haslo
01-26-2008, 05:48 AM
A map I built from scratch, my first UT3 map too, and it's slowly approaching completion. It's a VCTF map that actually doesn't revolve around vehicles mainly, there are a couple of paths that aren't accessible to vehicles at all and quite a bit of cover, and also plenty of AVRiLs lying around in strategic positions. Still, the Goliaths, Hellbenders and turrets can be quite devastating in the right hands.
So what does the Beta 6 bring? Well, the change list is as long as never before :D
Gameplay-wise, due to popular request we now have jump boots! I had to adapt the map a bit to make them work, but it was well worth it, escaping with them is fun as never before. I also removed the health keg and brought in an UDamage instead, with some Kismet Voodoo I partially copied from DM-Diesel, to make the immediate area light up in pink. The EMP mines have moved to the team's starting positions, and I moved a few more player starts out of the ships to make escaping easier.
The graphics have changed a bit as well. What I changed mainly here is the atmosphere, there's more visible fog now, and a flare from the sun. Furthermore, I added more markers for the blue and red sides. And some small mesh changes of course.
The performance should be better yet again, as I didn't have terrain LOD before and also changed the culling. Still, there seem to be performance issues in some configurations, so...
If you have an SLI or Crossfire configuration, I'd love to hear feedback as to how the map runs on your rig! Just a short "runs fine" or "horrible fps" will suffice, but the more detail the better. After quite some optimizations, the map runs better than the stock maps on my system meanwhile, but I had reports from 20-30 fps on an SLI system, and I have no clue where that performance loss comes from - so the more info the better.
Download the Beta 6 here! (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/VCTF-Harbour_Beta6.zip)
New and shiny screenies of the map:
http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_thumb001.jpg (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_screenie001.jpg)http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_thumb002.jpg (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_screenie002.jpg)
http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_thumb003.jpg (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_screenie003.jpg)http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_thumb004.jpg (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_screenie004.jpg)
http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_thumb005.jpg (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_screenie005.jpg)
Version history (also available in the readme file):
2008-02-10 Beta 6
- Changed the atmosphere by changing fog colour, density and height
- Added a lens flare to the sun
- Adjusted the jump pad added in Beta 5 slightly, it's no longer on the path to the one leading up to the ship
- Added some ledges and a jump pad to the back of the ship, for yet another (sneaky) way up
- Added glass to the underside of the walkway tunnel as well, to prevent shooting from below
- Tweaked dynamic lights a lot yet again, for performance reasons
- Made the generator inside the center building no longer rotate, to improve performance
- Tweaked the terrain to have somewhat aggressive LOD, as well as more culling
- Added AVRiL ammo to the front of the ships and near the towers
- Added reverb volumes to the walkways and the sewer area
- Added a blocking volume near the shield belt, to prevent players from getting stuck in the railing
- Fixed the crates on the big ramp up to the ship, they actually block the Hellbender again
- Added a TankBlockingVolume to prevent the tank from driving up the cables holding the ships
- Added railings to make the JumpPads up to the big ramp to the ships purposeful again (and block a tank exploit)
- Made the blue side a lot more blue, and the red side a lot more red
- Discovered Decals, and placed a few
- Moved a few spawn points away from the flags, to make it easier to clear out the flag area
- Moved the EMP mine, actually, made it two and placed them on the ships (in the respective open containers)
- Added an UDamage at the former EMP mine place, added fog to the sewer area, and added some shiny Kismet Voodoo
- Removed the Health Keg - there's really enough powerups (and health) without it
- Due to popular request, added Jump Boots
- Adjusted the bits of geometry that are visible only with Jump Boots, and added blocking volumes where necessary
2008-02-04 Beta 5
- Lowered both ships by 192 units, to make them actually swim, leading to height being less of an advantage too
- Lowered the ramps into the ships and reworked the crates on them
- Changed lighting and ground fog to be less diffuse, cast clearer shadows and generally be more orange
- Added actual non-boring flag bases inside the ships
- Added jump pads from near the ship's rear up to the walkways
- Added meshes as directional pointers around the jump pads that don't lead into strictly intuitive directions
- Added weapon lockers for the spawn points outside the ships
- Added a "wall" between the two tanks, making it harder to destroy the enemy one
- Added blocking volumes to the cables holding the ships, it's possible to walk up now (they were too steep before)
- Reviewed bot paths yet again
- Added ground fog below the lowest ground level, to cater for older systems (they have fog under water now)
- Drastically reduced the number of dynamic lights in general and dynamic shadows in particular for performance
- Added blocking volumes to prevent players from swimming too far out
- Added health to the back of the ships, primarily for enemies who make it that far, to make escaping easier
- Added a tower-ey thingy south of the Redeemer spot, to further break the rocket turret's line of sight
- Added a shield belt to said tower-ey thingy's interior, to make that route more attractive and make offense a bit easier
2008-02-02 Beta 4
- Reviewed bot paths, in action too, and optimized them a huge lot (and added a working lift jump path, too)
- A truck came by and dumped a ton of stairs into the water, getting out should be a breeze now
- Added blocking volumes to the sides of the ramps out of the ships, to prevent characters from getting stuck
- Slightly tweaked some deco item placements for balance and feel (trash dump, ship bridge, rocks and bushes)
- Moved the boxes leading up the big ramp to the ships, allowing for easier passage of characters
- Improved performance by making culling a lot more aggressive
- Added some per-item culling settings to maintain looks from afar
- Added arrow meshes as visual cue for the hoverboard big air into the ship (from the walkways)
- Added a couple of health vials to the walkways, bots actually use them now too
- Added health packs to the jump pad flag carrier route, making escaping easier and leading bots the right way
- Added a helmet to both side's terrain's center
- Reworked the terrain and its materials, with performance in mind
- Did I mention I reviewed bot paths?
2008-01-29 Beta 3
- Added visual detail everywhere, making for a way more lively and (hyper)realistic environment
- Added culling, to increase performance, and tweaked it as to not have popping
- Reduced shader complexity for the glass walkways
- Reduced the total number of dynamic lights
- Removed quite some meshes and replaced them with fewer, longer ones for trims and the long wall towards the city
- Removed one of the AVRiLs, yielding two per side still, and placed a ship bridge there instead
- Further restrained the rocket turret's field of fire
- Added crates that should block Hellbenders from entering the ships
- Added an EMP mine (hint: it's hiding under water :P)
- Tweaked bot paths
- Moved another starting position out of the ship, for easier flag escapes
- Added ramps leading up from inside the ships, and changed the outer ramp's meshes
- Added more exits from the water
2008-01-27 Beta 2
- Increased ambient lighting (sky light and directional indirect light) to make for lighter shadows
- Fixed clipping errors at the freighters (front and back)
- Fixed the "get into the ship from underneath" exploit with a blocking volume
- Added another blocking volume inside the container with archeological stuff, preventing players from getting stuck in there
- Tweaked some collision settings in the upper walkway
- Rebuilt bot paths from scratch
- Tweaked some translucent materials to increase performance
- Added screenshot and description for the map list
- Added a minimap
- Exchanged the regular turret at the back of the ships for a rocket turret, making it way less dominating
- Both sides got a Hellbender to toy with
- Added a third AVRiL spawn per side
- Reduced in-base lockers to two, both giving the same weapons (no Shock rifles, no Rocket Launchers)
- Added two Rocket Launcher plus ammo spawns, one reachable with a lift jump only
- Tweaked jump pad placement, essentially removing redundant ones
2008-01-26 Beta 1
- Initial Release
So what does the Beta 6 bring? Well, the change list is as long as never before :D
Gameplay-wise, due to popular request we now have jump boots! I had to adapt the map a bit to make them work, but it was well worth it, escaping with them is fun as never before. I also removed the health keg and brought in an UDamage instead, with some Kismet Voodoo I partially copied from DM-Diesel, to make the immediate area light up in pink. The EMP mines have moved to the team's starting positions, and I moved a few more player starts out of the ships to make escaping easier.
The graphics have changed a bit as well. What I changed mainly here is the atmosphere, there's more visible fog now, and a flare from the sun. Furthermore, I added more markers for the blue and red sides. And some small mesh changes of course.
The performance should be better yet again, as I didn't have terrain LOD before and also changed the culling. Still, there seem to be performance issues in some configurations, so...
If you have an SLI or Crossfire configuration, I'd love to hear feedback as to how the map runs on your rig! Just a short "runs fine" or "horrible fps" will suffice, but the more detail the better. After quite some optimizations, the map runs better than the stock maps on my system meanwhile, but I had reports from 20-30 fps on an SLI system, and I have no clue where that performance loss comes from - so the more info the better.
Download the Beta 6 here! (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/VCTF-Harbour_Beta6.zip)
New and shiny screenies of the map:
http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_thumb001.jpg (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_screenie001.jpg)http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_thumb002.jpg (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_screenie002.jpg)
http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_thumb003.jpg (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_screenie003.jpg)http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_thumb004.jpg (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_screenie004.jpg)
http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_thumb005.jpg (http://www.haslo.ch/vctf-harbour/beta6_screenie005.jpg)
Version history (also available in the readme file):
2008-02-10 Beta 6
- Changed the atmosphere by changing fog colour, density and height
- Added a lens flare to the sun
- Adjusted the jump pad added in Beta 5 slightly, it's no longer on the path to the one leading up to the ship
- Added some ledges and a jump pad to the back of the ship, for yet another (sneaky) way up
- Added glass to the underside of the walkway tunnel as well, to prevent shooting from below
- Tweaked dynamic lights a lot yet again, for performance reasons
- Made the generator inside the center building no longer rotate, to improve performance
- Tweaked the terrain to have somewhat aggressive LOD, as well as more culling
- Added AVRiL ammo to the front of the ships and near the towers
- Added reverb volumes to the walkways and the sewer area
- Added a blocking volume near the shield belt, to prevent players from getting stuck in the railing
- Fixed the crates on the big ramp up to the ship, they actually block the Hellbender again
- Added a TankBlockingVolume to prevent the tank from driving up the cables holding the ships
- Added railings to make the JumpPads up to the big ramp to the ships purposeful again (and block a tank exploit)
- Made the blue side a lot more blue, and the red side a lot more red
- Discovered Decals, and placed a few
- Moved a few spawn points away from the flags, to make it easier to clear out the flag area
- Moved the EMP mine, actually, made it two and placed them on the ships (in the respective open containers)
- Added an UDamage at the former EMP mine place, added fog to the sewer area, and added some shiny Kismet Voodoo
- Removed the Health Keg - there's really enough powerups (and health) without it
- Due to popular request, added Jump Boots
- Adjusted the bits of geometry that are visible only with Jump Boots, and added blocking volumes where necessary
2008-02-04 Beta 5
- Lowered both ships by 192 units, to make them actually swim, leading to height being less of an advantage too
- Lowered the ramps into the ships and reworked the crates on them
- Changed lighting and ground fog to be less diffuse, cast clearer shadows and generally be more orange
- Added actual non-boring flag bases inside the ships
- Added jump pads from near the ship's rear up to the walkways
- Added meshes as directional pointers around the jump pads that don't lead into strictly intuitive directions
- Added weapon lockers for the spawn points outside the ships
- Added a "wall" between the two tanks, making it harder to destroy the enemy one
- Added blocking volumes to the cables holding the ships, it's possible to walk up now (they were too steep before)
- Reviewed bot paths yet again
- Added ground fog below the lowest ground level, to cater for older systems (they have fog under water now)
- Drastically reduced the number of dynamic lights in general and dynamic shadows in particular for performance
- Added blocking volumes to prevent players from swimming too far out
- Added health to the back of the ships, primarily for enemies who make it that far, to make escaping easier
- Added a tower-ey thingy south of the Redeemer spot, to further break the rocket turret's line of sight
- Added a shield belt to said tower-ey thingy's interior, to make that route more attractive and make offense a bit easier
2008-02-02 Beta 4
- Reviewed bot paths, in action too, and optimized them a huge lot (and added a working lift jump path, too)
- A truck came by and dumped a ton of stairs into the water, getting out should be a breeze now
- Added blocking volumes to the sides of the ramps out of the ships, to prevent characters from getting stuck
- Slightly tweaked some deco item placements for balance and feel (trash dump, ship bridge, rocks and bushes)
- Moved the boxes leading up the big ramp to the ships, allowing for easier passage of characters
- Improved performance by making culling a lot more aggressive
- Added some per-item culling settings to maintain looks from afar
- Added arrow meshes as visual cue for the hoverboard big air into the ship (from the walkways)
- Added a couple of health vials to the walkways, bots actually use them now too
- Added health packs to the jump pad flag carrier route, making escaping easier and leading bots the right way
- Added a helmet to both side's terrain's center
- Reworked the terrain and its materials, with performance in mind
- Did I mention I reviewed bot paths?
2008-01-29 Beta 3
- Added visual detail everywhere, making for a way more lively and (hyper)realistic environment
- Added culling, to increase performance, and tweaked it as to not have popping
- Reduced shader complexity for the glass walkways
- Reduced the total number of dynamic lights
- Removed quite some meshes and replaced them with fewer, longer ones for trims and the long wall towards the city
- Removed one of the AVRiLs, yielding two per side still, and placed a ship bridge there instead
- Further restrained the rocket turret's field of fire
- Added crates that should block Hellbenders from entering the ships
- Added an EMP mine (hint: it's hiding under water :P)
- Tweaked bot paths
- Moved another starting position out of the ship, for easier flag escapes
- Added ramps leading up from inside the ships, and changed the outer ramp's meshes
- Added more exits from the water
2008-01-27 Beta 2
- Increased ambient lighting (sky light and directional indirect light) to make for lighter shadows
- Fixed clipping errors at the freighters (front and back)
- Fixed the "get into the ship from underneath" exploit with a blocking volume
- Added another blocking volume inside the container with archeological stuff, preventing players from getting stuck in there
- Tweaked some collision settings in the upper walkway
- Rebuilt bot paths from scratch
- Tweaked some translucent materials to increase performance
- Added screenshot and description for the map list
- Added a minimap
- Exchanged the regular turret at the back of the ships for a rocket turret, making it way less dominating
- Both sides got a Hellbender to toy with
- Added a third AVRiL spawn per side
- Reduced in-base lockers to two, both giving the same weapons (no Shock rifles, no Rocket Launchers)
- Added two Rocket Launcher plus ammo spawns, one reachable with a lift jump only
- Tweaked jump pad placement, essentially removing redundant ones
2008-01-26 Beta 1
- Initial Release