-= The UT99.org 2021 Mapping Contest =-

[sektor2111]

@papercoffee
Thanks for the badge. Not sure what to do with the utx file. I'll just make my own version pcx and mylevel it. I guess that's ok.

You can add the badge into MyLevel exactly as it is without wasting time. I don't get the why it's needed other way.

[TexasGtar]

You can add the badge into MyLevel exactly as it is without wasting time. I don't get the why it's needed other way.

Thanks, Not sure how to do that. Just import like a pcx into from the textures window? Never tried that before with utx file, Good to know, Thanks again!

[papercoffee]

You load the package directly into MyLevel. Via commandline inside the editor.
I have to search for that exact line...

[Pikko]

can add the badge into MyLevel exactly as it is without wasting time. I don't get the why it's needed other way.

Thanks, Not sure how to do that. Just import like a pcx into from the textures window? Never tried that before with utx file, Good to know, Thanks again!

Let me know if you need any help

[papercoffee]

@Pikko I fixed your quotes

[SteadZ]

You want this:

Code: Select all

obj load file=..\Textures\UT99org-NRMC.utx package=MyLevel

in the command line.

(obviously make sure that the .utx is actually in the Textures folder before doing this though lol)

Would have been simpler to just provide the pcx on its own though imo

[sektor2111]

MapGarbage can do an import of any package located in UT install without writing too many stories anywhere. Name of package point extension (U UAX UTX) set option to True and Hit build. After refreshing textures browser a MyLevel package is there ready to use.
Sample for evidences:
Attachment

Either way Via link

[Feralidragon]

I think I will only start the map itself in November, and try to do it in just 1.5 months.

The coronas and lens flares system I have been working on took way longer than I expected (especially the lens flares), and although it's mostly ready now (only 3 things to do there, hopefully simpler ones), I still need to work on 2 other systems first (one of them is fairly simple, the other one is essentially an emitter).

The good news though is that coronas/lens flares were the most difficult part of this package, and the other stuff is more straightforward and doesn't have much science in comparison.

Currently, this is where I am at:

[fudgonaut]

Coming to the party late — I don't know if I'll have bandwidth but I'm gonna give it a try. I have a couple CTF ideas knocking around...

-cheers

[EvilGrins]

The coronas and lens flares system I have been working on took way longer than I expected

Trying to remember if anyone ever made a sunglasses pick up. I know Jack Griffin made, sorta, x-ray vision specs... but that's not exactly the same thing.

[Feralidragon]

What I have shown is the "full version" btw: the package features other "sun" lens flare types which are stripped down versions of this:

• one without the small lens flares (spectral);
• another with just the streak lens flare (anamorphic);
• and another one that has no visual lens flare other than making the sun look brighter (lite).

In my map I will use the full version, but whoever is interested in using this package later, can easily use a different sun version if they don't like the full version.
And if the mapper is not happy with those, they can easily customize everything the way they want.

The lens flare system in this package is quite powerful, more so than the actual coronas system (hence the time taken), and you can do a lot with them other than "classic" lens flares.
I will add more presets to the package (non-sun related, just normal light lens flares), and show some of them later.

[Swanky]

I think I will only start the map itself in November, and try to do it in just 1.5 months.

The coronas and lens flares system I have been working on took way longer than I expected (especially the lens flares), and although it's mostly ready now (only 3 things to do there, hopefully simpler ones), I still need to work on 2 other systems first (one of them is fairly simple, the other one is essentially an emitter).

The good news though is that coronas/lens flares were the most difficult part of this package, and the other stuff is more straightforward and doesn't have much science in comparison.

Currently, this is where I am at:

Looks good! Revelation had made something similar (and I used it with permission in AMC-Ars_Indus). I remember that is quite performance heavy...

[Feralidragon]

Yeah, I remember Revelation having done lens flares for a few of his maps (I think pretty much all his latest maps have them, if the map is set outdoors).

I never checked how fast they were, but in my case what I am doing here is to render them directly to the screen (using Canvas), and I have done some performance testing, and you mostly only get lag when you have something like over 250 lens flares being rendered at the same time, and the lag comes mostly from the rendering itself rather than my Canvas code at the moment.

By "250", I actually mean around 1000 draw calls: pretty much all the lens flare textures you're seeing are stored as a single quadrant:
https://github.com/Feralidragon/C21FX/b ... lare0Q.png
and then rendered 4x in different positions with different flips to render the "full" texture.

And by "lag" I mean that, at least in the machine I am testing, I go from 360fps (normal) down to 100fps, so it's playable on mine, but I do imagine that in other rigs that would be actually laggy (likely below 60fps).
It's still something that remains to be tested in other machines once I release the package.

But, although it's been proven to be very fast thus far, it has a lot of room for optimization, and I have been taking some notes in areas I want to optimize later in the end to reduce the amount of needed CPU.

Also, these work fully online, with pretty much zero impact on the server-side: the server only has to replicate any changed stuff (at the start, and then only when it's triggered on/off), with all workload being done fully client-side.

[UnrealGGecko]

Only 2 months to go and I STILL dont have a layout done, might either go with something super simple or finish an older project for the mappack :/

[Feralidragon]

Only 2 months to go and I still don't even have the map started...
Oh well...

In the meanwhile, however, I have pretty much finished the coronas system for now (at least for a v1, to be used now, I have more stuff planned for a v2), so next is holograms/text and emitters (which should be easier, thus faster to do, or so I hope).

Today I made it so that these coronas and lensflares could be rendered from a skybox, meaning that you can put a sun or anything else in a skybox, and it will correctly render in the main map.



Due to limitations of the engine itself, to set this up you need to set something in the Tag property of the ZoneInfo with the fake backdrop (by default it's just the word "backdrop", but this can be changed to anything else), and it will only work well with fake backdrop brushes which have a cubic shape (cylinders and such won't work well).

The skyboxes themselves can be any shape at all, they don't have this limitation (and generally the skyboxes themselves are the ones which sometimes have non-cubic shapes, while the brush with the fake backdrops is pretty much always cubic, so I don't think this will be a real limitation to anyone).

If you have either multiple skyboxes or multiple areas with fake backdrops with the same skybox or both, this should work as expected in all of them as well (although I didn't test yet).

Either way, had to spend time on this even in this v1 because I want to set a sun in the skybox rather than in the main map area, in order to look right, and I wanted it to just work out of the box and as easily as possible, and the above is the method with the least amount pain I could think of for the mapper, given the engine limitations.