Fiasco at Fauchard Street

[Melan]

And back.

 

Considering brush, patch and entity numbers, you have already build a small size fm in just one week! This is what I expect from speedbuilding.

Checking the mission file, it is at 2517 brushes, 975 patches and 924 entities. In comparison, the original Return to the City had 3885/3409/2232. Granted, this mission has grown larger than I wanted it to be - the original idea was for something about 25-30% smaller, but after the initial street plan, things are sort of locked in to detailing the area they enclose.

[Melan]

The factory area has been completed: an anteroom on the top floor, and a corridor connecting it to the machine room.

 

This means there is only one significant area remaining to build: Lendermann's house. For this place, I went with a hull construction method: first came the exterior walls, then room footprints and internal divisions. So far, what we are looking at the right of the screen is the first floor. As there will be three main routes through the mission, there will also be three ways in:

• the heavily guarded front door
• a balcony via a noisy metal pipe, strongly illuminated and with a locked door
• and a back entrance.

I am thinking of two guards on the outside (one stationary, one on patrol) and Lendermann himself with an unarmed servant on the inside - but terrain comes first, and there may yet be adjustments to that plan. This is a labour-intensive part of mission-building, but interiors usually are, so I am not worried about that. A lot of tasks will be left for tomorrow, but finishing still looks feasible.

[Melan]

Very well; let's see about the interior.

[Tels]

Now if we have proper cross-fading in 1.05 w/infoi_location then this will remove the need to have ambient speakers all over the place. So on that subject I am going to make a test map right now to test this out in 1.05...brb

 

And if this doesn't work, then PLEASE file a bug tracker entry, I am pretty sure we can fix this up and if this is all whats holding you of from using the location system, it will get fixed!

 

(Also, even if you don't use the ambient sounds, it is still a good idea to have the location system, for ambient light alone! The on-exit, on-entry scripts are just a bonus

[Melan]

Time to finish for today: Lendermann's ground floor is completed. There is a kitchen area an antechamber and a guard room. Stocking these with everyday objects is not very hard, since the mod comes with a lot of very good assets here (even including some pre-stocked shelves). I always try to add some small touches like a string with a duck hanging from it, a wine rack, or signs of a board game in progress. Outside areas tend to be more about architecture, while interiors need more attention given to objects.

Tip: Large, immobile objects should always be surrounded with monsterclip so the AI don't get stuck on them. This is often not immediately obvious (since the AI may not even be supposed to go there), but it does come up during play, and can be a serious downer for players looking for an immersive experience.

 

The other one is a dining/reception room kind of thing. My original plan for this house was a lot more modest; what changed, however, was the place's size - since it has grown larger, it also receives some decorative interiors. However, I am still going for a look that combines the original ramshackle design with a facelift: as the story goes, Lendermann's business deals have brought him some pretty penny, and he used some of it to reconstruct his place, so you might find some very expensive furniture in the place, but the image is both tacky and incomplete.

Tip: Carved wooden panneling tends to be a major marker of wealth. If a house has that for internal walls everywhere, it is obviously a very rich one. Conversely, rough stone, old wooden boards, and most varieties of plaster hint at modest or relatively poor conditions.

 

Tomorrow, I am going for the upper floor - and then everything else that is left, which is still a fair lot.

[Bikerdude]

And if this doesn't work, then PLEASE file a bug tracker entry, I am pretty sure we can fix this up and if this is all whats holding you of from using the location system, it will get fixed!

well made a little test map and it still dosent work as actual speakers, the info_location method dosent do true overlap.

test.map.txt

[grayman]

I changed the sounds in your test map to distinctly unique sounds (cricket chirping, guard talking, biting apple, etc.).

 

 

As I walk through a door, the previous speaker sound fades out as the next fades in.

 

I can definitely hear the overlap as one comes in and the other leaves. Seems there's about 2s of cross-fade.

 

Isn't this what you want them to do?

[Melan]

Good morning! Starting now; let's see if I can finish today.

[Bikerdude]

Isn't this what you want them to do?

 

yes its overlap, but as Melan would say its not true overlap, because the sound from one zone to te next fades out after 1.5 seconds where as with a speaker it would only fade as you move and the volume would stay at what ever level depending on distance from the VP etc.

 

Anyway getting a bit of topic here, melan will use what ever he likes best.

[Melan]

I will use whatever gives a good reward/work ratio, so I will take the zones as they are. Update:

 

The upper floor in its slightly tacky splendour, with one of my favourite colour combinations (red+green+brown). The lights have been placed (although not tested yet).

 

And the finished front. There are two things to do here yet:

• place the lights illuminating the windows on the upper right;
• create the sign above the door identifying the place. I meant to use decal signs for both this and Groasse&Swill, but it did not turn out like I wanted to. This means - breaking my self-imposed rules a bit - I will create two custom textures for signage.

Otherwise, Lendermann's is also about 90-95% finished -- I will need two or three short readables, and then the mission can move on to the stuff that I tend to do near completion: ambient sounds, AI and their patrols, and objectives. But before that: lunch!

[Bikerdude]

looking good Melan, do we have a release date yet...

[Melan]

And back. The weather outside was so beautiful I almost feel sorry about coming back inside... but sacrifice ourselves on the altar of level editing we must! (I also wrote a few readables by a glass of wine while waiting for my lunch to arrive, so I guess I used the time wisely, too!)

 

Bikerdude: it is likely the level will be ready tomorrow (including the first round of in-house testing), so a beta can start then, and a few days after that, it can be released.

[grayman]

I also wrote a few readables by a glass of wine ...

 

Well, that should provide some entertaining reading!

[Bikerdude]

Bikerdude: it is likely the level will be ready tomorrow (including the first round of in-house testing), so a beta can start then, and a few days after that, it can be released.

Drop me a Pm when its ready for testing.

[Melan]

Progress report: created two custom textures, implemented the objectives (although they haven't been tested yet), wrote the briefing (it will still need a few images), another readable, and added a number of free-standing ambient sounds. I still have to do

• the ambient zones;
• AI and patrols;
• alpha testing;
• packaging.

This pushes the testing process to tomorrow (that evening of RL work is to blame! ). But, barring the unforeseen, things are moving towards the finale, and after a half-hour break, I'll get back to work.

 

In consolation for being late, have a screenshot:

 

Bikerdude: sure I will!

Edited April 17, 2011 by Melan

[Bikerdude]

Look forwards to it.

 

re that last screenshot, the walkway is missing beams..? (that the planks would be nailed too etc...)

[Sotha]

wrote the briefing (it will still need a few images)

 

Are you going to use the button controlled briefing version 2 (SoBuCoB2, seen in mandrasola) by any chance?

All you gotta do is to paste your text in, replace the images and then make sure the briefing ends at the page you want.

 

If you're interested I can give detailled instructions.

[Melan]

Bikerdude: good catch!

 

Sotha: I have used your previous briefing before; how does this new one work differently? (I have not been able to play Mandrasola yet - I have been working on this FM!)

 

Also, I took a long time prowling through the level. status report before I call it quits for the night:

• the visportal architecture works and I get decent FPS in all but a few locations (the worst was something like 12);
• the objectives work except for the final one (I might have overlooked something simple...);
• two ambient sound zones overlap, which I can't find the reason for since the visportals are operational and as far as I can tell, there are location_separators on the edges. Will have to recheck this;
• point ambients are almost all inaudible, which is weird - do the ambient zone settings suppress them?
• the visuals are, ahhh, pretty good if I say so myself.

Well, the programme for tomorrow evening is to set up AI patrols, squash the bugs I found, and pack it up for beta. Let's hope it succeeds.

[Bikerdude]

• bikerdude: good catch!
  
• the visportal architecture works and I get decent FPS in all but a few locations (the worst was something like 12);
  
• the objectives work except for the final one (I might have overlooked something simple...);
  
• two ambient sound zones overlap, which I can't find the reason for since the visportals are operational and as far as I can tell, there are location_separators on the edges. Will have to recheck this;
  
• point ambients are almost all inaudible, which is weird - do the ambient zone settings suppress them?
  
• the visuals are, ahhh, pretty good if I say so myself.

Well, the program for tomorrow evening is to set up AI patrols, squash the bugs I found, and pack it up for beta. Let's hope it succeeds.

• your welcome young man.
  
• well there might be the odd vp thats need repositioning or a large FS converting to several smaller ones so player view through VPz is limited etc.
  
• this might be the old DR renaming things bug (as a entity without a number on the end, DR takes it upon itself to put a 2 on the end)
  
• this will be because there is a VP between zones that is missing its info_location separator.
  
• they are independent, so the first answer is no. But there maybe a something you have overlooked (would need to look at the mp in DR...)
  
• melan, your maps are always pretty.
  

[Sotha]

Sotha: I have used your previous briefing before; how does this new one work differently? (I have not been able to play Mandrasola yet - I have been working on this FM!)

 

The new version looks better and more well defined.

There are no little pictures that float about, but the screen is filled with a big picture, which then zooms smoothly outwards to reveal the whole picture. Also the text has been repositioned, so that it is not in the middle, but nicely organized on the top part of the screen. Each page has its own big picture.

 

The overall impression is that the player is more 'IN' the briefing, rather than looking it from the outside.

 

Like this:

 

 

Technically there is no big difference, you need bigger 1024x1024 sized pictures for this briefing. .tga's will work, but compressing them into a .dds is recommended to save FM size.

[Melan]

Evening! This evening, I will try to fix the bugs I have identified (looking into your suggestions as well - although I am not seeing the renaming bug's effects at all), set up the AI patrols and hopefully more. For a briefing, I think I will stick with the older version; I consider it more fitting for this particular mission.

 

[edit]Aha! atdm:target_addobjectives has been renamed as Objectives2. Could that be the culprit?[/edit]

Edited April 18, 2011 by Melan

[Bikerdude]

this might be the old DR renaming things bug (as a entity without a number on the end, DR takes it upon itself to put a 2 on the end)

Aha! atdm:target_addobjectives has been renamed as Objectives2. Could that be the culprit?[/edit]

Im gonna log this as a bug as its happening more often to more people, and apart from that its F-ing annoying...

 

logged 002733

[Tels]

yes its overlap, but as Melan would say its not true overlap, because the sound from one zone to te next fades out after 1.5 seconds where as with a speaker it would only fade as you move and the volume would stay at what ever level depending on distance from the VP etc.

 

AAH! Please file a bugtracker with exactly that description and your testmap (maybe change the sounds to be more distinct), because that is an important feature, and so far I wasn't really catching what you meant by "crossfade".

 

I am sure this can be implemented - in fact, it should probably be implemented "alongside" the current ambient sounds as an extra "location based ambent sound". F.i. crickets in one location would still be heard faintly through a door.

[Melan]

Progress report:

AI patrols have been set up and a lot of stuff fixed. I have not tested the objectives yet, but hopefully okay now. However, I have no idea where the two ambient zones overlap, since all visportals are in the right places, the info_locationseparator entities are in the right places, and the info_location entities are also in the right places... and there is no signs of an internal leak since everything shows up green in game... This may have to be cleared up in beta.

 

I am going to take a break now, do a test, and if things work to a satisfactory degree, do the briefing. Can't promise to pack the mission tonight; too little time left and I underestimated the time to set up patrols... eh.

[Melan]

More progress:

AI patrols work... but the final objective is still borked, so I will also leave that to beta.

There is also a lock that should open with an object named oldkey1, so I added the used_by oldkey1 spawnarg to it... and it doesn't work. Arrrrrrgh!

 

Otherwise, fine. Will now fix some bugs, then start to assemble the pack. Maybe briefing. Things are taking a bit longer than anticipated.