Some Handy Tips for SP Editors...

[The Truthful Liar]

back from the dead and sticky-fied!

[legameboy]

first ill give this thread a bumb *bumb*, theren ow back to business:D

 

i am a newb, and like any newb i need help, but i want to post a questions and a idea i have for singel player, here they are:

 

how would i record voices? would i use the cheapo recorder that comes with a windows computer or would i get a "super ultra deluxe sound recorder system 9000" to record my voices and sounds

 

and for singleplayer, i think it would be great for a player to step out of their lightsaber and forcepower high chair, and get in the trench of a normal soldier or stormtrooper (that would be awsome to be a stormtrooper) i have waited so long for a game to be like you are the stormtrooper or a commander of a group of stormtroopers and wipe the rebels out. i get tired of you are the rebel, because about all games are you are the good guy, itd just be nice to be a dirtbag (like a stormtrooper) and work your way up instead of being the great jedi and turn into the president of the republic

 

enough for now give me feedback and add me to your list of your msn messenger list if you want sargykid@hotmail.com

[AKPiggott]

Glad to see this thead be stickified at long last!

 

To record voices, you need Sound Recorder and a microphone. You will also need an MP3 Encoder, like freeware LAME. You might also want to check out other freeware/shareware audio programs like GoldWave which are very good for editing voice files. You can add pitch, echoes, filtering and all sorts of distortion techniques to get the right effect for your level.

[Marth]

How do you change the "info_player_start" from kyle to another moel i want the player to be a clone trooper for a map im making...........

[Emon]

For voices, I also recommend CoolEdit2000. It's shareware, but doesn't expire. Instead it only lets you use two sets of filters and effects at once. Kind of sucks to have to keep restarting to do different effects, but it works. It's got a great pitch modifier that is great for voice altering. Unlike Goldwave, it doesn't change the speed of the voice in the process.

 

Using CE2000 and Goldwave or other apps, you can turn one voice actor into three or four. I wouldn't recommend doing that for the main characters (although JC Denton and Paul Denton in Deus Ex are done by the same voice actor, but it makes sense there), but it works great for NPCs.

[AKPiggott]

JC and Paul may be done by the same voice actor, but that doesn't mean they used applications to distort his voice. Most professional voice actors can act all kinds of voices. Look at the Simpsons, there's only about three or four regular voice actors that do they entire cast.

[Emon]

Oh, yes, I know... I'm just saying you could do voice editing to get one voice actor to sound different enough to do different characters. It's a good alternative when you don't have professional voice actors.

[Phersirion]

how come there havent been new posts since November? If you are upto it AKPiggott, I got some questions to ask and for you to answer them since you seem like a really 1337 mapper. Do you use radiant? (I havent read the whole thing just some snippets of it)

[Emon]

Uh, he edits for JO. He HAS to use Radiant...

[Shadriss]

If anyone has a link or some such for a tut on cutscene scripting, I'd appreciate it. I've been looking (most likely in ALL the wrong places) and have yet to find one... would be a shame to have a thread like this that says "use cutscenes" and not be able to follow it's advice, eh?

[Marth]

Shadriss go here http://www.geocities.com/kengomaps/tutorials.html

[AKPiggott]

Yeah Phersirion, feel free to ask question on this thread anytime.

[Gonkish]

I'm still wondering as to how one would go about changing the default color of the player's lightsaber. In my case I want it to be green. Anyone know of any tutorials or other fun stuff like that?

[Emon]

Gonk, AK made a thread on that.

 

http://www.lucasforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=52281

 

To fix the problem of the saber changing color after clicking fire after you die before hitting a checkpoint, put a target_autosave at the start of the level, I think you want a trigger_always, it should trigger once (I think) when the level starts, and do a checkpoint save, so when you click fire to reload you have the proper saber color. If the trigger_always won't work, just put a trigger_once under the player or something.

 

(To clear it up: The problem itself was if you hadn't hit a checkpoint in the level yet, and you died, hitting fire to load from the start of the level caused the saber to go back blue. If you saved your game and loaded it, it works fine. If you hit a checkpoint, then use fire to load after you die, it works fine. So to fix that we just make sure a checkpoint is triggered on level start)

[Yun the Sith]

Quick question, and I'm posting it here because it might be good for future reference. When it comes down to lighting, is it better to have an abvous source, say like a street lamp, or not?

[Gonkish]

Obvious sources make it more realistic, which is usually a good thing. Sometimes you may just need to place a random light just to get the point across, but for the most part, light with an obvious source is better. (Even if that source is the sky, )

[Livingdeadjedi]

HEY AKPiggot could you email me some hints on how to do SP editing, scripting and Cutscenes ??

ive made loads of MP maps but we need some good SP maps hey

OH if you want to convert my Carbon freeze 2 map to SP just ask =]

email is philip.thejedi@ntlworld.com

[AKPiggott]

Best thing to do when it comes to scripts LDJ is teach youself. Read a few tutorials and then study some of the Raven sample scripts, you should do fine. If you find a specific problem or query, then simply ask on the forums.

 

I also recommend that you check out as many SP games as possible. I've always been someone who likes to play a lot of FPS games which I've always thought gives me a lot of good ideas. It doesn't just limit to FPS though, you could get a variety of ideas from adventure games and RPGs.

[Emon]

Examples of good SP:

 

System Shock 2

Thief I

Thief II

Deus Ex

NOLF

NOLF 2

RtCW (Isn't incredible, but still good)

Jedi Knight (the puzzles)

[Kengo]

Originally posted by Emon

Examples of good SP:

 

System Shock 2

 

Damn right! For me the most atmospheric game of all time, all down to great use of ambient sound, top quality voice acting and a slow build-up of tension...

 

Sorry, I couldn't help it, I always feel that game deserved a lot more credit and recognition than it got in general.

 

I'm gonna try to improve those cutscene tutorials to move them beyond being so basic, but damn it getting affecting NPCs to work seems a bit too random for my liking

[Takeoffyouhoser]

I jsut downloaded and played the system shock 2 Demo. the problem with playing a game like this is not having the interactivity with items in Jedi Outcast like in System shock 2 or Deus Ex, or, being able to search a dead NPC for an item or two.

[Darth berserker]

I need a tutorial in SP-mapping. How do I make the bots move, how do I give keys to imperials, how do I make the keys unlock doors? I just don´t understand anything...

[AKPiggott]

Well that's the problem.

 

Because JO uses the Quake III engine you can find all sorts of tutorials on how to make pretty places and atmospheric touch-ups, but there are certain things that are specific to the game that are just too minor to write a tutorial on.

 

Although the bot moving thing isn't a small, minor problem. It's been covered before in many tutorials. You basically need to place "waypoints" and "point_combats". Look for a tutorial, it'll explain it better than I can.

 

As for the Officers with key problems. I'm not really sure because I've never used it. I can only assume you setup a deathscript for the officer that makes him drop his key. One thing you must remember to do is not make the Officer force pushable, you push him over a tall ledge and you're in trouble. The key will be unretrievable.

 

Adding to Emon's list:

 

Medal of Honour (demonstrates good use of in-game scripting)

Max Payne (shows off great action sequences)

Aliens vs. Predator 2 (gives good examples of cutscene use)

Half-Life (shows a good way of telling a good story through first person)

 

Elaborating more on Emon's examples:

 

Deus Ex (showcases the potential of interactivity and multiple routes)

NOLF / NOLF 2 (good examples on cutscene use as well as use of humour)

Thief I / Thief II (examples of stealth)

RTCW (great atmospheric techniques that you can learn from)

 

It might also be worth looking through other games like Serious Sam, Soldier of Fortune 1 & 2 and maybe even games like Tomb Raider and Mafia. I can't think of any specific examples of things you could learn from these games, but playing through them could certainly trigger one or two ideas.

[Emon]

In addition to NOLF and NOLF 2, they also demonstrate non-linear levels. They may not be as non-linear as Deus Ex or System Shock 2, e.g. you only have multiple ways to end up at one place, not multiple ways to complete the mission.

 

RtCW shows off good level design, too. It's more linear than other games, but there were quite a few areas that made for some great gunfights or short action sequences, providing the player is somewhat experianced. I've found that the more experiance a player gains, the more fun a game can be, because you're able to do lots of tricks or manuevers that a lesser experianced player might not know, which can often greatly beef up the fun.

[AKPiggott]

Yeah.. also RTCW has very realistic and logical level design. I.E. It is completely devoid of those really stupid puzzles that don't really make much sense (like JO has). For example, the Doomgiver level where you have to make contact with Rogue Squadron, who in their right mind would design it so that to tune into the correct frequency you have to jump about a load of floating rooms.

 

Also, it's a real oldie but I recommend Duke Nukem 3D. Why? Because it has fantastic level design and extremely interactive enviornments. There's a lot to learn from that game.