Calling Level 85+ players (in 80-85 gear), I need you to help with some minor testing Options

[Fooby]

To all players level 85+ and have all level 80+ gear (meaning you have farmed cog_D02, not just the rare trader items), I have the "test zone" coming together nicely and will need some people to help play-test things for the new dungeon. You will have to modify your current client, and likely uninstall and then re-install when the patch is released (this will not be "clean" client tests, or make a copy of your client folder to use as a test client).

This data can not be shared with other players, anyone found to be in possession of a modified client who should not will have that account permanently banned along with the player who supplied the data. The test will not encompass everything for the new dungeon, and there is no ETA on when everything will be finished.

If you meet the requirements and accept the terms, please send me a PM on the forum with your character's name (who is 85+), with a subject line of: "Test The Cradle".

EDIT: here is a preview... the patch will not be ready for a few days (server and client side for testers) but here's a preview of what I had done and tested thursday morning.

EDIT: No more apps taken.

[Fooby]

Update: 6/26/2010

As most people are aware I have not taken the server down for patching yet, nor released the client patch for the testers. This was due to extensive testing and attempted debugging of the "test" map. I have finally found the actual cause, which as I had hoped, has nothing to do with the level's geometry. However, due to our extremely limited capacity for client modification a complete solution is not possible. A work-around does exist but the implementation requires more that what I can do alone (with the time I have...).

The good news is that now I have confirmed the issue was unrelated to my work, I have resumed work on completing the full map. The dungeon may be released in phases due to the complexity that Miyo and I believe are capable of attaining (mainly related to the final boss). This means the rest of the dungeon will be "ready" when it is released, though it may not be as polished (visually) as it could be.

Please be aware that something of this scale requires immense amounts of work and troubleshooting. Creating a loot table, balancing mobs, creating the spawn setup and intended encounters, creating and balancing new and modified skills, and lastly having to create every part of the zone from scratch (model, texture, importing, aligning, and creating packages for the client).

[Fooby]

Just so people don't think I haven't done any work on the new map, and for those who don't have a concept of how much is actually involved in this type of undertaking I have a few more preview shots. I don't want to "give too much away" as to the actual storyline behind the dungeon, and I haven't put these into the editor yet other than checking some minor things. Modeling stone huts, boulders, other dodads to cover the map, working on the lava and emitters in the editor, and actually modeling and texturing the map while trying to keep it as low poly as I can but keep it within the confines of the map borders (size of Cog_West field) makes it difficult...

Just to givr you all an idea, the bottom large area is about 2x as high as the zone is wide (cognito west zone, from east to west). Making an "epic" feel with all the limitations I have with the engine and ability to modify the client is a challenge. Then to do that when I'm working 50+ hours a week to keep the server and myself "going" leaving me about 1-2 hours a day to work on this... it takes a while.

[Fooby]

Those who met the requirements and sent me a PM should be getting a PM from me .... by sometime on Sunday at the latest.

[Fooby]

Be ready to check your PM's sometime this weekend

[Fooby]

Somehow the main scene file ... got corrupted or did a revert as many changes that I had made this week were reverted. So since I got my ritalin refilled finally I worked tonight and only have 5 elevators left, bit of work for the final room and cleanup left overall then the map will be ready to be put into the editor... then all the dodads, emitters and other fun things along with making the final version of the texture/mesh/sfx packages and hoping it all fits. Still have spawns, loot tables, balancing the mobs, a trader and other things to setup like the final boss encounter testing... The zone is far from my best work, but having 1 to 2 hours a day to work on it, if at all, I just tried to get it finished as quickly as I could. So best case scenario is 7 days. Likely 2 weeks as issues will arise as they always do.


edit: it also didn't help that caspar can't handle the main file and I had to redo a main scene file with render layers which I rarely ever do just for modeling.... rigging somewhat but not for the geo.