CTF_Geo WIP

[PariaH]

been working over the last few days on my map for tf2 (and hopefully the first map i'll ever finish :D)

half the level is blocked out with basic geometry, and i'd say im around 90% done on the red flag room (screeny below)

edit- updated the first post with more current selection of screenshots, i made an alpha 1 version which is on the RL server, found 1 bug so far which i've fixed, will leave it on the server for a few more days and then release beta 1.

[GuardianAnge1]

wow, looks really nice pariah.

is the map editor hard to use or it it like crysis'?

[PharadoX]

Don't forget to set up some nice places for Sentrys , so far the Intel room is like a bigger 2fort one. :p

[Killswitch]

We played around on the untextured version the other night and there are some nice sentry locations in the capture rooms but nothing to overpowered.

Map's looking good Paria.

[Genya Arikado]

*zooms in through a wall and backstabs Pariah*

[PariaH]

is the map editor hard to use or it it like crysis'?

no idea about crysis ga, but basically i started going through a few tutorials first before attempting a proper map

http://3dbuzz.com/vbforum/sv_home.php has a 3hr ish video tutorial for hl2 that helped me alot to get started.

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Main_Page
hhtp://tf2maps.net

also great resources

[Kampf]

i love your flagroom!

[PariaH]

updated screenshot of red flag room (lighting and boring stuff still to do)

[PharadoX]

Paria every one know that flag rooms arent the most important. :)

When u need beta testing on this map PM me , i can give some sugs as its playable.

[PariaH]

red spawn exit room - nearing completion

[Salith]

Looking real good =D

[PariaH]

overhead shot of the red side of the map, working on some optimizing so it dosent run like dog turd atm whilst i think up some more ideas for the middle area.

[PharadoX]

Ok now im wondering how a regular soldier wouldn't pwn there.

[PariaH]

been working alot of the middle main area, i just slapped the 2 pipes there for a screeny so they will fit a little better once i mirror the map :)

[Salith]

Now that I've looked around it in realtime, it's looking good, but definately loose that bunker emplacement in the centre area.

[Kampf]

paria does an awesome job creating a beautifull and great map.

[Neraj]

When do you reckon you'll be finished by? and more importantly will you allow 'rtv' when it is playing on the server? :p

[PharadoX]

The only thing im looking forward is some smart location or building , something like that building at dustbowl stage 2 red near last cp.
Im totaly agains : tunel , big space , tunel , big space.
Smart twisted good location things are important. ;)

[PariaH]

if your expecting a map of the same quality as dustbowl be dissapointed already..

i've mirrored the red base - and made a matching blue base - so im basically working on the middle section now, my only concern from a mapping pov is that there isnt enough visibility blocking stuff in the middle, only way to test that is on a full server though :)

[PharadoX]

Im not expecting the full map , but something interesting is always needed , lazy town for example , there's NOTHING there , i quess all knew that. ;)
Looking forward to playing your map. Btw , remove please all those custom maps from the vote list... they just empty the server , and there's never a day when people want to say *hey lets try that custom map u can pick in rtv!* - *Ey Okey!*

Cuz last time we started playing grenary and 80% didnt like it , they rtv'd w/o nominating and we ended with choosing the *stay on this map* option... gah...

[PariaH]

theres plenty of times i'd like to play a custom map, in fact the sole purpose of rtv was for people to be able to select a custom map for a change from playing dustbowl/ dustbowl/ gravel pit/dustbowl for 5 months solid.

Unfortunately the TF2 community in general is so anti-custom map - even by me spending time filtering out the utter shit maps/uploading them to a seperate web server and making them 3 times as small to d/l, a solid custom map will cause a percentage of people to flee the server in panic,

because they cant wait 1 min for it to d/l
if they waited that 1 min, they leave after 30 seconds later because they dont know the map and find it confusing even if its as linear as they come,

anyway i just de-railed my own thread so :mad:

[Twist]

I agree if you dont have the custom maps in the rtv then it'll be 24/7 dustbowl with the odd splash of gravelpit to "mix things up", whenever i play on the server i get tired of switching back and forth between those 2 so i whack up a custom map vote picking 3 popular customs..

for example vertigo, science and junction or something, and well it may loose about 4/5 people from the server because they dont have the gumption to sit there for 1 minute and dwl the map or get onto it and go "uuuhhhg im sooo confused where is everyone uuuhh" 5 seconds later "this map fucking sucks uhhh its shit lets rtv to dustbowl".. ahhhrg! it pisses me off!

old man rant over... or not quite

the general attitude is so bad towards custom maps its like a double edged blade, yes we are so well and truely tired/fed up of playing the same old boring maps for the past 5 months but whenever some guy comes along with the notion of helping people out he gets burnt like a witch or crucified,

ofc there has to be some degree of criticism it helps but trying to live up to valve map developer standards isn't gonna be a task reachable by the average joe, personally im just happy theres more choice out there for maps.

[PharadoX]

P.S.

For the last 3 days i've played dustbowl maybe 1 time out of 10-12 maps! Maybe the crisis is over. :)

[Genya Arikado]

Afaic Pariah, your map should be uploaded in the full rotation when it is done.

Your Server. Your Map. Your Roolz.

Anyone else can deal with it or Gtfo.

Your map isnt Dustbowl quality. It is bettar!




Someone gief a more user friendly version of Hammar.....

[Genya Arikado]

Downloads disabled on main server?

Geothermal gets bumped in and now the server is totally useless because noone can download the map and get in ^^

[PariaH]

i had a horrible thought after i left that any maps that people request to d/l have to be on the web server - and it looks like that is the case :d

[PharadoX]

:(

I quess ill try it tomorrow as i join the server and be alone... FINE with me! :D

[PariaH]

i've put a zipped version of the map onto the downloads server and the map is rtv'able - there are a couple of visual errors which i hope i have now since fixed,

there is no vertical clipping in the middle area atm so its prone to abuse by pesky demomen, but apart from that it seems to play ok.

[The Slann]

Exploit-finding time! :P

[PariaH]

ive added a game round end timer now so on timelimit end the server will either change map or go to sudden death depending on the server set up :o

ofc this isnt reflected in the version on the server , as for exploits and bugs feel free to find places - as i said the middle main room isnt clipped yet so anythning above normal height level is accesable atm.

[PariaH]

from the couple of reasonable playtests i managed to do so far, the number 1 concern for me is the spawnroom - not that fact that people think you can spawn camp it, but rather engys teleporter positions are very vulnerable, along with what i deem too long a travel time to get to the main room for slower classes, so im going to be reworking the spawn room, it will span boths floors of the map - the new main exit will lead you directly to the main middle area bunker, and as such both "sniping bunkers" will be interconnected via a corridor, im hoping also this will lessen the traffic through archway of the defending team to make the back route into the base a viable attacking option.

in true kampf style i used my extreme ms paint skills to but this into pictures,

if anyone else has some thoughts or feedback i would be glad to hear them,

[Kampf]

don't forget to turn the spawnyppl arround so they are more likely to use your new exit.

and don't forget an arrow telling them in wich direction they have to go.

have you thougth about moving ya spawnroom closer to the jiddle and have a tunnel going to the old exit?

that migthmake it faster to get the action.




the red one is marked red, not only because it has spelling mistakess so do the others.
the red one is probably the most importent one creating your chaos middle.
and why is this passage in green?
does this mean your language hasen't been raped here?

[PariaH]

obviously my ms paint skills are lacking :eek:

[PharadoX]

Paria the *chaos* u mentioned earlier that u wanted to have... the map is too big for this to happen. played yesterday a 10x10 and ... uwh its like most of time the walking and looking for enemies. :p

P.S. U can get on top of those sniper spots ( where u start seeing the big middle thing and entering kinda *middle* , u just build a dispenser and go tp like , i didnt build a SG there cuz the map changed... ya sad , its a perfect spot :rolleyes:

[PariaH]

intel to intel is 7100 units
ctf_2fort is 6700
ctf_well is 11200

so in basic terms its about a scout jump further to the intel than 2 fort:)

the revised spawn will make a big difference trust me, instead of having to run up the ramp past the room over the bridge to reach the middle , you will be about 2 seconds run time away. :)

as for the engy on the roofs , i,ve seen it before, scout can get up there too using the window ledges and then even higher up the large pipes, i still havent decided how much of the middle area i want acessable to player, i find it annoying on 2 fort that you hit the invisible ceiling too easily with demojumps, but on the other hand i dont really want players camping 200ft up in the air on the pipe ledges

i've just attached a pic to show where the main new exit will be, the room is the main big bunker in the middle

[PariaH]

updated the first post with some money shots.

[Killswitch]

Wow looking sex compared to the times we tested it all those weeks ago.

[PharadoX]

Fine game yesterday on GEO , server wus full ( 20 - 24 ) people all the time on the whole map. Lots of Soldiers , Medics and Snipers. That's what you should play on this map. :rolleyes:

[GuardianAnge1]

yeah that looks great paria. You've spurred me on to try make something of my own. other then the 2 links you gave me on the original post are there any other sites/tips you could recommend?

[PariaH]

http://www.interlopers.net/
http://www.tf2maps.net
http://www.mapcore.net/forums/

are all pretty decent also, theres plenty of older sites you can find on google with basic tutorials for specifc things, but honestly the best resources after you learn the basics are the decompiled official maps - just to see how it should be done :)

[Genya Arikado]

I see we have new maps on da server also :D

Will spam them at the weekend!

[PariaH]

yeah i spent a good few hours today uploading what i consider the best customs from the last month or 2,

think i added about 6 new maps

cp_redstone_b1
cp_roswell_b3
cp_broma_b1
ctf_chaos_b2
ctf_mach4
cp_science2_b2

they should all be on the d/l server too

[Genya Arikado]

science2? :D

[PariaH]

yeah its not a major new version - some base design changes and some new models in place- although since he released a final version of cp_science it has to be a cp_science2 :D

[Salith]

Did you ever manage to get your map to build cubemaps? Trying to do that for mine and it doesn't seem to want to work :(

[PariaH]

yeah its pretty simple process - i wouldnt stress out on it too much yet unless you are close to releasing a map though.

mat_specular 0
buildcubemaps
mat_hdr_level 0 (to go to LDR)
map mapname (to reload map)
buildcubemaps
mat_hdr_level 2 (to go back to HDR)
map mapname (to reload map)
mat_specular 1

you must reload the map to see the chnages, and during buildcubemaps you will see the snapshots of all the reflections taking place.

[Salith]

Tried that and got an error;
"Current mod isn't in a subdirectory"
and so on...
No cubemaps were built, even with closing and opening TF2 :(
If you want to take a look, I'd appreciate it;
http://www.beehivegames.co.uk/ctf_zig-zag_a1.zip

[PariaH]

you need to place at least 1 env_cubemap entity in the map - more really 1 in every room normally where the lighting reflection is going to change

also overlays are much more versatile than decals - only if you dont plan to resize use a decal - most times the signs you are using will need resizing to .5/.25 (tranfrom tool can keep them to scale easily) scale to look ok.

as for anything you see in the compile log regarding cubemaps ignore it - it always shows those errors , because they need to be built in game and then they added automatically to the bsp.

be careful with the textures you are using those crates are prop textures (and not tf2 ones) which you might get away with but alot of /prop textures wont be lit right in game if you use them as normal textures because they are vertex lit normally on props.

also for lighting - normal light entities look crap consider using

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Light_spot
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Point_spotlight
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Env_lightglow

and finally brushwork - most of it is pretty good - and no drawed - just need to improve on the clipping tool im guessing - there alot lots of unneccasry cuts - i.e the roof of the hut could be 1 block instead its 5 - just makes your life easier when your texturing - oh and texturing - be careful it you start altering the x/y shift i noticed a few areas that wont be alighned beause you had textured shifted a couple of sides by 512 units.

[Salith]

Thanks for that... didn't know about the env_cubemap entity thing. Overlays are much easier to control too :)
Not too worried about the brush, light, and texturing issues as this is mainly just a test and to see how the design works before I possibly do it bigger.
Just gotta get the feel of everything :)
Thanks a lot :)

[Salith]

Did the cubemaps =D
Uploaded it to;
http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/53708
So shall be interesting to see what people do in playtest...