Making a TO Map and have some questions

[joeycracknl 50]

I have few questions for those who have experience in making maps for TO.

- If i want to add TO specific "actors?" like buyzones, bomb plant zones etc how do i do that? Do i first need to load up some TO packages before i can select them, if so could anybody tell me which one?

- Lighting, to light up outside area's of the map do you guys suggest placing one massive light to act like the sun? Or its better to add small lights to create highlights?

- Textures, would it be better to use TO default texture or ''known'' textures from texture packs, or try to make higher resolution textures like 1024x1024 more realistic style? Im affraid realistic texture wont really match since most TO's Maps have like ''cartoony'' style texture imo. Maybe i could attempt to ''port'' some CSGO textures, or CS1.6 Cache textures.

- Meshes, does anybody have some suggestions on what are some good meshes to use in my map? Default or custom? Like cars, trucks or other things.

- Anybody have some other tips or suggestions?

Sorry if i have mispelled things.

Its my first map beside a small square practice room in the editor, first i created map by subtracting only from the ''void'', now i have subtracted massive blocks and made my map like lego blocks. Im using CS:GO's map Cache as example but it wont be a port. I do plan on toying arround with the scale to make it feel close.

But yea its only very early in making the map, i think i already have like 20-25hours in it and its still very basic lol. Maybe i shouldnt smoke so much weed and think less and build more

When looking back at the example video i allready ''feel'' scale errors while playing they didnt really stand out. Luckily its very easy to change that at this point.

Progress so far:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEJ8L_B6eTU

[ZEE.WONK 133]

*At actor list choice open and go to tacops/tacops/system and open s_Swat.u.

Then NavigationPoint- s_ZoneControllPoint.

That one you use as buy zone, bombing zone, hostage rescue etc.
(0=Terr, 1=SF)

 

*Better to set small once.

 

*Using original once i would prefer, Instead of creating a own package that be to big.

If there is only a few you can import them as MyLevel.

 

I posted a tutorial site somewhere on forum by snake-korn, It's in english and ducth.

Dutch
Eng

Edited March 28, 2017 by ZEE.WONK
Links

[kimoomik 66]

u need to destroy some ways, otherwise its unplayable and ure allways under attack from 4 sides...

[joeycracknl 50]

@ZEE.WONKK
Ok thanks for the info. I guess for now ill stick to smaller lights and default/known custom textures as i can always look later into that.
I have been using this as tutorial, but its more ut99 in general then TO specific. youtube.com/channel/UCIJ0tOUVyLx14pQ7RMM4GaQ
Ill take a look at links you posted.

@kimoomik
You may be right, but the map layout is not yet finished. What you see in the video is the Ter spawn, you can go left or right to go ''directly'' to a bomb site, or enter the mid section from the building.

On the otherside of the map will be the SF Spawn, they will allways be first to both the bomb sites and the mid area. It will be up to the Ter to find a way to attack a bomb site.

But since TO plays differently ill have to see how it turns out. For now ill attempt to complete it as a copy of CSGO cache. But since its not a direct port but a copy made from my memories i notice some ''angles/doorways'' are not right, giving too much open angles on some places in the map. Luckily its all easy to change and i will be focusing on that after i complete basic layout.

[Th120 18]

Mapping Rule No. 1:
STAY WITHIN THE lovely GRID!

Pls don't do the snake korn tutorials. They cover some essential stuff, yes, but he does not like the grid. You will get used to bad habbits.

You can create a map with like 100 brushes which is not playable if the brushes are not in the grid (Bsp holes, HOMs, etc.)

I created levels with more than 2000< brushes which have no BSP holes

 

officer_D had some nice tutorials, even on youtube. A shame that his website is dead...

Some ut99 tutorials are also not bad.

Sometimes the creators of the tutorials also have no clue how to do things properly (also applies to a lot of UE4 youtube tutorials)

Just have a look at other maps for reference (for the TO actors). They are mostly in the s_swat.u

 

Concerning lightning, use a little zone lightning (in general < 20 brightness for outside areas). It is better to use smaller lights but with a higher quantity (have a look at TO-SW-Neighborhood).

 

Concerning creating levels for TO in general: Don't; it is wasted time. It is better to learn UE4 or other engines for level designing.

The ue1 engine is way too old and limited.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2017 by Th120

[joeycracknl 50]

Hey Th120 thanks for your input.
What do you mean exactly with "STAY WITHIN THE lovely GRID!" How does one stay in the grid, like on the grid?
I have build most of my map on Gridsize 16 and some brushes are placed with gridsize 8, which after i reset the builder brush to go back to grid 16 again. So far i have not noticed any gaps or holes between brushes.

I guess i agree with creating levels for TO is a waiste of times, there 1500 Maps yet only 50-100 are played by people, some very good and nice looking maps havent been played online for years yet some square cube maps played daily. Makes you think what makes a map fun to play?

In the past i allways wanted to make a TO Map but never had the time, knowledge or will to learn the editor, luckily with the help of that Smeer Kat guy on youtube i started my own map. Im having fun building the map and i guess i just want to be able to say i actually made a decent TO map, just something i want to have done

I have no affiliation with UE4 beside i played some games that are made with it. My ''passion'' is just TO related, its not i want to be a mapper. After all one could always try the UT99 to UT4 map converter
 

[ZEE.WONK 133]

I used to follow Officer_d's tutorial, But they are gone and then i found snakes.
It's good for the basics yes.
Learned the hard  way about the grids

@Th120 You guys using UE4 for new TO?
Might look into it later if i'm still playing.

[joeycracknl 50]

Perhaps interesting to attempt to Convert TO maps straight to UE4,

atleast they do it with UT99 maps and i looks pretty decent  youtube.com/watch?v=Tm3kyHBMAr0

 

Edited March 31, 2017 by joeycracknl

[kimoomik 66]

i dont think thats is possible cause the engines are to different and it looks really laggy when he started to play...

[ZEE.WONK 133]

It might be possible.
If you convert from TO - UT99 then newer version.

[Th120 18]

Converting old maps to UE4 works (ut99 to ut).

The first problem is the scaling. TO scaling was very unrealistic; also in uu.

UE4 uses the metric system.

You also get some artifacts from converting concerning geometry. UE1 uses a substractive world; ue 4 is additive.

I converted rapid for testing and I had to do a lot of changes in the ue1 ed to make it actually work.

Even if you manage to do that you have to redo all textures. The next problem is that brushes are outdated and have a poor performance on ue 4.

 

I will block all cheap rapid remakes (converts)

 

(and where does the game look laggy? I have >120fps )

 

EDIT: Found this in my old files. Never really used it tbh since I found it when I knew the most stuff already:

Tactical Ops Mapping doc.txt

Edited April 12, 2017 by Th120

[joeycracknl 50]

Wow thanks thats a very helpful document.

Atm took a break from the map as i am busy with some other things and want to make the map right and not rushed.

But i cant wait to get started again

[MiSFiT 3]

Setting Startpoints and Buyzones: By [OAP]MiSFiT

Setting Up Spawn point for SF and Terros

Setting up Buypoint

　

For both the above you need to add an S_ZoneControlPoint actor to your level. You will find this actor under the "Navigation Point" subclass in your Actor Class Browser. This actor will only add itself to large rooms so if you want it in a small room it must be added to a large room and then moved.

　

Highlight the S_ZoneControlPoint actor and press the alt key to open the actors properties. You will see a list like this.

+ Advanced

+ Collision (Set the radius of your actor in here)

+ Display

etc etc

　

At the bottom of this list is this

+ to

　

Click on the + to open the menu, and look for

bBuyPoint

and

Owned Team

　

Check that bBuyPoint is set to TRUE.

Now go to "Owned Team" and set it's property to 1

You have now created a BuyPoint for the SF (leaving the owned team as 0 will create a Terrorists BuyPoint )

　

Now add some "player spawn" points around your S_ZoneControlPoint actor and you have created an SF (or Terro) Spawn area and Buy point. Finally set the owned team property in each of your "player spawn" points to ensure that Only SF (or Terro) can spawn here. Remember SF=1, Terro=0.

Edited May 3, 2017 by MiSFiT

[Pillarist 12]

Op 3/30/2017 om 16:32, Th120 zei:

Mapping Rule No. 1:
STAY WITHIN THE lovely GRID!

 

 

Best advice ever, the grid is so that the game can calculate properly when using the brushes to make stuff, always use 2-4-8-16-32-64-128-256-512-1024-2048 etc and stay on the lines of the grid. 

If you misplace some and didn't notice, you will eventually run into bsp holes. Those are usually really hard to fix, and will create bugs where people fall through stuff, or invisible blocking stuff etc.

I quickly searched for a link explaining bsp holes and BSP by itself, might help you understand how its done and why. I think it's based on the UT4 engine but its basically the same in 99.

Another explanation based in UT99 by Hourences.

(Kinda late to the party but thought id gave some input :P)

Edited May 17, 2017 by Pillarist

[joeycracknl 50]

Thanks for the tips, strange i havent noticed replies on here.

Luckily i have allways followed the grid and only build with factor 8 or 16 brush size.

Sadly a few weeks back when i bought a new video card, all of a sudden my motherboard was broken.
In the end when i decided to reinstall windows on my rebuild PC and i forgot to backup my TO-Cache map.

All i had was a TO-Cache from months ago, sadly its missing half of the map compared to what i was.
Currently i am rebuilding the map and have allmost finished the "basic" layout.

I am still working on it as a hobby project, but its.. gonna take some time lol.