I'm looking for Underwater Adventures!

gornonthecob

The idea has always been exciting to me ever since farming Kedge Keep in Everquest! I'm looking for some nostalgia!

I'd like to play any quest with a -large- underwater portion. I'm not talking about simply falling through a short part, but instead something with a bit of 'depth' to it (pardon the pun).

Please post your @handles or short codes! Thanks guys!

zahinder

If I ever do part 4 of my Fenwick Cycle, it happens almost entirely underwater. You can check out my Fenwick Cycle thread if you're curious about some of my early work on the idea.

gornonthecob

You'd better get busy! It won't take me long to play through it, and I don't like cliffhangers!

zahinder

And my first mission keeps getting unpublished, and when republished doesn't show up for long periods on search.

Also, author search still doesn't work.


This is why I find it really hard to stay motivated.

bardaaron

How does this work? There is no swimming animation, is there? And water is just planes, instead of fields. If someone could post some screenshots of their (even WIP) underwater foundries? I can't really conceptualize this with our current set of tools.

gornonthecob

I know it's been done in several quests, but I don't know the names or authors.

essenti

bardaaron wrote: »

How does this work? There is no swimming animation, is there? And water is just planes, instead of fields. If someone could post some screenshots of their (even WIP) underwater foundries? I can't really conceptualize this with our current set of tools.

I have a small underwater rescue in my quest, "A Mere Expedition!" (NW-DIAAPG3S4). I explain how I accomplished the underwater part in the quest database post here.



In several of the maps which have water planes baked in, there is an even better looking water effect if you teleport or start the player below the terrain. The Coastal maps are great for this! The following image is a 5 minute mock up 160 feet below the water on the Extra Large coastal map. There are no effects added, just decorative details. The water effect is way more convincing when seen in motion.

gornonthecob

That looks perfect!

reagenlionel1

I've played the one from the first screen shot. that portion of that quest was definitly the coolest.

zahinder

I hadn't considered building UNDER the ground of Extra Large Coast. Duh.

If I ever go back to working on that mission, I will almost certainly rebuild it like that.

essenti

zahinder wrote: »

I hadn't considered building UNDER the ground of Extra Large Coast. Duh.

If I ever go back to working on that mission, I will almost certainly rebuild it like that.

I used the cave platforms and earth decals in that mock-up, but those would eat up detail budget extremely fast. I recommend using the Thayan cliff details, they are cheap and look great on those underwater maps.

zahinder

Yeah, I actually used the Thayan cliffs for a different part of the mission I'm working on, for 'deep water' (where I basically put a very deep, dark boxed-in section. At this point I think I'm going to rebuild the map under extra large coastline. I'm debating whether to mock up a different map to cover up the actual land.


Oddly, STO Foundry, which is inferior in many many ways (you can't pitch/yaw details, no teleporters), just introduced water volumes -- a water plane with a large bit underneath that has proper water effects. These volumes also let you create water that you can simply walk down into.

zahinder

Doing some underwater tests, it looks like enemies path properly if you are building below the ground plane underwater. Yay!

Only one slight issue is that light doesn't drop off as you get deeper. Which is fine -- I plan on having a series of successively deeper maps/zones, and I can handle that by changing ambient light accordingly.

silverkelt

zahinder wrote: »

Doing some underwater tests, it looks like enemies path properly if you are building below the ground plane underwater. Yay!

Only one slight issue is that light doesn't drop off as you get deeper. Which is fine -- I plan on having a series of successively deeper maps/zones, and I can handle that by changing ambient light accordingly.

You cant swim.. and you could in a mmo from 20+ years ago.. I remember accidentally slipping off the traveling boat.. in the middle of the ocean and having to have a gm get my body..

Oh the days from yore, when leveling meant something and you could lose them to boot =P.

zahinder

Well, some games have great swimming. GW2 has some amazing underwater zones.

And I was around for the 20 year old games. Losing levels was HORRIBLE. Oy.

'Oops, I went afk for a sec, a giant stepped on me, and now I need to redo my entire spellbook NF&*($%&(TGN'

silverkelt

Sadly.. those days are gone, replaced with end game grind and rng apparently, even the mmo dearest to my heart went south pretty quick. Lotro, went from doing these weekly raids, to a 6 month filler daily grind to replace everything the guilds spent months in doing. understandably, when its replaced with the newest dd/raid content, but they decided to just release the grind for 6 months and charge us money for doing it.. I quit the game along with most of my guild members the next day. Unfortunately, it seems to be a growing trend.

Regardless, you think they could make some swimming code in for us dont ya?

My one beef with neverwinter, even though some of its gorgeous, they dont go out of the way in immersion experience, exact opposite in fact , for some reason, they dont even want us to jump on top of buildings, nor is there any natural day/night/dawn/evening experiences. They do have some weather, but they really could do more.

zahinder

Any thoughts on how to make the map... relevant?

Working below the ground plane means pretty much everything you place is going to be hidden by the ground map. And while I COULD say 'don't look at the map,' it seems like an ugly 'fix.'

I'm unlikely to have the budget to recreate, say, the stuff below ground with stuff above ground, so that's out.

I suppose I could place some water planes really high up, but that also seems highly inelegant.

brave2005

I'd just add a water plane above the ground level. You're underwater afterall... is your character supposed to have an underwater chart on hand? :P

zahinder

Well, I've gravitated back to using water planes rather than going under ground plane.
I lose the blur and distortion effect, but 'blue fog' handles the general effect well enough. I wish the blue fog had a somewhat more vivid blue, it looks a little white-ish, but whatever.

The other advantages are: more control over lighting (underwater effect seems to override all lighting effects, which is annoying), and the map actually looks decent.

zahinder

Examples of new look, last one showing map:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t31.0-8/1912034_10203859319457349_9021727352083859226_o.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t31.0-8/10548666_10203859328337571_115357559021097125_o.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xap1/t31.0-8/10708794_10203859341857909_7754211631357649949_o.jpg

essenti

zahinder wrote: »

The other advantages are: more control over lighting (underwater effect seems to override all lighting effects, which is annoying), and the map actually looks decent.

I hadn't performed enough testing to notice this yet, this is great to know.

Those maps are looking good! Have you used the Magical Distortion Wall fx in your underwater areas, it adds a wavy blur distortion.

zahinder

The problem is the distortion area is WAY too small. The underwater area I have is a huge rolling space underwater.

Plus, you know... in a way the distortion doesn't make sense. Water is only distorted when you're looking down into it, really. Being deep underwater and wandering around, arguably there shouldn't be distorted...

Yes, sour grapes.

waryur

Looks really good!

was just thinking... isn't there a heat haze/shimmer effect some assets throw off? I'd have to check. If so, place some of those below ground maybe?

zahinder

Nothing easily map-wide. I don't mind not having the waves, because arguably underwater you don't SEE that.

But I could have sworn there used to be some Bloom assets that were in Backdrop or something, can't seem to find it.