ONS-Rail [Beta] [Pics]

[Wormbo]

I can't really test the map's performance (hardly any map can bring my rig below constant 60 frames in UT2004), but I can see that something must be done about that center axis view. Maybe CullDistance could help here.
Also maybe you could change the anti portals a bit. Most of the time the expensive rendering happens along the core-core axis, while the perpendicular axis doesn't have that much detail. As a reminder, stuff is only not rendered if it is entirely hidden by any single anti portal. Putting two box anti portals side by side will always leave a small gap because you can't (or shouldn't) overlap them. You could try to use anti portal sheets to cover the gaps if you make the boxes a bit smaller.

I think I know what those meshes in the sky box are. The sky box is too close to the main zone and some of the tree meshes (or at least their bounding boxes) probably reach into the sky zone. Move it further away to make sure nothing in the main area affects the sky zone.

[Crusha K. Rool]

Updated to Beta 15, featuring Wormbo's new fancy OnslaughtSpecials. You will see the difference in game, I didn't take any screenshots of that for now.

Check the first post for changelog and download.

[Sly.]

Okay, good luck Hope you get this finished soon so that you can work on this map
PS: May I add you to my friend list?

[Crusha K. Rool]

No, tried already to set the DoorTags of the Mover-Leader of the respective storage halls, but that didn't work either. I tried that because Wormbo said that the Tag of Movers in a ReturnGroup can't be used for that because no code is executed for Follower-Movers, as they don't get triggered or something like that.

So I still have no clue how to tell the bots how to do it right.


And actually I rather want to keep working on the UltimateMappingTools than on maps, but currently it stopped me until someone answers the texture rotation question that I posted in another thread…

[Sly.]

Owwwwwwwww....
However, did you make any progress yet?
Can't wait for the next beta! Awesome map.

[Crusha K. Rool]

But as I said already, I am not going to put something exploding in this map.

[Sly.]

(Sorry for double-posting)
Well, I forgot to say that you could take a look at ONS-Agamendon[Monsters]. This map has respawning exploding barrels, but without a respawn effect. I think a skilled coder could make what you'd need to make exploding objects for your map.

[Sly.]

[...]
I am aware of that, but it runs fine for me and many others. You might have to decrease your detail settings for the map. It wasn't made for hardware that was low to middle end when the game was released. ;-)

I have a PC that can run this game at the highest settings. It's not that old

[...]

I never got stuck there and I also never heard of someone doing that before, you must be doing something wrong. ;-)

I have to learn dodging up again

[...]

I already asked Wormbo about that long time before, but he declined because he wanted them to be as close as possible to the UT3 ones, where you also don't wear them.

I don't miss them, to be honest. They had bugs online due to which they couldn't be detached after running out.

[...]

Explosion always sounds nice in the first moment, but it would look too empty for the rest of the round after you used them, I already know that problem from exploding barrels. They also wouldn't throw the fancy shadows then, so I leave them as they are. It's intentionally that there is at least cover at that place.

Maybe someone could code respawning exploding objects.
(Not me.. am still beginner, could need some german tutorials. It takes me too long to look everything up in a dictionary and then I have to understand it )
This object could also have a dynamic projector then (like vehicles have) which throws the shadow (adjustable) into the right direction. When you destroy it, the shadow disappears and after a while there would be new objects, spawned with a really cool effect, for example the explosion effect only reversed

[Crusha K. Rool]

First of all: Great map. I had fun with your ONS-Rail Betas.

Thanks. =)

But I noticed that you didn't fix a few things which could make this map even better.
That's why I made this review (can't wait for the final version):

I see.

First of all, there's the bot AI. Everything works great except this single place.
It's near the blue base. I don't know what these bots wanted to do, but they were walking straight into the wall all the time :/
Here's a screenshot:
[SHOT]http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/5637/onsrailbug.png[/SHOT]

See the first post: Known issues. The bots have problems if the doors are closed. For some reason the DoorPathNode isn't switched to being closed now. I tried a lot to fix it, but rebuilding the paths takes 15 minutes on my high-end system, so if I make a change and want to try it, then I have to wait 15 minutes in which I can't do anyting.

Another thing I've noticed is that the performance is still bad at some places

I am aware of that, but it runs fine for me and many others. You might have to decrease your detail settings for the map. It wasn't made for hardware that was low to middle end when the game was released. ;-)

When you take a look at this passage
[SHOT]http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8793/onsrailperformanceavg14.png[/SHOT]
you'll notice that the performance is very very bad. Average fps: 14 (at least on my computer)
You could fix this by converting a few things to static meshes. For example: You could make one big static mesh out of the rails (with all the wooden planks and collumns), but I'm not sure, if this would increase the fps a lot but it could be worth a try.

I could make that for some smaller blocks, but not for things that go across the whole map. When the engine renders something, then it first renders each StaticMesh(compound) of a kind within the frustrum. A compound is of a kind if everything is exactly at the same position AND uses the same textures everywhere, so you have to be careful with repetitive patterns. But within a compound, each mesh with another texture also needs to be rendered individually, so grouping StaticMeshes makes usually only sense for meshes that are completely the same, like here.

(I know you want to stay as close as possible to the original and that might be the problem. You have no possibility to change big parts of the map's architecture)

Indeed.

Furthermore I would remove this part from the skybox: I mean, what is that??
[SHOT]http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/6191/onsrailimprovement.png[/SHOT]
I don't know why there are that many polygons but the performance could be increased, if there wouldn't be these static meshes. It's only on the red side of the skybox.

Dunno, will take a look. Might be fog or a cloud or something like that.

Then I would take a look at this:
[SHOT]http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/1659/onsrailbug2.png[/SHOT]
A very simple solution would be to subrtact a bit space under the powernode and to lower it so that it's shield can't touch the ceiling. I think this won't be a big problem.

I don't see a problem in this. You can't damage the Node from above, the shield doesn't look really bad their, in contrary would a hole in the ground be ugly and I want to go without that. My toolset shall later feature a Node for which you can specify spawn height of the Node Sphere and Node Shield, so the problem should be solved then.

And you could add a blocking volume at this place:
[SHOT]http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/7971/onsrailbug1.png[/SHOT]
You can get stuck at this place when you try to dodge up.

I never got stuck there and I also never heard of someone doing that before, you must be doing something wrong. ;-)

If you take a look at the jumpboots, you can't see if anybody is wearing them. That was a nice feature Wormbo, please take a look at the jumpboots in DM-KGalleon][ and make a bit it like that again (only that thing with 3rd person mesh!)! That's just awesome!

I already asked Wormbo about that long time before, but he declined because he wanted them to be as close as possible to the UT3 ones, where you also don't wear them.

I don't miss them, to be honest. They had bugs online due to which they couldn't be detached after running out.

And last but not least:
[SHOT]http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/3550/onsrailimprovement3.png[/SHOT]
Can you make them explode, please?
That would make this map even better. Enemies wouldn't be able to hide everywhere. This would make this place a strategical area, where you can kill some enemies with your sniper when they want to attack your node.

Explosion always sounds nice in the first moment, but it would look too empty for the rest of the round after you used them, I already know that problem from exploding barrels. They also wouldn't throw the fancy shadows then, so I leave them as they are. It's intentionally that there is at least cover at that place.

I would give you 4/5* for your map though there are some small bugs and bad performance at some places. It's a great ONS-map! It's pure action and it looks just awesome.

Thanks. :P

[Sly.]

First of all: Great map. I had fun with your ONS-Rail Betas.
But I noticed that you didn't fix a few things which could make this map even better.
That's why I made this review (can't wait for the final version):

First of all, there's the bot AI. Everything works great except this single place.
It's near the blue base. I don't know what these bots wanted to do, but they were walking straight into the wall all the time :/
Here's a screenshot:
[SHOT]http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/5637/onsrailbug.png[/SHOT]

Another thing I've noticed is that the performance is still bad at some places
When you take a look at this passage
[SHOT]http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/8793/onsrailperformanceavg14.png[/SHOT]
you'll notice that the performance is very very bad. Average fps: 14 (at least on my computer)
You could fix this by converting a few things to static meshes. For example: You could make one big static mesh out of the rails (with all the wooden planks and collumns), but I'm not sure, if this would increase the fps a lot but it could be worth a try.
(I know you want to stay as close as possible to the original and that might be the problem. You have no possibility to change big parts of the map's architecture)

Furthermore I would remove this part from the skybox: I mean, what is that??
[SHOT]http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/6191/onsrailimprovement.png[/SHOT]
I don't know why there are that many polygons but the performance could be increased, if there wouldn't be these static meshes. It's only on the red side of the skybox.

To compare it: If you take a look at the red base you have only max 14fps but if you take a look at the blue base you have about max 18fps.
Here is a screen of the blue side of the skybox:
[SHOT]http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/6954/onsrailimprovement2.png[/SHOT]
Might be that you didn't notice it but you could remove it if you don't need them for anything.

Then I would take a look at this:
[SHOT]http://img293.imageshack.us/img293/1659/onsrailbug2.png[/SHOT]
A very simple solution would be to subrtact a bit space under the powernode and to lower it so that it's shield can't touch the ceiling. I think this won't be a big problem.

And you could add a blocking volume at this place:
[SHOT]http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/7971/onsrailbug1.png[/SHOT]
You can get stuck at this place when you try to dodge up.

If you take a look at the jumpboots, you can't see if anybody is wearing them. That was a nice feature Wormbo, please take a look at the jumpboots in DM-KGalleon][ and make a bit it like that again (only that thing with 3rd person mesh!)! That's just awesome!

And last but not least:
[SHOT]http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/3550/onsrailimprovement3.png[/SHOT]
Can you make them explode, please?
That would make this map even better. Enemies wouldn't be able to hide everywhere. This would make this place a strategical area, where you can kill some enemies with your sniper when they want to attack your node.

I would give you 4/5* for your map though there are some small bugs and bad performance at some places. It's a great ONS-map! It's pure action and it looks just awesome.

[GreatEmerald]

Looks a little similar to UT3's VCTF-Rails

[Crusha K. Rool]

Updated to Beta 13, enjoy the changes.

[LoveFest]

Wow. I remember this map. Beautiful.

Nice to know I'm not the only guy who still works on old maps and perfects them.

Nice Job!

[Crusha K. Rool]

Updated first post to Beta 12. Should be easier to break the draw situation at the center now, you just need to build the node quick enough to surprise your enemy and nuke his nodes quickly.

[Sly.]

Tested this map. No bugs found, AI works. :up: Good work!