While still enjoying your work on UFO:AI, I decided to try mapping for it, as the premise that you need to stick to the 32x32 grid appealed to me as someone who's mapping experience is a quick (failed) foray into UnrealED a long time ago, and I like the idea of simpler grid-based mapping with no noding requirement.
I've therefore been running through Wanderer's "Mapping for Dummies" Tutorials (Excellent tutorials by the way, I'd have gotten nowhere without them) and, like any n00b, also have a few questions and a comment. I'll start with the comment:
Tutorial #2 mentions loading prefab_dropship.map. I couldn't find this file included with UFO:AI 2.1.1 or 2.2-dev - though that's probably because I didn't install the mapping tools from the installer, just the GtkRadiant tools from the website. I eventually found and downloaded all the prefab .map files from the SVN. (which is probably better anyway, especially as I am using he 2.2-dev version to map on) Some notice on the wiki about this, or including the prefab .map files in 0maps.pk3 may be prudent.
And my Questions:
1: I've ran into the same bug with "actorclip" as a couple of other mappers on the forums - a soldier can enter the brush, and then not be able to leave. In every instance I've seen this on the forums, mattn has personally fixed the problem - but that doesn't help me to learn. What am I doing wrong? My "actorclip" brush is exactly 32x32x64 units on the square I do not want a player or monster to get to. I also tried just in the available blank space there (except for the misc_model I'm trying to block) which worked out at 28x28x60, starting at 0,0,4 from bottom-left. (relative co-ordinates from the grid I'm working on, I can assure you it lines up properly with the 32x32 grid on grid level 6.)
2: I attempted to make the window in the shed (from tutorial #1) a breakable window - I put an array of brushes shaped in a "plus" sign, with a border, and put a smaller brush each in the 4 gaps created, which were then set to "trans33". I selected the whole window, and made it func_breakable, knowing this would make the window as 1 func_breakable entity that would be destroyed all at once - that was the intention. I also set "health" to 15 on the func_breakable in the entity inspector. (I also managed to add the "sound" key set to "glassbreak.wav" too, using the sound browser at the bottom of the entity inspector page.) Unfortunately, it didn't work properly - the whole window doesn't appear in-game. Do I absolutely HAVE to make each seperate brush func_breakable seperately, or have I missed something?
3: While creating that func_breakable mentioned, I noticed the entity inspector reports func_breakable takes a "particle" Key. I couldn't find a list of particleid's anywhere. Does 1 exist, or is this not implemented yet?
4: While examining the prefab_drop_firebird.map from the SVN, I noticed it has some "monster" brushes too - but only on the upper open doors. I can't find "monster" anywhere except under Unused on
http://ufoai.ninex.info/wiki/index.php/Mapping/Surface_fields. What does it do that's different from actorclip?
5: Any more tips for optimizing a map besides shaping brushes to hide unnecessary faces? I make the optimizations as I create the brushes as I find it can be easy to miss optimizing some areas if you're going through your map again. Best to optimize as you build.
My current .map file from running through the Tutorial:
MyLevel.mapThe Yellow-and-Red half-built house is not finished, I chose those colours as a placeholder - I wanted to get the layout right first before texturing. And it's a wierd blueprint as it's based off of my own house, which is the wierdest house I've ever seen
Edit: Forgot something. While testing my map in-game, I found that the misc_model "box1.md2" was not Z-ordered properly - the "cursor box" in particular was displayed behind it entirely. It may have something to do with my nearby func_breakable, or the "actorclip" brush - have I done something wrong or is it a model bug?