Castle Maurdenstein

[Capela]

Hi there, i would like to ask if i can become a beta maper, im realy interested in this mod and im working on a map i call it Castle Maurdenstein, theres a lot to go but i have some empty rooms that i would like to decorate. here some screenshots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thanks.

Edited November 26, 2006 by Capela

[OrbWeaver]

It's a little hard to tell with pitch-black postage-stamp-sized images.

[Capela]

Ok i a put a higher resolution, things are a little dark theres no source lights from windows and torchs, but my intention was just to show my work as it is now.

[sparhawk]

It's pretty dark, but what I can see I do like.

[Crispy]

It's pretty dark, but what I can see I do like.

Me too!

[Dram]

Yep pretty nice

 

I think it's good enough to set him up?

[sparhawk]

Yup.

[OrbWeaver]

What I can see looks good, even more so if those are custom textures.

 

I do wonder what the logic is of creating maps with no lights and then trying to demonstrate them with the flashlight however. Surely it doesn't take long to create a couple of lights to show off your work better?

[Capela]

What I can see looks good, even more so if those are custom textures.

 

I do wonder what the logic is of creating maps with no lights and then trying to demonstrate them with the flashlight however. Surely it doesn't take long to create a couple of lights to show off your work better?

 

 

Yes you are right, its just that in game they did not seem so dark.

 

I change the dark ones, put a little more light.

 

About the textures are all modifications from doom3 except the wood.

 

Thanks for let me in

[New Horizon]

Thanks for let me in

 

This is just the application process, you haven't been granted a membership yet. We have to review your work and then come to a decision.

[Capela]

Ok i understand it. I now intend to build the castle church and i know exactly what i want so it wil be much more detailed, unfortunate December is a very busy month, work and family take all my time, hope i get some time for the map.

 

Regards.

[Capela]

Here a pic from the Castle church.

 

 

I have a question, regard the map size, do you think that i can have a map, lets say it, 5 areas like this church full of objects or its to much for the engine to handle?

[greebo]

I have a question, regard the map size, do you think that i can have a map, lets say it, 5 areas like this church full of objects or its to much for the engine to handle?

That really depends on many things, but in principle this should be no problem.

 

Things to keep an eye on:

• Light counts: How many lights do you have in your map, and (more important) how many are shadowcasting lights? If you place them such that the light volumes don't intersect much, there shouldn't be much of a problem (roughly spoken).
  
• Models: How many models with high polycounts do you have in your rooms (and how many of them cast shadows)?
  
• Visportals: If you place visportals in your map you can tell the engine which parts of your maps should be rendered at the same time and which are invisible. If you place them wisely, you can have plenty of rooms like that.
  
• You have the global limit of 4096 entities in your map (this includes AI, models, moveables, water volumes and such). But this limit is not a problem if you ask me.
  

Nice shot btw. It could use some more textures and more lights though, this really adds to the atmosphere.

[Capela]

Thanks for the explanations.

 

At this point i just want to build the basic architecture, im trying to make all the map first then go to lights and objects and decorations etc, dont know if this is the best way to go but thats the way i work.

[greebo]

It's a matter of taste, really.

 

Some mappers prefer to build room by room, focusing on all the small details until they're satisfied (this includes lighting, models, texture alignments, etc.). Otherwise it's easy to get distracted and you end up creating a huge map with few details, but that's in fact a matter of your personal discipline, so it's up to you to decide.

 

Having concepts, floorplans and such is always an advantage, but I guess you're already beyond that stage.

 

If you need directions or get stuck, feel free to ask here, I could provide you some links to get started.

[SneaksieDave]

Here a pic from the Castle church.

Nice! I especially love the thick arches.

I have a question, regard the map size, do you think that i can have a map, lets say it, 5 areas like this church full of objects or its to much for the engine to handle?

No one knows for fact yet, but I think what D3 can handle is going to prove to be pretty big. Greebo mentioned the entity limit. Hard to get a feel for exactly how much that is, but if I remember correctly, doesn't Dram's mansion approach that number? Anyway, as long as areas are portalized off well, they shouldn't affect performance in any other area too much at all (aside from global demands from scripts, AI stuff, etc).

[Mr Mike]

That last shot is nice, for sure. Seems like you've got a lot of talent

 

The comment about Drams mansion is a little worrying though, people are pushing object limits already? I that limit fixed for good?

 

Mike

[Dram]

Just got back from skiing, not much snow but oh well.

 

Nice! I especially love the thick arches.

 

No one knows for fact yet, but I think what D3 can handle is going to prove to be pretty big. Greebo mentioned the entity limit. Hard to get a feel for exactly how much that is, but if I remember correctly, doesn't Dram's mansion approach that number? Anyway, as long as areas are portalized off well, they shouldn't affect performance in any other area too much at all (aside from global demands from scripts, AI stuff, etc).

 

 

That last shot is nice, for sure. Seems like you've got a lot of talent

 

The comment about Drams mansion is a little worrying though, people are pushing object limits already? I that limit fixed for good?

 

Mike

 

The mansion currently (as far as I remember) uses 1054 entities. The limit is 4096. We can raise that limit but we have'nt because we don't know the side effects etc.

 

As for map size, as long as you have it broken up into portal areas, you can have a damn huge map. I'd say about 3km by 3km or more. Actually probably bigger. There was a map for D3 where the walk from bottom of the mountain to top was about 5km or so. It was BIG.

 

I can assure you that you can make at least 20x the size maps of T1/2 and 10000000000000000x that of T3

[OrbWeaver]

As for map size, as long as you have it broken up into portal areas, you can have a damn huge map. I'd say about 3km by 3km or more. Actually probably bigger. There was a map for D3 where the walk from bottom of the mountain to top was about 5km or so. It was BIG.

 

There is no reason why there should be any limit at all on the physical size of the map (unless you exceed the numeric resolution by having a brush at 2^80 units or something ridiculous); it is the complexity that is important -- polycount, number and size of textures, entity counts etc.

[Dram]

There is no reason why there should be any limit at all on the physical size of the map (unless you exceed the numeric resolution by having a brush at 2^80 units or something ridiculous); it is the complexity that is important -- polycount, number and size of textures, entity counts etc.

 

Also the open area must not be too big or else you get i > max_reach_per_area or some crap like that, which is caused when there are too many reachabilities in a given map.

[OrbWeaver]

Also the open area must not be too big or else you get i > max_reach_per_area or some crap like that, which is caused when there are too many reachabilities in a given map.

 

True, I didn't consider the AI-related issues of a large map. If the AAS system divides an area into a variable number of fixed-size regions, then the physical size of the area obviously does matter.

[SneaksieDave]

The mansion currently (as far as I remember) uses 1054 entities. The limit is 4096. We can raise that limit but we have'nt because we don't know the side effects etc.

Oh! Cool, I guess I was thinking of brushes. But that's much higher, like beyond 10k if I can remember? Take that, T3Ed. I also thought I remembered you grouping brushes to keep counts low? Or... ugh. What am I thinking of? Whatever!

[OrbWeaver]

I also thought I remembered you grouping brushes to keep counts low? Or... ugh. What am I thinking of? Whatever!

 

Grouping brushes and patches with the same texture into a func_static can improve performance by reducing OpenGL state changes, which I think Dram was doing with the banisters etc. Perhaps you are thinking of this?

[Capela]

This is good news indeed, i was afraid to have to broke the map in 2 or 3 parts but having everything in just one map is a lot better.

[Capela]

Hi, just to say that im still around, i came here every day lurking the forums but dont have the time to work on my map, please dont give up me.

 

regards