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Cyberia-Mix 
dU.Mapper

UT Name: Demona UT Since: 2000 Joined: Dec 12, 2010 Posts: 588 Location: irc://irc.epiknet.org/2LO Reputation: 337.5   votes: 10 Status: Offline




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Posted: Wed Dec 15, 2010 7:32 am
Post subject: MH-Terraniux updates & bugs reports |
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New beta after getting some feedback from players.
V15 fixes:
- first lift shouldn't be buggy anymore (I had the timing of the dispatcher wrong, which caused players to be able to call the lift at times the trigger was supposed to be off),
- the Phantom can actually move through movers, which is super troublesome. I don't get in which conditions he does or doesn't though, since he will only fall through the end lift if he's standing on the grate (semi-solid), yet replacing the grate with plain floor (solid) had no effect. Makes no sense to me but whatever.
I added a door before the end lift, he should have less chances to move across that one.
- removed 1 spawning bounty hunter in the lower area after the minigun room is open,
- spaced some mercenaries' respawn frequency a little.
Wolfi or Bob, if you still have my former forum post with the map guide I'd like to repost it. I still have the pictures but I haven't kept the post itself after submitting it.
Also, please put the map directly on main, because it now needs to be played a lot to find the remaining issues. Stuff like what I just fixed was completely missed when testing on priv and for the first few games on main as well.
Anyone who still encounters bugs please report them here from now on. |
Last edited by Cyberia-Mix on Mon Apr 02, 2012 9:23 am; edited 5 times in total |
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Cyberia-Mix 
dU.Mapper

UT Name: Demona UT Since: 2000 Joined: Dec 12, 2010 Posts: 588 Location: irc://irc.epiknet.org/2LO Reputation: 337.5   votes: 10 Status: Offline




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Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2011 6:16 pm
Post subject: Re: MH-Terraniux updates & bugs reports |
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V20:
- ledges for breathing on the underwater part,
- new item (relatively hidden),
- FLYING TENTACLE GOT FIXED,
- couple stuff I don't even remember.
V21:
- phantom tweak (treshold for extra phantoms changed from 11, 21 players to 10, 19) |
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-BoB- 
dU.Staff

UT Name: dU.BoB UT Since: 2005 Joined: Jul 20, 2010 Age: 51 Posts: 465 Location: England Reputation: 216.2   votes: 3 Status: Offline




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Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2011 12:23 am
Post subject: Re: MH-Terraniux updates & bugs reports |
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Loaded onto main server now  |
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Sponsor
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Cyberia-Mix 
dU.Mapper

UT Name: Demona UT Since: 2000 Joined: Dec 12, 2010 Posts: 588 Location: irc://irc.epiknet.org/2LO Reputation: 337.5   votes: 10 Status: Offline




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Posted: Tue Jan 11, 2011 9:15 am
Post subject: Re: MH-Terraniux updates & bugs reports |
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Everything seems to be working fine. Also first time I saw the map with 2 phantoms. Thank you. :D
EDIT: actually not at all!
V22:
- repaired the buggy water pipe that corrupted itself (this map is so damaged that the BSP is able to [censored] itself up without doing anything, that's impressive),
- fixed ANOTHER flying tentacle, and I think I've understood where the frozen tentacles issue was coming from. |
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-BoB- 
dU.Staff

UT Name: dU.BoB UT Since: 2005 Joined: Jul 20, 2010 Age: 51 Posts: 465 Location: England Reputation: 216.2   votes: 3 Status: Offline




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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 1:10 am
Post subject: Re: MH-Terraniux updates & bugs reports |
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| Loaded onto the servers. |
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Cyberia-Mix 
dU.Mapper

UT Name: Demona UT Since: 2000 Joined: Dec 12, 2010 Posts: 588 Location: irc://irc.epiknet.org/2LO Reputation: 337.5   votes: 10 Status: Offline




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Posted: Wed Jan 12, 2011 4:51 pm
Post subject: Re: MH-Terraniux updates & bugs reports |
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V25:
- for some reason my last change with the tentacles wasn't there, as if I edited the wrong file or got something overwritten, weird,
- repaired another goddamn thing that corrupted itself between V21 and V22.
I'M SO TIRED OF THIS. |
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Sponsor
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Cyberia-Mix 
dU.Mapper

UT Name: Demona UT Since: 2000 Joined: Dec 12, 2010 Posts: 588 Location: irc://irc.epiknet.org/2LO Reputation: 337.5   votes: 10 Status: Offline




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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2012 5:19 pm
Post subject: Re: MH-Terraniux updates & bugs reports |
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April fools genuine update!
As you may know if you've been on the old forum, MH-Terraniux is an absolute nightmare of geometry bugs (to the point that's where I actually ended up spending the most time during the conversion, knowing that conversions normally don't get you spending any time on geometry AT ALL).
Luckily, I found out something stupid about UEd lately that looked like it could be the main reason for all the crap Terraniux is plagued with. And apparently it was.
For the first time now I'm posting screenshots of said bugs so that people can know what's going on so often in backstage and how incredibly annoying it is.
> is the most commonly bugged area in the map (by far), when working normally.
And is what you get when you attempt a "Build All" compilation on V25 (currently on servers) like you're normally supposed to do when mapping.
What happens here is that a part of the room has disappeared into a large invisible obstacle, generated as a byproduct of something wrong somewhere in the level.
Though it's invisible it does block light and objects. You will bump into it, you can walk onto it, .
Now, even though the map CAN be played in this state, are you seriously going to roll with this and let the map stay this way for all its future games?
's another bug of the same kind, also in the same room and with the same version of the map. Black ground and walls betray invisible blocks.
As to why these bugs are so magically infuriating now:
1) You could assume that in order to match with this new obstacle, the editor must have placed a new shape in the map that you'll be able to see and delete.
In fact nope, your map hasn't changed at all. It's freaking invisible even in the editor. So what's the source?
Investigation begins.
2) One or several geometry objects (called "brushes") in the map are responsible for the creation of such a bug. Remaking them in a more simple way or slightly moving them will solve the issue.
Generally the shape and location of the bug will tell who the possible culprits are (fortunately way too long to explain here!).
Then again sometimes you're unlucky, and after you've spent the last hour turning the area upside down in vain, it turns out the source appears to lie somewhere further away in the level... but where?
At this point tossing your screen out of the window begins to appear like a valid compromise.
3) The worst bugs, like here, appear from unpredictable combinations of events.
Like I said above it's possible (although rare) that the source of a bug seen in some area is actually completely elsewhere. This happens when the architecture/geometry of the map starts to become somewhat heavy, causing the editor to go through more and more steps to achieve compilation.
In turn there's an increasing risk to have a brush suffer from another, regardless of the distance between them. Two brushes A & B may work fine independently, but because the editor needs to generate a special line (generally through the entire level) called a "BSP super cut" to build B, and A is crossed by this line, there's a risk a bug will occur next to A.
Such bugs are the result of how the editor decides to compile/build the map, and you have no control over it.
It's better to take care of these bugs when you're done creating the entire architecture because the super cuts will move again by then, and the bugs will disappear on their own.
Obviously in Terraniux's case the map was already over. However, just changing random shapes a tiny bit here and there was often enough to move the cuts, sometimes solving existing bugs, sometimes CREATING NEW ONES.
In summary it's random, unpredictable, and it can happen from the slightiest thing at the other side of the level, even when you didn't do anything wrong.
4) The editor has nothing to warn you about any kind of bugs or errors.
Everytime you rebuild the map, if you know it has high risks of geometry bugs, you have to manually inspect the entire level to make sure there are no new bugs elsewhere. Because it does happen that after struggling with the editor during 2, 3, 4 hours to fix your buggy room, you finally found something that made the bug go away... and then you find out .
5) IT'S NOT EVEN MY MAP GODDAMN. I'M NOT AT FAULT FOR WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE FIRST PLACE.
If only it was my map I would know what I possibly did wrong and redo it properly to reduce the risks of bugs. But heh. ^_____^
Global summary: these bugs appear anytime, out of nowhere, have no identifiable source, disappear with luck after many tries, and have me visiting the whole map everytime I have to rebuild geometry. Isn't that awesome?
I've lost count of the days I spent tearing my hair out over this sole thing back then. Good thing I haven't seen a situation this bad in any other map.
There's some point during the early versions where I became unable to fix the bugs after running out of ideas (other than redoing the map from scratch...). I stopped using "Build All" and used the other build buttons separately (normally only intended for editor mode).
Compared to "Build All" you lose the geometry optimization step, which can fix some geometry bugs, and create others. Fortunately for me, most of the time it did only fixing (if it didn't work there would have been no MH-Terraniux until now so).
All's well that end well.
Except that, skipping optimization still has a on its own.
Some polygons are never drawn and remain invisible. You have probably seen more in V25: - - - (the lamp above also has no side).
I also spent quite some time trying to find brushes that turned this way to fix them, but it turned out that for every brush you fix there's a new one that gets buggy elsewhere, so I just ended up trying to limit the bugs where it was less visible.
So yeah, in the end you've seen V25 like this because the map wouldn't work with less bugs. :/
V47:
> And so, back to now, I found something weird and unexpected that made me able to remove a lot of these nasty BSP super cuts, and use "Build All" with few to no bugs (easy enough to fix anyway).
As such this is the first time since the beginning 2,5 years ago that I'm able to come up with map versions that are 100% clean of all geometry bugs! Finally! FINALLY! \o/
Can you imagine the RELIEF. Gah! \o/
And now for the rest of the changelog:
MONSTERS
- Improved Slith spawning, for clear bonus to be easier and faster to get.
Previously 40 + 5 spawning Sliths, now 30 + 4. Better spawnpoint balancing and faster spawning rate.
- Added BlockMonsters to prevent Scouts from hiding out of players' sight on rooftops.
- Better balancing of the AmbushPoints in the 3 button rooms to prevent a scenario where you had 5 Mercs in the left room and 2 in the middle room, and other bad luck things like that.
- Lowered total ghost time for Phantoms from 180 to 90s.
- Phantoms now have a 4-7s delay after ghost before they can become ghost again (which makes them much easier to hit with deemers, or spam with large teams).
- Lowered player tresholds for extra Phantoms from 1-10-19 players to 1-8-15-22 players (it was foolish to think Terraniux could ever get 19 players).
- Raised total invisibiliy time for Scouts from 10-25 to 60s.
- Increased Shock Scouts guarding ' SightRadius from 600 to 700.
- Removed 1 Merc in research lab, replaced with a random Bounty Hunter (50% chance to be there).
- Changed Mercs at the beginning of the map from 1 in lift + 3 above to 2 in lift + 2 above. The door above the lift can now be passed before the Mercs before it are dead.
Total monster count reduced from 323 to 311 (11 Sliths + 1 Merc).
MOVERS
- Lifts can't be blocked by players or monsters anymore.
- Various lifts and doors are now faster and/or easier to activate (Lift 1 round trip from 28 to 22s, etc.).
- The lift at 1st spawn is now activated with the button (less chances to have it stuck from too many players around the trigger, and players can now shoot at the Mercs above without triggering the lift).
COSMETICS AND MISC
- Transparent water (looks much better but not sure I like the new gameplay).
- Fixed various cosmetic errors from the original mapper (, , ->, -> - the missing wall on 4a is another invisible poly bug from the non-optimized rebuild).
- Fixed from me.
- Removed some annoying obstacles (crates, barrels).
- Added Anti-Grav boots in the first water tunnel (left greenhouse) after the research lab.
- Once 2nd spawn is activated players now have a teleporter that brings them back to 1st spawn if they want to get another Flak (previously only the 1st->2nd spawn travel was possible, now both directions work).
MESSAGES
- Better hints for players lost (that is, if they actually read messages...).
- Zone names. Players will now be able to tell where they are when talking.
- Adjectives on Bounty Hunters' names to show their accuracy level:
Nothing = low accuracy, Trained = medium accuracy, Expert = high accuracy (Phantoms and Control Room's Bounty Hunter only).
Bounty Hunter Elite means double shock fire (Bounty Hunters in the last room).
- Changed author's name with UT's name (Eenocks -> Cedric "Inoxx" Fiorentino)... and added my name for the conversion.
- Fixed various spelling inconsistencies in messages (uppercase letters, etc.).
BOTPATHING
- Monsters (including Phantoms) that fell can now come back up.
- 3rd Flak connected with Amp at the upper floor of the crossroads room.
If a player is at , monsters below him are now able to follow him and come get him from behind with the lifts and open the door.
- Phantoms can now use Lift 1.
- Fixed the 2 Bounty Hunters at crossroads top that jumped down when triggered.
- Monsters at crossroads top are still not really able to jump down to the middle floor if you're directly under them. Can't do anything against that without modifying the rooms. They're able to jump down to the bottom floor if you're there though.
Link still in first post.
I'm going to vote it everyday. :T |
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