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The subject says it all. I have lightwave 8, and some great ideas for levels. I am running a macbook with mac os x 10.5, and windows vista (this is the OS with lightwave, but if any 3rd party apps require a mac, I'm covered). Is there a way for me to develop a level for OA with Lightwave?

If lightwave can export to either the .map(native map format for building maps with OA) or the .ase format then you should be able to create maps.

However you will need GtkRadiant; This program allows you to put to together maps and then compile them with q3map2 into the final .BSP format.

If you've never done mapping before I'd recommend trying to learn GtkRadiant before delving into anything else more complex.

but ase has its drawbacks for map geometry, namely no vis blocking.

what is "vis blocking," and what is "ase?"

"Vis"ing is used by the games compiler to determine what can be seen by the player at any given point. The q3map2 is a compiler that compiles the .map format into a .bsp with the "vis" worked out. So that the game engine can use it.

A .map is a simple text file that has co-ordinates of brushes(or blocks) with textures on it.


A .ase is a model format like .lwo. The .ase format is very useful for complex shapes over large distances. However models are not included in the vis-ing process. It's a bit complex to explain, but in short if you have a large model that blocks the player from seeing the rest of the map the vis looks at it and says "nope player can see the whole map" time to render it all.

There are ways around that by using brushes.

There are some very good tutorials that can explain far better than I can and tell the advantages and disadvantages of using .ase or brushes. The best way is to use a mixture of both. :)

Are there any size, or texture rules?

Size comes down to practise. You want your map big enough to support a large amount of players but at the same time not too big that it takes ages to move from one side to the other.

Textures: Basic rules apply: Seamless textures are best, try and reduce tiling on large areas. Texture sizes are usually 512x512 or 256x256. 

As kit89 said below: Adding to that, any sizes will cut it for you but staying with the power of two is your best bet.

I have a fairly large area that need a grass texture, and also a slightly smaller large area than needs dirt. What texture size do you recommend? And I'm talking an area not too much smaller than your average level.



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What exactly do you mean by "cut it"?

He means what suits/what you prefer.

I'd recommend a texture size of 512x512 for both grass & dirt. You'd probably also want to blend the textures together to make them look seamless when you cross over from one to another.

How you do that in lightwave & get it to show in OpenArena I do not know. I'd suggesting google-ing it.

Your main priority tho would be trying to reduce the tiling effect of your large area this can be done by adding in trees blending other textures into the grass(to make paths etc) and adding in some long grass.

what about lighting. Colored lighting as well. When do I worry about that?

Once you've created your map, in lightwave export it to GtkRadiant to add lights and to finish it off.

Thank you, you're so helpful

One modeling question I had is, what are the measurements of the players? As in the xyz measurments in inch, or milimeter form.

from the gtkradiant help file


i guess the same applies to OA

THANK YOU!

my map file is coming along nicely. i'm actually running out of questions.


I don't really have any experience with gtkRadiant ( i do have a copy of MacRadiant ) so if any radiant fans wouldn't mind helping out a radiant newbie, I'd be grateful.

That is always a good sign :)
There are plenty of experienced mappers around here, the Internet itself is also a great source of information. There are 100's of brilliant how-to-use GTKRadiant, try Google, it's a big world out there :)

Here's a link to a post where I show of some screenshots, and pose a question or two.
http://openarena.ws/board/index.php?topic=1354.0 (http://openarena.ws/board/index.php?topic=1354.0)