So, what are you working on right now?

[nbohr1more]

C'mon... let's see 'em

[Bikerdude]

Here are some more WIP screenshots, I have used a bunch of Melan's (yet-to-be-released) textures some of which you will have seen before. The previously used textures were all to clean and bright and I think this is much better, more atmospheric etc. Only problem now, is I've been getting stuck into detailing the map that the FPS has dropped again, so I'll have to see what can be done about that..

 

nb. please ignore the black sofa's in one of them, I don't wtf tdm keeps doing that...grrrr

 

Edited September 14, 2010 by Bikerdude

[Baddcog]

Meh, it's alright.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lol, just jokin, looks pretty sweet. But that one ceiling, even though it is slightly arched doesn't look too realistic with the stone.

[aidakeeley]

Only problem now, is I've been getting stuck into detailing the map that the FPS has dropped again, so I'll have to see what can be done about that..

 

But that one ceiling, even though it is slightly arched doesn't look too realistic with the stone.

 

BikersCathedralMission Forever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Me too with the just joking...

[Bikerdude]

Bc/Aida

 

Whats with the big spaces in your posts..?

Edited September 14, 2010 by Bikerdude

[nbohr1more]

My workplace filter just decided to block yer pics so I just presumed that everyone was posting images...

[Mortem Desino]

Cripes! That's fantastic! Excellent use of some of those Doom 3 "Hell" textures.

 

Architecture is nice. It's not uncommon to see European cathedrals have a bit of mixed Gothic and Roman architecture. Especially seeing those old Roman stone arch "dungeon-y" hallways, and the newer Gothic cathedral up top.

[Fidcal]

:thumbsup:

[Melan]

Yeah, those bricks are Doom3 textures from the Hell family - I recreated them in my material files so they'd work properly and be easily accessible. There would also be a lot of good metal textures there, but most of them are unfortunately very low-res - even 64x512 or something absurd like that.

 

The shots are also proof that texturing makes for a tremendous difference. "Before beginning thy endeavors, look to thy material, both physical and spiritual." and all that.

[SiyahParsomen]

biker to be honest I didn't like your previous shots from cathedral. It was too clean and textures were not in harmony, but now I really loved it! I hope this mission will be the best tdm fm so far, because it has very high potential. Besides, imo it has already beat thief 3' s cathedral in architectural comparison. Keep up the great work

[Ladro]

Biker, your cathedral looks simply AMAZING, and your progression on editing maps, it's just incredible!

 

Go on! ;-)

[Sotha]

Most excellent shots! I'm a bit worried on performance, though.

But if you can do magic on Return to the City, I'm sure you can manage it.

 

The shots reminds me of a cathedral I visited in Norway, namely the Nidaros Cathedral.

 

I found a few shots from the net to aid with creativity:

 

Exterior:

http://upload.wikime...-west-front.jpg

 

Interior:

 

The famous glass window from the inside. It's also visible in the exterior shot. Maybe these spark the texture-wizards we have here.

http://upload.wikime..._2005-08-22.jpg

 

The exterior was cluttered with all kinds of details:

http://nord.blogit.f...al-gargoyle.jpg

http://nord.blogit.f...al-gargoyle.jpg

 

Great place. Visit it if you go to Trondheim.

[SiyahParsomen]

It'll sound unkind but I think if he has any plan to make it a masterpiece and maybe a tdm showcase, then it'll probably need to sacrifice low-end users. Or maybe he'll make two versions of it for this purpose. I can hear "no way!"

[New Horizon]

It'll sound unkind but I think if he has any plan to make it a masterpiece and maybe a tdm showcase, then it'll probably need to sacrifice low-end users. Or maybe he'll make two versions of it for this purpose. I can hear "no way!"

 

Nah, I think something can still be a masterpiece and a TDM showcase while still allowing the majority to enjoy it, especially if Return To The City has been optimized to such an extent.

[Sotha]

It'll sound unkind but I think if he has any plan to make it a masterpiece and maybe a tdm showcase, then it'll probably need to sacrifice low-end users. Or maybe he'll make two versions of it for this purpose. I can hear "no way!"

 

It's impractical to make separate versions of a map. I'm certain I personally would never do it. There is no confusion, since there is only one true version of the given map.

 

Remember, instead of asking the mapper to see extra trouble for them, the low-enders could easily go to the local computer store and exchange hard currency to get new toys. This move would confer boost for ALL the games they have, plus they have the possiblity of playing newer games. Plus irritation of slowness is gone. It's many pros for the con of money loss.

 

Hardware is really cheap nowadays, even students can afford decent gaming rigs.

 

But this all said, mappers still should do their best to optimize their maps for smooth performance.

[nbohr1more]

Yep.

 

Bikerdude just pride's himself on making his maps perform well.

 

I will be sad if my system can't play it but I agree that he shouldn't compromise his look too much on behalf of the low-end.

 

I have an earlier version that ran pretty well but he added some architecture upstairs that appears to be a real killer (lots of ornate banisters with plenty of holes in the geometry.) He closed off some of the other larger ornate openings and he could probably replace the decoration there with a custom normal map...

 

But he's a performance magician so we low-enders may yet have hope...

[New Horizon]

Hardware is really cheap nowadays, even students can afford decent gaming rigs.

 

It's not that cheap. lol Sounds like students are doing a whole lot better than I am. After my bills are paid I have pretty much 'zero' disposable income. Yesterday, I was searching the house for spare change so I could get out of the house and buy a pot of tea at the cafe so I didn't go completely mad being shut in all day.

 

There are different ideas of what 'cheap' and 'poor' mean. I'm definitely not 'poor' as I can still manage to pay my bills, 'heat, lights, phone, mortgage, etc...', but computer upgrades are a treat, not a necessity, and I don't think it's realistic to think people can just waltz down to the store and drop $100 bucks down for a slightly better video card...or even $80. Hell, ten dollars is a huge deal to me these days.

 

In the same breath, it's also not realistic to think that every mapper must follow strict guidelines to ensure their map runs on even the lowest end system. The mod provides ample settings in the menu to increase performance, so I think we have done our part. If mappers take low end into consideration (build wisely, optimize), I think it benefits all...but if they don't, then those with lower end systems will just have to sit it out. That's life, there will always be the haves and the have nots.

[Fidcal]

Agreed. Sometimes I think everyone should experience poverty just once in their lives as they have no idea.

 

I may be there again next year so there is a possibility of having to give up some semi-essentials like TV and internet completely, possibly heating partially. Food and rent come first and if there is anything left over then it's a luxury.

[Bikerdude]

Bikerdude just pride's himself on making his maps perform well.

I try my best anyway

 

Agreed. Sometimes I think everyone should experience poverty just once in their lives as they have no idea.

 

I may be there again next year so there is a possibility of having to give up some semi-essentials like TV and internet completely, possibly heating partially. Food and rent come first and if there is anything left over then it's a luxury.

 

Well, did the homeless thing a couple of years ago but it was summer at the time so wasn't too bad..

 

Well I'm currently unemployed atm (hence spending so much time on tdm), so come winter I may just leaving the heating off more than on and walk around in my motorcycle gear

Edited September 15, 2010 by Bikerdude

[SiyahParsomen]

Nah, I think something can still be a masterpiece and a TDM showcase while still allowing the majority to enjoy it, especially if Return To The City has been optimized to such an extent.

 

Althoguh I don't have a low-end system anymore, I know very well how much low-end users can handle in tdm fan missions. While I had a low-end laptop (asus a6vm), I tested many ways in DR to optimize fps on my wip fan mission. I made a detailed room that looks nearly good enough to eye candy with one light, one ambient light, no AI, many entities with no shadows, no visportalling( since it's one room), and fps was about 24. My graphic settings were lowest and resolution was 1280*800. It's the acceptable limit to enjoy. I don't think my low-end was too low, but I can say it was not enough for near perfect looking fan missions. I got good fps on biker's and grayman's summer contest fan missions' first versions. However, as you know there were not enough ai and other things such as some cool looking particles including some fps killer effects. So lack of AI, world detail, and effects prevented them being a masterpiece. I'm not the only one thinking in this way. Check comments in releated topics if you wish.

 

 

It's impractical to make separate versions of a map. I'm certain I personally would never do it. There is no confusion, since there is only one true version of the given map.

 

Remember, instead of asking the mapper to see extra trouble for them, the low-enders could easily go to the local computer store and exchange hard currency to get new toys. This move would confer boost for ALL the games they have, plus they have the possiblity of playing newer games. Plus irritation of slowness is gone. It's many pros for the con of money loss.

 

Hardware is really cheap nowadays, even students can afford decent gaming rigs.

 

But this all said, mappers still should do their best to optimize their maps for smooth performance.

 

I wasn't serious on making low end version for a mission. Although I haven't released a single fm up to know, I have enough knowledge to get good fps in darkmod missions for low-end users. For instance, I'm building my fan mission according to position of light source in some cases in order to using single light and getting best good looking.

And yes I definitely agree with mappers should do their best to optimize their maps for smooth performance.

Edited September 15, 2010 by SiyahParsomen

[New Horizon]

My graphic settings were lowest and resolution was 1280*800.

 

On my old desktop, I have to play with the lowest settings and 800 x 600 res. Didn't care that I had to play in low res as long as I could play the mission...if a mission was even more demanding, I would drop it down to 640 x 480. Why not? I couldn't afford another system, so that was ok by me. lol

 

On the laptop my bosses bought me for work, I can pretty much max out the high quality settings in TDM 1.02...with HDR in 1.03 though, it's a struggle again.

 

There are people on TTLG who turn off specular and normal maps to play our missions. That's some dedication right there. lol

[Sotha]

It's not that cheap. lol Sounds like students are doing a whole lot better than I am. After my bills are paid I have pretty much 'zero' disposable income. Yesterday, I was searching the house for spare change so I could get out of the house and buy a pot of tea at the cafe so I didn't go completely mad being shut in all day.

 

[..]

 

Deleted my posting. Not gonna derail another thread.

[SiyahParsomen]

There are people on TTLG who turn off specular and normal maps to play our missions. That's some dedication right there. lol

 

oh, I wasn't aware of that. Up to now I was considering my graphics is poor because of not being able to play in HDR.

[Serpentine]

It ain't pretty... but two stage alpha doesn't actually look that bad... it also reacts to light since it's still using a diffuse layer.

Since this was just a test I grabbed a random material which I knew to have soft-ish alpha, it's really not the best for this purpose... but whatever.

 

These are horrific screenshots - you have been warned!

 

 

 

From left -> right

Default texture with ambient lighting and diffuse map

Made it look a bit closer to a normal TDM texture, added in a normal map with exaggerated blue channel (looks quite good really)

Two stage alpha blending, hard diffuse with soft edges (some stuff needs to be toned down!, but its the idea that I was looking for)

 

It also works ok with ambient lighting and doesn't seem to cause trouble much. I'm going to try poke at it to use an additive blend, but for now I think it looks cool and I want to try make some less crappy leaves They look way too fluffy, but that's just due to me blurring out the alpha to test.

 

(and since I spent the day looking at how the material parser works in IDA, do we know what "xrayrendermap" does? it's like a mirror map etc, but I havent tried playing around yet, didnt see it documented anywhere)

[aidakeeley]

So far I agree #2 looks best... but you say #3 is to be adjusted towards your ends... so I'm sure that'll look excellent.

 

And now you've found a new layer of somethingorother? Oh boy.

 

Anyway, you and Fidcal and some others are obviously up to something spectacular; something outdoors; something soon to be semi-demo'd for the masses?

 

what with mushrooms... and groundcover... and terrain-blending... and translucence... and...