Infestation Spread

Krozu

<div class="IPBDescription">Small issue/error/question</div>I recently purchased the game(Take a wild gues why.) and played a few games to get a feel of the controls and such. Shortly after i dived into the map editor and started trying things. (Only been using it for about 8 hours? or so.)

So far, i got everything to work by simply googling or looking on the forum, except the infestation spread.
Problem presented below:

<img src="http://i.imgur.com/ylR9a.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://i.imgur.com/eSf7m.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />

As far as i can tell, it only spreads on faces in the LOS of the infestation source.
My question is, is there any way around this.

Also, the floor is one big face which is why it has no trouble spreading on that, if my logic is correct.

schkorpio

Welcome :)

Well you are right about the way infestation seems to spread - I think there is some randomness to it aswell, but also the infestation is not meant to cover the entire room and that is probably why its leaving some parts empty. (for gameplay reasons e.g. it its hard to navigate when everyone looks the same)


Right now, I agree with you that it looks a bit strange when its stopping on a 90degree edge, but once you start detailing the room, you will put in many more faces, and probably many props(models) and as the infestantion covers all of the little room details,<i>most </i>of the time the infestation won't look so strange.

I'll give you a tip too since you are learning - open up some of the official maps and see how they do things, you can learn a lot of little tricks quickly. Especially things like good texture usage, lighting and how much trim and detail to put into rooms - where to use faces and when to use props etc.

You can't do this in most games since the levels are compiled, but thats one of the advantages of the NS2 engine :)

(make sure you hide all of the layers except the room you are in, unless you have a super computer!)

schkorpio

also incase this helps you : )

<!--quoteo(post=1958371:date=Aug 7 2012, 10:35 AM:name=schkorpio)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (schkorpio @ Aug 7 2012, 10:35 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1958371"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Creating faces can sometimes be a bit of a pain until you know how the editor makes decisions to create the faces (or not create them). Some tips are:

If you have overlappnig lines and verticies - select the Selection Tool - and then go Edit > Weld Vertices. This merges them all into one, and then you should be easily able to make a face (this is usually the biggest problem from a face appearing - the editor doesnt' know which lines and verticies to use if they are overlapping, so welding them all into one fixes this)

If you double click a line it the editor will automatically select all nearby lines - this makes creating faces faster, and also is a quick way to determine whether you should weld or not.


Edit: some people don't like the weld however, because it means that you won't be able to control your faces seperately any longer since they are welded together - e.g. if you pull on one vertice or line that joines to another face, this face will also be pulled.
One way around this if you decide you need to go back and change a whole face, is to select the face and CTR+X it (to cut it) and CTRL+V to paste it (it will appear in the same location) but it will now have its own set of lines and verticies so it no longer will pull the other faces and lines - just weld it back in again if need to.

Get used to the ALT+C to create a face, and CTRL+F to flip the face (as 1/2 the time it appears on the wrong side). Remember these are only available when you have the selection tool selected (SPACE BAR). Use these 3 key combos will speed your work up significanlty :)

Also one thing that got me early on was the Texture Lock - it only appears when you have the move tool selected (down near the vertice/line/face/lightprop/entity/ filter).

stick to the grid -do a greybox of your room with 32unit grid first, then do some details with 16 or 8" grid. rotating and moving objects can sometimes pull things off the grid (not even1" will align) so try cycling the grid align points with the ";" and " ' " keys (or is <> keys? don't remember off the top of my head lol).


Looking forward to what your map is goign to be like, there aren't many tug of war style maps- do you have an overview/layout ready yet? Its important to send some time planning the floor plan of your map - because it takes a hell of a lot of time to fix gameplay/balance issues after yo u have started to map, and it also helps you so solve some geometry and room setups before you spend the time mapping and figuring out that it doesnt fit etc Grid paper is your friend! (assume that each bit of grid is 64" of game units.) works quite well.

Also make sure its not one straight hallway - a nice big S shape will work best if you plan on doing only one route.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Krozu

After playing some more games, i noticed the official maps got this problem aswell. (Only seen it happen once though)
I gues i can only do 3 things to avoid it from happening:
Test the map
Test it again
Test it even more

Zeikko

The current infestation mechanic is only a placeholder as far as I know. Thus I wouldn't worry too much about the spread of it. Just focus on gameplay and balance!