J's maps redux WIP

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Dr.Flay
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J's maps redux WIP

Post by Dr.Flay »

I'm a massive fan of J's style of interactive maps and spend a lot of time editing to my own taste.
Recently I decided to put more effort into a couple of them and get them to a finished state, so I am happy enough to show Jeff.

The 2 maps I'm concentrating on are;
DmiiDogTown and DmUnrealCityF (Gangs of Unreal)
http://www.oocities.org/mapsbyj/

Each time I get to a point worth reviewing I have been streaming to my twitch account, so feel free to have a peek at the latest stages.

The clips mostly are temporary and get flushed after a few days, but I'll save anything worth saving.

No geometry, or weapon changes are being done.
I am doing things like pathing and adding "finishing touches" such as street and house furniture, and reactive decos.
Every open window now has a breakable window, and some doors now have to be smashed to gain entrance.
For the moment I am focusing on DogTown, and since the basic pathing is done, I've been adding character and "reason" to some empty areas.

Various houses will be equipped with tables, a TV and/or fishtank, each house will have movable trash-cans and recycling boxes. Most houses also have a pickup-truck parked nearby, so you can make a quick getaway, or just indulge in roadkill.
The dog-pound now has 3 inmates, who will not attack if you do not harm them.
Since adding the new Woodruff health pickup it has made the map U227 only, but I'll probably remove them for UT compatibility in a separate version.

Oh yeah, and the map now has rabbits and birdlife, so every dog would be happy here :mrgreen:
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

looks nice ;)
let me know, when you're finished with the maps, would be cool to play them!
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

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Don't worry, once they are ready they will be offered to Jeff and for here.
They will obviously require more CPU than the originals, but I'll try and keep it sensible ;)
Shame Jeff never learned to zone his maps, as I could get away with a lot more decos out in the open without the same impact.
I may tweak the LOD for the trees if I need to optimise.

The thing that annoys the hell out of me is trying to get all the reactive items to behave, as the default settings tend to vary.

I often add heavy movable items (public trach cans etc.) so you can crouch behind and push your own temporary shield into position.
The bins outside the houses are currently movable but for some reason are not reacting to bullets, so I need to tweak again.
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

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I forgot I posted pictures. I knew I said I was working on it, but I forgot I posted this much already.
Well so far my only complaint is the size with all the extra decos.
I intend to use the packs I have chosen more fully, so there is more benefit to having them.
Hopefully each house will have a distinct feel, and be mostly destroyable, but for the moment OldSparkys house is the show-room.

J often leaves the edges of his maps rather empty, so I have hopefully given more reason to use more of the map by putting a few bonus items or health.
I know some people are not fans of vehicles in Unreal, but I think this map helps to balance things.
Yes you have armour, but everyone can see you, and that armour does not last long.
They don't actually give you much advantage, and are mostly there to make it look more like a town.
I play it with a version of the TWT_Zombies mod someone converted from UT. This map is perfect for them.

So Strategy, what do you think of it so far, now you had a chance to visit areas ?
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

the map is crazy and huge fun! :)
all those details you put in! great! :) - never seen a bot using a vehicle before LOL

BBG you can load the map already - i uploaded it to Sickpups and Sparky's:
DmiiDogTown[Doctored]beta1.unr
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

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Again I apologise for the excessive extra files, but they are large because they contain lots of decos. Several of these are more common in UT maps, so it will also help with using ported maps :mrgreen:
Once you have those deco packs, you have a very nice collection of everyday items.

Once I get the mass and physics right, you will find that you can use the rubbish bins as portable armour.
I am not happy with the settings at the mo, so some are not movable.
What you can try on some of them is to crouch behind it and push.
The idea is you can move an indestructible item in front of you, to break from cover, or just move it to a position that gives you good cover.

I am a big fan of tactical/strategic play, and so far this edit is allowing for lots of styles of play.
It seems to still be a great snipe-fest, but now because of the extra stuff out-doors I think you feel more confident to run around.

Sorry but I can't add any more buildings or change any BSP in Js maps, as he removes all the brushes :(
My only editing options are decos, static meshes, textures, sounds, pickups, and pathing.
Palm trees I can arrange and thankfully I have a few options so I can keep it small.
Hmm I may be able to use some other meshes actually.
I should write the names down of all the names on the doghouses.
OldSparkys house and doghouse have both has a facelift, and if you look at his doghouse you will see higher res standard textures.
Not sure why J always uses such small textures, but I guess it is habit from the old days.

Actually while it is a topic, is there any names in the map that are now ex-members ?
I could use this opportunity to make it more up to date in other ways I guess.

BTW. I am hopeing to add chunks of meat for alternative health 8)
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by Dr.Flay »

I've had a look at the various kennels, and I think this is all the names in it I can see;
G.I. Joe
Jackal
Suicide Sid
Maxxi
Mental Case
Turok

I just looked and the map is 8 years old, so very due for an update.
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

hey bbg, no, i did not recreate the mapfile, since i think the map is still in beta-state. but i wanted to test it on our environment so you can load it by switchlevel mapfilename ;)
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

my bad :(
i have to apologize, BBG - i tested the map on my homeserver and forgot that i did not implement botpack-files on the dm/koth server yet.
this is fixed now - have a nice testrun! :D
WOOF! WOOF!
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by Dr.Flay »

Hmmm. I better have a look and see what seems to be needing the botpack :cry:
I didn't add any UT items, so I'll have to see if any of the decos are calling something.
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

now i really got curious about the cause of this issue.
alaudio.u is a systempackage that can't be downloaded as far as i know. i fired up a clean unreal gold installation with 227j_19 patch, cleared my cache files and started downloading the packages of the server, then i switched to the map and downloaded the remaining packages. and i was really surprised that i got the same error-message as you, BBG!

all servers are set to 227j_20pre as well as my main client. the clean client i just used was set to 227j_19. i compared the timestamp of alaudio.u and noticed there was a new version in the j_20pre package. when i copied the alaudio.u file to the clean installation i could enter the map without problems. it seems that something in this map requests latest version of the alaudio script - maybe Dr.Flay can sort that out?! :)

until then, please use the alaudio.u file attached to this post and copy it into your client-installation Unreal\System

then it should work :)
ALAudio.zip
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by Dr.Flay »

Ah yeah, I am using the ability of the new audio renderers to play an OGG file, so no low quality rubbish.
If OpenAL does not play nice with you, try SwFmod.

BTW. I think it is one of the deco packs causing the requirements for the botpack :oops:
I may have to do some MyLeveling with the finished thing.

However Unreal users that have a modified botpack can now use a whole lot more stuff in a very convenient way.
eg. it is less hacky than Unreal in UT, but there are a few things that don't work. All the game types do, which is cool to play with better bot AI in DM games.
This means I can play a nice mix of CSWeapons 227 in UT DM, but with all the lovely shadows and effects in 227 8)

....EDIT*
Thinks for a moment.
I am using the 227j beta, so I may have done a bad thing until it is released :(
Though this is no problem using the newer renderer with 227i

This does remind me, we need a generic dll installer thing like ACE uses
Last edited by Dr.Flay on Thu Sep 11, 2014 8:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

well, the problem is, that alaudio.u seems to be requested from any client, no matter what audio-driver the player set. and the version j_20pre is not accessible to the majority right now. so we will need to consider the map in beta-state until 227j will be released to public.
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by Dr.Flay »

Yeah it is Beta v1
I'll swap the audio to something else for now :(


*EDIT*
OK, I found the earlier WAV to UMX of the same file, and fixed something small.
DmiiDogTown[Doctored]beta2.rar
Now it is Beta 2. My apologies, but should now work for 227i
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Re: J's maps redux WIP

Post by strategy-(DOG)- »

great! ty! :D
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