 KB | Viewed 583 times ]

Starting to fill in the walls, they will be mostly 3x64u high (3 blocks), and I am also starting to close in the ceilings but keeping a large gap in there for skylight (black blocks in the background of the purple AP)... I want it to be a slit actually to make better use of the way the game is able to bounce light into rooms. So far no extra light entities needed...

BTW, the light blue gate on the right is the entrance to the new path, under the "planks", leads to arena 3.

Getting there.




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PostPosted: 11-30-2014 03:19 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Got a lot done today. Starting to pull up the walls, about another day of that should have the corridors closed up. Most of the walls and ceilings in about half the map are now done:

    Attachment:
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Using a dark blocky design for all the ceilings... I really like the darker areas that are still bright enough to play.

Initially I wanted to add walls on the outside of the three arenas, adding a very low edge. I'll probably just leave it, to keep the "view" more open outside... maybe for some skybox in the future. I also was thinking of clipping all the outside area, for now keeping those area open, so you could in theory RL splash damage players out of the map. Well you can also stupidly jump out of the map... if you like.

Huge amounts of light bleeding. Hmmm... hopefully that can be fixed in the future.

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From above still an awful amount darkcaulk to be seem from above, but that will mostly stay that way, since those areas will not be visible from inside the map.




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PostPosted: 12-01-2014 02:55 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


A slight Art Deco theme in the map... not much, but a bit. The ceilings and walls are all in the map now... next I will be adding light, a few areas look slightly dark, and item placement.

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Arena 1, with deco teleporter "hut". I started to use the colours more systematically, to colour-code each area.

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Arena 2, not really much to say. The open unwalled look out of the map, IMO, makes the space feel more generous. I like my extremely low poly tree though ;). Will try to create some abstract water lilies for the ponds... so that was 7 days of work... not too bad speed-wise, but of course the map really is low poly.




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This is not Æon!
This is not Æon!
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PostPosted: 12-01-2014 11:13 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Hey, I like this, wanna test it out some day?



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PostPosted: 12-01-2014 11:23 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


what he said :)




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PostPosted: 12-02-2014 01:39 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Sure... I got a headset yesterday... only need to figure out how to properly use it with what software... works with the Steam test... but Steam cannot be used to chat in voice?

I'll focus on items today, should be about an hour, and clean up... boy the walls are under-brushed :). Ah... and lighting... again ironic... good lighting will again be difficult, since a light compile takes 13 minutes... for Q3A the full compile was 2:10... so a lot more complex map much much more quickly compiled. They say they will significantly speed up lighting compiles for Reflex... so anything less than by a factor of 10 would be a let down.




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This is not Æon!
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PostPosted: 12-02-2014 02:51 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Im sure the steam voice can be used to chat in game, but we can just use text if you like. I think skype does a better voice than steam anyway.



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PostPosted: 12-02-2014 05:59 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Hipshot and I did a quick run of the map... automatic download of a map one does not have is simple enough and just works. Well I can now set up a server without a problem. It may even be possible to join from Steam chat, "join game" under my user icon (needs testing)... so this is pretty nifty.




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PostPosted: 12-02-2014 03:19 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Did another run of the map with another mapper from the Reflex forum today, "Devil"... he has built a training map for strafe jumping, and all that jive I have no idea of. And I have learned a few things now that I will probably add to the map as I get better. E.g. adding just the right ledge here and there, or angled ramps for double- or even triple-jumps. The real-time editing really helps to test out such things immediately. Should make the map slightly more interesting for a few folks. For me it will be interesting to see how far I can get.




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Will map for food.
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PostPosted: 12-03-2014 02:51 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Hey I am loving the updates on this and I have been keeping up almost daily. I have been too busy lately to do my live server and more Reflex videos as I keep running into something right before I commit to doing it.

I am definitely up for jumping in and checking out your map sometime!



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PostPosted: 12-03-2014 04:25 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Castle,
yeah, that should be fun. Sending you a message.

Today I added the rest of the items to the map (closed off a the last few walls)... and found out that there actually are no ammo boxes. That disconcerted me, because when I add items, I like to "decorate" the map with such stuff. Now its weapons and health and armour only

And since testing the editor you always have all weapons and ammo... I really wonder how "real" playing works.

Did another full light compile on the map...
    Attachment:
    reflex 2014-12-03 19-52-41-88.jpg
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and finding out that the "dark" areas are somewhat dark, but hopefully intriguingly dark and playable. See the background left towards the TP.

I mention this because I am not too thrilled to about adding entity-based real-time lights, because they bring down the FPS of the map badly. On my rig I still get pretty much 125 FPS mostly of the time. I have tested some other mapper's map and tried to help him track down the issue and it was the entity-based lights. So like in Doom3, lay off too many such lights. Even the devs recommend, use the skylight lighting (it gets baked into the map on compile) and costs nothing, and only add a very few lights for ambience or so. Luckily, that is the way I always did it in Q3A... so that helps.

So presently, no light entities planned. On the topic, there are shader-based textures that give off light (and glow), these also seem to be static, so no (or little) FPS impact. I am already using those... well... I am marginally thrilled about those since none of them cast nice shadows. As I read on the forums, shadows are another thing the devs are working on. BTW, light entities casting real-time lights can be tested for shadows by flinging a few grenades past them... strange, but that works.

Attachment:
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I started to add "player" clip to the map, and added it in the MH corridor between the blue columns here to not get snagged by them at all. On closer inspection I wondered why this otherwise darker area is so bright. Turns out that not only the JP trigger brushes but also the clip brushes actually cast light... for clipping that is a nightmare. I looked into several material files and "blend multiplied" could be reason for giving off light. Might need to "hack" the material file for clip... since it really is annoying.


On Reflex Map Servers:
Interestingly, mappers can run their map, and via "connect <IP>" clients can quickly connect. Should the mapper have a new map running the client will download it. But only the .map file it seems, the client needs to compile the lighting on the local machine apparently. Now here is the interesting part, the map gets downloaded directly into memory, apparently there is no physical copy of the downloaded map on the HDD. This has the advantage for the mapper of not splurging out an unfinished map that then gets redistributed. Another thing, the client can edit the map, but cannot save it locally either. The server can save the file though.

Anyway running around with the map with a "tester" in real time, even trying out geometry changes and the like and then test them right away is a really great way of getting feedback.




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