8/10/00
================================================================
Title  		: The Longest Three Feet - Chaos DM Edition
Filename	: chaosdm_tltf.bsp  
Game 		: Quake 2 - Chaos DM 
Map File Path   : quake2\chaos\maps\chaosdm_tltf.bsp
Texture Path    : quake2\chaos\textures\dragon\chaos_logo1.wal
Original Author	: id
Re-Author	: Jon 'Briareos {Moo}' Bruner
Email Address	: mangadude@fcmail.com
Home Page	: http://members.fortunecity.com/mangadude/
Description	: A Q2 conversion of 'The Longest Yard' (Q3DM17) 
		  with some liberties taken.  Possibly the first 
		  (and likely the last) backwards conversion of 
		  a Q3 map.
Texture Credit  : Holy{moo}           Check out her texture repository
                  at http://www.inland.net/~jokotoro/holymoo/index.html
Thanks to    	: id Software     -   For creating awesome games 
				      and my favorite level of 
				      all time (The Longest Yard)
		  Mom O'Bot {Moo} -   Playtesting, suggestions,
				      love and support
		  Rayonix{moo}	  -   Playtesting, suggestions,
				      and giving me the mapping bug
		  Chaotic Dreams  -   Thanks for an awesome mod and
				      hours of laughs and fun 		  
		  		      http://www.chaoticdreams.org
		  Rust		  -   Teaching me how to map
				      http://www.gamedesign.net
		  Moo Clan	  -   For putting the beta version
				      up on the Cattletown server.
				      For playtesting, feedback, and
				      affirmation.  Thank you Trixie
				      and HasBen for forming a
				      wonderful clan.  You're the
				      best!  Fun fraggin' or die!
				      http://www.mooclan.com	       
		  Special thanks to the Chaos community for 
		  addressing my mapping questions during construction.
		  Thank you Scooby, evil, The-Teef, VonJenk, and Spark
   
================================================================
* Play Information *

Single Player       : Uh, no.  Making that interesting would be a quite
		      the challenge though
Cooperative         : Uh...no.  Thanks for asking
Deathmatch          : You betcha!  Not many modes left :)
Difficulty Settings : Sure, add some Havoc Bots.  Now it's difficult.  
		      Happy?
New Sounds          : Only those you bring with you
New Graphics        : Yes.  Put the 'textures' folder into the 
		      'quake2\chaos' directory.  The new texture is
		      the Chaos logo on the 'screen.' (chaos_logo1.wal)
New Music           : Nada
Demos Replaced      : Zilcho
================================================================
* Construction *

Base                    : Made from scratch, while playtesting
			  Q3DM17 for reference
Editor(s) used          : QuArK 5.10
Known Bugs              : All we know is that ... a zeno-morph 
			  may be involved ... and that there are
			  four lighting glitches on the outside
			  of the superstructure                         
Build Time		: 3 Months
Compile Time            : 947 seconds (15 minutes 47 seconds) on 
			  a Pentium III 450 (see 'Other Info')
Texture directories used: e1u1, e1u2, e1u3, e2u2, e2u3, e3u1, and e3u3
Custom texture used	: chaos_logo1.wal
Weapons			: Super Shotgun	   x 2
			  Grenade Launcher x 2
			  Rocket Launcher  x 2
			  Railgun	   x 1
			  BFG 10k	   x 2
Ammo			: Shells    x 4
			  Grenades  x 4
			  Rockets   x 4
			  Slugs	    x 2
			  Cells     x 4
Items			: Medkits (25) 	x 10
			  Mega Health	x 1
			  Armor Shards	x 6
			  Combat Armor	x 1
			  Body Armor	x 1
			  Quad Damage   x 1
Spawn Points		: Seven	(hidden)		  
================================================================
* Other Info *

MAPPING GENESIS
This is my first attempt at mapping for a 3D game.  I initially 
thought that making a conversion of The Longest Yard from Q3 would
be a quick and simple way to learn the tricks of the Q2 mapping 
trade.  Wow, was I ever wrong.  Two things stood in the way of this
being a quick and dirty job.  First: I'm a perfectionist.  About 
50% of the design time for this map has been playtesting, mostly 
trying to get the jump pads working similarly to Q3DM17.  The other 
50% was spent trying to mentally and physically duplicate the 
dimensions and architecture of the map while staying comfortably 
within the limitations of the Q2 engine.  Secondly: Due to the open 
nature of the map, I ran into some unforeseen compiling problems 
that slowed the process a bit and drastically complicated the 
lighting.  The lighting problems (argh!) and extreme r_speeds (1350) 
in a couple spots led me to completely rebuild the map, resulting in 
this 'final' version which tops out at an r_speed of 850-900.   

TO FASTVIS OR NOT TO FASTVIS
To this day, I have never successfully done a 'Full Build' with this 
map.  Any attempt at a full compile results in a memory allocation 
error (4 hours into the process I might add) leaving me with a 
'fullbright' map (uuug-ly).  I was finally able to achieve an 
acceptable (fastvis) compile by setting 'bounce' to 0 and activating 
the 'extra' flag to smooth out the shadows.  If anyone knows what I 
might be doing wrong, please e-mail me at the above address.  I'd be 
grateful to finally understand this problem.

IT'S BEEN A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
All in all, I would guess that I've spent 120+ hours on this baby over 
the past twelve weeks.  My initial attempts at this map are very poly 
heavy, but quite close to being identical (in shape) to the original.  
My first teleporter frame and cylinder added 250 apiece to the 
polycount (oops).  Two renditions later and I arrived at the sleek 
(compromise) version you see in the map.  The platforms have been 
squared off in places to keep the r_speeds down, but I think the 
spirit of the map is still there.  (Subsequently, many of the 'square' 
polyhedrons have secretly been replaced with 'triangular' polyhedrons.)
:)   

ENGINE TROUBLES
After numerous attempts I finally found a way to acceptably suspend the 
Armor and Shards between the upper jump pads, however there is no way to 
suspend the Mega Health above the central pad without disrupting the 
player's bounce.  I experimented with moving doors and by dropping the 
Mega Health from the quad platform: nothing worked consistently.  The 
player would either be struck by the invisible door on occasion, or miss 
the Mega-Health altogether.  Finding no other solutions, I decided to 
just leave the Mega-Health on the pad itself.  Oh well, you can't win 
'em all.  Note: If you play with 'weapon stay' off in your DM flags the 
second spawn of the Mega-Health will be suspended where it should be.  
I presume that this is due to a quirk in the code and the fact that I'm 
using the engine in a way that was never intended.  In fact, this entire 
map (as far as open spaces go) is larger than anything id intended for 
this engine.

WELL, THAT'S NEW       
During a first look at this map, you may be thinking, "What's the Grenade 
Launcher doing here? And what's this button for?"  Yes, I took some 
liberties with the conversion.  I figured I had to compensate for the 
fact that you don't start out with a Chaingun as your default weapon 
(and there is no Q2 equivalent of the Gauntlet).  Besides, I wanted to be 
a little creative and the grenade launcher remains an awesome weapon in 
this version of Quake.  (Try using the jump pads to hurl launched 
grenades at your opponents.  Proxys aren't too bad at using jump pads 
either.  Just watch out for cliff-diving Proxys from the Quad platform.)  
As for the three (yes three) buttons, well, I was VERY creative with those.  
What do they do?  You'll see.  :)  (e-mail me if you need a full 
explanation of their functionality.)  I couldn't resist using the space 
background as it adds a whole new level of ambience to the map.  Oh, and 
watch out for 'skull comets' and floating weapons/powerups.  (Yes, they're 
intentional.)   This effect was achieved using a trigger_gravity set at 
zero just above the 'killbox' on the 'sky floor.'  

LONGVIEW
Yes, I am aware that the Railgun platform partially/fully disappears at 
times (as do parts of the main platforms when standing near the Rail.  
Unfortunately this is necessary to preserve the dimensions of the original.  
Once again, if anyone knows how to correct this problem, please let me know. 

APPLES AND ORANGES
Aside from the graphic enhancements, there is still a great deal of 
difference between the Q3A and Q2 engines.  The main differences (as 
far as players are concerned) involve the physics of each game.  An Arena 
player can run faster and fall further than a Q2 player.  Rockets travel 
faster in Q3A as well.  To keep damage amounts for falling and landing 
after using jump pads reasonably consistent, I reduced the gravity to 700 
(from the default 800 setting).  Aside from using a mod to speed up the 
rockets there's really no way to duplicate the 'feel' of Q3A, however 
speeding up the rockets would unbalance a fairly balanced weapon set, and 
besides - my intention was not to duplicate Q3A, but to bring an awesome 
map into my favored gaming engine in a playable and aesthetically pleasing 
manner.  Hopefully I have succeeded, although I suspect that low-end 
machines will choke on this map in a few places.   

GOTTA GET BACK IN TIME
So, why go backwards?  (Well, if you turn around you can pretend you're 
going forwards.)  The reason is simple.  I don't have Q3A yet.  (I used the 
demo for reference.)  To be honest, I'm waiting for Chaotic Dreams to finish 
their mod for Q3A since Q2 Chaos DM is all I play right now.  (Besides most 
of the people playing Q3A have DSL or Cable Modems and I can't compete with 
the LPBs and have a lot of fun without really trying.)  Despite the third 
coming, Q2 is still a great game and there are many things I still love 
about it.  One day I'll move on, 'but I want to look around me now' and 
enjoy Q2 while the community is still alive.   cmd timestandstill (Darn, 
it still doesn't work!)    

SO LONG, FAREWELL
Anyhow, thanks for reading my novella.  ;)  Now that I've told you 
everything you didn't want to know about this map, drop this 'bsp' into 
your chaos\maps directory and gib something (Don't forget about the 
texture).  Fun fraggin' or die, y'all.  Peace.         
================================================================
* Copyright / Permissions *

Original level design is the property of id Software.

This conversion (as a whole or in part) may not be used or distributed 
for profit without direct written permission from myself (and even then 
you'd probably have to get the rights from id...)  

Why are you still reading this?  Go play, silly!


