home | info | download | forum  some more info A good thing about using q3map2 is that it allows you to 'tag' models to script_movers. Normally you'd use the 'model2' key/value pairing in the entities properties but now all you need do is select the model and then the script_mover and hit 'Ctrl+K' connecting them in the same way you target and connect other entities. All the new model formats are available using this technique. The scripted wooden walkways were set up like this which otherwise would have been converted to MD3 models (which has size limitations), it saves on a lot of messing about converting files.  asset downloads available... You can now download the assets used in this map separately from the main KatsBits website. Included are the wooden walkways, iron torch, rock & broken step models - these are ASE models so you can change the texture using notepad. Also available is the rock texture used along with a couple of other new ones.  latest screenshots Compairing the previous shots you can see some of the changes that maps gone through to make it more 'interesting' from a gameplay point of view, this is a result of a long brainstorming chat with Mr Brushmonkey sock, where we discussed quite a few ideas on what could be changed/inproved upon; the stairs were one particular instance where we both felt they were being overused so different ways to move up each 'level' had to be figured out. screenshot 1 - start area screenshot 2 - start area screenshot 3 - 1st bridge screenshot 4 - 'tollgate' house screenshot 5 - inside the 'keep' screenshot 6 - lookout walkway screenshot 7 - the 'two towers' *cough* screenshot 8 - the 'keep' screenshot 9 - lookout walkway Some notes: I got MAX_MAP_PLANES (running BSPC on the BSP file) when originally using the ASE models setup with q3map_clipModel, seems this generates a colossal number of faces due to the way the 'clip' protocol works so they had to be manually clipped and the clipModel surfaceparameter in the shader removed, that fixed the issue. Also had to convert one of the walkway sections (very tricky as using the ASE file created a corrupt data for some reason, so the brushwork had to be converted to a 'safe' format [DXF in this case] and imported into gmax and MilkShape) to an MD3 file so it could be 'tagged' to a script_mover and spawned or removed from the game... somethng you can't currently do with ASE models.  new screen and info Ok, I have to admit, the only reason I did this map was to exorcise my rock monkey demons, they just won't leave a fellow alone...! Doing straight walls and floors these past 6 or so months for Generator is all well and good but I can't do it for long before I get a tap on the shoulder... "ehemmm.!" The fog has been thinned out so you can now see more of the map, you can now actually see the rock pillars, the central sections of which (the 'piilars') are the ASE models I was testing, the rest is brushwork, almost indistiguishable from one another. The water (which caused a lot of headaches trying to solve an incorrect fogging problem - thnx to ydnar, pazur & ratty - see *note at bottom of this comment) has been made much shallower to cut down on empty space a bit. Something else worth mentioning, ratty rademption suggested some shader settings for the sky which resulted in much 'clearer' lighting in the map, you can see the difference quite easily even when compairing the old thumbnails below with the new ones here. screenshot 1 - start area screenshot 2 - small island looking back screenshot 3 - steps out from water screenshot 4 - different view of the collapsed bridge screenshot 5 - the tower screenshot 6 - the two bridges *note : the water problem was something to do with the texture/shader used for the surface of the water, it wasn't fogging out correctly; if you stood on a spot and turned the texture would fade in and out of fogging as you rotated around. It turns out that in this particular case is was something to do with the physical size of the brush being used for the water; it was massive (relatively speaking), going from side to side, this had to be cut down into much smaller tringles as the 'tessalation' value set out in the shader didn't do anything to fix the problem... more info on this on the SplashDamage forums  screenshots and info See below for some ingame screenshots of Castlekeep. The map started out as a test for a couple of modelled rock formations using the ASE file format that's now supported by q3map2, they formed the basis and it kind of went on from there. The intention was to see how well the models (which can be lightmapped) would sit with 'normal' brushwork, especially 3 point clipped brush blocks; some of which are very big. I wanted to try some texture blending but that turned out to be quite tricky on 'solid' objects (a single continuous polygon mesh) as the blending resulted in stretching due to the way the shader mapped the textures, the models needed to be broken into sections for this to work. Anyway the result is fairly interesting, you start at the base of one 'island' and have to work your way round to the tower. It's night, it's foggy (had to use fogclip to control what gets drawn onscreen as this is basically one big assed box..!) and you're surrounded by water. The start of the map was going to have some sort of camera cut or an actual boat the player rode through the fog and around one side of the island, that was left out as it was suggested that people would get board if they were having to play through it repeatedly... hohumm... screenshot 1 - start area screenshot 2 - collapsed bridge (you need to be able to 'super jump' to get across this - sprint/run-jump) screenshot 3 - inside the tower screenshot 4 - different view of the collapsed bridge screenshot 5 - different angle on the start area screenshot 6 - the tower  thanks go to... If I've not mentioned your name here, it's not intentional, I'm getting old and apparently your memory is the 1st thing to go..! sock Sedric emsipe KoS PizPot megaman ydnar (q3map2) panzur ratty rademption  contact details if you have any enquiries/questions please send an email to the following address castlekeep@katsbits.com copyright | KatsBits