25.02.2008 21:13
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Trainee
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Antarctic Map - Jagged
I'm working on a map based (very loosely...very very) on an island chain in the South Atlantic ocean, the Kerguelen Archipelago. I was able to modify a relief map of the archipelago and use it as my starting heightmap. I have, for obvious reasons, scaled the map down a lot, so its nowhere near the size of the actual archipelago. However, it shares the shape, and looks very glaciery...so I'm happy.
Heres two screens, the first being a map of the Kerguelen Archipelago, the second being my ingame (all objects are hidden 
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(The map is oriented upside down to clarify the resemblance)
The map is going to be objective heavy, but also very open ended. I will give the player a lot of secondary objectives, none of which absolutely have to be completed (else they would be primary....). If I can get it right with the flowgraph editor (which right now I am very unfamiliar with in terms of node functionality), the completion of a secondary objective may, for instance, allow other secondary objectives to be activated and completed later on in the mission. The player will have a lot of room to explore, I plan to create about 10 places the player can choose to start his mission from, and hopefully I can implement that well by making the plane (C17, right?) he jumps out of actually move across the map, giving the player the choice of where parachute in.
I also plan to (again if the flowgraphing part clicks in) script some random weather changes (and hopefully some corresponding gameplay and AI changes). If all goes as planned, these changes could effect everything from basic AI vision and hearing, the ability of AI to alert each other across the map (if you are spotted and they alert each other, they will remain alert to some degree the remainder of the map) via satellite radio, whether enemy helicopters can chase you down and drop troops, or even the way you are evacuated from the island once the map is complete.
So this map is also going to be very flowgraph intensive, if anyone wants to offer help send me a pm so I know I can come to you when I have specific questions.
Obviously I don't have much to show (at this point I'm posting mostly to keep myself motivated to keep working on the map) right now, but last night I drew up a map of the island on a sketchpad, with plot notes, general object placement, and some important design ideas. So I should be able to whip up the basic map pretty quick since I have a "beta" layout setup already.
Anyways, I'll be updating this frequently with screenshots and news and probably questions. Any suggestions are welcome.
This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by Parts: 12.03.2008 03:37.
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25.02.2008 21:20
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Beginner
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RE: Antarctic Map - Jagged
That looks insane. You almost got it complete perfect, the shape!
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25.02.2008 22:54
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Trained Modder
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RE: Antarctic Map - Jagged
Uhh...pic is upside down lol.
A/W
Sound great =]
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25.02.2008 23:20
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Trainee
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Yeah I had to turn it upside down, I bet no one would've seen any similarity if I hadn't.
I'm working on a KPA Headquarters that will be overlooking a research zone. Having trouble making the helicopters on the pads turn their spotlights on... 
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26.02.2008 08:24
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Beginner
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wow that is really cool
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When movies and video games collide: "There is no cake"
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28.02.2008 00:52
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Trainee
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02.03.2008 10:49
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Beginner
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Very nice. Looking forward to this. Good luck!
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02.03.2008 23:27
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Trainee
Thread Starter |
Unfortunately progress is going to slow down to a crawl. I broke my right wrist (mouse hand...) during a recent snowboarding trip. Typing takes twice as long (and after a few sentences my arm starts to ache from the awkward angle I must hold it), and mouse movement is horribly inaccurate and unmanageable.
I can get the conceptual stuff down hard though, so when I am outta this cast I can get right on it.
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02.03.2008 23:55
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Intern Level Designer Crysis 2
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Looks great, lovely ToD as well 
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Because there's never enough awesome.
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10.03.2008 01:12
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Trainee
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Progress:
I've gotten a lot better with the flow graph editor, and have already scripted in some randomly occurring sequences - when the player does a certain thing, there is a chance another thing will happen, and if it does, there is another set of responses - I have used this so far to emulate human behavior - if the AI hears a (non-combat but unexpected) noise at another AI's location, there is a chance he will investigate, but also a chance he will just be lazy and keep doing what he's doing.
I am still not very far into getting the map done, I am getting close to finishing 2 main areas, I have at least a half-dozen more to go. However, the more fluent I get with the editor, the quicker I will move.
Also, I would absolutely love to reskin the various jungle-camouflaged units (AI and vehicles for the most part), but my skinning abilities are not the greatest. I will get to it before I release the map, but the result will likely be nothing more than desaturation with a few contrast/shadowing tweaks. If anyone out there is willing to do reskins for me, in the arctic/winter theme, I would really appreciate it.
Questions:
Does anyone know how to make the helicopter spotlights turn on? The regular vehicle:lights trigger does not work.
Also, how can I attach two entities to each other? I want to attach a light to an object, but have no idea how. Do I use the child/parent entity flow nodes?
How can I change AI alertness via flowgraph? Like the meter on the hud that goes up as they see/hear you, how can I raise that? The AI:Alertness flow node has no input, only 4 outputs (which I have absolutely no idea how to use). I have a few situations where the AI ineveitably comes across a dead body, and want them to react accordingly (right now they have no reaction!)
Finally, what is required to make AI use grenades? I know they use smoke grenades (the NK nano-suits use them frequently in the campaign) but my AI refuse to. I have a number of units (snipers and tank crew) whom I feel would very likely have smoke-grenades at their disposal for signaling or cover, in real life. None of these morons will throw grenades, ever though.
Screenshots:
http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6628/92041541pd3.jpg
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/440/untitled23ko4.jpg
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/2496/untitled22ax9.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4954/untitled21gu1.jpg
http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/3229/untitled20hd6.jpg
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/227/untitled19rk7.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6718/untitled18sd2.jpg
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/5090/untitled17cn2.jpg
http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/2261/untitled16pc2.jpg
http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/8061/untitled14iw6.jpg
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7233/untitled13vg3.jpg
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Parts: 10.03.2008 01:12.
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10.03.2008 01:48
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Trained Modder
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What size IS the archipilago irl, though? And what size did you make the terrain? I could see someone feasibly making it at a 1:1 scale with 8kx8k res x2 (so you get 50% quality in the terrain, but a bigger terrain!). You'd need 64-bit, but there shouldn't be a reason to cut back on level sizes anymore 
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*edit* HEY, the sp comp alpha submission aint over yet, submit it right now and compete! Hell, it's really late in teh game but you never know, more than likely you'll pick up 3rd place in something at the least!
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Here's for my 3rd (or 6th?) modding project, and the hope that it all goes well!
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by lompocus: 10.03.2008 02:07.
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10.03.2008 02:22
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Trainee
Thread Starter |
I'm sure I could've done it 1:1, but to be honest with the general terrain quality (not generated, but final build with textures and decals etc) I'm shooting for, I don't think I have the capacity to stick with a map that large. It would either be totally incomplete or total garbage when I decided I was finished with it.
I forget what the dimensions are in my version (I am not on a computer to check either) but the real life version is 7,215 km^2, according to wikipedia.
I will consider submitting it to the thing, but the amount of work I have ahead of me (and the fact that I want to actually stick it through and do the work - I don't want to have to compromise or even cut for a deadline) means I probably won't submit it.
Anyone got any clues on my above questions? Those are all things I screwed around with for a while in the editor and could not figure out.
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Parts: 10.03.2008 02:22.
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10.03.2008 22:37
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Trainee
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12.03.2008 03:47
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Trained Modder
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nice. Just be careful on what you apply the frozen material too. Though the vehicles should have it...shooting at anything w/ frozen mat results in insta kill and insta shattering. If you can get over that hurdle, this map could be 1000x bettar! As far as the spotlight goes, look at how the scout works with its spotlight. It happens to move around randomly regardless of where the scout is moving or standing still facing 1 direction.
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Here's for my 3rd (or 6th?) modding project, and the hope that it all goes well!
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12.03.2008 04:08
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Trainee
Thread Starter |
Cool. Thanks for the pointer on the scout spotlight.
And yeah, unfortunately to do this map right I'm going to have to do a lot of reskinning (which I am not a big fan of). Its a shame the "material layer" settings affect more than just the appearance (you'd think there would be some user input there as to what exactly it did, rather than just checking frozen and having a hollow-unusable car frame that shatters at the slightest contact with anything).
But oh well. I'm on no deadline and I'm learning new stuff each time I open up SandBox2 so I'm not loosing interest in this map at any rate.
And I don't know if I mentioned this, but I have helicopters that patrol at random! Two of three will be circling the map at all times, one will land and subsequently empty its man-crew for piss/smoke/booze/AISmartObjectClass/lazy/walk break, thus giving the well planned player an opportunity at a helicopter. I just had an idea too - if possible, I will make it so that if the player "tags" all three helicopters with his binoculars, he will be given HUD-alerts as to when and where a given helicopter is landing. Dunno if thats possible though, as I don't know of any flow-node related to helo's landing.
Again, the possibilities of CryEngine2...
Edit: I forgot to ask, what do ya'll think of the helo lights? The screens don't do them justice, I admit, but ingame they are absolutely awesome. Especially the blinking tail light. I might take a video next time I have access to my desktop.
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Parts: 12.03.2008 04:09.
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14.03.2008 02:02
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Trained Modder
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Whoa those pics look awesome. May I ask what material you used for the ocean? That water looks incredible.
| quote: |
Originally posted by Parts
what do ya'll think of the helo lights? The screens don't do them justice, I admit, but ingame they are absolutely awesome. Especially the blinking tail light. I might take a video next time I have access to my desktop. |
I love details like that and added them to some vehicles in our BF2 modification. This pic looks awesome, I love how the engine handles particles vs. lights.
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14.03.2008 03:08
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Trainee
Thread Starter |
Thanks for the responses. I suppose ya'll don't really have much to go off of, but I really like hearing from you (as I'm sure you can understand). You got any ideas, criticism, suggestions, this-map-sucks rants, I'd be glad to hear 'em. This is basically an expirement so the more I try to do the more I learn and the happier I am (and the better this map ends up).
wolfi:
I used custom shader settings, which I had memorized at one point (the damn map kept deleting my texture) but since Patch 1.2 that is no longer necessary. I will gladly upload my ocean material (or just post a screenshot of the settings). The fog color/density/multiplier settings in the Rollup Bar\Terrain\Environment tab are also very important.
And yes, I like all those little details too. I just like to fly the helicopter around now because of the lights. Hopefully I can eventually get it figured out so that the player can press a key to enable/disable them just like regular lights, the last attempt worked in a way - I could enable and disable every light for every helicopter even if I was swimming in the ocean or driving a pickup. Yikes...
Progress:
The only progress I made today was some primitive (its gotta be primitive, I only have like 8 AI on the map right now) perception settings that tie in with the time of day, so basically when its dark they can't see to great but can hear better, and when you're in the middle of a blizzard with a dense fog cover the ai can barely hear or see. It adds a bit of a tactical element to the game, as its easier to take out a base in the middle of a blizzard at night time than it is with clear breezy weather at 12 noon.
Not sure where to go next, I suppose I should get started on the other camps, but I feel like I need to finish the terrain, which to be honest is awefull at the moment. I sorta wish I had totally hand-made the heightmap in a terrain-generator program, the relief map conversion I did worked better than SB2-heightmap generator but not as well as those other programs. I basically have a bunch of featureless lumps and dips all over my map, with the occasional spot that actually picked up the converted relief map in detail. I don't even know where to start, I mean I tend to think you sort of do it step by step, adding a little detail to the whole map, then doing a little more, and so on so that you have even quality, but I always end up chiseling away at a small part, and then just kicking myself when it doesn't fit with the rest of the area (or like today, when I tried to do a voxel overhang, kicking myself because the terrain hole tool made [i]other[/i holes through the intended holes, on the other side of my god damn map. that ended badly.)
This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by Parts: 14.03.2008 03:10.
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14.03.2008 03:26
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Beginner
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binocs
Looks great. Please put in binocs and a mini map if possible (my pet peeve), and stay off the ski slopes.
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14.03.2008 08:02
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Uber Modder
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| quote: |
Originally posted by wolfi
Whoa those pics look awesome. May I ask what material you used for the ocean? That water looks incredible.
| quote: |
Originally posted by Parts
what do ya'll think of the helo lights? The screens don't do them justice, I admit, but ingame they are absolutely awesome. Especially the blinking tail light. I might take a video next time I have access to my desktop. |
I love details like that and added them to some vehicles in our BF2 modification. This pic looks awesome, I love how the engine handles particles vs. lights. |
That picture looks cool and all. But he is getting 7.1fps in it.
The map looks good so far I like how you are taking a new approach rather than the typical tropical island. I will definatly be playing this.
I can't really judge too much from the screens and given the fact it is fairly early in development but I will be keeping an eye out for this one.
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Skype: adius_omega
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14.03.2008 11:00
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Experienced Modder
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Cool job so far. If I may, I'll give you some criticism. Feel free to ignore
It seems that you got a bit of a design problem. Judging from the screens, the man-made structures all look great and very realistic, but the looks of the terrain sets the map back alot. There is no really easy way to 'fix' this - it has to do with the theme you've chosen. It's not standard to Crysis to have large outdoor snow/ice landscapes. All the frozen singleplayer levels that came with the game were relatively confined areas that were heavily filled up with brushes and non-natural objects.
Getting a snowy, wintery landscape to look good in a video game is usually a tough job. When focussing on your map, I can say that the problem is terrain shape and contrast. Shape, because the hills do not look like they are made of snow/ice. Their slopes are very steep and look fabricated rather than natural. Contrast, because you're dealing with the colour theme 'white' here. In order to make a map visually pleasing it's a good idea to always add colour and contrast. Most large outdoor winter environments therefore have very dark brown or black cliff textures that contrast the overall whiteness. Colour is usually added as cold blue global lighting, contrasted by warm yellows and reds for these type of environments. The warm colour lights are usually added around fires, static lights, human buildings, etc. Take a look at how other video games did it to get an idea how to make your map look.
So, to get your terrain to match the visuals of the rest of your architecture, you will probably have to completely re-do the terrain. If you are really down with that thought, you could consider this project a learning project, move on, and re-use it's assets in other maps you will make. If you ARE going to build wintery landscapes I would suggest nog bothering with the layout of a real-life island (since when did video games start caring about reality?
). Also, generating these kind of heightmaps in a terrain generator can be a huge help. World Machine 2 is about to be released, and it has the ability to instantly simulate large snowfalls on terrains. Check these pics for example (taken from the World Machine development blog). Something like this would help the looks and overall feeling of your map alot.
gl!
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