The House and the Fort

If anyone interesting, I had uploaded a video regarding what I was working on.  The download link for this map set can be obtained at Moddb:  https://www.moddb.com/games/doom-iii/addons/the-house-and-the-fort

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tO-vJLEEQHI

It's always nice when something new gets released. Only played The House so far. Do you want some critical feedback?

Always nice to see people doing maps for Doom 3!
Thanks for the release!

On ‎8‎/‎16‎/‎2021 at 4:03 PM, Tetzlaff said:

It's always nice when something new gets released. Only played The House so far. Do you want some critical feedback?

Sure!  Any feedback would be appreciated.  Thank you. 

How's the frame rates on "The House"?  I'm trying to make it work smoothly under the Mars City Security Coop Modification or even the LMS Coop Modification which is my next task....

21 hours ago, Doommarine_maxi said:

Always nice to see people doing maps for Doom 3!
Thanks for the release!

My pleasure!  Thank you. 

Both maps have some fresh and original ideas and parts of the gameplay are really fun. The geometry is very rough and the visuals are below par.

The House

good:

- Interesting layout, relatively open and non-linear, exploration is part of the progression. Though I would recommend to lead the player past the yellow door first, so that he knows that he has to search for the yellow key in the house. I knew that because I explored the backside of the valley first, but I guess 70% of players enter the house first and then they have no clear inidication of what to do.

- Roof climbing and finding the hidden room containing the yellow key was fun!

- That stair leading to the roof window was a good hint, though visually it looked crude.

- Monster placement was okay and sometimes challenging.

- The Hellknight in the exit airlock was a good surprise (because I tried to just run past the two hellknights in the end)

bad:

- The geometry of the rock valley would have been okay for a Quake 2 map in 1997, but in Doom 3 you should use models or at least use patches. Another possibility is to create a surreal setting and make the house float in a void.

- Custom textures had no normal and specular maps, instead they have backed-in shadows. Looks always wrong in Doom 3.

- Custom music generally is a plus, but that track starts with a good eerie vibe and then becomes extremely irritating and annoying really fast.

- Geometry was very rough and simple.

- Performance was bad inside of the house when monsters appeared, probably because most of the map is rendered the whole time.

- Lighting is very rough, with pitch black patches everywhere.

- Item placement has that typical newbie mistake where heaps of ammo and health are carelessly placed in one spot, instead of being strategically distributed arround the whole playing area.

The Fort

good:

- Again the level structure was interesting (but executed poorly). Nice entrance scenario with the fort, interesting structure inside with the upper ledge, the spiral staircases and the lift.

- I actually enjoyed the Vagary fights in this one, because I wasn't forced to confront them directly, but could use the architecture and that upper ledge to my advantage.

- The custom music track is quirky but helps to create a kind of surreal atmosphere.

bad:

- Geometry is too rough. For example, you should use curves to create the corner towers. Windows here are simple holes cut through brushes, and so on. Create more details, not just for the sake of having small details, but to make architecture look more believable.

- Texture usage is very monotonous and simple, tech texture at the front door doesn't fit the medieval theme.

- Lighting again is very basic.

On ‎8‎/‎21‎/‎2021 at 1:48 AM, Tetzlaff said:

Both maps have some fresh and original ideas and parts of the gameplay are really fun. The geometry is very rough and the visuals are below par.

 

The House

 

good:

 

- Interesting layout, relatively open and non-linear, exploration is part of the progression. Though I would recommend to lead the player past the yellow door first, so that he knows that he has to search for the yellow key in the house. I knew that because I explored the backside of the valley first, but I guess 70% of players enter the house first and then they have no clear inidication of what to do.

- Roof climbing and finding the hidden room containing the yellow key was fun!

- That stair leading to the roof window was a good hint, though visually it looked crude.

- Monster placement was okay and sometimes challenging.

- The Hellknight in the exit airlock was a good surprise (because I tried to just run past the two hellknights in the end)

 

bad:

 

- The geometry of the rock valley would have been okay for a Quake 2 map in 1997, but in Doom 3 you should use models or at least use patches. Another possibility is to create a surreal setting and make the house float in a void.

- Custom textures had no normal and specular maps, instead they have backed-in shadows. Looks always wrong in Doom 3.

- Custom music generally is a plus, but that track starts with a good eerie vibe and then becomes extremely irritating and annoying really fast.

- Geometry was very rough and simple.

- Performance was bad inside of the house when monsters appeared, probably because most of the map is rendered the whole time.

- Lighting is very rough, with pitch black patches everywhere.

- Item placement has that typical newbie mistake where heaps of ammo and health are carelessly placed in one spot, instead of being strategically distributed arround the whole playing area.

 

The Fort

 

good:

 

- Again the level structure was interesting (but executed poorly). Nice entrance scenario with the fort, interesting structure inside with the upper ledge, the spiral staircases and the lift.

- I actually enjoyed the Vagary fights in this one, because I wasn't forced to confront them directly, but could use the architecture and that upper ledge to my advantage.

- The custom music track is quirky but helps to create a kind of surreal atmosphere.

 

bad:

 

- Geometry is too rough. For example, you should use curves to create the corner towers. Windows here are simple holes cut through brushes, and so on. Create more details, not just for the sake of having small details, but to make architecture look more believable.

- Texture usage is very monotonous and simple, tech texture at the front door doesn't fit the medieval theme.

- Lighting again is very basic.

Tetzlaff, I appreciated for taking the time to review this map set.  You pretty much nailed it of what I was looking for in this critique.  Thank you.  What you say in the 'good' was a nice touch in every aspect.  Primary, I would focus on the 'bad' to improve of what you have addressed:

-I totally agreed with the geometry of the rock valley.  I have not yet tackle the adaption in creating 'terrains' yet.  Apparently, I'm trying to find tutorials regarding this.  Have any idea where I can best find information regarding this?

-I'm tackling the custom textures at this moment.  I have realized I was using an old script based on Quake 3 format.  I'm looking at the Doom 3 .mtr files to address the issue.

-The custom music in "The House" might stay for the time being.  Although, it's an oldie of mine from the 90s.  I thought this would give a player a sense of his/her 'heartbeat' racing faster as he/she go through the map.  It was meant to be franatic.  However, again, it maybe a little bit too much.  I'll see if I can substitute with another 'new' tune--time to dig out my old keyboards again.

-Performance?  Definitely, need to be polished somehow on "The House".  I see what I can do with that.  I'm hoping that when I do create the 'terrains' it would resolve this issue.

-Lighting was always a big issue with me.  I'll see if I can improve that area for sure.

-Item placements would be taken into consideration as well.  I'll sprinkle (spread out) them more.  If I get this frame issue resolved, I might even put more enemies as well.

As for the Fort, I might twinkle that a little bit but not as much as I would do for The House.  We will have to see.  Once again, thanks for your input.

By the way, here's the video of "The House and the Fort" (including "The Doctor's House") running under the Mars City Security Cooperative Mod if interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrVHZv98VJI

It seems I have found a tutorial on YouTube about "terrain" creations.  This is very helpful.

On 8/25/2021 at 2:55 AM, GhostGuy said:

 

Tetzlaff, I appreciated for taking the time to review this map set.  You pretty much nailed it of what I was looking for in this critique.  Thank you.  What you say in the 'good' was a nice touch in every aspect.  Primary, I would focus on the 'bad' to improve of what you have addressed:

 

-I totally agreed with the geometry of the rock valley.  I have not yet tackle the adaption in creating 'terrains' yet.  Apparently, I'm trying to find tutorials regarding this.  Have any idea where I can best find information regarding this?

 

-I'm tackling the custom textures at this moment.  I have realized I was using an old script based on Quake 3 format.  I'm looking at the Doom 3 .mtr files to address the issue.

 

-The custom music in "The House" might stay for the time being.  Although, it's an oldie of mine from the 90s.  I thought this would give a player a sense of his/her 'heartbeat' racing faster as he/she go through the map.  It was meant to be franatic.  However, again, it maybe a little bit too much.  I'll see if I can substitute with another 'new' tune--time to dig out my old keyboards again.

You're welcome.

Best way to create terrains in Doom 3 is to create a new model with modelling software and export the result for use in your custom map. I have never done this though.

You can create some good looking canyons and hills with curved patches, but it takes some time to learn.

I would recommend to create your own custom textures. They simply need a .mtr file and 3 image files: diffuse map, normal map and specular map. For the house you can find many fitting textures at https://filterforge.com/filters  . They just need some minor editing: resizing, creating a normal map from the bump map with the GIMP normal map plugin, and maybe some editing to create a specular map (don't make it too bright).

I see, the disconcerting custom music is just the artist's intention, that's fine :)

This is a revised version 1.1 which has been uploaded for the last few days.  Unfortunately, there wasn't much improvement in the performance.  I have replaced the rock valley with 'basic' terrains of sand and dirt.  The custom textures seem to improved a little bit with 'roughness' which I have intended to be.  I have added as much light as I can without sacrificing too much on the performance.  This was reason for the performance drops.  The custom music has been taken out and replaced with the soundscape from the original Doom 3.  I did this to reduce the file size for download.  My apology.  This is good is going get for now since I can't seem to tackle the performance correctly. Enjoy.
 

The download for this version can be obtained from here:
https://www.moddb.com/games/doom-iii/addons/the-house-and-the-fort-revised-version-111

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfiPhm3kOv4