k1ller

Monoman at the www.macgamingmods.com has enabled multiplayer modes for MYTOAN Sniper. MYTOAN has been quite popular map so I though people might still be interested about multiplayer game in it. You can download patch also from here (mytoan sniper.mis) or the whole package from here (15MB). Instructions for patch installation are found here. Screenshots from MYTOAN (notice that only gr033-gr038.jpg are from final version, earlier shots are from "making of") if someone isn't familiar with the map. Thanks Monoman.

My two maps, MYTOAN Sniper and Guarded Forest are available as MAX5 files for anyone intersted. Guarded Forest MAX5 scene is here, and MYTOAN Sniper MAX5 scene is here. Textures are in map packages. MYTOAN MAX5 package has been downloaded about 500 times from @war and Guarded Forest about 150 times. Other sources probably double that amount. Still I haven't heard of anyone releasing any updates or modifications to those maps. Someone (mac-user apparently ) fixed MYTOAN's multiplayer game though, which was very nice. Even though there are thousands of downloads, no one has yet released any geometry patches to either of those maps. When MYTOAN was released there were lots of requests in the forums that someone (not me) would expand MYTOAN scenery to a larger town. After few months someone tried but failed miserably even though adding new components to MYTOAN should be quite trivial task. Since then I haven't heard of anyone asking about MYTOAN modding. I think this pretty much proves the point that so called "GR community" doesn't work the way most people here seem to think about. I don't know if any other "communities" work any better though... If, anyhow, you want to prove my point wrong, go ahead, try but don't fail ;-).

I had same kind of problem when I was making Guarded Forest (no screenshots of that bug though). I think that the darkmap-bug was there because some objects in the scene were inside other room's portal. For example object A was grouped with "room 1" and it was partly inside "room 2" too - and still everything would export nicely. Try to move objects near portals further away and check if your floor planes are somehow crossing and see if the bug still happens. Strange shaped / positioned portals can cause such thing too. If you have time and interest you can download Guarded Forest MAX5 and see why it happens there. Some rocks on the bottom right side of the map are between two rooms. I don't have darkmaps enabled in the released version of GF so there isn't such darkmap-bug.

I don't just like it when people take credit of someone else's work. And just to make my point clear again (Chems, take no offense, I know that you'll be giving the credit to those who deserve it when/if you release this map). Some quotes from previous pages: Been working heres my fruits. -Chems (only re-lit / texturing as far as I know) I've said before: nice Sphinx Shadow! Also nice tomb-room Chems! -San (reader gets the idea that Chems has modeled / textured / done the whole tomb-room, when he actually has just re-textured / re-lit it) Still waiting for Chems to clear his busy schedule to take a look at altering the maps. -=MM=Shadow (Again, reader gets the idea that Chems has done the map) (Those who wrote these quotes probably know who are involved with this map but those who read it get it all wrong) After TonyO released MAX4 file of Abydos map (released 15.7.2003) there hasn't been any significant updates to this map. On pages 5, 6 and 7 you can't even find who has originally done the map, on page 4 he is mentioned once. I'd say that people would assume after this thread that Chems has actually done the map (which probably wasn't Chems' idea). This is also a matter of some criticism. I bet you didn't know before who had done the map. I also think that I'm in such position in "GR modding community" that I criticize Chems. I was involved with Stargate mod for months but because of the lack of co-operation with TonyO and Draconis I didn't get much to do and finally nothing got done properly. I've also released two maps for "GR community" to use. MYTOAN Sniper (MAX5 map) and Guarded Forest (MAX5 map) Which have been released as MAX5 files as well so people can look at how maps look like in MAX. Currently there are about 4500 clicks to MYTOAN and 417 clicks to it's MAX5 file according to atwar. My point still is, that other people than Chems only can mod the map if they want to. I wouldn't release that map with just re-texturing and re-lighting and I wouldn't like the idea that someone else does exactly that.

Chems, I think that you are too eagerly taking credit of making that map. As far as I know (and what everyone can see from Abydos map by TonyO) you have only re-textured / re-lit the map. ALL modeling (and probably most of the texturing too) has been done by TonyO and now you're claiming that no one else has to bother as you have got it well covered. I'd say that you have done less than 1% of all the work that has been put on to that map. I still think that this map isn't even close to be ready to release. Interior of pyramid should be larger and more detail should be put in there. Hallways and doorways are too narrow. Torch-pedestals look crappy. Desert area has too few places to go and too little details. Gate-room is badly lit. And so on. In your earlier post you say that " Looks cool, the abydoss map is good but it mainly need texture work on the cat " which I don't agree with. Textures of the "egyptian room" are also by TonyO (he probably has copied those from the 'net and those don't necessarily have anything to do with Stargate mythology). Most of the textures are also very badly done, sarcoph1.rsb and sphinx.rsb for example. Only stargate model, character models and weapons are quality good enough to be released - made by =MM=Shadow. I think that releasing this map after only re-texturing and re-lighting is very stupid. Someone really has to bother if this map is going to be released. And Chems could maybe remember to mention who originally has done all the work.

If someone is interested, those Stargate maps are available as MAX4 format (doesn't work with previous versions of MAX) at http://ghost.xcalpro.com. Originally these maps are made by TonyO. Abydos map is somewhat ready but I think it still needs much more details and more places to go. Releasing it after re-texturing (and re-lighting) would be stupid. Hatak map is something which probably should be left alone. Someone with little experience with MAX can redo the same map in couple hours. And this map isn't even accurate model of mothership seen on Stargate. Here's a screenshot of the abydos map. Two more pictures are at http://sektori.com/~pege/ghostrecon/mytoansniper/ named abydos8.JPG and abydos9.JPG (abydos4-6.jpg's are from earlier version of the map). So anyone with interest can complete these maps if they want to.

How about rk62-model. That is more of a classic weapon than rk95. (This isn't an entry for competition.. maybe it's just close enough for another entry and you can move on to next model Couple more pics at http://sektori.com/~pege/rk62/ 1288 faces 813 vertices 587 polys

Much of the techniques I've used in MYTOAN Sniper or Guarded Forest aren't used in example map. I don't think that stealing others work is very common. All the scripts / missions made in Igor are available for anyone to change but I haven't heard of anyone re-release already released missions with their own name. (Even DAGRM credits people from whom he has stolen work, AFAIK.) Well made missions offer a good view of how script should look like for a starting modder. If there was similar program for making maps, those maps would probably be editable as well. Now that all the maps must be made in MAX it somehow changes it to "hard work that must be protected". I understand that someone doesn't want to share his work, but the benefits of sharing could be more constructive than keeping it all on yourself. Learning MAX properly takes a good amount of time (and hard work) but it shouldn't be reason to make it hard for those who want to learn it - for modding or other purposes. It's also good to notice how "well" the "GR community" works. Stalker_Zero long asked for someone to modify MYTOAN to a larger city. It took months to find someone even try it. Eventually no one did nothing. For the record, MYTOAN Sniper MAX5 file has been downloaded over 400 times from ATWAR alone. Maybe people don't want to modify what someone else started, but atleast they want to just take a look at it. And then someone would steal my work, edit it maybe to a little better and re-release it?! Yeah, right! @Alpha Moving bushes is the same effect as waving trees. Some of the bushes are maybe little too much inside the ground... With "medium graphics" trees and bushes seem "jumpy" because low-poly models change to high-poly. @Sleeper What are those things that I'm doing incorrectly in which you refer in this thread? Maybe if you someday post your actual advice, or preferably fix the problems yourself, I could learn something? The bugs that are in the map are RSE-generated. I'm still waiting for them to release working tools . (If you have something to complaing about MYTOAN or Guarded Forest, go fix it yourself!)

I've done some trenches on my map Guarded Forest. There is MAX5 file available for download (doesn't work with previous versions of MAX) and the actual map is here. So here's somekind of tutorial how to make such trenches: 1. Create quadpatch / plane for ground (100m * 100m for example) and put good amount of height and width segments there (30-50 segments). 2. Add "Edit Mesh" modifier to stack (or convert mesh to editable mesh) (2b. Add "Noise" modifier) 3. In "Edit Mesh" subobject selection select "Edge". Choose edges in which you want to create the trench. Even corners come out nicely with this technique. 4. "Edit Mesh" -> "Edge" -> "Chamfer". With chamfer you define how wide trench you want to make. Trench must be so wide that ghosts can pass each other in trench. 5. "Edit Mesh" -> "Polygon". Select the "trench polygons". 6. "Edit Mesh" -> "Polygon" -> "Extrude". Extrude downwards as much as you like. (6b. Add "Noise" modifier if you already didn't do it in 2b) 7. "Edit Mesh" -> "Polygon" / "Vertex". Now you should manually pull vertices to smooth corners and so on. Basically now you have your trench done and everything else is just making it look nice. (7b. Add "Noise" modifier if you already didn't do it in 2b or 6b) In my Guarded Forest example you can see how I've solved the problem how ghosts can get out of the trench (they can't just jump out of there . Also some restriction walls must be added so ghosts / enemies don't get stuck or crawl through trench walls. Same method can be used to make roads, rivers and such. (Where's the shadows? Yeah, you guessed right - LightingTool can't produce working darkmap here either. It has some major problems recognizing rooms / portals.)

@Chems (and others interested about two-sided textures) Using two-sided textures isn't always a good idea. When you don't use two-sided textures, only normals that are pointing towards "camera" must be rendered. Imagine a cube. It has 6 sides (squares) which consist of 12 faces (triangles). Normally (in MAX) all the normals point only outwards. If you delete one side of the cube you observe that you can see through it because normals are pointing only outwards. Applying a two-sided texture to this cube results in seeing the inside of the cube too. This means that the both outward pointing normals and inward pointing normals are rendered which leads to slower rendering times and reserving more memory. (Basically it means that then cube has 12 sides, 6 for pointing outwards and 6 inwards.) Above example is the same as given in 3dsmax R5 help. That doesn't mean that using two-sided textures is a bad thing, using them always is. When the cube is "closed" there is no need to use two-sided texture on them. If someone used two-sided textures on characters, it'd mean that lots of rendering power goes to rendering faces that don't even show. Here's quote from max help. There is also a good picture explaining the thing.

I've had the same problem and it's one of the many bugs of LightingTool. You have to 'File -> Set Texture Directory' in LightingTool. Apparently LT can search textures from 'working directory' but can't produce working darkmap to same directory unless texture directory is defined. For more information and conversation about the bug, take a look at http://www.theplatoon.com/snitz/topic.asp?...?TOPIC_ID=10351 this thread, in which I ask about the same problem and manage to solve it as the thread goes on . It's little off-topic first but 7. post which is mine (k1ller) starts the conversation about darkmap problem.

Me too.

Actually MYTOAN Sniper wasn't left off, FMJ just didn't show much of the surroundings and I didn't want to invent something out of my head. It is true that the map is quite small and borders of the map are clearly visible. What comes to expanding MYTOAN, it shouldn't be problem at all for someone who is familiar with 3dsmax. Most of the "modders" here seem to think that 3dsmax is meant for GR mapping and assume they can learn it in couple months. All the buildings in MYTOAN are very clearly separated in to their own rooms which are basically "holes" in the ground (rooms.jpg). If there's need to expand map to larger, it should be very easy to create new buildings, roads or whatever outside the town as part of room _1 (outside) or create new room for them with the same technique used with other buildings. Heightmaps (dispalcement in MAX) aren't usually very good idea creating a surface for a map. Terrain generators and such aren't also any good. It doesn't take much time to create quadpatch in MAX and then pull vertices up and down with proper falloff (under edit mesh -> soft selection) and maybe even add noise modifier to give some realism. Heightmaps are quite difficult to control. After creating a heightmap you must update the scene in MAX and if the result isn't what you want you have to edit heightmap again and so on. Not very efficient. Sometimes it maybe useful to create heightmap to get rough version for reference and edit the surface in "vertex-level". (That's how Guarded Forest was originally started.) If you need example for quite large landscape, ther is Guarded Forest for MAX5 available. Landscape has been broken in three pieces for better performance. I recommend to delete or hide the stuff you don't need (trees, portals, room shells, rocks, trenches...) so you get better view how things are done. There is also new tree type, which is taken from CD that came with "MAX 2 - Fundamentals". Some images of the Guarded Forest: Wireframe Shadows of the trees - used in darkmap Landscape and trees @ImmoralTwo It is impossible to give any tutorial for "making maps from scracth", which should be quite clear to even newbie. It is possible to tell what kind of tags and such must be present to get map to work, which are quite well documented in Schell's tutorials. Tutorials which aren't specificly meant for Ghost Recon (or some other game) aren't usually usable for - hopefully - obvious reasons.

Thanks for help Jack. I hope that Siege works as it should. I've released Guarded Forest at General Mod topics

Guarded Forest screenies More progress screenies at http://sektori.com/~pege/ghostrecon/guardedforest/. Pictures are from oldest to newest, so pics after gf025.JPG are quite near final version. Download Guarded Forest here. There is also MAX5 scene of Guarded Forest available. Doesn't work with previous versions of MAX. It's open for modding and maybe good example for future modders . There is a little mission which basically is shooting sitting ducks in the forest because AI has some problems with large amount of trees. In multiplayer game this probably works better. Someone could maybe put up a server sometime so we could try it a bit? I can't host because I'm behind firewall and don't have enough bandwidth. GF supports all common gametypes such as siege, hamburger hill and such. I haven't been able to test that these work as expected but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. Runs about 25fps to 40fps (sometimes even 75fps) with 1900+ and GF4200Ti. -k1ller