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Takedown Red Sabre => Takedown Red Sabre Modding / Mapping => Topic started by: carlosflorez87 on February 15, 2016, 09:34:08 PM

Title: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 15, 2016, 09:34:08 PM
Hello everyone,

I would like to know the minimum required elements to get a level running inside the game via TATDMM, also if possible a short walkthrough. I'm thinking something by this, just by guessing:

 I would supose that the minimum elements should be a BSP for the floor (do I need to configure collition or something?), a PlayerStart (do I have to apply some tweaks or config?) and a light to actually see the scene.

After the map is saved and the "Build All" button applied, I guess I should follow the instructions on using TATDMM (creating .txt file and placing it in the correct folder, along with the .umap on its correct folder too (for my .txt file I'm copy/pasting the example from the instructions and replacing wherever 'TA_Test' appears for a "MY_MAP".

Apart from this short guide, is some additional configuration needed? Am I missing something? I'm trying to run a very simple map but can't get it done. Appreciate the help, thanks!

Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 15, 2016, 10:24:41 PM
Reinstalling the Editor now, hopefully let you know how to get a basic map running soon :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 15, 2016, 10:38:32 PM
 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D I'm REALLY GLAD to read this Let's revive TAKEDOWN!
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 15, 2016, 11:54:19 PM
Ok... List of what I did to get a simple map going.

1. Opened up Takedown Editor and hit New Level and chose a template "Morning Lighting" in this case.
2. Deleted the Base Floor and Cube since they are a Static Mesh and and created a BSP one and threw a texture from Takedown on it.
3. Deleted Default PlayerStart and added TDPlayerStart opening up the properties of this (Double Click Entity) you will want to set Insertion Tag to "InsertionA" for Top Option in Game or "InsertionB"
4. In Kismet Add a "Level Loaded" and connect "Loaded and Visible" to a Start Match.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/Kistmet_LevelLoaded.png)
5. Build All.
6. Save Current Level.
7. Copy .umap file to "steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Early Access\TakedownGame\CookedPC\Maps"
8. Bring up the console in Takedown and type "open mapname" so in my case "open TA_Test"
9. Should now be running around.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATest001.png)

Skybox will be missing since Takedown doesn't have the default UE3 ones it seems, unsure why my floor texture isn't working but thought I would try get this posted up for the time being since you can at least run around on BSPs.

http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/downloads/takedown/maps/wip/TA_Test.umap

Link to the map file, nothing special, either use it to quickly test running around within Takedown or open it up in the Editor, I believe the Kismet functions are the key to letting you run around in-game.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 16, 2016, 09:14:55 AM
Wow! Thanks for the quick reply DarkSynopsis!! I'm looking forward on trying your guide, I think is clear enough even to a novice modder, so great tutorial. As soon as I'm out of job (aprox. in 3 hours) I'll give it a try and give you my comments!
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 16, 2016, 02:01:42 PM
Finally! I'm at home with the rest of the day free for modding. Time to create my first TAKEDOWN level and run it correctly with your guide!. Here are my comments:

The first bump I ran into was adding a TDPlayerStart. Since I'm no UDK or UE expert, It took me like 5 minutes getting this task done, but figured it out anyway. Maybe we could add something like this to make point 3 a little more clear: (since the aiming is to achieve a very easy-to-follow tutorial, what do you think? woudn't be too much detail? The aiming is to be detailing in thing specifically of the TD level editor, not UDK)

...To add a TDPlayerStart* , open up the 'Content Browser*' and clic on the second tab 'Actor  Classes' and go to Actor > NavigationPoint > Player Start > TDPlayerStart or in the search field type 'TDPlayerStart' and Clic & Drag to the viewport area where you want the player to start...

Continuing with the lesson, the second bump was actually at point 4. Adding the "Level Loaded" and "Start Match", again regarding the scope of maintining this as newbie friendly I will suggest adding:

...4. Open Kismet* and Add a "Level Loaded (Right-Clic > New Event > Event Loaded) and Add a 'Start Match' item (Right-Clic > New Action > Takedown > Start Match...

Next and last bump was in point 5. after clicking the 'Build All' button, the following screenshot appeared:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/s01.jpg)

Do I have to worry about these warnings? can we create like an insight about what these error means? (Maybe if we want broaden the scope of the project and create a fully detailed documentation regarding TAKEDOWN modding  ;))
 
The rest of the points where just crystal clear. I think this could be the most detailed guide on the internet to actually run a custom map on TAKEDOWN! :) Nice work!

Ok, after finishing all the steps. The first attempt was to try and run it in the editor and clicked on the 'Play Button' and this message appeared:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/s02.jpg)

What could this message mean? Could be the reason for the sky not showing on the game?

After ignoring this message, clic on Yes and I was fully able to test my first map!!!! Now the final try on the game!!

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/s03.jpg)

As I was expecting everything is working perfectly despite the shown errors. I think this kinda concludes our basic walkthrough. We learned that there's no need to place textures or even a sky to get our level running. At least with these procedure we can start blocking out our levels (wich I believe is a huge step in reviving TAKEDOWN modding, or if not reviving at least provide a solution for people who's still interested on exploring this game) to move forward as we keep tackling the future problems we may (and will!!) encounter.

Thanks for your time, help and support DarkSynopsis I will keep digging with the Editor and hopefully post some blocked out ideas I have. I'm loving TACTICALAPE's forum, very kind, human, and certainly engaging!  :D :D
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 16, 2016, 03:14:46 PM
Sorry for some of the vague steps, I've not used the editor in awhile and was trying to get something up while I had time so just opened up a old map I had working to see what I had done.

Hell I copied the Kismet stuff from one map to other :P

I'm unsure about all the warnings, my test map only said something about not using production lighting but after opening up my old Tower Defense test one to check a texture problem it had similar warnings, I think it might just be some files missing from the editor but won't matter when run in the retail build.

Don't use Play in Editor myself, I thought it always crashed? I boot up the Retail game and use the console to open the map.

I think I know why textures didn't show, its due to not "Cooking" the map so its not a simple copy/paste of the editor .umap, trying to work out how to cook a map again...
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 16, 2016, 04:00:47 PM
Hi DarkSynopsis, no, your steps were not vague! clear enough, just tried to complement them in case somebody finds the same bumps but couldn't figure them out (although is not a very complicated thing to do) Just an excercise to keep everything documented for further research :) .

Great info on Cooking Maps, I would make some research too on YouTube so we stay on the same tune. By the way I'm having some trouble viewing even Editor's assets in the game, like custom assets, they're fine on the editor but not showing in the retail buid; maybe is due to "Cooking" too?.  I'm thinking on a new walkthrough if you will? :) [Walkthrough II - Placing Editor's Assets]

Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 16, 2016, 04:17:56 PM
Editor Assets should also work once Cooking, still looking into it now, I was running into a problem with the game trying to load a texture cache that wasn't there.

Going through some old emails and some old topics on the Serellan forums I believe I found the fix that I used in the past :P

Cooking now but taking its time since it wants to cook every package the editor has.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 16, 2016, 04:47:41 PM
Took awhile but I believe I've worked out the cooking process again :) textures and meshes working.

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATest002.png)

1. Once you have built your Map/Saved make sure its in "steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Level Editor\TakedownGame\Content\Maps"
2. Head to "steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Level Editor\Engine\Config" and open up BaseEngine.ini
3. Search for "UseTextureFileCache" and change TRUE to FALSE so it will be "UseTextureFileCache=FALSE"
4. Head to "steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Level Editor\Binaries" and run UnrealFrontend.exe
5. Once in UFE you want to hit the Config Profile button.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/ConfigProfileButton.png)

6. You want the following settings. TakedownGame, PC, Release_64, ReleaseScript, Release_64 and tick Cook DLC Profile.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/ConfigProfile.png)

7. Under Cooker Options add "-usermode -mapsonly"
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/UFE.png)
8. Set a DLC Name (unsure where this is used) under "Maps to Cook" hit Add and Pick Map.
9. Click "Cook" along the top bar and hit Cook Pacakges.
10. One that is all done the Cooked version of the map should be found in "steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Level Editor\TakedownGame\CookedPC\Maps"
11. Copy .umap file to "steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Early Access\TakedownGame\CookedPC\Maps"
12. Bring up the console in Takedown and type "open mapname" so in my case "open TA_Test"
13. Should now be running around.

Once you have cooked once you shouldn't need to repeat many of these steps, just adding the map into UFE and cooking, profile settings will save as will the .ini file edit and such.

Unsure if the default UE3 Skybox works now, I ended up changing to the one from HQ since I thought that might have been causing a crash at one point, it wasn't.

Updated the TA_Test.umap from the previous post to what is seen in the above screenshot, can use it to test cooking if you have problems since it should be working.

Finally a link to a cooked version if just want to try running it in-game.

http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/downloads/takedown/maps/wip/TA_Test_Cooked.umap
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 16, 2016, 08:06:43 PM
:O :O :O WOW! man that's just great! I'm going to try it RIGHT NOW and let you know how it went :) :D
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 16, 2016, 09:21:07 PM
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/s04.jpg)

10/10!!  ;D Thanks a lot man! This walkthrough went even sweeter!! The actual delay was me arranging the objects in the scene  ::), the steps you posted were 100% accurate. I think walkthrough part II can be concluded!!

I'm glad that all the process is being documented, so we keep track of everything and that, I think, will help a lot when problems come. With this post, I think anyone who is interested in creating levels for TAKEDOWN can now start to build and test many ideas that can be interesting for this game.

My map has default UE3 Skybox so we can conclude that is supported by Editor.

For now I'll play a little bit with the editor, trying to complete a level worth seeing (and I've been planning too), using the given assets and hopefully my next post will be come with som screenshots, a downlad link; and surely a LOT of questions  ;D ;D ;D

I'm actually thinking on the next Walkthrough  ::)  ::) are you in DarkSynopsis?  8) It's obvious that your help has been extremely important for this project. I'm thinking... "Part III: Placing enemies, entities and actors" what do you think??  ;D

Thanks again man!
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 16, 2016, 09:40:05 PM
Glad it all worked out :) I really should have documented this the first time round but with a buggy editor, devs being unable to work on the game due to Publisher giving up on it and just the general lack of interest people seemed to have it didn't really cross my mind, hell I feel like we were the only ones trying to get anything working when the Editor hit.

I'm not sure what more I can contribute at this point, I didn't do much more work then this, next step I can do is getting Tango Hunt working and that is really a matter of adding the right entity and loading the map in Tango Hunt mode.

I've no clue when it comes to something like doors, creating an actual mission with objectives (imagine that is Kismet so look at HQ maybe) or even setting up the Adversarial modes but I wouldn't worry too much about them right now since with all that we have done I don't think it works in Co-op/Multi :( due to some Download Error which shouldn't even be a problem if all players have the map.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 16, 2016, 09:50:29 PM
Sure you're  right about you were the only guys working on this... there's actually no info on any other site about TAKEDOWN modding!! (well, there's some activity at Serellan forums but activity motivated by TacticalApe too) I can imagine how frustrating and demotivating it was  :(

But now I'm really glad you got your interest back!  ;D ;D ;D I'm sure we can push even forward with this. I would love to read about setting up Tango Hunt Working! Then we could talk about actual gameplay test!!  :)

I'll be working on my map right now! and I really hope we get to play it Co-op/Multi, I know we will find a way around!!
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 17, 2016, 12:46:50 AM
So far so good!!

I'm actually working really smooth with the editor right now (It's not that I'm doing something complicated) but the more I use it, The more I get the hang of it, for example, I'm learning that some regular actions like minimizing, or something like that, can make the Editor crash real quick;  the important thing is to keep that in mind, save often, create backups, and save again before attempting any 'drastic' actions; the Editor does not take too much time in loading after a crash, so  this crashing thing doesn't bother me at all (I remember working with the first versions of CryEngine 3 SDK and it was very similar)

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/s05.jpg)

It's not that I've done much, but I would like to share something: It's possible to apply custom textures to a BSP (don't know if you DarkSynopsis had troubles doing this?) as can be seen in the image: I placed my level's blueprint texture over the floor BSP. I'm building on top of it to keep things simple since I have a blueprint. As a way of learning, I wanted to try the Cooking process once again and also try if my custom blueprint material would show in the game and hell yeah it's showing!!!  ;D

Learning this, now we know that we can: Block out levels with BSPs, add Editor assets,  apply custom  textures to our levels (and maybe the given static meshes, gonna try that on my next upload) and finally 'Cooking' our level to make it fully playable! in an accurate, documented and consistent way of doing so!!

I'll keep working a little bit more as I advance in my level  :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 17, 2016, 01:00:57 AM
Yeah, Minimizing the editor is killer,  I do it often when I try build since I'm use to not watching it but with the Takedown Editor that is a No No since it always crashes.

How'd you manage the custom textures? running within the Retail Build? also did you put the texture in its own package and cook that along with the map? I know I tried it in the past and looking at some old emails I had an error along the lines of "Missing cached shader map" and if I brought the following files

GlobalShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.bin
GlobalShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM5.bin
GlobalShaderCache-PC-OpenGL.bin

RefShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM3.upk
RefShaderCache-PC-D3D-SM5.upk
RefShaderCache-PC-OpenGL.upk

Over from the Editor to Retail it would load the textures within the Retail build but you can't exactly go overwriting Cache files for each Custom Map, people would want multiple maps installed and bound to cause some conflict with base maps.

Imagine if custom textures are working custom meshes should also since it was a matter of a problem with building a custom package.

Slowly working on getting Tango Hunt working again, I did it sort of a hacky way in the past which would ristrict the map to Hunt mode only so looking into doing it the way the game does it by streaming in the entities depending on the mode.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 17, 2016, 02:10:21 AM
LOL! Gold rule #1: "Never, ever, EVER minimize Takedown Editor"

No, I'm not replacing any textures or materials inside the Editor, I guess is time for me to contribute with a walkthrough:  :)

1. Inside Content Browser create a New Package: Clicking on the 'NEW' button at bottom-left corner of the Content Browser. I created it in: TakedownGame > Content. (Don't know if location has something to do).

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/Textures/01.jpg)

2. Imported the image file for the texture into the newly created package. [ ABOUT IMPORTING THE FILE: Clic on the IMPORT button at the left-bottom corner of the Content Browser  and select the file from your HDD. [ ABOUT THE IMAGE FILE: Is a 1024x1024 .tga created with Adobe Photoshop: Save As > Type:Targa (*.TGA) ]

3.On the Import Dialog that opens up, make sure the Package name corresponds to the newly created Package and asign a Name to the Texture, also Grouping field adds like a Tag for organization (optional). The options below leave it like this (default) since this will be the texture for the diffuse map, and clic OK.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/Textures/02.jpg)

3.Once we have our texture imported inside the package, lets create the new material inside the same package too. Right Clic on an empty space > New Material. Again, check the Package name, add a Grouping tag, and a Name for the Material and clic OK.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/Textures/04.jpg)

4. The Material Editor opens up. Having the recently imported texture file selected on the Content Browser, go to the viewport section of the Material Editor and Hold T+Clic to create a "Texture Sample" element and join the black node of the 'Texture Sample' box to the 'Diffuse' node as seen on the image and clic the green Check Icon at the top left of the Material Editor and close the Material Editor.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/Textures/05.jpg)

5. In the Content Browser, Right-Clic on the created Package now containing a Material and a texture and clic on Save (In the image is seen as 'Guardar' since my OS is in spanish. (IMPORTANT)

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/Textures/06.jpg) 

6. From the Content Browser Clic and drag the new material to the desired BSPs.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/Textures/07.jpg) 

7. Close Content Browser, Build All, Save, Cook, Copy&Paste, Run.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/Textures/08.jpg) 

That should be it. Hope I got it clear and hope it works for you too! Please keep me posted how it went!  :) Didn't run on any of the errors you posted!
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 17, 2016, 02:26:46 AM
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATest003.png)

Lets get this Tango Hunt ball rolling...

1. Add a "TDTeamPlayerStart", Double Click Entity for its settings.
2. Under "Take Down" you will want Defender Spot Ticked, Spawn Group Tag = 1.
3. Under "UDKTeam Player Start" you will need Team Number = 1.
4. Finally under "Player Start" you will want Team Index = 1.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TDTeamPlayerStart_Hunt.png)

5. Now you will want at least 30 of these TDTeamPlayerStart's since that is the Max number of Tangos that will appear if playing High Density mode in Takedown, chances are you will want more then 30 so spawns are a bit more random.
6. Easiest way I've found is when you click on a TDTeamPlayerStart you can hold ALT and move with the gizmo in a direction, this will create a copy, saves re-doing settings each time.
7. Next up you want to add a "Pylon" entity, go into its settings and tick "Use Recast" this entity is the AIs NavMesh, you can hit "P" within the 3D Viewport to see what areas are covered, make sure to Build AI Paths to see if it doesn't cover enough of the map go back into the settings and change ramp up the Expansion Radius and Build Paths again.
8. The map would now work in Tango Hunt but it would limit the map to only Hunt due to the entities being used in other modes so now we need to take the "TDTeamPlayerStart" entities and put them in a separate .umap file that will only be loaded when Tango Hunt is the Game Mode.
9. Right Click on of the "TDTeamPlayerStart" entities and go Select -> Select All TDTeamPlayerStart Actors.
10. Go to View -> Browser Windows -> Levels.
11. Hit "Level" in the Top Left corner and hit "New Level from Selected Actors"
12. Save this as "MAPNAME_TangoHunt" to keep with the Takedown naming convention, don't have to so I'm going with "TA_Test_TangoHunt".
13. A prompt will come up asking to select a Streaming Method, we are going to go with Kismet.
14. You should now see Persistent Level and TangoHunt Level in the list, TangoHunt level won't kick in till we tell it to via Kismet, this is what lets us tell the game what entity map we want to use for what Game Mode.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/StreamingLevelsList.png)

15. Open up Kismet and add "Server Type" node, New Condition -> Server Type.
16. We should already have a Level Loaded node so from the "Loaded and Visible" we want to connect to the In on the Server Type.
17. Next up we need a "Gametype Switch" node, New Condition -> Takedown -> Gametype Switch.
18. In the properties of the Gametype Switch we want to add "TDTangoHuntGame"
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TangoHuntGameTypeSwitch.png)

19. From Server Type each connection other then Dedicated Server should go into the Gametype Switch.
20. Now we need to add a Stream Levels node so we can bring in the Tango spawns, New Action -> Level -> Stream Levels.
21. In the properties of Stream Levels you want to add your TangoHunt file, in my case "TA_Test_TangoHunt" you will need to manually type the file name in but the Stream Levels node will get a tick if its correct.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/StreamLevelNodeHunt.png)

22. Connect the Gametype Switch to the Load on Stream Levels.
23. Finally connect Stream Levels up to a Start Match.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/Kismet_TangoHunt.png)

24. Now you will want to Build All/Save All Levels and cook the map plus the Hunt map so in this case I'll be cooking "TA_Test" and "TA_Test_TangoHunt" drag those both from "steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Level Editor\TakedownGame\CookedPC\Maps" to "steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Early Access\TakedownGame\CookedPC\Maps".
25. Now the map is all ready to go! but wait... a simple open console command won't do the trick this time so we are going to add it into the games menus.
26. Head to "steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Early Access\TakedownGame\Config" and open up DefaultGame.ini
27. Find the line "+TangoHunt_MapNames=(MapDisplayName="Killhouse Breach",MapFile="TD05_Killhouse_AttDef",MapDescription="KillHouse_desc",MapImgID="killHouse")" should be around 265.
28. Now we want to add our map, under this line add something like "+TangoHunt_MapNames=(MapDisplayName="TA Test",MapFile="TA_Test",MapDescription="KillHouse_desc",MapImgID="killHouse")"
29. DisplayName is the what the game will use as the map name, MapFile points to the .umap.
30. The line can be added anywhere after [TakedownGame.TDPlayerController] but before [TakeDownGame.TDRoundBasedMPGame] is just like to keep it tidy.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/DefaultGameHuntEdit.png)

31. Boot up the game and select Tango Hunt as the Game Mode and you should see your map!
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATestInGame.png)

I'll have to do a quick post about our Mission Manager at some point all the program really does is add the Map to the DefaultGame.ini so people didn't have to manually go edit but for the time being you will want your own map in there anyway :)

Nice write up on the Custom Textures, was sure I had done all that so will have to test again, maybe later though! just took me a fair amount of time testing/writing up this Tango Hunt walkthrough, hopefully its easy enough to follow :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 17, 2016, 02:43:18 AM
Couldn't resist testing now, same problem I had in the past.

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/MissingCachedShader.png)

Game crashes while loading the level with the above problem, for the life of me I don't see what I'm doing wrong if its working on your end.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 17, 2016, 02:44:37 AM
!!! WOW! Nice post back there!! Unfortunately I have to go to sleep now! it's 2:37 and I have to go to work tomorrow  in aprox. 5 1/2 hours (Damn being poor! :P) and haven't sleep all day, just modding!! :) So I'll give it a try tomorrow as soon as I get out of work.

I was going to bed, but then I was thinking about the custom meshes. Maybe you're having problem with packaging or something... I thought that if I was able to import a texture, I could import a Mesh....

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/s06.jpg)

VOILÁ!!!! :D :D :D :D I didn't do anything extraordinary or different of my previous post. Just exported a FBX file from 3DS Max, imported the same way as the texture was imported, to the same package also and that's it!!!! :) :) :) :)

Man I'm really excited right now!!! PLEASE tell me how it went!!! I don't think I'll be able to sleep, I want to keep working on this!! :) but gotta go! Please give it some runs and hope to get in contact in a few hours!
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 17, 2016, 02:53:13 AM
:( :( !! Oh damn! I've never seen an error like that.... But definitely it's on your end (at least we know that not everything is lost!)... I haven't done anything extraordinary but this:

1. "Go to: Steam\steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Level Editor" and in the search field put "*.exe* and it should show all executable files inside the editor.

2.What I did was right-clic every file on that search result and go to: Properties > Compatibility > Execute this program as Administrator.

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/s09.jpg)

I was having a lot of trouble since the editor couldn't find some resources to properly work because didn't have permission to access other Files; I'm running on Win-7 64. Other than that, I haven't made any other major changes. Let me think a little bit tomorrow after having some rest if I remember something... But try this, maybe that can help.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 17, 2016, 03:21:34 AM
I hear ya, hard to sleep when you get into something.

I'm super frustrated at this Custom Content thing now O.o it was one thing when I couldn't get it working back at the launch of the editor but to see its working for you is boggling my mind! I had talked to one of the devs back then who didn't have much luck getting it working either and seemed to just be the buggy editor.

Hell I'm using a different machine from back then so can't even narrow it to that!

Its awesome to see a Custom Mesh in there, first thing I tried after I got that error was admin privileges.

Going back through the Log file I noticed the following

[0013.36] Log: Missing cached shader map for material TALogo_Mat, quality 0, compiling.
[0033.42] Critical: appError called: ..\Win64\UE3ShaderCompileWorker.exe terminated unexpectedly! ThreadId=0
[0033.43] Critical: Windows GetLastError: The operation completed successfully. (0)
[0045.50] Critical: Error reentered: ..\Win64\UE3ShaderCompileWorker.exe terminated unexpectedly! ThreadId=2
[0045.50] Critical: Error reentered: ..\Win64\UE3ShaderCompileWorker.exe terminated unexpectedly! ThreadId=1
[0045.50] Log: === Critical error: ===
..\Win64\UE3ShaderCompileWorker.exe terminated unexpectedly! ThreadId=0

To me that looked like the game crashed due to trying to Cache the shader map using multiple cores so I headed to "Documents\My Games\UnrealEngine3\TakedownGame\Config" opened up the TakedownEngine.ini and changed "bAllowMultiThreadedShaderCompile=True" to False.

And...

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATest004.png)

Ok... I'm still some what amazed since it wasn't working at first O.o renamed the material and tried again and it did... huh... shall have to find a mesh...
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 17, 2016, 03:40:24 AM
Had to try a Mesh...

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATest005.png)

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATest006.png)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 17, 2016, 04:13:18 AM
Right, quick tutorial on TATDMM.

1. Head to "steamapps\common\Takedown Red Sabre Early Access\TakedownGame\Config"
2. Create a folder called "TAMissionManager"
3. Create a Text File that is the same as the .umap, in my case "TA_Test.txt"
4. In this file you just want to add the line you added to the DefaultGame.ini when setting up Tango Hunt.
5. "+TangoHunt_MapNames=(MapDisplayName="TA Test",MapFile="TA_Test",MapDescription="KillHouse_desc",MapImgID="killHouse")"
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATDMM_TXTFile.png)

6. Now when you boot up TATDMM you can click "TA_Test" and it will add the line to the DefaultGame.ini.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATDMM.png)

7. Boot up the game and enjoy.

Program was made so users didn't have to fiddle with editing .ini files all the time, so when you pack up a map you would include the .txt file, at least we was going to make it a standard for any maps we hosted here on the site.

Damn... not sure I even have the code for TATDMM O.o think its my HDD that failed :( hopefully shouldn't need any real improvements at this point, though it does show "TA_Test_TangoHunt" since I never thought about excluding it showing each game mode, would be tough to do anyway if creators don't follow the standard Takedown uses, ah well won't cause an issue.

Now I really should get some sleep, maybe tomorrow I'll boot up a second machine and see how Multiplayer goes, in the past just having a custom map in the folder seemed to break Multiplayer for any level let alone the custom map not working, another reason we never really got anything out.

No one wants to install a custom map, forget they did so and can't play Multiplayer.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 17, 2016, 09:03:03 AM
:) Man, I'm just glad you got things working now!  It was a shame that things didn't work out before, maybe back then, the modding for TAKEDOWN would have seen it's days... But well actually it would be a bigger shame if the problem remained unsolved! I'm at work now, I'll be checking the Tango Hunt tutorial on afternoon and keep working on my level! :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 17, 2016, 02:09:07 PM
Booted up a second machine, also had to do the whole change "bAllowMultiThreadedShaderCompile" to False so unless you are running a single core I'm baffled why you didn't have to toy with anything.

Onto Multiplayer, the map didn't work, comes up with a failed to download package error which is odd since its trying to get a base game package that I haven't touched, unless I can find an ini tweak that would let it join without trying to download we might be out of luck :(

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATestMPError.png)

On the + side as long as the Lobby isn't set to the Custom Map I can join it, so Multiplayer isn't completely broken.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 17, 2016, 03:17:13 PM
Found "AllowDownloads=True" and set it to False which resulted in the following.

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATestMPMismatch.png)

I had started to come to the conclusion the way we are cooking the map is wrong, the custom models/textures are being packed into the .umap file it seems where as they should be a in a separate .upk that we also bring over from Editor to Retail which could have been what was leading to the game trying to "redownload" a package the game should already have, we might be repacking the assets from Takedown into our .umap.

I've slowly started to believe that is not the problem though since even with removing any Takedown Material/Model and just leaving in my custom ones it stills give me a failed to download message so its not the original TD Assets conflicting with the ones inside the .umap assuming they are being packed in.

I think we might need a new cooking process? unsure or a hacky way in which we disable the client/server trying to see if files match up, no idea if Unreal Engine 3 has the ability to disable something like that or where to find it.

My files aren't mismatching anyway so don't see why its causing hassle.

Most I can find is an Unreal Engine 4 Console Command "net.IgnorePackageMismatch=1" unfortunately I'm not finding anything similar for UE3/UDK :(
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 17, 2016, 08:37:58 PM
After countless hours of changing various lines in .ini files to trying some console commands I thought to myself, I haven't tried any command lines that execute when the game starts, messed with a few of those and ended up using "-SEEKFREEPACKAGEMAP"

I GIVE YOU MULTIPLAYER!

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATest007.png)

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATest008.png)

1. Right Click Takedown in Steam and hit Properties
2. Click Set Launch Options.
3. Add "-SEEKFREEPACKAGEMAP"
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/LaunchOptions.png)

4. Hit OK.
5. Multiplayer should now work on custom maps ;)

I should most likely have tested to make sure default maps still worked... imagine they do and the command line is easy enough to remove anyway.

:'( :'( :'( its beautiful...

I'm sure none of what I'm doing is the correct way but I won't argue if it works :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 17, 2016, 09:54:13 PM
 :o :o :o :o  ;D ;D ;D ;D  :D :D :D :D Man! This is just too much!!! I'm glad that what started as an exploration excercise just evolved in the best  and most complete guide on the web about TAKEDOWN Modding :) You're the boss  8) I really think we should wrap this up in a nice PDF and pass the voice over to 505 Games maybe, to show them what TacticalApe has achieved.

I haven't had much time this day  :'( been busy at work and some other errands, but hell, the night is still young and I have to test EVERYTHING on this post! as soon as I have a decent scenario to try them on!

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/Scrn.jpg)

Thanks again for sharing all your knowledge with the best vibe all time (Y)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 18, 2016, 02:09:17 AM
I've just finished blocking out my level, everything was done in 3DS Max, and imported into Level Editor, no BSP used, I wanted  to try the workflow between both programs (I'm getting used to Level Editor, just crashed a couple of times, but I can actually enter and exit play mode in viewport without crashing).  I wanted so bad to try Tango Hunt mode!!! this is how it went:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/a.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/b.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/c.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/d.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/e.jpg)

Everything went fine as usual! That Tango Hunt tutorial rocks! super easy to follow :) :) :) :) I just can't stop thanking you! A week ago I was so much interested on creating maps for this great game but didn't know where to start.... Now I can create any map I want, and play it on Tango Hunt (wich happends to be my favorite gametype) and on top of all, you just solved the Multiplayer mysterious issue!! :D :D :D Congratulations man, really! My total respects! you're a pro modder! do you work at videogame industry??

I'm also adding links to both files of my map :) If you want to try them!

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/TD06_mission.umap
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/TD06_mission_TangoHunt.umap

I'm just glad to have found this forum, TacticalApe f*cking Rocks!!!!! :D :D :D

I'll be posting more screenshots and as usually a lot of questions and a couple of walkthrough requests! :)




Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 18, 2016, 02:40:29 AM
Awesome! had a quick go didn't last long :) didn't notice any of the Tangos Move though, Hmm... My test map was not an amazing test but if I hid behind the Static Mesh they would come get me, didn't seem to do so in your map.

Man... The AI range is crazy! was getting shot from the other side of the map! while I was at spawn! I know people in the Steam forums had messed with the "DefaultAI.ini" maybe can reduce how far they can see.

Glad the Tango Hunt Tutorial worked out :) might take a look at Bomb Disarm next, getting a fully functioning Mission mode seems tough looking at the HQ Kismet for it, I'm not that familiar with Kismet as is, just making it up as I go along.

Nice to see a remake of old school maps, we wanted to work on bringing some SWAT 3 maps to Takedown, I might still have one mostly blocked out but might be too small for Takedown, we shall see... may try finish it up.

I do not work in the Video Game Industry, just too much time on my hands my tinker :P
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 18, 2016, 05:23:01 AM
Messing with a new build of TATDMM.

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATDMMv12.png)

"Prepare Takedown" will edit the required files so loading Custom Meshes/Textures should work.
"Prepare Editor" will edit the required file that allows for cooking along with replacing the profile in UFE with the correct setup.

About the only thing I can't make it do is make Takedown launch with "-SEEKFREEPACKAGEMAP" since its something you need to do via Steam Properties.

Slowly driving me crazy, the build of TATDMM I found had a few issues from version 1.0 which I had fixed, having not worked with the code for awhile its a pain to fix again... will have to sleep on it and with any luck fix it up tomorrow :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 18, 2016, 09:05:14 AM
Now that you mention it, I didn't realize that AI was not searching properly, although I managed to enter the house and they did move and came through the door frames firing quite damn sharp. I'll check out after work, maybe bad pylon config or generating trouble with imported meshes, although no error given except the missing UV light information on meshes.

About difficulty, I've messed with "DefaultAI.ini" but I kinda like that extreme range (I ilke to think that If the player can see and shoot from crazy distance, AI should too). :D :D - By the way, an enemy is always spawning in the other Insertion Point of selected. (If I choose InsertionA an enemy appears on InsertionB and viceversa :/ ) is this the normal behaviour?

Man, that new version on TATDMM is just great! Essential tool to distribute along custom contents! :)

As a quick question, would it be too hard to figure out how to change the image Map Img of the custom level?, (the ones showwed up on the Menu) and both insertion points imgs too???! that would polish even more custom levels.

Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 18, 2016, 01:52:07 PM
Hmm, maybe the AI just sometimes decide to be more defensive and not move, I ran "SHOW PATHS" I believe it was in the console and looked like the pylon was generating fine.

As for enemies spawning on Insertion points, I've no clue, don't believe I've seen it happen before but could have easily missed it, got at least 30 TDTeamPlayerStart? might decide if there is not enough points it will take an insertion.

Have you got 6 points for A and 6 for B? forgot to mention this in the past since was just trying to run a simple test map but you will need 6 per point when it comes to Multiplayer/Mission Mode with AI or everyone would spawn on top of each other :P

Think I've got TATDMM mostly fixed up at this point, do a bit more testing today and then I've just got to work out how I made the installer for it...

As for custom map images I've no clue, not done it before and not sure how we would, unless the game can grab a material from the .umap file.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 18, 2016, 02:11:10 PM
Having a quick look at the menu images I've found the Killhouse one seems to be "MapSelectImg_Other" yet within our .ini we are using MapImgID="killHouse" and I've no clue how those two are getting connected.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 18, 2016, 06:53:53 PM
I was checking on game level images too... hmmm would like to know where the game has these images stored to make the change according the level (if it's inside a .upk we should add the new texture, wrap it up and replace it right?). I did a little experiments but with no luck. I would say that as the same with levels, the menu has a 'Cooked' version and the Level Editor can't modify it. Well, It's  just a thought , not my forté.  :-\

About my map, I have 62 TDTeamPlayerStart and I've added 5 additional PlayerStarts points to Insertion A and B, but it's not good because an enemy keeps spawining by my side (in any of the 5 other PlayerStarts) and shoots me as soon as map loads, so I removed them to test other things. Could this be a reason for not adding AI Teammates in Tango Hunt?

 :o (Quick question: I wanted to add extra TDTeamPlayerStarts to 'MAPNAME_TangoHunt' Level but couldn't find a way to add them the actors directly on the Level where all actors are placed too, instead they appeared on the 'Persistent Level' and couldn't figure out how to move them to an existing level, not 'creating a new level with selected' as we did before). 

:( I'm worried abouy my static tangos.... I'm sure I saw them move (I posted one screenshot of a dead guy just outside the doo) and kinda hide an seek as in real game (when near or inside the house) but if play with sniper rifle and see the behaviour through the scope, it's just evident they're not moving a bit!!! :(

The first time added like 6 pylons through the level, intersecting each other a little bit, and later I replaced them all with a bigger center pylon. Wich is the best way to set pylons?

I'm adding 2 .rar files one has the 'Cooked' files and the other the 'Uncooked' files (for both levels) Would you please check them on the editor and in-game to see what is happening?  :-[

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/Cooked.rar
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/Uncooked.rar

 ;D
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 18, 2016, 07:14:58 PM
Well I at least found out that the _Other MapImg even though is KillHouse is just like the default image, they are found within the FrontEndMenus package, I've not tried to insert an image there and repack that itself since that means every custom map would have to overwrite that file :(

AI Teammates is not a thing in Tango Hunt anyway, I don't know if there is a way for us to get them in.

Hmm, not tried adding more points to _TangoHunt one way maybe is place them in the default map, select the new ones you want to bring over and export them as a .t3d then remove from map, open up _TangoHunt and import that .t3d.

Hell, I think even just Cutting them and Pasting them into the _TangoHunt will keep them in the current place, on that note I've noticed in the maps that come with the game the Insertion A and B PlayerStarts are kept within each game mode so they would go into _TangoHunt and not the Persistant Level, though when I was testing Multiplayer I thought I tried that and it wouldn't let anyone spawn since it said PlayerStarts where missing.

As for the Pylons I feel like the back of my memory it was best to use multiple but with the testing from the last few days I've only been using 1, might be something to look into.

I'll grab the map and toy around and see if I can find anything out :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 18, 2016, 07:38:34 PM
:) Nice! I found the FrontEndMenus .upk on the Editor! I didn't replaced any of the other images, instead imported a new one called  "MapSelectImg_embassy" and saved the package. Thought that just adding "_embassy" on our .ini file would do the trick but didn't work :P

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/MapSelectImg_embassy.jpg)

I would think it's because the package that is inside the editor is different than the one the game uses right? Inside this FrontEndMenus pack, from the editor I couldn't find the images for the new maps like HQ_night, or Hull for example. I was thinking to make the same thing: adding a new texture file where all map images are stored, not replacing any, and then maybe adress to it via the .ini file, but don't know if that's even possible or at least a clue on how to do it. :/

Thanks for checking out my map! Hope you find what's keeping my tangos lazy! :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 18, 2016, 08:00:23 PM
I'm not sure how the new maps ended up adding images to the game, since it was just an update to the game I imagine the devs added them to the FrontEndMenus, maybe? and the one we have in the Editor is just outdated since the editor never got updated.

Just might not be possible to add our own images even though it would be nice, I'm sure I'll play around with it a bit more though.

As for your map, since I don't have your R06.upk package I can't see any of the Static Meshes, just a ground plane :P I did however look at the Pylon and "Use Recast" isn't ticked, might want to try that and give the Tangos another test.

As for your Tangos spawning on one of the Insertion points I don't see it? so if I spawn at A an enemy will spawn at B? if that is the case I just ran the map 5 times and not once was a Tango at B.

Oh... so the Tango spawning on insertion is only when you have more then 1 PlayerStart setup? I'd need a cooked and uncooked version of that to see the issue and check the entities, not had that problem on my end.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 18, 2016, 09:54:21 PM
Right! the .upk!! Sorry, I swear I said to myself: "Don't forget to send the .upk...."  ;D ;D ;D

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R6_M01.upk

I see your point about the FrontEndMenus, and the updated version we have in the Editor... hmm well I'm sure something will come up sooner or later! Like everything has going on so far!  :) ;)

I'll immediately check de "Use Recast". I'm now remembering forgetting to check it back then... I'll let you know how it went in a few minutes.

That's correct, the tango by my side on the spawnning point occurs only when I add the total 6 PlayerStart setup for a correct behaviour un multiplayer. If I put only one PlayerStart on Insertion A, it's ok. But if I add another PlayerStart, anywhere, with 'InsertionB' set, a Tango surely will appear con this second PlayerStart and viceversa (happened all times, I finally had to move the where no direct visual was possible so map didn't start with somebody actually shooting, going to check it again) , hope made myself clear  :o

Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 18, 2016, 10:08:40 PM
I think the Recast fixed it, just applied it and saw some Tangos moving around though some still didn't seem to want to purse me and they like bunching up in that middle room :P even before I got in there.

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/R6_M01_PylonRecastTest.png)

Also placed down the extra PlayerStarts and I'm not seeing any Tangos spawn at them.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 18, 2016, 10:22:54 PM
LOL! that's right, they' pretty 'close' and like to hang near each other! Right! Ray cast helped!  and now I'm not getting tangos beside me neither :)

I'm still not happy with AI but we're getting closer right? Do you know if there are more ways to modify the AI behaviour inside the Editor apart from paths? for example, marking some static meshes to use them as cover or something? or by changing TDTeamPlayerStart settings? :o

I'm going to check the .ini to tweak the AI to see what kind of improvements can we make there...
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 19, 2016, 01:00:35 AM
I've no clue on any AI Tweaks within the editor, never messed with it in the past, I think them building up is due to the weapon sounds, I had a similar problem when I was toying with the game Insurgency.

I feel like the Tangos are just more spread out in the default Takedown maps that you don't notice AS much that they have super hearing, could be wrong, might have to go back into the HQ map in the editor and see if I notice anything that could help with the AI.

Maybe sound will get more blocked once the map is more fleshed out with Static Meshes, Doors and such.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 19, 2016, 09:56:36 PM
Having a quick look at HQ again it looks like they have "CoverLink" nodes placed around the map, I imagine this is to let Tangos know they would be safe at those locations, not tried setting any up in the past so no idea how they work, might be worth throwing some in your map to see if it feels any different.

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/HQCoverLink.png)

As you can see each Red Box is where an enemy might take cover, or at least that is what I assume is going on, HQ seems to have 444 alone!

Looks like they have a fair amount of properties to toy with.

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/CoverLinkProp.png)

Seems each "slot" represents one of the red boxes in the world so in the case of the one above its one entity with 2 cover points then it goes as far what they would do at those points like Leaning Left, is it standing or crouch cover etc.

Under the Navigation Point section they also seem to have Destination Only ticked.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 20, 2016, 02:49:03 AM
Man that's awesome!!! :D And just in time I think! I'm almost finished rough blocking my level (I think is 85% done). Actually took more time than I thought :O but well, here it is :) It's not much, but took me quite amount of time! :P

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/td01.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/td02.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/td03.jpg)

I've also better placed the Tangos! (not just thrown a bunch in a room like previous version) hope you like this new layout! but I'm still having issues with Tangos spawnning beside me when I place 6 PlayerStarts. :( :(

This are the 'bad' files, 'Cooked' & 'UnCooked' also sent de .upk :) maybe you can help me solve the mistery.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/R6_M01.upk
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/SpawningTango.rar

I got rid of the 5 additional 'PlayerStart' per InsertionPoint and got rid of that spawining betraying killing tango... Also there are spawning some dead tangos too inside the house , like if they were killing each other :/

Apart from those 2 bugs everything is going smooth. I'm going to test the new cover points!! :D I'll try it on door frames and maybe some editor assets toon future props I will be adding! Man, I think we eventually will be capable of creating TAKEDOWN II! :D :D

Thanks again man! If you don't work at videogame industry, maybe you do work as a teacher? you have a very nice way of explaining things and nice attitude towards teaching :)

Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 20, 2016, 03:57:47 AM
Nice, looking forward to seeing it more fleshed out :)

I believe I've figured out the mystery behind Tangos spawning at the Insertions, you seem to also have the Level Loaded -> etc -> Start Match in the _TangoHunt, so I think when the map loads it spawns the 30 tangos then once it streams in the _TangoHunt its spawning another 30 and since you only have 56 TDTeamPlayerStarts some are ending up at insertion.

That is just my theory anyway, just remove the Kismet stuff so nothing is in the _TangoHunt version and it should be good to go :)

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/R601Seq.png)

As for the Tangos dying on spawn, I've no clue, never seen that, I did think maybe the TDTeamPlayerStarts were to high off the ground and they would spawn in with enough of a drop to kill them, doesn't seem like the case though.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 20, 2016, 04:16:09 AM
Having another look and just guessing but I noticed your "KillZ" the Red Line in the map editor is in line with the floor, the KillZ is there so that if you fell off the map it would kill you at that point!

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/R601KillZ.png)

Since its in line with the floor it could be killing off Tangos, why some and not others I've no clue but I would suggest going into View -> World Properties -> Zone Info and edit the value of Kill Z to something like -250 so it clears anything you have created.

... As I was typing this out I thought why not test it, nope... didn't make a difference I just saw pretty much the whole ground floor dead and I took out like 6 Tangos and won, thought I would leave it in though since most likely don't want the Kill Z in line with where players stand.

Wondered why I won without going upstairs, tried to go to the second floor next round and after the first flight of stairs inside I fell through the floor, is the second floor missing collision? maybe that is why we are seeing dead Tangos they are falling through the floors!
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 20, 2016, 09:18:28 AM
Nice for you trying my map. I'll check the Killz red line :O read something about that, somewhere but didn't really thought of it :)

About falling off from the 2nd floor.. sorry" my mistake!  ;D ;D I forgot to define the collision for the new imported meshes; didn't realize because on my run test didn't managed to get near the stairs :-[ . I'll make the  improvement in a couple of hours when I'm out of work and also send you the .upk with collition meshes! :)

Can tangos have different teams too? but wouldn't be the case neither since I alt+dragger all entities, so they should have the same properties... I'm sure the solution will eventually come up! :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 20, 2016, 09:53:02 PM
When testing I normally bring up the console and type in "god" so I can get around without worrying about death.

Also useful to use "ghost" to fly around and if you want to get back on the floor can use "walk".

No clue what happens if Tangos have different teams but since did Alt+Drag they wouldn't anyway, wonder if you can delay when they spawn so is a chance to get into a position to see what happens.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 21, 2016, 01:36:49 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soe_GQ30fdw
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 22, 2016, 01:37:18 PM
OMG! :O Thanks man! I didn't thought about that, not even when you told me that 2nd & 3rd floor didn't had collision!  ::) That's a great relief, I think our tango configuration is ready to go! I'm still working on level mesh!! :(

I almost gave up yesterday when I lost almost 10 hrs of work :( I made a horrible mistake overwriting the file and later when I recovered the time doing the level again, 3DS Max's 'Ribbon issue' corrupted my file and had to use a backup one.... Felt really frustrated and angry but, hell, shit happens, right? Tonight I'll be finishing the whole level mesh (in a clean way, the previous mesh versions were too shabby), all collision meshes fully working, basic texturing apllying and an overview applying the cover points for the tangos! :D

Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 22, 2016, 02:21:11 PM
Ouch losing 10 hours of works sucks :( good chance it would have stopped me working for a few days, then again sometimes just got to push on wards, normally quicker a second time round anyway :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 22, 2016, 03:20:10 PM
It's true :) at last, after repeating so many times the same building phase, I really got a faster pace on room building :).

A good rest is always good too, last night while I was working while upset, I made 10X more 'little mistakes' than normally do (i.e, clicking the wrong vertex, getting off the grid, deleting the wrong face, using ctrl+z too much!) and that was clearly exhausting and advancing at a very slow rate. Over last night I'm now ready to keep working!! In the end is not an option quitting now that Christian has seen our work at Serellan forums, right?! :D :D
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 23, 2016, 02:51:40 AM
:D Man! I thought I was never going to end! Although I'm not finished yet!!!! :/ I'm done with the blocking! I won't put a single block any more! :P I think all map is playable; found a rendering bug on one set of stairs, but nothing serious! :)

I'm looking forward for tomorow if I can finally start applying some basic textures! those purple squares are driving me sick :P Sorry for the delay, but I didn't count spending so much time on this (well, if I hadn't lost those precious 8 hours, the level would be more polished.

I don't think the work of the past day can be seen in the editor, but in 3DS Max, building elements are separately built, with clean vertex and sticking to a 16units grid. With a well organized level, future tweaks can be done easily (like scaling the whole world down).

I'm sending you the files :) hope you like this version! should be more entertaining than previous, (better than seeing those tangos falling down XD )

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/TD06_mission.umap
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/TD06_mission_TangoHunt.umap

Still need to make some adjustments, the level feels huuuge right??? I like the tangos behaviour despite haven't set any cover points yet! :) That'll be my task tomorrow (textures & cover) :)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 23, 2016, 02:54:20 AM
Nearly forgot the .upk!  ;D ;D ;D

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/R6_M01.upk

By the way, the 'ghost' and 'god' modes were one of the best tips ever!!  ;D Don't know why I didn't find it on google, is there CERO community for this game? :( 
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 24, 2016, 12:53:43 AM
Not sat down and tried the new version yet, did notice that the front entrance doorway is now gone? reworking on that mesh?

I'm curious to see how Cover Points turn out :) not touched them myself since not built anything big enough that I could test with.

Another useful console command is "ToggleDebugCamera" something along those lines, lets you just fly around the map as a camera, lets you get around a bit faster and no worries about getting shot, doesn't help test out collision and such though.

CERO community?
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on February 24, 2016, 09:55:15 AM
:) I hope you like it. I've been very busy at my job, this week haven't worked as much as I would want to... :(

I closed the front entrance doorway to make it consistent with the original level. What do you think? Having it closed, kinda makes it a little boring. I was thinking (when we learn how to make doors :D ) add closed doors and having them blowed up with the breaching charges. For that, we would have to set all tangos guarding the door to make it a really difficult entry point, but the player would have the option, right?

I have this whole afternoon to check on the Cover Points! If I get the catch, I'll make a walkthrough on that!

Will try that console command too, it's difficult to have 'catching eye' screenshots always from the player's POV.

I mean, like you said in a previous post, it seems like nowadays  we're the ones interested on TAKEDOWN (very much the same, years back when you were on this too) :( despite having 5,123 analysis on Steam, 1800 positive reviews, I thought some of those people should be interested on level creation or something, but nothing can be found on internet about user creation levels and things. Have ever a custom map for TAKEDOWN seen the light of day on the internet?

I'm trying to move a little forum on TAKEDOWN's community hub on Steam. Getting a little replies but not much neither... as you can see, neither in Serellan Forums TAKEDOWN is an active topic :( :( are we working on nothing? At last, I think this is a great training when Serellan releases EPSILON's Level Editor. We can be ahead of the rest when this happens and maybe then we can release something big and drive community. :D
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on February 24, 2016, 08:30:02 PM
I haven't seen the original level in so long that I had just assumed that front entrance was part of it, if you want to stick close to the original might be best to leave it closed off :)

As for doors I had a quick look and it seems you just need to find the package "PT_Props_Doors_P" and under the "Prefabs" section drag in a door.

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/TD_TATest/TATestDoor.png)

Changing the mesh of a door to something custom seems like a whole other pain, I think it would go along the lines of converting the Prefab back to Normal Actors, changing the mesh and putting it back together, all while trying to keep the Kismet of the door intact, shouldn't be hard just a pain.

Don't think a custom level ever made it out for TAKEDOWN back when it the editor came out, ran into too many problems with Multiplayer errors and such that it didn't seem worth breaking peoples games for simple things.

About 5 months back I did upload a video for the "Tower Defense" map we had made as a test using the TAKEDOWN assets but we never really tried to push it, just felt like it was time to upload the files almost as a proof of concept.

Does feel like we are working on nothing but you never know, might pull some people back if they see something decent working, who knows, and as you said its practice for EPSILON, I think the scale of the levels in TAKEDOWN are the same in EPSILON so at the end of the day you could put your meshes back together in the EPSILON editor and be ready to go.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on March 01, 2016, 01:29:43 AM
Hi again man!! :) sorry the long time! Last week was hell, too much work! but now things have calmed down a bit, time to return to TAKEDOWN!! :D :D

I have finally finished the main blocking phase, all walkable areas have been modeled and working fine! also worked on the textures too! :) I took the original R6 texture files and, tweaked them a little bit on PhotoShop, and then imported them into the editor :) I found this a very neat way to keep track of all textures needed; also helps a lot in the material creation. I'll have all materials and textures ready, so in a future when texturing phase II starts, We'll just have to replace the R6 textures for new HD textures! Copy+Paste :D

I've also played a little bit with 'Cover Points', for now, I'm just placing 2 of these points on the map, just to see how they work and behave, after getting the hang of it, I'll use them a little more, for now, they seem very easy to config, so far so good, the Pylon is also generating paths to this points :)

I never thought just one level requierd so much time, work and that amount of effort! but whew! finally it's looking better :) resembling a lot more to the original level don't you think? I'm happy with the results so far.

I have to say again that this wouldn't be possible without you're help, on one side, for all the technical support and tutorials! (Y) and on the second hand, I was very close on giving up this level (or at least for a couple of weeks) but then I felt that all the efforts would be wasted, and after all we have discovered, it would be really a shame. My main goal was to finish it and post some interesting stuff, this forum thing and comunications really keeps me motivated!! :) :) :)

Well, enough talk! here are some screenshots, I really hope you like how the level is so far. As usually, I'm sending the files and hoping for a little feedback! :)

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R01.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R02.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R03.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R04.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R05.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R06.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R07.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R08.jpg)

Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on March 01, 2016, 01:35:39 AM
Cover points are working!! this image shows the unique points in my map, I just set them to lean right or left on the doorway:

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R09.jpg)

And on one of the previous post screenshot, the tango is actually leaning right!!

(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/R10.jpg)

Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on March 02, 2016, 06:53:23 AM
Cool to see some textures even if they aren't HD yet :) beats the generic UDK one, textures taken from original R6 or Raven Shield? just recalled RS had a remake, was going to run around it earlier to see but my game wasn't booting! :(

Nice to see Cover Points seem simple to use and seem to be working, should help prevent Tangos crowding in one area like we saw earlier on.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on March 02, 2016, 08:53:10 AM
:O Man, I'm just a knuckle head, I though I sent the level files :(

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/TD06_mission.umap
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/28069679/Tactical%20Ape/TD06_mission_TangoHunt.umap

I would really like to have your opinion on level proportions, possible level mesh flaws, and fun in general :)

I took the textures from the original R6, never heard of anything like a R6 remake :O :O :O :O can you tell me more about it?

Yes! the cover points seem very easy to use, I'll add a lot more today to see how they behave (according that HQ has 400+ cover points right?)

(By the way email notifications have stoped working :( they went to my spam folder despite I marked them as 'not spam'. Didn't receive a notification for your last reply)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on March 02, 2016, 02:29:58 PM
Had a quick run through and noticed a few flaws with collision.

Right Side entrance noticed the floor texture was off and if you look down the end of the hall you can see the wall collision is taking up some of the space for the door which I got stuck on.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/R6_M01_Col001.png)

You added the front entrance back in but can't enter though it, also the stairs are gone?

3rd floor has various issues with collision, first room on the left? as you come up the stairs seems to have collisions for a wall + door but it isn't there?
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/R6_M01_Col002.png)

First two rooms on the right can't be entered through those door holes but can else where
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/R6_M01_Col003.png)

(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/R6_M01_Col004.png)

Hallway between the previous 2 rooms has a collision sticking into the hallway.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/R6_M01_Col005.png)

Can't even recall this next room just know its on the 3rd floor and again a random collision.
(http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/images/wip/R6_M01_Col006.png)

Hope that helped, sure I wasn't descriptive enough about the location of each room :P can run around the map in-game with "SHOW COLLISION" toggled via the console.

Raven Shield: Athena Sword has a remake of Embassy http://tacticalape.ninjasfate.com/ravenshield-athenasword/map/embassy

Yup, HQ is using 400+ cover points so must be important :P

I'll try look into the email thing when I have a moment, not sure why it stopped sending, hadn't noticed since even when I unflag the email as spam it keeps turning up in spam! also need to fix that.

Maybe the thread is no longer set to notify? just noticed mine no longer says "unnotify" seems to have unset itself, just hit notify again so we shall see.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on March 02, 2016, 08:16:02 PM
Got my Raven Shield working, quick screenshot of the main entrance.

(http://i.imgur.com/UQV2qdp.png)

(http://i.imgur.com/No2iZvQ.png)
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on March 03, 2016, 05:39:12 PM
 :o Wow! that's a nice remake!  :o I've never played it! gotta give it a try!

Thanks for your quick run! :) that really helps, I'm fixing them right now on 3ds Max, don't worry about not being descriptive, I have over worked  this f**** map that I can recall every inch :P :P :P (sorry, 'not f**** map' :) just 'map')

What do you thing about it's size? is It still too big? I made it with the original RS blueprints, but since the player movement in R6 is way faster than TAKEDOWN's I reduced the size to an 80%, I still have the sensation of being a little big, but I kinda want to have some space for props and details, what do you think?

How was your loading time? was it like other levels? in my case was much longer.... I think I'm doing something wrong with modular level creation, gotta google around. But since I organized the mesh, It would be easy to fix :)

About the e-mail notifications, I did receive for the previous one (about the collision) but didn't received for the embassy screenshots  :-\ ...

And thanks for the 'SHOW COLLISION' command!  ;D didn't know about that! I'll fix the mesh in aprox. half an hour and then will be adding Editor props and cover points! Now knowing that there is another Embassy remake, must work harder to get it better than Raven Shield's  >:(
 
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on March 03, 2016, 08:19:00 PM
Had to tell about the size, might feel a little big but might not be an issue once filled out with props, as for the loading time I wouldn't worry about, initial run of the map takes awhile to load due to building the shader cache for the materials, just booting it up again I was in within seconds.

I think the notifications will only go off for the first post you haven't seen.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on March 03, 2016, 08:48:46 PM
Didn't receive notification this time neither, maybe because I had the forum open in my browser?
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on March 03, 2016, 09:32:33 PM
Hmm, shouldn't be that, I have the forum open in my browser all the time and got an email.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on March 03, 2016, 09:45:57 PM
Now I did receive a notification this time and on my inbox, not on my spam folder!
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: DarkSynopsis on March 03, 2016, 10:26:03 PM
and that time I got nothing, hmm, nothing in the forums software error log is it telling me it failed to send or anything.
Title: Re: Walkthrough
Post by: carlosflorez87 on March 03, 2016, 10:37:36 PM
Mine is working fine now.... :o the last 3 post, 3 notifications.