So, what are you working on right now?

[Sotha]

Those screenies look fantastic! Someone REALLY likes symmetry in scenes, many of the pics could have a mirror plane in the middle.

 

You use a lot quite light stone textures. That's the thing. Usually things get grimed up if they are old. Think about those white keyboards when they are brand new. After some years, in public use, they become yellow and then darker and darker.

 

The first image has light yellow wall stone work and light gray ceiling stone work. They look very clean. Usually you have basically two options:

1) If you are lazy and don't want to do a lot of decal work use dark textures for old locations. They are dark and look grimy / wet already. Adding decals will not contribute much as the decal can just barely discerned from the dark texture underneath. I used this in LQD in the castle exterior. Dark texture, no decals.

2) If you use light colored textures, you need to do some decal work. You could apply the dirt_scattered decal (the decal with the uniform dirtyness on it. I show it in the MBT thread) everywhere to get a basic level of grime on. Then apply some wall slime decals, so that it seems moisture has flown from the ceiling along the walls to the floor. If you couple the flowing slime with puddles on the floor in the parts where the decal touches the ground, it will look quite realistic.

 

Your screenshots look like they were built just a few years ago. Some wear and tear should be added to guide the eye. You do not even need to place them everywhere, but just near lights. Player detects only what he can see and what is highlighted by the illumination.

 

You could also make one or two wall damage modules. Just take a section of wall and use the clipper to break the bricks of the texture into real 3d bricks. Then drop the bricks to the ground. Small details like that can break the symmetry and make the scene look more old and interesting. Again the light rule applies: do that only to a spot that is illuminated.

[Sir Taffsalot]

@ Moonbo: Your screenshots suggest that your FM could really be something special. I'm highly anticipating the release of your first FM.

 

One question though. Why are all your screenshots in spoiler tags? If someone didn't want to spoil an FM for themselves by looking at pre-release screenshots then the last thing they would do is click on a thread titled 'So, what are you working on now?' in the Editors Guild section of the forum.

[Bikerdude]

Considering this is Moonbo's first TDM mission its very impressive. But I hazard a guess he has done mapping with another engine before :-)

[Obsttorte]

One question though. Why are all your screenshots in spoiler tags? If someone didn't want to spoil an FM for themselves by looking at pre-release screenshots then the last thing they would do is click on a thread titled 'So, what are you working on now?' in the Editors Guild section of the forum.

But if someone has a very slow internet connection (like me ) and/or a limited amount of traffic (like me ) he or she may appreciate the fact that not all images on this page are loaded and that he or she can decide which ones to load (most certainly the ones he or she didn't already knew yet).

[Moonbo]

@Sotha & Orbs, okay I'll see what I can do about adding decals and some busted walls here and there (thanks for taking the time for the detailed write up Sotha, I really appreciate it :-)). Any idea for models that could complement the scene?

 

@SirTaff - I was using spoiler tags because that part of the mission is a bit spoilery, but it does help people w/ slower internet connections load up the page too.

 

@Biker - I have actually *not* mapped before, outside of putzing around a little in UDK , so that's a real big complement! Thanks! I have played a lot of TDM and Thief FMs, and have been part of the modding scene (but only doing writing really), so maybe some of it rubbed off :-P.

Edited May 24, 2013 by Moonbo

[Lux]

@Moonbo, So your levels look exciting to explore AND you've only previously focused on the "writing" side of modding??

 

We could be in for a great treat indeed.

[someTaff]

Inner workings)

[Springheel]

Nice shot!

[Bikerdude]

Inner workings)

And in TDM 2.0 we will be able to have closed VPs with transparent windows like this!

[someTaff]

 

And in TDM 2.0 we will be able to have closed VPs with transparent windows like this!

Cool! What's a VP?

[Moonbo]

VP = Visportal

[ERH+]

And in TDM 2.0 we will be able to have closed VPs with transparent windows like this!

How? BTW for now even translucent window texture don't cast not-translucent-part-of-texture shadows, is shadow/ light will be cast thru closed VP too? Edited May 24, 2013 by ERH+

[Bikerdude]

Its what I read, I dont know how it works..

[someTaff]

VP = Visportal

A! Have to move this one vp out a bit or glass turns black.

[Obsttorte]

And in TDM 2.0 we will be able to have closed VPs with transparent windows like this!

That's not correct. We will have the sound dampened if those doors are closed. The visportal still stays open, as you have to be able to see trough them.

[nbohr1more]

Tels made a LOD method to replace the transparent portion with a textured patch as I recall... I thought this was in 1.08 already?

 

Here it is:

 

http://forums.thedar...post__p__286825

 

 

I have extended the lod_bias feature by two things:

 

* instead of getting hidden, func_portals now will close their associated portal (the one they touch) when they are outside the min/max range, and open it, if they are inside. Thus you can now have certain visportals open or closed, depending on quality setting

* if the spawnarg "lod_hidden_skin" is set on an entity, it will not get hidden (outside the min/max boundary), instead if will get this skin, and if inside again, restore the original skin

 

This makes it possible to build windows that are either close (opaque), or semi-transparent (open), depending on the menu setting. Changing the menu setting will reflect that change once you exit the menu and return to the map, so it is easily possible to test it in realtime.

 

The snow map has been enhanced with an example. You need:

 

* an opening in a wall

* a visportal in it

* a func_portal touching the visportal

* a func_static window, with an appropriate skin set

 

Here is "Normal" quality:

 

 

Yes, pretty sure this is already in v1.08:

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=LOD_Bias

Edited May 25, 2013 by nbohr1more

[Capela]

And in TDM 2.0 we will be able to have closed VPs with transparent windows like this!

 

Thats will be great, so great that i ask are you sure?......Serious that will have a great impact to mapers.

[demagogue]

Like Obs said, what he means (or should mean) is we've separated VPs function for sound & visibility now, so you can dampen or cut off the sound coming through the door's VP (close the VP to sound) without, obviously, cutting off the visibility since you can still see through the window. So the VP is still technically "open" (for visibility).

 

In previous versions you had to choose between seeing through the window & full volume or no volume & no window (or have it totally blacked out if you actually forced the VP closed, which no one would ever do). So there's definitely been a great improvement.

 

Edit: Ah yes, you could close it & replace it with a patch too, but that's probably just good at quite a distance.

[grayman]

Here is the Wiki page that discusses sound improvements in 2.0.

[nbohr1more]

Thats will be great, so great that i ask are you sure?......Serious that will have a great impact to mapers.

 

With 7318's portalsky code (in TDM 2.0) I think you could use the LOD method above to close portals but render a "skybox version" of

the room whether it be a cubemap or a miniature model. Not sure how much improvement the latter would be though.

Edited May 25, 2013 by nbohr1more

[Bikerdude]

That's not correct. We will have the sound dampened if those doors are closed.

Ah yes sorry, Lack of sleep the last few weeks has made me fuzzy.

[Capela]

Im try to use this Torch lights in a outdoor, but they realy nasty when to come drop fps, any tips do reduce this low fps without give up this lights models!!!

 

Edited May 25, 2013 by Capela

[PPoe]

If you are above 20 fps, its ok=) This is not an action game..

[nbohr1more]

Try breaking up the wall texture right where the light fades. Shift the texture alignment, etc. you probably have really hight light counts because your surfaces are smooth with the same material covering a large swath. Look at the brush carving section of the "Performane Essentials" wiki.

[demagogue]

It may be the light itself, and not the torch. (You'd test that using the same light without the torch.) Remember for each light the engine has to do more rendering processing, but there are ways to ease the load. Ninja'd: Yes do what Nbohr talks about. And follow the Performance Wiki tips generally anyway. The area itself may not be very optimized even aside from the lighting.