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Posted: **Thu Dec 24, 2009 6:23 pm**

Nihillo wrote:Why do the "working class" Bothans have ammo belts strapped to their chests?

sampip wrote:Hmm good point, I had better change that.

Posted: **Mon Dec 28, 2009 5:58 am**

Ok, beta is out! Beta testers check your pm for the link

Posted: **Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:29 am**

shall we write the reoport into this topic or rather pm it?
(the map is grat btw)

Posted: **Mon Dec 28, 2009 6:46 am**

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing. I've got the beta-bug-report ready to roll.

Posted: **Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:52 am**

I don't mind, it would probably be better on topic so you can see what the other beta-testers thought of it but you can pm me if you like

Posted: **Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:25 am**

ok here's my beta report:
all in all the map is already very good but it has some balancingproblems and a lot of small designflaws (in my opinion)

first to the balancing:
with clones and droids you have a nice fight and playing with the empire is ok balance-wise,
but when you fight with the rebells you win definitelly, the empire doesnt manage to capture any commandpost because most stormies run straight into the park and they use ony ONE of the three entry from this side.......

and this leads to the design flaws:
only the main routes are pathed, the countless alternative routes like the other entrys to the park arent, adding more paths would make the gameplay more complex and the map more entertaining
maybe you can add cis/rep vehicles they would fit good in the space around the platform and canal

here's a corner/wall where the ai loves to stand and shoot againt it:

Hidden/Spoiler:

you have a lot of open streets, many look like they are not meant to be accesable by the player (floating objects etc)
i would add some baricades or more buildings to cover these
a few examples:

Hidden/Spoiler:

there are also some object placement issues:

Hidden/Spoiler:

and foliage placement (foliage outside of the lawns?!)

Hidden/Spoiler:

and the canal looks weird when taking a close look:

Hidden/Spoiler:

and this groundtexture doesnt fit:

Hidden/Spoiler:

maybe you should put a cp into the enterable house... its like the only house you can enter but theres nothing in it
(and id remove the transparency from the model)

Hidden/Spoiler:

and a very important thing: add a directional light with shadows and specular PLEASE!

on screens like this you can see another problem:

Hidden/Spoiler:

the textures- after some distance they are just blurry
i would use completely new/different textures because it looks mostly like reskinned bespin

so after all this complaining: the map is alredy very good, its a lot of fun and the layout is great but some things need fixing

(i agree, bothans without ammobelt would be better, maybe you can give them the civilian anims i released yesterday

)

Posted: **Mon Dec 28, 2009 10:49 am**

Here we go:

Bug Report, December 28th 2009

Beside the things DarthD.U.C.K mentioned already, I have some things to point out, too.

Let's get started:
First thing I recognized when playing: there was no loadscreen. That's not a bad thing, I just think in your Alpha there should be one.

Second: It crashed. I tried it in every mode, then I turned my lightning down and violá, it worked.

Third: I grabbed a clone ARF sniper and spawned in a park. The park was very nice, but I found 2 problems (for my eye)

Hidden/Spoiler:

Then I found a nice brown speeder, I took place and blasted clankers, noticing no sounds...you should add some, vehicles making no noise are rare.

Next, I thought bombing droids from the rooftops would be fun, so I flew on a roof. There I saw some floating things, example here:

Hidden/Spoiler:

The Sides: The sides on the CW era were really nice. My advice is (I don't know if it is only me, but oh well) giving the units not the stock weapon models, they look a bit odd. You could try for example using Pahricida's DC series.
And you could change the laserbolts, the stock ones looks just...odd.
Make them thinner, and use fr example the bluelightsabre for the blue bolts as texture. But as I said, these are just my feelings about the sides, everyone has his own mind.

And you could add custom sides for the GCW era too.

The most fun I had was in CW blasting clankers.
So, all in all a great beta, looking forward to the release.

Posted: **Mon Dec 28, 2009 1:17 pm**

Guess I'll join the group!

First off, I loved it.

It flowed nicely and made sense. It had a nice city atmosphere without feeling just like Cloud City. It just needs a bit of tweaking:

1-Reset the lighting. I know I've said it again and again, but go back to default lighting. 128,128,128 - 255,255,255 - whatever you need, just make red, green and blue all match. Your buildings terrain and characters will look 1,000 times better, and it'll match the blue sky.

2-A piece of sidewalk is missing near the canal. I'd recommend moving all the pieces towards the bridge and shortening things rather than overlapping it with another piece to avoid Z-Fighting.

Hidden/Spoiler:

3-There's a toppled-over building that looks out of place. It would probably be better just to have it standing, as the rest of the city looks like the battle just started.

Hidden/Spoiler:

4-The building from the Coruscant Streets assets has terrain inside of it. I think it's fine to make it enter-able (if you were trying to make it so folks can't get in).

Hidden/Spoiler:

5-The water's "bottom" is painted off from where it is.

Hidden/Spoiler:

6-There are some instances of Z-Fighting, which happens when two objects overlap exactly and they try to fight for who gets to be on top. When possible, try and avoid it.

Hidden/Spoiler:

7-Someone else mentioned this, but you can roam around in parts of the city where you shouldn't be able to. Rather than adding more buildings, there are a set of pre-made objects you can use that create invisible walls. In ZE, browse for a new odf, then go to \data_BHW\Common\odfs. There are different invisible block of different sizes, called com_inv_col_8.odf, com_inv_col_16.odf, com_inv_col_32.odf and com_inv_col_64.odf. To see them, place one, then go to select mode. You won't see any physical geometry, but you'll see the green box that appears in ZE. Place and move them like any other object

Posted: **Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:18 pm**

okay my view of the map and bug report

Lets start with the good news:

Very nice map with a nice city atmosphere which gives you a feel of the naboo from swbf2. you can really see the detail and effort that has been put into the map.The bothans running around also gives a feel of a true city and that war has suddenly broke out on the calm city.

Hidden/Spoiler:

(use for a load screen if you want

)

Now for the bug report and "bad news":

Ground problems:

Hidden/Spoiler:

Okay onto a really major Capture The flag Problem. have to watch it on m xfire profile. (sorry for lag. xfire recording on my main pc lags)

The score zone for the republic is at the end of the ramp so all you have to do is run down and score. you should score at your teams blue energy thing. but you cant do it. watch the video for a better discription

Other notes:
Some units do not have localizations
Load screen is needed
sides could be evened up a little. by having a droid with a jet pack
Need boundarys! (leaving battle one) as i could get off the map and explore out side the map
And all the other glitches noted by the other guys i saw those too
Custom sides for GCW era

Overall. a very awsome map, just need to fix those tiny glitches and what the other guys said.

Posted: **Mon Dec 28, 2009 7:34 pm**

I tried the beta, but the map crashedbefore I was given a chance to spawn. You had said thatr the Naboo water was used, so might you upload a version without the water? (The stock naboo map crashed for me before I got the fix that removed the water.)

Posted: **Tue Dec 29, 2009 11:23 am**

I already PM'd my report to Sampip, but I'll post here anyway:

- I'm not a fan of the yellow splashed over the map, but that's IMO.

- The Clone Trooper, Clone Engineer, and Commander Droid all show up as 0xd75f9a20 or something like that.

- Bes2_bldg_clocktowers south of CP1 are floating.

- Nab2_bldg_fountain at CP3 missing texture?

- Where the ramp meets the platform at CP3: missing texture.

- Most of the posters around the city are floating.

- Canal walls at bridge north of CP3: there should be one running under the bridge connecting the walls on either side; as it is right now, you can see through the canal wall.

I'll add in that the gameplay is solid and consistent. You don't have to run a mile or two to get to a fight, but enemies aren't breathing down your neck as soon as you spawn either. I think the only thing I have a problem with is the minor mapping faults (minus the yellow lighting). Fix a few of those and this map will be golden - literally.

Posted: **Tue Dec 29, 2009 1:06 pm**

Just PM'd you my review, it's a lengthy one (about average for my reviews really

), do ya' want it posted here?

It's a great map: the screens don't do the gameplay justice.

Posted: **Tue Dec 29, 2009 3:21 pm**

You needn't bother, that's ok. Heh, the screens aren't glamour shots, they're showing aspects of the Map from bad angles

Thanks for all reviews, they are all very helpful and i'm thankful for having such great testers

Unfortunately I can't post a proper answer to them because I'm on holiday but when i get back i'll answer all questions and things like that.
@ blade: i'm afraid i can't do anything about the water here in ireland but I can release a version for people with the crash errors when i get back, so don't worry, you'll still get your beta (eventually :S )

Posted: **Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:37 pm**

Thanks man.

Posted: **Mon Jan 04, 2010 1:09 pm**

Ok, well first of all, thanks again for all of you for Beta-testing (Blade - yours is coming tomorrow).

Null_1138 wrote:- I'm not a fan of the yellow splashed over the map, but that's IMO.

Not much I can do about that I'm afraid. Changed the lighting a notchand it looks more yellow/cream now but that's as good as it will good, it won't be another colour now

Ground problems:

Argh, noticed them and didn't take action. Will be fixed.

4-The building from the Coruscant Streets assets has terrain inside of it. I think it's fine to make it enter-able (if you were trying to make it so folks can't get in).

Another stupid mistake. I raised the height of the terrain to add spawn nodes (which I then removed) and forgot to lower it. And there will most likely not be a CP in there, I tried and it sort of, well, failed

.

Then I found a nice brown speeder, I took place and blasted clankers, noticing no sounds...you should add some, vehicles making no noise are rare.

Yep, it didn't have them for ages, but I'll just use the Naboo sound level to comprimise so they play. It's quite suited to Bothawui.

DarthD.U.C.K. wrote:the textures- after some distance they are just blurry
i would use completely new/different textures because it looks mostly like reskinned bespin

Would if I could texture at all

I might use some reskinned Coruscant stuff.

DarthD.U.C.K. wrote:and foliage placement (foliage outside of the lawns?!)

That's the problem with foliage. It appears even outside of where you put it and I can't place it manually. I'll try and fix that, though.

DarthD.U.C.K. wrote: you have a lot of open streets, many look like they are not meant to be accesable by the player (floating objects etc)
i would add some baricades or more buildings to cover these

Most are not meant to be accesable. I'll look into getting those barricades Tean mentioned in so you can't escape :emp:

Teancum wrote:6-There are some instances of Z-Fighting, which happens when two objects overlap exactly and they try to fight for who gets to be on top. When possible, try and avoid it.

Easy for buildings, not too easy on the canal walls since they have to be overlapped or apart. I'll look into it.

lesovikk1 wrote:Okay onto a really major Capture The flag Problem. have to watch it on m xfire profile. (sorry for lag. xfire recording on my main pc lags)
The score zone for the republic is at the end of the ramp so all you have to do is run down and score. you should score at your teams blue energy thing. but you cant do it. watch the video for a better discription

Capture the flag was screwy from the start. I will most likely remove it as it doesn't really work with the AI for some reason.

Some units do not have localizations.
Load screen is needed.

Will also be fixed.
And so will all the object placement issues you guys spotted, along with planning issues and barriers. I did up the lighting to what was suggested this morning, I think it's too bright but thats just IMO. Opinions?

Hidden/Spoiler:

Everyone else, you can expect v1.0 in about 2 weeks, complying school isn't too tough and I'm not distracted *cough* modelling *cough*.

Posted: **Mon Jan 04, 2010 2:21 pm**

You're right, it does look a little bright, but I like the color. How do you have the lighting set up? If the color is done mostly through directional light, but the top and bottom ambient lights are still at their defaults (or close to them) you could darken the ambient lights a little bit. I usually make the bottom ambient light a darker shade of grey to give a bit of a shadow on the bottoms of units and objects.

Posted: **Wed Jan 06, 2010 5:55 pm**

I have no directional light currently but the light has been fixed. I just gotta sort out detail and Z fighting (which is proving to be hard

). @Eggman -- what did you use for footpaths (you know, the raised streets) on Aldura - Landfall? I could do with some footpaths to increase detail.

Posted: **Wed Jan 06, 2010 6:27 pm**

I used the street models that are available in the DMI assets. They worked great for me, but they only come in one length (250m, I think), so you'd have to majorly adjust your layout to make them work. Since your map is already mostly complete, I wouldn't recommend using them.

Posted: **Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:59 pm**

Well, hopefully this should be the second-to-last update before I release the map.
Whoever said the screens just don't do it justice is totally right, and neither do these ones, but please focus on the new stuff

. Anyway, I've been sort of distracted by school (and modelling) and therefore haven't had much time on Bothawui so I had to set myself a release date which is..... Saturday! These new pictures show added detail, but I'm still stuck for props in the first street, so help would be nice (*hint hint*) with prop ideas

.
Anyway, it's basically height stuff, the map itself is rather flat so these bits (although being quite unaccesable by the player) add a sort of detailed feeling to the map. It was also good fun designing the new part which you see in the second shot:

Hidden/Spoiler:

Unfortunately this also brings up Z-fighting issues. Some of you may also notice the lighting. Comments? (and ideas for props please)
EDIT: Also could do with ideas for new ground textures, please

Posted: **Mon Jan 11, 2010 6:18 pm**

I think you should change the ground texture to something more beige or cream looking.

like in this pic

think it would make a big difference, because at the moment its still looking too much like bespin.

but very nice map so far

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