Q3 map "King-Kong Memorial" alpha release

[Herr W]

Hi everyone,

here comes the alpha-version of KING-KONG MEMORIAL, latest map for MONKEYS of DOOM!

It's set in former Empire State Building, which now - after those damn monkeys conquered earth - serves as a giant mausoleum for the monkey-invasion's one-ape-vanguard and superhero, King-Kong.







First I have to admit that the map has become MUCH BIGGER than I wanted it to be and therefore may not run on older hardware. - Would be interesting to know on which CPU/graphiccard-combination it works and on which it does not!

This work is in a very early stage and comes with lots of limitations:

- the layout is very basic and rough, with several passages leading nowhere yet
- the current textures are only place-holders
- weapon and item placement is just provisional
- the map doesn't have any clipping brushes yet (let alone any other kind of bot-optimization)
- the skybox is still empty
- !the map is not tested on any hardware but mine!

Oh, and I've put in the grappling-hook but am not sure if it does more good or bad to the gameplay

Would be cool, if some of you could check out the map and give me tips on how to improve it!

Here is the map http://www.monkeysofdoom.org/map_kingkong_84.zip

... And here is a brand-new MONKEYS of DOOM mod-pack, including 7 custom weapons and 7 tooney playermodels: http://www.monkeysofdoom.org/MONKEYSofDOOM_beta3.zip

Hope you have fun!

[obsidian]

Awesome! Any servers running MoD?

[Herr W]

Awesome!

I need an "awesome, but change that and that, and KKM is gonna be even more awesome"!

No. Thanks a lot!

Any servers running MoD?

Would like to know that, too! Especially if one is running KKM already...

[obsidian]

Took me a while to find the time to download and test this.

The mod itself looks pretty interesting, lots of nice effects. The overall map idea is pretty cool, but I felt that the interior bits of the map are rather hard to navigate around, it seems like a maze of random platforms and stairs. There didn't seem to be any structured flow to the layout and I kept getting snagged on all sorts of corners.

Certain things like the glass elevators are hard to tell where to get off and some don't work, making it a little confusing to know which one go get on and what direction to face when getting off.

The King Kong statue is completely non-clipping so it felt weird walking right through it. With the grapple, I could fly through the glass ceiling at the top.

Anyway, those are a few quick thoughts that I had while running through the map.

[Herr W]

Hi obsidian, thanks for your hints!

The overall map idea is pretty cool, but I felt that the interior bits of the map are rather hard to navigate around, it seems like a maze of random platforms and stairs. There didn't seem to be any structured flow to the layout and I kept getting snagged on all sorts of corners.

It is as you say: I started the map without a concept for it's structure, but adding part by part to it. Results in some kind of patchwork and sure is not the cleverest way to get a good map.

I'm curious myself to see how it's gonna look in the end. What I like about the map is that each place offers lots of options where to move to the player. - But that's maybe something for the more impulsive gamer than for the pro ...

Certain things like the glass elevators are hard to tell where to get off and some don't work, making it a little confusing to know which one go get on and what direction to face when getting off.

Hm... Think you're right and it is better to close the hoistways over their full height and leave only entrance and exit open.

The King Kong statue is completely non-clipping so it felt weird walking right through it. With the grapple, I could fly through the glass ceiling at the top.

Must be a bug in the shaders. Both - gorilla and glass - should be solid of course!

Anyway, those are a few quick thoughts that I had while running through the map.

Helped me a lot! BTW: Did it run smoothly on your system? On mine the frame rate drops from >1000 to about 50, depending on the direction I look. (Not an indication of well balanced brush placement, I guess).

[obsidian]

Must be a bug in the shaders. Both - gorilla and glass - should be solid of course!

No, not that statue, the glass one is fine, but the other one outside in the courtyard area.

Helped me a lot! BTW: Did it run smoothly on your system? On mine the frame rate drops from >1000 to about 50, depending on the direction I look. (Not an indication of well balanced brush placement, I guess).

It was playable on a 5 year old P4 3.0, nVidia 6800 Ultra, 2GB RAM. But it wasn't as smooth as most other 'competition' style maps. The map design itself is pretty wide open and there's little chance for any hinting or other performance optimizations, so I don't know if there's a whole lot you can do to improve things.

[Scourge]

I was getting fps ranges from 50 to 350 with the average being around 70 to 150.

AMD Phenom 9500 Quad core
XFX 9800 GTX XXX
Vista 64

[Herr W]

No, not that statue, the glass one is fine, but the other one outside in the courtyard area.

Yes, but haven't you said the glass ceiling is nonsolid, too?? Will check that...

It was playable on a 5 year old P4 3.0, nVidia 6800 Ultra, 2GB RAM. But it wasn't as smooth as most other 'competition' style maps. The map design itself is pretty wide open and there's little chance for any hinting or other performance optimizations, so I don't know if there's a whole lot you can do to improve things.

I think a real framerate eater is the "tcGen environment" line in the cartoonshaders. If nothing else helps I would spare that (at least for some of the colors). Hm... Or maybe the users themselves could turn it out by switching to vertex lighting.

I was getting fps ranges from 50 to 350 with the average being around 70 to 150.

AMD Phenom 9500 Quad core
XFX 9800 GTX XXX
Vista 64.

Wow! Can I have your computer?!

J/K! - Mine isn't half as fast but runs KKM at roughly the same speed. Could have something to do with different graphic settings. Some can be turned to "low" without affecting the quality of cartoonmaps. - Gonna post them here... (There's still hope for us, low-to-mid-end computer owners )

[Scourge]

I did have all the effect up to 11.

[Herr W]

Manowar always knew it: ALL MEN PLAY ON TEN (or even eleven, if their hardware allows it)!