DM-1on1-MountainGlen_v1 [Beta 3]*UPDATE*

[Herr General]

Name: DM-1on1-MountainGlen_v3 (help me come up with a new one)
Version: Currently V3 Beta
Compatibility: UT2004, most likely ECE
Description: A very small 1on1 map set in a grove of pine trees.
Comments: Look up if you can - I spent half the time making this map experimenting/tweaking the skybox and clouds.
Screenshots:



Credits: Epic for their textures, myself
Homepage: none
Download:
http://files.filefront.com/MGMapPack.../fileinfo.html

Version 2 has fallback materials, no branch collision, and some optimization. Ammo pickups and water reflection have been added.

Version 3 has a fixed water reflection, a 3d skybox type area, and a couple other versions, including night and winter variants. In the winter variant, try walking on the ice!

[meowcat]

Good start so far. A couple things quick technical things:
1. Turn off the collision on the pine tree branches (everyone seems to forget this one), they snag the player a lot. this can be done by renaming the mesh to the "myLevel" pseudo package, then turning off the collision for the branch textured section.
2. Try testing out your sky box/dome mesh shaders under GF1/GF2 emulation mode and set up the fall back texture properties (the sky on my computer looked terrible because I use a GF4MX card, properly set up fall back materials can take care of much of this). - or- you could make another duplicate dome mesh and apply one of the other transparent combiners on it (and scale it down a bit) and that should provide a pretty similar effect without the really complex shader. Also the sky seems to be a black and white cloud texture on a bsp additive sheet.
3. Maybe increase the ambient brightness a little bit.
4. Hide the terrain that is beyond the cliffs to improve performance (using the the terrain visibility tool), and maybe use a 64x64 terrain instead of 128x128. Make all the other BSP surfaces unlit.
5. Add some ammo pickups

Map design related comments:
1. I really dig the rolling clouds, very nice effect to add to the immersion
2. Nice to hear the ambient sounds. The wind sound does not make as much sense since you are in a gully (although I suppose wind passing overhead could cause this), maybe try adding some of the outdoor 'bug buzzing" sounds also.
3. I think you could make this map a tad larger, and then add some more cover in the middle. I felt like the middle was a complete death trap
4. Add some ammo pickups (repeated for emphasis)
5. Spawn points need to have some cover to prevent spawn killing
6. I think you could add some really cool 'location indicators' like triggered sounds, (or 'bird' emitters) when players pass by certain bushes (which you should add ) that would help each player track each other.

Thats all for now, I may post more later.
[edit] ahh you do have some weapon pickups...

[Herr General]

What do you mean, its a black and white cloud texture? On my computer, it looks transparent. And I'm not sure how to make fallback materials.

I also have a new version with a water reflection and a quick emitter fix. Unfortunately, I won't be able to work on the map until Wednesday. I'll take other comments in the meantime.

[meowcat]

Here is a screenshot of what I'm talking about:

The CSG sheet in the sky does not render transparent. The bubble texture on the skydome is because the EPIC folks did not set up proper fallback materials on their shaders (you would have to duplicate them to your level, then set the fall back material properties to maybe something like just the texpanner sky etc.)

[Herr General]

Hmm...I'll have to work on that. I'm still not sure why it's black instead of transparent though.

[M-Cyclone]

Maybe a stupid question..but how do you open the file and intstall it for UT? By the way, it looks very nice!

[Herr General]

All you need to do is download it and put the file in your C:/UT2004/Maps folder.

Another update- Due to inclement weather in my area, I have not been able to get to my UT computer. I should be able to get there tomorrow.

[Herr General]

Updated with Version 2. Check the first post.

[Herr General]

I've noticed that the trees in the newest version have strange lighting. The branches appear to be unlit, but the trunk is fine. I only turned off collision for the branches, but I fear I may have accidentally messed something up.

[Herr General]

Yay. My map is now officially dead.

[Zippy24]

It looks fun!

[Herr General]

I'm glad you like it, but any suggestions?

[gargorias]

Your tree trunks are black because you have no ambient light, try setting it at somewhere between 16 to 32 and change your sunlight color to either white or a light yellow. If you want shadows cast from the tree branches but no collision then turn the collision off after you have built the lighting.

[Herr General]

I already have the collision turned off, but thanks for the suggestion. I'll work on it tonight.

[gargorias]

I already have the collision turned off, but thanks for the suggestion. I'll work on it tonight.

No, I should have said - turn the collision on for the tree branches before you build the lighting and then turn it off after.