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The Geonosian Arena WIP


DaJo Kesea

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Studman, maybe. But there's not much on my end yet, so we'll get to questions like yous later on. I hope to post an update tonight...well..um...this morning. Hehe. But no promises just yet.

 

Also, I noticed you made a similar offer about making non-replacement character npcs in the Yoda forum. Have you really figured this out??? I'd like to see this in action if you wouldn't mind passing the process along, though I promise I will not steal your work.

 

Hey all, I just got a really, really good pic to work from. It's only 3/4 of the arena, though. I still need that big tunnel picture. But this is really one of the best detail shots I've seen: Prop builders at ILM design the Geonosis Arena

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Ok, well I'm not really upset or anything. I'm just yelling because this thread is on page 2 and there is no real game footage yet. I had planned on making a significant update tonight but it just isn't ready. Sorry, guys! Well, I guess the worst you all could do is boycott this thread...LOL.

 

Just a little patience, please. I will be working hard again tomorrow night and hopefully I'll have something for the community. Things ARE going well so far, and my textures are importing well into Radiant. The blade texture looks so cool! I can't wait to show you, but if I compile now there will be many leaks.

 

Too many things going on in my life. I wish I had time for my hobbies like I did when I was a kid. (I'd also be in the middle of a nice, long break right now.) All of you going to regular colleges and various schools, SAVOR this time in your life! You will miss it!

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Interesting thread you have going there, studman. And sorry to hear about your brother commandeering your computer! Well, you're alright in my book. I'll be looking forward to your tutorial. Can't wait to spawn a few npcs that actually look like Sith or Dark Jedi warriors. I'm tired of these crazy Reborn who wear neon red and yellow, or green and blue.

 

Sorry I'm a little off topic, but guess what?...I'm in charge of this thread and that means I'm entitled to say whatever I please...LOL. Anyway, I had an idea for a mod that would beef up force absorb a bit. It sure would be nice to be able to absorb force lightning! Dessan would have to come up with a new tactic! Somebody is working on a new force power mod, but I can't remember his name. But if you're out there and reading this, maybe its' something worth looking into?

 

The Arena is coming...just hang tight. :)

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brother....right;)

 

I was looking at the image, and I realized what may be effective is forced perspective.

 

I dont know if you've ever been to disneyland, but in main street, a street full of old style buildings, the first floor is full scale, the second is 3/4 of that, and so on.

 

For the arena, you could have say, four floors full scale, then two 3/4 floors clipped off, then even more smaller floors.

 

To indicate distance, you could make doorways of the same scale.

 

The only problem I can see is when people forcejump the illusion might be broken.

 

I'll try putting this into radient.

:)

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ok DaJo this is just a suggestion/demonstration i whipped up.

 

I used forced perspective in this map to varying degrees of success.

 

Here is my simple arena made of endcaps (only one side)

http://home.adelphia.net/~nraec1/wip/test0.jpg

 

I made the arena out of curves because with such a large map, the Q3 engine automatically LODS curves the further away you are, which is usually in a map this size beneficial. Also, the amount of doors increases as you get higher up.

 

Now, here is a shot with shadowtroopers for scale.

http://home.adelphia.net/~nraec1/wip/test1.jpg

 

Now although the map really is big, the STs show how the size of the levels gradually decrease.

 

 

Okay, here I have added some of my beta LAATs

http://home.adelphia.net/~nraec1/wip/test2.jpg

Scale is once more demonstrated.

 

 

http://home.adelphia.net/~nraec1/wip/test3.jpg

However, in this shot I scaled and lowered the detail of the LAATs and put them above the arena. It still looks like they are high above, but you can see the true size of the models.

 

In conclusion, I find that the LAAT scaling as well as the perspective tricks worked pretty well...What do you think?

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your test pictures look good with that implimented. since games haven't come to an age where distance is blurred yet, if you are going to have these ships flying over, i see two things you could do to aid the effect and even make it easier on the computer:

 

1) make the ships on the train far less detailed. at a distance, no one will notice, but that way, less polys will be on the screen and rates can keep running smooth.

 

2) make a couple layers of train ships, but the farther away ones, just make them really small models. like i said, games don't blur, so people wouldn't know the difference. make them think they are way up there in the sky, but in reality, have the train layers only a couple feet apart but moving at different speeds. could work quiite well at making a great atmosphere, and at the same time not be so taxing on the CPU and GPU.

 

that's my two cents.

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I'm here...trying to stay awake...LOL.

 

I think I'm getting my second wind now. Here's the scoop. I'm still building the ground level of the map, but I think I have started too many areas down there, making it difficult to reach a stopping point so I can give you all some screens. I can GUARANTEE you that you will see some progress this weekend. I have gathered the major textures from my Bryce model, and I'm in the process of perfecting them in Photoshop and Painter.

 

Thanks for your help, winner_rex. I'll see where I can go with your method. The info about curves being LODed is good stuff! I was worried that the more curves I put in this map, the worse it was going to run. Also, winner, if you can get your LAAT idea working, and the model just a little more photorealistic, I'll be glad to implement your method of a few overhead flyby's.

 

Back to work!

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Don't get too excited, though. I just sealed up one of the many duplicate entry point rooms on the ground level (minus the columns that will cover the seams where the curves meet the solid wall). Lighting is really killing me. I would like to simulate daylight entering a non-lit room, but from past experience, I have noticed that putting the light in the doorway doesn't cut it, and it does some strange things to my curves. But I'm getting there.

 

Some info about the latest screenshot:

Textures are completely custom-made. The blade texture is the main feature here. These textures are on all the walls inside the rooms surrounding the arena. I think they are also on the base of the lookout towers.

If the lighting was correct in this room, the textures would appropriately simulate an area lit only by the doorway (which does not yet exist). Hopefully when I move the light closer to the door, things will look better. Right now I have a good blade texture sitting on yellow wrinkly paper walls. I'm working on it. :-)

 

Here's the update: www24.brinkster.com/jnday Plenty of space to jump around in this room in case you get trapped! :-)

 

What's to come:

  • Geonosis circular prison cells! (How do I make an object glow like the saber?)
  • Arena floor with execution pillars and lookout towers.
  • Some exciting rock texture art I'm sure you'll love. Why? It was photosourced from the movie!

Stay tuned!

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Hi all! I'm going to post a few new screenshots here. I'm having some major problems, though, and I'm hoping a few of you might be able to help me out. One thing I'm sure you'll agree on in these next photos is that the textures are better. But lighting is horrible. I just can't seem to get a dim light. That's not my only problem with lighting, though. Here we go.

 

(You'll have to copy/paste the direct links to the screens. Brinkster won't let me link them.)

 

The first issue is this:

http://www24.brinkster.com/jnday/shot0005.jpg

 

Why am I so tall? The player character is supposed to be 64 units tall, right? I think that's what that blue indicator in Radiant is representative of? Also, I would think that the info_playerstart box would be the size of the character in game. That door is supposed to be TOWERING over my head, but right now I'm nearly bonking my head on it! (There's also some caulking mistakes inside the doorway, but that's easy to fix.)

 

The second issue has to do with lighting:

http://www24.brinkster.com/jnday/shot0006.jpg

 

All the manuals say that the sky shader emits it's own light. That would probably solve the whole problem I'm having with lighting in my entire map! Unfortunately, unless I place a light entity in the center of the map, nothing in my map shows up but the sky. How do I make the sky emit sunlight and cast shadows, and how do I place dim fill lights in my scene?

 

The third screenshot is just to show off the new entry room, though there are some major problems here with lighting, caulking, and a...um...missing surface?:

http://www24.brinkster.com/jnday/shot0007.jpg

 

If I'm going to have a light in these rooms, I need them to be dim and not so contrasty. How do I dim that light?

 

Thanks for all your help. Once these problems are solved, onward I will go. :)

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DaJo:

For the first issue, I wouldn't worry about it; The geonosians were about half as tall as humans, If you 'll recall. But if you want to change it it looks like you can just move the two brushes on either side over a little more, delete the arches, and start again.

 

A good way to find scale is putting in a misc model of a "player/shadowtrooper/test.md3". Also, make sure you align those wall textures. Textures can easily make or break a level...so get real familiar with the surface inspector.

 

Quick question, do you build everything out of caulk, then texture? It's easier to do that because you only have to texture what you can see instead of trying to get the camera between brushes. After all, you build a house before you paint it.

 

Second, the sky you are using, Bespin, does not emit light and sky named "something_light" does. Try hitting N, clicking worldspawn, and typing (class)ambient (key)1 1 1 for a temporary fix (hopefully!). This may eliminate the need for filler lights, but you can always just make low intensity lights (50-100) and scatter them in rooms. Also, for the arena floor, if that is a custom texture, try making it a little more yellow. Then, shift-click it and scale it to...1.25 for X and Y, then rotate it by an odd number of degrees. This will make it more natural.

 

Third, I would say that 90% the missing surface is caulked. If I may make a suggestion, how about caulking over the wall, and making it a bumpy patch mesh. This is constructive criticism, but the walls look very angular and there are lots of cracks evident.

 

I am glad you took the piping suggestion to heart.

 

You are doing a great job, and we'll always be here to help so don't be afraid to ask questions!

 

Keep it up!

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Winner_rex,

 

As always, your suggestions are helpful. I did agree with you about the blades that ran along the walls. They did need to be more "embossed" into the wall, rather than act as a ledge to stand on.

 

For scale, I guess I can't rely on the blue indicator on the left height dragger window. I will place a couple shadowtrooper entities for height. Those tunnels on the ground level of the map are actuallly really large because more species than just Geonosians go in and out of them. Also, I don't think that the ground level wall is meant to be force-jumped over. So I do want to make it pretty high.

 

Thanks for the lighting tip. As soon as you said it, I said, "Boy am I an idiot! Right next to the bespin shader was one called artus_light!" Eventually I'll want to make a custom sky shader that emits golden sunlight.

 

I'm going to redo those upper walls in the entry room. I agree that they should be more natural. I'll also boost the ambience a bit. I think that is necessary. Thanks again!

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Sorry, no updates tonight. I'm away from home, but I am taking the suggestions that were made to heart. And I AM learning! :)

 

I think the driod factory and the arena were separate areas, but I could be wrong. Also, this map is going to be HUGE as it is. For a while I thought that I had hit the scale limit or something on the map, so the game shrunk it a bit. But thankfully I was wrong. The player is actually more than 64 units high.

 

See you guys again sometime in the middle of this week. I'll be working hard till then.

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i'm helping rex with the skin on his ship, so i now will be taking part of the blame if it doesn't shape up pretty soon. it will, don't worry. we're on it.

 

anyway, i was just thinking after playing ladder2 for about half an hour that if you did this as a quality SP at some point, the best way to do it might possibly just be an advanced ladder where droids keep coming at you and whatever else you want to throw at us. could be a very good level, if the massive size would allow for that much AI to exist at the same time. that's the tough part there.

 

just some thoughts. keep it coming. i have faith in this project.

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