Jupiter Station - WIP

nagorak · September 2013

I've finally managed to find time to get back to work in the Foundry after being absent for the last six months or so, and I finally managed to wrap up a map I've been building, on and off, for close to the last year. I actually mentioned this map in my tutorial to creating a custom map (linked in my signature), but it's taken until now to get it done.

Actually, it's probably lucky I waited, because I was up against my old nemesis, the detail limit, and if it weren't for the addition of the transporter room, I probably would have had to cut something out. The addition of the transporter room saved me about 20 objects which I managed to put to good use elsewhere.

I just wish we had better interior lighting, and another 200 detail objects. With more objects, I really could flesh the station out by adding another section or two, not to mention put in more little details like cups. If a Foundry dev is reading this, please consider raising the detail limit! The limit in NW is much higher! The STO limit really holds us back!

Jupiter Station - Video Tour (Youtube)

Images:
Commerce Section - Reading Room
Commerce Section - The Jovian Club
Commerce Section - Captain's Corner - Entrance
Commerce Section - Captain's Corner - Forward
Commerce Section - Captain's Corner - Back
Commerce Section - Exchange/Communications Area

Sickbay - Main Ward
Sickbay - CMO's Office
Sickbay - CMO's Office - View

Deck Transition Ramp

Station Core - Main Core - Control In Background
Station Core - Main Core - Side
Station Core - Plasma Distribution Conduit
Station Core - Transformers
Station Core - Control Center
Station Core - Control Center - Close-up

Star Fleet Intelligence - Entrance
Star Fleet Intelligence - General
Star Fleet Intelligence - Consoles
Star Fleet Intelligence - Conference Room
Star Fleet Intelligence - Director's Office
Star Fleet Intelligence - Briefing Room
Star Fleet Intelligence - Holding Cells

Brig - Entrance
Brig - Cells

Transporter Room

nagorak · September 2013

Notable Aspects
This map is created almost entirely out of curved walls. While this looks a lot better than using square corridors and rooms, it makes it much harder to design the map because all of the walls (and objects) end up at weird angles. Originally I planned to have the entire outer ring of the station, but that obviously was not possible due to the detail limit.

Another thing of note is that I made heavy use of glass panels throughout the map. The entire outer edge of the station is glass, so you can see out, and in addition many of the offices, as well as the shops in the commerce section, are partitioned only by glass. I believe this creates a much more open and visually appealing look, but at the cost of much more time spent designing the map, and a lot more objects being used.

I burned up a lot of objects on the Station Core. Originally I had even built a catwalk around the warp cores, and I had placed a number of additional plasma conduit objects on the ceiling above the cores. Unfortunately, I had to radically cut back on the number of objects devoted to that area. The Station Core was a real object-hog. At least a third of the entire station's objects are devoted to the station core. If I were to cut the core out, I could probably add another two sections to the map.

At this point in time the mission this map is part of is probably 1-2 months from being done. First I need to get Perilous Prize back up and running, and then I'll turn my attention to fleshing out the storyline in this mission. Besides placing the NPCs most of the map building work is done though.

Overall I'm pretty happy with how the map turned out, although I do wish I had a few more objects to work with. In any case, I'd be happy to hear any feedback or suggestions you have to offer! :cool:

castsbugc · September 2013

OMG...I like it, alot

In fact now some of the revisions Im doing to a map might have to be changed to implement some of the ideas you present there...blast it

drogyn1701 · September 2013

Just had time to look at a few, but definitely very impressed. What are those transparent interior wall things? You can see one on the left of the very first picture.

thepatriot1776 · September 2013

Nicely done and I see you incorporated some of the ideas I used on the Majestic sets like the arches.

The only criticism I have is that it's too dark and that makes the entire station uninviting. Have you thought about using plasma leaks to add additional light? When I designed the Majestic sets, I used plasma leaks set about 3 meters above the ceiling to provide additional lighting. If you go this route, I would suggest you put a warning in your mission description concerning the sound.

adverbero · September 2013

Impressive stuff, the window above the ramp looking into the office is amazing, I recall being impressed by your use of multiple decks in previous missions, I love the map design

Can't wait to see this and explore it with my player character

drogyn1701 · September 2013

thepatriot1776 wrote: »

Nicely done and I see you incorporated some of the ideas I used on the Majestic sets like the arches.

The only criticism I have is that it's too dark and that makes the entire station uninviting. Have you thought about using plasma leaks to add additional light? When I designed the Majestic sets, I used plasma leaks set about 3 meters above the ceiling to provide additional lighting. If you go this route, I would suggest you put a warning in your mission description concerning the sound.

Also changing the backdrops (both interior and exterior, not sure which this is) can create different lighting schemes.

isthisscience · September 2013

Very very nice. I know what you mean about eating up objects, I have been trying something similar and it has been biting me in the TRIBBLE. It looks fantastic, hope to see it in action soon!

nagorak · September 2013

I hear you about the lighting. Unfortunately, I don't think there's that much I can do about it. I don't think the plasma leak sound would be very fitting, and I also don't really have enough objects to place more than 1 or 2. I can't change the backdrop to be anything other than a night back drop or it won't look like stars outside.

It would be nice if we had some sort of actual lights we could place. I was just planning on passing it off as it being "night time" on the station so the lighting is more subdued.

psycoticvulcan · September 2013

That's amazing! I would never have the patience to pull off something like that.

kirksplat · September 2013

You need proper ceilings and floors. I love the set, but it's a great example of why these platforms are so frustrating. The floors and ceilings are seas of black.

nagorak · September 2013

psycoticvulcan wrote: »

That's amazing! I would never have the patience to pull off something like that.

Well, keep in mind I didn't build this in one sitting. It was more of a situation where I'd work on it for a while, then something would come up and I'd come back to it in a couple of weeks.

I know when I was making it, it happened that I finished a section, and then I was like, OMG, I have so much more to go. So, I just stopped and came back to it when I had some time and I was interested again.

nagorak · September 2013

kirksplat wrote: »

You need proper ceilings and floors. I love the set, but it's a great example of why these platforms are so frustrating. The floors and ceilings are seas of black.

You know, that's actually what we do need. We need a proper ceiling that has a lighting effect built into it. Decent floors would be nice as well. I don't know whether it's worth holding out hope for that stuff though.

lincolninspace · September 2013

nagorak wrote: »

I hear you about the lighting. Unfortunately, I don't think there's that much I can do about it. I don't think the plasma leak sound would be very fitting, and I also don't really have enough objects to place more than 1 or 2. I can't change the backdrop to be anything other than a night back drop or it won't look like stars outside.

It would be nice if we had some sort of actual lights we could place. I was just planning on passing it off as it being "night time" on the station so the lighting is more subdued.

I am building a star ship interior and found a dusk back drop that has a starry sky and warm bright lighting. The lighting isnt even of course nothing is perfect.

nagorak · September 2013

lincolninspace wrote: »

I am building a star ship interior and found a dusk back drop that has a starry sky and warm bright lighting. The lighting isnt even of course nothing is perfect.

If you could tell me the specific backdrop I'd appreciate it. I probably could find it myself, but there are often like a dozen of various types and you have to load in each time to check, so if you could give me the number it might save me some grief.

designationxr377 · September 2013

You, sir, are insane.

That is one NICE looking map. The dedication just to take your time and make it is astounding to me.

Good work! I hope you can find a great place to use it.

azurianstar · September 2013

Mega props Nag. It is a very nice station and really thought out. Reminds me of the amount of work I did on my Klingon D7 Interior. A shame there is so many limited consoles to use, like you having to use that the science wall console in place of a Bio scanner.

And if this was to be Jupiter Station, too bad we can't have the Jupiter map backdrop. Perhaps something to add for future Foundry asset requests.

Now I understand the limitedness of the assets, but since this is Jupiter Station, I'm curious if you had access to darker (and older) Federation interiors, would you've tried to make it more like what we saw on screen with the episodes that took place on Jupiter Station? Or would have you kept with the 2409 look and said it was a station remodel?

The Trek nerd in me wanted to know. :P

lincolninspace · September 2013

nagorak wrote: »

If you could tell me the specific backdrop I'd appreciate it. I probably could find it myself, but there are often like a dozen of various types and you have to load in each time to check, so if you could give me the number it might save me some grief.

It is: exterior sky purple dusk 01

nagorak · September 2013

azurianstar wrote: »

Now I understand the limitedness of the assets, but since this is Juptier Station, I'm curious if you had access to darker (and older) Federation interiors, would you've tried to make it more like what we saw on screen with the episodes that took place on Jupiter Station? Or would have you kept with the 2409 look and said it was a station remodel?

The Trek nerd in me wanted to know. :P

You know, it's a good question. To be honest, I didn't even really think about that. Considering the props we have available, I just planned to make it a 2409 version. Maybe with the TOS props I could have made it a more retro-look. To some extent it doesn't make a lot of sense to have old bio beds and stuff like that, but I suppose the bars and stuff could be more old school in design.

I guess it's hard to really answer hypothetically since my thought process is significantly affected by the props we actually have access to. There's no real point planning something that can't possibly be (barring a miracle), so I wouldn't even get that far.

The best I can really say is that now that you pointed out the possibility, if it were hypothetically possible and I hadn't already populated the whole station with consoles, then I would give it a shot.

Actually, maybe this provides for a cool time travel episode, where I repopulate the station with TOS era consoles.

azurianstar · September 2013

You know, that does sound like a fun idea. A TOS-era Jupiter Station.

Even better if they give us the ability to put Starships outside the windows.

lincolninspace · September 2013

azurianstar wrote: »

You know, that does sound like a fun idea. A TOS-era Jupiter Station.

Even better if they give us the ability to put Starships outside the windows.

Yeah... Did we mention we miss costume import......

azurianstar · September 2013

lincolninspace wrote: »

Yeah... Did we mention we miss costume import......

You know, I'll never understand why they took that out. Especially when they don't make all the costumes available.

markhawkman · September 2013

azurianstar wrote: »

You know, I'll never understand why they took that out. Especially when they don't make all the costumes available.

glitches... that's all I know.

Jupiter Station - WIP

Comments