Praetoria-Mission One: Bunker Hill


(Diego) #1

First off, yes, it is a very long name, but it was also in developement for a very long time :wink: This map was originally the first section of one great big map. However, ET limitations and a healthy dose of reality forced me to break it up into separate missions.

It is a fairly large and open map so I hope people with older systems will not have too much trouble with it. All of the screenshots were taken at 1280x1024 resolution with full detail settings. The framerate that I get is in the upper-left corner of each image.

The map features spawn support for 32 players. So far, I have only tested it with 18. But it can even be a fun map with just 8 players. It just requires each team to alter their strategies a bit.

There is a 2 layer command map with the schematics for each floor of the bunker displayed to help you find your way around. All of the objectives are on the first layer so you should have no trouble finding them on the map.

It also has 2 scripted ending sequences for the allied air assault depending on the victor of the game. These occur ā€œliveā€ while you are in the middle of the game so you can continue to fight your enemies or stand back and enjoy the show without those annoying scores in the way. :slight_smile:

Hi-res screenshots and an interactive command map with detailed objectives can be found here:
http://webpages.charter.net/dt3d/praetoria.html

The Mission Briefing contains the list of objectives and the credits for the major contributions to the map. The Map objectives link will take you to the interactive command map. From there you can browse around the environment, or click the ā€œStart Briefingā€ link to see each objective in order accompanied by a screenshot. Click the screenshots to see it full screen in a new window.

Download the .pk3 file here:
http://turkeyfiles.escapedturkey.net/enemy-territory/etmain/praetoria_one.pk3

Diego


(nUllSkillZ) #2

Looks awesome.


(Magic) #3

I remember this one - it was some impressive screenshots.
Gonna download right away :slight_smile:


(Constra) #4

Yea this map has some very nice SSā€™s :wink:


(nUllSkillZ) #5

So,e additional remarks / thoughts (havenā€™t seen or played the map yet):
If the map is big it will be played on servers with high slot numbers.
So the spawnpoints might not be enough.
And the FPS could be a limiting factor.


(Donpedro) #6

35 Megabytes :open_mouth:
Screenshots are impressive
Downloading :stuck_out_tongue:


(Donpedro) #7

Congrat!!! Very great map :!:


(Donpedro) #8


How about these blending patches? :roll:


(Erls) #9

One question: Do you see this map being able to handle 64? If not, would it handle 44?

Looks great.


(Flippy) #10

I must say, itā€™s the best looking map ive ever seenā€¦ Everything looks awesomeā€¦ the atmosphere, the river, the caves, everything looks extremely realisticā€¦

But unfortunately the FPS was really bad imo :frowning:
I got down to 20 FPS on some places, and thats with a Intel Core2Duo E6400 (2*2,13 GHz) - ATI Radeon X 1950XTX (515 MB), 2GB Ramā€¦
I can run most games on max with over 80 FPS on this machineā€¦ and this map i got only 20 on places, in ET :stuck_out_tongue:

So yeahā€¦ beautiful map but the FPS kills it imo :frowning:
Maybe you should make the fog somewhat denserā€¦ i dunnoā€¦


(Diego) #11

Sounds like you have a better machine than I do, but I have a better framerate. Iā€™m running an AMD 64 3500 single core that is about 2 years old with 3GB of ram and an ATI X800XT (256 MB) that is also at least 2 years old. At 1280x1024 resolution and max settings, my frame rate never drops below 45. And that is only in the most extreme area looking from the cemetary all the way to the hill. On average, I get 80-120 fps with a typical drop to 60 fps when I am at the bunker looking all the way out to the Garrison. But I am rarely looking in one direction long enough to notice during a firefight.

One of the downsides to testing the map at work is we all have the same machine so noone ever had a problem with framerate there. Iā€™m not surprised that someone would, just surprised that you do with your machine.

Decreasing the viewable distance with fog has always been an option that I have not ruled out. But it would drastically cut down on sniper capabilities. Right now, there is no fog clipping, it is just there to provide atmosphere and depth.

Try this for me:
Open up the shader file ā€œpraetoria_fx.shaderā€. Scroll near to the bottom, you will see this shader:


//Atmosphere fog shader
textures/praetoria/fog
{
	qer_editorimage textures/praetoria/editor_images/fog.tga
	qer_trans .75
	surfaceparm nolightmap
	surfaceparm trans
	surfaceparm nodraw
	surfaceparm fog
	surfaceparm nonsolid
	surfaceparm noimpact
	surfaceparm nomarks
	cull disable
//	fogparms ( 0.67 0.31 0.25 ) 7704
	fogparms ( 0.67 0.31 0.25 ) 9000
}


Change that distance parameter from 9000 to 4500 and tell me what kind of frame rate boost you get when you are looking from the Main bunker across the river to the town. On my computer, my fps increased 30 frames to 90 fps in this area.


(Diego) #12

To be honest, I have no idea. Iā€™ve never played on a 64 man server longer than 2 minutes because of all the arty spam and lag you get on them. But Iā€™ve tried to build in enough alternate routes in and out of everything and keep a good balance between the spawn times and distances to the objectives. The allies spawns will constantly advance as they achieve objectives to keep the action intense. No body likes to run for 30 seconds just to die and do it again.

I did have the problem with the MAX_GAMESTATE_CHARS error a few months ago but that appeared to be caused by the overly detailed VO announcements. I drastically reduced those and even cut out a few constructables entities (Both MGā€™s at the start and the wooden bridge were originally constructables). I have not had any problems with that error since then. But I think it is really hard for a mapper to design something right from the start that can play equally well on a 16 man server AND a 64 man server.


(Diego) #13

What about them?


(Magic) #14

Have tested the map and its awsome.
The terraine has nice variations and looks very natural.
Same goes for the buildings - beautiful.
The command map is good - you can orient quit easy on it.
The map is big - but very easy to learn - you wont get lost on it.
The lowest fps i got was behind the church/cementary - 60-65 fps.
The models of the generator and the the radar control center was cool too.

I got sound from the allied cp before it was build.
Not sure i like the light on it - so red, the lights on the stairs inside the bunker either :oops:
But this is a great map - it will fit a public server well (gameplay) - it goes so fast to learn the objectives.
It will put your box on a test thow.

Thumbs up.


(Ryan) #15

Diego, what is your msn?

I need to talk to you :slight_smile:
itā€™s very interesting so plz add me
(see my signature for msn)


(Donpedro) #16

What about them?[/quote]
Is it normal?


(murka) #17

i dont see anything wrong with them, describe what you see.


(Erls) #18

Diego, if you want to try out Bunker1. /connect bunker1.aaxxss.com

I run a crappy laptop, and hardly notice lag (perhaps 30 seconds a map, total). The arty/air is turned down on some maps, panzers descreased on others, etcā€¦, for a balanced game. You wonā€™t be disappointed if you check it out.

My question was more about map size, etcā€¦ As in, is it more open, and geared more towards larger groupings (ie Fueldump), or more closed, and geared toward smaller amounts (ie battery).


(Ryan) #19

Come on msn :slight_smile:
I have some questions for you


(MrLego) #20

Been waiting for this one for a while.

Great looking map.

:slight_smile: