Posts by m8nkey

  • CS_Metroplex

    I agree with Dux and Insta. I made the incline to reduce vis but didn't consider functionality. Wesley Tack pointed it out to me too so I've already doubled the distance over the incline resulting in a much more gental slope.

  • Source VTF Mipmap Filter

    Does anyone know of a definitive guide to the various VTF mipmap filters available? The Wiki doesn't provide much insight at all. Through trial and error I found gaussian effective for busy textures but I'd like a reference to take out some of the guess work. Poor mipmapping is a fairly common oversight and can really degrade the quality of a texture.

  • CS_Metroplex

    As a starting point I used GCFscape to extract all the Source materials so I could see how they imlpemented various effects. Using them as a base and through trial and error I came up with my on default settings for various materials.

    http://%7boption%7d

    My VMTs started off fairly complex using many additional parameters but eventually I whittled them down to the bare bones. I didn't see any benefit to the other parameters for what I was trying to achieve. For filesize and performance issues, I skimped out on bump maps for many of the reflective materials.

    Alphamap reflections without normal map:

    Open your VMF and create an Alpha Channel.

    Black = Reflective

    White= Matte

    Shades of grey for in-between

    Here's a typical VMT for alphamap reflections on a texture that doesn't have a normal map

    "LightmappedGeneric"

    {

    "$basetexture" "mapname/texture"

    "$envmap" "env_cubemap"

    "$basealphaenvmapmask" 1

    "$envmaptint" "[.03 .03 .03]" <----Intensity of the reflections

    }

    Texture with Alphamap reflections and Normal map:

    Create the Alpha Channel in the Normal map, NOT the diffuse map!

    Black = Matte

    White= Reflective

    I think the colour values are reversed but don't quote me. Mostly used this for tiles where the alphachannel was basically a flat shade.

    "LightmappedGeneric"

    {

    "$basetexture" "mapname/texture"

    "$surfaceprop" "concrete"

    "$bumpmap" "mapname/texture_normal"

    "$normalmapalphaenvmapmask" 1

    "$envmap" "env_cubemap"

    "$envmaptint" "[ .1 .1 .1 ]"

    }

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    So much good shit going on in this thread.

    Pogo: That's looking awesome, I know you mentioned it but wassup with the watermark right in the middle though??? That can't be good for publicity, ruins your work. Watermarks shit me. Why not something more subtle in the corner?

    Shacky: Looks great, nice lighting and interesting stuff to look at everywhere.

    Nexus: The bloodstains look rad and your choice of textures work well together. I think the brushwork could be more interesting though. The border around the roof could be smaller and more subtle. The floor could do with some variation too. What sort of environment are you trying to create?

    Minotauro: Fucken awesome, love the colours and the lighting

  • [TF2] CP_REDSTONE - Beta 1

    Nice one SKDR. It's on my list of things to checkout. I owe R_Yell a thorough playtest of FoF 1.3 first though.

    Any public servers running this map or organised playtests? No doubt my ping would be shit from here but I'd still be up for it.

  • CS_Metroplex

    Some interior texture set WIPs. Only %10 complete. Lighting will be much darker with wall fixtures and luminated movie posters. Ceiling will barely be visible

    kan3 is making some very cool interactive models for the map too

    *edit. Jpeg compression hasn't been very kind to these images. Looks a bit nicer in game

    [Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/wip080006.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/wip080007.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/wip080009.jpg]

  • dod_kolsch

    Glad you liked the feedback

    Sadly the DoD community isn't the only one suffering. Seems like custom maps and game mods don't draw the crowds they did 5-10 years ago. I did some alpha testing for DIPRIP over the last 2 weeks. They provided my friends and I with a questionnaire leaving us with no excuse for retarded feedback. I intend to post a questionnaire in my map thread when I release a beta, leaving no excuse for lousy crits.

    I can think of innumerable reasons for a restricted beta and initially intended to do the same. I've decided to try the oposite though and mass distribute the beta. As I said I really liked the way you co-ordinated the release and had organised servers available on that day, I'm going to steal that idea

  • Best game engine in the world - aka the retarded olympics

    I recently posted in HP's current WIP thread commenting on how I haven't really checked out Crysis and don't intend to for a while due to the demanding nature of the engine. I don't like to see my computer in pain.

    In retrospect I think it was inappropriate of me to post such a comment in HP's thread for his fine map. Instead I feel an off topic thread is far more appropriate for people to argue about which engine is shit.

    Personally, I've devoted too much time to Source to explore anything else for a while. After my current map I'll probably make some stuff for TF2 or a mod before having a look at another engine.

    Source FTW

  • dod_kolsch

    I've been so busy I haven't had a chance to check this map out to the degree it deserves. I did however have a walk around in game (I don't play DoD), read this thread and I read your process diary for the map. Here's my 2 cents:

    + I liked your approach to map release, building anticipation and having a unified release date.

    + Very ambitious map with tons of custom content in typical Hessi and Warby style

    + Beautiful architecture, I felt the scale was appropriate even though others disagree

    + I thought the building damage looked awesome

    + A structured development process. I don't play DoD but it sounds like plenty of forethought and testing went into the layout

    - Generally not dirty enough, particularly around the battle damaged areas

    - Noticed some photographic artifacts on textures. Think they could have been refined

    - Areas of player clipping around map outskirts without an obsticle blocking the player

    What went wrong?

    Noticed a lot of negative comments in this thread and disappointment on your behalf Hessi. I think you made the playtests too exclusive. I didn't see any crits in this thread between you releasing a beta and the final version. Any crits people had should have at least come to light during beta.

    From Hessi's site

    "As I mentioned above the clan didn't respond anymore and all the other clans I contacted didn't show that much interest".

    If the community isn't interested this would have triggered alarm bells for me. I would have thought:

    A. Is my work shit?

    B. Is there an active community for this game?

    Considering your solid reputation and the map itself, I'm tipping it's the latter.

  • Die In Pain Rest In Peace

    I've taken the Alpha for a spin and overall I was impressed. The visuals are polished and the sound is good too. The weapon particle effects are awesome and the environments are very destructable.

    The only thing I feel is letting it down is the controls. It uses WASD for steering and acceleration and as a result it feels very stiff and not very vehicle like. If they impliment mouse steering it would be awesome.

    *edit: apparently they plan to overhaul the controls and integrate joypad support after migrating to the Orange Box SDK

  • Features you would like to see in a HL2 displacement editor?

    Here's some pics trying to explain what I was talking about earlier with q3 style capping of displacements. It looks like your app disperses the patches evenly so this probably wont even be a problem . I didn't bother dispersing all the patches in this example as it would be tedious and they aren't visible anyway.

    [Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/dis1.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/dis2.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/dis3.jpg]

    The stretching on the indented displacements on this building was very tedious to resolve:

    http://%7Boption%7D[Blocked Image: http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w57/m8nkey/wip060002.jpg]

  • Features you would like to see in a HL2 displacement editor?

    Quote

    ":2zv84lu3]

    ah ah! So true... I wonder when valve is going to make another editor, or at least improve the current one! [Blocked Image: https://migrationtest.mapcore.org/public/style_emoticons/default/mapcore_smilies/emot_shakehead.gif]

    Off topic but is it really that bad? Why is it so popular? Source has the games I play and hammer has a knowledgebase and familiarity spanning back to the days of Worldcraft. I don't know shit but I'd guess Valve are more likely to build upon what they have rather than start from scratch.

    As I said, Defrag's displacement editor would take care of my only real gripe with Hammer.

  • Features you would like to see in a HL2 displacement editor?

    Awesome stuff Defrag, I consider the displacement toolset one of the weakest elements of the Hammer interface. Judging by the screenshots your app looks capable of producing some really interesting shapes.

    I also think you're on the right track, focusing on smooth/curved geometric shapes. This is where the current toolset is really lacking. Everything you've mentioned, I've wanted in the past.

    One thing I'd love to see is an ability to automatically cap (or sew as it's refered to) any side of a displacement without requiring vertex manipulation to negate texture distortion. Let me know if you want some pics explaining what I mean.

    I'd also be happy to take this thing through it's paces if you want a beta tester, I love displacements

  • Source lighting, your best tips?

    Some good tips in here.

    Something vaguely related that I find useful is using displacements for curved surfaces, they result in much smoother lighting than brushes though light seams between displacements and brushes can also be difficult to hide.

    The displacement toolset isn't very accomodating when it comes to geometry like cylinders or concave and convex arches. This tut has some useful techniques for quickly making displacement curves:

    http://%7boption%7d