I must admit that its damn challenging to mesh out the map !
It take some time to play with those "Lego blocks".
Since last week, I did a lot of optimization. ATM, I'm getting ±85 FPS everywhere which is very good considering the poly's I have to render (± 1.6 millions when stock maps have around 700 000) !
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
Been working all week-end on this corridor located behind the flag but it's not finished yet, only 50% done. Also made custom materials for the floor / ceiling.
Also made lot's of meshing / lighting on the front flag base (comparison between last week & today).
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
I also had lot of fun with those ** blocking volume & the culling.
When I add some meshes, I adjust the culling right way & also adjust the collisions & add BV if necessary. It take some times but at least when I'm done with a sector, I'm really done :)
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
stevelois wrote:When I add some meshes, I adjust the culling right way & also adjust the collisions & add BV if necessary. It take some times but at least when I'm done with a sector, I'm really done :)
I tend to do stuff in phases (texturing, meshing, lighting) rather than sections. To each his own. That being said, the map is coming along nicely.
I personally dont know how guys work with default materials. I need to have an idea of what its going to look like as i go. I know seb does half a map in default and goes back to do materials...I cant do it...LOL
I always start to make the layout & after apply the stock material & then add the meshes. If the stock material don't fit for whatever reason, then, I make my own.
I also add basic lighting, set collisions to see if everything play good & add blocking volume after to obtain a better flow.
I work like that since my first map & by doing so I can enjoy the gameplay / flow / look & atmosphere I'm aiming right away before working on something else.
I found it encouraging & more satisfying this way.
Each is own way :)
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
I've become real crap at playing Unreal. Mostly because while playing I'll stop to stare at something inside a map...and then someone will frag my ass. Thanks a lot Stevie for making another map that I'll suck at because I'll be too busy staring at how cool it looks.
In all seriousness it looks great I can't wait to play it.
Well first, THX for registering on the site Also THX for posting on Epic
And second, I'm happy you like it dude I have many things left to finish. It's my second Nano in term of details. I know that some people didn't like Nano so maybe others won't like that one neither
Only thing I can say is that it's not the usual CTF gameplay.
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
Been working on the outside lately. It finally start to look like a place
I'm 40% done there. The lower part is ok (rocks / sea), now I'm working more at the KEG level & up. The weapon base you see where you have a rl ammo + link ammo is the RL placement :
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
The red effect is only the stock mesh but with my own material to fit my needs. Been a while before I can get that look & movement ingame.
I've been trough a plethora of trials to get that rock look. The material isn't complex but it was very hard to obtain the exact look I was hoping to obtain.
So in all, I'm happy you like it buddy
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
This is to show the amount of details I invest in my works before / after they're meshed out (those areas are mostly finished). It represent 6 full months of intensive work !
For those who wonder how it look before & after the level as been meshed, well this is an example going from BSP only to full meshed out (with lighting & all the rest).
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-- Edited by stevelois on Sunday 27th of June 2010 07:30:35 AM
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
I work few hours on it today, I had some inspiration...
I don't have much to show but it's better than nothing. There are many obvious incomplete spots but I post those pics to have a "dev souvenir"
A full rebuild now take me 30 mins to do & the map is only 40% finished, I don't want to imagine how long it will take when the map will be 100% completed !!! Yikes !!!!
I finish many areas but those are the ones that I really need to work on as you can see.
-- Edited by stevelois on Wednesday 27th of October 2010 01:31:56 AM
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
I work few hours on it today, I had some inspiration...
I don't have much to show but it's better than nothing. There are many obvious incomplete spots but I post those pics to have a "dev souvenir"
A full rebuild now take me 30 mins to do & the map is only 40% finished, I don't want to imagine how long it will take when the map will be 100% completed !!! Yikes !!!!
I finish many areas but those are the ones that I really need to work on as you can see.
-- Edited by stevelois on Wednesday 27th of October 2010 01:31:56 AM
excellent! agree with barballs...gorgeous is the word
about the build time and the 40% only, i must say that this is scaring for sure....no idea what is the limit of the "editor/build time" but i remember that my maximum was 37 minutes for the more evolv....complex build of demeter island and after this LIMIT all what i have add to the map was giving me an editor crashing while rebuilding the map....to give a hope note demeter is probably the "worst" of my map (i havent follow any rule and all was build with no grid.....+ tremendous substractive map +meshes superstretched off the grid)...i honnestly pray for you to not reach any of thoses supposed limits on that one bro
THX Eric. TBH, I found it funny you found the pics georgeous because it will look better when I'll be done with it :)
I know that Bazzwanno maps could take 1 hour to do a complete rebuild & I hope I won't have any issues. 30 mins is damn long to wait & like demeter, this map as many BSP geometry. At least file size isn't to big (120 MB I think) which is a bit more than Fatima but as way more stuff in it ! THX for the encouragements / whishes bro :D
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
Now that I think about it, maybe it could use some more colors? (lighting wise that is), maybe some red teamlights, I dunno :). Meshing looks top notch though!
I understand your pov but I'm not willing to upload to much version of my works.
Beside the play area & item placement is fine for me (flow & gameplay as been tested enough) so the pics are only concerning visuals.
This one will only have 1 beta like Nano & will be available for ± 1 full month before going final.
But I think I'll stop posting pics anyway, there not enough interest, even here on UOF.
PS: Sorry if I bother you in your thread about the GRD maps. I wanted to give thehitman a quick answer. TBH it piss me off to see someone who is on Epic every day not knowing that I waste my time to list stuff I don't even play for myself & do it only for a community who don't care.
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
The community is a fraction the size it was. Those who play do still care you can safely assume that for every one post there are 10 more how agree but don't. Just the way of the forums.
Sorry that you feel that way.
Maybe getting a group together to work on maps for a new game that is popular (Starcraft 2 perhaps, great potential for single and multiplayer content there) which we could all agree to help each other learn and create. Who knows something cool could come out of it.
All the Unreal interest these days is in the UDK projects. Until another UT comes out the community will be in sleep mode.
Sorry for the divergence but it seemed necessary. Some food for thought?
stevelois wrote:Beside the play area & item placement is fine for me (flow & gameplay as been tested enough) so the pics are only concerning visuals.
For me, unless I can clearly see the part of the map that you are asking for feedback (Fatima's gate), it's hard for me to see any depth/detail in pictures as they only present one point of view.
But I think I'll stop posting pics anyway, there not enough interest, even here on UOF.
It's not a case of not having enough interest as I stated before, but we all can suffer from over exposure. Normally, I would only "check out" a map once/twice (beta testing) before seeing the final version.
Since we are seeing these maps "grow up" more than others, seeing them too much can effect us, especially when the changes are not as noticeable.
Don't take this the wrong way, it's just part of human nature. That's the reason we have marketing. That being said, we still want to see /know about the progress of the UOF maps.
PS: Sorry if I bother you in your thread about the GRD maps. I wanted to give thehitman a quick answer. TBH it piss me off to see someone who is on Epic every day not knowing that I waste my time to list stuff I don't even play for myself & do it only for a community who don't care.
hehe, no worries man, it was all in good fun (my latest comment). I think that guy might be in his own worled, but what ever. For what it's worth, I appreciate your list and since I am subsribed to your RSS feed, know when maps that I like to play are ready.
the pict looks good and agree that with the red neons it can be more "alive"
bout the rest i agree with ode and imo asking for a beta test is quite legitim...at least round here, not so hard to upload a prebeta or alpha version on our private account...the way of posting only picts is normal on public forums but dont fit to our small group of friends.... to my eyes it looks like a buisness strategy to show picts to attract interrest and than ...waiting...waiting the public release for the super surprise...lol that s good for our UOF mappack but not here between us
@steve :dont take it wrong i just talk with my heart here and i can understand ur position too;i think ode will agree with me: we just think that it s way far more easy to produce a quality comment from a beta test than from a picture
peace plz dont stop posting picts....keep giving us some food :p
-- Edited by Bl!tz on Saturday 6th of November 2010 04:46:45 PM
yes and we still have interest to your work, thral & me have answer to you (check the preview replies), plus eric now, just be more patient when you look at an answer ;)
I know few m8 here as comments about the map. But sometimes, it's days after I post something. So it's not like I'm waiting for comments only few minutes after I post something.
This map is on the public threads, everyone can comments, here on Epic & on my homepage & the only persons that as comment are the private crew + Achernar & Barball which are new here.
I do appreciate your feedback greatly guy's but when you post pics that as been viewed by 100 persons & only 3 dudes comments on it it's just crap to me.
When I'll be done with the red side, I'll post A1 in our private account so you will be able to run the map before anyone else.
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Stevie's corner A blog dedicated to UE4, UDK, UT99 / 2004 / III / 4.
stevelois wrote:I do appreciate your feedback greatly guy's but when you post pics that as been viewed by 100 persons & only 3 dudes comments on it it's just crap to me.
Blitz makes a good point. I know you have the progress of the map on multiple sites and that you are showing the same pictures to all of them. That being said, it's probably best to post info/pics less often than more. This way you don't over expose your map. "Keep them wanting more".
On the Epic forums, I may upload 1 Alpha version, 1 Beta (maybe 2), and maybe 1 RC. But I usually don't post a beta until I am 99% done with the map. I wouldn't post in public a version of the map that is half done because "players" may see the map as-is (default materisl, half-built areas, etc) as the quality of what I can do.
But here, we are all mappers (for the most part) and know it's a work in progress. So if you want real feedback, upload the map and say "how do you like the link gun area". I am not going to see the default materials in other areas and think "Stevelois sucks at mapping".