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Map Jam 8 - Release - Film Noir
After weeks of mapping, and a few delays, Quake Map Jam 8 has finally been released! This time around there were four submissions,

- Ionous with his map "Buried by Time and Dust"
- Newhouse with "Black Future"
- Pritchard with "One Ranger Two Boomsticks"
- Shamblernaut (myself) with "The Hackopolis" and the start map.

Screenshots:
http://imgur.com/a/a7Hpr

Downloads:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/108695968/jam8.zip
http://www.quaketastic.com/files/jam8.zip

To install, just extract the zip file to your quake directory (remembering to preserve directories). Run using your favourite (limit extending) engine with the commandline options -game jam8 +map jam8_start. Happy fragging!
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Wow! I wasn't expecting so many responses to my latest comment. I have quite a number of things to say but I'm typing this on my phone so I'll keep it short for now:

1. Outdated AD: my console says v1.42, which is the latest version available on Quaddicted. Is 1.5 out yet?

2. r\_useportalculling 0: Nope, doesn't do squat. It does, however, seem to fix the glitches NewHouse mentioned earlier about his map.

3. Completely agree with Negke's POV. I have noticed a trend lately: when you check the readmes of maps made just a few years ago, you can see that they've often been tested in several engines among the popular ones, usually 2 to 4. But with the latest maps, mappers seem content to only bother with QS and all other engines could go to hell. That's a big no-no! There's really no need to fragment the Quake community more than it already is. 
 
Rhaaaaahhh, fucking backslash crap! Sorry, I just realized that it's Quaddicted that uses this Markdown crap, not Func_... 
 
In regards to AD being outdated, I think its that you forgot to include the patch. 
@negke 
Your point is valuable, but not always the top priority.

I'm optimistic though.. since I'm trying to figure out what is wrong with the already existing geometry.. looking vertices(triangles) and trying to understand it. I'm by no mean experienced when it comes to that. It is not about optimization in this case, it is something else which I'm not familiar with.

When I stay in one spot, I just move the camera(mouse) a bit and I can clearly see when some of the faces just disappear and screen just draws something else that is clearly behind them or just skyboxes. How do I fix that, what might cause that exactly? 
@Mugwump 
Did it fixed all of the glitches or just that teleport? 
 
2. r_useportalculling 0: Nope, doesn't do squat. It does, however, seem to fix the glitches NewHouse mentioned earlier about his map.

NewHouse, that means you have fucked up portals. DP doesn't know what to do with them, when portal culling is enabled. Check out your compiler for warnings etc. 
NewHouse 
r_useportalculling 0 didn't fix the teleport, I got through it by jumping as Khreathor mentioned. I was talking about the visual glitches that you experienced. I had some too but they stopped after using this cvar.

I don't know if you noticed it because you mentioned the issue again after I talked about the newer DP builds, but since September DP now supports alpha masked textures (i.e. no more ugly pink thing where there shouldn't be). 
Khreathor 
This cvar not working was in Shamblernaut's startmap, not in NewHouse's. 
Sorry For Triple Posting... 
...but I just realized I misunderstood Khreathor's comment. Please disregard previous post. 
I Know... 
In Shamblernaut's map there is just z-fighting, because this advertisement billboard is near the wall and is covered by illusionary brush, faking the light. It's quite thick, so it shouldn't do that, but I guess this illusionary brush doesn't help at all and DP doesn't know what to render first.
Maybe you can fix this with some option tweaking, but I spent yesterday like an hour to find some solution, but with no luck. 
 
A neat shader for DP adds lightrays to windows, I'm thinking something similar could perhaps be done with lamp posts? But that would require having 2 versions of the map, one for vanilla-flavored engines and one without the illusionary brushes for engines that support shaders.

One thing's for sure: the noir theme would have greatly benefited DP's lighting capabilities and it's kind of a missed opportunity to have focused on QS. 
 
...then move your ass and do a proper noir map for DP, instead of complaining ;) 
The Dark Place 
Hmm,

Have to say I did pull something from this conversation. I don't really have an aversion to other engines. In fact, years ago when I first played Quake on the PC I opted to look for "The Ultimate Quake Patch" and DP to ensure I got an up to date experience. Since others have the same thought process I will definitely at least do a run through on future releases on various engines to ensure stability.

Back on topic, one of the big aspects of the noir theme that I was hoping for was the street lights on dark streets and I got a taste of it but wanted more! I am glad NewHouse and Ionous deviated from the literal noir theme and took creative liberties but I also appreciate the more literal usage from Pritchard and Shamblernaut's start map. 
 
Yah, my Sin City/Rumble Fish map is still in the works but progress is slow - firstly I'm still a mapping n00b and have much to learn and secondly it's been delayed by my focus on my jazzy/industrial soundtrack, which I still have to finish.

Anyway, when I release it I'm gonna make sure it runs on several engines, even if it means releasing 2 versions. 
 
Would you really want to build something that's engine specific though? At least stuff built for QS ought to work in DP (whether or not it actually does, as discussed, is another matter), but relying on DP's graphical "enhancements" to make your map look correct is a recipe for compatibility disaster.

I think that's why people have moved away from a wider range of engine support in recent times, to be honest. QS has become known for offering the "Quake Standard" experience, providing generally good compatibility for the majority of Quake content without significant user tweaks or other changes. If your map works in QS, it should work in any other engine that claims to accurately reproduce the original DOS/WinQuake/GlQuake/Whatever Carmack Actually Wrote engines, the implication being that you shouldn't have to worry so much about that stuff.
Call it false advertising, perhaps, but it's a good excuse to get out of something that really isn't much fun.

While i'm here, what's the history behind QS? This probably isn't the thread to ask in, but it's kind of topical considering Mugwump's comments about fragmentation and how a "few years ago" maps seemed to be better tested. I know QS first popped up at some point in 2010 (The first commit on SF, for example) and that it's based on FitzQuake, but how long did it take for the engine to reach the status it has today? 
Bloughs 
I will definitely at least do a run through on future releases on various engines to ensure stability.
That's the spirit!

one of the big aspects of the noir theme that I was hoping for was the street lights on dark streets and I got a taste of it but wanted more!
I know the feeling. I mean, what I've played so far looks good but I expected more experimentations with chiaroscuro. 
 
Would you really want to build something that's engine specific though? (...) relying on DP's graphical "enhancements" to make your map look correct is a recipe for compatibility disaster.
Nope. As I said, I would make sure it runs on several engines, no matter if I have to release 2 versions. When GLQuake came out, some people released both software and GL versions of their maps and I'm bent on ensuring max compatibility so that players are free to play it in their engine of choice. 
 
Certainly not a bad thing, but releasing/maintaining multiple versions of a map for different engine ports seems like a pretty good example of why people shy away from supporting a lot of different engines... That's a lot of work, and it's not like there's an easy way to merge maps back together as progress is made. (I mean, i'm sure with some good regex you can get all the brush/entity numbers to like up again or whatever you need to do to make that stuff work).

I think the situation you're talking about is compatibility disaster ground zero, to be honest. When you're supporting a "fractured" map release, that's like... peak fracturing.

Would a better solution be to have a "DarkPlaces Only" spawnflag on all entities? That way you'd be able to do most of the changes that are necessary in one map... 
 
Yes, it's more work, but what's the point of releasing anything if you won't cater to the players?

You have a good point about ground zero but at any rate, I still find it preferable than willingly excluding part of the community. The ideal solution would of course be that engine devs get together to define some kind of standard, but good luck with that!

I don't understand that spawnflag stuff yet. I'll need to look into it at some point. Would that enable/disable specific features of a map depending on the engine? 
Black Future -> First Update 
Okay, here you go:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwxYkKdSD855UWtwNHVVYnVZaUk/view?usp=sharing

Here is updated version of my jam map, replace the jam files and run. There is also ReadMe especially for Darkplaces users, it simple just point out this console command which made the visual glitches disappear.

Teleport is fixed now (I tested it couple times). Also made small changes there and there.

Please let me know, how does it feel now. After all there is no much plans for me to continue working on this specific map, for the standalone version I need to start from the scratch almost. 
 
I'll DL it when I get access to an online computer, probably tonight (GMT+1) and I'll let you know.

As for no much plans for me to continue working on this specific map, I don't know what the jam rules entail regarding deadlines and updates, but if I were you I'd add some details to the facade of the first building you get out of. When you look at it from the other side of the collapsed street, it looks very empty compared to the rest of the map.

Also, it's probably too much extra work for this version but if you remake it as standalone, make sure you follow Khreathor's advice in post #90 instead of making users disable that cvar. 
 
FWIW, the versioning of AD is confusing. You've got a v1.42patch2, and you've got a v1.42srslyfinal. Which package looks like a final version?

As I said, I would make sure it runs on several engines, no matter if I have to release 2 versions.

So instead of compatibility disaster you'd get a maintenance disaster.

I'm really fed up with source ports for popular games not being standartized, to be honest. There's a general assumption that if you only support one niche of engines, you're missing out on potential players, but the amount of PITA and sacrifices you have to make for the broadest compatibility is hardly comparable to the player having to use more than one source port.

I'm talking more about Doom than Quake here, but certain things are even worse in Quake. 
 
sacrifices you have to make for the broadest compatibility is hardly comparable to the player having to use more than one source port.
You're not wrong but personally, I don't like being forced to use a different engine as I enjoy DP's graphical features very much. And conversely, I'm aware that there's a number of people who wouldn't touch DP with a hazmat suit even if their lives depended on it, and I still want these people to play my maps. "Don't do unto others...", right? You might call that overkill but I'm a perfectionist. 
The Point Is That 
Any source port engine that claims to be "Quake" ought to run Quake maps. If it can't, it's not a "Quake Engine".

Does Darkplaces actually claim to be a Quake engine?

If it does, but won't properly run maps that work fine in Fitzquake and Quakespasm, then go complain to the Darkplaces developer. Don't come here and gripe about it to the map maker. 
I Think I Had The Same Conversation Recently 
I wouldn't exactly call QS vanilla and faithful. It supports a lot of things vanilla didn't support.

Of course, if a given QS map breaks in DP due to some kind of oversight (instead of the feature sets not overlapping very well), then it's another story.

On a vaguely related note, GLQuake isn't a Quake engine, apparently, because if I'll make a button glowing in the dark due to fullbright pixels, no one will ever notice it. I don't think that counts as "properly".

If I was to summarize somehow: compatibility is a pain in the ass, always was. 
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