Roadmap to completion, possible???

[minilogoguy18]

With the mod picking back up I'm curious if we should possibly start planning out a roadmap of to-do's and what is considered 100% complete and maybe make some sort of google doc to show what's done, what's being worked on and just how far along everything is.

 

Thoughts? @@DT85

 

Maybe some coordinated system that shows what hasn't been started, what's in development, what's in game but incomplete and what's considered finished and not currently being worked on.

[Tempust85]

Sounds like a good idea. I suggest having a first release that's a 2 level demo.

[minilogoguy18]

That or even a 1 level demo would work if it's a long enough level to grab peoples interest.

[Tempust85]

Well, the both narshadda levels just need tweaking with ammo/health drops. Other than that, they are suitable for a demo.

[minilogoguy18]

I must have only played an older 02nar cause the one I played was just the beginning with a few basic NPC's. I'll have to update my files and play through the second level to see how it turned out.

 

A little off topic but while we're on the subject, have you given any thought to the workflow in the thread that @@KENNITHH started about using maps as models with the shadows baked in? They turned out quite nice but I don't know enough about Radiant to know if it would be worth doing.

[Teancum]

I wish you guys the best in getting things rolling. Hardest part is getting maps completed, so hopefully people grab hold of the project. It's amazing to see my favorite Jedi Knight game getting this kind of love.

[Tempust85]

Our vanilla renderer supports stencil shadows on misc_model_static (MD3's loaded by the renderer, not part of the map brushwork). I do also have a basic port of rend2 working on SP so I'm hoping that can be used instead.

[minilogoguy18]

Ah yes, I read that after posting, awesome work with getting a stable SP port.

 

@@Teancum, we may need mappers but coders would be super helpful too just cause we're adding new NPC types, just sayin'.

[Teancum]

Ah yes, I read that after posting, awesome work with getting a stable SP port.

 

@@Teancum, we may need mappers but coders would be super helpful too just cause we're adding new NPC types, just sayin'.

I can be on stand by if something's needed. I've closed up most of my other modding projects to give me some breathing room.

[Onysfx]

Was just replaying a bit of DF2 with the Jk13 patch. Anyone interested in playing some CoOp?

[minilogoguy18]

It currently doesn't work on my PC ATM, win10 x64 and probably a bit of graphics card mix. I need to get it up and running with the patch and VFX enhancements. I need to play through it again and "do my homework".

[Onysfx]

It currently doesn't work on my PC ATM, win10 x64 and probably a bit of graphics card mix. I need to get it up and running with the patch and VFX enhancements. I need to play through it again and "do my homework".

PM me for a Link for the updated game, I managed to get it working on my AMD card.

[minilogoguy18]

It's on jkhub.org

[Onysfx]

It's on jkhub.org

I'm talking about the 1997 version lol. You can PM me if you want the actual dark forces 2 game.

[Teancum]

On the subject of a roadmap, what levels have work done on them? I.E. is level 3 (Sulon) in progress at all? Are there updated textures for it? Just trying to get an idea as to where work would be needed. My company just downsized the office space so many of us work from home now. That being said I *might* have a bit more time.

 

In reality if I do JA modding I want to finish up levels 7-8 for the Dark Forces project, but I'd be willing to trade up some work in exchange for taking on a level for JK. I'm not the greatest mapper, but at minimum I can lay all the bones out.

[minilogoguy18]

Well if you can do like the bulk work I bet @@DT85 could come behind you and maybe do fine tweaking and ensuring that it's going to take advantage of the new render engine since that's something to keep in mind is that we wont be using the base game.

 

Might wanna just make sure you guys are probably using the same version of Radiant to ensure that the maps can be passed back and forth.

[Ramikad]

is level 3 (Sulon) in progress at all? Are there updated textures for it?

 

Sorta. I'm trying to get the second half of the level properly rotated, but most of the map is complete, except for furniture, some details and a couple of areas that need to be fleshed out; and of course the various items / keys / tricks. On a side note, I've experimented with Mailoc and Water Cyc placeholders, and beasts will really need an upgrade code-wise. It's a mess to make them fly and attack properly, or swim and attack / chase underwater without severe AI problems. Could also use splitting between upper and lower anims, so that they use the basic flying or swimming animation and it's seamlessly merged with the main attack animation, much like the _humanoid animations.

[Tempust85]

On the subject of a roadmap, what levels have work done on them? I.E. is level 3 (Sulon) in progress at all? Are there updated textures for it? Just trying to get an idea as to where work would be needed. My company just downsized the office space so many of us work from home now. That being said I *might* have a bit more time.

 

In reality if I do JA modding I want to finish up levels 7-8 for the Dark Forces project, but I'd be willing to trade up some work in exchange for taking on a level for JK. I'm not the greatest mapper, but at minimum I can lay all the bones out.

 

7 & 8 are taken already. 7 is pretty much done, just lighting and shit to finalize. Have all the scripting done, including beating Yun within an inch of his life to trigger a cinematic and the next level.

 

 

 

Take a look at the map assignments post, see what you'd like to do that isn't taken already.

 

https://jkhub.org/topic/3512-level-assignments/?p=49198

[minilogoguy18]

@@Ramikad, your maps you showed were looking quite good from what I remember, especially the one with the Sulon Star in the background. The thing with the NPC's is just going to have to be ignored for the time being and place holders left as they are until someone can get around to coding the new NPC types we need. The main thing I would say right now to make sure the maps get closer to as complete as they can be is re-evaluate the textures and shaders. We need to bring everything up to date to work with the port of Rend2 over to OpedDF2.

[Tempust85]

If we go rend2, we'll need to be using "misc_dlight" (dynamic lights) instead of "light" (lightmaps).

[minilogoguy18]

I have confidence that you'll get it working.

[Teancum]

Man, I hadn't considered the falling ship level. That one is going to suck. I wonder if you can rotate an entire level after having it mostly complete. Dealing with those angles the entire time in Radiant wouldn't be fun, but complex geometry might crash the editor. Still, that's a really long way off, so best not to worry about it now.

[minilogoguy18]

Well we could model everything in a 3D art package and transfer it to Radiant since it's tools are like 0.0001% of what the major 3D suites are.

[Tempust85]

Not advisable to rotate brushwork, you can easily create bad brushes.

 

For mapping, do a basic blockout & entities in the editor and the do the details in 3d packages. These are loaded via misc_model (converted into BSP) or misc_model_static (loaded by the renderer). The latter however will drive up the entity count, and we are already adding to it by having to use misc_dlight (dynamic lights) instead of light (lightmaps). Thankfully dynamic lighting look decent in rend2 opposed to vanilla, where against brushwork everything is faceted. I've only done basic tests with misc_dlight and have no idea how they would impact performance of a complete level. May need to load & unload them via triggers to save FPS, much like you would with NPC loading.

 

If rend2 is viable, we will dump the vanilla renderer from use.

[minilogoguy18]

What about increasing the entity limit? The computing power now a days is way more than it was when this game was new.