StaffSaberist Posted October 18, 2005 Author Share Posted October 18, 2005 But if I make a SP level (which I am doing) What about the battle music. For example, in the JA level where Rax takes your lightsaber, you hear sinister but quiet music in the background. Then, when Stormies see you, the music becomes a Star Wars theme-type song. How do I do that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lassev Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 For SP purposes, have a look at dms.dat in ext_data. And nothing prevents editing that file, of course. You should also search this forum for dynamic music. It's a pretty quirky subject altogether, and I don't certainly feel like trying to sum it up here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 18, 2005 Author Share Posted October 18, 2005 Not going to ask you to. Well, I did, but that was when I thought that was simple. For now, the simple music will suffice. I will have a look at dynamic music when I finish this project, which I have decided to touch up and release when I'm done. When I say "touch up" of course, I mean overhaul. I have stuff in there I don't need, I gotta learn to make cutscenes, re-do the textures, make it look less like a n00b level, (less boxy) and the monster job, for me, anyhow: I gotta learn to script. Especially for the storyline that just struck me like a lightning bolt. But that is for another thread, another time. For now, I'll finish the barest bones, and go back over it till it looks like a professional level that Raven would drool over. I know, a lot of n00bs said that for their first level, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lassev Posted October 18, 2005 Share Posted October 18, 2005 But that is for another thread, another time. For now, I'll finish the barest bones, and go back over it till it looks like a professional level that Raven would drool over. I know, a lot of n00bs said that for their first level, right? Actually, you are the first one to say that... If you have a copy of JO lying around, you can download the SP level Colosseum by Clu, and have a look at the amount and quality of work that was needed to actually gain the attention of Raven... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 18, 2005 Author Share Posted October 18, 2005 I'll d/l in a minute. Got the compiler running to test a new room... EDIT - Holy $#!t! That's AWESOME. But you know, I don't actually aim to get Raven's attention. I merely said that to show how much effort I intend to put in this level (levelset, perhaps?) in taking what is now an unfinished box level, and turn it into a true eye-opener. At least for a first level. Currently, this is, as I've said before, a level to test out new ideas. Not so much a level on it's own. But, as long as I'm doing this, I may as well do it right. Oh, BTW, the music I chose has a problem. When I load the map, it says on the console: MP3 ERROR: Bad or unsupported file name "LOTR.mp3" Or something like that. In fact, I shamelessly ripped an mp3 from another pk3, though I won't release the level like that. It works fine on the other pk3, why not my map? I'll try a few other files and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeskywalker1 Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 I gotta learn to script. Yeah, I remember that feeling. I picked up pretty quick though, Im sure you'll do the same. ICARUS is an easy language... mostly.... umm yeah... sometimes there are some crazy problems but I always found unusual work arounds. Some people don't like that, but crap, if it works it works... You'll be surprised at how you can make your level come alive with scripting, its really cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 19, 2005 Author Share Posted October 19, 2005 There is a definite need for scripting. Here is my current storyline. I wanted to develop t3_rift a bit, so: After the defeat of MARKA RAGNOS, the Jedi have begun the task of undoing the draining of the force. Using the shards of the shattered scepter, the Jedi have restored Force Auaras to the places the Cultists drained. At the Rift Valley, where MASTER KORR defeated the cultists long ago, new chambers have been discovered. As the Jedi explore these chambers, the IMPERIAL REMANT attacks, along with the last of Desann's Reborn. The Jedi are overwhelmed, and flee. Finally, they are driven into a dead-end room, and trapped. The Jedi make a desperate last stand, to save their lives... To this end, I am using the t3_rift terrain, models, texture, lighting, etc. Now, I would love a cutscene where the Remnant advances on the Jedi, and attacks. Then, I need the Reborn to launch over the river, and the Jedi to fly into countering Force-leaps. I also need to fix the fact that as of now, the Reborn run into the river, and just stand there and drown. I also want a few... interesting... cutscenes which can lead to side-plots, perhaps. I'm going slowly, though, since real life interferes constantly. High School is okay, but I am enjoying mapping, slow as it is. When I get 25% done, I'll see about screenshots. My goal as far as graphics goes is to make it exactly like Raven's t3_rift, but make it a different map, architecture-wise. I also want to make the texturing as close as I can get. I have taken several dozen screenshots of the actual map, and compared with my map, adjusting as necessary. So my first goal is to complete the map, and then do some scripts and cutscenes. I work on this map every day, and since it's on my own, I cannot predict this map being done before the anniversary of the beginning of this project. See, I will break the n00b tradition of posting boxy work. I will slap together absolutely NOTHING. Time, and precarious work and effort will mark this project as one to remember for the rest of my life. Anyway, I'm gonna get back to work. Would be nice to have a WIP section around here... Oh, wait, there is. I'll think about that when I have a good-sized amount done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wedge2211 Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 As the Jedi explore these chambers, the IMPERIAL REMANT attacks, along with the last of Desann's Reborn. Man, those Reborn have been hard to get rid of... Good to see you starting with a fully fleshed-out idea. I hope you've got a good handle on designing the map to go with it. In my experience, building a map is infinitely easier if you start with a layout on paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lassev Posted October 19, 2005 Share Posted October 19, 2005 ...along with the last of Desann's Reborn. ... We will never see the last of the reborn! Never! They survive and persist, no matter how unsightly paths or actions they must take. They will be the last ones standing and laughing while Luke's sorry excuse for a Jedi Academy crumbles to dust... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 20, 2005 Author Share Posted October 20, 2005 I wrote a long reply - TWICE NOW - and the d@mn thing locked up on me. So, a few spoilers were destroyed. I think the internet gods din't want me to reveal it. Oh well... The Reborn will only be eradicated if there is a better enemy out there. For now, I'm using what Raven gave me. Cultists are out of the question; this takes place after the destruction of the scepter. Anyway, I intend to make 4 difficulty levels: N00b, Easy, Standard, and Expert. The Expert level is expected to be a fight for your framerate level at first, while a monkey could beat N00b level. Just to please Box-creators everywhere... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeskywalker1 Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Nice, you could even edit the menus to say "n00b" instead of padawan, and the same for the rest. Its not too tough, but yeah, I would do that last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 20, 2005 Author Share Posted October 20, 2005 Oh, don't worry, I'm putting everything after the map. Oh, no! I have problems that could prove fatal. I am missing about 1/4 of my shaders in Radiant! The texture for the pillars reads "Shader Image Missing". As well as that, I am missing some texturing for those cool crystal pillars... YOU KNOW WHAT?!? I'VE HAD IT! TO HECK WITH 1.5!!!!!! I loaded 1.4 and the textures were all there. Oh, this pisses me off. This really pisses me off bad. OK, I'm gonna load up my map and continue from there. Now I know what the complaints for 1.5 are. At least, this is mine. When half the flamin' textures fail to load... *angry grunt* EDIT - I was worrying about room one being too boxy. It was, after all, a cube... I looked at t3_rift closely (and admittedly played it through 'cause it's fun) and saw the one room where you fight three reborn_new at once, then use force seeing/pull to open the huge door. I used NOCLIP to look at the archi... and it was nothing more than an octagon! A cube with cut corners! If Raven can do that... why can't I? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wedge2211 Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 Part of the trick is putting details IN the octagon so that it doesn't just look like an octagon. Put trim around the floor and cieling, pillars, lamps, etc...so that it's not just a geometric prism. That's what we mean by boxmap, just a PURE octagon and nothing else. I wrote a long teatise on Map-Review on mapping style and architecture. You might want to check it out. Seems like you've got your heart set on not being the typical n00b mapper, and I applaud you for that. Take it all the way--there's no reason your first map can't be great. The only way that "first map" comes into the picture is that we can still expect more of you the next time around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 20, 2005 Author Share Posted October 20, 2005 I took 3 dozen screenshots of the t3_rift map. About a half-dozen were of that one octagonal room. I noted the features that the room had. I feel like I'm answering test questions, but the room had: * Raised floor corners * Pillars in the center of the room * Doors that led nowhere, but were brushes in the game * Crystal pillars with entity lighting * Two exits from the room Sadly, the last one is impossible. The room is explicitly a dead-end. Otherwise, the Jedi would keep running. I plan to put all the other features in there so that it doesn't look like a prism. I am also building a tunnel out of the room and leading to the rest of the map. The first room is the ONLY room seperate from the rest of the map. Anyway, the tunnel is almost an exact copy of Raven's t3_rift tunnel. Down to the trim. Which was difficult, since the room went up and left, and I had a heckuva time getting the inside corner to look good. And it still needs work. For now, I am focusing on the first room. I almost have the geometry of the walls in place, and the texture is in place so far. I built a pillar, but it will be recycled. It will go somewhere else in the map. I may be forced to have the first room be it's own level, and the rest of the map a second (and possibly third) and a cutscene between the first and second. My reasoning is this: For my idea, the new Dark Lord (oops, gave it away ) sends forth a large number of troops to finish off the Jedi. At Expert level, it may be as many as 25 NPC's going at each other! The Reborn, the Stormies, you, the Jedi allies... I will need to take massive steps to ensure that framerate remains good. I have scrapped the river, a neat and tidy solution to the drowning Reborn. Then, I may keep Level I as just the first room. Level II will contain a fraction of the remainder, etc. Level I is just too much geometry to allow the entire level in one sitting. Even on Expert, I will not send 15 against you at once, though I may come close. So, after I build the first room, I will kick-start my learning of ICARUS. So, I have a few questions: 1 - Do I need ICARUS to go between levels? 2 - Do I need ICARUS to create cutscenes? 3 - What is the most recent version of ICARUS? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeskywalker1 Posted October 20, 2005 Share Posted October 20, 2005 1 - Do I need ICARUS to go between levels? No, but you can use ICARUS. 2 - Do I need ICARUS to create cutscenes? Yes... 3 - What is the most recent version of ICARUS? Ummm... Meh, I don't know. The latest version comes with the JKA MP SDK. Search for that on PCGAMEMODS.com ICARUS is language, BehavEd is the editor. Heres a link to Kengo's scripting tutorials- http://www.geocities.com/kengomaps/tutorials.html Its for JK2, so the setup part is slightly inaccurate, but if you have questions just post away. Heres some other stuff: http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=103701 - when I started learning scripting. Useful info. http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=123170 - another one http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=124392 http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=134306 http://lucasforums.com/showthread.php?t=150015 Hope these help a bit when you start... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 20, 2005 Author Share Posted October 20, 2005 Luke, Kengo's link to BehavEd is broken. I am doing a search. I found a set of tools for JK2 at Massassi.net, but the one with BehavEd is corrupted. *groan* I'm continuing the search... EDIT - I found one! But it's probably an older version... It's Version 2.0. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 21, 2005 Author Share Posted October 21, 2005 UPDATE: I have meta-tested the octagonal room (at fullbright) and checked out a few things. The first is the texture. A round column I made had tiny textures, a funny sight! The second thing I did is check the framerate I will have in these battles. Note, however, that in the game, pillars will block your view somewhat, improving the framerate. OK, my computer has the following specs: CPU: 2.6 gHz Pentium IV Video Card: nVidia 256 MB Memory: 512 MB Yeah, I know, not all that great. I'm savimg for a better system, don't flame me for it... Anyway, I used cheats ingame to spawn 11 Jedi_random, 11 Reborn, and 6 Stormies. That's right, 28 NPC's! I then unfroze them, and the battle was on. When not looking directly into the battle: 70-98 FPS on my machine When the battle is half in view: 25-30 FPS Looking directly at the battle: 10-15 FPS My res is 800 X 600 and I use Trilinear Fltering, with Anisitropic at the max. Dynamic lighting is off. (Too bad for me; I love the saber effect you get.) I predict that when I finish with the columns, the lowest framerate on my computer should at least double. I am using detail brushes, BTW. On a better machine, it should be much better. Now, that will probably be as hard as is gets: Expert level. At least in number. I will change the Reborn to Reborn_New and the Stormies will be better armed. But I was in a hurry, and spawned the regular. The Jedi stomped the invasion. I have figured out what I want the levels to be like. Let me know if any of this is impossible: N00B - Initial invasion is small, and the number of Jedi Trainers is increased. Enemies later on are spawned 2-3 at a time. Stormies all have blasters and all Reborn are the holdovers from JO. There is, however, only a scant few medpacks, a few shield charges, and no Bacta. There are also few ammo chargers. You'll have to make the most of that. Easy - Initial invasion is larger (about 7 Reborn and 3 Stormies) and they are better armed. Enemies then come 4-5 at a time. Mostly JO Reborn throughout the level; some are "boss" Reborn_new. Stormies have blasters and the occasional Repeater. There are some scattered recharges of various types. STANDARD - Initial invasion is large, about 10 Reborn and 6 Stormies. The number of Jedi allies is reduced, and most Reborn are Reborn_New, with some Reborn_Dual and a few Reborn_staff. Stormies are better armed, from the blaster to the Flechette. Luke and Kyle are now players to defend: Unlike N00b and Easy, if either is killed, you immediatly lose the game. After that, enemies come about 6-7 at a time. Heavier armed Stormies are used more tactically to defend choke points, like narrow hallway corners. You will find scattered recharges as well as a few caches, in the form of Imperial Medcamps and Armories. (I say camps because this is no Imperial base. It's the rift.) EXPERT - You'd better be prepared for a fight. A big one. The initial attack is huge, totalling about 13 Reborn of various kinds and 7 Stormies, armed with 4 Flechettes and 3 Merr Sonns. After that, enemies come by the handful. You will find more Imperial Camps (if you survive!) to heal yourself, and replenish your ammo. Ooh, I forgot Mercs! And a few other useful enemies... :evil: Now, when I do difficulty, do I need to create 4 different mapsets, or just one with some script I don't yet understand? EDIT - The architecture of the first level is nearly complete. To be fair, it is a small level, designed that way because of the immense number of potential NPC's. I am working on the lighting now. I loaded up the game, and some models were missing! I had the rift_statue I created, but was missing the lamps I "hung" on the walls. The lights were still there. (The lighting needs work, still.) Now, I have a different question this post: 1 - Why are the lamp models missing, but not the statue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lassev Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 Many entities have flags to control if they are spawned only when the player has selected a specific difficulty level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 21, 2005 Author Share Posted October 21, 2005 Ah. I see. That'll make things a bit easier. Now, to finish up level I, and get started on the actual level in it's entirety... I'll worry about the difficulty key later. It's mapping time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeskywalker1 Posted October 21, 2005 Share Posted October 21, 2005 http://www.lucasfiles.com/index.php?action=file&id=331 JKA MP SDK. Comes with BehavEd. If your version is outdated then you won't be able to take advantage of the cool new JKA features! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 21, 2005 Author Share Posted October 21, 2005 Ah. Thanks! I had the correct version all right, but was missing a few files. OK, that settles that. Hey, just so I know, is there a way to make certain characters invisible during cutscenes, and a "cutscene only" clone of it appear? I've seen the cutscene only property in the Entity Window, but I dunno if you can make some show up only not during cutscenes. Also, I want to know if I can trigger a cutscene after a whole squad dies, and not just one person. UPDATE - Other than the problem listed below, the archi for the first room/level is COMPLETE. Texturing is COMPLETE. Lighting is in progress, and scripting will take a long time. I have to learn a lot! I intend to script the AI to act more intelligent. Tactics will be a major part of it. How many times have you seen this: A few Flechette Stormies attack just as a Reborn jumps in the way. He gets killed by his fellow Troopers. I'm not letting that happen. In fact, I will script ambush paths. I don't mean the AI gets spawned behind you; the enemy will take side-paths and ambush from there. So, a fair warning: If the Reborn run away, they WILL ambush. Almost a guarantee. EDIT - Also, one of my statue models is WAY too small! I can't seem to make it larger. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukeskywalker1 Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 Ah. Thanks! I had the correct version all right, but was missing a few files. OK, that settles that. Hey, just so I know, is there a way to make certain characters invisible during cutscenes, and a "cutscene only" clone of it appear? I've seen the cutscene only property in the Entity Window, but I dunno if you can make some show up only not during cutscenes. Also, I want to know if I can trigger a cutscene after a whole squad dies, and not just one person. Yeah, all of that is possible. The cutscene flag basically disables their AI. Its good for cutscenes, bad for gameplay. You can rescript their behavior status in a script. As for making dudes invisible- Take an NPC, give it an NPC_Targetname. This is like their name. For example: NPC_Targetname Stormtrooper (This can be anything you want) in the script have something like this: Affect Stormtrooper (Or whatever you put for the npc_targetname!) Task Invisible (or whatever you want to call the task, this can be anything) Set_invisible true do invisible (or whatever you called the task) So basically, the script is calling the NPC called "Stormtrooper" Setting a task (a task is just something that says the NPC, or object in question is going to do something) Set_Invisible does what it says, make the NPC invisible, and Nonsolid. And the Do command tells it to do the specified task To make it not invisible do the same thing except change the task name, and the do target, and set invisible to false. You'll need to add a new command to make the NPC solid... look around at the various set commands Theres like a hundred of them, which is really cool... plus they all have good descriptions. Most Set commands can be used with the above set up, you can use that setup with walking, talking, animation, saber activation, weapon firing... teleporting... crap... anything. There are possibly other ways to do some things simpler, but crap, its was only 4-5 lines of codes you drag and drop! Its not that tough EDIT: Oh and yeah, you can trigger a cutscene after a whole squad dies, but I never really needed to know that. It was something about a counter... maybe someone else can help you out there... .... Lassev.... .... .... lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSaberist Posted October 22, 2005 Author Share Posted October 22, 2005 Great! All of you are going into the credits. No question. (After me, of course ) It's good to know. As for weapons fire, I expected that, considering the light side Taspir III scene where Jaden fights Alora, and Alora sabers Rosh Penin. Awesome, never liked Rosh. I do need to know about the whole squad death. It's necessary for what I want. The cutscene triggered by the squad's death leads into the next level. BTW, I re-tested the framerate for the huge beginning battle. Spawning 11 Jedi_Random, 1 Kyle, and 1 Luke, 11 Reborn_New, and 3 Stormie Rocketeers. Something like that will be used on Expert level. Aaanyways, I got rocketed while fighting a Reborn_Staff, but I left my dead character on the ground, watching the battle play out. The Jedi won, but I was unsure of by how much, so I spawned NPC_player. The Jedi all rallied and killed him - a funny sight. Luke, Kyle, and about 3 Jedi_random were alive. Throughout the whole battle, MY FRAMERATE NEVER DROPPED BELOW 20 FPS. Considering my computer isn't exactly NASA quality, that's excellent. All from adding pillers like the ones seen in t3_rift. I still have another issue: model rift_statue. In t3_rift, the jedi statues are about twice the size of the player. The one I created is about the same size as the player, and I cannot find out how to change the size. I've just about tried everything; nothing seems to resize it. I wonder what that could be. Lighting is still in progress. I need some crystal pillars with lighting. That would be good. Oh, and I noticed something odd. In t3_rift, the whole level has this blueish tint to it, as if a blue light equally fills the entire level. I believe this is ambient light, correct? I know that can be set in worldspawn, unless I am sadly mistaken. What key and values can I put in to make that happen? After the entire levelset is complete, I will need a working script. Not scripting, I mean voice acting. I can probably play one part, but not all. Again, though, I'm not worried about it until the level is done. In the meantime, I'll use the PRINT script to act as a placeholder. A long post, but a good one. I am going to touch up my lighting a bit so I don't have to look at the level fullbright anymore. Fullbright makes anything look ugly. While compiling, I happened to notice what HAS to be an Easter Egg. After giving the version number of GtkRadiant (1.4.0) It gave me this line: "A well-oiled toaster oven" :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lassev Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 Affect Stormtrooper (Or whatever you put for the npc_targetname!) Task Invisible (or whatever you want to call the task, this can be anything) Set_invisible true do invisible (or whatever you called the task) Whilst placing everything in a task is not an error, it's unnecessary and will clutter the script. Only commands whose execution you intend to monitor are useful in tasks, like a move command if you want to know when the movement is finished. set_invisible is an instantaneous command, and thus placing it in a task doesn't actually profit anything. Unless you place a bunch of commands in the task and use the task multiple time inside the affect. EDIT: Oh and yeah, you can trigger a cutscene after a whole squad dies, but I never really needed to know that. It was something about a counter... maybe someone else can help you out there... Each NPC is given the key: NPC_target and a targetcounter is given a corresponding targetname. Set the counter count to represent the number of the NPCs with the particular NPC_target key. Attention should be paid, however, to the peculiarity of the target_counter. The _counter's target is not often triggered, if the _counter is targeted directly to it. There oft needs to be a trigger_once (or _multiple if the _counter is reset) between the _counter and the intended target. Place this logical trigger for example inside an architectural detail brush so that no characters walks into it by accident. I still have another issue: model rift_statue. In t3_rift, the jedi statues are about twice the size of the player. The one I created is about the same size as the player, and I cannot find out how to change the size. I've just about tried everything; nothing seems to resize it. I wonder what that could be. Use the modelscale key. Lighting is still in progress. I need some crystal pillars with lighting. That would be good. Oh, and I noticed something odd. In t3_rift, the whole level has this blueish tint to it, as if a blue light equally fills the entire level. I believe this is ambient light, correct? I know that can be set in worldspawn, unless I am sadly mistaken. What key and values can I put in to make that happen? Yeah. That could be ambient. Enter it in worldspawn. I might also suggest _minlight key as well. Unlike ambient, it just makes sure no place has lighting below the given value, so it doesn't add to surfaces already having lighting. Well, at least that's how I've understood it. I used _minlight in Syndicate, instead of ambient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
riceplant Posted October 22, 2005 Share Posted October 22, 2005 The rift also has fog. That helps for ambience at distances. And by the way, if you set things to detail, they won't block the player's view, but will decrease the number of generated portals, which I believe helps speeds in itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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