The steps you should do your map?
- Thread starter justus916
- Start date
![[TW]DrGuppy](/data/avatars/s/0/171.jpg?1568638684){kind=avatar}
Here's my basic process;
- I start with a ton of research (might not be important to you or fit your project).
- Make a basic plan in Photoshop (paper works too) that resembles an overhead map like you would see in RO.
- Make some rough terrain and basic block buildings in order to get the overall scale of the map right. Play test this to make sure you've got it right.
- Spend a few hours going through the static mesh packages and placing any mesh I might use in the map into a giant junk pile. I find that making a junk pile is faster than searching for statics all the time in the packages and it also keeps my overall unique mesh usage down, which is important for optimization.
- At this point I do some more work on the map, sculpting the terrain and fleshing out the buildings.
- Once I have a basic map going I'll add in the Objectives and PlayerStarts and do some play tests.
- Sometimes I'll take a break here and start working on custom static meshes and textures but usually I create them as I need them.
- After that it's just more work adding statics, textures, etc. with a few play tests in between to make sure I've still got a fun and functional map in the works.
- Finishing touches include bot paths, and overhead map, and a whole lot of testing.
- The last step is packaging up everything into a nice tidy bundle and getting it on the net so players and server admins can access the map and hopefully enjoy it.
Be prepared to go back and make fixes because no map is ever released perfect the first time. It's best to name the first release RO-WhateverYourMapNameIs_Beta1 so people know it's a beta and to keep the full name saved for the final version.
Your process will probably be different but hopefully this will give you an idea of the basic work flow. Hope you have fun and be sure to ask questions along the way!
- I start with a ton of research (might not be important to you or fit your project).
- Make a basic plan in Photoshop (paper works too) that resembles an overhead map like you would see in RO.
- Make some rough terrain and basic block buildings in order to get the overall scale of the map right. Play test this to make sure you've got it right.
- Spend a few hours going through the static mesh packages and placing any mesh I might use in the map into a giant junk pile. I find that making a junk pile is faster than searching for statics all the time in the packages and it also keeps my overall unique mesh usage down, which is important for optimization.
- At this point I do some more work on the map, sculpting the terrain and fleshing out the buildings.
- Once I have a basic map going I'll add in the Objectives and PlayerStarts and do some play tests.
- Sometimes I'll take a break here and start working on custom static meshes and textures but usually I create them as I need them.
- After that it's just more work adding statics, textures, etc. with a few play tests in between to make sure I've still got a fun and functional map in the works.
- Finishing touches include bot paths, and overhead map, and a whole lot of testing.
- The last step is packaging up everything into a nice tidy bundle and getting it on the net so players and server admins can access the map and hopefully enjoy it.
Be prepared to go back and make fixes because no map is ever released perfect the first time. It's best to name the first release RO-WhateverYourMapNameIs_Beta1 so people know it's a beta and to keep the full name saved for the final version.
Your process will probably be different but hopefully this will give you an idea of the basic work flow. Hope you have fun and be sure to ask questions along the way!
thats in general how i do it aswell, altough some differences because i replicate existing places that i visited.
-first i always make one of the most important buildings of the map, usually a church or bridge, inside a special map file that i use to make buildings.
-then take an existing map that has the same looks as the one i am looking for
-delete everything in that map, except for suns, levelinfo, terrain and zoneinfo
-paint away all the terrain layers so only the first layer shows
-paste the building on the map, using google earth or a map to rotate and position it correctly, so that you are sure the terrain is large enough to fit the rest.
-use google earth to draw the roads, doesn't have to be perfect yet. the building you pasted will help you get the right scale of the roads. and also paint the height verry roughly using google earth or pictures
-then make building by building and paste it on the map, make sure they are as good as 100% done before doing this. set yourself a goal, like 1 building every day, and your map will build in no time
-when you are tired of making houses, you can just do a little terrain work, or add decorations as you advance
-when everything is done, add objectives, antiportals, spawns and all sorts of volumes
thats roughly how i do it
-first i always make one of the most important buildings of the map, usually a church or bridge, inside a special map file that i use to make buildings.
-then take an existing map that has the same looks as the one i am looking for
-delete everything in that map, except for suns, levelinfo, terrain and zoneinfo
-paint away all the terrain layers so only the first layer shows
-paste the building on the map, using google earth or a map to rotate and position it correctly, so that you are sure the terrain is large enough to fit the rest.
-use google earth to draw the roads, doesn't have to be perfect yet. the building you pasted will help you get the right scale of the roads. and also paint the height verry roughly using google earth or pictures
-then make building by building and paste it on the map, make sure they are as good as 100% done before doing this. set yourself a goal, like 1 building every day, and your map will build in no time
-when you are tired of making houses, you can just do a little terrain work, or add decorations as you advance
-when everything is done, add objectives, antiportals, spawns and all sorts of volumes
thats roughly how i do it
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But for a first map its important you know what you want.
And from that point just start and then let it flow.
You will bump your head more then once, but this will help
you to understand more things. Oh and don't forget to save
often. Cause that bump will hurt a little longer.
And from that point just start and then let it flow.
You will bump your head more then once, but this will help
you to understand more things. Oh and don't forget to save
often. Cause that bump will hurt a little longer.
My basic run down is like this.. you'll see a mix of what the others wer talking about in it:
These are roughly in order.. but in reality, you'll go back and tweak/adjust/re-visit almost everything:
----------------
- Research.. if nothing else get a basic feel for the area you want to do. If you're making a historical map, you'll need to front-load and do ALOT of this. .. like.. ALOT.. and it's not easy sometimes.
- Plan. I prefer pencil and paper, but as Gupp said, Photoshop works too.
-- Also to think about here is what buildings do you want to be enterable? partially enterable? not-enterable at all? Since most maps generally end up having one or two notable buildings, can you include any?
-- Where you want objectives? what makes sense for objectives?
-- What team is attacking? Defending? meet in the middle?
-- Defensive buildings and structures for those teams? where should they be put that would make sense? What did the defending team have time to prepare? (Hasty barricades, dug out trench works? concrete poured defenses?)
-- Think alittle about player movement in the level. How much 'Z-Axis' fighting do you want to try and incorporate?
- Build your basics on the map... setup your main world subtraction, level info, terrain.
- Determine what sorta lighting you want.. this means the ambient lighting info, but also the SunLight actors (so like what time of day/night, etc..). Set them up accordingly.
- Setup your skybox.
- Sculpt your terrain into a rough shape of what you want.
- Plunk down place-holder buildings for your level. They shoud be approximates. The idea here is to evaluate what needs to be adjusted, if anything, to achive a good path/flow on the map and start planning for optimization.
- Work on buildings. I do suggest doing what Sepp suggested for buildings. It's ALOT easier and cleaner to build them in a separate map then paste them back into your 'real' map. Get them roughed out so they are enterable, etc.
- Create some basic defensive structures where you are planning on putting them.
- Setup your player starts / spawn areas / objectives / Ammo resupplies.
- Run around your map alittle. does it feel ok so far? If not.. go back and tweak.. if so .. cool
-- does it take way to long for infantry to get from point A to B? Is there adquate transport / tanks ?
-- should something be made further away? Closer?
-- should objects be adjusted so you can rifle rest / MG deploy on them ? Is it to easy to grenade into area X?
- Make any adjustments you think you need to anything done so far.
- Detailing.. detailing.. detailing.
-- Finish up the buildings.
-- finish up defenses, street objects, etc.
- Go back and run around your map. Adjust anything you think that needs adjustment.
- Bot path your map. (optional really, but I encourage it as an aspect of having a complete level, and if you're thinking about getting to 'the game biz'; you need to know how to do it)
- Get a few testers to run around your map offline.. see what feedback they give you. Adjust as needed.
- see if you can get a test server you can play it online.. check for map balance, playablity.. adjust.
- Release!
- take community feedback.. adjust as needed.
----
Again.. really you'll always be tweaking terrain or details all the time... well at least I do. :]
Also, some might consider map optimization the last step of map making.. the reality is you should be thinking about it all the time. It's very much possible to create a map that's looks good, but you'd have to break it's entire feel in order to make it playable on some people's machines.
These are roughly in order.. but in reality, you'll go back and tweak/adjust/re-visit almost everything:
----------------
- Research.. if nothing else get a basic feel for the area you want to do. If you're making a historical map, you'll need to front-load and do ALOT of this. .. like.. ALOT.. and it's not easy sometimes.
- Plan. I prefer pencil and paper, but as Gupp said, Photoshop works too.
-- Also to think about here is what buildings do you want to be enterable? partially enterable? not-enterable at all? Since most maps generally end up having one or two notable buildings, can you include any?
-- Where you want objectives? what makes sense for objectives?
-- What team is attacking? Defending? meet in the middle?
-- Defensive buildings and structures for those teams? where should they be put that would make sense? What did the defending team have time to prepare? (Hasty barricades, dug out trench works? concrete poured defenses?)
-- Think alittle about player movement in the level. How much 'Z-Axis' fighting do you want to try and incorporate?
- Build your basics on the map... setup your main world subtraction, level info, terrain.
- Determine what sorta lighting you want.. this means the ambient lighting info, but also the SunLight actors (so like what time of day/night, etc..). Set them up accordingly.
- Setup your skybox.
- Sculpt your terrain into a rough shape of what you want.
- Plunk down place-holder buildings for your level. They shoud be approximates. The idea here is to evaluate what needs to be adjusted, if anything, to achive a good path/flow on the map and start planning for optimization.
- Work on buildings. I do suggest doing what Sepp suggested for buildings. It's ALOT easier and cleaner to build them in a separate map then paste them back into your 'real' map. Get them roughed out so they are enterable, etc.
- Create some basic defensive structures where you are planning on putting them.
- Setup your player starts / spawn areas / objectives / Ammo resupplies.
- Run around your map alittle. does it feel ok so far? If not.. go back and tweak.. if so .. cool
-- does it take way to long for infantry to get from point A to B? Is there adquate transport / tanks ?
-- should something be made further away? Closer?
-- should objects be adjusted so you can rifle rest / MG deploy on them ? Is it to easy to grenade into area X?
- Make any adjustments you think you need to anything done so far.
- Detailing.. detailing.. detailing.
-- Finish up the buildings.
-- finish up defenses, street objects, etc.
- Go back and run around your map. Adjust anything you think that needs adjustment.
- Bot path your map. (optional really, but I encourage it as an aspect of having a complete level, and if you're thinking about getting to 'the game biz'; you need to know how to do it)
- Get a few testers to run around your map offline.. see what feedback they give you. Adjust as needed.
- see if you can get a test server you can play it online.. check for map balance, playablity.. adjust.
- Release!
- take community feedback.. adjust as needed.
----
Again.. really you'll always be tweaking terrain or details all the time... well at least I do. :]
Also, some might consider map optimization the last step of map making.. the reality is you should be thinking about it all the time. It's very much possible to create a map that's looks good, but you'd have to break it's entire feel in order to make it playable on some people's machines.
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You can find tidbits here and there on the RO forums, but also be sure to check the UT2004 forums and places like BeyondUnreal's forums.
You'll have to use the search functions though.
Also be sure to check the Stickies in this forum.
UDN also has some good information about it at:
http://udn.epicgames.com/Two/LevelOptimization.html
Likely. Depends what you saved. Just try opening your map, see if it works.
Worst case is you may have saved over a stock RO package. If so it might cause a package mis-match when you try and play online.. the fix is easy, just verify the game cache and I think it'd take care of it.
For optimization you can use several options together. It more or less depends on the type of map you create. It all start with a smart layout.
This smart layout for example in an urban map provide room for antiportals, zone portals and culldistance settings for your meshes.
In large open maps you could hide your antiportals in the hills.
Open up some stock or custom maps and see how other people did it.
A few optimization tips from me;
- As Drecks said, use different methods that fit your map.
- The biggest optimization to your map is planning it well so that players never see giant portions of the map. Hills, large buildings, etc. can all be used for this purpose. Danzig is a great example of this and is the easiest type of map to optimize. It gets much harder when you try to make an open map like KonigPlatz or Arad, for example.
- Zone all of your buildings and indoor areas. (eg. Danzig) There are tutorials online for doing this properly.
- Keep your overall static mesh and texture useage low. Avoid using 32 different types of destroyed vehicles in your map when you can get away witht 4 or 5.
- Use cull distances for all static meshes. I know it takes time, but this can really help your map run well.
- Fog is great for optimization, but make sure it fits the look of your map and don't rely on it to solve all your problems in the end.
In console, you can type in stat all ( stat none to toggle it off again) to see exactly what is going on in your map. This works in the editor (type it into the Command Line) but for true readings you need to do this in-game. This list can be a bit confusing at first but it is very helpful. I suggest going into a TW map, typing in Stat All and taking a few screenshots of key areas and then compare those numbers to your own map. Stat fps also is another command that shows your frames per second (best to be at 40+).
Hope this helps. As always, ask questions if it doesn't.
- As Drecks said, use different methods that fit your map.
- The biggest optimization to your map is planning it well so that players never see giant portions of the map. Hills, large buildings, etc. can all be used for this purpose. Danzig is a great example of this and is the easiest type of map to optimize. It gets much harder when you try to make an open map like KonigPlatz or Arad, for example.
- Zone all of your buildings and indoor areas. (eg. Danzig) There are tutorials online for doing this properly.
- Keep your overall static mesh and texture useage low. Avoid using 32 different types of destroyed vehicles in your map when you can get away witht 4 or 5.
- Use cull distances for all static meshes. I know it takes time, but this can really help your map run well.
- Fog is great for optimization, but make sure it fits the look of your map and don't rely on it to solve all your problems in the end.
In console, you can type in stat all ( stat none to toggle it off again) to see exactly what is going on in your map. This works in the editor (type it into the Command Line) but for true readings you need to do this in-game. This list can be a bit confusing at first but it is very helpful. I suggest going into a TW map, typing in Stat All and taking a few screenshots of key areas and then compare those numbers to your own map. Stat fps also is another command that shows your frames per second (best to be at 40+).
Hope this helps. As always, ask questions if it doesn't.