Journal #5456
Posted 15 years ago2008-11-11 20:46:20 UTC
Possibly you may have heard rumours (such as the one I posted in my journal three weeks ago) that my newest level, Lab11: LavaLab, was almost ready to be released to the world.
Well, that was true at the time. All I had to do was put together the README file to go with it, and it was ready to go. Of course, I found myself suddenly busy with other things, so the documentation (and hence the release) got delayed.
Which is, all things considered, a good thing!
We've been playing the level, on and off, for the last couple of weeks, and I had noticed a couple of extremely minor issues. None of them, by themselves, was enough to warrant a recompile - I'm talking visual effects and a couple of misaligned textures here - but they added up. They made me itch.
The one thing that did need fixing - that I couldn't fix because I had no spare LEAVES or CLIPNODES to play with - was the numerous sticky points on the walls of my volcanic crater. If you jumped out into space and slid down the rock face, you could almost count on finding a spot where you'd stick. Given the dim lighting, you could sit there and snipe people until you ran out of ammo, and nobody would ever find you. (One time when my buddy did that, I came looking for him after he ran out of ammo. Only when he turned his flashlight on could I see him, and then barely. Once he turned it off again he was completely invisible...) And given that this level already has plenty of sniper-friendly spots, it was particularly irritating.
So there I was, looking through the compile tools reference, trying to find a way to fix my misaligned textures without doing a full recompile (I couldn't find one) when I saw -cliptype precise.
To be clear on this, I was already well aware of the -cliptype setting -- I'd used precise when compiling Lab17: Storage -- and I thought I'd been using it at some point during this compile process. I actually remember changing the -cliptype mode and suddenly having a load more clipnodes to play with -- but when I checked, I discovered I wasn't currently compiling with this option.
So I turned it on.
Suddenly, instead of using 99.8% of the available clipnodes, my usage was down to 68%. I let it finish, and I tested it - and yeah, now you slide down those rock walls like a greased pig! And then it occurred to me: I had a large section of my level clipped off as unusable - eye candy only - because I just needed the clipnodes. It was the first fully detailed section I built. And now, whaddaya know? I had a load of spare clipnodes to play with. So I removed the clipping block from that section, and the level is currently compiling nicely! I'm rather excited - and at the same time, I'm opening up more playing area for a level which is already a little on the large side... Oh well...
The only thing I haven't tested is my air ducts. I know precise has a tendency to make some spaces narrower, so I hope the air ducts are still accessible. If not I'll have to scrap this whole rejuvenated compile...
Well, that was true at the time. All I had to do was put together the README file to go with it, and it was ready to go. Of course, I found myself suddenly busy with other things, so the documentation (and hence the release) got delayed.
Which is, all things considered, a good thing!
We've been playing the level, on and off, for the last couple of weeks, and I had noticed a couple of extremely minor issues. None of them, by themselves, was enough to warrant a recompile - I'm talking visual effects and a couple of misaligned textures here - but they added up. They made me itch.
The one thing that did need fixing - that I couldn't fix because I had no spare LEAVES or CLIPNODES to play with - was the numerous sticky points on the walls of my volcanic crater. If you jumped out into space and slid down the rock face, you could almost count on finding a spot where you'd stick. Given the dim lighting, you could sit there and snipe people until you ran out of ammo, and nobody would ever find you. (One time when my buddy did that, I came looking for him after he ran out of ammo. Only when he turned his flashlight on could I see him, and then barely. Once he turned it off again he was completely invisible...) And given that this level already has plenty of sniper-friendly spots, it was particularly irritating.
So there I was, looking through the compile tools reference, trying to find a way to fix my misaligned textures without doing a full recompile (I couldn't find one) when I saw -cliptype precise.
To be clear on this, I was already well aware of the -cliptype setting -- I'd used precise when compiling Lab17: Storage -- and I thought I'd been using it at some point during this compile process. I actually remember changing the -cliptype mode and suddenly having a load more clipnodes to play with -- but when I checked, I discovered I wasn't currently compiling with this option.
So I turned it on.
Suddenly, instead of using 99.8% of the available clipnodes, my usage was down to 68%. I let it finish, and I tested it - and yeah, now you slide down those rock walls like a greased pig! And then it occurred to me: I had a large section of my level clipped off as unusable - eye candy only - because I just needed the clipnodes. It was the first fully detailed section I built. And now, whaddaya know? I had a load of spare clipnodes to play with. So I removed the clipping block from that section, and the level is currently compiling nicely! I'm rather excited - and at the same time, I'm opening up more playing area for a level which is already a little on the large side... Oh well...
The only thing I haven't tested is my air ducts. I know precise has a tendency to make some spaces narrower, so I hope the air ducts are still accessible. If not I'll have to scrap this whole rejuvenated compile...
5 Comments
You must log in to post a comment. You can login or register a new account.
Release!
Yep, it's HL:DM. Yep, it's in the final stages of its compile (which has been running all night (after I stopped it at 5:30 last night to add a missing sound effect, sigh)) and will hopefully be released this weekend.
And as for a mod ... yeah. Since I've now started tweaking the SDK, this may well be the last of my levels which will be compatible with standalone HL:DM (although I'm loathe to sever that link, so I'll probably produce both an HL:DM version and a modified "petesdm" version. That still needs a lot of thought (and at this stage, "petesdm" doesn't have anything new (except, y'know, fog support and fixed button handling...); all that is still under consideration!)