SP_Fallout campaign chapter 3 beta, and test neeeded

[Nazgul24]

Hi, here goes a beta of chapter 3 of the campaign. The first and second chapters are published in FUll releases, in http://forums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=611861 .

It needs a little explanation. At first i have to tell this is a Beta release, and its purpose its testing and tech question.

I need to test this map about performance, because i dont know if its better cook or not the map in order to increase the performance (Anyone can tell me wich alternative to publish its the better and why?). Darksin, one member of the community reports low fps in it, but it works great in my pc, very fluid, with fps similar to the maps of the game. I test in many settings and works well for me, so i need third opinion.

In order to test the maps, i prepare a uncooked and a cooked version, and i ask to you to test it, and feedback about the performance. Any suggestion about the optimizacion from mappers will be wellcome, as any idea i could implement about gamplay, atmosphere, etc... anyway i must remember this is a beta of part of the whole chapter, its unfinished about tech and concept yet.

Here, the links for both versions:

Uncooked Version:
-------------------
MEGAUPLOAD: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=81VN3II7

FILEFRONT: http://www.filefront.com/13988961/Fallout%20Campaign%20Chapter%203%20Beta%201.1.rar
-------------------

Cooked Version
------------------------------------------------
MEGAUPLOAD: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IKCLNNND

FILEFRONT: http://www.filefront.com/13998531/Falloot%20%20Campaign%20Chapter%203%20Beta%201.1%2 0COOKED.rar

-----------------------------------

Thanks for the help and play the maps!! wait for the feedback.

[darksin]

kantham and taffer's map always optimized very well, all of them got high fps.

well, played the cooked version, i edit the config turn off all effects but still the same, low framerate especially here:
http://i26.tinypic.com/2lcl0d4.jpg

[Nazgul24]

kantham and taffer's map always optimized very well, all of them got high fps.

well, played the cooked version, i edit the config turn off all effects but still the same, low framerate especially here:
http://i26.tinypic.com/2lcl0d4.jpg

How i say before, it works very well for me...

I still need somebody more test the maps...

I pm Khantam and ask him for help, i hope he answer me with something from a mapper perspective.

I think his maps and taffer are mp,and are lighter that mines . I really dont know why it dont works fine for you. Try setting 1280x768 with medium settings. Which pc have you?.

[darksin]

i'm a old P4 3.2Ghz, 7900GT, 4G ram, 1152*864

i played all bot maps like lance, horde in this forum, like sp-battlefield, or glacius's courtyard, liquid's wake beta, famrerate is normal, more than 30, fallout1 is good too, but fallout3 is even much lower than 1, strange, the maps is not that big.

also i have to tell you that i got a little low framerate of burnedinternal's horde-newgridlock, some other people got low fps of that map too.

[Nazgul24]

lets see what Khantam can tell. I know that epic´s maps are more optimized than custom, becuse they have a lot of thecnics that the mappers dont know, or i dont know for optimization, so, in general, custom maps runs slower than originals, and in sp maps, wich are more harder to manage by the engine, this is more clear... if i could i wish to buy the Mastering Unreal 3 " books, but they are not published in Sapin and i cant by by web because i havent Visa. I really hate learn from zero about that stuff (there are not many documentation about advanced tech or use of the editor, the hihger i get talks abut matinne and similar but dont enter on optimization,conflicts, performance streaming, etc....).

[JUGGERNUT]

I heard you're having problems publishing?

To publish your map, if you have Vista, you must run your editor in administrator mode.

Right click instead of double clicking on the editor icon, select "run as administrator"

That will get rid of an error that makes publishing impossible.


I also am going to try this beta of yours, since I've been dying to try some new custom content!

[Nazgul24]

I heard you're having problems publishing?

To publish your map, if you have Vista, you must run your editor in administrator mode.

Right click instead of double clicking on the editor icon, select "run as administrator"

That will get rid of an error that makes publishing impossible.


I also am going to try this beta of yours, since I've been dying to try some new custom content!

Well, thanks for help. I will tell tou what i know... At first i use Xp, so it dont matter for me. What i dont know its why cook or not, and about to publish... i dont publish before, just used the same .war and .upk from unpublished and copy into "published".

there is any advantage or handicap to publish or copy, and cook or not cook?.

About the map, you have tested it? it goes in a good fps?. As i tell before, the problem is that for me works fine, but Darksin says it works in a very low fps, and i dont know if its due a problem with the map or a problem only from Darksin... if you cant test and feedback you can help me a lot. Thanks.

[JUGGERNUT]

Well, thanks for help. I will tell tou what i know... At first i use Xp, so it dont matter for me. What i dont know its why cook or not, and about to publish... i dont publish before, just used the same .war and .upk from unpublished and copy into "published".

there is any advantage or handicap to publish or copy, and cook or not cook?.

About the map, you have tested it? it goes in a good fps?. As i tell before, the problem is that for me works fine, but Darksin says it works in a very low fps, and i dont know if its due a problem with the map or a problem only from Darksin... if you cant test and feedback you can help me a lot. Thanks.

I completely forgot about testing your map, I'll play it right now!

[Nazgul24]

I completely forgot about testing your map, I'll play it right now!

ok, i will be happy if you can reply about if it works fine about fps, checkpoints, etc..., and if you see something can cause any crash or a low performance. i really going to have a headache with it... THANKS!!!!

[JUGGERNUT]

ok, i will be happy if you can reply about if it works fine about fps, checkpoints, etc..., and if you see something can cause any crash or a low performance. i really going to have a headache with it... THANKS!!!!

Well, my first time on the map was great, got up to the rooftops with the chaingun then became overpowered by wretches, anyways I'm still going to keep playing, and when I beat it I'll let you know about any bugs, so far so good.

[Nazgul24]

Well, my first time on the map was great, got up to the rooftops with the chaingun then became overpowered by wretches, anyways I'm still going to keep playing, and when I beat it I'll let you know about any bugs, so far so good.

Then you get a good fps and the checkpoint works well? what version you try, cooked or uncooked? . what config you play and what pc do you have?.

At last, one more than me tells it workss fine, YEAHHHH!!!! (;))

[JUGGERNUT]

After Dom finds the data and you kick the door, it takes a while for it to fall down + you can't be too close to it.... wasn't sure about up top, I fled + killed all the locust, then reavers, found the key, then ran through the boomer and therons. Unfortunatly I got gunned down by a troika somewhere near the boomgun.

This is very fun and challenging, I'm loving it!

[JUGGERNUT]

Then you get a good fps and the checkpoint works well? what version you try, cooked or uncooked? . what config you play and what pc do you have?.

At last, one more than me tells it workss fine, YEAHHHH!!!! (;))

There is no checkpoint until after you escape...

I was using the uncooked version

Good fps, except at the beginning with the wretches for about 3 seconds.

I play with 1200 x 782 (or something)

most of the stuff on low

My PC is awesome:

Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+ (2 CPUs), ~2.6GHz
Memory: 3070MB RAM
Hard Drive: 239 GB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT
Monitor: Dell E228WFP
Sound Card: Speakers / Headphones (SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC)
Speakers/Headphones: logitech 4 speakers and 1 BOOMER
Keyboard: USB Root Hub
Mouse: USB Root Hub
Mouse Surface: sweet blue pad
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6000) (6000.vista_gdr.071023-1545)

[darksin]

i'm a single core cpu, but i can play official campaign and other maps with good fps, since the texture and structure of this map is not very complex, detailed, so the reason left is the rendering things made the fps low, such as lightings ,shadows, etc, maybe too much, render every surface of a object, even the place we don't see, this cause the cpu overwhelmed.
for high end pc, there's no difference from 60-80 framerate for map optimization, but for middle low end,10-30 is a big shock...

[Nazgul24]

About thr rerending of the map, the FOV auto system of the game keep the performance into a good level for closed rooms, so the engine dont render the outer space if you dont see it. Other thing its the non visible surfaces, that must be configured into a black unlit m ateriar or a remove material. This is done in my map. Its true that this map its no so datiled as a campaign map, but the cost for the engine its the same, more or less ,becouse the original maps are perfect cooked (and pre-buffered to say something simple) so the engine works much better with them. But, for the custom designers as me, our version of the engine its not well fit and setted,so the cooking way usually fails and we preffer to publish without cook. This is not a problem with good machines but for pcs with lower config, the difference its bigger, as you pointed. In the first and second chapters of Fallout Campaign the maps are not so big as in chapter 3 and this extra cost for the engine dont was very important but it is significant in low machines.

I cant do much more for optimization, i even close some lightfuntions to increase performance, but in every case all the people that i asked and tested it tells it works fine, with a little moment with low fps that i have fixed in my WIP version, but nothing more. I hope you can play it well it, or you have to get a better PC... i´m sorry for that becouse i know you like my maps, and have played the others chapters.

Anyway i hope you can play It in a most powerfull machine, and you can feedback about it.

[darksin]

thx man, i hope i can play that brumak chapter, but i'm afraid...u c my pc have no problem these years so i don't update till now, lol...
really strange, there're many custom maps complicated than this one, like the interlock's sp maps in this forum,
indoors and out doors, more background buildings, all got a higher fps. Anyway, if my pc can't handle these two chapter at all, i'll play them next year after updating ...
PS:my old P4 3.0 geforce7900GS can run resident evil 5 pc benchmark around 30 fps, that game really optimized very well,thx to capcom,lol...

[JUGGERNUT]

Nazgul is awesome for doing this, it really does make it worthwhile to keep playing the game, besides the mp.

[Nazgul24]

PS:my old P4 3.0 geforce7900GS can run resident evil 5 pc benchmark around 30 fps, that game really optimized very well,thx to capcom,lol...

is that some sarcastic stuff? LOL . I´ll try to optimize it more when i can get the Mastering Unreal Technology volumes, when they are published. I hope they could help on optimization and give us more tips to make better custom content.


Nazgul is awesome for doing this, it really does make it worthwhile to keep playing the game, besides the mp.

THANKS for your support, what you have said really give me more motivation to keep working on this project. sometimes everyone needs some words of encouragement like these. Thanks again.

[darksin]

no sarcastic man, your work is great...:D maybe liquid can help? his wake beta improved from 1.0 to 2.0 in framerate, maybe he knows the way...

sorry i'm too lazy to update, duel core is needed for most games today, but when gears first appear in 2004, it used geforce 6800 ultra, my favorate game are gears and re5 now, since both gears 1 and re5 are not problem , alo ut3 now, so i think my old pc is enough, but if gears 2 truely come to pc, update my pc is the only choice...

Gears is the only reason i'll update, other games can be omitted, if no gears2 pc, well, i just continue playing those old games and console emulator my pc can handle, there're so many old games in past years i haven't try yet, i made hundreds copies and play in free time...:D

[Nazgul24]

no sarcastic man, your work is great...
just want to say i'm too lazy to update, i think duel core is needed for these custom maps, but when gears first appear in 2004, it used geforce 6800 ultra, so i think my pc is enough for gears1, but if gears 2 truely come to pc, update my pc is the only choice...
Gears is the only reason i'll update, other games can be omitted, if no gears 2 pc, well, i just play those old games and emulator, there're so many old games in past years i haven't try yet, lol...

I know, i was joking. You can play very good games with that pc, from RPGS to FPS, including emulators, indeed. In you want to ask for good tittles, you can MP me, i have played a lot, and many types of games... :D:D:D

[Nazgul24]

no sarcastic man, your work is great...
just want to say i'm too lazy to update, i think duel core is needed for these custom maps, but when gears first appear in 2004, it used geforce 6800 ultra, so i think my pc is enough for gears1, but if gears 2 truely come to pc, update my pc is the only choice...
Gears is the only reason i'll update, other games can be omitted, if no gears 2 pc, well, i just play those old games and emulator, there're so many old games in past years i haven't try yet, lol...

I know, i was joking. You can play very good games with that pc, from RPGS to FPS, including emulators, indeed. In you want to ask for good tittles, you can MP me, i have played a lot, and many types of games... :D:D:D

And thanks for your support too :D:D:D

[darksin]

thx man, u c i'm not a fan of game graphic, so my update is slow, still playing many old games before 2008 now, really a lot,
i sould say at least more than one hundred,lol...

[erwilly]

I see the map,you need use a culldistancevolume in the map, you can see a agresive example in my map.

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CullDistanceVolume.html

[Nazgul24]

I see the map,you need use a culldistancevolume in the map, you can see a agresive example in my map.

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/CullDistanceVolume.html

Thanks, have read the UDN but i´m a little confused. I will see your map, but where is it?.

[erwilly]

The culldistancevolume is a block like triggers, you can put all you want, touch a few variables and the static meshes inside of him will hide when the camera is far form there.
When you are far away of "CullDistance" the statics meshes inside with the size under the "Size" are hide.

[Nazgul24]

Ok... i think i got it: if i have some buildings that i see trough a window, i can use a cull distance volume that includes those buildings, and in inside rooms i can hide them when i cant see it in game to free resources... isn´t it?.

[darksin]

Finally a talent professinal mapper point out where the problem is , thx!!, proved sth, really need adjust to deal with the framerate, i know there's sth. wrong but i can't point out, that's the key difference between normal player and mappers, thx to these true map testers...
but sorry to see those good optimized map maker didn't make this clear.
i think this help a lot to the author and his future maps optmization, or fallout4 will be the same,it will be a big pity we can't play them...

Now i think this map got this similar problem too, simple level design but really low framerate,
http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=692121

[Nazgul24]

Finally a talent professinal mapper point out where the problem is , thx!!, proved sth, really need adjust to deal with the framerate, i know there's sth. wrong but i can't point out, that's the key difference between normal player and mappers, thx to these true map testers...

but sorry to see those good optimized map maker didn't make this clear.
i think this help a lot to the author and his future maps optmization, or fallout4 will be the same,it will be a big pity we can't play them...

Now i think this map got this similar problem too, simple level design but really low framerate,
http://gearsforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=692121

I think the same, but in a lot of cases a non tech eye can point things that the mappers cant, so its very usefull to have both perspectives.

I will try the cullvolumes asap, i think i will found any tut about in the web, i hope this can help about the low framerate, at last in the parts of the map that you cant see the outer zone. But i wonder about the open parts, if i can hide the inside building parts when the player gets to the roof, for example... if i can set that, i think the main problem with the fps will be done in the both cases... now i must to test it.

if only the editor dont crash as it does..., its a hell work this way. The crashes take me more time that mapping itself... well i will center in solve the ploblems, not to ask to the walls.

[JUGGERNUT]

The crashes take me more time that mapping itself... well i will center in solve the ploblems, not to ask to the walls.

It's true, if I had half as many crashes, I would've been done what I'm working on by now.

[erwilly]

if only the editor dont crash as it does..., its a hell work this way. Welcome to the dark side of level desing

[Nazgul24]

Welcome to the dark side of level desing

I know it more than i wanted (;)).

Ey, you can mp me wich map you refers about cull distance volumes?. The UDN page dont give any example and i want to test how it works before implant it in my maps... . I dont know if that fits what i need.

It can be setted about certain areas of the map, or its a main volume for all...? i really need see it on work. I actually use a load/unload level to keep resorces, i think it must be enought and i dont need the cull distance stuf, but i want to try it.

Another question: You know if there is a blur effect than can be used to improve performance, like happens in gears 2 wide open maps?. I use a height fog for ambient but i dont believe it helps.I wanted it for deco purpouses mainly, becouse I have been testing my map on 1680x1050 on full settings and i get about 30 fps, in some parts 25fps. My pc its not a big machine, but i think its ok. The game crash randomly but i thinks its due to overchargue of my pc on that settings, because i play it well on lower settings.


Thanks for the help

[erwilly]

http://utforums.epicgames.com/showthread.php?t=692721

any size any place

I dont know

[Nazgul24]

If it helps to somebody i will be glad: if you experience some problems with the editor, just put the ingame settings lower. Even if you can play it on 60fps in a very higher settings, put lower, and the go with the editor. I think the editor cant handle RAM as weel as the game itself, so it burns all the pc resources and crash. The editor version simply have a optimization fail...

I dont know why, but it solve all my crash problems, i hope it will help.

[Serenius]

A few things you can check on to see if it can help boost performance. I'm guessing you probably have already done these from EvilMrFrank's guide, but sometimes it's easy to miss the obvious.

Lightmap resolution: Lower values on BSP increases shadow quality at the cost of performance. The lightmap resolution on static meshes works in the opposite manner.
Dynamic shadows & lighting: Have you disabled bcast dynamic shadows for all static meshes? Do you have any dynamic lights that don't need to be dynamic? Do you have shadowing and dynamic shadows disabled for ambient lighting?

Some good tips on optimizing if you haven't read this already: http://www.evilmrfrank.com/Optimizing.htm

[Nazgul24]

A few things you can check on to see if it can help boost performance. I'm guessing you probably have already done these from EvilMrFrank's guide, but sometimes it's easy to miss the obvious.

Lightmap resolution: Lower values on BSP increases shadow quality at the cost of performance. The lightmap resolution on static meshes works in the opposite manner.
Dynamic shadows & lighting: Have you disabled bcast dynamic shadows for all static meshes? Do you have any dynamic lights that don't need to be dynamic? Do you have shadowing and dynamic shadows disabled for ambient lighting?

Some good tips on optimizing if you haven't read this already: http://www.evilmrfrank.com/Optimizing.htm

I will try , its good another point of view. I dont remember that guide right now - EDITED: yes, i remember it now... but its a bit confusing sometimes to non english natives-, its a good help. I think i even can put it on the solving editor crashes thread i started.. thanks.