FreeGameDev

Okay, so I've noticed that there has been an increased number of attempts to improve on maps in RE. Unfortunately, not everyone wants you messing with their current map. The proper etiquette should probably be that you offer feedback on maps to the original author, so that they may learn and improve themselves. That being said, there are some maps in RE that are long overdue for some attention.

Here is a non-definitive list of "Quin approved" maps in need of a good polish (ones marked with an asterisk {*} may be harder to get approved):

• darkness{*}: use of old/dirty and sometimes mismatched textures.
• deadsimple: still quite flat and brown, this does fit the map somewhat but could be better done.
• forge: never quite recovered after almost all the textures it used were removed.
• longestyard: I would love to see if the problems in this map can be creatively fixed (cramped-ness).
• nova{*}: I think a sci-fi retexture of this map may improve its popularity.
• processing{*}: it is sometimes a little hard to navigate nicely in this level, both due to cramped conditions and poor visibility.
• venus{*}: the visual style of this level, while fitting, is probably just slightly unappealing, the layout is however excellent.

For those of you looking for something else to do, but don't know what, here are some other things that could use improving:

• particles: lensflares, mflare (muzzle flare), muzzle (muzzle flash), sflare (shot flares), spark
• menus: mostly just the options menu, but the variables one could use updating and a better layout for the amount of items it holds.
• tips: if you have a tip you think would be helpful to others about playing RE, you should get it added to tips.cfg.
• usage: we have a dedicated topic for contributing command and variable descriptions.
• docs: the wiki could always use more information so people can learn, don't be afraid to ask me to clarify stuff for you.

More of a challenge, here are some things I would like to do, if only someone would build it for me:

• accessories: hats, shoes, whatever. I think even just a couple would get the ball rolling to more being made.
• npcs: turrets, grunts, and drones. crates, shields, barriers.
• rewards: I would add more rewards if I could produce the content for it.
• campaign: a prototype map for the new campaign (see below)

Also of note, the reinvented campaign idea I now have will play out more like a battle between two sides in a time-trial/puzzle-esque gauntlet. One team will be paired up with the NPC AI in an attempt to prevent the other team from making it to the end. Sides switch at half-time. Team with the best time wins. The defending team will spawn at points designated by the current checkpoint reached, allowing them to move up as the attacking team progresses. This all would obviously be a useful way to re-use the, currently under-played, time-trial maps. It would be nice if someone could help me build a map prototype so we can figure out what kind of code and content modifications/additions we will need.

I will post more tasks as they come up.

UPDATE 2013-03-10: I have marked a few items off the original list, as we have either gotten them done, or they are no longer relevant.

UPDATE 2013-03-30: Marked off more items, we have gotten a lot done for 1.4! Thank you to everyone who contributed. *unsticky*

Dead Simple: https://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/redeclipse/ticket/355

qreeves {l Wrote}:Also of note, the reinvented campaign idea I now have will play out more like a battle between two sides in a time-trial/puzzle-esque gauntlet. One team will be paired up with the NPC AI in an attempt to prevent the other team from making it to the end. Sides switch at half-time. Team with the best time wins. The defending team will spawn at points designated by the current checkpoint reached, allowing them to move up as the attacking team progresses. This all would obviously be a useful way to re-use the, currently under-played, time-trial maps. It would be nice if someone could help me build a map prototype so we can figure out what kind of code and content modifications/additions we will need.

Temka has this type of mode in his server, its his version of the 'deathrun' concept from Half-Life 2 Deathmatch, but its very slow because he changed a lot of movement variables.
It is a example on how to do it.
I will see what i can do with this idea here.

Also the smg reload animation is a place-holder since 2years, and the grenade idle position in 1rst person seems a bit odd. I would really appreciate someone could take care of those things so I could focus on something a bit bigger. But it didn't moved from years. If someone need help to learn about those things, let me know on IRC.

I'll sure make some hat model this weekend. I would also really appreciate a moustache and monocle.

Processing: "Added bomberball capability" I hope this is finished, let me know if you find anything that is wrong...
Edit: fixed minor issues(clipping, floating crates, waypoints)



I may need to know how to create shadeless textures for the acid(And possibly the lights), so if someone could explain that too me it would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

@rapidbutton Darn, just spend some time yesterday in my own version... I like your versions gameplay, but the graphics/textures seem to be kinda cluttered/not optimally fitting. Can I use your version as a new base for continuing my work?

LuckyStrike-Rx {l Wrote}:Also the smg reload animation is a place-holder since 2years

You can get a pretty good animation by going to models/actors/player/hwep.cfg and replacing the 'md5anim "smg reload" (etc)' line with

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

md5anim "smg reload" "hud_pistol-reload.md5anim" 20

You can't see the clip but it's a pretty good animation, so I think would be a good temporary anim for the time being.

By the way, can I share the work I've done on Forge? It's on the list but I just wanted to make sure. Here are some screenshots:

I left the outside the same, since it's already textured really well (one of the best environments we have, IMO) but I did some work inside the bases. The textures inside fit well with the theme of the map and the enormous level of detail with the pipes, panels, destruction etc. made it really interesting; however, textures were a bit overused/misused in several places (probably due to the original textures being cut from the game). In the red base, the horizontal thick trim texture was used for pretty much all the walls, as well as the vertical pillars and the ceiling. Most of the work I did was adding different textures to the different elements so the player can tell them apart and it's more visually appealing. I also fixed the clip on the ramps near playerstarts.

Here it is:

You can get a pretty good animation by going to models/actors/player/hwep.cfg and replacing the 'md5anim "smg reload" (etc)' line with

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

md5anim "smg reload" "hud_pistol-reload.md5anim" 20

You can't see the clip but it's a pretty good animation, so I think would be a good temporary anim for the time being.

I'm working on a proper animation right now. (I usually prefer non-existent than inappropriate )

Thanks allot for taking care of Forge.

Sweet, I can't wait to see it! (I'm also looking forward to the hat, wish I could help with the stache and monocle)

greaserpirate, I would update the background buildings, the outside walls, and the top of the center building of forge as well, as they are easily visible areas.

ballist1c {l Wrote}:greaserpirate, I would update the background buildings, the outside walls, and the top of the center building of forge as well, as they are easily visible areas.

I would, but I can't really see how they'd be improved. Visually, they're excellent. The only problem I have with them is the artificial-feeling clipping, but I see why it's there. If there wasn't a clear line, players could make their way off the map, and if just some rooftops are inaccessible, it might be too confusing which ones are and which aren't. There's also the possibility it might make the map more campy, but this is unlikely since players are much more likely to camp from the roof/windows of their own base, so players could actually avoid the choke points by going across the rooftops.

If only there was some type of 'desertion clip', where you would get a message saying "You have 5 seconds to return to the battlefield". But right now Quin has a lot on his plate enough on his plate to end world hunger, so if it's going to be implemented it's probably not going to happen in this release.

qreeves {l Wrote}:More of a challenge, here are some things I would like to do, if only someone would build it for me:

accessories: hats, shoes, whatever. I think even just a couple would get the ball rolling to more being made.
npcs: turrets, grunts, and drones. crates, shields, barriers.
rewards: I would add more rewards if I could produce the content for it.
campaign: a prototype map for the new campaign (see below)

[troll]accessories: tanks instead of legs, double swords like Stallman from xkcd, or a cape + goggles thing like Cory Doctorow, also from xkcd.[/troll]
npcs: in reference to the crates/shields/barriers, what do you mean? Just decorative models or things that would be used?
rewards: do you mean like trophies, or medals of honor (accessories) or something?
campaign: I can only suggest some kind of boss match between one of the special giant, armed grunts and whoever's playing.

greaserpirate {l Wrote}:By the way, can I share the work I've done on Forge? It's on the list but I just wanted to make sure. Here are some screenshots:

That's looking really nice. Does it run any faster or is it still one of the more processor-intensive maps?

quintux_v {l Wrote}:campaign: I can only suggest some kind of boss match between one of the special giant, armed grunts and whoever's playing.

Actually i maked a map out of this idea of bosses, but it didn't turned out very well, it gets VERY umbalanced

quintux_v {l Wrote}:That's looking really nice. Does it run any faster or is it still one of the more processor-intensive maps?

Heh, and I thought I was done.

Updates: went through the map on an optimization frenzy. For all the pipes on the map, I deleted the sides the payer can't see, reducing wtr from 259k to 193k, then I calculated PVS. The framereate is up for me. The map's been updated in the post with the screenshots.

Hat and monocle committed.

Sniper-Goth {l Wrote}:

quintux_v {l Wrote}:campaign: I can only suggest some kind of boss match between one of the special giant, armed grunts and whoever's playing.

Actually i maked a map out of this idea of bosses, but it didn't turned out very well, it gets VERY umbalanced

This is actually awesome.

quin, others,
Once these 7 maps are polished, may I suggest that the new map preview images be generated with 16x anti-aliasing in effect (naturally along with the other display quality features enabled). Perhaps as well this should be done for the other map preview images. Might there be a minor part to add to the GUIDE: Things we look for in finished content topic under "Attractive textures and materials" or "License and package appropriately" about this matter? I would be willing to (help) generate the new map preview images. My nettop can handle all the display features enabled with the antialiasing, slowly but good enough to take some screenshots. Let me know what you think.
Cheers

I agree Dratz, the previews are in worse quality mostly (no anti-aliasing, etc.), but I guess that's the part of final polishing, if authors want to care about, how it look in the preview, because it's indeed less important, but surely it doesn't add more quality in the game. Anyway, previews of pumpstation, fourplex and starlibido are ok. I make my previews particularly outside of edit mode (in time-trial) with anti-aliasing and with details on. I think some latest maps has good quality previews too.

RE: Maps

Did you still wan Mist retextured? I started tinkering with Mist when I saw it on that one ticket (I don't think it's open/exists anymore) of maps pending deletion. I didn't get very far, but I did things like add actual grass in the courtyard, and add some outdoor-looking lamps along with small trees, rocks and shrubs and grass to make it look more like a peaceful courtyard. If you still want it touched up, I could try finishing it up.

On that note (it's probably too late) but when I went and started to retexture it, the list of available textures was quite minimal due to them being culled for release, and I had to do some kind of dark magic (don't remember what I did) to get all the available textures back for use, but that screwed up all the existing textures because the reference number (or whatever you'd call it) was incorrect, so the textures looked like multicolored vomit due to not being the correct ones. Is there a better way to go about doing that? ie. "un-culling" the textures, to put it crudely (sorry if that explanation sucked).

RE: Menus

We talked about revamping the server browser a bit on IRC; having it show more information when left clicked (number of players, verbose mutators, etc) and quick connect (current behavior) when right clicked. Could you give me a bit more of a place to start as far as how you want it to function? Do you want to simply open a separate GUI when clicking on a server, or do you want it to expand downward (I tinkered with that already and it was pretty difficult, and made the height of the whole GUI increase in an ugly way). I mulled over the idea of having a dedicated area below the scrollbox for the server information that would update when a new server was clicked (think Killing Floor's server browser). What do you think about that? A separate pop-up GUI would be the easiest, but might not be the most elegant, whereas the Killing Floor style info box at the bottom wouldn't be too hard, and might look really nice.

Depending on how long it takes me to get an acceptable product for that, I could try tackling the options menu and variables as well.

Lastly, as far as tips go, I think there's a few in the rotation that no longer apply to Red Eclipse and should probably be amended/removed. One that immediately comes to mind is the tip saying that dashing while swinging the sword will guarantee a critical hit, as this hasn't been the case since 1.2 (unless it was re-implemented for 1.4).

ZeroKnight {l Wrote}:RE: Maps
the list of available textures was quite minimal due to them being culled for release, and I had to do some kind of dark magic (don't remember what I did) to get all the available textures back for use, but that screwed up all the existing textures because the reference number (or whatever you'd call it) was incorrect, so the textures looked like multicolored vomit due to not being the correct ones. Is there a better way to go about doing that? ie. "un-culling" the textures, to put it crudely (sorry if that explanation sucked).

The same thing happen to me when I retextured processing, the only thing I could think of to get the textures back was to copy the entire map and paste it into a new blank map...

Zero, what you probably did (and what I have done in the past) is

{l Code}: {l Select All Code}

/exec textures.cfg

which makes all texture packages reappear, regardless of whatever was already there. However I don't remember having any problems with errors when doing it that way, I have had some in the past though

@ballist1c
That's actually not what I did, but I tried it out just now on echo and it seemed to have worked beautifully. I reeeeally wish I had known that when I started tinkering with Mist :<
Thank you though, I'll be using that from now on. Hopefully it doesn't have any hidden problems.

I've always used "exec textures.cfg" too to get my hands on more textures, which has always worked flawlessly.

I'll see if I can find some more time to play with Venus, Nova or Darkness.

A few words on the map "forge." Compared with the version of "Blood frontier" the first thing that struck me is that the map became less expressive, not least because used other "window" textures.

I experimented a bit with the map:



Perhaps this will be useful.

S.E.S {l Wrote}:A few words on the map "forge." Compared with the version of "Blood frontier" the first thing that struck me is that the map became less expressive, not least because used other "window" textures.

I experimented a bit with the map:

That looks pretty cool. Can you send me the file so we can merge the versions? (Assuming you worked on the old version)

Also, guess what I just found on Facebook:



Luckystrike-RX, you are a genius.

greaserpirate {l Wrote}:

Yes, vanity items are now available in SVN. Please feel free to ask your most favourite modeller in the whole wide world to make your item for you to include in the game. Until the feature matures, I won't discriminate against submissions unless they are vulgar or whatnot. We already have a "monocle", a "top hat", and a pair of "horns". Some suggestions so far: moustache, beard, costume arrow through the head, brain sucking parasite/alien, cupid wings. I personally would like to have: king's crown, queen's crown, hair. Possibly also: shoes/heels, handbags, armour plates. Really, anything is possible.