@Mfx, stop trolling this thread, I said no start map. Jams don't need them, the injector has a drop down menu and QS autocompletes. 

 

sock confirmed to me in irc

<sock> there is not going to be start map, I have said several times no, mfx is just bored
<sock> jams don't need start maps, QS autocompletes names anyway 

whats the face count? Did you use detail brushes?

My map has 57k marksurfaces, but 80% of BW are detail, so its vised in 10 minutes. 

 

Actually, if you want to have a look at the map and suggest some strategies for optimizing it, I'd appreciate it. It doesn't have to be now, it could be for the final version.

Sock was telling me Zendar (god I love that map) fully compiled in 15 minutes; lol. You guys have to realize how technically retarded I am when it comes to designing areas with long line of sight, though. I'm kind of surprised nsoe3 vised at all, especially back in 2008 before detail brushes or bsp2. 

 

That last one was directed to mfx.

Scampie, there is no runes in my map.

Tronyn, you can still send Sock an update of the map fully vised till friday. 

I'm wondering if this could be done :

Suppose you have a nice start map with, says, 10 map entries (teleporters).

Then, is it possible to edit the start map with a text editor to change its maps association, so you could use you own favorite maps with it ?

That would be cool. We could have a set of "vanilla" generic start maps, duplicate them and change its maps entries according to personnal taste. 

oh I know, I have someone trying to vis it for me because my computer is wounded atm, but it seems very unlikely to finish on time.

Re: Barnak
That's definitely possible with an entities-only recompile. This would basically let people share playlists of maps. 

i did this in back in 96 with all the id1 base start maps to be played in sequence, Same with all other "themes" of maps. It was my quake then:).

So, yeah its possible.

@Tronyn, you can send me the map, i know someone with a fairly fast PC. Maybe he�s willing to help out. 

>That's definitely possible with an entities-only recompile.
> This would basically let people share playlists of maps.

Then I suggest a new jam style :

Mappers could create a set of independant start maps (beautifully crafted with complicated geometry and lots of details, no monsters except maybe a few dogs and secrets for weapons here and there). The start map has, say, 10 teleporters to a list of unspecified SP maps, defined in some text file. The user could then edit that text file with a text editor to link his favorite SP maps.

That jam style would give total freedom to the mapper : no gameplay to be tested, no monsters to setup (except maybe a few dogs...), no complicated game mechanics. Just pure geometry (architecture) and VERY STRONG atmosphere. 

 

Hmm, I may even be tempted to join the map creation process with this idea, without the need to do complicted gameplay mechanics and programation (I suck at this).

Just pure geometry and atmosphere to explore, select a difficulty level, then jump into a random teleporter...

Could a start map select a random map from your collection ? 

My map is still compiling right now, and will take a few more hours, even thought i reduced the thirty thousand extra faces to five thousand extra faces, fourty thousand in total.

I should learn to use detail brushes, and optimize the map too. 

thanks again skacky, otp, scampie for testing.

In the end, Fifth did most of the actual map finishing yesterday. ;-) I think the result is pretty cool, excited to see all of the maps! 

If you saw the state of the map when I had given it to him then you'd see he put a shit-load of work into this map. The split of work was probably very close to 50/50 if you ask me. Yeah I did a lot of the main route of the map and the idea for the end fight but poured a ton of detail into this thing.

This map is 10 times better now than it would have been if I had done it on my own! 

After many hours of compiling, it is done and sent to Sock.

Now I am working on polishing it.

Here you have some screenshots to quench your thirst

Before
After


Before
After 

Before
After

Before
After 

 

Extra4 and gate5, and checked the ''extra'' option on ''run RAD''.

But doesn't Worldcraft needs an external program like Necros Compiling GUI to run additional command parameters? I was searching for it, but the links on Necros webpage are dead. Then i forgot it, till today thanks to you.

And while i am on it, is there somewhere where they explain whats extra and extra4 and what it does? 

Suppose the shadows can't get much smoother then. (Still better than the coce2 shot.)

This is from the readme:

-extra
Calculate extra samples (2x2) and average the results for smoother shadows.

-extra4
Calculate even more samples (4x4) and average the results for smoother shadows. 

is enabled by default on some tools I think 

I knew that info already. I wanted something more deep, but thanks, anyway.

The lighting will be changed, but still you can expect to see things like that in the map, as i probably won't be able to fix them all.
It is at least better than this (already fixed): the warmer spot is from sunlight. The rest of the spots are from sunlight2 that multiplied itself on its own accord.

Those harsh shadows you point out are the result of trying to fake GI in rooms with lots of architectural elements and exits, and i have several rooms that are like that one.

* FifthElephant, i tested it again right now to be sure, checking the extra option works and gives a 2x2 sampling, but any compiling-related commands are ignored, so when i put extra4, it still compiles with normal extra (2x2). 

lighting is bugged in anything other than fitz... looks like global minlight is the devils work