JK2 JK2 The Lost Mission

[eezstreet]

Yeah. I was thinking at first that maybe they intended for that ramp to be a thing you use Force Pull on, but it seemed like it would blend too much into the ceiling.

[Jedi_Mediator]

Did work on the "staircase room" adjacent to the big stockpile room.

-Added crates for clutter, in lower and upper levels (since this is a stockpile, after all)

-Changed ramp to a staircase and added structural supports for realism

-Fixed overkill lighting for added contrast

-Changed upper floor texture to something solid

-Improved some texturing

 

Before/after of lower level:

 

 

 

 

 

Shots of upper level:

 

 

 

 

 

Close-up of fleshed-out staircase (let me know if you want it changed):

 

 

 

 

[eezstreet]

I like what you did here! Especially with the lighting.

[Jedi_Mediator]

@@eezstreet, could you try sending me the .zip of the cairn .map files again? The one you sent me before was somehow corrupt. I'd like to see some of the working grate textures that Raven used in the cairn missions.

[Archangel35757]

I think there should be a small platform elevator for those lower and upper levels there for moving cargo crates. the stairs width/floor opening should also be wider than one crate as well.

[Jedi_Mediator]

I did make sure the stair opening is quite a bit wider than the crates. The cargo elevator idea makes sense, but gameplay-wise, it seems like it would make the staircase pointless. That would be a change for eezstreet to decide on.

[Jedi_Mediator]

Before/after of the "goodie room":

 

 

 

 

Before/after of the corridor leading to the "goodie rooms":

 

 

 

[eezstreet]

Nice! I like how you made it look really different from the ones in cairn_dock.

 

all cairn map files:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w79ner60r9u9x9p/cairn2.zip?dl=0

[Onysfx]

I must admit this looks quite juicy.

[Jedi_Mediator]

Spruced up the passageways above the cargo room and also the first big room of the level.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[eezstreet]

Nice! How many more rooms do you have left to do?

[Jedi_Mediator]

Six rooms, if my count is correct. But there are also a lot of doors that currently lead to nowhere, and I'm not sure if there are supposed to be additional rooms beyond them that were never built.

[eezstreet]

Do these doors open?

[Lancelot]

But there are also a lot of doors that currently lead to nowhere, and I'm not sure if there are supposed to be additional rooms beyond them that were never built.

If you are planning to add more rooms for those doors, I would suggest some that can be found in pretty much every facility. Maybe some locker rooms or a storage (for spare parts, crates or droids) would be great.

And yes, it might be a cliche, but I would also suggest a trash compactor.

[eezstreet]

If you are planning to add more rooms for those doors, I would suggest some that can be found in pretty much every facility. Maybe some locker rooms or a storage (for spare parts, crates or droids) would be great.

And yes, it might be a cliche, but I would also suggest a trash compactor.

This is supposed to be the stockpile area. While I agree that there should be a waste section (and this isn't really properly explored on the cairn installation, and is in fact a plot hole!), having a trash compacter be part of the stockpile would be out of place. Storage for spare parts sounds like it could work though. I would advise against making every door lead to something though, there needs to be some illusion that doors go elsewhere, so it's one big interconnected base.

[Jedi_Mediator]

Do these doors open?

No, none of the doors that lead to nowhere currently open. I'm guessing this means that they are not essential to completing the level, so we could leave them shut unless we decide the player needs extra pickups.

[eezstreet]

Yeah, that sounds good.

[Jedi_Mediator]

It's been a while since my last update, but since then i've finished adding architecture to 5 of the 6 rooms I had left (again, if my count is correct). I did work on three smaller rooms and both levels of a bigger room.

 

Little room overlooking big stockpile area:

 

 

 

Crane control room (?):

 

 

 

Some kind of elevator room:

 

 

 

Upper level of the big room:

 

 

 

Lower level of the big room:

 

 

 

Let me know if you want anything changed!

[eezstreet]

Looks very nice. I can't find many complaints. The only thing I would suggest changing is the upper level of the big room. I rather liked the old white/grey/brownish lighting, it makes it a bit different from the rest of the level. I'm not sure how you feel about that though.

What's the last room that needs to be finished?

[Jedi_Mediator]

No problem, I'll change the lighting back to white. And from what I could find looking around the level, this is the last room I still need to add architecture to (shown below). Maybe it's the AT-ST storage mentioned in the level flow you posted, or perhaps the room leading up to it. But that level flow mentions rooms that don't seem to match any that I see currently present in the level. So once I finish improving this room, I'm not sure how many rooms I may or may not need to make from scratch.

 

 

 

[Jedi_Mediator]

Okay, I made some tweaks to the room mentioned above, and tidied up some of the editing I've done in other areas of the map. From what I can tell, the architecture of the map is more or less complete (with the exception of any rooms that may or may not need to be added).

 

But it's probably best for you to decide that for yourself, @@eezstreet. If you want, I'll PM you the .bsp file so you can explore the level and let me know of any changes that need to be made. If the architecture is finished, then I'd say it's time to move on to the next stage of this project.

[eezstreet]

Got it. Sorry, for some reason it didn't mark the thread as unread!

Here's my impressions of the map:

• Entry room: very nice, very well lit. It seems like you used some more precise shadows. What was your q3map2 line like?
• First room, generators and flanking stormtroopers: Missing texture on the buttons that control the lifts. The blue power lines (the hole in the floor that you can get into) don't seem to connect into the walls all the way. I would've picked a different texture for the floor here also.
• All of the doors don't have sound, and there's lots of areaportalling problems. More of a quirk/optimization problem. The tall green doors seem to open a bit quick, but the rectangular grey ones are awesome.
• Goodie room: I really like what you did with these rooms. They have such a dark and forboding presence. Really good job. I have no complaints. Every time I look, there's always some minor detail that catches my eye. Amazing stuff.
• Stairway room: I think the cylindrical crate in the middle of the floor was a bit odd, it maybe perhaps should've been to the side. In order to improve gameplay, consider adding some crates next to the stairs that the player can take cover behind. The stairs also need to be moved a bit, because the player can slide between the stairs and the wall. I have a feeling that some people will get stuck here.
• Stairway room, upstairs. One of the grates was bugged and I can pass through it, while the other one was properly breakable. Otherwise, I have no qualms. Looks great.
• Proceeding upwards. The side areas of each T-junction feel a bit drab, like perhaps they need something on the floor. They all sorta felt the same and it would be pretty hard to tell what room I was in. I also feel like the breakable section of floor was not very noticeable at all, and perhaps needs something a bit more obvious. I like what you did with the little power pipes, I thought it was a nice touch.
• Proceeding down the rabbit hole. I really like these hallways. They have lots of color and vary just the right amount. The area that they spill out into though, felt a bit drab. Again, maybe it needs just objects on the floor here, like control panels or something. The lift didn't seem to work, so I'm using noclip here.
• Oh my gosh. This control room is awesome. I really really love it! The top floor is really well done. I think the bottom floor could use a bit darker lighting though for more contrast between the upper floor and lower floor. What do you think of this idea? Also, something about the walls coming up from the lower level on the ramp bothered me, but I don't know why.
• The room that this leads to is also really awesome, and I have no complaints about it. Pretty much none. I really love what you did with the pipes.
• The pit has a bit too bright of lighting. Also there needs to be some way to get to cairn_reactor from there. Maybe some doors or something.

In terms of level flow though, I'm a bit concerned. I'm not sure how we're going to work the crane puzzle in. Maybe it's required to open the doors on the other side of the big stockpile lift?

[Jedi_Mediator]

Thanks for the detail and variety of your feedback! I've already started working on some of the issues you mentioned.

 

• Fixed the missing button textures, the disconnected pipes, and changed the floor texture.
• I felt the actual workings of the doors were more of a functionality concern than an architecture, so I waited on those until we move on in the project. As for the areaportaling...I have put hours into trying different methods to fix this issue, and I just CAN'T figure out how to solve it. It's pretty frustrating. I've examined and messed with the areaportals and the surrounding architecture in every way I could think of, and I just can't understand why some of them work and others don't. Maybe we can get advice or help from someone else?
• I think the cylindrical crate was a placeholder from the original developers saying, "There will be crates in this room." I just moved it off to one side, next to some other crates. I also added the crates by the stairs and moved the stairs themselves so that they're flush with the base of the wall.
• Fixed the nonsolid grate.
• I added some visual variety to the T-junction rooms, so that each one looks a little different. I also changed the breakable floor section to something that looks more like damaged metal. Let me know if you think I made it too obvious.
• The room at the end of the hallways you mentioned (the one with the window and the lift leading up to the control room) could be made more interesting by making it the control room for the crane puzzle...more on that below.
• I will darken the lighting in the control room's lower level and take a look at those wall textures.
• I will try and darken the lighting in the pit room, too. We can figure out the level transition once we're working on level flow.

 

You're right, we will have to figure out what the crane puzzle is meant to actually accomplish. Maybe when the player first enters the stockpile, they see the Imperials using the crane to move crates in front of a door, to block the intruder's progress? Then the player would need to use the crane to unblock the door.

 

I also had some thoughts about actually doing the crane puzzle. The control room in the upper corner of the stockpile room (the one you mentioned as being the room where the player works on the crane puzzle) has really poor placement for actually doing the puzzle. The player cannot see the crates at all from this room--you might have noticed that. But I also noticed that, from the window in the "drab" room mentioned above, the player can actually see the crates really well. Maybe this could be the room the player uses to actually operate the crane. Then we could make the old crane control room into some kind of security room, where the player performs a security override to unlock the crane controls.

[eezstreet]

I was thinking that maybe the crane is necessary to unlock the doors on the other side of the giant lift. When the lift has a certain amount of weight on it, the lift will raise and the opposite doors will unlock. A numeric display (with different textures: "0/45", "15/45", "30/45", "45/45") indicates how much weight is on the lift.

I think if it comes down to it, I might use cinematics for the crane movement so the player can see what they're doing. So perhaps room placement won't be an issue.

[Archangel35757]

I was thinking that maybe the crane is necessary to unlock the doors on the other side of the giant lift. When the lift has a certain amount of weight on it, the lift will raise and the opposite doors will unlock. A numeric display (with different textures: "0/45", "15/45", "30/45", "45/45") indicates how much weight is on the lift. I think if it comes down to it, I might use cinematics for the crane movement so the player can see what they're doing. So perhaps room placement won't be an issue.

Would it not be possible to lock out the player movements but have the joystick movements then drive the crane?