[Micky C]

NerdZilla, you've done alot of work and made alot of progress. Perhaps it's time to make a thread about it?

[Mark]

Nerdzilla's version never dropped below 120fps and spent most of the time way above that. Craigfatman's version dropped to 80fps but also spent most of its time way above that. I'm running it at 1680 x 1050 with HRP and Polymer enabled. So I guess the map can get a bit fancier and still run decently. Holy Moly, what a huge map!!!

[pmw]

blizzart, on Jan 6 2010, 02:52 PM, said:

Looks very good. It could use more shading.

Yeah I know, shading is big problem for me. I always forget to do that.

Gambini, on Jan 7 2010, 04:39 AM, said:

Looking good, i love the crane at the distance and that warehouse (or whatever it is) behind the wall (first shot)

Thanks!

[Andrew Hunt]

Currently finishing up Ragnarok.map that I had sitting around for like 2 years.

Personally it was like a trip back in the old days. I started that level back when Duke3d was still ported for DOS, and got it running on my XP machine. Kinda saw how my skills have developed.

After seeing a few things here, my skills are nothing compared to others around here (obviously)

As soon as I can find a place to upload it, I would like someone to beta test Ragnarok. Its not quite complete, gotta play around with SE-49's and make some of the really dark areas better.

[NerdZilla]

DeeperThought, on Jan 10 2010, 10:26 AM, said:

My frame rate drops down to 10 when looking over the city, and that's using vanilla Duke with no HRP.

get the HRP whatever tile format there useing is a MUST.

I'm getting 30 FPS and it's acting like it's a newer game. not glich no nothing.
your videocard should thank you after.

i have an ATI on a labtop.

[Sangman]

Not sure if that's better, the colours aren't that good now

[NerdZilla]

Sangman, on Jan 12 2010, 07:21 AM, said:

Not sure if that's better, the colours aren't that good now

thats because im messing with the geo fog. does anyone know how to make other colers?

[Andrew Hunt]

Are you trying to make Dukeblivion? Oblivion uses the massive landform like that. Of course you need loading zones and occlusion blocks in order to make that idea work correctly.

Edit: Throw a few forests in there and watch that framerate change

[Sangman]

Andrew Hunt, on Jan 12 2010, 10:28 PM, said:

Edit: Throw a few forests in there and watch that framerate change

Why would it change?

[Andrew Hunt]

Because trees are complicated 3d sprite and they tend to hog ALOT of resources, especially when Polymer is introduced.

For example, look at the FPS drop on this forest in my map.

[Danukem]

Sangman doesn't use the HRP, that's why he didn't think the frame rate would change.

[Sangman]

Actually no, I was thinking of an explanation TX gave to the AMC TC team a while ago why having many sprites wouldn't necessarily cause lag but now that I think further about it, we're not talking about lag here but lower FPS. (not the same thing)

BTW how is the FPS in that map without Polymer? Perhaps it's not the models that consume that much rendering time but rather the engine that has to render the lights and shadows. I've had lower FPS counts in Polymer in fairly simple hallways that didn't have many 3D models to speak of.

[Mblackwell]

How many sprites are present? If you have large amounts of sprites present and visible every frame framerate decreases massively. This can be compensated for by decreasing the number of sprites. The number of polygons shouldn't matter, especially in polymer, which creates a simple optimization method where you combine make two models part of the same object if that makes sense.

[Micky C]

This is the first time I've posted about this. It's a map I've been working on for the past six weeks, and it's my very first map Ever! btw I'm 16 years old and only became interested in Duke Nukem about a year ago. It uses Dukeplus 2.07 and has about 7 minutes worth of gameplay I'm guessing. Because I'm new at this, I did stuff the long and hard way, but I'm sure the result is the same, just that I could have done it all in half the time if I knew what I was doing and had a plan of the level. I kind of went from singleplay to multiplayer and back again so if you notice that it tends to have large areas with tonnes of secrets, that's why.

The park area is basically finished, it's pumped full of details and has more secret areas/passages than you'd expect in a singleplayer level. Once you get past that, the level of detail drops, that's because I haven't quite finished those areas yet, especially the maze bit in the last pic. You can even see the ventilation duct is only halfway across the roof! Yeah those areas need serious work. I plan to make the map roughly twice as big, adding an underwater area and an alienified area.

I was thinking the story could be: The Aliens made a surprise invasion and took over Earth, all hope is lost and the EDF are evacuation the remaining population to another planet. Duke is the last to go, and before he can escape, the aliens invade the safe zone, and the EDF won't grant him an escape ship until he can clear the area of all hostiles for the risk of one of them getting on the escape ship.

I might make a thread about it when I've made a bit more progress/upload a video to youtube/DukePlus 2.07 gets released, and I'll release a WIP of my map for people's opinons. Since it's my first map its extra necessary that I get tips and points in the right direction/feedback on how I'm doing so far.

Here are some screenshots:

[The Commander]

Bigger screen shots please, I cant make out any detail.
But what I can make out looks good from what I see.

[Danukem]

I like the first two screens the best, because they look sort of like real locations. The others seem kind of random. Why is there a weird park like that in the middle of the city? Why is there a maze in that last (otherwise unfurnished) room?

EDIT: You removed all the screens I commented on, except for the maze one.

[Micky C]

yeah sorry about that, I was replacing them with some bigger ones, which are up now in my last post (I didn't bother replacing the last ones because you won't see any more detail anyway). I think it's ok to have a park in the city, I'm more worried about how there's mysterious columns and a tower in one side of it :S that was when I was making it for Dukematching. To get to the park, Duke falls down a crack in the ground, lands in water and swims along then up through the pond. The maze is supposed to be an office block. That will be more obvious once I put in some office-y things, like computer desks, posters ect... but it will take a lot of work to get it from here to there.

[The Commander]

DeeperThought, on Jan 15 2010, 07:01 PM, said:

EDIT: You removed all the screens I commented on, except for the maze one.

lol, he has uploaded bigger screens now.

For a first map ever, this is looking pretty good.
Sure there are a few things that the veteran mappers will come along and point out, but you get that with any map.

EDIT:

Micky C, on Jan 15 2010, 07:11 PM, said:

The maze is supposed to be an office block. That will be more obvious once I put in some office-y things, like computer desks, posters ect... but it will take a lot of work to get it from here to there.

Instead of using that blue texture it may look more like an office if you used something like, say texture tile "746"
Because that blue texture really does stand out to much and is to bland. IMO

[Micky C]

The Commander, on Jan 15 2010, 03:44 PM, said:

Sure there are a few things that the veteran mappers will come along and point out, but you get that with any map.

Instead of using that blue texture it may look more like an office if you used something like, say texture tile "746"

I've changed it and I'll keep it for now, but it always reminds me of the Japanese villa in e3l1.

When I release a WIP map for people to look at, I'll welcome the suggestions of veteran mappers, as long as it doesn't take too much time and effort to implement them

[The Commander]

One good tip is to never use the same texture over and over again, like them walls all with the same blue look to them just ruin it, Cut them up a bit by adding things in each corner. Also, iirc them walls in real life a like prefab and are placed in slots, so every meter or so you could place a thing that looks like a strut. If that makes any sense.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=8Fgxc5ftj4M - That is the only mod I know of that can use the same textures and get away with it.

[Micky C]

that mod get's away with it and then some

I have some ideas like adding one or two drink fountains. I also plan to go through the original levels again, paying close attention to how they designed their office areas.

[Stabs]

looks O K with potential but not WOW

i really would refrain from the castle tower in the middle of a city park, and the pillars too

perhaps dirty public toilets? skate ramps? paths? sporting areas ie basktball courts it would seem alot more realistic / believable too me, also try surround the park with actual sector based buildings (only 4 walls, dont waste to many walls on "skybox" stuff)

how about a duck pond for the old man to goto

[Micky C]

I'll put some buildings around the park when I get to polishing the whole thing off

Too bad I've put too much time and effort into the colums and towers to get rid of them

Are they really that much of a mood killer? I was kind of thinking that the column area was meant to be a reflection of the park area from several thousand years in the past, but I don't think I can express that idea in the game easily. I'm uploading a video of me playing though the level that I took this morning, but it's taking ages. In the video I'm showing the basic gameplay, like a speedrun. There are lots of really neat features I put in (well I think they're neat at least ) but it would take too long to show everyone, besides, I want people to find them out for themselves

I think I'll release what I've done when DukePlus 2.07 is released. No pressure DT Because the secret areas and interactivity really are a big part of my map, except for the maze bit and to a degree the lava bit which aren't finished. Don't forget I'm having Dukematching in mind while making it, I only recently began prioritizing for a single player map.

Edit: here's the movie. I put the 1998 trailer music over it, so you can't hear some of the things Duke says, like "hmm looks like it's time for me to go postal" when the door opens after killing all the aliens in the area. It goes for about 3 and a half minutes.
http://s734.photobucket.com/albums/ww345/c...ilestonebig.flv

[Andrew Hunt]

Interesting, but you got the same issue I do, dynamic shading.

I have a tendency not to make too many difference in one shade to the next so it looks kind of plain.

As I have posted in my Maps thread, I am now working on a more classic space-station themed map, hopefully making use of my better eye of detail rather than working on something I never finished from like 6 years ago.

But for a Duke Plus map, well I cannot critique too much on that.

[Mikko]

The "East Town Towers" looks pretty cool.

[Micky C]

I'm glad somebody liked it. It'll collapse if you shoot it with an explosive just like in L.A Rumle.

@ Andrew, looking forward to trying out your new map. Guess I should be posting this in your map thread... oh well, too late now.

[Mikko]

You could imagine a strong light source somewhere in that park area so that the tower would cast a long, strong shadow, perhaps heading for the lower-left corner in the shot.

There are more problems than just repetitive texturing in the last shot. It looks oversized as well and is fullbright.

[Micky C]

Yeah tbh I didn't spend too long on that last one. It is tall but I had to make it like that so you can see the whole area from the manager's office. I'm not sure whether I decide to put in dynamic lights or not, I don't really understand how to use them.

Is there like a page somewhere that I can read to learn about properly using the SEs 49 and 50?

[Mark]

here is a quick overview

PLACING POLYMER LIGHTS IN MAPSTER

SE 49 = point light
A SECTOREFFECTOR with lotag 49 is a point light.
HITAG = light distance
The HITAG of the SE is the maximum distance, in build units, that the light will travel. Note that it is impossible to enter a number higher than 65535.
XVEL/YVEL/ZVEL = RGB values
To edit these, press F8 on the SE in 2D mode, then select them and type in numbers. Numbers should be in the range 0-255
TRANSPARENCY = priority
a solid sprite is a high priority light, press T once (33% transparency) for lower priority, again (66%) for lowest priority

SE 50 = spot light
light distance, color and priority are as above
ANGLE = LIGHT ANGLE (duh)
SHADE = width
shade values are between -127 and 127, each gives a different width....experiment
EXTRA = horiz (up/down angle)
set EXTRA by pressing 'M on the sprite. 100 is straight ahead, higher positive values angle up, and values lower than 100 (including negative values) angle the light down.

[The Commander]

To add to the above post,
To edit most of them options you need to highlight the SE and press F8 in 2D mode.
Also, changing the OWNER member for the spotlight can give really nice looking effects if done correctly.
e.g. Change it to 9000 or 9001 if you have the Polymer HRP.
You can also define any other tile numbers.


This can be used to emulate a projector or similar.

EDIT: This might also explain why the flashlight in Fusion Redux displays the APLAYER sprite as IIRC the code changes the lights owner member to the APLAYER spawning the light.