Baddcog

Something weird for sure, I got stuck in the dl mission page, it kept saying i could dl this map, the updated maps i already got, but my missions to play screen was empty. restarted the game and this one was still in the list to dl, but was also in the play list. started fine though. -- Two visual bugs i'm noting... 1: the lockbox texture is mis-aligned again/still. arggg, I know I fixed it before 2: there's a new skin on the timber beds, white sheet. Must've been a specifc model texture because the normals are all wacky. Looks like crap... anyone making skins should check in game with lighting before commiting. Normals only show in game We can fix by making that skin have a no normals material, or we need to make a plain white blanket. ---------- Mission is great though, just had to come and look for a hint

more tips is a cool cellar. I'd to a larger brick for the pillars and arches. Would make nice contrast

Well, I looked at SVN, I commited the dresser/drawers/entity and I think prefab. Was probably going to replace clock face but didn't. Need to get a new version of Max one of these days...

I also committed a matching gate and hinge model that didn't get included in 1.08, might as well put them out there for people to grab while i'm at it.: too large to attach: https://www.dropbox....iron_single.txt Doesn't appear that I made a door entity for it though. gate_hinge_wrought_iron_single.txt

Damn, OK that is fixed and committed though I'm surprised it would cause a crash. Seems like a tjunc problem would be something else brush related not model. ------ These fixes are only SVN fixes. Which means anyone outside the team working in 1.08 will see them (they are new models for 1.08) These files can be dropped into a folder called: darkmod/models/darkmod/architecture/fencing/ rename them from .txt to .ase (can't attach .ase files) they will stop the errors, let us know if that stops the crashing please. fence_spike_01_4_segments.txt fence_spike_01_tall_1_segments.txt

The close up of the skull makes me think the 'teeth' are a little tall. But in the full view it doesn't seem to bad. I dunno. Could look completely different textured... maybe it's just a fov effect. ---------- Couple ideas. 1- You can make LOD models as we have a system now for it. Of course it means more rigging... Wouldn't hurt to have at least one though, you could decimate the mesh quite a bit and at a distance (or for low end systems) it wouldn't be that noticeable. I always prefer to do it manually though, program decimation is sloppy. (first dec could be 2500 polys, second could be 1200 first shadow and either not include shadow mesh with lowest, just make the material cast shadow OR decimate again to like 600 for low shadow) Then the mesh is already uv'ed. The first decimation could be the shadow mesh for the high poly. Then decimate another mesh a lot more, that could be the shadow mesh for the lowest lod model. 2- making missing bones model would be cool and quite easy. Just make two materials (skeleton_full and skeleton_missing). Both are same material definitions, same texture, just different names. in 3d apply 'missing' to the entire bone (In case of ribs you might need to throw in a few polys to seal the spine) Then we can make a skin 'missing_bones'. That would just swap the skeleton_missing texture for nodraw. (of course to make it more complicated the shadow mesh would need the same treatment (don't want a shadow for a missing arm eh?) That way it's just one mesh and a texture swap. I think one version would be plenty, but someone could get crazy and make 5 versions if they were so inclined.

looks pretty awesome, one thing bugs me though is the mortar on the corners of all the stones in the very top shot.

you probably just need to dl it from ati website. Don't know what the vision center is.

I don't think you need to, they are pretty boney looking right now. Plus you'll have a diffuse and normal to bring out more detail so...

I know my Catalyst Control Center will over ride game settings. So either choose what you want there or check 'let game decide'. Don't know if that's the issue though.

thanks I had a lot of fun making it, wish I had that motivation to get a TDM map done these days. Funny you say so, I was telling a Steam friend of mine that same thing. There have been several coincidences in some of the modding I have done and stuff that Valve has done afterwards. Left4Dead name is the most obvious but as I type this I am drawing a blank on the others. But I'm sure it's just coincidence and not Valve stalking me. Of course some of them were model submissions I made to Valve for TF2, then 6 months or a year later they add the same object in game made by someone else (slightly different or whatever), that's a bit disconcerting though, put all my ideas out there then someone else gets paid big money for the same thing later. But then again, I know the guy who did all the work porting the L4D1 maps into 2. They then included them as content in updates but pretty much snubbed him.

Glad it comes in handy. That city tut was just to expand a bit on visportal techniques. one thing i have found since i wrote that but haven't updated... You can span func_statics across caulk to see them further away, but underwater they disappear. So not a great technique in canal areas (However that might just be an ATI thing... The Moon also changes location when i go under water.. at least it used too, not sure if that ever changed, most of the maps with water I played were my own quite awhile ago.) Nobody really mentioned either, but one of the biggest performance killers is overlapping light sources. One light might drop FPS by 5, two might drop it 10, but two overlapping would drop it 20 (example numbers, it's not that bad, but it does compound really fast when lights overlap.). Best keep overlaps to a minimum, And don't forget, players lamp or a guard walking with lantern will cause extra overlaps. 5 overlaps is bad and 6 will absolutely bring a map to a grinding halt (good thing is you really never need very many overlaps for good lighting).

Would be cool to have an alternate lantern walk anim also where they hold it up and out a bit. Maybe just for a few steps? Like they are scanning ahead a little.

I'd just as soon see this one finished and replace all the existing bones with these, keep it all consistant. Not sure where the new skull is from, someone on the team or was it sourced from somewhere? Sucks to have your stuff replaced if it doesn't need to be (who knows they might end up pretty similar anyway). But if it's just sourced from somewhere just kick it to the curb. --------- here's a pic of the current loose bones. (of course there are right and left legs/arms) Of course someone will need to scale yours to match the sizes so they don't break any maps. And we can use ragdolls for full skeletons. But I'd like to see all the bones broken down. Never hurts to have variety. hands, feet, half legs, rib cage...spine with hip bone, hip bone on it's own. easy enough to break it up, weld a couple verts and export pieces (said by the one NOT doing it )

nose hole is too small if you compare to the normal skeleton posted above.

Nah the cube map was just her Max/Maya renders. We don't use cubemaps for anything so it would look out of place, just standard specular

Skully Bros demo (3 mages tomb), Crom's Blade, Left 4 Dead, Jailbreak, House of Random, Trainspotting, ... that might've been it other than a couple small demos. --edit, ah thanks, didn't see the link posted

For anyone who doesn't know Dota was a tower defense multi player game made by modders in source engine. Valve bought rights and made Dota 2. It's a very time consuming game, you have to learn a LOT of hero's to know their strengths/weaknesses to be good at it. there are like 30 heros. You have to be good at one, but know how all the others can kill you instantly. IMO, it's very involved and complex. I didn't care for it. However it's got a huge player base, and from what I can tell it really is a good game. It just requires much more dedication than I am willing to give. Anyway. It's not 'officially' released yet, when it is it will be Free2Play. But since I got a beta key I get free entry games to pass out. I have 5 of them to give away and Steam spams so many of them I can't even give them away on any Steam related site. Other wise it costs something like $30 to get a pass to play now. So if anyone wants a key and wants to try it, let me know. Post your Steam id or contact me through TheDarkMod Steam Group. ( Solid Gold [Voodoo] )

Well, I thought they were. It was always confusing having a working copy and clean copy... But i had them in a map so I'll double check at home and try to get them up... From what i remember: The clock was done, with lod/shadow but maybe it still needed a face texture without hands. (they were on the original tex) The dresser was broken down into drawers, doors and shell with lod/shadow. the teapot was broken down for lod's/coll/shadow.

well, one sided strips might work but i can see them casting some strange shadows. With all those ribs there won't be many traces straight through anyway.

Yeah, I even get head spin on my mouse/PC at home so...

Badly. No, my laptop just doesn't have enough power to run a lot of games. tried to run LA Noire on low settings a few days ago and it's just wayyy too choppy. I can play TF2 alright on lowest settings. But I use a wacom tablet for the mouse, not the on board mouse. Problem is the readable area is too small and I can never turn around fast (without making mouse over sensitive then on the PC it would be slow...) So yeah , i don't actually play too much. Sidecrollers are my best bet. Never thought about a controller but that might actually be good too, I like to sit back a little and laptop keyboard being right at the screen makes it hard. I always played PS2, so xbox controllers felt weird to me. but i think once you use one a little bit it just becomes 2nd nature.

That is fantastic! Good work. HUGE improvement over the D3 one. The shadow mesh can be pretty simple, the ribcage can be just a large sphere (not beautiful but efficient), each main bone (arms legs) can just be a cube.

I like having the loot objectives and have always included them. But when I was mapping T2 I was guilty of making them too hard. Most players expect them, you are a thief and looting is a big part of it. Though I think most people want that objective to be fairly easy. I'd say when counting loot to figure out what the player should at least find, instead of using %, just count obvious stuff. Vases, goblets, etc... Larger higher dollar objects. Leave things like rings and coins, well hidden loot (ring on skeleton finger in sewer with a hint halfway across the map) should not be counted. This way a quick player can easily reach the goal because the goal is easy to find loot, and extra stuff and small stuff they find is just a buffer or extra. It would probably leave the loot goal pretty low too so they don't feel forced to grab every single coin, etc.. grabbing a guards coins should alert him and make him suspicious, better to not waste time... And the goal could always be worded more interestingly. Instead of grab 3500 gold. 'I need to find at least 3500 to pay off my debts' or something. That to me makes it feel more like I am grabbing that much for a reason, not just because it's a number. You can always use hidden objectives too. ie: the player completes all major goals, still needs 25g, but when all major goals are finished a new goal, 'time to go' pops up and the loot objective is cancelled (or just optional). You can also have a hidden objective : 'I've scoured this place clean, I'm pretty sure i got all the loot' if they get it all. That's a nice bonus to actually get a message that you did find it all, but it doesn't lock the player into a loot hunt.

If it was Thi4f I'm sure it can't be coming out on thursday. it's one thing to be vague and non-existent and still expect good sales day of release from fans for halo. But thief isn't that popular. I'd think it would be suicide for a company to put out a large expensive game and not put any hype into it to get people ready to buy.