CanadianZopMod Beta Test#1

[Zop]

I uploaded a zip with the map sources, the original GNU text that came with the maps, my own text about making it, and the actual .bsp file to use to play the level. ID's DMs

[aguirRe]

This map has massive tjunction sparkles all over it, it seems to be built without tjunction calculations. Either it's built with an old TreeQBSP (which unfortunately had tjuncs off by default) or tjunctions have been explicitly disabled with the -notjunc option.

The sparkles are very visible already in 1280 res, but will be even worse in lower resolutions. I'd recommend a rebuild for better visual quality.

Otherwise the map works nice with many bots, I tried 256 reapers or 24 omicrons and they all seemed to have a blast ...

[ORL]

I'm interested to know how long the compile time for the map was. Especially the full vis time.

[Zop]

I had left some command-line options set on the bsp compiler, from my attempts at making everything work, which included disabling tjuncs (I didn't know what it was). I didn't see the texture sparkles, but I have seen them in other maps.

I compiled again, and on my 1.8ghz p4, the time taken is:
bsp- :52
light- 3:56
vis- 3:59 (visdatasize: 112 kb compressed from 1554 kb)

I'm quite surprised how quick it was (my latest map takes 45 minutes just for vis), but I'm sure the original maps were hugely optimized by many methods.

Newest download link!!!: ID's DMs Redownload only if you notice texture sparkles/oddities.

[aguirRe]

Thanks! I forgot to mention before that there are also other things you might consider when building a collection of the classics like this.

Since this is DM, players might want to have as close as possible "feeling" in the map. By using the qbsp -oldexpand option, the clipping hulls (what the players collide with) will be calculated in the old buggy way. I didn't see if you've rotated some of the maps, but that might also affect qbsp (hopefully not much).

Then there's the issue of opaque water, if you want that you can add the qbsp -nowatervis option. There's currently no way to produce the old solid skies, though.

Finally there's lighting, I noticed you've added minlight 15 to the maps, but still used old -extra oversampling (2x2). If you just want to improve on the current lighting, I'd suggest adding -fast -soft -extra4 -gate 1 to the light options. This will significantly speed up and improve lighting, mainly by reducing the jagged edges of all shadows.

If you feel adventurous, you could try this:

light -fast -soft -extra4 -light 50 -addmin -sunlight 150 -sunmangle 45,-75 -sunlight3 80 -range 0.35 idsdms

This will create a new look for the old classics ...

[Zop]

I do want to keep water opaque and keep the feeling (I know what you're saying, but I couldn't detect a difference on corners or anywhere), so another update will be needed. It would be nice if I could delete my previous uploads... I didn't even know about all these options, since I've been using the one that came with qED six years ago...

I see a -solidsky option on the light compiler, though.

Update:
light takes 12 minutes now (without speedup options).
Light update!!! Definately recommended.

[aguirRe]

The -solidsky light option is just to be able to use sunlight in old maps with solid skies. It usually works, but it's a hack.

Btw, if you have problems loading big and leaky maps, try one of my engines. They are tailor-made for this and can load almost anything very fast.

[Zop]

I forgot to run the -nowatervis, so here's another update.

R00k wanted the spawnpoints with level markers on them, so I added the name of the map to their targetname. (That is, all the spawnpoints from dm1 have a targetname of "dm1")

I put up a basic site at runequake. (Straight link: zip file) Thanks again, to Slot...

[Baker]

Zop, I'm lacking creativity. I tried your map and killed myself several times to spawn in the next map(s).

What are some ideas on interesting game play with the map or concepts like this.

[aguirRe]

With bots or other players you don't have to worry about that ... But I also thought it would be more interesting if the maps were physically connected. With donuts or other windy connections, I don't think vis would be that bad.

Still, there'd be decisions of where and how they should be connected and player strategies.

[Baker]

Still, there'd be decisions of where and how they should be connected and player strategies.

I don't see how that would be much different than death32c. I could see how cool it would be for all the single player maps to be connected for coop (although the entity count would make it limited to specific engines).

A use I could see is where 1 server ran multiple maps at the same time so players don't argue about what map to play :d

But I could imagine the QuakeC for that being very messy

[Canadian*Sniper]

It's aboot time!!!

Sorry for the delay folks! It's time to get this beta test on it's way!

IT'S TIME TO GET CRACKIN

Invitation Details:

server: whitehot.quakeone.com:26000
date: Friday, January 26 2006
time: 6:00pm PST | 8:00pm CST | 9:00pm EST
requirements:

- use the darkplaces engine (you can't connect without it)
- you must have the idsdms.bsp map

If you don't have the map, you will not be able to see where the hell you're going (it would be like using wallhack with wall opacity set to 0% ). So download the map (links are provided on the first post) and get darkplaces if you don't already have it.

Instructions:
JUST PLAY. There's nothing special needed for you guys to do so just play and enjoy killing everyone. Zop and I simply just want to test the server to see if it can handle 64 players.



Remember this is a test for an even greater project. Hosting a map with all the DM maps is nothing! We want something bigger like all the original maps merged into one! But we must take our baby steps and your support won't go unnoticed.

[ORL]

Dang, this is gonna be a long 10 days. But I can't wait! I'll sure as hell be there.

[Zop]

Be there or be square.

[LordHavoc]

The -solidsky light option is just to be able to use sunlight in old maps with solid skies. It usually works, but it's a hack.

Btw, if you have problems loading big and leaky maps, try one of my engines. They are tailor-made for this and can load almost anything very fast.

So is DarkPlaces, it even runs Urre's Space Scraper map (which is "slightly larger than Earth"), although the polygons begin to disintegrate due to video card precision issues when you get toward the bottom

And since whitehot requires DarkPlaces it is a bit more relevant to the discussion... Not that I'm opposed to you mentioning your stuff too.

One thing I wonder though - why do people ignore hmap2? It has an insanely fast light utility (pvs optimized - be sure to run it after vis) and the vis utility is as solid as any other (and has options for disabling individual sound channels, and it even fixes the sound attenuation bug that made quake have completely 100%/0% volume levels).

Although I've had some bsp precision issues with some maps in the qbsp stage, probably just because the default bounding planes are over 1 billion units, I need to make that adaptive like the code in the darkplaces engine for reconstructing portals and brushes.

Perhaps the better question is why we don't collaborate on a map compiler