[Image] Screenshot & Movie Thread

[Drecks]

Those maps look ok, although it looks like a lot of BSP where meshes should be used.

Can you explain that? I used a lot of BSP. Now i heard that there will me more
usage of meshes. Where should i have used meshes ?

Do you mean i must make meshes in another program like 3D Max or make the meshes in the Unreal editor.
Iff i'm gonna need 3D max or Maya i better quit. I didn't use UT3 meshes as they didn't fit in this envirement.

 

[smokeythebear]

Can you explain that? I used a lot of BSP. Now i heard that there will me more
usage of meshes. Where should i have used meshes ?

I just spent a lot of time looking at official + custom UT3 maps before starting work on my own project. What I learned is it's static meshes all the way if you want to make something 'official' quality.

Do you mean i must make meshes in another program like 3D Max or make the meshes in the Unreal editor.
Iff i'm gonna need 3D max or Maya i better quit. I didn't use UT3 meshes as they didn't fit in this envirement.

I think you should at least try and use a 3d app before giving up. It took me only a few days to learn 3DS max and I regret not giving it a shot sooner because it is a very powerful tool and very easy to use. Plus there is the free 3d app blender which is pretty much all you will need along with photoshop.

 

[Drecks]

I just spent a lot of time looking at official + custom UT3 maps before starting work on
my own project. What I learned is it's static meshes all the way if you want to make something 'official' quality.

I think you should at least try and use a 3d app before giving up. It took me only a few days to learn 3DS max and I
regret not giving it a shot sooner because it is a very powerful tool and very easy to use. Plus there is the free 3d
app blender which is pretty much all you will need along with photoshop.

I just starting to build things like i did with my Red Orchestra maps. What i can't understand is why
make a Level Editor when you need another program to make/finalize your levels.
Which brings another question. Which part should be made of meshes and which not ?
I will take a second look to all the official UT3 maps. And will try 3D Max.

 

[Lt_Kettch]

I think what smokeythebear tried to say is that using BSP is getting out of style in the industry at least that is what they tell you in the Unreal Engine 3 VTMs. I personally hate BSP and it is very easy for someone who is familiar with level design where BSP and where meshes were used but that doesn't have to be a bad thing.

I really like the down to the ground and normal look of your maps, maybe they are something for Yoshi's mod

 

[Xendance]

BSP (or CSG if you want to be exact) is inefficient and helluva buggy when you compare it to static meshes (as in models made in 3rd party apps). That's why UT 3 levels don't use a lot of BSP shapes.

 

[SheepDip]

More HL pics

Forgot how good the marines were at sneaking up on you, or how great they were at throwing grenades in exactly the right spot. I hit one with a double shotgun blast, he ran off and shouted medic, I gave chase (naturally) and he spilled a grenade right into my path and it blew me up :|

Who's a cheeky chappie then

I finished Blue Shift (having never done so before) didn't take long but was good fun. Here's Dr Rosenberg. It's important to remember he isn't a douchebag I hate and want to kill until HL2

 

[Drecks]

I did read BSP is getting out of style in the industry and was curious why.
Anyway its clear though i never experienced the buggy feeling Xendance
described.

@ Lt Kettch I like down to the ground and normal looking maps. When i see
the UT3 maps and game i really wonder who wants to play this

Maybe we could make a seperate topic to discuss all if this as it might be
usefull for future mapping knowledge.

 

[Lt_Kettch]

I wish the Marines would come back (in Epiode III?) I miss them they were just awesome.

 

[Slinky]

ahh that brings up so many good memories

 

[Murphy]

I often wondered why the AI in HL2 was so praised, when they weren't any more dangerous than the marines in HL1.. Not that the AI in HL2 was bad, but it didn't seem very revolutionary to me when enemies in HL1 were at least as clever.

The bots in CS:S are great though. Chatty buggers.

I agree this BSP discussion could be split into another thred. Maybe a mod can do this for us!?

BSP:
You still need BSP to zone off the level. If you go for 100% StaticMesh you'll run into trouble. DM-Gestalt in UT2004 consists almost completely of StaticMeshes but it still has lights to light players and the like and BSP so the level can be zoned.
Also if you want to have precise lighting you need to use BSP for those surfaces because StaticMeshes are lit per vertex. BSP is lit per rendered lightmap.
You can still get precise lighting on StaticMeshes but you either need to bake it into their skin in a 3d modeling program or you have to use a projector for the shadows.

BSP can cause a lot of trouble and confusion if you get a "BSP-Hole". The more experience you have with the Ed, the easier it is to prevent them though and eventually you won't get any anymore and if you do you'll know what went wrong and you can fix them easily.
The mostly occur when people map messy.

When do you need BSP and when StaticMeshes?
In the old engine StaticMeshes were lit per vertex and BSP was lit per lightmap. So generally if you had a big surface, you were better off making it BSP to benefit from the better lighting. Small details or things with a higher vertex density looked fine with StaticMeshes so it's recommended to use those instead because they can't cause BSP-Holes and they have a much much much smaller impact on performance.
So in short: Make your rooms with BSP. Make your details with StaticMeshes.

Everything I wrote applies to the Unreal Engine 2!
Don't you need BSP even in the UE3 to zone your level? If so, I'd say you don't need any less BSP than in UE2, you just need a hell of a lot more StaticMeshes to get the same cluttered look the official levels are "blessed" with.

 

[Xendance]

Murphy, there aren't zones in UE 3.

 

[smokeythebear]

@ Lt Kettch I like down to the ground and normal looking maps. When i see
the UT3 maps and game i really wonder who wants to play this

I agree that most UT3 maps are ugly and overdeveloped. But then again there are 2-3 that I find so appealing that I never wanted to use BSP again after seeing them, this custom map included:

I will take a second look to all the official UT3 maps. And will try 3D Max.

Glad to see your giving 3dsmax a try. To answer your question on what should be replaced by static meshes; pretty much everything shown on the screen but the floor (but you can always add 3D tiles to that ).

 

[Drecks]

I agree that most UT3 maps are ugly and overdeveloped. But then again there are 2-3 that I find so appealing that I never wanted to use BSP again after seeing them, this custom map included:

Glad to see your giving 3dsmax a try. To answer your question on what should be replaced by static meshes; pretty much everything shown on the screen but the floor (but you can always add 3D tiles to that ).

All the things shown in the screen where made out of BSP. So what you tell me now is that i must made all the
buildings out of meshes..... What iff it plays well and i have no issues like bsp holes and other bugs ?
I tried 3D before but as their wasn't any real goal to map for i decided to fool around with the Unreal tools
Which is hard enough without any real map goal.

We need a seperate topic.

 

[SheepDip]

I often wondered why the AI in HL2 was so praised, when they weren't any more dangerous than the marines in HL1.. Not that the AI in HL2 was bad, but it didn't seem very revolutionary to me when enemies in HL1 were at least as clever.

I also wondered, the AI in HL2 is quite simply terrible, considering the high standards of AI that we'd been seeing steadily improving (FEAR for example) why go with such stupid AI?

They basically run at you and shoot...then maybe step on their own grenades (which advertise their position with a bright red light and a ticking noise - dont get me started). It is this imo why the weapons are so **** (and the not **** weapons x-bow & magnum had their ammo restricted to 16 rounds). If the weapons were as effective as they were in HL1 the Combine wouldn't be able to get within 30ft of you.

What I'm saying here is that the innacurate weapons coupled with the "charge" mentality AI mean that the style of combat is forced upon you. And it is NOT a good style of combat. It's bottom of the drawer bog standard FPS running and gunning. Right down to the "You can only kill snipers by throwing a grenade into their window because it looks cool". Not what I'd expect from Valve, and not what I'd expect to get unanimously good scores from the gaming press.

HL and HL2 are as different as Unreal and Unreal 2 - in all the wrong ways.

Just getting myself captured now - more pics when exciting stuff happens

 

[Mahnsikir]

Stalker time again

Been playing with the AMK English mod, add things like more diverse/roaming AI npcs and monsters as well as blowouts, messages from other stalkers when they spot a big pack of dogs or a pile of dead bodies etc and a whole lotta stuff.

Hiding from a blowout in Garbage

Also been tweaking about with the brightness and night time to make it really quite dark and give a point for the NV while not being quite pitch black so you can still (just) make out things, though i dont know how it will look on other monitors.

No torch

With the Torch

The Cheap n Crappy NV

 

[[FERGIE]]

I only started playing stalker for the first time ever when I picked it up for

 

[smokeythebear]

We need a seperate topic.

Ok it makes more sense to move it to the UT3 thread, so I will.

 

[[FERGIE]]

Some Resistance and Liberation screenies, all from the map "lafiere"

 

[Murphy]

Me and my brother in Last Man Standing:

 

[JoshuaC]

You know I've yet to try UT2004 on my new widescreen display.