ddaazzaa

Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks. Thanks for the feedback.

I've updated a few things. 1.03 * Tweaked lighting. Ambient world lighting is a little darker. When the manor interior is dark, I added some low brightness lights around the windows. * Performance should be better around the hedges. Thanks to HMart for the modified hedge model. * Fixed a small "invisible barrier" issue in the Grand Hall. Also fixed some dining room loot falling through the table when bumped. Thanks to SuaveSteve for pointing out those issues. * Cricket volume has been lowered. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wZc_nqHoX7kQvzfg08EpoRy2hyuH7mw3/view?usp=sharing

I finally got around to testing that model and it works well. Thanks.

I was never really sure whether the map was too bright or too dark as everyone has a different display and TDM brightness and gamma settings. Since the first half of the FM has no lights I tried to lean on the side of having it a little brighter as I didn't want players complaining that the map is just too dark for too long. I can look at reducing the ambient light a little. Reducing to almost pitch black would potentially create a better atmosphere for some players but others might get frusted by how dark it would be

This doesn't solve the issue of when moving closer, the full poly models will be displayed and performance will still be affected I have been experimenting with the model scaler and I might be able to use that to an extent as a workaround. Although it doesn't help with other mappers using the hedges in future as they will all have to do the same.

* I'll look at adding some faint light around the windows to add a bit of diversity to the lighting * I noticed the crickets are very loud. I'll probably tweak the volume and radius. * I didn't really want to have LODs for the hedges but due to the poly count on them I ended up having to for performance. I didn't want to have to fall back to a brush based hedge. I have requested in the art assets forum if someone is able to create a lower poly hedge, that way I might be able to remove LODs for the hedges. * All of the audio except for the voices are from the core assets. Maybe some of those assets were poorly recorded, although I didn't notice any issues with any of those sounds. * I tried to warn players with the voice saying "beyond that door there is no turning back". Tapewolf experimented with jamming a box in the doorway to prevent the door from shutting and was able to get back into the mansion. This obviously wouldn't be possible on a first playthrough without prior knowledge of the door shutting. Thanks for the feedback.

Just wondering if anyone is able to create some lower/mid range poly models of the hedges that are included as part of the core assets? Currently the hedges have hi and low poly versions. The low poly versions are very basic and range between 50-100 polys. The hi poly models are mostly 2500 and 5000 polys with one even being 9600. When using hedges in maps, most times they will be used in rows or columns, this means poly count can start to skyrocket if too many of them are used. I found this out with my map Blackgrove Manor. With the hedge models being smaller in size, it also means there are many unnecessary polys being wasted on the interconnecting sides. Creating some longer and/or taller hedges would help alleviate those unnecessary polys. If anyone is able to help out with this, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I could use the low poly version which is mostly a rectangle with texture but it looks considerably worse. The hedge is currently using lods so it's only an issue when close enough. A low-mid poly hedge that joins multiple hedge pieces together as a single model would be ideal. At the moment having small hedge pieces joined wastes polys on the interconnections that aren't visible.

They are from the core TDM assets. The hedge archway alone is 9600 polys. The rectangle hedges are 5200 each. Add a few of those in a row and an archway and the poly count starts to skyrocket. models/darkmod/nature/hedge01_***.lwo What's the best way of asking someone? Should I create a thread in the Art Assets forum requesting if someone can create lower poly models?

There's only 2 versions of those models (low and high poly). The low poly model isn't really suitable for up close, so I'd have to create my own. Is there an easy way of lowering poly count on models without knowledge of 3D modelling software?

Due to the nature of those outdoor areas it will be hard to improve performance much more without introducing noticeable amounts of pop in. I'm happy to release a different version with more pop in that should have better performance.

It should be good to update in the mission database, I don't think I did anything that would have introduced any bugs. Thanks.

@Gadavre I have released a new version that should improve performance by a lot. Let me know what your performance is like now. 1.02: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wZc_nqHoX7kQvzfg08EpoRy2hyuH7mw3/view?usp=sharing

I have completed optimizing the outdoor area. There are some very large performance improvements. Set TDM Object Details (LOD) to Normal (or lower) to take advantage of some of the optimizations. Thanks to everyone who helped with performance suggestions. 1.02: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wZc_nqHoX7kQvzfg08EpoRy2hyuH7mw3/view?usp=sharing I picked a few of the heavier areas and did some spot checks to compare the difference. Before: Draws 4.3k | Tris 1.98m | FPS 143 After: Draws 3.6k | Tris 0.64m | FPS 202 Before: Draws 7k | Tris 2.8m | FPS 107 After: Draws 2.4k | Tris 0.44m | FPS 208 Before: Draws 4.4k | Tris 1.87m | FPS 139 After: Draws 3.4k | Tris 0.50m | FPS 188 Before: Draws 5.8k | Tris 2.56m | FPS 102 After: Draws 4.5k | Tris 1.04m | FPS 139 Before: Draws 7.8k | Tris 2.89m | FPS 91 After: Draws 5.6k | Tris 1.03m | FPS 137 Screenshot comparisons with stats:

Thanks, I'm in the middle of using hide at the moment and I'm seeing some very large performance improvements. I've found the best way to work out the hide distance is to temporarily insert a speaker right next to the entity and adjust the diameter to the preferred cull size, then divide the diameter in half and that becomes the hide_distance number.

Yeah, I didn't know those hedge models are over 5000 polys each. That's a major optimization I can make with hedge LODs. I don't think there's any problems with rooms in the manor sealing properly. Is there a reason caulk would seal any better than a brush with a standard texture? I noticed Sir Taffsalot's Sword using the same modules and has caulk on all of the internal brushes.

I've got an FAQ in the original post. I've edited a couple of the questions. There's no way of destroying the stone. That's a nice idea of taking a posession to grave to let spirit rest. Yes, the manor and outer grounds are quite large. It was a design choice to make it large although I might have made it a fraction too large. Kingsal pointed that out early on and it was too late at that stage to make it any smaller without a massive overhaul. I've tracked down another optimization that will help quite a bit. I use quite a lot of hedges and I didn't realise that each hedge is over 5000 polys. I use heaps in both the front and rear yards so I will be using the LOD system for those hedges. I'm not too sure why those models were made with so many polys considering hedges are most likely to used in rows and in larger quantities.

Yeah, I wasn't sure how to place visportals in a large open area. The concept of visportals is easier to understand when looking at smaller rooms but I never had any luck trying to wrap my head around how they work with larger open spaces. I'm going to try what stgatilov has suggested and see how that goes.

I have tracked down a performance issue due to the map wide fog. It seems to increase draw calls by 40%. There is a no fog version in the link below which should improve performance quite a lot. Let me know what performance is like with this version: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1iXE4-W0jucFSUrDQ415XsBehCLuX8gzd/view?usp=sharing I'm currently seeing if I can reduce the performance impact of the fog.

I tracked it down to the map wide fog. At the spawn location with fog it has around 7k draw calls. If I delete the fog light entity, it drops draw calls to around 5k. Is there any particular spawn args I can use on the fog to reduce it's performance hit?

I have visportals around the manor although I don't know how optimally placed they are. The starting dock when facing the manor is the most demanding in the whole mission as there are quite of lot of draw calls and the only closed portals for the exterior are at the rear of the estate. Since the manor is visible from the dock and the front walls have a couple of see through gates, occluding the manor without obvious visual pop in might get tricky. Unfortunately the mission was designed more for aesthetic with performance being an afterthought. If anyone knows if there are better ways to visportal/optimize the exterior I'm happy to try and create better performance.

I didn't know about that spawnarg. Since that issue is happening to multiple people I've fixed it. Can a few people please test this release to make sure I haven't introduced any bugs and maybe give feedback on the NPCs I have introduced. I want to make sure this release is good to go before replacing the original. 1.01 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wZc_nqHoX7kQvzfg08EpoRy2hyuH7mw3/view?usp=sharing Changes: * Fixed Chapel office key getting kicked around and lost. * Made a couple of changes to starting inventory. * Accounted for a 'sequence break' pointed out by tapewolf. * Added a couple more NPCs.

It might be possibe that if the key is not picked up early, it may get kicked around and lost. To try and avoid that issue I wanted the player to pick up that key early. The body should be one of the main things in the hall that draws attention to the player, so providing the player wants to look at the readable they should easily notice the key sitting on top. I tried to stop as many out of bounds areas as I could although I didn't extensively check every part of the map. Getting out of bounds can be fun for the player in a way. Have a look at a lot of AAA games where speed runners just destroy entire missions by completing the whole map out of bounds. I didn't intend for there to be a resolution to what's going on. I understand some people like to have the story wrapped up nicely. I did hint as to what might have happened to some of the family in the note located in the upper sewer maintenance room (after you climb the ladder). I've found that whenever I watch a good horror movie, most of the time the ending disappoints when everything is explained and there is no mystery after it finishes. I went for a more blair witch style where you are left in the dark as to what is going on.

Thanks for the feedback. I knew this mission wasn't going to be for everyone, so I understand if people dislike it and I don't take any criticism personally. Indeed putting a warning would spoil the atmosphere I was going for.