[Map] cutec v1.6

[raiden]

Thanks for feedback crone123, ballistic and thank you for reporting your performance on the map Dratz .

[raiden]

I could improve the map again. The use of geometry is more economic now and I redesigned some things, to reduce the use of too much small cubes. The detailed look of the map has not reduced for the "usual player", although some things has changed and the texturing bettered a bit.

cutec v1.5

changes since 1.4:

_removed deathzones and "lightning effects" inside the bases
_rebuild geometry all around the map, for a kind of "defragmentation" of the map (for the use of bigger gridsizes)
_redesigned and retextured some details / changed geometry details in parts
_fixed some texture errors
_changed clipping material (alpha, clips, noclips, water)
_freed more than 100000 octreenodes
_decreased number of triangles to the number of 102k
_decreased filesize again
_experimented with botwaypoints

[Dratz-_C]

Hi raiden,
I want to congratulate you on one more revision. It's good to see how much heart you put into each new version and I am pleased to see your continuing the improvement process. I will take a look at it after I am done writing a >3-page research paper due in 1 week.
Cheers

[raiden]

*ty* Dratz, it's clear that I have to reduce even more of the details. I compared the number of octreenodes to the number of the official maps. In result I have to come clearly under the amount of a million. The 1,15 mio. in my actual editing version is still far too much to get the bots working properly. When I include all necessary waypoints (for a good bombing run e.g.), the hiccups come back again.

[wowie]

Nice to see that this amazing map is still being worked on.

[ZeroKnight]

I would love to see this added to RE :)

[raiden]

Thanks wowie and Zeroknight. I'm working hard to improve the map, with the goal to make it more compatible to RE and to increase the fun and playability .

[ballist1c]

Thanks wowie and Zeroknight. I'm working hard to improve the map, with the goal to make it more compatible to RE and to increase the fun and playability .

Hi raiden! I would like to model a couple maps in this style (the original style) and I wonder how you made the reflective glass and such. I look forward to this being included, as it is imminent

[raiden]

I proudly present the result of my latest work. I could finally push the amount of octreenodes down under the value of 1 million. The map runs more stable in result. Another point: I could implement the most important parts of the waypoints. Good news also for the low frames community: although the map isn't much faster than before, there are no interruptions anymore. I tested this several times on my pc, because I couldn't believe it at first. Now it should be possible to jump from platform to platform as often you want and you won't be bothered by involuntary interruptions or hiccups. And all of this with waypoints. It is much more fun to play with the bots now, especially in Capture the Flag or bombing run. Eventually my intervention has payed of.
It wasn't easy going. I had to turn the whole map upside down again and again to reach this. Many details had to be changed, to lower the amount of little cubes. I didn't want to reduce this by simply deleting all the details only. So I had to work on step by step, detail by detail. By this inconvenient way I could get sure to preserve the core of my ideas, while losing the redundant stuff.

cutec 1.6

changelog

_improved textures
_improved lights and removed unescessary ones
_simplyfied geometry descreetingly again
_decreased the number of octreenodes to ~ 990000
_decreased number of triangles to the number of 93k
_added important parts of waypoints for bots, works much better now
_decreased filesize again

... and I wonder how you made the reflective glass and such. I look forward to this being included, as it is imminent

Ah, thats not as difficult as it looks. When you load my map into editmode, you can research everything. I simply used alphablended material for the glass, sometimes combined with scrolling textures. You can see the used material by pressing 'm'. If you don't already know that. There are also some variables to influence the grade of alphalevel, which I took use of very seldom. I don't have them in mind at the moment.

[Dratz-_C]

raiden,
I want to congratulate you on another tough session of editing. I again look forward to trying this version out after October 9th when my essay is done.
Cheers

[Ulukai]

Hey raiden! I have taken another look at your newest version of Cutec and it still is a masterpiece! All the great things have been kept, it is fine-tuned now and performance is a lot better! I like it better than ever. It's a blast to play and a pleasure for the eyes, so I really hope this makes it into the next version of RE.

Very impressive...

[ballist1c]

Wow! Raiden, the geometry and attention to detail here is as phenomenal as it was in the first release. I love the inventive use of textures all around and your knowledge of the models/vtex menu. Freezes are gone for people aswell (so far, dratz has not tested), and I ran it on my old computer (4-5 years old) and it went MUCH smoother. This alone is worth making a new SVN for :P
I will reload the map tomorrow and take a look at your blending and models.
Say after this is finished, would you be interested in a collaboration?

EDIT: actually, one change: disable the teleporters in all CTF modes and some bomberball modes please, in other modes they are fine but in those modes they are cheap and kind of ruin it it would be much better to restrict the teleports for use in only these modes: deathmatch, DTF and hold-bomberball. Thanks!


EDIT: Uhhh, this might sound stupid, but have you tried the /remip command yet? It just does not look like (to me) all of the surfaces are as smooth/unified as they could be with remip, correct me if I'm wrong but it's worth a try

[Ulukai]

disable the teleporters in all CTF modes and some bomberball modes please, in other modes they are fine but in those modes they are cheap and kind of ruin it it would be much better to restrict the teleports for use in only these modes: deathmatch, DTF and hold-bomberball.

In my eyes, disabling the teleporters for a specific game mode is not straight forward for the players and makes it confusing. The teleporters are there and I think it's part of the strategy to use them when attacking, but also defending them.

[raiden]

Hi,
thank you all for your kind words ZeroKnight, Dratz-_C, ballist1c and ulukai . I'll wait up to see what Dratz finds out and let's see then what to do in the next step.

To your questions ballistic:

...Say after this is finished, would you be interested in a collaboration?...

I love collaborations and projects between different people, but I'll have no room for that in the next time. When this project will be finished I plan to come back to my first map here, to polish it. There are also many other, very different things I have in the neck, - so sorry I can't.

EDIT: actually, one change: disable the teleporters in all CTF modes and some bomberball modes please, in other modes they are fine but in those modes they are cheap and kind of ruin it it would be much better to restrict the teleports for use in only these modes: deathmatch, DTF and hold-bomberball. Thanks!

Mmh like Ulukai I have a totally different opinion here. I mean all spawnpoints are in the lowest level of the bases or in the middle of the map. When you compare the time you need to reach the opposing base by the main way and the one you need for the alternative route through the portals on the roof. You will realize, that the difference is nominal. While editing I had to switch very often between each bases and I did it often with the playermodel so I could allow myself to be convinced that it doesn't matter which way I took (in most cases the main way). It takes time to reach the roof. In the same time I can powerslide (shift button) over the pushers and reach the opposing base.
Besides that maybe you know related games like the Unreal tournament series. Their CTF- maps have mostly two ways to reach the flag except some individual ones. This doesn't damage the fun in the game. To the contrary, this can be fun and makes it to a surprise.
On the other side it would be difficult to make your suggestion possible. The player should see that the portals are deactivated. So it has to be graphically marked by some way. Otherwise he would run into a glasswall . And I don't know how to realize all of that in RE. ...

Uhhh, this might sound stupid, but have you tried the /remip command yet? It just does not look like (to me) all of the surfaces are as smooth/unified as they could be with remip, correct me if I'm wrong but it's worth a try

No, that isn't stupid and yes I tried it out. The reason for the unregular surfaces is my special setting for the light precision. I use the quality of 64. This is higher than the default of 32, which means it's less precise. I did that to lower the loading time and the filesize of the map. The /remip command can't influence this basical setting.

[qreeves]

Map is now inlcuded in Red Eclipse, as per request on "Submit your content for inclusion". Please maintain further updates from the SVN branch.

[ZeroKnight]

Yay! Congrats, raiden! I'm going to host this map on Wazu servers until it's in the official release :)

[Ulukai]

You see that hard work pays off Well done!

[raiden]

Coolio, I'll go for the latest Svn soon .

[Dratz-_C]

raiden,
We talked earlier, but I'm happy to see you complete the project and have it included in Red Eclipse.
Cheers

[wowie]

Amazing.

[raiden]

Before I forget, I wanted to thank all people who tried to help or just said "hey keep it up, we would be pleased if this will come". This hold me in this project, because of the unsolved problems over longer times I had doubts and didn't know whether I could bring this to a successful end.

So thanks and when there should be something with the map ... here is a good place to post a message. I'll download the SVN version and can work on then. Otherwise I try to visit the irc from time to time. The people there will surely tell me, if something went wrong.

[Dratz-_C]

raiden,
I am sorry I forgot to mention this again before your map was included in the SVN but when you fall under the center platform do you still die when you move toward the center? If this isn't fixed in the SVN, I fixed it in Quaternion by adding one teleport under the center of the area while leaving all other perimeter teleports in place. I think they do not conflict with each other I because 1 is always closer in radius to the player than all of the others. I have extensively tested this method and recommend it to solve the problem, if indeed it is still present in Cutec in the SVN.
Cheers

[raiden]

Ah you are right, thanks for remembering. I forgot that detail and your method sounds good indeed. So I have to download the Svn as soon as I can, to fix this. Probably in the next week I can start . *ty*

[arand]

Me and TheLastProject discussed a bit on IRC and noted that the bomber-ball in cutec might be a bit too inaccessible, the rocket being confusing to get is kind of ok, but I don't think the bomber-ball should be, think of the newbies!

[raiden]

Probably you are right. It would be no problem to place the bomberball-entity in the middle of the platform, or maybe to the middle edge of the higher level of the middle platform between the two teams. Sadly it's a bit late, because of the release date for an update for RE. If there is anybody with a real SVN-access who could do this quickly enough, this would be great.
Otherwise I can do this by myself later then.