It's called Dakkijam... because it is!
It's called Dakkijam... because it is!
Akage "THEBaratusII" Megane's .plan *as of 2025*
Feb 28, 2025
While I managed to find a way for Dakkijam to be enjoyed on Unreal versions below 224v, The sad part is that despite managing to recompile UnrealI and UnrealShare as one package, getting these maps working under the original retail version of Unreal (version 200) seems unlikely because it errors out on something that I can't work around with. It's likely the format is more different than on 220? Nonetheless, I could recompile everybody's submissions to be compatible with v200 but can run a risk breaking some maps because the BSP tends to break often between versions. Last ditch effort would be to get in contact with somebody *given if the person is available or has time to write a converter* but at this point, making these things compatible with thet unpatched version 200 is nothing more than a novelty and I believe most of the people who might play these levels are going to be on the OldUnreal 227 builds most of the time.
Anyway, I am thinking about making a brand new logo for Dakkijam considering the thing was soft-rebooted. The funny thing is, that logo being used is actually the alternative version of the Dakkijam logo back when it was starting out as a COMM-BAT mapset for Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition. Afterwards, I can finally get back to reworking the Funhouse map, refine more of NaliSanct, and likely start working on another level. Though I will likely start spreading the word sometime after a new logo is made to give some mappers a chance to work on levels rather than it being mostly a map pack made almost entirely by myself.
Feb 27, 2025
Looking back at the Funhouse map I've worked on, I began to notice that the initial design wasn't really well executed. This is what happens when you are mapping on the fly and given what I've learned making the 'NalISanct' level, I am likely going to sketch out the layout for the Funhouse itself on paper and rework a good chunk of the level. This is to make sure the map's quality is on par with 'NaliSanct'.
Other than that, I wonder what BabblingBrook's doing with his map? I should check up his progress one of these days.
In other news, I touched up each project's pages a bit and managed to get my rebranded website out of the door. Now regarding the minimum requirement for maps to be compatible with 226b, I finally found a proper method to backport the maps without rebuilding the BSP. What's even cooler is that not only the minimum will go back to 224v but even 220! The first Unreal patch to feature new weapon sounds. Now I think it still possible to backport it to even versions before 220 but the main issue is that starting with versions 220 and onward, Unreal's content is divided between two packages. UnrealI.u and UnrealShare.u
Maybe if I can take the sources from UnrealShare and UnrealI and recompile them together as one, hopefully it should work with the current level editors. If it does manage to work however, it's a matter of rebuilding the targeted level and resaving (UT99 v469e -> Unreal 227k -> Unreal 226b -> Some python script that makes it work with 225f -> Convert225to220.exe (yrex's tool) and if there's not any other issues by then, I think we could see Dakkijam: Na Pali Arena working on the original unpatched version of Unreal. That would be Epic for compatibility reasons.
Feb 26, 2025
I've began work on the Dakkijam website yesterday and a sub domain was setup
for when it's ready. Hopefully Today? The website itself is being worked on
using Microsoft Frontpage 2003 because I didn't feel like using Notepad to do
most of the work. It's also being developed using a Windows XP virtual machine
as well so that's cool to hear right? I was originally targetting another HTML
editor on a Windows 9x VM but I would be missing out some needed features like
transferring files via Clipboard. That and the mouse started acting weird when
it's not integrated. Another issue with VMWare and XP is the sound gets all
distorted so I am likely going to install VMAudioFixTray for the time being
which requires .NET Framework 3.
As usual, the website itself aims for compatibility for both old and new web
browsers. So you can view this website on your old Pentium rig with Windows 95 &
Internet Explorer 3 (or Netscape Navigator 3) installed given it's connected to
the internet.
Anyway, more playtesting will ensue at some point in time, going to iron out the
two maps before I start planning out another. In another note, my sleep schedule
is screwed up, so I guess I got more time to do things likely.
As time went on, the website is about complete now. Well.. except for the 'Resources' page. I only got a couple of guides done. One of them is a rewrite of my editor guide for Rise of the Triad: Ludicrous Edition. Anyway I should get to refining the two levels as soon as the files are uploaded to the server.
Feb 25, 2025
Dakkijam: The Nali Arena Feedback :
+ Refine DM-DJ1-Funhouse.unr to address some of the rough geometry and detail
+ Readjust the lighting for both Funhouse and NaliSanct to cater to the night
theme.
+ In NaliSanct, Suggested by a friend to add in already doors for scenery.
I begin to realize that my map might've been a bit too big? Not too sure because
I was watching a video by 'creativeXP' about their process on making an
Unreal Tournament map.
Meanwhile, I went out to see a few stores. I've also been talking with people
over at The Shadow Zone Discord community and I was introduced to a
plugin for Krita that
allows loading 3D models for texture painting. I don't know if it'll be useful
for this specific project but it may be nice for previewing custom textures or
most likely just use it for future projects as well.
I guess today I'll just spend a bit of time with Blender some more? I could
expand my possibilities and completely move away from Blockbench. Don't get me
wrong, I liked working with Blockbench but given it's more catered to Minecraft
and has it's limitations, I think it's holding me back to be honest.
While making that Dakki model for Unreal Tournament, I've gotten a bit better
with UV wrapping which was one of the discouraging reasons why I put away
Blender, so that's a big step into the right direction. Also this is the
official start of logging progress of things using this .plan
Feb 24, 2025
Aside from more refinement work and botmatch playtesting for DM-DJ1-NaliSanct, I
ended up remaking the cover for Dakkijam using a mixture of Krita and Paint.NET,
the previous cover which consists of 'photoshopped' methods being used as a
mockup reference for redrawing and a bit of extending on top.
I spent a lot of time in a span of four days working on what would be called
'DM-DJ1-NaliSanct'
Feb 23, 2025
The day started with refining the exterior a bit more and finishing the rest of
the essential layout of the map. However following some playtesting, I realized
that there's a possibility of the flow of the map to break if somebody where to
jump out of the interior (out of bounds basically) of the layout with no way to
get back in. So I spent hours working on a method that was originally set to
block players from getting out, but felt cumbersome and didn't work all the
time. I ended up resorting to the 'ring out' method that you'd see in fighting
games and also in some levels in FPS games revolving death pits and space. If
say a player decided to abuse the higher ground with a sniper rifle, all it
takes is a ASMD blast to push somebody out of bounds, getting themselves killed
in the process. *depending on the position*
This idea had to be done by shaping the affected areas in Blender which that
itself took a lot of trial and error for hours. The plane method didn't work in
separating the areas into different zones, so I tried making two separate
brushes which did overcomplicate things and made the BSP screwed up in the
process. Finally after brainstorming I did the plane method again except it has
to be a cube. This did require deleting the triangulated edges of the shape in
Blender, extruding the geometry before triangulating the mesh again before
exporting to .OBJ because UnrealEd allows usage of .OBJ models as brushes.
After hours of making that, the rest was more touchups and decorating the
landmarks of the map.
Feb 22, 2025
Yesterday, I toyed around with terrain without needing an external tool like
Blender. Sadly after showing the progress to the OldUnreal community, I was told
by somebody that this method I've been doing is horrible to work with and I
would be better off either using tessellated cubes in UnrealEd, or just work
with Blender.
Main issue prior is when I tried using Blender, the results always ended up
messing up the map's BSP creating more issues than it's worth. Not only that but
you had to worry a lot about the grid and with Blender, you either had to snap
the geometry to grid either in Blender itself or just do the same thing in
UnrealEd, which I found out through the latter.
I had no choice but to spend most of the day, figuring out how to make mountains
of the level as a start, which comprised of a fair amount of trial and error. In
the end I followed Krull0r's tutorial on YouTube to get somewhere. At first the
result was meant as a test but ended up being used in the map after some
tweaking of the brushes (the main building in the center had to be reworked)
along with some rotations, vertex editing and so forth.
Feb 21, 2025
I recall most of that day was working on my first outdoor Deathmatch level which
is intended for medium-sized players. The layout was taken from a sketch I did
originally for Heretic taking inspiration from an original Unreal Deathmatch
level, called 'Tundra'.
However because I ran a poll (December 21, 2024) deciding the fate of the
original Dakkijam, which either would've kept the original project as a Rise of
the Triad COMM-BAT mapset or be soft-rebooted as a multiplayer project for
either Heretic, Unreal, Shadow Warrior, or Duke Nukem 3D. However it turned out
Unreal was the winner of the poll. In the end, I decided to recycle this
layout instead of waiting it out for a future Heretic project to begin working.
Instead of retaining the theme of Tundra which comprised of a tower in a snowy
weather, I had the SkyCity theme in mind, as you would see in maps like Radikus,
and SkyTown. Prototyping the layout required a bit of imagination outside of a
simple layout sketch. Which is useful as an exercise because in order to make a
level feel less empty, you need landmarks or better yet, make some of the areas
of the level look like a place.
Imagine you just moved to a new home, it's empty. What do you do?
You decorate your new home with the
essentials like tables, desks, couches for the living room, etc, etc. I don't
think everyone wants to play on a map with just empty rooms you know.
Also following yesterday's experiments, I made the switch from 227k's UnrealEd
to 469e's UnrealEd (usually meant for Unreal Tournament)
Not only this prevents 227-exclusive features from being used but
the maps themselves should work better for original Unreal versions given the
nature of Unreal Tournament being cross-compatible with Unreal's content. As
long as you don't use anything from the Botpack package nor any of the
packages that is included for Unreal Tournament but since I prohibit use of
other texture packages outside of the stock Unreal textures and the included
DakkiJam1.utx resource, it should be more manageable right?
Feb 20, 2025
Some hours were spent on working on completing the level which transformed into
'Dakkichan Funhouse' to give the map some personality and also be
on-brand with the map pack. However I decided to spend most of the day toying
around with ideas and techniques usually to prevent myself using the 2D Shape
Editor all the time along with not having to resort to using external 3D
modeling tools such as Blender for the exterior parts of future levels. I ended
up experimenting with Doom 3 inspired hallways and a random computer room
(completely unrelated to project) as an exercise during that day.
Feb 19, 2025
Most of the day was spent on working what was supposed to be a 'McDonalds
Playplace' map for Unreal but following troubles getting a proper sketch on
paper of the layout itself along with a friend telling me that he doesn't know
that would flow in a game like Unreal, I decided to recreate it from memory
along with a few screenshots of the map itself as inspiration. Of course it
turned into it's own inspired map as usual. I did however start work on the
resource .UTX package to ease the requirement of no custom textures outside of
the included package to prevent a jumbled mess of .UTX files when packing this
map pack for testing and future releases. The map itself was near it's
completion by the end of the night.
Feb 16, 2025
My friend and contributor for
Dakkijam, BabblingBrook decided to start working on a map titled 'Akage's
LAN House' comprised of a building reminiscent of game developer's offices.
(the 3D Realms offices from Garland, TX came to mind)
At that point watching his work, it motivated me to start making maps for
Unreal, so work began on what was going to be a recreation of the
'McDonalds Playplace' map that I played once with friends on Counter
Strike 1.6.
Prior to this, I got a bit motivated to make a few Rise of the Triad levels for
a project called
'TinyROTT'
I don't know exactly how such a project would hold since ROTT's fan base is
about as tiny as the map set itself. One of the core reasons why I gave up on
the actual Dakkijam project and released it as a precursor of what's to come.