Jedi_Mediator

Added/changed some texturing and architecture in this room: Also, in the process of fixing missing grate textures, I discovered an issue with the grate texture I chose. It's actually a shader, and because it's rendering a lightmap over the top of its alpha channel (the empty spaces in the grate), the lightmap blends through onto everything seen above/below it. As you can see, it creates a weird over-bright effect that is really out of place. The problem is especially apparent because, for some reason, the original design of the level has that *entire* floor covered in grate texture. Doesn't make much sense to me (wouldn't the Imperials choose a more durable floor structure?), and it might create more problems than it's worth. So we can either keep the huge grated floor and try to fix the blending problems, or just reduce the amount of grates in that area, making the blending problems moot. Let me know what you think.

Okay, I fixed some missing textures and started on architecture today. Basic additions to make things look less bland, but still keeping with the theme of the level. Before and after shots of the security rooms below.

I've been playing through the level to determine exactly what needs to be fixed. Here are some of the issues I found. Let me know if there are more. -Missing textures. One example is cairn/grate, which I couldn't find in the base JK2 assets. Does somebody have this texture? If not, we could simply use one of the game's existing grate textures. -Missing scripts. Some will be easy to fix (like moving the bridge or operating elevators). Some I really have no idea how to make--such as a crane puzzle. -Inaccessible areas. For example, in the second room, with the security guard windows, you need Force Jump to be level 3 just to reach the air vents to get into the security rooms. I don't know what Force abilities the player would have at this point in the game, but if they don't have Force Jump 3, the air vents will need to be lower or we need to put something (i.e. a crate) for them to jump off from. -Mysterious rooms. For instance, in the largest room, the middle door on the right side of the main level leads to a set of four identical rooms that are empty. I assume these are supposed to serve some purpose, but right now it's really unclear what they're for. -Missing buttons. For instance, I couldn't find any button to press that would raise or lower the middle bridge. -Broken puzzles. For instance, even with Force Jump 2 (which the level started me out with), I was able to easily jump the gap between the two bridges in the big room. Which makes it completely unnecessary to raise the bridge and use Force Speed as described in the level flow. -Broken areaportals. Some doors, when they open, create a Hall Of Mirrors effect when you look through them. You can still walk through, but when you look back, the room you came from will now be a Hall of Mirrors. -Doors that lead nowhere. I'm not sure if there's supposed to be anything beyond these doors, but right now, it looks like they're just there for show. When working on a project like this, it helps me to have very specific things that I need to finish, otherwise the whole thing seems too confusing to think about. Should we start by working on these issues, and then go from there?

Playing through the level (or trying to), I found that it was kind of difficult to figure out what the level flow is supposed to be. I got a security key from a guard to continue to the second room, but after that, it seemed I was supposed to travel through some air vents near the ceiling to get behind locked doors...and there was no apparent way to get to the air vents. It would help if there were some notes from the developers as to what was actually supposed to happen throughout the course of the level. Was that what you sent me in our Skype conversation? I tried to open a file called "Design Notes" or something, but it encountered an error. Maybe if you PM me the file instead? I should say right now that I don't think I can completely finish the map on my own. There are issues with certain things (NPC routing, areaportals, missing scripts, etc.) that I don't have experience with, partly because I'm not an SP mapper. What I can do, at the very least, is flesh out the level's visuals in places that seem unfinished--the exit, for instance, and the air vents--and maybe fix/add some entities or simple scripts to make certain things work--such as elevators or doors. For anything that's left after that, we may need to find someone else to help.

Sorry about the delay! I took a look at the map and saw some rooms/hallways on the edges that looked like dead ends. Are these the areas that you want finished? And in our Skype conversation, you mentioned "scripts" and "level flow" that need to be completed--could you be a bit more specific about this? I have very limited experience working with single player maps...my focus has always been on multiplayer.

This actually makes a lot of sense. And considering that MagSul got the same result, I think you're probably right. Well, looks like I'll have to go with target_push instead. But I can live with that. I'd like to clarify one thing, though--are they reliable enough for MP play? Like I mentioned before, I've read in several places that target_push is not recommended for MP, because it's client-side predicted...is there any truth to this?

Turns out I was a lot closer to finishing DT85's changes than I thought! @@minilogoguy18, do you want me to PM you the files so you can have a look at the map in its current state? I think it's complete, but you can request changes if you want.

I did start off by using trigger_multiple with target_push, but I read in several places that trigger_push is more reliable for Internet play--something about server-side versus client-side calculations. Plus, the trigger_multiple + target_push setup doubles the number of entities needed to make jump pads. If needed I will try that workaround, but I would prefer a solution to the trigger_push problem instead.

A key feature of my new map is jump pads, but I've run into a problem. I'm trying to make the jump pads toggleable, so that they switch on and off via a script. Basically, I want them to only be usable at specific times. To make the jump pads, I'm using a trigger_push targeted at an info_notnull. I'm using the script command SET_INACTIVE to toggle them on and off. When they're active, they work perfectly--they fire me at the right speed, in the right direction, every time. But they behave strangely when they're "inactive." Instead of doing nothing, they make my character vibrate uncontrollably as soon as I touch them. It's like they're trying to push me and not push me at the same time. I have tried using entities instead (target_activate and target_deactivate) to achieve the toggling, but I get exactly the same effect. Does anyone know what the problem is, and how I can fix it?

Yes, I'm going to finish the three edits DT85 requested on the previous page, since he said those were what it needed to be complete. I'm working on a personal project too at the moment, so it'll take a few days, but no longer than a week.

Dunno...that would be partly up to the leaders of the mod, since I agreed to make the map specifically for the mod. The map itself is just a recreation, so there wasn't a lot of creativity behind it anyway.

Wow...a LOT of life changes for me since I last looked at this thread. I just realized that I had never actually finished the fixes that were requested to complete this map! I want to take care of those so I can at least call this done.

Thanks for the request! I'll take a look at it and see if I can help.

Any thoughts, @@DT85? I'll be glad to start on another map if you think this one is done. If you'd like, I'll post the .bsp file so you can test it yourself.

Well, Easter Break is over and I'm ready to start thinking about mapping again. @@DT85, what additions/changes would you like to see me make to the Level 11 map? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think I'm pretty close to being done. It closely resembles the original, and I'm pretty content with the level of additional detail. Once this one is complete, I'm thinking of doing one, MAYBE two more maps for the mod.

Added more detailing and tweaked lighting. I tried the lamp model in the lower part of the map, but as you can see, it looks kind of dim. We could still use the model, but we might want to tweak the shader so it looks like it's actually emitting light.

I could definitely add pipes and/or wires if we wanted to go that route. My question (potentially to everyone) is how closely we should stick to the original level designs. Obviously, the original Gorc & Pic level did not have pipes or wires, but if we don't mind deviating a little, it could definitely add some variety.

New update. Added a simple border to the walls to help the entryway work a little better with the texture. Also changed some lighting and added new lighting in the area at the bottom of the map.

All right, here's today's update. Did lots of texturing and detailed brushwork in the big main room, and toned the lights down a little bit. I tried to keep the feel of the original level the same, but adding details inevitably changes the appearance too much. What do you think? Too much change? Not enough?

When I try to imbed the images using tags, it gives me the message, "You are not allowed to use that image extension on this community." Do I not have enough permissions to use tags here? But I love adding detail. What I've done so far is just staying true to the original game's boring texturing. I'll start making it look better today and post screenies of my progress.

Here's my first WIP for this very simple level. I've got pretty much all the brushwork done and added some basic lights. What you see is basically an attempt to mimic the original as closely as possible. Tiling textures and all. I would love to add some more detail to make it less boring than the original, but I don't know how close you guys want to stick to the original game's visuals. How much can we add to these levels? [Any advice on how to embed the images rather than just link to them? It doesn't seem to be letting me.] http://s241.photobucket.com/user/Jedi_Mediator/media/shot0305_zpslmt3xzhy.jpg.html http://s241.photobucket.com/user/Jedi_Mediator/media/shot0307_zpstafbrnlp.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3 http://s241.photobucket.com/user/Jedi_Mediator/media/shot0311_zps41ha0tfd.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2 http://s241.photobucket.com/user/Jedi_Mediator/media/shot0306_zpsjogljqh7.jpg.html?sort=3&o=5

I'd like to take the Pic & Gorc level. Since it's really small, it's a nice place to start--I've never used ZED before, so I want to get the hang of it before doing anything more ambitious. I'll start on the brushwork now. Once I finish this, I *might* take the Planet of the Jedi level...but I'm not sure yet. We'll see.

Yeah, I should've mentioned--I have Windows 7 64-bit. And this map has always compiled fine before, although the compile time has gotten a lot longer as the map has grown. It might make sense to restart the computer and try compiling again before doing anything else, so that more of the RAM is free. Unless...could the map itself, loaded in Radiant, be taking up too much RAM for the compile to work?

Yep, lomem crashed every time I tried it. At least, that's what it looked like. It's always worked on this map before, but this time Windows just gave me that window that says it stopped responding. And my laptop has 4 GB of RAM...maybe it happened because there wasn't enough RAM available at that moment?

Just recently I tried to run a light compile on my map and got this error: safe_malloc failed on allocation of 276824064 bytes My compile line was "-light -fast -dirty -samples 3". I also tried one with -lomem added, but the compiler just crashed/stopped responding. Has anyone gotten this problem before?