Ns_colony ( Pre-final )
Nay
Join Date: 2002-06-09 Member: 741Members
Join Date: 2002-06-09 Member: 741Members
<div class="IPBDescription">ftp download + 6 Screenshots</div> Lo all,
I have been hard at work with Colony please keep in mind its yet to reach final status due to a few things I need to clear up on the map.
Anyways Heres 6 Screenshots, Please note the screenshots have not been edited they are straight from the game.
Env_Gamma "1.4"
Gamma "2.4"
Brightness "0"
HLRAD compiled with -dscale 3, -extra plus some various other commands.
Download <a href='ftp://ftp.cscentral.com/hosted/nay/ns_colony_v1.zip' target='_blank'>HERE</a>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_01.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_02.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_03.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_04.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_05.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_06.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
Thats it have fun and enjoy!
l8rs
I have been hard at work with Colony please keep in mind its yet to reach final status due to a few things I need to clear up on the map.
Anyways Heres 6 Screenshots, Please note the screenshots have not been edited they are straight from the game.
Env_Gamma "1.4"
Gamma "2.4"
Brightness "0"
HLRAD compiled with -dscale 3, -extra plus some various other commands.
Download <a href='ftp://ftp.cscentral.com/hosted/nay/ns_colony_v1.zip' target='_blank'>HERE</a>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_01.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_02.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_03.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_04.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_05.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
<img src='http://www.nay.cscentral.com/colony_06.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image'>
Thats it have fun and enjoy!
l8rs
Comments
edit: are this screens from this version of your map? the screens are sooo much better. its too bright actualy(in the map, the screenshots are perfect)
try to make your map to look like the screens and it will look cool. and try to do something with those long corridors, some cover for the aliens woudl be cool
RED : 21
green : 60
Blue: 45
Its fairly bright but i can get it alot brighter. People must understand that other people have different contrast, colour and brightness settings on monitors, so its very hard to set the map settings so its suitable for everyone, especially on ns maps
Also this dosent apply to the above replies, but please dont judge the map from the screenshots, have a run around the map, thanks
edit: are this screens from this version of your map? the screens are sooo much better. its too bright actualy(in the map, the screenshots are perfect)
try to make your map to look like the screens and it will look cool. and try to do something with those long corridors, some cover for the aliens woudl be cool <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
good idea, i'd love to get them running on an Australian Server!
1) Vents: I had real trouble exploring the vent system as a skulk, due to two major factors:
a) The collars on the vents are far to dificult to get into. I spent 5 mins trying to get into the vent in Section F hive. Might i suggest bringing the lip much closer to the wall, and flattening the angle somewhat. i can easily slip round a 90 degree corner, but not a 135 degree one... When i finally got into the vent...
b) The blue striplights in the vent: As long as you are running flat, no problem, but trying to run on the walls or ceiling of a vent, you get stuck. The problem is only compounded when attempting to go up a vertical vent. the blue lights totally prevent access.
2) Hive location: Sector H and D hives are far too close to each other. Either the aliens will start at one, and rapidly secure the other, or the marines will easily lock the two down. (i'd put good money on them being close enough to be double seiged from the intervening corridor as well) <!--emo&::siege::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/siege.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='siege.gif'><!--endemo--> <!--emo&::siege::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/siege.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='siege.gif'><!--endemo--> = gg
Otherwise, it's a good map, i like the architecture and layout for the most, though there are one or two cosmetic changes which might make it better
- Lighting. unlike others who have posted in this topic, i think the lighting is fine, for the most part. The map could do with a few darker/shadowed areas for ambushes though. It might also benefit from slightly reducing the light levels close to the hives to get a Marines=Clean, crisp & well lit Vs Aliens=Murky, damp & nasty.
- More scenery. a few more scattered boxes, broken pipes, some steam. stuff like that. adds character to the map, and gives players cover in firefights/ambush spots
-the forcefield projector in the cargo bay room: since the field projects all the way down, the projectors should go all the way down too. i found myself wondering "can I slip beneath it? it looks like... Bzzt. nope"
look forward to playing on this when its finished.
But there's two things I don't really like:
1. The lighting is in my opinion generally too bright. I would try to lower it a bit. Contrast=Good! <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
2. Some of the vents blocks the commander view in a very annoying way. Either raise the vents or lower the commander view.
<!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif'><!--endemo-->
Things I didn't Care For:
The Lighting - It's not that it WAS too bright, it's that it FELT too bright. The lighting was just well, it didn't do much for me. (My personal opinion.)
Naming - Sector [BLANK] gets boring after the first five seconds.
Processing Hive - is a little more open and weaker than the others.
Other than that I think you have a perfect map. I'll use it on my server.
~DarkATi
The architecture and detailing is very nicely done, the texturing is clean and the lighting is pretty. All in all, looking very sweet.
Hooooowwwever, make sure at least some parts of the map are dark and scary (eg: Hera has its bright areas, and then the dark areas around Ventilation).
Your vents are made for marines, normaly they shouldnt. They are to wide, to straight, to bright and unpassable for skulks.
Straight wide corridors are made for marines. You must place stuff in them that block sight and bullets.
Placing weldables on a high ceeling is evil but fair, it just makes no sense to close a vent in marine base that is made for marines.
That force field makes players stuck. thats evil with fades. Add a toggleable trigger_push that pushes players out before the field gets activated.
That force-field breakable windows are nice but make no sense apart from atmosphere.
Investation is not only on bottom and ceeling, in most of your hallways it is. Looks wrong.
dscale 1
bounce 1
You'll probably also have to increase all light values since this will make your map a lot darker, but it should be worth it because it creates much "crispier" lighting.
damn, I wrote another pointless posting.
damn, I wrote another pointless posting.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
dscale 1 is <i>supposed</i> to be the default. However, due to a bug in the original Q compile tools all maps they compiled where done as if dscale was set to 2. This bug was fixed and the dscale parameter added, but for backwards compatablity the default value was left at 2.
Too many of the rooms seem pretty uniformly lit especially Control bay sector H (?) hive and the surrounding area.
(Bright! <!--emo&::skulk::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/skulk.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='skulk.gif'><!--endemo--> <--hurts his sensitive eyes <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo--> ) <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I don't know how it will work in 2.0 but the vents atm seem like an absolute haven for ceiling surfing jetpackers. They look very cool, but you might want to consider making them smaller and more windey. They also get in the commander's way a little.
edit: you might also want to make sure that every door that is textured the same way opens the same way. I'm not sure but it seems like there's a little inconsistency there.
so..... AAAAS I stated a few days ago, I would like red walls to reflect red light only, because that is what you see when you look at a red wall in HL, right? No reflections or whatever, just pure red. But the compile tools reflect the whole light spectrum what is *baaaad* imo. This lighting procedure is *only* good for 100% white textured rooms. Set -dscale 1, -bounce 10 there and you are fine with a realistic lighting.
But as HLRAD does not care about darker shades on textures than pure white you could make a compromise and set -dscale 2. From the view of the reflections (that are 1/dscale) you have 1/2 the amount of the incoming direct light. That would be perfect for the average grey texture and the first reflection of light on every face. Not understood? Damn. Anyway I would rather use a hack to get at least in parts the reflections of a medium bright texture than having poor contrast because the *, * and * compile tools think every wall is teh pure reflection.
Again my suggestions:
A: Make HLRAD read textures and calculate reflections based on the underlying pixelcolor.
B: Have a textfile with R G B reflection amount for textures named in it.
C: Mix both.
Anyway to explain the advantages of -dscale 1:
Having -dscale at 2 (default by accident) increases the direct lighting of your map. To make the indirect lighting seem sufficiently bright in comparison you also need to increase the -bounce value. As a result your map will have smooth lighting with little contrast.
Changing it to 1 (originally intended as the proper settings) means the relative influence of direct lights is decreased, so the bounce value can also be decreased, usually to 1. Now we have the high contrast lighting most people like in an NS map.
When you do this on a map you've already build you'll of course have to roughly double all lighting values. Perhaps using the -colourscale parameter can make this easier.
I'm not complaining about black coloured stuff reflecting *some* light. I am complaining about black stuff (that obviously does not reflect light in HL) that reflects as much light as a white surface. This is the ultimate contrast killer in my eyes. And contrast is usefull to have at hand when you map for NS. And atm Cagey is the one who owns teh code. So at *least* his new tool set should be able to do this. New version new features, hey it is just normal <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo--> I really love how he managed to improve HLRAD's speed so drastically after years of improvements and the clipping fixes, but I would also like to see some visual impovements so I posted exactly what I'm thinking about. Maybe he isn't reading this thread any longer... must PM him <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
-descale 2 remained the default for backward compatibility -- the idea was to allow old maps compiled with their old parameters to result in the old light levels. The new tools might have a compatability mode or a utility to translate parameters from the old style to the new input files, but the tool parameter system for texlighting is drastically different from the current one, so you will probably have to play with values to match the old light levels from textures if you port your map to the new system.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Again my suggestions:
A: Make HLRAD read textures and calculate reflections based on the underlying pixelcolor.
B: Have a textfile with R G B reflection amount for textures named in it.
C: Mix both.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Planned (along with many other enhancements to lighting) for the revised toolset - "when it's done". I'll publish a list of per-texture properties when I'm closer to being finished.
It should be noted that all of the lighting parameters used during compile for an NS map are ignored by the engine when lighting models (with the exception of light targetnames)-- it reads the light color absorbed by the floor and assumes 100% reflection. Nothing I can do about that from the compiler--it's game code. I think Spirit of Half-Life might do something with enhanced entity lighting, but since I'm limited to out-of-game tools, I can't use or duplicate Laurie's work.
Can't wait to beta test the tools.