Here is a an update to the close up of the portal. I have added some dirt and a glass bubble effect to the outer edge of the portal window.

http://www.simonoc.com/images/design/maps_q3/moteof1el3.jpg

The frame rate drops from 125 to 80 on my laptop when I have the portal in full screen view (1600x1200 res) on a 2Ghz IBM laptop. The outside model is only 3K polys and the room has no combat or AI. It is certainly much better visually than a static screenshot for the portal background and it does look awesome when in motion. 

Reminds me of Serious Sam.

Looking forward to the map. 

great idea and go for it, its not a playable dm map anyway right, so framerate drop in sp puzzle mode is not a big deal. 

Well that is a noticeable fps drop, but my point was that it doesn't matter if the map is not-action oriented. Actually I misunderstood about it being just a model, and not the whole map seen from the outside.

Jago, not everybody has uber-computers, especially people who play 9-13 year old games. 

It is very unlikely my map will work on hardware that is 5+ yrs old. Even if the screen resolution is lowered, all of the textures have been doubled in size and this will strain most old video cards with slowdowns as the textures are swapped in and out of video memory.

There is no bot/dm style gameplay just exloring and button mashing puzzles which should help a little bit with frame rate issues. Most of the rooms are 20k polys with plenty of multi-layer shaders around and a couple of areas even spike as high as 30K polys. This map was designed to have lots of detail with stuff to look at and explore.

The people who could run this map (have good enough hardware) are no longer play Q3 (moved on to better things) and the people left playing Q3 have old machines so this map is really in a dead zone. Coupled with the fact that the 'gameplay' is puzzle based, I fully understand that this map will only played by me and 3 other people (the beta testers). 

I just need to upgrade one of these days... 

I'll play it. 

So 4 then . . .

Even if it's only played by a handful of people the thought and time you've put into it makes you a better mapper - it's not wasted.

Otherwise nobody here would bother. 

And counting. I re-installed Q3 to have a take at that map :) 

I'm definitely reinstalling Quake 3 for this map. It just looks absolutely awesome. :) 

The people who could run this map (have good enough hardware) are no longer play Q3 (moved on to better things) and the people left playing Q3 have old machines so this map is really in a dead zone.

Bullshit. :)

I'm actually toying with the idea of starting a new Q3 map (came up with an odd idea for a very different tourney map layout), and I certainly play newer games.

Q3 is one of those games people will keep playing and/or return to for quite a while yet... 

I'd reinstall Q3 just to play the map as well. 

heck I'll even review it for Quaddicted if Spirit's down for it, or for somewhere else if not. It looks awesome. Plus I still have Q3 though I haven't played since forever. 

was this: http://www.celephais.net/board/view_thread.php?id=3&start=3764&end=3765 ever finished? 

Probably not tbh. Method is working on Rage over at iD these days, doubt he has much in the way of spare time/energy for level design outside of work. 

Well I am certainly looking forward to hearing what people think of this map. I have a ton of stuff to talk about on this map, so the web pages should be full of plenty of development details.

I am nearly finished with the last bits and pieces, just got to do a final detail pass on certain areas and sprinkle some small rock around the place.

http://www.simonoc.com/images/design/maps_q3/moteof1em1.jpg
http://www.simonoc.com/images/design/maps_q3/moteof1em2.jpg 

Really nice ! 

I have a ton of stuff to talk about on this map, so the web pages should be full of plenty of development details.

I'm personally looking forward to seeing that. :D 

it's a shame. those three shots really had a fully developed style that could have been carried on for a full map.

also, sock, if you don't know i want to play edge of forever yet, i don't know what to tell you. ;) 

is there any interest to beta test a d3sp minimod?
i only ask because it plays a lot more like quake than d3 but there probably aren't a lot who have d3 installed. 

...I'd be up for it. I was planning on reinstalling D3... Drop me a line if you want. 

Sure. 

I will but I get home tomorrow and have other things to do, not sure where testing would prioritize itself just yet though. 

Reinstalled the other day, but testing'd just have to go on my todo list, so probably no help to a speedy release. 

Jago: thanks, i'll send you an email. :)

the_silent: depending on how many changes need to be made, it may work out well that you can't play until later. ;)