UFO:Alien Invasion

Development => Mapping => Topic started by: H-Hour on February 23, 2010, 07:13:38 pm

Title: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on February 23, 2010, 07:13:38 pm
Well, it's been many months and I'm a slow worker, but I've finally got the basics of a street grid for a big city RMA working. The streets need to be placed as fixed tiles, because it's a bit complicated for the algorithm, but then random buildings can be inserted into each block.

Now on to the buildings...
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: Mattn on February 23, 2010, 07:55:22 pm
you should also post some closer screenshots as the one you are showing us here doesn't show the nice details you already added to the map ;)
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: Kildor on February 24, 2010, 06:54:14 am
Wow!
You are genius, really $)
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on February 25, 2010, 07:44:43 pm
Ok, here are a few closer shots, though there's not much detail yet (and some errors from breaking it up into tiles that will need to be corrected).

Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: Destructavator on February 25, 2010, 08:49:56 pm
Looks promising, I think it will work well when its finished.   :)
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on February 26, 2010, 01:07:48 am
Great tile  :D
I am looking forward to making some long-range shots there  ;D
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on March 24, 2010, 12:34:15 am
A little WIP shot to show you some of the texture details I've been working on.

This solder's wondering who ordered the hypercolor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercolor) uniforms. :)
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: BTAxis on March 24, 2010, 01:05:58 am
Looking good so far. Can't wait to see more. A word to the wise though, you're going to want to include a standard dropship tile on the RMA somewhere, and probably UFO tiles as well (would really help with the terror missions). Keep in mind that Bomber, it's pretty big!
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on March 24, 2010, 01:30:34 am
 8)
Great work, man, I can't wait to play there  ;D
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: Yatta on March 24, 2010, 02:37:43 am
Really looks nice.
I dont know much about tiling, but I suppose building blocks tiles have ground arround them.
Wouldnt have a building tile added to streets with large sidewalks gives *very* large sidewalk ? Pardon me if im wrong.  ???
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on March 24, 2010, 11:00:18 am
Quote from: BTAxis on March 24, 2010, 01:05:58 am
A word to the wise though, you're going to want to include a standard dropship tile on the RMA somewhere, and probably UFO tiles as well (would really help with the terror missions). Keep in mind that Bomber, it's pretty big!

Yes, I've been wondering about that. It will be fairly easy to get the smaller dropships and UFOs on the roads and even on the roof of the parking garage. I'm also planning one of the 4x4 tiles to be a park, on which I could put some dropships and UFOs. But that Bomber is mighty large, at least 4x7 tiles I believe. I guess that could be built across the park tile and its adjacent roads.

When you say "standard" dropship title... can there only be one dropship tile per RMA set? I was hoping to be able to place it in a couple different locations and load it in different places for different assemblies.

Quote from: Yatta
Wouldnt have a building tile added to streets with large sidewalks gives *very* large sidewalk ? Pardon me if im wrong.

If you look at the attached screenshot from the first post in this thread, the sidewalks only exist on the building tiles. So each building can determine how wide the sidewalk around it ought to be. I'm using 3 grid squares as the standard, but this will be "invaded" by buildings which jut out and other things which the player can hide behind. Also, I need a good-sized sidewalk to prevent the shadows from the tall buildings spilling over their tile edge.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: Mattn on March 24, 2010, 11:13:55 am
Quote from: H-Hour on March 24, 2010, 11:00:18 am
When you say "standard" dropship title... can there only be one dropship tile per RMA set? I was hoping to be able to place it in a couple different locations and load it in different places for different assemblies.

Not yet possible, but easy to do once you come to this.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: Kildor on April 02, 2010, 12:22:17 pm
Nate, can you help me?

I`m trying to use your street-road set, and can`t understand, is it possible to make corner? not crossroad?

PS:
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 03, 2010, 01:40:07 am
Hey Kildor, glad someone else is working with them! The corners you want aren't made yet. They can be assembled from existing textures, but no tile exists. I'll be happy to whip it up as soon as I can. Haven't had much free time lately, but should be able to in the next few days.

Is there a particular corner you want or should I just make all four 90 degree turns? As they're done now, they'll be blocky on the outer turn. You'll see what I mean when I do it, but perhaps we can look for another solution at some point if you think it looks too bad.

If you're in a hurry, check out the 2ln_crnw* tiles. They are the outside edge of a 90 degree turn. One is currently not done correctly, but I'll get it fixed soon.

Also, I've built them specifically for my big city RMA and focused on just what I needed first, but if there are any other things you want let me know. I hope we can expand the street set greatly in the long term. So if you wanted roadside parking, bike lanes, etc., shouldn't be too difficult to do.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: Kildor on April 03, 2010, 04:38:01 am
if you create parking and bus stop, I'll be very happy. :-)

and thanks for your amazing textures!
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 03, 2010, 12:00:24 pm
r29224 and 29225 fix a texture and add a couple tiles. In particular, check out the citystrc_sw_1a.map for an example of how I would do a 90 degree turn using the existing textures. As I said, it's a bit blocky and not ideal in terms of the center painted lines, but should work (haven't tested in-game, so let me know if there are seams showing).

I've been having a think about how I would implement better 90 degree turns and haven't come up with anything that slots well into the existing tile infrastructure and also looks good (smoother turn). One workaround might be to implement T-junctions instead of corners unless that really interferes with your map design.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 03, 2010, 06:29:08 pm
For the side-of-street parking, do you want angled (http://www.antipedantic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/antiAngle41.jpg) or straight on (http://db10.aspasia.net/oakfield-data/images/12270_T_PROPERTY_ELEMENTS_25455_PO.jpg) parking?
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: Destructavator on April 03, 2010, 07:05:39 pm
Quote from: H-Hour on April 03, 2010, 06:29:08 pm
For the side-of-street parking, do you want angled (http://www.antipedantic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/antiAngle41.jpg) or straight on (http://db10.aspasia.net/oakfield-data/images/12270_T_PROPERTY_ELEMENTS_25455_PO.jpg) parking?

In most U.S. cities that I've seen, in inner-city urban areas they almost always use straight-on parking but have nearby parking lots or parking buildings (multi-level lots with ramps inside).  I've really only seen angled in less dense suburban areas.

For other parts of the world, I have no idea.

Of course, in the future world of circa 2084 when the game takes place, who knows what they'll have?

Edit:  I'd also like to point out that in cities around landmarks or other special, important places - at least in the USA - sometimes the streets are laid out in special patterns.  Back when I was near Washington D.C., for example (the nation's capital where Congress and the President work), the streets around the government buildings were in these crazy concentric circles that looked pretty from above (if you were in an aircraft), but were a royal pain-in-the-aft to drive through, not to mention the frequently congested traffic.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 03, 2010, 07:13:24 pm
These parking spots are for Kildor's map, which looks like a smaller city/suburban place.

The first building I'm working on for the city RMA is actually a multi-level parking garage. :)
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: Destructavator on April 03, 2010, 07:21:07 pm
Slightly different but related:

I'd like to point out that I've seen increased construction and use of skyways* in more recent times, in downtown city areas near where I live.  If the trend continues and spreads, they might become common in urban areas, something to think about.

*"skyway" refers, in this case, to an indoor (covered by a roof and walls with windows) corridor that connects two multi-level city buildings, and connects levels above the ground level, going over streets, so people can walk across from one building to the other while staying indoors and not have to bother crossing a street with traffic.

(I'm afraid I don't have a link or pic handy, sorry.  They're also known by other names.)

Heck, I've even seen a few "horizontal elevators (lifts)" in some places as well now.

Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 03, 2010, 10:55:19 pm
Such things would be nice, but they produce dependencies which further limit the ability to randomize the map layout. Since I'm still just trying to work out a city block (and probably will be for a while), I'm trying to keep the buildings as swappable as possible, while still making each one distinct. That means for the moment focusing on the 4x4 block as the basic structure of the building.

Hopefully once the basic pieces are in place for a full range of city maps (small to large), I can then add some other elements like you've mentioned: a landmark around which the layout is significantly different, tiles that span even more than the 4x4 blocks and could be connected via skywalks (upper level shopping promenades, for instance), a raised monorail rather than a train line at street level, etc. But all of that looks a long way off for the moment. It takes me long enough just to slap a few layers of concrete together for a parking garage.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 12, 2010, 08:20:58 pm
 :) :D ;D

Man, your map looks great already !!!
Really TOP Work !
The textures are very detailed, all normalmaps I saw looked beautiful & there is lots of place to play animations  ;)
But my slower computer really needed some time to open this, but I understood why as I saw the quality you delivered here. THIS REALLY LOOKS GREAT !!!

btw, if you still want me to post some screenshots, just give me a wink  ;)

Again, ten thumbs up for this, really. I did not expect such a high quality. Please warn me next time  ;)
I started the night version first & the way you placed the lights also looks fantastic.
 I wish we would have all maps in such quality !
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Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 12, 2010, 08:53:18 pm
Many thanks MCR! I would love some screenshots, since I can't view many of the material settings on my system to test them out.

Glad you checked out the night version first. The lighting really comes out there. Still some work to be done though, and I'm a little uncertain about whether the # of lights around the outer edges is excessive.

And a big thanks to BTAxis for adjusting some levelflags for me. The map is crippling my system in Radiant and it can take hours to fix those little things now.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 12, 2010, 09:21:00 pm
You really should get a new system, you can get fast stuff so cheap now & if you choose a stationary computer instead of a laptop you get much more power for the money...
That is in now way a offense, but talent & time is lost when you have to wait for your machine all the time ;)

I will try to make some screenshots for you, will upload them to hyperupload & post a link here. But this may take a while from now ;)
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 12, 2010, 09:29:50 pm
I would suggest a Core2Duo cheap & fast, 2Gig RAM DDR2 cheap & fast, A i965 Mainboard cheap & fast, a Samsung F3 hdd cheap, reliable  & fast & some modern gfx card for 50 € & you can create everything much faster, without being limited & pulled back by your machine all the time...
I even would have a old i965 mainboard I do not need @ the moment for you...
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 13, 2010, 01:32:42 am
@H-Hour: Did you get the link to the screenshots I made for you  ???
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 13, 2010, 10:47:16 am
Yes, started the download last night and then went to bed. Haven't yet looked at them, but I really appreciate it.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 13, 2010, 12:24:08 pm
Some of the screenshots I made yesterday  8)

Converted them from png to jpg, Q90, Color-Subsampling Average, Adjusted the gamma from 1.0 to 1.30 to make the colors a bit brighter. I hope everything turns out like expected by you...
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 13, 2010, 12:25:45 pm
more...
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 13, 2010, 12:28:46 pm
more...
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 13, 2010, 12:31:58 pm
more...
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 13, 2010, 12:33:28 pm
more...
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 13, 2010, 12:37:29 pm
more...
I am imagining grenades falling down here ;D  ;)
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 13, 2010, 12:39:21 pm
the last ones...
Hope everyone likes it like I do  ;)
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 13, 2010, 01:38:23 pm
Thanks MCR. Definitely some unexpected normalmap behavior there. I'll post some responses when I'm done working today.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 13, 2010, 01:41:50 pm
Unusual, but nice  ;)
Who knows what materials will be used in 2084 ?!


Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 14, 2010, 04:58:36 pm
Kildor, r29391 adds a bus stop texture to the streets set. It's meant to be slotted into a 2lnh street (horizontal). If each 2-lane street is 256 units across, this is meant to take half of one lane (64 units across) and run 192 units along the side of the street. If you need an example .map let me know.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 14, 2010, 06:35:08 pm
r29392 replaces all the street overlay TGAs with PNG files to cut their file size in half. I don't know why I was using TGAs. I think I remember some period a while ago having trouble blending a PNG, but it was probably just me being stupid.

Anyway, if people could please be on the lookout for any mistakes I made. This was a rather mindless piece of work so it's likely I may have messed up a few. Just check if you see any obvious problems between the textures, or if something's got the wrong street lines painted on it, etc. Thanks.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: MCR on April 14, 2010, 06:37:59 pm
No, H-Hour, I had more troubles with pngs also...
In my case the picture-viewer I was using was not able to show & to convert the alpha-channel of the pngs. That was quite hard to work with also ;)
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 15, 2010, 12:30:07 pm
Having looked at the screenshots MCR posted, there's some wierd behavior happening with the normalmaps. Could mattn or someone that knows what's going on here tell me why the texture mapping is getting displaced in-game? See the attachments for examples.
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: Mattn on April 15, 2010, 02:06:29 pm
it would be nice if you could open a bug ticket for this - otherwise i might forget this ;)
Title: Re: City street grid
Post by: H-Hour on April 15, 2010, 03:03:50 pm
Opened (https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=2987675&group_id=157793&atid=805242), thanks.