[Good Method For Creating Terrain]

Ooh. It took me some trial and error (I'm new to 3DSM), but I got that Noise thing to work, but I like it. Wish I had a little more control over what the general shape of the terrain would be though (instead of basically random). Thanks!

[Lighting and Skipping in-game]

You're my hero. Thanks.

[Lighting and Skipping in-game]

I'm trying to figure out this lighting tool using the Levelbuilding.pdf. Is there a tut anywhere on the net? I didn't find one in the recon section here. Anyway, I right click in the level, select darkmap and shadows and my terrain goes black and it says something like "Using 1 darkmap". So then I place a sun light and position it and in the light editor I can see the light working correctly. I then save the map and load it up in Igor and the game and the lighting is not there. Looking at other /map/ directories it looks like I need some darkmap***.rsb files, but I don't know how to create them or where they come from. Also, in the Leveleditor.pdf file it said to make sure the textures were not checked Self-Illuminated. I checked and they aren't. Do you guys know what I'm doing wrong?

Also, when I load up my map in-game I'm getting this skipping as I run across it. It seems to happen every time I move from polygon to polygon. I'm almost positive that my vertexes are all matched up perfectly (I used snap-to-grid) and seems to happen at almost every edge. It doesn't seem to slow me down at all, just make my view freeze for a 1/10 of a sec and then jump forward. Any idea what's causing that? I'm using Planes and editing the vertexes to create my landscape.

Thanks.

[almost got it...it works but]

still shows none under surface property dropdown menu.

Do you mean that your not getting any options for applying surface properties? (like mud, grass, etc.) If so, then you haven't properly set up the path to the surface property text file. In the "RSB Editor" folder on your DS disk there is a text file, "ikesurfaces.txt". You need to reference that file in 3DSM. I used Mike Schell's map editing tut and I'm pretty sure I got it from this site. In the first part he shows you where to reference a lot of .txt files in the Map Editor options. In that part he tells you which one needs to be the ikesurfaces.txt.

[almost got it...it works but]

Try rendering your map in 3dsm. I do that to make sure that the texture is set the way I want it. Also, it will let me know if I've forgotten to do that, um, I think it's called UWV Mapping or something like that. If that still doesn't work, I don't know. Maybe could it be that you're using textures from a mod that is activated in Igor, but not the game?

[Good Method For Creating Terrain]

Thanks guys. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing it in a bad way or anything. Now that I've learned to attach all the different sections, editing the terrain later has become a lot easier.

[Good Method For Creating Terrain]

Hey,

Ok, I'm just starting out with 3DSM and figuring some stuff out. I'm planning on trying to make a little outdoors terrain (fairly hilly) just to get a feel for sizes and for sculpting the terrain in GR.

To create the landscape, I'm finding the easiest thing to do for me is to use the Standard Primitives and create a "Plane". I can then convert to editable mesh and manipulate the various vertices to shape my terrain. This way appeals to me very much because of all the years I've made Quake 2 maps, where I learned to work with vertices.

Now, I'm wondering if there are any particular problems with doing it this way, or if there are better ways to go about it (whether easier or to create better performance). How do you guys create terrain? Also, I know with Quake 2 there was always the issue of max poly's and framerate. Is there a document somewhere that talks about how to find out what kind of performance your map will get or what are poly counts to look out for, etc?

Sorry for the newb questions. I've just finally gotten 3DSM and I'm eager to do this right.

Thanks.

[Hung up on Portal]

In order to have a clean boolean operation make sure that you are working with closed meshes.

The boolean operation was definitely the part I had the most trouble with in the tutorial (can't even count how many times I had to start over). Anyway, what exactly do you mean by "closed meshes"? Sorry, I'm new to 3dsm.

edit- Oh, and thanks for your answers so far. I'm going to fool around with it and see what I can come up with.

[Hung up on Portal]

So I finally made it through Schell's map tutorial and got my map to load up in-game. Very helpful.

I think, though, that I must have messed up the portal or something, because when I try to move through the doorway I get stuck on something invisible. If I keep running forward and moving slightly left and right I can eventually make it through the doorway, but I haven't noticed any pattern to when I do make it through (ie - left side, right side, crouching, standing, it all works and doesn't work just the same).

I took an AI guy and gave him a path into the other room and he ran straight through no problem. Anybody know what I did wrong?

Thanks.

[trigger plan problem]

If you don't know where he'll be attacked you can't know where to start the path.

The best I can think of is to place zones everywhere that he might travel. Then create a seperate path that will work for each zone. Then, when you need to trigger him to run, you do a proximity check. If he is in * zone, run * plan. Seems like lots of work, though, with lots of scripting needed to run it. But if you put all the blocks into a group and then just called them when needed they'd only add processes at that moment.

I've always wondered if a panic actor will run away or just surrender. You might test out the panic thing.

[Enemy won't kill friendlies.]

If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them, but I was able to approximate the effect I wanted. I think the problem had something to do with the enemy already assuming they weren't a threat, because I placed the enemies out of the room and had them run in and they attack the hostages just fine. Thanks for the help.

[Enemy won't kill friendlies.]

Ok, I'll try to answer questions in order.

I'm interested to know what you have in the Stay Close group?

I might as well just explain the premise. Basically, two members(I might change it to one) of your platoon will be "undercover" as a journalist who the terrorists are allowing to confirm that they've got these hostages. In the beginning they have to follow the enemy to the location of the hostages. The Stay Close group is a couple blocks that will make the enemy turn on you if you don't follow them close enough. The Secret Actor 1 and 2 are player characters that are teleported to the correct location, made invisible and given pistol kits. Here they are, in case they're conflicting:

Group: Stay Close

Comment:

   Stay Close Triggers

Trigger Event:

   5 second(s) elapsed.

Responses:

   Allow this block to be reactivated.

   Increment Counter - Secret Actors Close.

   Continue executing responses if (((The number of members of (The company including Secret Actor 1) within 25 meter(s) of Leading Squad Enemy 1) is equal to 1) or ((The number of members of (The company including Secret Actor 1) within 25 meter(s) of Leading Squad Enemy 1) is equal to (The number of active actors on (The company including Secret Actor 1)))).

   Set Counter - Secret Actors Close to 0.


Group: Stay Close

Comment:

   Stay Close Text

Trigger Event:

   5 second(s) elapsed.

Responses:

   Allow this block to be reactivated.

   Continue executing responses if ((The value of Counter - Secret Actors Close) is greater than or equal to 1).

   Display "Follow me closer or I'll have Sergei here kill you. He enjoys it." to Secret Actor 1 for 3 second(s).

   Display "Follow me closer or I'll have Sergei here kill you. He enjoys it." to Secret Actor 2 for 3 second(s).

   Continue executing responses if ((The value of Counter - Secret Actors Close) is greater than or equal to 2).

   Display "I said follow me!" to Secret Actor 1 for 3 second(s).

   Display "I said follow me!" to Secret Actor 2 for 3 second(s).

   Continue executing responses if ((The value of Counter - Secret Actors Close) is greater than or equal to 3).

   Make Secret Actor 1 detectable.

   Make Secret Actor 2 detectable.

   Prevent this block from being reactivated.

Does that help? The second block of my previous post is NOT meant to be a part of the Stay Close group.

To reiterate what Viper_Talon said, is it necessary to use a variable actor reference if you are placing these actors?

As far as I know it is. Now that you know the whole story, perhaps there is a better way to do it?

How many actors are there on the Red Cross team? If only these two just use Team InvisibilityOn.

There are two, in seperate rooms. They are invisible and the two Secret Actor player refs are invisible as well.

Also, have any of the enemy concerned got Alertness plans locked to Alert or bored?

Only one team is set to alert (so they run fast enough to the hostage location). They are three guys. Besides them, there are two tangos in one room with a hostage and one tango in another room with a hostage. Those tangos are looking directly at the hostages and have no plans, no idle animations or anything set.

I believe that's everything. Viper_talon, I believe you were thinking that I was hiding the hostages from the game world and that is what you were basing your response on. Is that correct? What's actually happening is they are just being hidden on the map with MapActorHide.

Thanks guys!

[Enemy won't kill friendlies.]

1. no need for hostage behavior.......lose it.........being hidden hides whatever from maps.........and if it stays hidden then why be a hostage

I mainly set them to hostage because that is what monkey suggested, but I have experimented with it on and off and neither seems to make much of a difference.

2. it is dependent on how many actors you have at the east and west select zones.....A. if spawned this would be a random select.

B. if the actors have been placed by you....then why do it like that unless relivent to another part of the script.........use the variable set actor to set actor 1 and 2

Those actor ref's are for player characters. I didn't know how to have only two player characters teleported to a different location while leaving the rest of the platoon at the original insertion zone so I used two locations and moved the player characters closest to each one of those. Does that make sense? If there is a better way to do it I would like that, but those two references act as the "undercover" guys, with invisibilityon and modified .kit files. The rest of the team is not invisible and has a different approach.

3. do not hide anything at start-up..........whats the point.........use the initial hide that comes with that item....

I don't hide anything, I only hide the friendly actors on the command map, so they do not show up as green dots.

4. if the second block is the one to be called then you still have the block set as <default>..........set it to <Stay Close> and have it call at the death

I'm not too familiar with the call script, but wouldn't I still have to set up a trigger that was like:

Trigger Event:

A member of Enemy has been killed.

Responses:

Call group

It seems like I would just be adding blocks that way. Am I wrong? Oh, it just occured to me that you brought this up because it says "Disable the Stay Close script blocks." That actually refers to seperate triggers unrelated to the hostage situation.

Thanks again for looking at it.

edit - wow, there were like 4 responses in the time it took me to make this reply. Hang on, I'm looking at the responses and checking some stuff. I will post again soon.

[Enemy won't kill friendlies.]

Monkey: I was pretty sure I tried that, but I double checked right now and it still didn't work. Here is the Startup trigger and the trigger that makes the enemy "turn" on you. These are the only triggers dealing with my issue:

Comment:

   Startup

Trigger Event:

   The simulation is starting.

Responses:

   Set Player's Platoon to (The player-controlled platoon).

   Set Secret Actor 1 to (The actor nearest West Select Zone).

   Set Secret Actor 2 to (The actor nearest East Select Zone).

   Hide Red Cross Worker 1 on the command map for all players.

   Hide Red Cross Worker 2 on the command map for all players.

   Make Secret Actor 1 undetectable.

   Make Secret Actor 2 undetectable.

   Make all members of Red Cross Team undetectable.

   Set all members of Red Cross Team to hostage behavior.

   Set Counter - Plane Jeep Squads to (A random integer between 1 and 2).

   Enable the Stay Close script blocks.



Group: <Default>

Comment:

   Enemy Dead

Trigger Event:

   A member of Enemy has been killed.

Responses:

   Make Secret Actor 1 detectable.

   Make Secret Actor 2 detectable.

   Show Red Cross Worker 1 on the command map for all players.

   Show Red Cross Worker 2 on the command map for all players.

   Make all members of Red Cross Team detectable.

   Cancel hostage behavior for all members of Red Cross Team.

   Disable the Stay Close script blocks.

Thanks for your help.

[Enemy won't kill friendlies.]

EricJ: That's the way I thought it would work, but even if I kill a guy 50 meters away, outside of the building and outside of view/range (killing an enemy is what triggers them to be detectable) they will not shoot the hostage. Even if they kill me and the rest of my platoon is all the way across the map having not even moved they won't then turn around and kill the hostage.

[Enemy won't kill friendlies.]

Thanks, but the player will probably be in the room at the time.

[Enemy won't kill friendlies.]

I can't seem to get the enemy to kill some friendlies. Basically, I have set these "hostages" (they aren't actually assigned hostage behavior) up to be undetectable at the start of the map. When the player kills an enemy, though, I want the enemy to try to kill them. I currently have it set up like this:

"Hostages" are allied.

"Hostages" are undetectable.

When the player kills an enemy, the "hostages" become detectable.

Still, the enemies won't open up on the "hostages". I think it has something to do with the enemy thinking they're not a threat (noweapon.kit). Does anyone know how to get the enemies to open up on them after I kill someone?

I have tried to use the SingleThreatModeOn trigger, but it didn't work at all. Any ideas?

Thanks.

[what happened]

Lost my first two missions that way. I was very ######. Now whenever I know the files are correct as they should be I back them up to a seperate folder.

Really frustrating cause you can hit Save pretty easily when you're going for Save As.

[Hammer to Fall]

Has anyone else had sound problems while running this map? When I played Hammer to Fall I frequently couldn't hear my own shots or the enemies. Sometimes I would only hear them faintly, other times it would be normal. It was no specific area, as I could do one silent shot and my immediate next shot would be regular volume.

I loaded up the map by itself (just an insertion zone) and had the same problems. Is this just me?

[View Frames Per Second]

Hey Jex,

I found the character model pictures to look very much the same, but if you look closely you will notice small differences. The boots are just a little more formed and stuff. I think it's probably easier to notice if you are changing character textures too, as bad textures make any model look bad and better textures make any model look good.

On the Character Smoothing I only see a slight color difference, with the second one being slightly lighter.

I'm with you on Effects Detail. I see no difference. I think these last two just don't really make any difference in game, but maybe you have to running really high settings to see a difference or something.

[View Frames Per Second]

Many thanks.

[View Frames Per Second]

I appreciate the article on graphics settings. As someone with a computer that barely runs GR (I keep everything on low except tree models) it was nice to see what effected framerates the most.

I was wondering how you were able to display frame rates on the screen. I assume it's a console command or something and I would like to use it.

[Server-side Actor Files?]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you or maybe I'm just wrong, but it seems like if I just saved over the old file with a new one, I wouldn't be solving the issue on the player's end and I would be creating one on mine.

If I took the "oldman_refugee_1.atr" file, opened it in Igor, changed the actor name, then saved it over the old file, wouldn't I be altering the name as it appears in any mission that references this file? (ie - stock missions) And wouldn't the original name appear for everyone who didn't have my modified file? Since it references a file that will exist on their computer, just a different version.

What I've already done is open a pre-existing actor file, "oldman_refugee_1.atr", modified the actor's name to "Dr. Martinez" and then saved the file as "dr_martinez.atr". Is that what you were suggesting or were you suggesting I save it as "oldman_refugee_1.atr"?

[Server-side Actor Files?]

I'm wondering if you can server side new actor files. It seems like they just reference other files, so if the files they reference are all from the original game, can they be server sided? I want to change the name that appears on a refugee actor in-game, but I don't want to lose server-side capability for my mission just for one actor name. Is this possible?

[Zodiac Passengers Blind]

Dang.

Thanks for the help guys.