Fest: Imperial Base

[bobfinkl]

thanks for pointing it out.

No problem, besides it's only gonna help you out that you know it now .

[Null_1138]

Very nice! I like the... heck, I like all of it.

[Maveritchell]

I am a very hard person to please. I am learning this slowly. Bobfinkl knows I gave him a very hard time when he was submitting this map (to be fair I have been demanding of any mappers, and you have all responded wonderfully - thank you), and I had him make several changes before I could use it.

Having gotten this map, playing in it, and playing around with it in ZE, I found that I still wasn't satisfied. The biggest issue in my mind was that the props that made up a majority of the map - Eddie's props - made for a nice design but had some substandard UVs. I know I had addressed this earlier, and bobfinkl did reskin them, but looking at them over and over I decided that a reskin wasn't enough. I went ahead and re-modeled (yes remodeled, not just retextured) Eddie's props to their exact dimensions - although I did take a little creative liberty if I felt that it would work better for this map. I was pleased with how the remodels turned out; they look much better for this map and they are also more poly-efficient (which isn't really a huge issue at these low polycounts anyway).

I also found that in the course of this map I didn't like the way the pathing was laid out. I had noticed some issues with AI running into areas or getting trapped in places, and so I took a look at the pathing and barriers and I almost jumped out of my chair. It seemed that the AI planning was done the exact opposite of how I usually do it - there were wide, wide paths with teeny-tiny barriers. I usually like to be a little more liberal with my barrier size, and if AI have to go through a particularly tough walkway; I path it exactly. Because of this I went ahead and wiped the paths and redid all the pathing and barriers.

At this point I knew I had gone a bit overboard and went ahead and redesigned a lot of the map.

In my defense, I had actually been planning on a Fest map for this pack since its inception, and when bobfinkl offered up a snow map that was similar to what I wanted, I jumped on the opportunity. It is/was still a good map, I just had some very exacting specifications I wanted for this one in particular. What I tried to do was keep as much of bobfinkl's design concept as possible (this is why I remodeled Eddie's props rather than just making some of my own - so that I could match up as much in the way of placement as I could). Some things got moved around and a number of things were added or changed, but overall it will not be entirely unfamiliar.

I guess I should show a few pictures of the map?

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You can see in a lot of places how some of the areas were preserved and some original object placements were re-used:

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I also took the opportunity to add in the Rebel Alliance T1-B Hovertank I showed earlier in a different thread:

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It has a pilot with control over the tank's flak pods (they look like rockets) and its shield, and a turret gunner.

And of course what would a Fest map be without these:

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This is the whole reason I wanted a Fest map (to have a showcase for some new vehicles, including this one). I've been sitting on this particular vehicle for quite a while, and it was much to my chagrin that MandeRek showed a similar model he had done some work on in the model showcase thread.

This is a single-person walker, it moves fairly quickly (it is more maneuverable than the hovertank) and it has repeating laser cannons (quick anti-infantry laser) and a concussion grenade launcher.

So thanks to bobfinkl for your work on this one; I hope you are not offended that I changed it so much.

[Ping]

That looks freakin' sweet, Mav.

[Nihillo]

Wow, that looks fantastic! Bobfinkl's design was already impressive, but this is even better -- not do discredit the work of Bobfinkl, of course.

Is that aurora-borealis animated?

[Nova Hawk]

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Wow, that looks amazing, Mav! Finally a real working AT-PT! Love the new vehicles & sky effects.

[H_BOMB]

Awesome AT-PT! Awesome map!

I love the night-time northern lights/aurora sky. Very fitting.

[Sky_216]

Looks good, only crit is the day-time mountains in the night time setting. Also, are the light settings on high or did you make night time snow look blue some other way?

[lucasfart]

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Everything about this map looks totally awesome Mav!! The extra vehicles and the sky look particularly good......in your pic above, what is the yellow creature in the background??

also, do the light colours flicker and move around the map/the sky patterns move?? i'm not sure if its possible but it'd look really good.

EDIT: 200 posts!!

[Nihillo]

what is the yellow creature in the background??

Starkiller.

[Maveritchell]

Also, are the light settings on high or did you make night time snow look blue some other way?

They are on high, but thanks for asking as it gives me the opportunity to tell you how I made it work in low light settings anyway. I used a completely black world shadow map (a la Endor) which darkens the light on the terrain without having to burn the terrain.

And yes you are right; I did forget to fix the background mountains - they are fixed now.

Is that aurora-borealis animated?

also, do the light colours flicker and move around the map/the sky patterns move??

The aurora does move (it was actually enabled in the original mesh, but I didn't notice it and slightly upped the speed). It does not flicker - I could make it flash on and off but not flicker in and out in certain parts.

[Null_1138]

You are the embodiment of epic win. The aurora and AT-PT are beautiful.

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Just curious, how did you get the Endor bunker to fit on a snow map?

[Maveritchell]

Just curious, how did you get the Endor bunker to fit on a snow map?

As a model it technically "fits" wherever you place it flush with the ground.

I retextured the exterior so that it no longer had lichens crawling up the side, and the interior was simply remodeled. You may not be able to tell from the pictures, but there are actually two of those entrances side-by-side that descend into a larger underground bunker.

[Null_1138]

Just curious, how did you get the Endor bunker to fit on a snow map?

As a model it technically "fits" wherever you place it flush with the ground.

I retextured the exterior so that it no longer had lichens crawling up the side, and the interior was simply remodeled. You can't tell from the pictures, but there are actually two of those entrances side-by-side that descend into a larger underground bunker.

Remodeled interior? Sounds awesome. I never liked the puny shipped interior. How much was changed?

[Maveritchell]

Remodeled interior? Sounds awesome. I never liked the puny shipped interior. How much was changed?

Hidden/Spoiler:

It is largely an irrelevant part of the map; it's only changed because I didn't want to use the same Endor interior.

[Null_1138]

Thank goodness you changed it, it looks so much better.

[lucasfart]

what is the yellow creature in the background??

Starkiller.

really??
are you sure it isn't the sith stalker?? it looks a lot like it except a bit yellowish.....unless starkiller has claws for hands

[sampip]

Looks really nice, Mav!

[Blade117]

Very nice. Mav. Can't wait for the release (however far off that may be.)

[Anakin]

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very nice pics.

i haven't found the link or isn't there one??
because i would like to play the map