Finally im finished with that two maps.

Towers Of Doom is like i said just some small map, for quick action.
It was more an experiment about the use of courved Surfaces.
The Soundtrack of that Map was made by GSE Virus.
The Textures was made by myself.
Here's the Link to download :

http://docsmaps.kilu.de/docs_towers_of_doom.pk3

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Hell Incarnate is a little step further than Towers of Doom.
But like Towers of Doom it was more like an experiment.
That map is the first try to generate some rock's and this kind of things with the courved Surface's
In Addition to that its my First map thats comin up with the Game Modes Capture The Flag and Domination.
That Capture The Flag version seems to be the best looking part of that map cause there are more colors than in the other game modes of that map.
I like the contrast with the blue base part of the map.
And the best gameplay would be in Domination, cause i think the balance of the Map is the best in that game mode.
The Deathmatchmode is just standart but i think it will give a lot of Fun to have that kind of Action in this kind of Map.
U Can download that map here :

http://docsmaps.kilu.de/docs_hell_incarnate.pk3

CTF Mode is : ctf_docs_hell_incarnate
DM Mode is : dm_docs_hell_incarnate
Domination Mode is : dom_docs_hell_incarnate

Here are some Screenshots of that map :








And yeah i know there's a lot Red on that map, givin it a very aggressive look.
U should not play that both maps too long, cause the music with that maplook could cause some very aggressive feeling to u.

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Both maps are using nealry the Same graphical setup but i put all used textures in both pk3's.
It maybe that some framerate problems could appear, cause of the high resolution Skybox thats used.
There are two way'S to get rid of that.
Option 1 is to deactivate the Skybox.
Option 2 is to open the Pk3 file and set the Skybox images to a lower resolution by ur own. its located in env/mapname.
For those of u that dont really know about that shaderthings and this kind of things :
U may not rename that skybox images !!!

The Mapsources ( the .map files ) can be found here :
http://docsmaps.kilu.de/map%20sources/

Too red. Even in hell there's more variation.

Yeah i know, its like i said, a lot of Red.
Thats why i said that CTF Variant looks the best cause the blue parts gives the map a bit more variations.

I tryd to give it a bit more colored look.
the first thing i tryd was to make that rotating weaponspawns orange, but it didn do much to the appearance and made some kind of toy look.
Im doin difficult with using to much colors.
I try to keep everythin i make in only one color.
Thats some of my ticks.

But like i said this two maps were more kind of experiments to the curved surfaces.
However im really sorry that its not that qualitative colored like that maps i made before.
remember on cyber Core. I wantet to give that maps more colors too but at least it was still only that yellow everywhere.
Its kind of creative blocking. I didn get in mind what colors i could use for that kind of scenario instead of grey and red.

It was easy to make the blue parts blue in the CTF Variant.
Cause the reason for the blue is -> its just the Blue Base.
In Deathmatch there is no blue base so there would be no reason for somethin thats just blue.
Im looking at the things i make and then im asking my self : "Is that a beliveable thing"
If there's somethin blue for example the question is "Why is it blue ?"
And that was the Problem with givin the map more colors.
The question after Red iss easy : "Why is it red, the sky is red givin red Light from the red sun. Why is the sun red ? its some hellish scenario and the imagination color of hell is red. Its with magmar and those things.
If i made somethin to the maps that has other colors with no reason for it, it would be crap in my eyes.

Hofever after making me comfortable with using curved surface, i will realize some map project i've stopped before.
I made a scenario with two Trains drivin beside with scrolling Textures for the terrain.
But this thing reached the Brushlimmit with only one train.
I think i can remap that thing with the surfaces and create some really great map.
Im looking forward to it and i want to finish that one to get it into the Map Contest thats ending on december the 4.

At least i loadet the .map files up so everyone can make changes to that two maps.
I'm bound to say that i was to shiftless to do more works on that maps cause i wanted to start with that Trainmap.

If there's time i will release some updatet version of hell incarnate with a bit more variation cause that map has a great potential wasted in givin it only that red ambient.

However Towers Of Doom ist just like i wanted it to be.
Much of Red, but not at all and that orange flow around the map together with the items and the banners gives it enough color variation i think.

the biggest problem with that red is that all players and waepons are red too, and this doesnt look good at all. but if you get the same map as a not so red version, i will be cool

Doc-Pyton wrote:I made a scenario with two Trains drivin beside with scrolling Textures for the terrain.

Heh, incidentially some days ago I started slamming together a similar idea, which still needs a lot of refinement:

http://savagex.planetnexuiz.de/ctf-onarail-b1.pk3

(yeah, I know the visuals are underwhelming and that the top of the train currently is pretty useless)

Doc-Pyton wrote:... I didn get in mind what colors i could use for that kind of scenario instead of grey and red...

I'm just telling from the screenshots now, as i'm at "work" right now
Also i had no time to take a look at it at home because i'm very busy with rl-stuff atm (=> nearly no time for nexuiz )

Well back to topic:
First off: i like the setting, and there are some really nice elements (like the bridges with the lamps)
And yes: red is good for hell. But there's nearly no contrast in the red. There are a lot of different reds (different saturation, slightly more orange or purple etc.), but it seems that you only used one . And i can't make out any shadows. There is a sun, so there have to be some shadows.

But i think (just from telling from the screenies) that the most important step would be to add more contrast. That can be achieved by spotlights and shadows. For example i'd love to see these lamps on the bridges to have a nice yellowish light (not very saturated, so it doesn't look too funny. More like a flame). You could also add a flare-effect to them. That would highlight the bridge (which is a dangerous part of the map) and would give some more contrast to the overall look.
At the towers you could add some strong red spotlights that highlight the path around them. You may also want to go for a less saturated red (more whitish) there.
But as you already use fluorescent tubes, you can easily go for a white spotlight as well.
And where is the shadow that is cast by the sun ?!
Try more different reds here and there and break it up with other colors (yellow for example is good. White can also be used to highlight stuff imo. You already did that with your banners, and instantly that is what draws most of the attention in your screenshots at first)

Otherwise i don't know what to add. The landscape looks great. Evil spikes coming out of the lava: i like it Definitely have to try this one out at home.

edit: what compile settings do you use ?

The standart settet finall compile from GTK ... i think the problem with "there's no shadow" is caused by using the skybox light.
I think i didn set the skybox shader right and now its putting its red light just everywhere.
If im right i can set the position of the sun in the skybox and than it will throw the shadows right.
like i said i released the .map file too.
Maybe u could take a look on it strahleman and explain me how to use the skybox sun ?

Sweet map, very trippy. I spawned near a missing texture though, just wanted to let you know before I get lost in your maps.

"grey_floor_plate_01"

Damn ... why the hell is that floor texture missing !?

*edit* Argh ... i did look to that just right now ...

I made some misstake.
The grey floor texture was taken from my earlyer map morph_remake.
I placed that texture in the folder from towers of doom but the map is stil using that one from morph remake.
im really sorry for that and im already workin on fixing that, the map is compiling again right now.

by the way thanks for telling me that.

*edit2*
I fixed that texture bug and reloadet the pk3 to the webspace.
when u just load it again that thing should be fixed.
Again im really sorry for that stoopid misstake i made with that.

After i made a testrun with Hell Incarnate on our server, i decidet to definitly change that map.

I saw the Problem with the Red, at the CTF Mode.
Most of the Characters are not easy to see in that red Ambient so there are some changes needet.
Same Problem in the Domination Mode. ( By the way Domination play's very well on that map )

However i will release some updatet Version of that map soon.
Thanks for that critics ...

and by the way, i tool a look on that trainmap someone postet here in this Thread.
It looks well so far, but u definitly need to include some new Textures, like a railroad, the train drives on.
Some wheels would give that thing a nice look too.
And u should add some ladders or jumppads to make it easyer to get on the Roof of that train.
And u should make some entrance to the Leading part of the Train ( don't know the right word for "lokomotive" in english )
At the momend i was hard remindet on the Hyperspeed map of UT99.

At my version of that Trainmap i wanted to add jumppads, that are placed in opened crates to make it fit better on a train.
And u should think about a second train drivin beside that first one and place one of the Flags in the last part of the first train and the second Flag in the first part of the second one.
However, if u want i could send u my texturepack when im finished with my trainmap, so u would have some rails and whats needet for.

Basically you set the main values for your sun in the sun-shader

Yours is lacking the q3map_sun key.
And i don't think that you need the q3map_globaltexture key
Also for sky shaders you should use q3map_skylight instead of q3map_lightsubdivide.

The q3map_sun key sets the color, the intensity, the degrees and the elevation from the sun
The use is like that:

Code: Select all

q3map_sun <red> <green> <blue> <intensity> <degrees> <elevation>

So your sky shader could look like that:

Code: Select all

textures/docs_hell_incarnate/hellincarnate_skybox
{
   qer_editorimage textures/docs_hell_incarnate/hellincarnate_skybox.jpg

   surfaceparm noimpact
   surfaceparm nolightmap
        surfaceparm nomarks
   surfaceparm sky
       
   skyparms env/docs_hell_incarnate/docs_hell_incarnate - -
   q3map_surfacelight 350
        //q3map_sun <red> <green> <blue> <intensity> <degrees> <elevation>
   q3map_sun 1 0.3 0.3 400 300 40
}

That should do the trick.
You don't need to set a _sun key on a light in your map to make a sun.
This will only create additional sunlights (parallel light sources).
For example i used additional "suns" to light farewell. There i added 3 additional suns to simulate the blue light that arrives from the hemisphere to give the map a more realistic feeling and to brighten up the parts that would otherwise have been in dark shadow of the "real" sun. Of course i had to use a low light value for this "diffuse" light to make sure that the "real" sun still is the main light-source and that the shadows don't get washed out.

You can make such an additional sun very easy: just create a light entity with the key "_sun" and the value "1".
Target a target_position with it to specify the direction of the parallel light that your new sun will cast and you're done.
You can take a look at it in the farewell.map

You can get more detailed and additional information in the q3map shader manual.
You can take a look at it here: http://members.lycos.co.uk/quakeroats/q3map2/shader_manual/
Or get it here:http://airrocket.net/mirror/quake3/shadermanual/

ah, and you're lava doesn't need to be a patch. a normal brush should work as well.

And for a good final compile i'm lately using these switches for example:

Code: Select all

"G:\GtkRadiant1.5.0\q3map2.exe" -meta -samplesize 8 -v "G:\Quake III Arena\baseq3\maps\revenga.map"
"G:\GtkRadiant1.5.0\q3map2.exe" -vis "G:\Quake III Arena\baseq3\maps\revenga.bsp"
"G:\GtkRadiant1.5.0\q3map2.exe" -light -bounce 8 -compensate 1.3 -fast -gamma 1.3 -patchshadows -samples 6 -v "G:\Quake III Arena\baseq3\maps\revenga.bsp"


you should play around with the compensate and the gamma switch to get what you want.
More information:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Q3Map2#A_Good_.22Final.22_Compile

thanks for that tips in using the shader sunlight ... <_< ... i should have taken a look on that manuals by my self ... -_-' ... like i said im a bit fishi wirt such things.

i made that lava to a patch to make it round at all ... so that u cant see any corners at the horizon ...
I dont know why, but i often get errors with GTK when i use brushes with more than 6 sides.

i have the problem, that GTK shows me an error sometimes, if there are cylinder brushes on the maps.
In Most of that cases the editor gets closed, and when i restart it and load the map its just empty. In worst cases the autosave files are gone the same way.
Thats why i used a patch to get sure.
I didn find any reason for that errors, so im tryin to keep cylindric brushes out of my maps ...

I finally played ctf_docs_hell_incarnate last night, it looks very red.

There was a player from the red team with a Nex, you couldn't see him at all. He dominated the whole game.

Eventually I changed sides and lasered him into the lava, but he carried on using the Nex.

My FPS went down a lot, it's usually about 90 and peaks in excess of 200, however ctf_docs_hell_incarnate gave me about 20 FPS with peaks of 50.

My net graph went mad, unfortunately I don't have a screen shot, about 33% of the graph was yellow, usually it's about 5% yellow.

I will endevour to change servers if ctf_docs_hell_incarnate ever wins a map selection.

Victim, it's the hi res sky shader i think try r_sky 0 or sky_r 0 or something like that to turn it off.

I've played this map a couple of times now. It's a good map. Nice level flow, and so on. But it's too red. Way too red. Blue players are easily visible from one end of the map to the other while red are invisible.

I'd suggest doing away with the extreme red. Let the rock be grey, the wood be brown, etc, and change the lava to yellow and white instead. The illuminate the map with yellow and white lights. This would make it fair to the blue team and easier on the eyes.

My second suggestion would be to remove some of the spiky stuff in the lava. Yes, it looks good, but it gets laggy for some players.

Im workin on that map between the lines atm.

Im on some other maps and stucking in the texture creation, so the new setup of Hell Incarnate wont get further.
I changed some details in that map atm.
I addet white lights on the walkway, making the red players easyer to spott.
The protolava Texture will be changed too, that idea of some more yellow one sounds pretty good.

The skybox was changed a bit too, i changed parts of it coloration to yellow/orange ...
That frameproblem that u explained sounds hardly after my highres skybox like someone said ...

in addition to that changes, i addet some of that half rock rings to the other side too cause that one goin over that small path at only one of the two bases brought kind of inbalance ...

A clipping zone in the places between the small walking stones was addet too.
Im not sure, but i think on to implement some of the textures from gothic rush and add kind of ruins to that map to get a bit more variation into it.

However again im sorry for that early release of that map.
I didn testplay it enough and made some really noobish mistakes to that map.

I hope i will get the updated version compiled soon.

This is what beta versions are for.

yepp ...

Rad, after a very quick bit of research, I searched the forum and read the second result I've found that it's

Code: Select all

r_sky x

Where x is either 0 or 1, 0 turns the sky off and 1 turns it on. Many thanks for the help.

Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to play docs_hell_incarnate again. I've tried r_sky 0 whilst playing on other maps and not noticed any difference in FPS.

Note to self, don't post messages at 2am. Post messages when you're awake and feeling positive.

victim wrote:Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to play docs_hell_incarnate again. I've tried r_sky 0 whilst playing on other maps and not noticed any difference in FPS.

Most maps are using skyboxes with max. 512x512px per side, doc's maps had 1000x1000px last time i checked, so that problem might be specific to those maps.

Don't they have to be powers of 2?

They should be, but they don't have to. If a texture has a size that's no power of 2, it will be scaled in case the CPU/driver doesn't support GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two.

Screenshotters beware: r_subdivisions_tolerance can make maps look much nicer when reduced, at a fps cost:



looks worse than



Quite a difference...

But there are still seams between the patches (at the lower left corner) where you can see through.
But that's engine specific iirc.

Yeah that seams between the patches are a problem >_< ...
Im tryin to avoid these but i dont know how this error is caused so i have to testrun till i have fixed it ...

Are these command lines for the compiler Verent ?
Or is it a nexuiz command that have to be done by the players themselfes ?

By the way after someone explained me how to smothshade brushes, im thinking on remake this whole map using brushes instead of the patches for the rocks.
That could give it a better look and i could avoid the other problems by just mapping it new ...

The base structure of the Map is an easy one, and the only misstake on it is the whole appearance that could be fixed much easyer by remapping it.

However i'll look for that soon ...

It would have to be done by the players, and can cost quite some fps.