At last, after putting months & months of work into this level, I can share it with you all 😀 After R1, the next release will be the final and my last map for UT4 in 2020. Head over DM-Cruel page to get all the details and download link 🙂

For feedback, please share your comments here.

If there is no comments, that mean you are not interested, so it will determine if sharing my next maps with you will worth it or not. I’ll decide what I’ll do then in 2021. Continue sharing my maps with only few of you who appreciate them or keep everything for me, you decide!

Note that I’m aware of few things for this release and more work is planned  :

• I plan to add more BV’s at some spots to help in the movement department. It won’t be realistic but will provide a better flow around some walls.
• I plan to individually cull as many meshes as possible and also make LODs on the most meshes to obtain more FPS. This will be a long process since the map contain 5 847 meshes!
• The custom Jumpad is looking really basic in low / mid settings. This is related to optimization for low end GPU’s. Still, I’m open to suggestion to make it look even prettier in Epic mode.
• The spark particle near the Sniper pickup is passing through the ceiling and can be visible in the GL corridor.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Most of the time, I release my maps a friday so it start well the weekend. But anyway, saturday is another good day too for sharing new content 😀

There is no point of waiting more for feedback. I’m satisfied with the current map state. So I’ve decided to publish the final. For the final version of DM-Valas, many changes has been made. Head over the map page to download it.

Gameplay :

• Add a platform in the Link room and put the armor vest there. Remade the BV’s so you can stand on the platform & go very close to the windows, like the other 2 big windows to enjoy the scenery.
• Fix a collision issue where you can get stuck between the top of the opened doors and curved ceiling near the Sniper.
• Made many pickups (weapons, ammo & armor) changes.
• Made some changes to a bunch of playerstart.
• Redone all doors bottom BV’s with individual modification if applicable. The previous BV’s was more accurate to meshes geometry but could slow down players a bit. The new one are less accurate but provide more fluidity.
• Remove the 50 armor.
• Set culling values on more meshes to gain more performances. That mean roughly 95% of actors have individual culling values to obtain the maximum performance possible.

Visuals & varia :

• Add ambient sounds.
• Corrected some spelling errors in the map story.
• Create an organic scene for outside the map so you have a nice scenery looking at the big windows. It is not a reachable area and is perfect for distract players while they look at the scene, you can blow them to pieces in the meantime lol.
• Enhance the decals in the ‘C’ sector, the room between the Rocket and Link, where you have health and ammo.
• Made many material / texture / reflection box & sphere adjustments.
• Made some subtle meshing here and there & aligned few meshes correctly.
• Perform few full lighting build (production quality).
• Redone the ingame preview pic.

Note: the final map is bigger because it’s prettier than before. More materials, more textures, more effects make a level bigger, simple as that. But, I’ve made all I could to make it smaller. The initial size was more than 640 MB before my optimizations.

Also note that this is my last final map for UT4 release on Discord and Epic forums. From now on, if you want my stuff come to my place, my blog. I suggest you subscribe to my blog to get always the latest information.

Let me know what you think in this post, or better, at my  DM-Valas page and add your like to it 😉 THX for your support, it mean a lot to me 🙂

Credits :

Achernar, Barsam2, ÐutchSmºke, Florin Biziitu, MoxNix, Shaddycat for their constructive feedback 😀

I’m working on this level since few weeks now and I’m rather satisfied with the actual state. Gameplay is great and visuals are looking good 😀

Only thing left to do is to ‘dress up’ the outside of the map (which I have no idea what I’ll do yet) and maybe fix issues I didn’t saw and add stuff from the feedback you’ll give me… yeah you! Since the outside of the map isn’t related to gameplay and is only a cosmetic thing, it’s time to share the map with the 5 persons on the planet who play my maps. At least, that is my impression 😛

Head over DM-Valas page to get all the details and download link 🙂

Note, for all my maps I use Temporal AA since it offer the best visuals. Also, before you play it, know that I made all I could to optimise the map for max FPS. My average FPS is 100 playing in 1440 on Epic settings. I hope it run well for you!

Enjoy, happy w-e and let me know what you think 😉

In case you didn’t notice, I always release my maps the friday so it start well the weekend 😀 I do that since, well… heu… since always I think lol. For the final version of DM-Thaq, those changes has been made and head over the map page to download it.

Visually :

• Add decals arrow in both side of the lift tight corridor, the one that is near the Shock pickup that lead you to the Bio pickup.
• Add decals warning stripes in few spots to distinguish some lifts better.
• Made another spark particle and also a steam particle.
• Made some small meshing here and there in some place so it look better.
• Refine the scenery outside the map by adding a second sun, clouds in the sky and fog-like for the ground. Move the planets a bit.
• Perform few full lighting build (production quality) to adjust some lighting changes which benefit specially the lifts.

Gameplay :

• Add a blocking volume surrounding the lamp close to the pipes in the Link room. You can still fall down from the platform above between the pipes and the vent.
• Convert all BSP into a big static meshes which represent the frame of the map. This is completely invisible for the player. I wanted to get rid of BSP.
• Fix an odd issue about some of the lifts receiving a red lit / shadow from the directional light even if the lifts are inside the frame and aren’t supposed to receive those.

Credits :

Achernar, BloodK1nG, ÐutchSmºke, Florin Biziitu, MoxNix, sL.vEr for providing feedback for R1 🙂

So, after spending months making this map, there you are, you can play it too 😀 Head over DM-Thaq page to get all the details and download link 🙂

I hope that players will like the gameplay, which I really like because there is a good balance of close / tight areas and open areas, perfect to practice your precise shooting. The lifts in the belt area offers many moves and it’s up to you to discover them. Flying monkeys players should like it 😉

Note that file size is rather big (362 MB). I would had like to make it smaller but since there are many assets and textures I couldn’t really make it smaller. The only solution to shrink the size is to compress the textures more but after many tweaks and ingame tests, I found the maximum compression ratio without sacrificing the visuals. Many textures are in 512 or 1024 rez. Only few are in 2048 rez. Originally, the size was 587 MB before I tweaked the compression!

Before you play it, know that I made all I could to optimise the map for max FPS. I hope it run well for you!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think 😉

Note, depending on how your graphics settings, the look of the map will be very different from me. For all my maps I use Cinematic quality with Temporal AA since it offer the best visuals. I join few pics here and you can see the huge difference between the various values you’ll use ingame. The ‘sparkling effect’ is related to your Antialiasing value :

Low

Mid

High

Epic

Cinematic with Temporal AA

Cinematic without Temporal AA

Cinematic with FXAA

Cinematic with MSAA