THE 512kb MAPPING CONTEST

[memsys]

@ memsys
This looks already very good ...can't wait to see the final product.

Thanks, I am pretty happy with what I managed to achieve in this map (still needs a name) the only issue I have is that it is kinda small (4-6 players perhaps)

Dammit.
I didn't finish the pathing yet (only thing left) and I already exceed the sizelimit by 100kb...I don't know what else to do.
I'll get screenshots when the map is finished (whether or not it will make it to the contest).

There are a few things you can do to reduce size:
1. Change your build options to the following turn optimise geometry OFF, set the slider minimise cuts - balance tree to 1 and ignore portal - portals cut all to 99.
2. Optimise order by using select all brush then use invert selection to select everything that is not a brush and order that to last, then select all pathnodes and order those to last before you rebuild.
3. Use as many semisolids as you can to reduce the number of cuts in your BSP.
4. Enable low shadow detail in as much places as you can
5. Minimise the use of actors by combining as many things into one actor, add light to a path node, add sound to a light and use pickups as makeshift pathnodes.
6. If you are still a few K short and your map has a lot of identical brushes you can use brush cloning to save those last few K you need , Link to tutorial

[Dr.Flay]

Some of these maps have made much more creative use of the logo than I expected.
I would not be surprised to see things like that count towards a bonus point.

Personally I would give a bonus point to anyone that explains their optimisations in their readme

[{S.o.W}DeathMask]

There are a few things you can do to reduce size:
1. Change your build options to the following turn optimise geometry OFF, set the slider minimise cuts - balance tree to 1 and ignore portal - portals cut all to 99.
2. Optimise order by using select all brush then use invert selection to select everything that is not a brush and order that to last, then select all pathnodes and order those to last before you rebuild.
3. Use as many semisolids as you can to reduce the number of cuts in your BSP.
4. Enable low shadow detail in as much places as you can
5. Minimise the use of actors by combining as many things into one actor, add light to a path node, add sound to a light and use pickups as makeshift pathnodes.
6. If you are still a few K short and your map has a lot of identical brushes you can use brush cloning to save those last few K you need , Link to tutorial

Thank you very much. I'll check this out as soon as I finished the pathing. Hope it helps. Would be a shame if this map couldn't make it to the contest...

[FraGnBraG]

... There are a few things you can do to reduce size:
1. Change your build options to the following turn optimise geometry OFF, set the slider minimise cuts - balance tree to 1 and ignore portal - portals cut all to 99.
...

watch it with this one ... back in the day Inoxx (or some other Epic dev) said you should not fiddle with these sliders - it's 15 and 70 for a reason. In my own experience whenever I change these I either get HOMs or my map starts filling up with invisible death zones and collision-less polys. i just did these settings in my current map and sure enough there's two deathzones i've found so far. oh well, worth the try i suppose

@Flay, so you're suggesting submissions that are not "votable" in the contest - but will still be included on the server and in the mappack?

If that's the case what would you call them: "ctf-512K-ThisMapWasTooBig" - the 512K part doesn't really ring true ...

[papercoffee]

If that's the case what would you call them: "ctf-512K-ThisMapWasTooBig" - the 512K part doesn't really ring true ...

Yeah ...good point.
What about "512KBonus" or "512kDNF" as prefix?

[Dr.Flay]

I don't know about the server (maybe a second map-list ?), but as a bonus download, yes. A second folder in the pack or a second DL is fine.
I doubt the pack will be huge when compressed.

[Hellkeeper]

If that's the case what would you call them: "ctf-512K-ThisMapWasTooBig" - the 512K part doesn't really ring true ...

Yeah ...good point.
What about "512KBonus" or "512kDNF" as prefix?

What about not including maps that don't fit the pack in the pack? I might be a bit grumpy but that doesn't feel right.

[memsys]

... There are a few things you can do to reduce size:
1. Change your build options to the following turn optimise geometry OFF, set the slider minimise cuts - balance tree to 1 and ignore portal - portals cut all to 99.
...

watch it with this one ... back in the day Inoxx (or some other Epic dev) said you should not fiddle with these sliders - it's 15 and 70 for a reason. In my own experience whenever I change these I either get HOMs or my map starts filling up with invisible death zones and collision-less polys. i just did these settings in my current map and sure enough there's two deathzones i've found so far. oh well, worth the try i suppose

Normally I would agree but when you only have 512k of space more aggressive settings can save quite a bit of space. Does it increase the chance of BSP problems? Yes but those can often be fixed by changing solidity or moving a few brushes slightly.
Sometimes it is even beneficial to mess with the settings to increase BSP stability like I had to do with DigitalDomination so the map was not a HOM and deathzone mess.

Also keep in mind that those where the best settings they could find in 1999 when they still had to deal with pentium 1 era hardware.
I bet those setting where the best compromise between BSP stability, filesize and performance at the time. The latter is not nearly as much of an issue as it was back in 1999.

[papercoffee]

Dose it make sense to turn my levitating main structure into semi-solid in my map. I thought semi-solids and mover don't behave well if they touch each other?

[FraGnBraG]

i know what to do now ... 90% of the traffic through the middle short cuts that curved path - if i cut that off then that might be the ~100k or so i need to meet 512k. Never mind the bonus crap, i'll just add another map, lol - i'll know tonight

[papercoffee]

i know what to do now ... 90% of the traffic through the middle short cuts that curved path - if i cut that off then that might be the ~100k or so i need to meet 512k. Never mind the bonus crap, i'll just add another map, lol - i'll know tonight

Haha ...bring it on.

[FraGnBraG]

i know what to do now ... 90% of the traffic through the middle short cuts that curved path - if i cut that off then that might be the ~100k or so i need to meet 512k. Never mind the bonus crap, i'll just add another map, lol - i'll know tonight

Haha ...bring it on.

987K down to 718K -- that's 544k without brushes ... 32K to go ...

... the essence/flow of the map is still there, bit of a radical change - a lot smaller footprint

[EvilGrins]

So, FraGnBraG's map is a giant S?

Cool!

Afer the contest is over, I say complete the full-sized map too.

[FraGnBraG]

So, FraGnBraG's map is a giant S?

Cool!

Afer the contest is over, I say complete the full-sized map too.

well, it's not really too "giant" as it became - it's pretty friggin' hard match with 6 vs 6 though ...
almost always goes 0-0 into overtime... well - i only ever play 15 minute matches.

The bigger curvey "w" layout is perfect for 6 vs 6 or even 7 vs 7...

I'll release both at the same time, the "s" one for the contest and the "w" for laughs or whoever wants it

Now all i gotta do is shed 32k - i know using memSys's slider settings can give me back 15k-20k, but will probably give me death-zones
suppose it's worth a try at this point ...

Cheers

[KingJosh]

i like it, kinda like a tilted letter S for the layout. the fact that the map looks so remarkable and is getting closer to 512k is amazing. it looks better then what i could do with a 512 MB limit lol