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Eleldee v1.1 (CTF) Released!

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:33 pm
by Slowguy
(Updated 8-7-05)

Some Pics:
Image
Image

From the Readme:
*****************************************************************************************************************************
============
Eleldee v1.1
============
Author: Slowguy (aka Max/{RS}Max)
Date: 8-6-05
Mods Supported: 2-team CTF (recommended), Anarchy, Team Anarchy, Hyper Anarchy, and Hoard
E-mail: Slowguy8503@yahoo.com
================
Changes From 1.0
================
-BOA Vis Table recalculated to fix ship disappearing bug.
-Sound portal bug fixed.
-Lighting redone (with high quality settings --lightmap spacing of 1, iterations 9999999, lightmap spacing of 0.000005, and ambiance set to 0.02--) on both the mine and terrain portions of the level.
-Satellite moved to cast large shadow areas on the terrain, and also to provide better lighting on the inside of the connecting bridges between bases.
-changed and aligned a few textures.
-New level loading screen. ;)
==========================================
Background, and level description
==========================================
I started this level shortly after the Descent IV project was canceled. I had been on the team as a level designer and was focusing on creating high-poly rooms and objects for the level that I was assigned to. Once the project ended I continued working on the level I was assigned in hopes of someday releasing it, but I ended up loosing all that work when a virus infected my computer. Once I fixed the computer I decided that I would build a new level. A singleplayer level that was inspired by my previous work on the DIV project. I didn't get far on this new level though. I had very big ideas and not enough time, so I eventually ended up loosing interest.
Recently though, I decided to make some use out of what I had started long ago. I wanted to take what I had and build a symmetrical CTF level. The end result is this: A large high-poly CTF level with a simple layout that is very easy to learn and should make for a fun game with 4 to 16 players.
================
Level Statistics
================
55 Rooms (14 external)
32601 Faces
40495 Vertices
135 Portals
59 Polygon objects (59 inside, 0 outside)
5 Energy Centers
2 Doors
1 Red Goal
1 Blue Goal
16 Player Starts
=============
Weapon Layout
=============
2 4 Pack Concussion Missiles
2 Afterburner Coolers
1 EMD Launcher
2 Frag Missiles
2 Fusion Cannons
6 Homing Missiles
2 Impact Mortars
2 Mass Drivers
2 Mass Driver Rounds
2 Mega Missiles
2 Microwave Cannons
2 Napalm Rockets
2 Omega Cannons
2 Plasma Cannons
2 Quad Laser Powerups
2 Shield Orbs
2 Superlaser Cannons
2 Vauss Cannons
2 Vauss Clips
=============
Modifications
=============
-Missile trails have been modified.
-A recoil effect was added to the Fusion Cannon.
-Added in Hostile's Plasma mod. (Sound adjusted so as not to cause problems).
-Mass Driver starting ammo was reduced to 4 rounds, and the MD ammo power-up was reduced to 1 round.
-1 Custom door.
-2 custom light textures.
(Table entries for the missile trails, and Fusion recoil were taken from "The Long Run" by Nick, and table entries for the Plasma and MD mods were taken from "Damage" by Otherone).
==========
Annoyances
==========
-This level has very high polygon counts at times, and this results in poor framerates (especially in outdoor areas, and with the rearview window turned on) so a fairly decent computer with a good video card is recommended.
-When running under Direct3D (or in some cases OpenGL) you may notice strange lines running along the terrain. (This is not a problem with the level, it could be a problem with newer drivers and Descent 3).
-Lighting is not always smooth between the internal and external rooms (noticeable when you see a ship going through the portal between the rooms). This, as far as I know is a problem with the way lighting is done in D3.
===========
Server Note
===========
Servers hosting this level may need to extract the custom door file (http://home.ripway.com/2004-9/172350/Fastlpsdoorv1.oof) and place it in D3's main directory to prevent the game from crashing when the level resets.
*****************************************************************************************************************************

Download here: http://www.koolbear.com/Descent/levels/d3/eleldee11.zip
or here: http://www.gameedit.net/modules.php?nam ... tit&lid=27

Thanks to Sergent Thorne and Thunderbird for uploading the level to Planet Descent. :)

Problems?, Comments, Suggestions... Post them here!

Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:38 pm
by Kyouryuu
Without a doubt, the best-looking amateur Descent 3 map ever produced.

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:17 am
by Top Gun
Those screenies are absolutely jaw-dropping. I'm going to have to give this one a test-fly as soon as possible. :D

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:24 am
by Grendel
A bit hard on the frame rate in the dome areas -- looks awsome tho :)

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:50 am
by Slowguy
The download link was removed because there was a problem with the level. There was a problem with visibility, you could only see other players if you were in the same room with them... I'm pretty sure the problem is fixed now, I recalculated the BOA vis table and the problem disappeared. I still need to do a little testing but I'll try and get the new version uploaded as soon as possible. Sorry, I know it sucks having to wait again, and then re-download. :(

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 1:46 am
by Slowguy
I forgot to mention that I'm also relighting the terrain... I didn't really like how it was lighted in the previous version, so I'm relighting with high quality light settings (lightmap spacing of 1). I also relit the mine portion of the level... soo, everything is fixed, I'm just waiting for terrain lighting to finish, and that may take a few days. (Maybe a week. :oops:)

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:54 am
by Stryker
Ouch! What kind of comp are you lighting this on?

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:18 am
by Nightmare USA
Stryker wrote:Ouch! What kind of comp are you lighting this on?
A Slowguy comp :)

Very nice looking stuff there Slow guy! When you are finished with it I will put it up so include the following download url if you like.

http://www dot gameedit.net/files/d3/levels/levelname.zip
shoot me an email at nightmareusa at stny.rr.com I would like to put some info up about your level.

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 11:54 pm
by Slowguy
I'm running the lighting on my laptop, it's gotta 2.2ghz P4 and 384mb ram. It's not too bad, but I have to keep a fan blowing on it constantly, because it gets hot! My other computer is a dual 450mhz Pentium 3, and it's just way too slow to run the lighting for this level. It's taking such a long time because the lighting detail is set so high. It took me a day and a half to light the mine portion of the level, so terrain lighting is going to take longer. Actually at the rate it's going right now, the lighting will finish in a little under 7 days. I'm kind of debating on whether or not to wait that long, because the terrain does not really need to be relit... I have a backup copy fixed and ready to go, but I think the terrain would look much better with the lighting I'm running now. There would be better shadow detail and smoother transitions between light and dark.

Nightmare: Did you want me to send you info when I'm ready to upload, or before?

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 12:19 am
by Skyalmian
I should have offered my system to light it. I'm a pretty patient person and nitpicky about the light settings...

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 1:45 pm
by Slowguy
It's alright, I'll just let it run. Just gotta keep that fan going. :P Actually I checked this morning and the lighting is going much faster now, it may even finish late tonight or tomorrow. :D But who knows, it might slow down again...

Posted: Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:19 pm
by Nightmare USA
PM me (admin) on the GameEdit.Net Forum I would like to write an article about you and this level.

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 1:30 am
by Diti
Slowguy wrote:(lightmap spacing of 1).

Errr...is there a visible effect between ls1 and ls3?
As a side effect, the level's filesize grows a bit larger than with ls3 :roll:


Diti

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:21 am
by Skyalmian
Diti wrote:(1)Errr...is there a visible effect between ls1 and ls3?
(2)As a side effect, the level's filesize grows a bit larger than with ls3 :roll:
1. Absolutely.
2. Nobody cares.

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 8:45 am
by Slowguy
Yeah I'm aware of the file size difference... Hopefully the file wont be too huge after lighting is done. There does seem to be a difference between lightmap spacing of 1 and 2. I've only really noticed it in the round rooms. The lighting seems to blend better in those areas. I could be wrong though.

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 8:33 am
by Diti
@Sky:
1. I know ;-)
2. urgs...I only own a 56k modem

@Slowguys: Good job anyways!


Diti

Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 12:32 am
by Slowguy
Thanks Diti :) and I know how you feel, I'm also on 56k :(

Alright, so the lighting finished, and I'm happy with it (I updated screenshots, they look the same as the old ones though, just minor differences), but today I discovered another problem with the level. I was really hoping to upload today but then I discovered the problem, and yeah, it was disappointing.

If anyone can help me with this that'd be great. Here's the problem: Sound doesn't want to travel through certain portals. I mean, for example, if you enter a room where there is a ship firing lasers, you're usually able to hear the laser fire. Now if you exit that room you should still be able to hear the laser fire, it might be quieter, but you can still hear it. The problem is, that if you exit the room in this level you cannot hear the laser fire. It's like once you cross that portal the noise cuts out. You could be looking right at the ship, and see it firing lasers but you're not able to hear them fire. Also, sometimes you can hear other players pick up powerups from halfway across the level.

I don't know how to fix this (It's probably caused by my having external rooms between my internal rooms). I tried recalculating the BOA vis table, and recalculating terrain occlusion, but nothing... I also tried playing the level without the custom gam file, it didn't help. I don't even know if this can be fixed... so if anyone knows what I'm talking about, and how to fix it, please help! :(

If it cannot be fixed, I'll just release the level... It's not a major problem. Just an annoyance.

Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 1:09 pm
by Slowguy
Sorry for the long delay, hopefully there's nothing wrong with this version (but if you do find something, let me know!)

Get it here: http://www.koolbear.com/Descent/levels/d3/eleldee11.zip
or here: http://www.gameedit.net/modules.php?nam ... tit&lid=27

================
Changes From 1.0
================
-BOA Vis Table recalculated to fix ship disappearing bug.
-Sound portal bug fixed.
-Lighting redone (with high quality settings --lightmap spacing of 1, iterations 9999999, lightmap spacing of 0.000005, and ambiance set to 0.02--) on both the mine and terrain portions of the level.
-Satellite moved to cast large shadow areas on the terrain, and also to provide better lighting on the inside of the connecting bridges between bases.
-changed and aligned a few textures.
-New level loading screen. ;)

Servers hosting the level should put this file: http://home.ripway.com/2004-9/172350/Fastlpsdoorv1.oof in D3's main directory to prevent the game from crashing when the level resets.

Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 2:24 pm
by Grendel
Nice, thx! Hosted on Grendels Lair #13.

Posted: Sun Aug 07, 2005 6:55 pm
by Slowguy
np, thanks for hosting :)

Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 12:50 pm
by Spawner
WOW!! that looks pretty good!!!! (the picture down undr)

@grendel: thx for ur Post in DF. :)

Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 9:30 pm
by Skyalmian
I hope you saved the source files for this level, because while it makes Descent 3's Fusion engine cry and was released too late into its life, Core Decision's will probably lap it up with glee. 8)

Necro Note: This thread was still on forum page #1 when I made this reply.

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 9:32 pm
by Duper
BUMP!!!!!!!

because this level never got the attention it deserved. ;)

Give this a second look guys.