AAO25.com
America's Army => mAAp Project => Topic started by: MothaGoosE on Saturday, July 14, 2012, 06:50:15 AM
-
Hey guys, let me start by saying that I've been working with the 2.4.1 editor for nearly as long as Maxbulldog (same computer) I've been working on one map in particular for the past few weeks and I'd like to know what you think of it so far. It's a work in progress, and there is still much to be done, so things are going to look a little bare. That being said, I learned the editor from unreal 2 video tutorials, Max, and posts in this forum. I understand that I still have much to learn, but I'm not here to be a pain and ask questions that have already been asked. I'm usually a quick learner. I'll shut up no and post some screens.
http://s1254.photobucket.com/albums/hh608/321goose123/
I'll put a video up soon. Also, any devs who would like the current version of the aao file are welcome. I'll provide you with a dropbox link.
As of right now, it is a dual-assault map, taking place in a shipping compound in which 3 objectives having do do with evidence gathering must be taken. US Special Forces are sent into this area to retrieve the evidence before a major hurricane hits the area (Once the time runs out). A team wins by killing the other team or holding all 3 objectives at once. At the moment, the objectives include A computer with shipping logs, a high-security computer in the president's office, and a stash of small arms. US forces must find the evidence necessary to prove that the company was involved in helping to arm a local uprising, so the mission is critical. I'm not sure if it's realistic for Special forces to be doing this, but I think it makes sense.
Thanks.
~MothaGoosE
-
Thank you! :)
-
i would play it. hopefully competitive map as well :D
-
I am genuinely impressed. Your lighting is perfect, you're doing a great job with that. The only bad thing I have to say is in #62, disable corona collision on the windows. You can't see the headlights through the glass. Maybe some playerblocks on odd objects like the barrels that are tipped over, people can glitch out on those easily. But really, that's minor. Map looks great, in every way.
-
That's pretty damn good. I don't think I've ever seen anyone use that texture before in the lower vent access area. There's a couple windows that are unnaturally close to the edges of corners and such, but those are just minor details :D
-
To Jason: Cool. I do plan on making this a very balanced map, so hopefully it will support competitive play nicely. Definitely going to have this play tested a few times to make sure.
To ohscawet: Feel free to pm me with your idea. Although carry-able objectives are not supported in the 2.4.1 Editor and neither are destructible walls. (Thought I'd save Killaman the trouble in posting that bit, since he says it in every thread :P)
To Spanky: Thank you! I agree about the caronas, and will certainly fix that. I have started adding player blocks in some areas so far, such as around polls, piles of crates and such. I haven't added any to the barrels yet, but I need to since it's possible to get stuck in mid-air if you jump in the wrong spot. I've also implemented player blocks on certain objects that I think players will have fun figuring out. My intention is for everything to be as smooth and balanced as possible, while still feeling like a functional shipping yard. I'll just put the link at the bottom of this post if you guys want to take a look at it all in context. i haven't changed the spawns to SF classes yet.
To BlueBlaster: Thanks a lot, man! It means a lot! Any windows in particular? I am going for realism as well as functionality.
The Current version of the project file is here: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/25230487/SF_Compound36a_241.zip
Thanks for the feedback, guys!
-
Last screenshot, number 63. You'll notice. Oh and about carry objectives...it's possible but laziness gets the better of me.
-
Oh I can't believe I didn't notice that. Thanks, I will certainly take care of it. Also, I solute your laziness. I practice it daily. :P
-
looks great, WC whores will love this map hehe
-
Thanks. :)
-
Very impressive. I just ran through the map and got stuck on some barrels trying to get into a vent that was above a box. Had to quit.
-
Thanks! "I haven't added any to the barrels yet, but I need to since it's possible to get stuck in mid-air if you jump in the wrong spot." Thou hath been warned. :P
-
Thanks! "I haven't added any to the barrels yet, but I need to since it's possible to get stuck in mid-air if you jump in the wrong spot." Thou hath been warned. :P
Yeah I kinda skipped a lot of posts. . :P
-
That's all right. I also took the liberty of replicating your usual "No-carry-obj-and-destructible-walls-like-in-pcr-post"
-
You need to fix the ambient sound... asap.
-
Ambient volume is last on my list. For that, I need a good control. It isn't going to stay so loud. I'm certainly not about to make this a sound whore map. Volume levels are going to be realistic.
-
The sounds you have are fine its just really loud and the stuff echos
-
WIP
-
Fun fact, I have now added carry objectives into the editor. Those with access to the dropbox, replace your old AGP_Gameplay.u file with the new one in the dropbox I uploaded. I checked out Border in the editor, boom, works.
-
Fun fact, I have now added carry objectives into the editor. Those with access to the dropbox, replace your old AGP_Gameplay.u file with the new one in the dropbox I uploaded. I checked out Border in the editor, boom, works.
Sorcery!
-
wow i just played this map and i really really like it. Keep up the great work and I cant wait to test out the final product.
If a team was smart enough, they could make getting B near impossible :shock: there are a lot of good spots :D
a few things i noticed:
-somethings up with the windows. when one shatters, all neighboring ones have that shattering action. im sure you've noticed this already
-theres a door that is supposed to go into the room where presentations would be held (with the projector and screen). When you open it its all black. When you go inside the room you are actually opening the door into the projector screen.
-
If you finish up the map and stuff, put it on the developers dropbox or hand it to me and we can put it in the 7.2 update.
-
Fun fact, I have now added carry objectives into the editor. Those with access to the dropbox, replace your old AGP_Gameplay.u file with the new one in the dropbox I uploaded. I checked out Border in the editor, boom, works.
That's awesome! Thank you! And absolutely, I'll try my best to finish it quickly. Do I have much time?
To Jason: I'm not sure why the windows do that. There's probably a setting somewhere that i overlooked. Could you provide a screenshot for the black projector room problem? I am unable to replicate it.
-
You've got some time. Do some good work on it, get the important things ready. And if there is a spontaneous update, I'll take the time to finalize it just in case.
-
Just a suggestion:
dont put so many doors. It's so confusing because all the same doors are used. Not every room needs a door. Like those second floor rooms that have windows that overlook the crates in the first floor, i dont think they need doors connecting each other.
South-West corner of the map near obj A
Outside in the hallway:
(https://aao25.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi46.tinypic.com%2F20axl68.jpg&hash=f4ab199b1cf03d1c5c9dd9c1c4b073d9)
Inside of the room:
(https://aao25.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2Fv41d9c.jpg&hash=02f9725f5a73564abe1631e579e25e86)
-
Follow up on the door suggestion: you can swap the door textures. In the T-Doors (or whatever the package is called) there are more textures for doors than you see if you browse the static mesh browser.
Another point -- because this is a game and we don't always need to mimic reality, we can instead focus on playability. I've only seen the map through screenshots, so excuse my bit of ignorance here. It is a good idea to color code portions of the map. I don't need to explain why it make it easier for players to get up and going :)
You can color code with doors, walls, different floors can have certain color schemes, etc. Just some general level design information :)
-
It is a good idea to color code portions of the map. I don't need to explain why it make it easier for players to get up and going :)
exactly what i was thinking. Isn't there that same wall texture except red? not exactly sure. But yea, section off parts of the map so players know what building they're in. It's probably hard to know what we mean because you obviously know the entire map by heart haha.
-
To Jason: Thanks for that. It's a door I thought I had deleted. Apparently it was just chilling in the wall with a zone portal and a small subtractive brush. I believe this was the cause of the minor bsp tearing as well. Thanks dude, it's gone now. That door wasn't even supposed to be there. Also, I know what you mean with the doors. Initially, certain doors were placed to delay people coming up from the parking garage, but things have changed since and they are unnecessary. Also, I plan on deleting all of the doors the don't connect to the hallway in the offices above B.
Additionally, Blue, I have considered "color-coding" areas of the building, but I haven't decided on which textures I wanted yet. There is also the concern with the interior of the bridges not looking out of place. I was responsible for color-coding the basement hallways in Hospital SAR that max and I were working on for that same reason. I'm trying to make as little of the upper floors playable as I can, but I want them to look like they are a part of the same complex. I will also attempt to give clues with furniture and lighting. I might just color code the doors, instead of the walls, so you know what building you're in. All non-openable doors are the white door texture that says 'No Admittance' with the exception of the wooden doors in the cafeteria and kitchen. I want to make it clear what doors you can go through and which ones are fake.
Thanks for the feedback, it's great help, guys.
Also, to Blue: Is there an appropriate texture I can use for the offices and hallways that isnt ceiling tiles? I didn't take the size of the tiles into account when creating the bsp, and I'd rather not alter bsp at this point. I would also like to use the same lights. Or is there a better way to re-size the texture that isn't so drastic?
-
You can check the surface properties of the office ceiling tiles and keep punching in numbers to the size scale until it fits the walls. In dockside, devs used a concrete texture for the ceiling in some areas and it worked out alright. You could also use a plain white wall :D So check out the T2-Concrete package basically.
-
Roger, will do. Thanks.
-
Heres an update on the parking garage (West spawn) The inner part of the parking garage is not actually access able - otherwise it would be spawn camper heaven. lol
http://s1254.photobucket.com/albums/hh608/321goose123/Map%20Update%207-17/
-
Looks like a rich buildings parking garage. I can't put my finger on it but something is off. I guess it's the game engines graphical limitations. It's one of the spiffiest parking garages I've ever seen though, bonus points for that.
-
I assume those parking space lines are meshes so disable shadow casting on them, it looks weird. The stop gate looks nifty, perhaps it could be an activated mover just for fun.
-
Blue: You might be right. I've still got things to add, like vents and stuff.
Spanky: They are sheets. For some reason, they won't show over the floor when flush with it. It's probably me just being a noob, but I did intend to eventually fix it. I thought about making the gate move, but it's there to show that you can't go back there. And thanks, I just built it real quick.
-
Spanky: They are sheets. For some reason, they won't show over the floor when flush with it. It's probably me just being a noob, but I did intend to eventually fix it. I thought about making the gate move, but it's there to show that you can't go back there. And thanks, I just built it real quick.
Ha ha. Okay bear with me because this could cause the editor to spit and flail its arms around. If you've used photoshop, you know how layers work. The top layer will show over the bottom layer. Almost the same story here in unrealed. You want the sheet brush to be "on top" of the brush its intersecting with. I don't have the editor up (and I'm too lazy to bring it up), but I think this is the process. Select the sheet and the subtracted brush it is flush with. Right click on either of the selected brushes so you can bring up the right-click menu. I think in CSG there should be a menu option called Swap grouping, layer, position, order, something. You basically click that option, do a build all and hope it works.
Let me recap that complicated wall of text. Your basically changing the order of precedence for two brushes occupying the same 3d space.
-
^^ I never understood any of that crap.
Easier solution: Projector
-
Spanky is a man of efficiency. I just state the facts :)
-
Blue's way is probably better. I'm just lazy and do things the way I know how. Beyond creating, deleting and vertex editing BSP, I don't know how to do anything else. Projectors are nice but for parking lines, you gotta make sure they don't project on particles and pawns, that would look odd. You can also make Projectors dependent on level detail which is nice.
-
Okay, I understand. I'm assuming that, like most things so far, I have to painstakingly go through and do this for each sheet? While I'm here, I am also having an issue with the glass emitters in the windows. When any window is broken, all glass emitters start throwing glass at once.
I'll also look up projectors. Thanks again!
"Spanky is a man of efficiency. I just state the facts :)" Both are very helpful
-
When any window is broken, all glass emitters start throwing glass at once.
Did you really think you could copypasta the windows and the editor would automatically know that each one was different and link the emitters to the windows differently?
UnrealEd isn't THAT easy :) Go into the window mesh and set DamagedEvent or DestroyedEvent to something unique (window1) and set the emitter the same... it's somewhere in the Emitter settings like Object or some shit, I don't remember. There's probably a tutorial on it. Point is, each window & emitter have to have unique names from other windows and emitters.
-
*shifty eyes* uh maybe :P
That sounds simple enough. Just gonna have to invest in some bionic hands afterwords XD
-
Looks great to me! I've yet to play it (going to right after I've finished posting), but it looks pretty good to me.
A few areas seem to be a bit ... well empty (again, looking at the pictures), but as its a WIP it can be worked on in areas that do need more objects.
The scenery looks a lot like WC, but I think that's just saying "this looks familiar, I better try it", so I think that's good :)
Anyway, off to playing the version that was posted :)
EDIT:
Just played it, looks amazing, a LOT of mobility available. It's gonna be hard checking all those crates and places for people when trying to take an objective that the enemy has, but then again the enemy has to look at many entrances as well. I haven't of course played yet, but it seems pretty fun to me.
Have you figured out what kind of weapon layout there's gonna be? Will there be IF guys? Will there be grenades, how many smokes/flashes etc? This can of course wait, but for a first beta or something, these things will have to be somewhat figured out :)
The room next to the conference room near A objective was quite a big room, but it was completely empty (and it seemed to me there were some weird lights that game through the door from the conference room or something)
-
Big thing I just remembered. Make sure the enemy skins are NOT IBTC otherwise if you ever play test the map, all the enemies look like friendlies. You should set it to the standard Opfor just to make it easy for yourself.
-
Big thing I just remembered. Make sure the enemy skins are NOT IBTC otherwise if you ever play test the map, all the enemies look like friendlies. You should set it to the standard Opfor just to make it easy for yourself.
lol. Yes. No idea why the editor defaults the enemies to friendly skins.
-
Enemy skins and meshes are CivOp like in WC. :
The load outs are:
18c with 4 frags, 2 flashes, 2smokes, no incendiary, 203 disabled.
18z with 4 frags, 2 smokes (3 18z per team)
18b with 1 frag, 2 smokes, 2 flashes (2 per team)
G with 1 frag, 2 smokes, 2 flashes (2 per team)
All classes carry a pistol with 4 mags for when you can't spare time to reload.
There are 4 fireteams and one squad leader per side which means it's a 34 slot map.
Thanks and I'm glad you like it! Empty rooms ate rooms that I haven't gotten to yet.
-
18c, no 203, no incendiary.
Great move!
18z and 18b should get pistol, not the 18c's. a G with a pistol is kinda cool.
-
Thanks!
I personally think that everyone having a pistol is more balanced, and will change awkward encounters when both people run out of ammo in a cool way.
-
Hey Mogo... fuck you.
Haha the map is a lot better than when i first saw it when it was gigantic. You resized it perfectly.
-
Fuck you too, dirtbag. :)
Haha thanks dude. I most certainly want you around when we test this shit. I want to make sure this is well balanced in all aspects.
-
Visual update of progress so far: http://s1254.photobucket.com/albums/hh608/321goose123/Update%202/
All glass issues have been resolved, thanks Spanky. I'll post another version of the aao file soon, and ask for people's average frame rate.
-
It's shaping up well.
-
Thanks! :)
-
Love it except for the first screenshot; the lighting looks weird.
One tip; you have a LOT of high quality shadow surfaces, that's great but map size is probably sneaking up. On surfaces where there's no detailed shadows, set the lightmap to 256. Larger surfaces first then smaller ones (like window borders). That will make the map size smaller and use less GPU RAM which would mean more performance on lower end systems.
-
Love it except for the first screenshot; the lighting looks weird.
One tip; you have a LOT of high quality shadow surfaces, that's great but map size is probably sneaking up. On surfaces where there's no detailed shadows, set the lightmap to 256. Larger surfaces first then smaller ones (like window borders). That will make the map size smaller and use less GPU RAM which would mean more performance on lower end systems.
I've been dreading doing this for a while. I've done it for all surfaces outside the playable area and stuff you can't see, but I know I've got to go through and do a lot more. So...much...selecting...loosing...power
-
BTW, not every light fixture needs a light actor if you can get away with it visually. There is a strange limitation to the number of lights (and also zones).
-
I've been dreading doing this for a while. I've done it for all surfaces outside the playable area and stuff you can't see, but I know I've got to go through and do a lot more. So...much...selecting...loosing...power
You don't have to do every single one. Just when you're bored or you're in a certain area, go for it. Once you've done the major surfaces, not much will be gained from the little ones.
-
BTW, not every light fixture needs a light actor if you can get away with it visually. There is a strange limitation to the number of lights (and also zones).
Yeah the zone number i think is 60. I ran into that problem a few times and it had me baffled for the longest time.