Chinny's 10 Step Mapping Checklist.

[Cozmo]

If ANNA doesn't already set any StopOnEncroach movers to IgnoreOnEncroach when the game starts, then that sounds like a really good thing to include. (Assuming changing it during play works)

[ShadowRunner]

not a massive issue tbh as this is a guide of basic things to check when mapping you could have just said make door setting to Ignore on Encroach! instead of a massive Message! Nice observation though PSullivan it's a handy tip for the new mappers

Chees, no disrespect, but Phillip made Tunnel Network and he's giving his time to try to be helpful. This clan and forums would be dead without its guests, so probably it's not worth pulling someone up on their first post here, when no-one actually said welcome to him. Is it really that long? Anyway, I shall mind my own business, sorry all.

Secondly, it's correct in saying it is not always true that swing doors are buggy, I've never had an issue with this. If I have ever had issues with movers, it came from cutting corners and messing with the pivot, or not building it properly in the first instance. Where you have two sliding doors make one entrance, that in fact can be buggy due to the proximity of movers to each other. When I am asked to fix people's maps it's always a pivot or build issue.

[Mastakilla]

@Poor: agree

@Chees: Yea I could've shortened it but I wanted to make sure that people don't think that simply swinging doors are buggy in MP. *Any* door set to StopWhenEncroach will be buggy in MP, provided that the door physically collides with a player while moving.

SERIALKILLA!

[[DXA]avatar]

@Poor: agree

@Chees: Yea I could've shortened it but I wanted to make sure that people don't think that simply swinging doors are buggy in MP. *Any* door set to StopWhenEncroach will be buggy in MP, provided that the door physically collides with a player while moving.

SERIALKILLA!

MASTAKILLA!!! xD

o ye sorry for not welcoming you dude ! ... WELCOME!

[Vexus]

Chinny, you are a mapping genius, thank you for this excellent advice and mapping technique perfection ideas. Love it!

[jager774]

Chinny, you are a mapping genius, thank you for this excellent advice and mapping technique perfection ideas. Love it!

! 4gr33 w17h j00 Vexus.
When i make my next map/ finish the current one ill probably use this, i never add cabinets for instance, after reading this i definitely will:D

[chin.democ.]

Thanks guys, really glad it's helping you. I still use it myself, there's always somethings you forget!

[Magus]

I would like to add a few points, if I may:

1. Regarding Weapon Racks, I would like to see a note added in about changing the collision radius and/or height of weapons to make them easier to click on - since the normal collision boxes are designed for the weapons being flat on the ground, it can be particularly difficult to grab them when they're mounted vertically (easiest to tell with thin but long weapons such as the DTS or sniper rifle);
2. You don't seem to have mentioned setting the various AI behaviours of medbots and biobots so they remain stationary and are unaffected by local events - note this includes actually being able to make them blow up. Granted this is less of a concern when copy-pasting prefabs from stock maps, but worth noting nonetheless;
3. Might be worth adding that the control panels for gaining control of turrets should not be covered by the turret that they control.

[[FGS]Chees]

Does anyone know what the grid size in the editor relates to in real life? ie 128 units = 1 meter and so on??

[~DJ~]

http://udn.epicgames.com/Three/UnrealUnits.html

According to this..

In all of the Unreal Tournament games, 1 Unreal Unit is equal to 2 cm.

So yeah, I guess the same applies for DX. Hopefully.

[chin.democ.]

Well if it were 2 cm per unit then a doorway height would come to 8' 4", now let's say a typical doorway is 6' 8" we are talking about 1 unreal unit = 1.62 cm or 16.2 mm.

[ricci]

I'm not a mapper myself but from what I noticed in newer maps is there is no thought process on where they are giving free bio, free medkits, where they are putting the repairbot or med bot. Most maps they are thrown everywhere and it completely disorients the gameflow. If you want a good map you need good gameflow. If you want good gameflow you need to position your resources strategically. Most maps use fire barrels for decoration, fire barrels add another dynamic to someones game if properly positioned. I'm not a mapper but I got a lot of hours playing maps and I consider myself a good gameflow guy. If you need advice on where to position resources for a good augged map, give me a shout.

[anax]

I'm not a mapper myself but from what I noticed in newer maps is there is no thought process on where they are giving free bio, free medkits, where they are putting the repairbot or med bot. Most maps they are thrown everywhere and it completely disorients the gameflow. If you want a good map you need good gameflow. If you want good gameflow you need to position your resources strategically. Most maps use fire barrels for decoration, fire barrels add another dynamic to someones game if properly positioned. I'm not a mapper but I got a lot of hours playing maps and I consider myself a good gameflow guy. If you need advice on where to position resources for a good augged map, give me a shout.

i've got about 2 maps to complete and 1 close to finnish, i'd like some resource advice when i come to release them as test betas, is that cool yo?

[Mastakilla]

I'm not a mapper myself but from what I noticed in newer maps is there is no thought process on where they are giving free bio, free medkits, where they are putting the repairbot or med bot. Most maps they are thrown everywhere and it completely disorients the gameflow. If you want a good map you need good gameflow. If you want good gameflow you need to position your resources strategically. Most maps use fire barrels for decoration, fire barrels add another dynamic to someones game if properly positioned. I'm not a mapper but I got a lot of hours playing maps and I consider myself a good gameflow guy. If you need advice on where to position resources for a good augged map, give me a shout.

I'm not sure how many maps have come out lately that were built with ATDM in mind, but I'm sure as of late people are starting to think about those things more when creating a map. I'll agree that this wasn't always the case and for that reason alot of the costum maps from the past are useless when it comes to 'classic' dxmp. Maybe someone should revisit some old favourites and convert it for augged play, and not by just throwing some repairbots and biocells around, lol

[ShadowRunner]

I looked at my old maps and felt it was better to start fresh, since it is not just content, but how you constructed as well, that matters to performance. I am building an ATDM map based on an area of Black Mesa, roughly Silo/smuggler sized, but with only about 50% outdoors.

I totally agree with you, but I think in the past there has been a tendency for auggers to dismiss a map by looking at it, rather than playing at it. Also I think it is impossible to cater for every aug in one map and balance everything else, so really it is about the selection of maps as a whole. I think we are at the stage where we can build playable atdm, but so far with a few exceptions, most maps follow the concrete military base approach, it's almost as if you can't get a map taken seriously, unless it is grey and looks like a military base of some sort. Players seem to only respond to a non-public environment and a fairly "macho" looking one.