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Rehevkor
12-13-2007, 09:28 PM
(Link removed, final has been released: release thread (http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?p=25175945#post25175945))
To install: extract the contents of this zip file to "My Documents\My Games\Unreal Tournament 3\UTGame\Published\CookedPC\CustomMaps"

Here is my first map for UT3. I released a few for UT2004 a couple years ago, although the only one anyone is likely to recall is DM-SilentHell. Anyway, I've brushed up (small mapping pun) on my UnrealEd and put together a new DM map for your enjoyment.

The map is set inside a huge freight elevator shaft. One of the things I tend to dislike about Onslaught/Warfare maps and any large, outdoor map is that, in spite of presenting large open areas and long sightlines for combat, they tend to be very two-dimensional, with Z-axis play only in specific areas, usually structures.

With this map, I wanted to present that sense of open space and unrestricted visibility, but contain the action in a relatively small space and take greater advantage of vertical movement. I encouraged this by spreading the "stalled" lifts around in space so that they act as ledges and steps to carry the player around the map. This is augmented by a number of jump pads and the aforementioned lifts, which have been set up with lift-jumping in mind.

The uDamage at the top is accessible from the sniper rifle ledge, assuming you don't miss the jump. However, the small lift on the large platform is ideal for lift-jumping to the uDamage quickly. The larger platform lifts connecting the bottom platform to the top one are good for lift-jumping almost anywhere in the map, and are the only means to access the Redeemer (unless you're handy with rocket/hammer jumps).

Bot pathing is fully implemented, and bots at mid to high difficulties will take advantage of lift-jumps to snag the uDamage and Redeemer. The bots are fun for me to play and to spectate, and they aren't too prone to plunging to their deaths (although they do often shove one another into the open shaft). Pick-ups and player starts are spread around so that a weapon is always readily available after spawning, followed by an armor pick-up of some kind fairly close as well. Since there is little cover and the action tends to be fast and nasty, I wanted to concentrate weapons and power-ups to give players a chance to quickly load up after spawning, instead of eating a rocket with nothing but an Enforcer in your inventory.

Lighting is mostly done, although I have more tweaking to do. I'm not 100% sure about the music choice yet, and I haven't done any ambient sound placement or sound selection for the lifts. I also plan to create some more particle systems to put a little more motion into the map.

Finally, the redeemer pick-up effects aren't complete yet. I'm looking for a better way to handle the spawn and pick-up alerts, as well as the post-process switching for the alarm effect.

I encourage all kinds of feedback, although I'm looking for gameplay and pick-up placement feedback in particular. Most importantly, is it fun to play?

Let me know what you think!

Note: The screenshots are brighter and more "bloomy" than the map looks in-game, at least for me. Even so, feel free to make suggestions regarding the level of brightness and light coverage, bloom effects, and depth of field.

http://www.halcyonflow.com/media/dm-liftkill_1.png

Screenshot 2 (http://www.halcyonflow.com/media/dm-liftkill_2.png)
Screenshot 3 (http://www.halcyonflow.com/media/dm-liftkill_3.png)
Screenshot 4 (http://www.halcyonflow.com/media/dm-liftkill_4.png)
Screenshot 5 (http://www.halcyonflow.com/media/dm-liftkill_5.png)

Sharpshotoo7
12-13-2007, 09:33 PM
Looks fun, good, and very playable downloading right now

Baran Romis
12-13-2007, 10:00 PM
How did you get your screens to be so damn crisp? I don't think my game looks that nice and I have an 8800 320 MB NVidia..

The map looks wonderful.

Rehevkor
12-13-2007, 10:30 PM
How did you get your screens to be so damn crisp? I don't think my game looks that nice and I have an 8800 320 MB NVidia..

The map looks wonderful.

Thanks! I forced 4xAA for UT3 in the nVidia control panel, which is probably why they look nice. I have an 8800 GTX 768mb, so it runs pretty well in most cases, although 24+ player Warfare and vCTF games can get choppy. The performance hit for enabling AA in this game is huge, but it looks very good.

Bret Hart
12-14-2007, 02:22 AM
How do you get AA in the nvidia control panel?

Ignotium
12-14-2007, 04:54 AM
How do you get AA in the nvidia control panel?

First you have to remane UT3.exe to somethingelse.exe, Bioshock.exe is fine
Then you go to the NVIDIA Control panel and make a profile for it, and tell it to force AA all over the mofo, and there you go

Nawrot
12-14-2007, 12:29 PM
I think that not adding any gloomy postprocessing effects added a bit to clean view here.

Setheran
12-14-2007, 03:54 PM
Really nice map. Constantly leaping from platform to platform makes for some pretty exciting gameplay, and the bots seem to handle it quite well too (though I did see one stuck behind the tires near the damage amp).

One thing that felt a bit weird to me was some of the jump pads - I kept running into them expecting to shoot upward and land on a platform in front of me, but instead I was thrust horizontally toward a different platform altogether. If you just keep the targets as they are but increase jump height (so you're going signifcantly more vertical than horizontal) and air control then that might make it feel a bit more natural.

Bret Hart
12-14-2007, 04:06 PM
First you have to remane UT3.exe to somethingelse.exe, Bioshock.exe is fine
Then you go to the NVIDIA Control panel and make a profile for it, and tell it to force AA all over the mofo, and there you go

Do you mean where all the other games are listed under "Manage 3d settings"?

Rehevkor
12-15-2007, 10:42 PM
I'm nearly done with the map now. I finished up the ambient sound placement and set up some more particle emitters. I tweaked the area around the armor vest pickup to try and keep bots from just running into the box without jumping. It seems to have helped, but they still get stuck sometimes. Nothing I've tried so far has fixed it, so I may just move it entirely.

I also changed the bottom level of the large upper platform. I removed the gap in the middle, since it served no purpose other than providing another way for you to fall into the shaft. There's much more room to move around there now.

http://www.halcyonflow.com/media/dm-liftkill_6.png

I did a lot of work on the floor of the elevator shaft as well. Although you can't walk around down there, I wanted to make it interesting so players won't feel quite so bad when they plunge to their deaths.

Elevator shaft floor (http://www.halcyonflow.com/media/dm-liftkill_7.png)

-tolga-
12-16-2007, 05:05 AM
W00T!! awesome map, downloading now ...