So as to not derail the DC merger thread, this topic is for map fixing. I plan to work on some of the popular DC maps with the following goals:

*Improve looks
*Balance gameplay
*fix technical issues
*better network performance
*fix glitches
*improve FPS/loading/file size

Game play balance might be a bit controversial. The simple fact is that several maps were popular on the old DC because they were kind of broken. Take BDC hangar, for example. There were six or seven wildcard chargers all in close proximity in the center of the map and only one suitable base area, way off in the corner, and it kind of sucked. This meant that a single high level player could often get a constant stream of Double Damage and completely own the map, while people at the base got minimal xp. In the revamped version I spread out the wildcard chargers all over the map, added more health, adren and pickups, and put in a few new sources of cover for low-level characters.

One thing I couldn't fix on Hangar was the long loading times. For some reason the mapper decided to merge almost everything into one static mesh... this is terrible for optimization because this one huge mesh has something like 80 materials, and the whole idea behind static meshes is instancing. If you have several of the same complex object (up to a limit) make it a static mesh and it lowers rendering overhead by creating it once vs rendering the object over and over individually. If you merge all of those meshes, it defeats the purpose and increases overhead. Unfortunately this is something that can't be undone, so we're stuck with it.


So, on to new maps, my first target is DM-MPC-THE-FAMILYROOM-C.




Issues I've identified on this map:

*Awful lighting
*uncompressed textures in external package
*BSP hole near the chair (this was caused when someone cleaned the nudie pics from the map)
*several DDs in close proximity
*long chains of health packs and adren can be replaced by single items to improve network performance (fewer variables for the server)
*Might need to evaluate the many secret rooms.
*Did anyone have the music file for this map, MPC.ogg? I didn't like it. Will change to SC-JS-War.ogg or a standard UT2004 track unless someone objects.

I haven't played family room in ages, so advice would be helpful here.

The next map I'll work on will be Toys Story.


Please chime in with your thoughts on this... I want these maps to be fun for all players without being broken or ugly. If you know of any major problems or glitches with these or other maps, report them here.

Lol, we took out the nudie pic's a long time ago.............

Yep, a long time ago. Most UT2003/4 giant maps like this are made using static meshes for the complex objects like chairs, lamps, etc, but this one is almost entirely BSP. Without getting into a lot of detail, BSP is what you use to create rooms and basic shapes in the game world. But when you make complex objects, BSP gets really finnicky and has a tendency to cause errors like BSP holes (halls of mirrors) or random death zones.

So when someone took out the pics, they also rebuilt the the BSP, and the hole was added by the office chair.

EDIT: Actually, I was wrong. I just checked the original version of the map, and the BSP hole was in it too.

1. Watch out for Toy Story's odd glitch on the stairs. If you stand at the bottom and see a player at the top, their name-plate/health bar is duplicated . . . and by some sort of offset. Also, I remember one of the Toy Story maps (had a version 1 and version 2) had the wrong surface normals on the stair railing up top.

2. Retrogamer needs the shifting platforms to NOT cause monster offset.

3. Teleporters can cause players to telefrag other players) on maps that have them). Oh snap!

4. Couldn't play Morpheus3 on DEK. Crashed server.

5. Goatswood Play is a very big map and a very big download. Heads up. Also, the church steeple can be fallen through all the way to the bottom of the world.

6. Ringball Deaux (or whatever its name was) could use some low gravity. That'd be neat.

7. That map with the two ships on either end of a small island . . . well its very painful to fall in the water.

1. Noted.

2.All lifts/platforms can kill unless their properties are changed.

3. Nothing I can do about teleporters that I know of.

4. Probably just random. I've played it plenty of times.

5. I'd rather fix up some of AngelHeart's other maps, like Colonial, Relics, or Blackhawk first.

6. Maybe. I think it might be cramped with low gravity though.

7. Depends on which version of BR-Cutlass you're thinking of. There were two on DC, the original, and my fixed version. The original had deadly water and a glitchy skybox (happens to a lot of UT2003 maps when played in UT2004) and should have been removed after the fixed version was added. We have only the fixed version with less deadly water.

Here's an updated screen:


I made several new meshes including a redesigned sofa and loveseat, new lamps, and new coffee tables (not happy with them yet, but I was trying to mimic the original.) Still much to do.

I didn't recognize that map until I looked harder at the picture. Looks much better.

I skip around on map editing, working on whatever seems interesting or easy to do at the time. Family room is still coming. I need to do some texture, bsp and collision work before it is ready.

Family room had no navigation points other than the teleporters and jump pads. This meant there were very few places for monsters to spawn, and when they did, they wouldn't find you unless you were in their line of sight. Gameplay is a lot better now that I've pathed it.

This latest map is new to the server, VCTF-OSR-UrbanDungeon. On this map I did a lot of texture work, aligning them, creating shaders, editing new textures, etc. It had a huge number of pickups, which isn't good for network performance, so most ammo/weapons are now in weapon lockers. I redid the lighting from scratch as usual with logical light sourcing, but you might think the original didn't look bad at all... and it doesn't, until you realize the light sources are impossible, tiny little windows and barrels that light up huge cavernous rooms.

Before:


After:

Added a few new edits over the past couple of days.

First, I added a new Xmas themed map, DM-XmasTreeCity_Sly_R. I increased FPS in the center of the map by the tree. Still might be a problem for some, try setting your world detail to low. The original version only had RLs, so I put in a full set of weapons, and opened up one of the back alleys, adding a new "snow" terrain layer. I'll probably come back and edit this one a bit more to open up another alleyway and further improve performance. The big FPS killers are the powerups and BR balls used as decoration.

Next I added DM-Tundra-Classic. Some might not know, but you could drive through parts of the cliffs and get under the map. Fixed that, added super weapons, improved pathing for better monster flow, assigned a music track (the one from PineRidge, an Unreal 1 song) and added some music switches up top, look for the group of small stones on the ground. I really wanted to scale this map up (make bigger) but the author deleted the BSP brushes, making it impossible to do that. Also reduced the file size from 30 mb to 20 mb.

DM-1on1-s23-Elisha: This map had hardly any path nodes. Fixed that, changed the lighting a bit, added some ambient sounds and reduced the shininess of the stone walls.

I updated DM-Breakfast again, mainly because it was using the Tensile Steel texture package, making the DL a lot slower than it should have been. Also fixed some minor issues with the fish tank. Similar story with BDC Hanger. Fixed collision on some crates and tweaked the base areas a bit.

I've been working on a revamp of Bob-omb Battlefield, and I think the map is just about ready to be released to the public, not just the server.

I've made custom pickups (coins - 2 adren, star - 25 adren, blue shroom - vial, red shroom - health pack, green - keg, Fire flower - Double Damage.) Some of the meshes I found on the Google 3D warehouse, ported from New Super Mario Bros Wii, and I ported the Chain Chomp from Mario Kart Wii. The chomp "snores" and "wakes up" occasionally to bark.

The map now has low gravity, and I worked on pickups quite a bit, and added the sky box from Toon Country. I worked on several new textures, including a new fence.