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Fenneddar · 09-25-2006, 06:30 PM

<html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="content-type"> <title>loots</title> </head> <body> Been working on a few projects to enhance our playability factor in eq.  Most of this revolves around a wysiwyg ui editor that I am working on that allows incredibly quick and precise modifications of pretty much all of the gui elements.  That said, I have been playing around with a few fun replacements for the /gems window, /petition, /bug and the help window.  All of these are in various degrees of completion due to issues with non-power of 2 textures and the mac version not accepting anything other than tgas, but I have so far I am working on: -a loot display that lists drops from most of the raid mobs for all 4 eras, as well as mob names and locations -a tradeskill helper that lists recipes, where you can get the components, and trivial levels -a quest display with instructions and locations of the various epics and all of the most popular quests -and finally, maps for every zone we have in game All of these will be available in game.  The goal is to save some time from mci'ing and also allow leaders to reference some of the above material in game to help better coordinate and execute raids, quests, missions whatever might help make things a little clearer for those that wish to use these. At first I was thinking of just using some of the homemade drawings and stuff I found around the web and integrating it all together, but the consistency is not of an acceptable level all-around so I decided to make my own. I spent a day learning 3D modeling and looking at some information regarding the decryption of the everquest zone file formats and came out with some stuff looking like <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/ownage/thegrey.jpg">this</a> and <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/ownage/mseru.jpg">this</a>.  (Who knew there were cheesy-poofs under the ground in the grey?!)  I havenât yet decided how to list markers containing zone lines, mobs and npcs, extra-niceâ¢ camp locations and other various tidbits of information yet, but rest assured it is on the way.  I may also include the standard UI maps that we would have gotten in an expansion or two that just show the wire frame, and list information on there as it may be a tad easier to read. A little more work and I was able to come out with extended length maps like this one of the <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/ownage2/dreadland2.5k.jpg">dreadlands</a>.  (Interesting to know that that giant temple in the middle of the desert is actually just empty inside! Great, another zone I won't have to check out.  8D ) My next mission was to try and work out areas that had multi-level regions with indoor-zones and dungeons underneath them, like the <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/pwnage2/overthere16.jpg">Overthere</a>.  After a little deconstructing ftw, I got something workable like this map of the <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/pwnage2/otd.jpg">catacombs</a>.  Things get quite messy and are very hard to view when texture and light maps of dungeons are enabled so I have to play around with the threshold a bit and get something that is semi-detailed but also gives a clear representation of the layout.  I may end up keeping these maps gray and put pins of all the various static mob-locations on them instead to assist with pulling. cough*corba*cough Wink

Before I began to tire I wanted to jump straight in to my next large personal goal, which is access to <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/pwnage3/doomfire.jpg">Doomfire</a>. hmmm, looks a little barren on top.  Lets search a bit for some Fennin Ro'age by ripping off a few layers shall we?    O.o   Look, a hidden <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/pwnage3/pofdeconstruct.jpg">temple</a> underneath the ground! (NW region of that pic, yes I know these are inverted, havenât fixed them yet.)  Pop off the roof at <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/pwnage3/pof1.jpg">castle 2</a>, and 3 and we definitely have some phat lewtage there. Winding passage underneath a mountain?   Check Spiky ceiling?   Check Altar with a throne?   Check Looks like my best guess for FR is <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/pwnage3/pof2.jpg">here</a>.  Although it could be just another location of one of the other, um, 19 some odd raid encounters 8D !!! Can someone please explain to me what the heck this weird <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/pwnage3/pofworm.jpg">intestine</a> looking thing is doing in the Plane of Fire?!   hehe if you back away from the screen it almost looks like a flagellum.  LOL  It's probably a lava tube or a back way to sneak into castle 1. Anyways, just some fun stuff I have in the works here.  Some of these 3d renders of the zones are just breathtaking; like the inside of the Sleeper's Tomb, The Field of Bone, and The Plane of Time.  (More stuff as I get closer to release.) You can download the full 3000x2138 render of the Grey <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/ownage/thegrey3k.jpg">here</a> if you want to zoom in and see the level of detail available.  You can also view an extreme close up of one of our favorite locations, <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/ownage/ssratemp.jpg%20%28Open%29">Ssssssraezian</a> Temple. The full 5000x1923 render of the Dreadlands is available <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/ownage2/dreadland5k.jpg">here</a> for download.  I find this one quite beautiful.   <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/pwnage2/overthere.jpg">Here</a> you will find the 3000x2250 of The Overthere, sans dungeons. And finally, the full rend of the <a href="http://h1.ripway.com/pwnage3/pofire.jpg">PoF</a>. Try and not link to these as most are really quite large and I have limited bandwidth.  For multiple viewing, if you download them first that would be much appreciated. ps does anyone have any connections or know of any free hosting sites with moderately sized capacities (around 50mb) and around 50-150MB of daily transfer? pm me if you do. </body> </html>

devadamone · 09-25-2006, 06:40 PM

some sweet looking maps fenn great job. the only thing i could ad is if you could put loc lines on there it might be useful. Big Grin

they look really sweet though

Thiklan · 09-25-2006, 07:56 PM

Yeah, really cool work there - wish I was smart.

I even use 3D apps, but do mostly modeling myself - I'm assuming the zones are not in a standard 3D file format, but never tried opening a zone file with any of my apps. Is it a fairly simple conversion app you are running, or is it too confusing for me to bother you for an explanation?

Nice to see anyway - I recall running around on those maps, and seeing them in color and full 3D from a nice perspective really helps my brain for future navigation.

Keep on rockin in man...

Thik

Rheyn · 09-25-2006, 09:10 PM

Wow...nice work Fenn!

And yeah, WTH is that intestine looking thing? The PoF temple's poop-shoot?

I never even thought of doing this...

I agree with Thiklan, I wish I was smart. :o

Mangroas · 09-25-2006, 09:15 PM

I believe that intestine thing is the tunnel leading to where the FR event begins (there's a big ass mob that paths there who begins the event) right behind the tables, iirc.

Fenneddar · 09-25-2006, 10:34 PM

devadamone Wrote:some sweet looking maps fenn great job. the only thing i could ad is if you could put loc lines on there it might be useful. they look really sweet though

Yeah i am still trying to work on that problem. :confused: The perspective issue is fine as I can adjust the maps accordingly, but I just cant seem to find a common denominator between the zones that is usable in Cinema4D. I end up having to create the grid by hand to match the zone correctly, but I think I'm doing something wrong. Big Grin

I mean, a pixel is a pixel isnt it? Although according to Soe, maybe not.....

Avehlin · (This post was last modified: 09-26-2006, 03:25 PM by Avehlin.)

Awesome work Fenn. Very impressive Smile

The idea of having access to these in game would be killa if you can pull it off. Keep going! Interesting to see what would happen with lag etc. if you changed the graphic of say an option click item description window with a big image like a map. I'm sure those are on a server or sumpin but I don't know what I'm talking about so they'll do Smile

Darellian · 10-20-2006, 04:18 PM

Came to find out about the screenshot contest and discover this gem.

Good work Fenn. 8)

BTW I think those cheese puffs under the Grey are actually traps. I think most games have to tie automated events/traps to actual objects (can't just map to an arbitrary space), sometimes to mobs, but in this case to what look like boulder objects under the world. That means your map of the grey could also be a map for avoiding traps. 8)

Starsha · 10-24-2006, 11:39 PM

Very nice! Keep it up!