Obsttorte presents: Let's Map TDM

[Obsttorte]

I didn't completely understand the final result of the video with the number pad presses spinning all 4 wheels. I would think that the first button press would change the first wheel, the second button press would change the second wheel and so on until you've entered 4 numbers.

It's the same way they behave in T2. The number gets shifted and the new digit gets added to the end.

Since the gold colored decoration on the top of the original panel came from a prefab, I just thought you were going to revert the original model and copy those things over to the new box. It was very insightful to watch you build that tubular curved patch geometry from scratch though. Great stuff.

The pod is a lwo model, I can't simple revert it to worldspawn as it is not build of brushes and patches in DR. That's why I actually rebuild it.

I'm interested to see how you tie in the floor/ceiling sealing caulk brushes in the map from video 1 & 2 and how you go about sealing up the map space though I'm sure that will get covered in time.

Sealing it up is the simplest part. Caulk brushes and visportals. I may show that in the next video so you get an idea.

 

As always, thanks for the nice words.

[Lux]

It's the same way they behave in T2. The number gets shifted and the new digit gets added to the end.

 

Ohh, I see what you mean now.

 

The pod is a lwo model, I can't simple revert it to worldspawn as it is not build of brushes and patches in DR. That's why I actually rebuild it.

 

Ah, I was recalling incorrectly and I guess it was the number wheels that were a prefab. Still, glad we got to watch the fast efficient patch work.

[Obsttorte]

So, while the fourth episode was recorded two days ago, I've tried synchronizing it and I must say it is terrible. I'm just not good at listening to me in one language and speaking in another one at the same time. Therefore I decided to stick to the subtitle approach.

 

However, I made the decision to switch the language between the epsiodes. So while the fourth one will be german with english subtitles, the fifth one will be english with german subtitles and so one and so forth. I guess this is a good compromise.

 

In addition, as it may not be clearly visible in the videos here is a screenie of the current state of the mission:

Taking aside the time invested to get the numberwheel machin to work, the current mapping time is around 15 hours roughly. I hope to finish the mission within 50-60 hours. Currently I'm only working one hour on it per day, and some days I do nothing about it. So it will still take its time.

 

I upload episode four once I subbed it.

 

 

Greetings.

[SeriousToni]

I really like that idea and I think people can learn very much from you with this.

One thing you could do for the next improvement is getting a better microphone. You can find decend gaming headsets which have very good mics (and they are a nice to have feature for playing games in the night, because of the good head phones). But that's for the future. What is also for the future releases of your series is that I personally wouldn't change the approach of speaking german and typing english (subtitles). This is disheveling every time you change it. Imho you could: stick to german voice while typing english - or: rerecord the first three videos in english too and go on with english voice in the following videos.

 

Just my two cents - in the end I really like what you're doing here

 

PS: Do you live near Dresden? Your dialect sounds very much like that - very sympathisch

[Obsttorte]

I live in Dresden actually.

 

EDIT: Thinking about it a bit more, I guess I will make the upcoming episodes in english and leave the subs away. The problem is that making the subtitles takes twice as long as making the actual video, and it is a very tiresome work. In addition me thinks that most of the german speaking members here are speaking english pretty well anyways.

 

However, if anyone feels encouraged to create subtitles for the upcoming episodes (whether they are in german, french, russian or whatever), I would be thankful for that, and the non-english people out there may be, too.

 

Oh, and thanks for the kind words Tone (your first sentence actually )

[SeriousToni]

Haha I am the master of dialect

 

One more hint: For the subtitles you can use Sony Vegas Pro which I heard is very easy and fast to use.

[buck28]

Just keeps getting better and better. Thanks for your effort....

[Obsttorte]

Aaaaaaaaaaand episode 4 is on. From now on it's in english. Lots of shader stuff going on here. I only gave a rough intro here, so if you have additional questions on how to use them, just ask and I will explain it if I know the answer

 

Enjoy the watch

 

Note: You are free to create subtitles for this video to make it accessible to non-english persons if you like. I think I don't need to say this but obviously I won't take any guarantee for such translations. If you want to and have questions on how this could be achieved, just post.

[Lux]

\o/ Excellent! Watching now.

[gnartsch]

This is a very nice video tutorial series!

If I would ever get to start mapping on my own, I would probably start here,

because you explain both the basics as well as a few advanced topics.

Actually this thread should be stickied on the 'The Dark Mod - General Discussion' Forum, in order to catch the interest of everybody.

I am sure there are people out there that would be interested, but who will never touch DarkRadiant because they believe it would be wayyy toooo complicated.

This tutorial may help to get some new mappers into it.

[Obsttorte]

Thanks for the kind words.

Actually this thread should be stickied on the 'The Dark Mod - General Discussion' Forum, in order to catch the interest of everybody.

You may be right about that, but I don't know how to do this.

[Lux]

Great video as always. Very informative and enjoyable. Nice that you don't have to do all the extra work for creating subtitles now so you can pump these babies out

 

The caulk brush sealing of the patchwork room may seem simple and obvious to you, however for me, having worked a little in the past in the Hammer editor it isn't an intuitive process and here's why I was a bit confused.

 

In Hammer you weren't "suppose" to have any overlapping brushes. They cause the engine to have to do extra calculations to find out what is being rendered and what isn't, specifically, in the area of the brush intersection.

 

I see now that because the brushes are caulk textured and nothing is being rendered these calculations I guess do not have to be done so it is irrelevant whether the brushes intersect when they are textured with caulk.

 

It was emphasized in tutorial videos I'd watched, for proper mapping technique, better performance, etc., that brushes should never intersect, so I've kind of added that to my mental, "do not perform", list and so I was basically applying that to all brush creation and wondered how you were going to seal up the patchwork areas efficiently.

 

I can see now that for caulk textured brushes, I can toss that out the window as it does not apply since the brushes are not rendered! (Duh!)

 

I realize Hammer is not DR but they are both additive editors and work similarly.

 

I wouldn't have even thought to ask a question like this about brush intersection because previously I'd excepted it as truth so thanks for clearing that up. I appreciate it.

 

Oh, and you referred to me in the video as a "team member". I'm not a team member. I'm just a forum goer and gamer that is currently dabbling in TDM map making, so I just wanted to clear that up. I don't have the talent in my entire body that you guys have in your little pinky finger!

 

Great video coverage on material definitions and also on the scripted sound processing for those doors. Its interesting there's a snd_close and snd_open but you can't use them to perform the actions you would think you should use them for.

 

It is a bit odd that we have snd_open, snd_move, snd_close and intuitively one would think they would work the way you've presented the custom script options, snd_start, snd_move, snd_stop; but they don't. A bit bewildering to be honest. It would be nice to get those two parameters included in TDM so they can be used liberally without setting up a custom script. It was pretty simple for you to implement but again, its not intuitive and seems like how the base parameters should function.

 

Thanks for all the great stuff packed in to this series and I look forward to the next one!

Edited April 26, 2014 by Lux

[Obsttorte]

Regarding brush interersection, those calculations (what's rendered - what's not) have to be performed for all tris within the rendered leafs anyways. If brushes chair planes with each other, all you get is z-fighting, which looks odd but has no performance effect IMHO. In addition, worldspawn brushes get cut down by dmap at intersecting lines, so the intersecting parts don't get rendered at all.

 

I guess the z-buffer calculation is the less performance houngry part during rendering.

 

However, generally speaking it is a good idea to avoid intersection, but more due to the fact that building like that makes z-fighting more probably.

 

I've never worked with Hammer, but IIRC it is used for Source, isn't it. So even though both editors may use an additive approach, the engines are completely different.

 

I also don't understand what should be the problem in Hammer, because as far as the explanations in the internet goes, only faces contained inside a visleaf get rendered.

 

The sound spawnargs are fine for default doors, and in most missions you don't use something else. However, one idea behind this videos is to demonstrate what can be done and how. So I don't expect this to be very obvious (if I say something like this, nevermind, it's mostly a placefiller while I'm thinking about what to say next ).

 

As I'm going to wrap this up in its own script object later on, it can be reused by any mission auther after release.

 

Well, thanks for the nice words, I'm glad you like it.

[Obsttorte]

Episode #005 is on

 

Todays topic is creating custom arrow. I was not able to completely finish it up, so I'll do this in the next episode, where I will also continue mapping (hopefully )

 

Enjoy the watch and if you have feedback, improvement suggestions, ideas for the mission or questions just ask. Again, if you want me to explain a specific topic in detail, you can ask and I'll do it.

 

 

Enjoy the watch

[Bikerdude]

Heh, love the accent, very Kraftwerk!

[Obsttorte]

ROTFL

 

I dunno if they came from saxony, but I appreciate the comment anyways.

[fllood]

Excellent stuff all around Obsttorte!!

 

Very interesting how you do things. In every episode so far are techniques to be found new to learn, to improve and that inspire for new ideas.

And all of that it is that very entertaining to watch and listen to you.

I just miss your special term "Tierchen" in the english version. Loved that one

 

I'm looking forward to your next epiosodes...!

[Lux]

Have to say as well, big blue eyes! I assume that's your son on your desktop and he's a handsome little guy.

[Obsttorte]

I just miss your special term "Tierchen" in the english version. Loved that one

LOL Yep, will have to think about a good english replacement for that one

I assume that's your son on your desktop and he's a handsome little guy.

Actually that's the son of my little sister, I have no children yet. But yeah, he is a sun of a guy.

[Lux]

The word "dud" in English sounds like "uh" or duh-d.

 

To equate it to something common, if you light a firework and the fuse burns down and nothing happens its a dud. As in, it did not go off (it did not fire). So it appears in this case that an arrow that was shot from the bow and did not hit anything, then it stuck in something or didn't, it was a dud.

 

Edited April 27, 2014 by Lux

[Obsttorte]

OK. Thanks for the explanation I always thought it is some sort of nerd slang

 

BTW: Is this where Dooh comes from (Homer Simpson)?

[Obsttorte]

Finishing the blunt arrow. Enjoy

 

[Lux]

Scheiße Mann! That was fast.

 

Creating subtitles for a video is not fun. Mapping iS fun. Great to see you can put your time and effort in to the later so its much more enjoyable for you (Also way better for the viewers as well, getting more content faster.)

[Obsttorte]

Scheiße Mann!

I see you've understood the essentials of the german language

[Obsttorte]

Still processing but should be available soon.