Filename : map-SolarAE.pk3
Map : solarae.bsp
Version : 8/15/2012 (r128)
Original Author : Jochum Skoglund (Hipshot)
: www: www.zfight.com
"Co-Author" : Christoph A. Loewe (AEon)
Email Address : **email removed**
Website : aeons.poweredbylasers.com
Description : Heavily edited alternate version of Hipshot's
original beta map Solar.
Fun-packed, fast-paced industrial / grunge map,
featuring "patch-work" texturing, extensive
geometric detail, interesting vertical action, with
many alternate paths. Plays very well against bots.
Levels by AEon : AEcyrena, AEshake2 both for Quake II.
AEcantow, AEcthdrl, AEcube for Half-Life.
AEplat01, AEplat02, AEplat03, AEplat04, AEplat05,
AEplat06, AEplat07, AEplat08, AEplat09, AEplat10 for Q3 Platformer.
AEarena, AEsculpt, AEarcs, AEdm17, AEcap, AEpyra,
AEtime, AEdesert, AEneon, AEsafe, AEcantw2, AEdm7 for Q3A.
See aeons.poweredbylasers.com under "maps".
===============================================================================
* Instructions *
1) Extract map-solarae.pk3 into your Quake3\baseq3\ directory.
2) Start Quake3.
3) Map will be accessible from the menu (i.e. Single Player, Skirmish).
* Play Information *
Level Name : SolarAE
Settings : Deathmatch (FFA, Team, Tourney)
Bot Support : yes, optimized
Single Player : Bots (3 bots recommended)
Deathmatch Player : yes (14 respawn points + 1 bot-only)
Difficulty Settings : Bots again
Weapons : SG, PG, RG, GL, LG
Items : Quad, RA, 2xYA, MH, 1x50H, 8x25H
* Construction *
Base : Based on Hipshot's original beta map Solar.
Editor used : GtkRadiant 1.2.13 and 1.4
Map compiler used : q3map2 2.5.16
Build time : August 27th to September 26th 2009 (1 week break)
Finished off in a few days in August 2012.
Map build system : Old: P4 2.54GHz w/1 GB WinXP & X800 256MB
New: i7 920 2.67GHz w/6 GB Win7 & ATi HD5850 1GB
Compile Time : 4s (bsp; -v -meta)
: 1s (vis; -vis -v -saveprt)
: 80s (light; -light -v -fast -patchshadows -samples 3
-bounce 8 -gamma 2.5 -compensate 3)
: 17s (aas; -bsp2aas -forcesidesvisible -optimize)
* SolarAE vs. Solar - Content Changes *
Design Changes :
- Water almost completely removed, the map is less high now, featuring
redfella's red/orange terrain textures (darkened) instead of water.
- TP moved into the RA room, TP is split, exits near GL and PG now.
- New JPs models, and new "smoke" textures, new YA & RA pad textures.
- Added fan droning hum, hum in tubes, water and TP sounds, wind.
- A new corridor between the main RL arena and the LG arena added. It is
now possible to run a continuous path on the lower level.
- Closed off the direct path to the RA room that used to pass under stairs.
Created an alternate corridor, this greatly improves vis.
- Closed off direct path between Quad and RA room, makes RA room safer.
- Quad pit sports a new JP, to let the player exist the lower level.
- Added metal "planks" near the PG bridge, adding new path.
- RA area, intruded ceiling, "dried out pool" floor.
- New TP "chamber", with tube deco and falling water effect.
- Rebuilt parts of the LG arena, made it larger.
- The red sand stone is intruding the map in various places, as deco.
- Item placement slightly changed, added a bit more 5H, Shards, and ammo.
- Added support for tourney and team FFA. Added one more bot for FFA.
- Glass tile ceiling, lost a few tiles, created ASE models for that.
- The MH AP triggers a wind sound, idea by Pat Howard (phtourney1).
- Added tube under the MH to let the bots pick up the MH.
- Previously enlarged RA room is smaller again.
- Bots now use the AP to fly path the MH.
- Tourney mode has a 50H instead of the Quad.
Technical Changes : - Mitered the map extensively.
- Optimized r_speed (<10K mostly) via hint brushes.
- All sparklies fixed.
- Bot pathing optimized.
- Added detail shadows all over the place.
- Portal sky simplified.
- Changed skybox, using Redplanet instead.
- Sky lighting slightly more red/orange.
New Textures : Shaderlab, PhilipK, Hipshot; see "Solar by Hipshot.txt"
New JP effects, and YA/RA pads by AEon.
Skybox 'Redplanet' (1024^2) by Hipshot.
New TP effect created for SolarAE by Hipshot.
Redfella's red/orange terrain textures from
Graviton (redq3dm7).
New Shaders : Merged original Solar shaders, plus added/edited
a few new ones.
New Models : New fan JP ASE models, "fallen" glass ASE tiles.
New Sounds : Made id's original water1.wav sound 12dB louder.
* Credits *
Thanks to id Software, for Quake III Arena.
Special extra thanks go to Hipshot for letting me edit his map Solar, for
providing the complete map source, and also the source to the weapon respawn
pads, the valuable feedback, and his other help. All this was a very valuable
mapping lesson for me (AEon).
Thanks go to the folks at the Level Editing & Modeling forum aka home :)
(www.quake3world.com) for their feedback and for helping me beta test this
map, i.e.:
InsaneKid for the YA/RA pad texture inspiration.
* Legal Information *
This level is (C) 2009 Jochum Skoglund (Hipshot),
changes by Christoph A. Loewe (AEon).
You are not to include or distribute this map in any sort of commercial
product without first obtaining permission from the author. You may not mass
distribute this level via any non-electronic means, including but not limited
to compact disks, DVDs and floppy disks.
* Where to get more of the authors' maps *
www.zfight.com (Hipshot)
aeons.poweredbylasers.com (AEon)
lvlworld.com
... and mirror sites.