Hydrom CE

[beele]

Since my CE version of hydrom has started to live its own life, I decided to make its own thread. At this moment I still have a lot of problems with the map. One of them being parts of the bsp flashing (actually disappearing. Could it be portal related, or just a vista/nvidia graphics glitch?) and some surfaces where weapons and grenades fall through.

The other good news is that most other things are coming along nicely. Here are some early already somewhat textured pictures of the in-game version.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_red.jpg
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_blue.jpg

Still tweaking a lot of settings in the shaders and other stuff, but there's some progress. One question I still have is how to make a animated plasma shader?

Feel free to comment and answer my questions:).

EDIT: Can a mod please add [WIP] tot the thread title, since I forgot to add it in front. :embarrassed:

[Apoc4lypse]

Wow, this looks nice... uh was hydrom a h2v map you made I'm guessing? I don't play/own h2v or vista so I don't often venture into that part of the forum heh.

As for animated plasma shaders, uh.. depends what your trying to do I guess, but the best thing to do would be to check the master chief's .biped tag.

Go to the shader modifier section (its at the top) and open up that shader, it might help with what your trying to do. (its the shader thats used or overlaps the chief when his shield is activated.)

I wouldn't be able to explain how to make one from scratch though, never really did it before, someone else probably knows how though.

[beele]

Wow, this looks nice... uh was hydrom a h2v map you made I'm guessing? I don't play/own h2v or vista so I don't often venture into that part of the forum heh.

As for animated plasma shaders, uh.. depends what your trying to do I guess, but the best thing to do would be to check the master chief's .biped tag.

Go to the shader modifier section (its at the top) and open up that shader, it might help with what your trying to do. (its the shader thats used or overlaps the chief when his shield is activated.)

I wouldn't be able to explain how to make one from scratch though, never really did it before, someone else probably knows how though.

It's acutally a dual project, as well CE as H2V, but for the moment work is focussed on the CE version.

For the shader part. I'm looking for a beamer like plasma shader (the green teleporter one would be very good), but I'll look in the chief biped tag to see what's there.

Ass for the map itself, before anyone mentions it, the walls will get decorations and stuff, but that's some minor work, that is yet to come. More pictures and even a video to come, after I get some things sorted out.

The overview pictures of the map (the same as the H2V version) I just add them fot those who want to what the whole map will look like, since the first two pictures I posted here do not represent a good view of the entire map.
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_front.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_top.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_pers1.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_pers2.png

[Evil_Monkey]

Looking great, keep up the good work!

[StankBacon]

looks awesome.

[NuggetWarmer]

Needs moar middle hole of death.

[Hotrod]

It actually looks better than I expected in Halo CE, can't wait to try it out.

[Apoc4lypse]

I'm going to go back on my original judgment... after having a chat with my friend about this map, because he makes a good point. The layout currently seems a tad boring.

I originally was just judging from those 2 pictures. I think that particular area of the map is promising, it just needs to be done right. Like I love the idea of the multilevel section with ramps and tunnels, its intriguing and I haven't seen something like it yet too much. It does remind me of some spots in the halo 2 campaign though, and my friend pointed out some resemblance to gephyrophobia.

That area in particular has a neat idea going which I think you should expand upon.

Some things to not about other areas of the map is the layout seems a tad open, its missing paths.

Something to remember when making maps, although you can take this advice anyway you want. Me and some of my other friends also had conversations about what makes a good map, we talked alot about why wartorn cove was so successful. Eventually we came to the conclusion that it not only looked nice, but it gave the player a lot of action. Theres rarely a dull moment on that map. The center is perfect for pistol dueling which everyone loves, theres adequate cover and multiple paths to take to make it to the other side. Then theres also a challenge, theres 3 areas to the map. The 2 base canyon sections, then the middle center where most the fighting occurs. At the entrances to the base areas, theres choke points, and many ways to approach handling them too. I even think the tank was great, 1 tank made for another exciting challenge.

You need to think in terms of whats going to happen when the maps played, maps are successful when there fun, they have little down time when it comes to fighting, they should keep you on your toes, there should always be something to fight. There should also be predominant advantages and disadvantages that players can get by being in certain spots (often leads to one player having fun, and the other player hating it, but thats just life) they shouldn't be extreme and they should be overpower able but they should be there. Overbalance will make the games stale and repetitive. (which o btw I think is the downfall of halo 2 and 3 when it comes to their weapon sets, too much balance, the maps on the other hand are amazing)

Idk... I could probably go on and on about different things to take into account when coming up with a layout.

I think you should extend off of the multilevel tunnel setup idea though, I'll let you know if I get any good ideas. If not though feel free to turn down my advice its mostly opinionated.

[jngrow]

Red base is too red. I know that sounds weird at first. Just my opinion though.

Looks really nice other than that, actually.

[Heathen]

Not to be a downer but with the tad boring comment...I was gonna say that :D

[beele]

I know that there are some problem areas in the map, but I have some ideas to fix those with scenery. I also find for myself that the red base is too red, but I didn't want to wait another hour to redo the lightmaps, so expect less red in the next pictures.

[beele]

Sorry for double post.

Some minor things have been done, some new bsp additions, and gameplay tweaks have been made I have a small walk through video for you guys that shows the ground section of the map, the higher section of the map (with grav lifts, beamer ect, isn't done yet so I can't show it.) So If you don't see all the gameplay elements, thats because of the ground section only being showed of so far.

aOFR4R3xze0
Don't mind the crappy lighting, and textures, I'm still doing a lot of tweaking with those.

I also have a small side project coming along with my map. Beeles map downloader. It's an app I'm making that can be used to download any of my maps/media/beta maps, ect. Very soon I'll be handing out some test versions to a select group of testers. Here are some screenshots to see what's it's all about.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/nr/bmd_1.jpg
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/nr/bmd_2.jpg

I'm still fixing some problems with loading images and stuff, nothing to hard, should be ready for testers in about a week.

[Ki11a_FTW]

Interesting. Also, make sure all the metal shaders in your map arent set to dirt

[Rooster]

I like the looks of this map. But there needs to be more STUFF (small things that u can climb on or something. everything feels TOO big). Dont forget to set up portals! And how about some blinking lights?

I love the scene! Very origional (change the shape of the doorway)

for some reason, this feels like for of an SP map.

[SnaFuBAR]

It's way too open. There's almost no cover anywhere in that map. The only successful gametypes I see on this map are slayer and team slayer where everyone spawns with a pistol and sniper or a battle rifle. If it was more like the level in H2 where you play as arbiter and you're killing the sentinels to go lower the shield where things were jutting out of the wall, it'd be much better.

[Hotrod]

I agree, it's way too open for good combat, and the pistol will dominate this map, so it will be just long range games, and CTF will be too frustrating to play, since you'll be easily stopped when you have the flag. More objects to hide behind would be good, and maybe even a closed-in passageway.

[Inferno]

Yeah it does look a bit open so make sure you lower the pistol to a 4 shot kill. Cause no one seems to do that in custom maps even though it does help balance out the game.

[beele]

No worries, I will be adding in a lot, and I mean a lot of scenery to hide behind, It will change the game play considerably. Some weapons will be tweaked to fit the map better (maybe some H2 weapons and HUD, not sure yet).

To see how the game play works out, I'll be throwing in a beta of the map in the next couple weeks. To participate in the beta, just pm me and I'll decide if you are accepted or not, I will answer, no matter you're in or not.

Now some things about the map.

How do I set up a glass shader that has real time reflection, since the chicago_transparent_glass shader does not has the dynamic reflection option :confused:.
I have a strange problem with flashing geometry. Some geometry disappears and re-appears out of nowhere, when looking around. Is this portal related (the flickering happens to geometry that is outside and inside portals), Could it be something with draw distance? since zooming in makes all geometry to appear magically, could it be a vista/halo related driver problem? Could it be anything else?
Some pictures to illustrate the problem.
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/error_red.jpg
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/error_blue.jpgThats for the news and problems with the map right now.

[kid908]

under reflective properties on the chicago_transparent_glass there's a drop down box with the following options:

bumped cube-map
flat cube-map
dymanic mirror


that should be it. u should get what u want.

[Ki11a_FTW]

And your Faces arent flashing, they are disappearing, faces will stop rendering if you have to many faces for a single cluster to handle, requires you to portal.

[Higuy]

Looks cool cant wait to see more.

[Rooster]

Its very rare to see such origional design. It looks like a mix between covenant and foreruner.

[SnaFuBAR]

Its very rare to see such origional design. It looks like a mix between covenant and foreruner.
:lmao: wat

no, just no.

[Hotrod]

Its very rare to see such origional design. It looks like a mix between covenant and foreruner.
I don't really see any Covenant in that, since it's all Forerunner grey coloured.

[beele]

Help needed :(

After days and days of trying to get it working, I still can't get my glass to reflect anything in real time. I've set up a chicago_transparent_glass shader and, set the reflection option to dynamic. When in game, the glass is shown like it should, but there's no reflection on it :(. Does someone has an example shader I could use? or could someone help me with making one.

A second problem is the portalling of my map, it does not seem to work properly, I've looked it all up in the HEK tut but there's not much more than basic info on portalling. I could really use someone who has some experience with setting up portals in a map to assist me in portalling it, or even better, if the person would be willing to portal the map for me :embarrassed:.

This help is really needed, I can't figure it out on my own, I'm even willing to form a "team" to finish my map. You may always contact me through mail/pm or add me on msn.

[beele]

no-one?

I'm in some very desperate need of some help :(.

[Inferno]

Look here
http://hce.halomaps.org/index.cfm?fid=2852
You can rip those shaders and use them i bet.

+rep plz lol

[SuperSunny]

Help needed :(

After days and days of trying to get it working, I still can't get my glass to reflect anything in real time. I've set up a chicago_transparent_glass shader and, set the reflection option to dynamic. When in game, the glass is shown like it should, but there's no reflection on it :(. Does someone has an example shader I could use? or could someone help me with making one.

A second problem is the portalling of my map, it does not seem to work properly, I've looked it all up in the HEK tut but there's not much more than basic info on portalling. I could really use someone who has some experience with setting up portals in a map to assist me in portalling it, or even better, if the person would be willing to portal the map for me :embarrassed:.

This help is really needed, I can't figure it out on my own, I'm even willing to form a "team" to finish my map. You may always contact me through mail/pm or add me on msn.

You have to re-structure the BSP in tool to make the Dynamic Mirrors work. They are activated like a portal cluster, the map just needs to be converted from .jms to .structure_BSP again.

[beele]

You have to re-structure the BSP in tool to make the Dynamic Mirrors work. They are activated like a portal cluster, the map just needs to be converted from .jms to .structure_BSP again.

Are there any tutorials on how to do this :p

edit: When I use portals, do I need to activate them? Now I just let tool do it's thing while I compile the map. And it creates the portals.

[Sel]

The same way you did it before? :|

[beele]

The same way you did it before? :|

All I do is set up my portals (and link them correctly) in 3dsmax, then export the jms file, and compile it with tool. After that I make any changes to shaders and then run a test radiosity. Am I missing something? :confused:

[beele]

Sorry for double post.

I've finally set up a decent plasma shader (I used some files from halomaps, by arteen I think). That about where the good news ends. The portal problem with geometry that is falling away is still present, and I've not been able to make the RTR work. My main concern is the portalling problem, cause is really messes up the way the map looks. I'm really asking for someone to help me now, because I can't seem to get this fixed, and I will not release a map that has a problem as such. This really is bugging me to hell, and I'm even concerned that it might even close down my project, which I really don't want. So please if you know some things about portalling and fixing problems alike, I hereby ask you to help me. :(

[Inferno]

Optimize the map some and use exact portals instead of regular portals through doorways. That's what i do.

[Evil_Monkey]

Make sure you are not intersecting areas that have exactportals with portals. If you need any help pm me.