ZM maps

[Awesomedude249]

Ooh, 75, I wanted to make a sort of Hydroponics Facility or Landing Zone type of zorchmatch, if this is a good time to ask, may I also make a zorchmatch map? It's much easier, because I don't have to focus on things like how easy it is to find the blue key or red key, etc.
So, may I make a zorchmatch map too?

[Drwalrustein]

I have an idea for the map it will be called the Chexagon it will be shaped like a pentagon with different floors.

[Awesomedude249]

Different floors, that's tricky, I tried it, and it was really hard. You need to know how to make 3D floors to make a multiple-floor building.

[noob1234]

Also, 75, didn't you not want 3D floors? Or I guess you can use the pseudo-3D floor trick.
Or wait, don't they have 3D floors in software now? Actually wait. I think that was just ZDoom and Zandronum is behind so no.

[Awesomedude249]

You could just use GZDooMBuilder and Zand's OpenGL mode to use 3D floors. Unless they work in software, 'cause that would be friggin' awesome!

[noob1234]

Well, if they don't work in software, you wouldn't want to put them in the map because then people who don't want to/can't run OpenGL will be at a disadvantage on the map.

[75]

Also, 75, didn't you not want 3D floors? Or I guess you can use the pseudo-3D floor trick.
Or wait, don't they have 3D floors in software now? Actually wait. I think that was just ZDoom and Zandronum is behind so no.

Actually one of the things to get backported almost immediately to Zand was software 3d floors, they've been in actually since zand 1.0 (great work devs!).

So feel free to use 3d floors, the only thing you CAN'T do is SLOPED 3d Floors, please don't use those!

Also don't use a TON of 3d floors, please test your maps in software, if they lag on my core i7/8GB of Ram laptop I won't really be able to take them

So, may I make a zorchmatch map too?

Yeah, I'd like to see what you guys come up with.

If you guys want a 3d floor tutorial I wrote this thing back when painwheels and chexasaurs roamed the CQFF:
http://www.chexquest.org/index.php?topic=2740.0
[spoiler][/spoiler]


EDIT: one last thing and this is really important, please focus on LAYOUTS first, don't worry about making it pretty, you can leave it all STARTAN2 if you want.

Making ZM/DM maps is easier for me than making singleplayer maps, but keep in mind that if you've never done it before, I strongly recommend focusing on making something that you think will be fun to fight in, not making it pretty.

[MajorSlime]

It's better to use pseudo-3D-floors where you can in replace of actual 3D-floors though, since they're a lot less resource intensive. Look up Upper and Lower Portals on the zDoom wiki. The only limitation is you can't shoot through them, so you can only use them in areas where people wouldn't be able to fire between floors. Or heck, if its just multiple story and no visible areas between the floors, just use teleporters to different floors instead of putting them directly on top of each other.

[75]

It's better to use pseudo-3D-floors where you can in replace of actual 3D-floors though, since they're a lot less resource intensive. Look up Upper and Lower Portals on the zDoom wiki. The only limitation is you can't shoot through them, so you can only use them in areas where people wouldn't be able to fire between floors. Or heck, if its just multiple story and no visible areas between the floors, just use teleporters to different floors instead of putting them directly on top of each other.

Just a warning: if you use stacked sectors, it's really easy to get HOM glitches in software mode, and really hard to do complex structures, I'd recommend not bothering with transfer heights or stacked sectors and just using a reasonable amount of 3d floors instead. Transfer heights are VERY limited too and can't be translucent.

CM2109 if you want to see how hard it is to do stacked sectors look at INV01 in ChexSkulltagPackP14 (in software mode), I'll personally never use them again. On the other hand KDIZD used them to great effect.

[Drwalrustein]

So your try to ask us to make the blueprints for the maps.

[MajorSlime]

75, I KNOW how hard they are to use, I've used them extensively They work the best when both the upper and lower sectors match shapes.

[75]

Another important note, It's very possible to make a great DM layout in under an hour (If you're fast with doombuilder).

If you find that your map is taking you days and days you're probably overthinking for your first DM map. Remember: Make something simple, at least for your first try.

Don't leave HOMs in the map and make sure you can move around and everything but don't fiddle around with textures / texture alignment / microdetailing / decorations / etc. for days.

It's really important to get something you can test and get a feel for because I remember my first DM maps terribly misjudged how fast Chexter moves and a lot of the layout didn't even get used.

Bots do not count as players, from my experience testing with bots is almost a waste of time, they can be good for checking item placement and spawns, but that's about it, please don't depend on them to figure out how your map will play! They don't defend areas, they don't use cover, they don't predict.

[Awesomedude249]

Oh, about the mapping fast, I got 1/3 of my map done in 1 hour. Right now my brother is using his computer so I can't map for ZM. My computer isn't Windows, so I use my brother's computer to map with DooM Builder 2.