Posted by CrazyPunk on Thu Jul 20th 2006 at 10:21pm
yay, then I got nothing to fear
I've been experimenting with 3d skyboxes a bit...and I was wondering, could I make the skybox "connect" to the level? So that the surrounding architecture would be easy on the engine yet still looks like a part of the map?
yay, then I got nothing to fear
I've been experimenting with 3d skyboxes a bit...and I was wondering, could I make the skybox "connect" to the level? So that the surrounding architecture would be easy on the engine yet still looks like a part of the map?
Posted by Captain P on Thu Jul 20th 2006 at 8:54pm
The number of lights isn't a problem, the number of different light styles can be. More lights only change the way the lightmap looks, it's still the same size. An animated light however, one that changes intensity, means a different version of the lightmap has to be built for every different intensity of that light (of course, only for the faces that are affected). When two animated lights are animated the same, the same amount of lightmaps would be generated than for one animated light. But imagine the two lights behave differently: the number of intensity combinations radically increases. That's why the number of light styles that hits the same face is so limited, filesize (and also memory) issues.
So it's not the color or brightness or such that makes you hit this limit, it's the animation. I think you don't need many animated lights there anyway so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
Posted by CrazyPunk on Thu Jul 20th 2006 at 6:51pm
Well - I haven't dared to run the vis process on the map yet but performance is becoming a bit sluggy on the far ends of the map...I was planning to use a 3d skybox but I think I am also going to use a night setting with some fog, if possible - night settings saved me from much framerate issues in the past, and if done right it looks really cool
Does anyone know how much different lights can be placed alongside eachother? I might need to make a row of yellow/green lights but I do remember that the hl1 rad process kept bugging me with "too many light styles on a face" messages for hours while compiling one of my previous maps...
Well - I haven't dared to run the vis process on the map yet but performance is becoming a bit sluggy on the far ends of the map...I was planning to use a 3d skybox but I think I am also going to use a night setting with some fog, if possible - night settings saved me from much framerate issues in the past, and if done right it looks really cool
Does anyone know how much different lights can be placed alongside eachother? I might need to make a row of yellow/green lights but I do remember that the hl1 rad process kept bugging me with "too many light styles on a face" messages for hours while compiling one of my previous maps...
Posted by Captain P on Thu Jul 20th 2006 at 6:22pm
Looks pretty accurate for a real-life recreation. And it's nice to see yet another Dutch mapper, too.
While the map looks good so far, I'm a bit worried about the performance. The map looks very open and you're probably still going to add a lot of detail. How does the map run so far?
// Also, msn photo stuff is slow...
Posted by CrazyPunk on Thu Jul 20th 2006 at 11:11am
True, I am going to experiment with 3d skyboxes soon and much of the enviroment is to be put in a skybox in the near future.
The lightning sucks indeed, but I'm experimenting with that on-the-fly...the plan is to make the light come is such a way it creates sunlight on the terrain and hopefully a full vis+rad process will make the ambient lightning such way that it also lights up the insides of the storage complex.
I was also thinking on making the light setting more nightly due to the huge visible areas of the map, with a gloomy blue night sky lightning and maybe some fog on the terrain as well, and then put lights inside the storage and on the still-to-be planted light posts.
And for screenshots - the map is still in such a state that altough the screenshots look nice, those area's are not even close to finished yet. When I got more finished areas I shall post some decent screenies.
True, I am going to experiment with 3d skyboxes soon and much of the enviroment is to be put in a skybox in the near future.
The lightning sucks indeed, but I'm experimenting with that on-the-fly...the plan is to make the light come is such a way it creates sunlight on the terrain and hopefully a full vis+rad process will make the ambient lightning such way that it also lights up the insides of the storage complex.
I was also thinking on making the light setting more nightly due to the huge visible areas of the map, with a gloomy blue night sky lightning and maybe some fog on the terrain as well, and then put lights inside the storage and on the still-to-be planted light posts.
And for screenshots - the map is still in such a state that altough the screenshots look nice, those area's are not even close to finished yet. When I got more finished areas I shall post some decent screenies.
Posted by CrazyPunk on Thu Jul 20th 2006 at 11:09am
<html><head><link rel="stylesheet" href="themes/standard.css" type="text/css"></head><body topmargin=2 leftmargin=2>OOps...double post :S
<html><head><link rel="stylesheet" href="themes/standard.css" type="text/css"></head><body topmargin=2 leftmargin=2>OOps...double post :S
Posted by Juim on Thu Jul 20th 2006 at 3:12am
Well, first off, I would like to say that I have never read such a detailed back story about a mapper in one of these posts, so congrats on that being a first.
I also took look at the screenies and my first impressions are all good so far. Nice lines, with attention to detail. Initially, i would say that the screens you posted are crying for a 3d skybox(something I must research on my own current project). I would recommend some lighting other than the env_sun above. The map has too many dark recesses in critical viewing areas. Other than that it's too early to comment much further. Keep up the good work.
Posted by Gwil on Thu Jul 20th 2006 at 12:51am
Can I suggest you post screenshots that people can see in this topic without having to click external links? It seems a silly idea, but you'll get a lot more responses


