Fan Mission: The Beleaguered Fence by Sotha (2010/06/23)

[Sotha]

So, anyone recently played BF in TDMv1.02 and had a spyglass?

 

Sotha, I guess that whiteness in the shot is this

crystal one has to shoot

, eh?

 

I hoped you´d comment on what I said about the DynamicAmbientLighting... Just say: "Yes, LEGION, you´re right. I messed that up, but I´ll do better in the future. It really was set too dark."

 

Aye, the whiteness is what you speak about. It gets lost in the eyecandy effects. You know. White thing under white light. It was visible before without the new visual enchancements.

 

Dynamicambients... I did not use any location setting lights. The mission has only one ambient light with its basic settings and that light shines everywhere. There is NO special basic lighting conditions for different scenes: all use the same ambient. The only thing which is different is the amount of torches and normal lights. I observed I had to increase gamma somewhat after the enabling the new eye candies, maybe this helps. Instead of using a toggle gamma switch, maybe increase gamma to somewhere between your two toggles? I've only played one mission (lockdown) with the new visuals and simple gamma adjustement was all I needed.

[LEGION]

That is strange, because I noticed different blend times between streets/apartment and streets/stronghold!!! So it is a 1.03-thing. Didn´t you even set the orange lava-ambient-light? So that´s all automatic from the new ambient-shaders? Impressive but how does it know what is inside and what outside?

 

I´m very sensitive to gamma-settings, I just want walls to be barely visible, I have to test another mission...

[Sotha]

That is strange, because I noticed different blend times between streets/apartment and streets/stronghold!!! So it is a 1.03-thing. Didn´t you even set the orange lava-ambient-light? So that´s all automatic from the new ambient-shaders? Impressive but how does it know what is inside and what outside?

 

I´m very sensitive to gamma-settings, I just want walls to be barely visible, I have to test another mission...

 

There is absolutely NO lava ambient, there is only the standard ambient light which gets applied to every location in the map. The lava light is just normal yellow lights which emit from the lava.

[LEGION]

I really suggest that you go and look for yourself NOW (if you can) because between the lines I get the impression that you think I´m insane... Must be the ambient shaders, I´ll test now, oh damn, well, I´ll test it soon...

[Sotha]

I really suggest that you go and look for yourself NOW (if you can) because between the lines I get the impression that you think I´m insane... Must be the ambient shaders, I´ll test now, oh damn, well, I´ll test it soon...

 

Checked map in DR and noclipped around the map just now.

 

Oh yes, the new eye candy DOES somehow emulate ambient lights. When I am in a well lit location the ambient is brighter and slightly same color as the lights. When I go through a visportal to a room without any lighting the ambient is darker. How cools is that? Saves a lot of trouble from the mapper.

 

For me it was just perfect. The dark room ambience was dark as it should be. Felt just right. It tries to emulate a bit how your eyes adapt to darkness. Darkness in well lit room looks different than in total darkness. I really recommend you boost your gamma just a bit. And remember, even a thief may need to use his lantern in a totally pitch black room as there is very little ambient light there. I also like this auto ambience (not only because it makes things feel realistic and nice but) because it also makes the lantern more useful.

 

Realism-wise the it would be impossible to hide in a shadow in a room lit up by lava, so it is absolutely necessary that this auto ambience light does not affect the light gem.

 

And I also verify that there indeed is no spyglass whatsoever in BF. My future missions will certainly have this tool.

[LEGION]

That console-warning let me thought that the spyglass should be there. Anyway, it seems I really have to increase my gamma. Yeah, I love black shadows but in that apartment I couldn´t even see the shelf and what was on it without the lantern. It´s okay to use the lantern, but what if a guard is watching. I fear that I have to adjust my gamma-setting from mission to mission. Well, I can create an individual autoexec-file with the gamma-setting for every FM...

 

Lol, it seems my big praise from the morning was more about 1.03 than the mission itself. Nah, just kidding, it was a blast, the biggest upside for me was the perfect ambiance-sound-setup, very damn good job on that!

[Sotha]

Ahem....

*Clears throat*

 

Yes, LEGION, you´re right. I messed that up, but I´ll do better in the future. It really was set too dark.

 

I just observed that BF actually uses dimmer ambient_world than the standard. The standard has "_color 0.08 0.08 0.08" my ambient_world is "0.03 0.03 0.03." So yes, it is darker than normal in BF. If you check Glenham or Knightons they both have the correct standard 0.08 0.08 0.08 ambient_world, so I recommend setting your gamma properly according to those maps. I promise to do better in the future.

 

But the automatic ambient changing is still something I didn't do. That is a cool new feature in TDM. I suppose I have to update BF when the next load of new content arrives: fix all the accumulated issues and maybe add some new vocals and stuff for the AI.

 

Note to self:

ambient_world

Briefing fix

spyglass

func_static optimizations outside

[lowenz]

Good to hear that!

Support old missions is always welcome!

 

And this is an awesome one

Edited December 29, 2010 by lowenz

[LEGION]

LoL For a moment I feared the DynamicAmbient was also you but gladly you made clear it´s not. A value about 3? And the standard is 8? Hm, as I put AmbientLight into Doom3-maps I tested very much and chose 5, though I would´ve liked 4.5, but that wasn´t possible. Then again, recently I turned off my TV-settings like 'Active Control' and 'Contrast+' that brightened up things a little bit and I have the impression that the difference between bright and dark textures isn´t that dramatic anymore. In Doom3 I have gamma/brightness at default (1) and AmbientLight is fine, but it´s different story in TDM for some reason. (of course you idiot, because not everyone has used 5) Alright, I´ll play Glenham Tower now (it´s almost 4 in the morning and I can´t sleep anymore, so I don´t think I can play Knighton Manor after that, and it would be odd anyway considering the order...)

 

Oh, as I speak of Knighton Manor and I have your attention and I´m in derail-mode anyway: You released this mission before v.1.03 though you originally wanted to wait because of the girls. So, both are out and are the girls fully 'operational' in your mission or are they even in it? I wanted to see/hear them in a mission before I 'study' them further in my *censored*-room (Yes Sotha, I know, I won´t get more into this lest I befoul your honoured thread )

[Sotha]

So, both are out and are the girls fully 'operational' in your mission or are they even in it?

 

Nope, no ladies at Knightons.

[LEGION]

*sniff* sadness is spreading, tears are rolling, alone, so alone, just want sth I can never have... *sniff*

[PedsXing]

I've read every spoiler in this thread, but I'm still stuck ...

 

 

What do I have to do with those guardians down in the body-dump hole? I was under the impression that I had to light their torches, but even after doing so the door remains shut. Could this be a bug? Lit the right one with a fire arrow (a waste ... I know) and the left one with a candle. I have even extinguished and relit them, but I can't get the door to open.

 

[Sotha]

I've read every spoiler in this thread, but I'm still stuck ...

 

 

What do I have to do with those guardians down in the body-dump hole? I was under the impression that I had to light their torches, but even after doing so the door remains shut. Could this be a bug? Lit the right one with a fire arrow (a waste ... I know) and the left one with a candle. I have even extinguished and relit them, but I can't get the door to open.

 

 

 

Both of the statues should have light.

Lighting them will open the doors.

 

This is the way it has worked thus far. Could the tdm update have possibly broken the triggerings? Could someone for whom this has worked previously confirm?

 

[Sotha]

Yes, the map has been broken due to some recent tdm change.

 

There is no way for you to get there. And if I remember correctly there are triggers there, so noclipping may be of no help.

[Tels]

Checked map in DR and noclipped around the map just now.

 

Oh yes, the new eye candy DOES somehow emulate ambient lights. When I am in a well lit location the ambient is brighter and slightly same color as the lights. When I go through a visportal to a room without any lighting the ambient is darker. How cools is that? Saves a lot of trouble from the mapper.

 

Er, yes, that is cool like a cucumber. But, and thats the big but, you have to use the ambient zones system:

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Location_Settings#Ambient_light_settings

 

If you haven't used that, then the ambient light should not change. (Unless the new interaction-shader does something?)

[Sotha]

Er, yes, that is cool like a cucumber. But, and thats the big but, you have to use the ambient zones system:

 

http://modetwo.net/d..._light_settings

 

If you haven't used that, then the ambient light should not change. (Unless the new interaction-shader does something?)

 

The effect is real, even when there is no ambient light setups. I do not know why. I see it only in BL, not in my other maps. The ambient_world is of lower value in this mission, so that must have something to do about it. This was discussed somewhere, but I cannot remember where. I even posted two screenies there.

 

See for yourself: start the mission and look at pitch black area in the starting streets. Then fly inside the second floor window in the abandoned house far, just directly in front of the starting position. You will see the absolute black color change when you pass the visportal (window). I guarantee that there is absolutely NO ambient zones with different light setups in this mission. But still the effect is there. Magic?

[Tels]

The effect is real, even when there is no ambient light setups. I do not know why.

 

Took me a while to figure out, but there IS an ambient setup

 

 

You used the zoning system to play sounds, this automatically also setups the ambient light changes. And since there is a visportal sep. the room from the streets, the count as different zones.

 

Here is what happens if you switch between the street and the room:

 

Left is your base ambient (the same for all zones), right is the dynamic part, which is slightly yellowish due to the candles. If there was a gaslight, moonlight, or red lava, or green mushroom glow, it would be colored differently automatic:

 

Fading light to '0.03 0.03 0.03' plus '0.03 0.02 0.01' in '0.500000' seconds.
Fading light to '0.03 0.03 0.03' plus '0 0 0' in '0.500000' seconds.
Fading light to '0.03 0.03 0.03' plus '0.03 0.02 0.01' in '0.500000' seconds.

 

The default values are:

 

"ambient_light_dynamic"                 "0.01 0.01 0.01"  // a factor to scale the light in the current zone
"ambient_light_dynamic_cap"             "0.1 0.1 0.1"     // cap the dynamic part to 0.1 at most

 

Note that the dynamic part is also scaled automatically by the light source - a candle contributes much less than a torch as they have differently sized light radius values.

 

So you don't have to explicitely set different ambient lights. You could have, of course, like making the street more blue, and the room more yellow.

 

The cap above makes sure that even if you light a lot of lights in a room, the player does not get lit up like a christmas tree.

 

There is even a setting which makes this much better:

 

"editor_float ambient_light_falloff"        "Selects the falloff adjustment for the lights in the current are based on their distance.
Possible values: 0 - no falloff with distance, 0.5 = 
sqrt(distance), 1 = linear falloff, 2 = squared falloff. 1 looks best. This setting can be override 
for each location on the 'info_location' entity. See also 'ambient_light_dist_scale'."

 

See: http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Dynamic_ambient_light#ambient_light_falloff

 

It is most unfortunate that SneaksieDave insisted on this setting being by default on 0 - it means that f.i. in your street the torches that are far away from the player contribute as much to the ambient light as the torch next to the player. With a value of "1", this means that the ambient light in the current zone changes as the player moves along the street - which is not only a lot more cooler, but also more correct. *sigh* Unfortunately, no mapper ever changes that value (as I suspected, most mappers don't even know the settings are there...)

 

Anyway, if you switch between the different ambient renders, you will see that "simple" switches the light immidiately, while both "normal" and "enhanced" fade the light over 5 seconds from the old to the new value

[maga]

Very interesting fm. Really liked it Especially that guards visit almost every room. But, as i understand, they visit them by patrol-path, would be better to have some random element, otherwise you can calculate how much time you have between visits.

 

And i didn't liked monstrous size of blocks in wall texture, looks like something stretched.

 

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5020311/dark/DOOM3_2011_04_06_01_15_49_605.png

 

Anyway, thank you for your mission.

[ungoliant]

random wait elements are freely available to the mappers disposal, including on set patrols. this is in the very basics of the A-Z map editing guide, and I don't know of any mappers that do not utilize it.

[Sotha]

New version available. Check first post for link.

[New Horizon]

Looks great with the new ambient_world light changes....and I definitely noticed the performance boost at the beginning. What did you do to achieve that?

[Sotha]

Looks great with the new ambient_world light changes....and I definitely noticed the performance boost at the beginning. What did you do to achieve that?

 

I agree, the new light value really does wonders here; what were I thinking when I put that 3, back then..

 

I'm a bit embarrassed and reluctant to reveal this... but, you see, when I first built BF, I didn't know about anything. I didn't have The Workflow, nor The Technique.

 

All the brushes in the outside areas were worldspawn brushes. What I did now was simply float around the scene and func_staticify all the brushes I could without causing a leak. I think the scene tris count went down a lot.

 

And yes, I did monsterclip the areas the AI was able to reach. I think the scene could be further optimized a lot, but that would require redoing a lot of things, since the basic brushwork is so unthoughtful and crappy.

 

Really small amount of work; a reasonable performance boost.

[Glyph Seeker]

4 / 3 / 4 rating from me - loved it!

 

You are great at bait and switch objectives, Sotha - reminded me of the structure of Mandralosa!

[SneaksieDave]

It is most unfortunate that SneaksieDave insisted on this setting being by default on 0 - it means that f.i. in your street the torches that are far away from the player contribute as much to the ambient light as the torch next to the player. With a value of "1", this means that the ambient light in the current zone changes as the player moves along the street - which is not only a lot more cooler, but also more correct. *sigh* Unfortunately, no mapper ever changes that value (as I suspected, most mappers don't even know the settings are there...)

Just popping in... and see some things never change, do they?

 

Well in response to whatever I'm being called down for here: the current system (which I didn't design) was a stepping stone to improvement. That "first go" was an attempt at an automatic faked radiosity system (again, not designed by me). It works okay, not great, but the way it was originally laid out (not by me) was that ambient lighting grew brighter as you approached local lights. That is backwards; your pupils should be dilating as you enter brighter light, so it looked completely wrong. Conversely when in dark areas, it provided basically no radiosity, making the feature pointless on the very topic it was supposed to address -- giving you partial vision in the dark and a more realistic look. Some setting about crossing zones or not, it's a limitation in the system -- either it works completely wrong, or... it works completely wrong (in a different way). The hope was it would be an improvement over having no system. I don't favor it.

 

What I argued at length for (check the threads for verbal ping-pong -- as will probably break out here too unless I limit my responses to this one) was for a system with ambient light entities linked to local lights, where the system controls the ambient light levels via the local light levels. Extinguish the local light, and the ambient light drops (not to zero). Ignite the local light, and the ambient light grows brighter. With multiple linkage: extinguish one local light of three total, and the ambient drops by about 1/3. You get the idea. It's not exactly Crytek but it would make a nice controllable automatic fake radiosity. That said, this can already be done in TDM (trigger an ambient entity with a local entity and it works, but only single linkages!), but it's not automatic. That's it.

 

That system was never implemented in favor of other features no one requested but I agree that no one is under contract here, and people should work on what they want to. I simply thought lighting was more essential to TDM's gameplay and look. For my own personal mission(s) (if I ever get around to finishing), I'm debating not using the zone info stuff and instead just using the native D3 ambients linked to locals. (That's assuming support for dynamic linked ambient-locals doesn't come to be for TDM.)

[LongShad]

Hello.

Lark is man in the coffin on 1 floor round cells? And Hammerite here sometimes comes.

I don't understand - where need hide body.