Yandros on 16/8/2019 at 21:01

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That is great news, I hope it works out for you and we get a rebuilt version. Also I will say that your creation of objects from terrain brushes is practically legendary, because of your creative and outside the box thinking, but sadly it consumes many many cells and brushes, and the cell limit as you said is really the main limitation which NewDark did not raise. I would say if you focus on using textures more than brushes for architectural detail and objects more than brushes for objects, you will be able to pull off a mission that looks similar to the one you're rebuilding but stays well under the cell limit. There are other tips which have come to light in recent years that we can also discuss in The Editor's Guild which keep cell count down - it's kind of become the prime directive for builders of large missions in NewDark and people like skacky and Melan are very knowledgeable about the techniques involved.

Yandros on 17/8/2019 at 01:11

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A trick which Melan learned the hard way while making Rose Garden is to use solid wedges rather than an air cylinder to make arched openings. It seems counter-intuitive since it requires more brushes, but if saves many cells in the long term. (The hard way because he had to go back and retroactively redo all the arches in the mission when he was close to done building it, to stay under the cell count.)

AluminumHaste on 17/8/2019 at 19:46

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I love Mixed Messages.
I love ALL of your missions actually, warts and all.

I can see the great things you were trying to do. However, you're not the first nor the last Author to blow past engine limitations and been fucked with no clear way back to completion.

I do look forward to playing this one day. :)

downwinder on 17/8/2019 at 20:47

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a half broken arch would save even more space :P

uncadonego on 17/8/2019 at 23:27

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You are right. I think what is needed on my part is to think more carefully about the size and scope of the mission, and then decide on my building style accordingly.
If I would make another throw away mission like Just Take A Look or Flip A Coin, there would be no problem with my usual Dromed architecture. If it is going to be larger, as Yandros says, I should "focus on using textures more than brushes for architectural detail and objects more than brushes for objects".
Hopefully, I have learned something from this clusterbomb of a mission.:laff:

now back to scraping the head off the eagle in this painting......