darkcosmos on 1/3/2005 at 19:32
Quote Posted by deadman
. It's just too bad in some ways that the engine does rely on static meshes as much, as without new ones the areas will definitely start to seem regurgitated, and those of us who don't own 3DS Max can't make any new ones (and are even more at the mercy of custom object makers).
deadman.
True for now, but I'm confident somebody will program a converter plug-in eventually.
In the meantime, we'll have to focus more on solid level design and thrilling gameplay rather than brand new eye candy... kind of like we're given a big virtual Lego set... we can't make any new Lego blocks, but think of the zillions of combinations we can achieve!
Krypt on 1/3/2005 at 19:51
Quote Posted by deadman
It's just too bad in some ways that the engine does rely on static meshes as much, as without new ones the areas will definitely start to seem regurgitated, and those of us who don't own 3DS Max can't make any new ones (and are even more at the mercy of custom object makers).
deadman.
This is true, but you can use static meshes in pretty original ways if you arrange them certain ways. Keep in mind that you can reskin meshes with different textures. All you need to do is select a texture in the browser and ALT+click on the mesh and it will put replace all instances of the texture you clicked on with the one you have selected.
Also, I've been working on a little something in the editor the last few days. Not sure if I'll get time to finish it though since it's a massive amount of work for one person to produce a map in this engine, but we'll see.
Kircaldy on 1/3/2005 at 20:04
This is what I've made so far. Haven't been "designing" levels since the early HL era, and even back then they were just test levels to see what the engine was capable of. I started off with an unreal tutorial, but got carried away, cathedral style :p
(
http://hem.bredband.net/b101012/t3.PNG) t3edtest1
Runs a bit sluggish (25-ish fps @ 1280), dunno what's wrong here, probably too many detailed meshes + the fog. Only 5 lights in the whole level, and (I think) I have turned off all shadow casting on everything (By adding "Render > CastShadows > False" into all properties, even for the ligths) There are two rooms, one small and the bigger (512x512x1024) "cathedral" one, the two connected by a small passageway. No separate zoning. I have lots of "useless" bits sticking out of the level, eg. the circular steps up to the alcove, dunno how to get rid of them just yet.
My comp: P4 2.8, R9800Pro
Had quite a few total lockups while trying to perform some subtracting maneuvers on the alcove. Changed the order of subtracting things to get around the problem, otherwise it's all working perfectly. I've never used UnrealEd and its likes before, but to me this is a quite impressive editor (compared to let's say Worldcraft or SandBox)
darkcosmos on 1/3/2005 at 20:12
Quote Posted by Kircaldy
I've never used UnrealEd and its likes before, but to me this is a quite impressive editor (compared to let's say Worldcraft or SandBox)
Or compared to, say... Dromed? :)
Kircaldy on 1/3/2005 at 20:17
Had my first go with dromed just a few weeks ago. Tis' an awkward animal... Got it to work ok, but never made more than a couple of rooms.
EDIT: Tried out the "shadowvolumes" command, got this:
(
http://hem.bredband.net/b101012/t32.PNG) shadowvolumes
A bit too much? (In my last post, the shadows cast by the pillars, etc. are not visible, I was outside geometry when I took the screenie)
EDIT2:
Sorted! You have to tick this bloody box:
Inline Image:
http://hem.bredband.net/b101012/box.JPG Instead of adding the "castshadows > false" thingy... Sigh. Now everything runs silky smooth. Live and learn.
Tried the castshadows command on a room in widow moira's, looked a LOT worse than my pic. I'll probably at least make my pillars cast shadows this time.
Ghandaiah on 2/3/2005 at 04:48
This is the most coherent screenshot I can get of what I'm working on right now, considering the map so far consists of a very tall, very narrow crevice. Put a lot of detail into it though and it's running nice.
Inline Image:
http://www.theoppositeofyes.com/temp/sammap1.jpgMan, I'm pretty excited about all this. I used to love mapping, but I never had the attention span as a kid to stick to projects and actually complete maps. Realizing this, I totally gave it up for a long time. Thief 3, I knew, would be the game to bring me back to mapping, if any. And then when I heard it wasn't coming with any editor, I was pretty disappointed.
There really aren't words for the amount of appreciation and respect I have for all the LGS / Ion employees who put so much unneccessary time and effort into tending to the community's desires. Obviously it's been said, but never enough. Thanks much guys. :thumb:
Renzatic on 2/3/2005 at 05:11
Now that is impressive.
dracflamloc on 2/3/2005 at 07:06
Wow these things are looking good. Makes me wish I had the time to devote to teaching myself unrealEd/t3Ed
Mandrake on 2/3/2005 at 07:46
Quote Posted by Kircaldy
Sorted! You have to tick this bloody box:
(
http://hem.bredband.net/b101012/box.JPG)
Instead of adding the "castshadows > false" thingy... Sigh. Now everything runs silky smooth. Live and learn.
I wonder if this is going to become the number one FAQ for using T3ED to get good performance ? I just tried setting "do not cast shadows" on all the BSP surfaces in the map over in this thread:
(
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=94274)
And it made quite a BIG improvement in frame rate, even though its a relatively simple map.
Until the word about this setting gets out a bit more, I can see all the maps that people are making running a lot slower than they should due to BSP surfaces casting shadows by default, when only a few BSP surfaces (such as a pillar) would need to cast shadows. Certainly the ground doesn't need to cast a shadow, if its flat for example :cheeky:
I wonder if there is a simple way to turn shadows off on all BSP surfaces and then manually enable just the few that need it, rather than the other way around...
