[WIP] U-AVP: Ultimate Aliens vs. Predator (THE AIR DUCTS...)

[Globe]

-- Outta curiosity, what texture sets are you using in those map shots, Blade?

[Blade3327]

-- Outta curiosity, what texture sets are you using in those map shots, Blade?

The AVP2 texture pack from the Afterglow.





Did someone say skybox?

[armymen12002003]

anything new on this?

[insightguy]

If there was, he would have said something right?

[Blade3327]

Just got done with an impulsive addition to the mod: three tasty crosshair flavors. These are simply additions to the existing crosshair library, so you can use whichever you want and it'll change color based on your health, like the standard ones.



I have done some more mapping for the second level, mainly hollowing out and furnishing one of the slightly larger buildings (about twice the size of the one I've posted before). It's a two-story deal, complete with crate storage, wall inlets that form cubicles, and misc. furniture like work tables. This has been finished for a while, I just haven't uploaded any pictures of it since I wanted to wait until I had more to show.

So to answer armymen12002003's question, the project's still plugging along, albeit at a slow pace. It's certainly not dead and every little graphical/programming tweak I make (like these new crosshairs) inspires and motivates me to get the thing done.

[armymen12002003]

oh ok glad to see it aint dead looking forward to the finished project

[Springy]

I'm loving the look of this so far! Those individual crosshairs for the classes are a nice idea as well. I'll be paying close attention to this one.

[Blade3327]

I'm loving the look of this so far! Those individual crosshairs for the classes are a nice idea as well. I'll be paying close attention to this one.

The game doesn't have classes, it's strictly from the perspective of the Marine. I just figured it'd be cool to include some movie-themed crosshairs for the player to choose.



EDIT: I enlarged the "Mother" computer room and added more detail to the terminal. It's not 100% movie-accurate, but it's the best I could do with the small space this room occupies. The images have been brightened in Photoshop since it's quite a dark map.



Here's an old screenshot from the first post to show the difference:

Spoiler:

[Blade3327]

Spent nearly two hours trying to make movie accurate-ish vent shafts. I actually got lost in these at one point, but it could just be the time of night.

Spoiler:

I took some artistic license with the vent ceiling texture since the AVP2 texture pack had some great-looking material.



Also expanded the Nostromo dining room with a few inlets and other areas (these haven't been furnished yet). It's hard to go for movie accuracy in terms of the floor plans, so I'm just taking cues from the film and doing my own layouts while keeping the overall style the same. Upping the monitor brightness might make these easier to view.

Spoiler:

I also modified the "Mother" computer room in the post above this one for those who haven't seen it. Really excited about the mapping on this project. These last few days I've spent getting rid of inconsistencies and things that bugged me, so I'm feeling much more inspired and ready to make these levels. The fact that school's out doesn't hurt either. More updates to come!

[Naitguolf]

The hud looks horrible. Too much bright!! Might be a good idea if you make it transparent, just add the tracker and the ammo....

[Nash]

The maps are too dark and flat. You need to put more lighting variation.

Here's a tip: keep the maps' brightnesses the way they are now, but add large dynamic lights with very subtle lighting. Say, 10 10 10. Scatter these around the map, use varying light levels on the dynamic lights, but keep them very very low.

You may use GZBuilder to preview the dynamic lights in the visual editor in an interactive way. But careful with this, too many dynamic lights causes GZBuilder to run slow...

[Blade3327]

The hud looks horrible. Too much bright!! Might be a good idea if you make it transparent, just add the tracker and the ammo....

I guess I've gotten used to it. I kind of like the way it looks.

The maps are too dark and flat. You need to put more lighting variation.

Here's a tip: keep the maps' brightnesses the way they are now, but add large dynamic lights with very subtle lighting. Say, 10 10 10. Scatter these around the map, use varying light levels on the dynamic lights, but keep them very very low.

You may use GZBuilder to preview the dynamic lights in the visual editor in an interactive way. But careful with this, too many dynamic lights causes GZBuilder to run slow...

Thanks for the tip. I started experimenting with dynamic lights on the dining table and plan to put more in, but I couldn't figure out a subtle-enough combination. I'll give this a try and see how it works. The maps really are in need of some light variation.

[RV-007]

I got an idea for the motion tracker in the hud. Maration's enemy radar might be of some use to your project. If there is available source, you can use the code to make your motion tracker. Of course, that is quite an achievement in doom modding.

For the facehugger inventory, you can also use poison damage to 'suffocate' the player. After the player survives the encounter, some worm inventories can let other alien species know where the player is at by sending chemical signals. The worms 'explode' from the player. The worms will then attempt to gnaw at its (bleeding) host. Bleeding players can use bandage inventory to stop bleeding damage.

[timmyr0x0r]

I got an idea for the motion tracker in the hud. Maration's enemy radar might be of some use to your project. If there is available source, you can use the code to make your motion tracker. Of course, that is quite an achievement in doom modding.

Well, I m clearly no expert to programming, but as the Marathon games were originally Mac only, I guess that is reasonable to think that his engine is very different from the Doom engine, and so that porting that feature would be difficult. Even while taking into consideration the AlephOne open-source engine (used to let turn Marathon on other OSes than Mac ones), it would probably need to port that code into GZDoom itself and that would be such a feat that is way beyond "normal Doom modding". I think that no one would bother to do it, but it may be an excellent idea to ask all the impressive coders out here in the forum if they have an idea how to somehow do a motion tracker .

The worms 'explode' from the player. The worms will then attempt to gnaw at its (bleeding) host. Bleeding players can use bandage inventory to stop bleeding damage.

The worm inventory thing is for me a very good idea, but not the subsequent effects of it. The fact that the player character could survive chestbursting is for me realistically impossible, it's a freaking marine, and a freaking alien tries (and as the films show it, generally do) to gnaw it and go out in a extremely gory way. No way he would stay conscious just after the action, and applying bandages to stop the bleeding of such a wound would also be unrealistic. I'm no sure of it, but I think that an Alien or AvP game did the chestburster thing quate well in a way that could be reproduced in ZDoom in a relatively easy way: the player character needed to find a special kind of medecine to eliminate the infant Chestbuster before it was too big and "came out". If he didn't, well he would die. Make an healing object that, with some code, would take out the "Worm code stuff" out of inventory and there you go .

[RV-007]

The worms 'explode' from the player. The worms will then attempt to gnaw at its (bleeding) host. Bleeding players can use bandage inventory to stop bleeding damage.

The worm inventory thing is for me a very good idea, but not the subsequent effects of it. The fact that the player character could survive chestbursting is for me realistically impossible, it's a freaking marine, and a freaking alien tries (and as the films show it, generally do) to gnaw it and go out in a extremely gory way. No way he would stay conscious just after the action, and applying bandages to stop the bleeding of such a wound would also be unrealistic. I'm no sure of it, but I think that an Alien or AvP game did the chestburster thing quate well in a way that could be reproduced in ZDoom in a relatively easy way: the player character needed to find a special kind of medecine to eliminate the infant Chestbuster before it was too big and "came out". If he didn't, well he would die. Make an healing object that, with some code, would take out the "Worm code stuff" out of inventory and there you go .

I like that idea. I could see it in my head. Time puzzle lol. I don't know what happens to the Chestburster if it succeeds in killing its host.

As for the aliens climbing ledges, it is possible, but it works in an instant (link). MaxStepHeight9999 is considered the limit.
Were there robots/turrets in the AVP titles? Marines dropping cameras around might be a good idea.