Announcing HERESY, a campaign for TDM

[demagogue]

A patch allows you to make rough geometery by vertex pushing, since cutting up a brush can sometimes be trouble (not always), but it depends on the shape you want.

 

In any event, if you do use brushes for the alter and pillars, they should also be converted into func_statics. Any brushes that aren't walls/roof/floor separating leafs, like borderwork and doorframes and the like, are probably better as func_stats. Just remember func_stats don't seal, and don't make one that crosses a portal unless you have a good reason.

[Deadlove]

We're getting ahead of myself here, but...

 

What is func_static and how is that different than making the selected brushes into a pre-fab?

[demagogue]

A func_static is basically just a model entity that doesn't move or do anything. A pre-fab is a collection of as many different brushes and entities as you want saved together as a package you can open in other maps. It doesn't change anything, just saves the collection.

[Destined]

Do I remember correctly, that func_statics are also better for performance?

[Melan]

Yes, they are generally good for performance, although it doesn't matter so much for simpler maps.

[Aosys]

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php?title=Performance:_Essential_Must-Knows#func_static_v_worldspawn_Brushes

 

Also, there's a limit to the number of entities you can have in a map, and func_statics count, right?

[demagogue]

Yes but you can combine a lot of brushes into one func_stat.

[Destined]

But won't that affect performance again, if too many lights shine on the same entity? I have never come far enough with a map myself as to actually testing it for performance.

[demagogue]

You mean versus the same lights shining on many entities? I can't imagine the differential is so much, but of course it's an empirical question someone can test.

 

Edit. Yes there's an extra rendering pass for each extra light you add to a surface, but the question is if that's more than running a pass for each entity's one light.

[Destined]

Ah, ok, it was for each surface, not entity. This makes sense and can be avoided in a single entity. Thanks!

[RPGista]

You should think of performance as "room" based. You can have a fairly heavy room in the map where you have many lights and objects and firework, and as long as that area isnt visually connected to other heavy areas (which would mean they can be rendered together), the performance requirements of that room wont be felt elsewhere in the map. What does tend to hit performance overall is the heavy use of AI. This is from a small first mission POV. Im not sure about the technicallities of big maps that are pressing the limits of the idtech engine.

 

As for patches:

 

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

 

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

 

They can be used to build anything, from colmuns, arcs, small debris objects, to entire buildings, etc.

Edited March 3, 2016 by RPGista

[Deadlove]

More progress on a room that doesn't end.

 

 

[Deadlove]

Not dead yet!

 

Have a pretty solid story but it has Loose Ends would anyone care here to review the story and give me input?

 

I'm planning to release the mission over probably six seven or eight parts and each part will have its own set of issues that are not related to the main story but once all the missions are complete the main story will be tied in to all the previous missions with readables conversations end things like that.

 

I want to start with a small Mission so I can learn how to caulk walls and monster clip butt I just get so wrapped up in creating brushes and adding detail that I have like 20 Works in progress and nothing completed.

 

Is there a way to copy and paste brushes from DR our session to another? Or do I have to make a prefab and then import it into the mission that I want to use it in?

[Deadlove]

If there are no monsters in a level is it necessary to even at monster clip?

[nbohr1more]

Monsterclip is for all AI. Rats, Guards, Ghosts, Peasants, etc. Anything that must think about how

to navigate\path your level.

[brethren]

Reading back through this thread is amusing - why do people always bite off way more than they can chew? Human nature, I guess. I was part of the failed novice campaign from years ago, but I still liked the premise. We had 5-6 mappers, all beginners, but each was to put together a small to medium level, then we were going to chain them together with narrative. I thought it seemed like a reasonable plan, but it still flopped miserably. I'm as at fault as anyone for that.

 

That said, I would be happy to read through your story Deadlove and give you my opinion.

[Goldwell]

Reading back through this thread is amusing - why do people always bite off way more than they can chew? Human nature, I guess. I was part of the failed novice campaign from years ago, but I still liked the premise. We had 5-6 mappers, all beginners, but each was to put together a small to medium level, then we were going to chain them together with narrative. I thought it seemed like a reasonable plan, but it still flopped miserably. I'm as at fault as anyone for that.

 

That said, I would be happy to read through your story Deadlove and give you my opinion.

 

 

I guess when you don't have budgets to stay under, executives to please and release date deadlines to meet. Your only limitation is your creativity, this combined with the fact that the vast majority of us are here out of love for the small niche Thief has wedged itself in a corner of the gaming world, I think that is a recipe for big and wild ambitions that are doomed to fail.

 

I think it's safe to say most of us get that drive at an early point.

 

The sad thing is when people get burned out before contributing any FM to the community because their first project was a huge undertaking.

[demagogue]

People get ambitious because they want to make really great works, something that everybody recognizes is great and will go down in history. While it's often a recipe for disappointment, the catch is sometimes people really do release a great work which inspires everybody. So they're not impossible. Just really easy to burn out on.