Since I last did a Game guru video! I thought I'd do a quick run around a level I have been working on for a few months (on and off, mostly off, lol).



I will say, that the latest beta runs this much faster with occlusion on, without too much pop-up. So I may be able to get a bit closer to what I imagine than how it currently looks I want to get the level 100% looks wise before I try adding in any AI or game related scripts, keeping it at a nice 30+ fps, 60 would be preferable, but not going to get that on my machine without some good speed enhancements in the main GG engine.

Anyway, comments are welcome, both here and on Youtube. It's a pity the video quality has suffered in translation, as it looks a fair deal better live than my vid suggests. I have slow internet though so uploading a 1080p vid tends to take an age, not to mention the added encode time

Hmm!! It looks good.. I never make levels that are this large, mostly because of issues that you have mentioned in your video. Its not my style as well, FPSC being too strong in my memory

The level itself...hmm! I'd redo that car-scrapyard if I where you. Too much repetition, too colorful cars and those trash bags are way too orderly placed.
Its nice layout wise and you've done well blending the ambient settings. Very empty otherwise...but as you stated it will stutter if you add more.



-Wolf

They've made huge progress on performance but I agree it does need further work. I made quite a big level and it ran really slowly. When the 'rubber band' selection tool was added I used it to split the level into three and the frame rate went up a lot. So until they optimise the performance I think keeping the levels small and efficient is in order.

Not quite sure what you mean by "Its not my style as well, FPSC being too strong in my memory", as although I own it and have dabbled, I didn't do a lot with it. Perhaps you mean the fog effect? The models? The settings level? In honesty I have no idea, perhaps you could enlighten me? If I can improve it from your suggestions I'm happy to have a look. I'm all for constructive criticism.

I agree completely on the scrapyard, I actually said it myself in my first cut, but it failed to record due to me being 4 months away from Vegas, lol. More variety is needed, there's not a lot of decent cars available and although I can model, I don't think my cars would be that good. I'd much prefer to grab some off the store! The scrapyard is still pretty much WIP, if I had a chock load of cars I would certainly change it up a bit! As I'm really mindful of FPS and the sort of level I want to make, I am careful to not add too many entities in one place (trash bags), but yes it certainly could be better. Needs more clutter and such to look acceptable.

I'm actually up in FPS since I made this video (with the latest beta), so I may well be able to add a bit more detail, but probably not as much as I need Still, my tests using occlusion have been decent so far and I think I can add in some more to other areas without any huge slowdown overall.

Thanks for the critique, I am always open to suggestions!

I think he meant huge levels aren't his style since FPSC was pretty limited in square footage! (I wish I was good enough to have my own "style"!)

I like huge maps, though, and I enjoyed the video. Nice work!

I agree about the cars ... But there arent many available to choose from but the scrapyard is my favorite part .
Looks really cool

FPSCreator had a memory cap that did not allow for large maps. In later stages when we had shader effects, more complex scripts and more detailed models as well as the lightmapping process, all we really could have per level where 4 small rooms and a hallway. Bugsy managed to optimise his levels a lot but still had to work with small areas. With the current popularity of open world games I can see the appeal of larger levels but I prefer to have smaller ones as it allows me more control over optimisation and scope.



-Wolf

@ Lordjulian, yes large scenes are still it seems a struggle on my spec system at least. I have got a bit more speed using occlusion now, although I still get some odd pop ups on occasion, but not enough to scrap using it. I am hoping as GG progresses we will see some optimization to help along the way - That or a faster computer. Preferably both

@ Jerry Trermble, seems you were correct. I really had no clue what he meant

@syncromesh, thanks! I quite like it as well, even though it does needs more variety with the cars than it has currently. The basic look is sound though

@Wolf, Ah I see. I can't remember FPSC being THAT bad with memory, but I didn't use it that much. I know you did run out faster than you would have liked, given in later years the performance was fine with large maps. Yes, can't really make this with four rooms and a corridor

Out of curiosity, has anyone else noticed that GG has to rebuild the Static AI when you change or add any item to a map? As I say in the vid, running without any change takes 30 seconds or so, change any item in the scene and it becomes 20+ minutes! It makes editing the map very tiresome indeed!

it's always been that way, you just notice it a lot more in large maps... but yes it's a pain

I think what will work really well with Game-Guru maps is the ability to travel between different maps and back again. As well as have fetch quests and kill quests on different maps. You could really make a massive world using that technique. Fallout uses cells, so they get away with infinite maps, however they keep all their interiors in additional maps/levels. The global variables retain the quest data.

The plan was to make more levels, such as the city area later down the line. With this level as the main hub between places. Not that I planned on adding too many, lol.