Kejim Supplies Depot Alpha

[Epifire]

Well the time has come for the alpha testing phase! After recently getting all my stuff back together I've been hard at work to put some of the best content together (that I can possibly provide) in this compact little map. Some of you may remember this project from a very long running cycle that can be seen here at the WIP thread...

http://www.swbfgamers.com/index.php?topic=6845.0

What I want of course is for people to play test and give me opinions (yay or nay - cool or uncool). Ideas and points about current features. Do note there are some broken elements in the level (since it is an early alpha) but I really do want to hear everything, whether I already know of it or not. What's currently in this version is the working layout that NPCs can properly run. This includes vehicles, turrets and buildings. There's a lot I still want to work on and I plan on packing a ton more detail into the areas for later versions. This is a bit cut and dry as I even have some blank ramp panels crammed in a couple areas to make sure NPCs don't get stuck. So it's not really all that pretty yet. And yes don't worry I will also eventually replace that awful Sky Dome currently being used.

NOTE: For any graphical issues, please do paste me your hardware specs and screenshot if possible should you encounter any kind of visual errors (buildings disappearing, elements missing, etc). I have absolutely no visual problems in this version but I understand a lot of you have differing hardware then me.

In advance I really just wanna thank all the community for supporting me in the past. I wouldn't be getting into game development today if it weren't for this place, so this is me giving back to you guys. 

>> http://www.mediafire.com/download/ep4v5dadc9bckch/Kej1_0.1.zip <<

[{TCE}Call-of-Duty]

Ahhhhhhhhhh yeaaaaaaaaa, been waiting to play this for a while. I'll edit this post later.

EDIT: So far, I think is is a very-well made map. the layout is nice and cozy yet opened up for vehicle combat. The Empire CP is awesome, mainly because of the AT-ST hanger. I enjoyed blasting way Rebels in the turbolaser (Getting a control panel for the laser would be nice though.) The two main complaints I have is that 1. Model placement. Some of the rocks were out of place (Such as the rocks with the oil pies coming out of it.). Also, the entrance to the turbolaser room was missing a wall on one side. 2. Lighting. It was a bit off walking through the dark-lit corridors without any light shining through. Overall it is a very well put together map and i can tell you put a lot of time and effort into it.

P.s. Thank you for acknowledging the skydome.

[RepComm]

This is way cool!
I am playing right now, and there is a sort of graphical bug.
The terrain seems to have a z-fighting (where two triangles with the same positions on each three vertexes are on the same positions) when the terrain setting is on high.

edit- Other than the terrain, the only other graphical "bug" I found was on the metal post where the two big pipes lead up from the empiral base and up a hill. It looks like a one of those double-sided transparency flag things where a face behind another will render on top of it (but that's what happens when using double-sided transparency flag, not something you can really control).

Hope that helps, Very nice job so far!

[Epifire]

EDIT: So far, I think is is a very-well made map. the layout is nice and cozy yet opened up for vehicle combat. The Empire CP is awesome, mainly because of the AT-ST hanger. I enjoyed blasting way Rebels in the turbolaser (Getting a control panel for the laser would be nice though.) The two main complaints I have is that 1. Model placement. Some of the rocks were out of place (Such as the rocks with the oil pies coming out of it.). Also, the entrance to the turbolaser room was missing a wall on one side. 2. Lighting. It was a bit off walking through the dark-lit corridors without any light shining through. Overall it is a very well put together map and i can tell you put a lot of time and effort into it.

Thanks for the crits man! I was less concerned with the rock models on this update (hence why you're seeing the clash of styles). One thing I want to do in the future is have at least three to four of the larger (blocky styled rocks) since I thought those looked and had the best definition. Being completely honest, when it came to the bigger rocks I wasn't sure what on earth I was wanting to roll with till the last one I made I felt was the best of the bunch.

Lighting has been a long coming process for me as I use a combination of textured lights, attached as well as painted verts. I'm actually knocking out the lighting pass now (since it takes the longest) and will probably be getting another version out once that is complete.  I do want to ask one thing that I've been trying to figure out from your post "Also, the entrance to the turbolaser room was missing a wall on one side."

I wasn't sure if you were saying lack of detail or a whole wall missing? If there are portions of the room missing could you screen shot it? There should be the entrance at ground level, the tunnel and then the circular control bunker (but all with complete and solid walls).

This is way cool!
I am playing right now, and there is a sort of graphical bug.
The terrain seems to have a z-fighting (where two triangles with the same positions on each three vertexes are on the same positions) when the terrain setting is on high.

edit- Other than the terrain, the only other graphical "bug" I found was on the metal post where the two big pipes lead up from the empiral base and up a hill. It looks like a one of those double-sided transparency flag things where a face behind another will render on top of it (but that's what happens when using double-sided transparency flag, not something you can really control).

This z-fighting is interesting. This is the first I've heard of it but I am looking into this. I feel it might be linked to using more than three terrain materials (as this was also giving me an error in the munger). I wasn't noticing any issues on my end so I didn't think it was a critical error. I did take out the fourth texture to remove that possibility, so we'll see if that happens again in the next version.

The pipes junction on the hill still needs some more work as I kinda forgot about it. :XD I'll probably remove the truss work completely as it's really not contributing much in it's current state anyway. Thanks you two for testing this out for me, as it's been very informative to determine whats going in the next versions. Stay tuned for more!

[Kit Fisto]

I played through this map twice, once on each side and here's what I think.
This map is very very cool. It has that SWBFI feel to it and the bases are just amazing! I did find a number of things that could be fixed/improved and here they are.

These awesome weather vane models don't have any collision.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]

The turbo laser doesn't make any sound and has no first person view. I also found that zooming in on a target moved my screen down so I'd have to move the turbo laser back up to see my target (if that doesn't make sense just target someone and zoom in you'll see what I mean)
[spoiler][/spoiler]

The turbo laser can also be entered in from the outside of it as well as inside of the CP. If the point of the CP is to hold the turbo laser then the only entrance should be inside. I think some sort of control panel or seat would show that that is the entrance to the gun. Also when you exit out you end up on the outside behind the gun.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]

One thing I really liked about this map were the bridge type things above the main battlefield until I realized me and the AI had no way to get up there and use that strategic position! I think it would really add some flare to that section of the battefront and make advancing on the rebel and empire positions a lot more of a challenge.
[spoiler][/spoiler]

There are various rocks around the map that either float or don't have collision.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]


Additional comments/suggestions
1) A minimap
2) CP names
3) The mission objectives are still default Jabba's Palace objectives
4) This is more personal but I think the Rebel Alliance would look better on this map if their skins were the ones we see on the Tantive IV level in SWBFII. The aesthetic of the map doesn't really call for desert skins which is what they have now
5) The AI never got stuck anywhere and that's really nice for us single players. I felt that the troop count on both sides could be increased by about 10 at most.
6) Add Clone Wars era cause Clone Troopers are amazing and think of the bottlenecks the Droideka's could create!


This map is amazing and truly unique. I can't wait to see it in it's finished form!

[Sereja]

I realized me and the AI had no way to get up there and use that strategic position!

No way, you say? Heh. 
[spoiler][/spoiler]

It's a very high quality map, perhaps represent Dark Forces style, of the imperial base mazes. Still, I may suggest to add bump maps for the models, and fix the big turret spawn bug. Seems, AI should exit from it only underground, or it cause "meditation" stack effect for them. I guess, you may need to remove collision, from the turret big rotation disc, on surface, to let gunners, back underground.

[Epifire]

Thanks for the additional comments guys. I do apologize for the state in which the turret is in though, as it's still pretty rough. I guess I get pretty used to things not being completely operational but I've had a fair share of problems getting that thing to work (due to it's size).

I played through this map twice, once on each side and here's what I think.
This map is very very cool. It has that SWBFI feel to it and the bases are just amazing! I did find a number of things that could be fixed/improved and here they are.

These awesome weather vane models don't have any collision.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]

The turbo laser doesn't make any sound and has no first person view. I also found that zooming in on a target moved my screen down so I'd have to move the turbo laser back up to see my target (if that doesn't make sense just target someone and zoom in you'll see what I mean)
[spoiler][/spoiler]

The turbo laser can also be entered in from the outside of it as well as inside of the CP. If the point of the CP is to hold the turbo laser then the only entrance should be inside. I think some sort of control panel or seat would show that that is the entrance to the gun. Also when you exit out you end up on the outside behind the gun.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]

One thing I really liked about this map were the bridge type things above the main battlefield until I realized me and the AI had no way to get up there and use that strategic position! I think it would really add some flare to that section of the battefront and make advancing on the rebel and empire positions a lot more of a challenge.
[spoiler][/spoiler]

There are various rocks around the map that either float or don't have collision.
[spoiler]
[/spoiler]


Additional comments/suggestions
1) A minimap
2) CP names
3) The mission objectives are still default Jabba's Palace objectives
4) This is more personal but I think the Rebel Alliance would look better on this map if their skins were the ones we see on the Tantive IV level in SWBFII. The aesthetic of the map doesn't really call for desert skins which is what they have now
5) The AI never got stuck anywhere and that's really nice for us single players. I felt that the troop count on both sides could be increased by about 10 at most.
6) Add Clone Wars era cause Clone Troopers are amazing and think of the bottlenecks the Droideka's could create!


This map is amazing and truly unique. I can't wait to see it in it's finished form!

I've forced a lot of things over to my "fix it later list" since I was mainly just trying to get all the pathing right in this version. Most the things you mentioned, I've had in the back of my head for a long time. I'm debating chucking the antenna relay props, (as cool as they are) since there's still a slight hitch in the spinning animation. Debating what I wanna do with that right now. As Sereja guessed, this is totally Dark Forces themed so sadly I myself wont be adding in CW because it was designed as a GCW exclusive.

On your note about the skins though, I do really want to get something other than the desert skins but most my attempts at adding something else just completely bugs the sides. Honestly about the only thing I seem to do fairly well is the buildings and details. My abilities with LUA are fairly limited, as well as my attempts at throwing in custom audio. That's why the turbo-laser is silent right now, as I've had no luck getting sounds to work correctly. As for the 1st person views and just the views in general, I've been kinda scratching my head as to exactly what in the ODF is causing the weird height differences. I wanted to add a custom 1st person screen to match a monitor I'll add in the bunker, but I hadn't gotten around to that yet. The aiming has something to do with the extreme height of the thing as it orients to the base (way at the ground).

As far as getting in and out of the turret I'm still working out a method to blocking contact to the upper hull to prevent access from above. It may have been a bad idea to release the map with the turret in such a bare bones condition but I did also plan on adding in a detailed access terminal as well.

Still, I may suggest to add bump maps for the models, and fix the big turret spawn bug. Seems, AI should exit from it only underground, or it cause "meditation" stack effect for them. I guess, you may need to remove collision, from the turret big rotation disc, on surface, to let gunners, back underground.

Define big turret spawn bug? Is that just the exiting the turret, or spawning at that CP? As far as my tests concluded the spawns were solid. I was actually considering removing the collision to the bunker as you were saying but that would mean I would have to establish some sort of radial shield surrounding it. Otherwise players trying to walk around the base of the turret would immediately fall into the bunker below.

As for the bump maps I've had a ton of issues with those, which I think is also related to the problem you've known about with my specular maps. For some reason, I can have straight white on black but they don't show. It's something to do with how I'm implementing them but I feel the root cause has something to do with Ande's exporter I use, since it was aimed more at SWBF2's material system. I think the bump maps may have something to do that I forgot to run in XSI with the tools, but it's hard to say. I know specular maps are a whole other ball park.

It does look like I have a long list of things to fix though. At the moment I've been doing a bit of work on the side to get a change of pace. I just recently had my PC reset and taken into a shop for work on it. So I've gotta reinstall my exporter tools as well as my closed development network to tie my machine into the XP unit I build on. Again I really do appreciate your guys' advice and thoughts on the map. Before all my weird equipment failure, I was doing the main lighting pass, so eventually I'll be getting back to work on it.

[Snake]

Excellent work pal. Can't wait to play the finished product!

[Epifire]

Excellent work pal. Can't wait to play the finished product!

Doing a bit of work for The Dark Mod atm, but I should be returning to my SWBF work shortly after finishing a little project I took on.

[RepComm]

I've done some snooping and found that all the terrain used by the battlefront engine seems to render with z-fighting (though I now know that it's shadow/terrain overlay based, not the actual terrain) when the Terrain Quality setting is on high.

I believe this is because I'm using a Windows 8 computer, and possibly because of some C++ or graphics rendering update to this version of windows..

I tested your map later on my old desktop (windows 7) and the terrain renders fine.

[Epifire]

I've done some snooping and found that all the terrain used by the battlefront engine seems to render with z-fighting (though I now know that it's shadow/terrain overlay based, not the actual terrain) when the Terrain Quality setting is on high.

I believe this is because I'm using a Windows 8 computer, and possibly because of some C++ or graphics rendering update to this version of windows..

I tested your map later on my old desktop (windows 7) and the terrain renders fine.

Good to know. Thanks for going that far to test it on different versions of Windows, because that actually tells me a lot! 

[Epifire]

Bumping this. I've quit work on The Dark Mod now in preparation to finish my age old Bioshock Infinite, portfolio scene. However aside from portfolio work (albeit long belated) I've turned my eye to take another look at the Kejim project. And I gotta say, I'd love to get my XP machine running to finish this.

Even if there's only a handful of us left, I'd totally forgot about this and had a ton going for it thus far. However the only problem I see right now is I've got Maya (not Softimage anymore) so getting back to work might take some pretty interesting finagling.

Two things that didn't work 100% right was a new animation added and additional sounds. I know it's crazy to ask this many years later but is anyone still around that can assist in a possible collab to finish this? I've still gotta split my time between work and the portfolio but I still have my other workstation on standby from when I shelved this.

[Dark_Phantom]

I actually looked at this thread recently for a reason I can't remember lol. I can help with sounds, just PM what you need.

[Epifire]

Aww yeah man, thank you! Yeah The turbolaser sound (which I think is the AAT turret snd) failed to import properly. I don't know if it was the quality rate, or just improper method to add it. Firstly I gotta run down the whole project folder, which I think is on my XP machines.

So for that I've got two things standing in my way being...

1: Get my XP machines and crosslink cable reestablished.
2: Try and remember what I did to install an old XSI modtool for MSH transfer.

I think there was a full working revise of the Pandemic exporter last I looked. If anyone can tell me how that runs on Windows 10, I'd love to know. In any case I'll have to run that down before any new models can be added.

Once I can move forward, I wanna see what I can do with vertex paints on the models. Cause I'd like to get rid of the overused standin rock formations and provide properly modeled out cliff embankments. The vertex paints would handle some faked occlusion and just having proper cliffs would be dope.

So besides diving into Maya right now, I gotta pickup my old tools. However I'll see if I can dig up the original working files and PM those to you.