Rp_Opulent

[BigAlBroSki]

I've been working on a large size city map for a few months and would like more feedback.

[b]Planned Buildings[/b]

[u]Inner City[/u]
Bank
Grocery Store
Gas Station
Small Shops (In multiple areas)
Fire Station
Club
Theater
Government Center
Apartments
2 Skyscrapers
2 Parks (One including a skating area)
Car Garage (Used for spawning cars in)
Car Modification Shop
Clothing Store

[u]Outer City[/u]
Car Dealership
Police Station
Hospital
Gas Station

[u]Other Planned Areas[/u]
Suburbs
Industrial
River/Pond area

[b]Texture Credits to[/b]
Sgt. Sickness
TopHatWaffle
Ajacks

Link to images
[url]https://imgur.com/a/WcGwA[/url]

[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/cIodNcq.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/YNxysFg.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/S173XaL.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/VJwJPNz.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/7RX7Mvz.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/J3wlG0N.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/KHf5Zcs.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/1EPrGX4.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/q9uKZ1s.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/L70hec5.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/UVSF07i.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/eWHmWVf.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/EQ8IMlj.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/0Sf0fOl.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/XXBjZgy.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/sWb8yW5.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/6qTn2vC.jpg[/img_thumb][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/1sYj3fH.jpg[/img_thumb]

[Knight Vista]

Here are some things I want to share:

It's a bit blocky and under detailed. Now that you have the barebones down; start decorating with prop_statics. Trees, street signs/lights. Make some building signs that you can put on the front of the buildings.

Use decals and overlays to detail the road, or maybe a heavily walked area. (Sewer grates, pot holes, tire marks)

Your use of textures is good, your warehouse-esc buildings look proper, the inside of your buildings are too dim. Your use of space is a little inefficient, you might cut down the size of the map.

Neat map.

--------------------------------------------------------

Side note: I'm not sure if you noticed that your curbs have the skybox texture on them
Disable your doors from dropping shadows

And a protip: I wouldn't do any serious work with displacements until the map is essentially set-in-stone. Putting a lot of work into a displacement and then figuring out "I think I want to move this buildings here/change this about this sidewalk" etc. will mean a lot of wasted time.
(It's ok to do a little displacement work to get a feel of what you want it to be in the end).

[thumb]http://i.imgur.com/BIV5QPe.jpg[/thumb]
[U]Also I hope you didn't steal that house on the left from evocity_v2d[/U]

[gnampf]

I like it, other than the fact that there's mountains surrounding everything, it feels too much like evocity. You could make it like plains or some shit and use a 3d skybox if you've got the patience.

[BigAlBroSki]

[QUOTE=KnightVista;49437068]Here are some things I want to share:

It's a bit blocky and under detailed. Now that you have the barebones down; start decorating with prop_statics. Trees, street signs/lights. Make some building signs that you can put on the front of the buildings.

Use decals and overlays to detail the road, or maybe a heavily walked area. (Sewer grates, pot holes, tire marks)

Your use of textures is good, your warehouse-esc buildings look proper, the inside of your buildings are too dim. Your use of space is a little inefficient, you might cut down the size of the map.

Neat map.

--------------------------------------------------------

Side note: I'm not sure if you noticed that your curbs have the skybox texture on them
Disable your doors from dropping shadows

And a protip: I wouldn't do any serious work with displacements until the map is essentially set-in-stone. Putting a lot of work into a displacement and then figuring out "I think I want to move this buildings here/change this about this sidewalk" etc. will mean a lot of wasted time.
(It's ok to do a little displacement work to get a feel of what you want it to be in the end).

[thumb]http://i.imgur.com/BIV5QPe.jpg[/thumb]
[U]Also I hope you didn't steal that house on the left from evocity_v2d[/U][/QUOTE]
Thanks for the input, the map right now is very blocky because I haven't really worked on adding props and small details because I still haven't finished working on the outsides of buildings and even some of the insides of them. I like the idea of adding more decals which I will look into. The side of the streets are still skybox because I many plan to move then still so I would have to re-carve them. I don't plan on keeping the Evocity building it was added so I could use it as a scale and try and theme my other houses in the same way. Your feedback is much appreciated and I will update this post when I make more progress.

[editline]2nd January 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=gnampf;49437788]I like it, other than the fact that there's mountains surrounding everything, it feels too much like evocity. You could make it like plains or some shit and use a 3d skybox if you've got the patience.[/QUOTE]

I do agree that the mountain sides are just like Evocity's mountains but i don't think it would be possible to have the 3d skybox of a map of this size because you wouldn't be able to have area portals. Although I do plan on adding buildings some real and some fake around the outsides of the inner city so it doesn't look as mountainy.

[Rammelslakje]

Really nice looking map. I like the urban style but your road corners and intersections need more work cause they aren't looking very smooth. So play around with the arch tool a bit.

@gnampf
I don't know if there is any way in source1 to prevent big city like maps having cliff walls. It's the best way to cut a big detailed map in sections so it doesn't kill your fps entirely. Source1 just isnt made for maps like this I guess. So unless you want a shitty draw distance the best way is to cut if off with cliffs and big buildings. 3d skybox can also be added but is difficult when you have multiple sections

i personally dont mind cliff walls splitting up the map if the map is fun and looks good, i feel there arent many alternative ways to get this done in source1

[Zolofto]

Why didn't you use displacements for the cliffs?

[BigAlBroSki]

[QUOTE=Rammelslakje;49438868]Really nice looking map. I like the urban style but your road corners and intersections need more work cause they aren't looking very smooth. So play around with the arch tool a bit.

@gnampf
I don't know if there is any way in source1 to prevent big city like maps having cliff walls. It's the best way to cut a big detailed map in sections so it doesn't kill your fps entirely. Source1 just isnt made for maps like this I guess. So unless you want a shitty draw distance the best way is to cut if off with cliffs and big buildings. 3d skybox can also be added but is difficult when you have multiple sections

i personally dont mind cliff walls splitting up the map if the map is fun and looks good, i feel there arent many alternative ways to get this done in source1[/QUOTE]

I have noticed when driving in the city that the corners are too sharp so i do plan on putting arches on the corners like you said.

[editline]2nd January 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49439006]Why didn't you use displacements for the cliffs?[/QUOTE]

I plan on adding those last because i compile the map often to test things and that would make it take a lot longer to do.

[Zolofto]

I have a really difficult time trying to get a feel for this map. is this a clone off evocity? rockford?
Your screenshots even confuse me as much as your responses. To debrief on those concerns;

[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/Co3lPzh.jpg[/img_thumb]

Why is this a selling point to your map? 'm not sure if i'm missing something, or whats missing. but its clearly a missing texture, thats for sure.

[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/J3wlG0N.jpg[/img_thumb]

Firstly, I see a modified building from evocity with some odd modifications. That doesn't bother me as the actual flaw. Like i'm looking into a window and I'm seeing the bottom skybox.

My only general feeling of this map is just slop and no general eye for detail.

[Borris_Squad]

It's very bland, it's not detailed and it feels too open, I never understand why people always make it too open, for a city it should be compact, clostrophobic, and it lacks detail, it's also using buildings from other maps which is ok only if you edit them correctly, the texturing is nice.

How ever you should detract from the evocity feel, be a bit more original, add more detail.

But hey you got window frames and door frames, something I get shouted at for ;)

[editline]2nd January 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=Rammelslakje;49438868]Really nice looking map. I like the urban style but your road corners and intersections need more work cause they aren't looking very smooth. So play around with the arch tool a bit.

@gnampf
I don't know if there is any way in source1 to prevent big city like maps having cliff walls. It's the best way to cut a big detailed map in sections so it doesn't kill your fps entirely. Source1 just isnt made for maps like this I guess. So unless you want a shitty draw distance the best way is to cut if off with cliffs and big buildings. 3d skybox can also be added but is difficult when you have multiple sections

i personally dont mind cliff walls splitting up the map if the map is fun and looks good, i feel there arent many alternative ways to get this done in source1[/QUOTE]

I disagree, in my map, which is based on New York, I use building to separate the map, and I have no fps drop and draw distance is good, you can use so many other ways to spectate the sections even in a map style like this, trees, fences, in some parts I have roads wich have cars moving so it looks like it's an active map (no you can access them with out noclip, like the motorway on de_nuke).

If your creative enough you can devided the map up very nicely.

[editline]2nd January 2016[/editline]

Also the transition between road textures as seen here [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/8YlNFfe.jpg[/IMG] is very ugly, and you should work on maybe a custom texture, or a zebra crossing. And skybox textures on some pavements?

[Tin Can™]

I fully agree with what's been commonly said in here, looks exactly like another Evocity - it's way too open with enormous empty spaces, most buildings are blocky and uninteresting, 90 degree straight mountain walls, etc
Even though it's been said it's a WIP, having it likened to another Evocity or whatever isn't necessarily good - really not feeling it either for this.

I'd [I]suggest[/I] redesigning the layout of your map, making it more compact.
Perhaps within the suburb or city areas you can make them compact, whilst in the transitioning parts inbetween you can leave *some* emptier spaces with more freedom for natural formations and vegetation

Also, the lighting
The lighting looks exactly like evocity's light_environmenet settings :why:

[BigAlBroSki]

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49439650]I have a really difficult time trying to get a feel for this map. is this a clone off evocity? rockford?
Your screenshots even confuse me as much as your responses. To debrief on those concerns;

[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/Co3lPzh.jpg[/img_thumb]

Why is this a selling point to your map? 'm not sure if i'm missing something, or whats missing. but its clearly a missing texture, thats for sure.

[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/J3wlG0N.jpg[/img_thumb]

Firstly, I see a modified building from evocity with some odd modifications. That doesn't bother me as the actual flaw. Like i'm looking into a window and I'm seeing the bottom skybox.

My only general feeling of this map is just slop and no general eye for detail.[/QUOTE]

I guess I shouldn't have put the picture of the sign with a missing texture, it's not a selling point of the map because this is all a WIP which many of you seem to be ignoring, The apartments building is not a modified Evocity building, the only way i can see that is because I used his little roof over the entrance because I thought it was too bare. I have now changed that and update more of the building, The "skybox" texture through that window is actually a swimming pool. As you can hopefully see I have VERY few static_props in the map which I have already mentioned. I plan on adding props at a later stage as right now buildings and street layout may change so I don't want to waste my time on them.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/u0sJQvb.jpg[/img]

[editline]2nd January 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=VaSTinY;49441051]I fully agree with what's been commonly said in here, looks exactly like another Evocity - it's way too open with enormous empty spaces, most buildings are blocky and uninteresting, 90 degree straight mountain walls, etc
Even though it's been said it's a WIP, having it likened to another Evocity or whatever isn't necessarily good - really not feeling it either for this.

I'd [I]suggest[/I] redesigning the layout of your map, making it more compact.
Perhaps within the suburb or city areas you can make them compact, whilst in the transitioning parts inbetween you can leave *some* emptier spaces with more freedom for natural formations and vegetation

Also, the lighting
The lighting looks exactly like evocity's light_environmenet settings :why:[/QUOTE]

Again another person who didn't read earlier replies, making all of the walls displaced and not 90degrees takes a long time to do and makes compile times much longer. It is supposed to have a very similar style to Evocity. The light enviroment is not taken from his map as I've actually spend a good amount of time changing the color of the light and the angles which shadows will be place.

[Tin Can™]

[QUOTE=BigAlBroSki;49442554]
Again another person who didn't read earlier replies, making all of the walls displaced and not 90degrees takes a long time to do and makes compile times much longer. It is supposed to have a very similar style to Evocity. The light enviroment is not taken from his map as I've actually spend a good amount of time changing the color of the light and the angles which shadows will be place.[/QUOTE]

They were just suggestions, if you don't have the extra compile time to do it while the map is in this stage, atleast consider making the "cliffs" look better when you feel you've reached that stage.

On the subject of the lighting I didn't mean you took it directly from his map, but that it looks as if it does have the exact same kindof grey-with-a-hint-of-blue boring and cold lighting to it.

[BigAlBroSki]

[QUOTE=VaSTinY;49442897]They were just suggestions, if you don't have the extra compile time to do it while the map is in this stage, atleast consider making the "cliffs" look better when you feel you've reached that stage.

On the subject of the lighting I didn't mean you took it directly from his map, but that it looks as if it does have the exact same kindof grey-with-a-hint-of-blue boring and cold lighting to it.[/QUOTE]

I will make the cliffs displaced at a later stage and I don't know how to make the lighting look less "cold".

[Tin Can™]

[QUOTE=BigAlBroSki;49443085]I will make the cliffs displaced at a later stage and I don't know how to make the lighting look less "cold".[/QUOTE]

Amp up the brightness value, make the color more vibrant, change the skybox to fit the light color if necessary

[Natalya]

Evo City sure inspires lots of mappers...

[Zolofto]

[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/0Sf0fOl.jpg[/img_thumb]

Are the signs bricked up too?
I feel the immersion in this one. This place failed so hard at a gas station, the city of opulent, decided to just brick it all up and forget about it.

[BigAlBroSki]

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49445145][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/0Sf0fOl.jpg[/img_thumb]

Are the signs bricked up too?
I feel the immersion in this one. This place failed so hard at a gas station, the city of opulent, decided to just brick it all up and forget about it.[/QUOTE]

Done replying to you cause you're just here to troll.

[ROBOT EVAN]

really gives off the evocity vibe

[editline]3rd January 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49445145][img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/0Sf0fOl.jpg[/img_thumb]

Are the signs bricked up too?
I feel the immersion in this one. This place failed so hard at a gas station, the city of opulent, decided to just brick it all up and forget about it.[/QUOTE]

the acquirement of petroleum means nothing to these people

[Borris_Squad]

Again, I hope the road textures are not final, they're really poorly done, I like a lot of the other use of textures.

I feel this is your first map tho, it's very bland, don't hate me if its not but you should start looking at real world structures. The gas stations look very bland, I feel you should spend more time on each building, no please don't rely on props to make the buildings look better, you use props for detail how ever I don't think you can uses the to hide how bland the structures are?

And if it's a city why is there so much grass? I don't think this is a city, a small town would be a better description.

[Joey1]

As pointed above, you should work on every building with slightly greater care...

I'll talk about Gas station for example, just delete that bland looking brick block, and try to go for something like this
[t]http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/alanwake/images/0/0c/Stucky's.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120328195449[/t]
It fits (IMO) to small town you are making here, and it combines multiple RP purposes at once (Gas station, small shop for people around, and mechanics workshop). It has simple architecture that is not really that hard to remake or even straight out copy. And it is alot smaller that the one you have built, so you can save some space to make it seem a bit more natural, put couple trees around so it fades into small forrest hiding that generic rock wall.

Don't take this as Me telling you that you are doing evverything wrong, I'm just trying to show you that there is so many beautiful styles that fit in other than brick block, and it doesn't even take that much to do something nice to look at

[Zolofto]

[QUOTE=BigAlBroSki;49446458]Done replying to you cause you're just here to troll.[/QUOTE]

Whoa sorry bro. Just rip one off evocity and call it a day.

[Borris_Squad]

I also have a love hate relationship with this area [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/KHf5Zcs.jpg[/IMG] the alley is nice, not to sure about the bin tho, the prop is fine but what ever the hell that is inside of it is hurting my brain, the corner is too sharp.

I also see skybox texture floors, but one thing that really bugs me is them boxes made of brick... They're building so why ant they being buildings they're way to bland, you could slap a garage door there, maybe a generator a few Windows and some graffiti would be nice.

[Zolofto]

Borris, what you're seeing is nodraw textures on the curbs. It really adds specular lighting to the arena.

[BigAlBroSki]

[QUOTE=VaSTinY;49442897]They were just suggestions, if you don't have the extra compile time to do it while the map is in this stage, atleast consider making the "cliffs" look better when you feel you've reached that stage.

On the subject of the lighting I didn't mean you took it directly from his map, but that it looks as if it does have the exact same kindof grey-with-a-hint-of-blue boring and cold lighting to it.[/QUOTE]

Took your advice and tried different lighting which I believe looks much better.
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/u0sJQvb.jpg[/img_thumb]
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/zgIPwSF.jpg[/img_thumb]

[editline]3rd January 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=Joey1;49448385]As pointed above, you should work on every building with slightly greater care...

I'll talk about Gas station for example, just delete that bland looking brick block, and try to go for something like this
[t]http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/alanwake/images/0/0c/Stucky's.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120328195449[/t]
It fits (IMO) to small town you are making here, and it combines multiple RP purposes at once (Gas station, small shop for people around, and mechanics workshop). It has simple architecture that is not really that hard to remake or even straight out copy. And it is alot smaller that the one you have built, so you can save some space to make it seem a bit more natural, put couple trees around so it fades into small forrest hiding that generic rock wall.

Don't take this as Me telling you that you are doing evverything wrong, I'm just trying to show you that there is so many beautiful styles that fit in other than brick block, and it doesn't even take that much to do something nice to look at[/QUOTE]

That gas station you posted looks nice but I don't feel it fits into the style of the rest of the city, but I added windows and worked on the inside of the current one.
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/E8bCe7w.jpg[/img_thumb]

[editline]3rd January 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49449429]Borris, what you're seeing is nodraw textures on the curbs. It really adds specular lighting to the arena.[/QUOTE]

Just for you I textured all of the curbs.

[editline]3rd January 2016[/editline]

[QUOTE=Borris_Squad;49449365]I also have a love hate relationship with this area [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/KHf5Zcs.jpg[/IMG] the alley is nice, not to sure about the bin tho, the prop is fine but what ever the hell that is inside of it is hurting my brain, the corner is too sharp.

I also see skybox texture floors, but one thing that really bugs me is them boxes made of brick... They're building so why ant they being buildings they're way to bland, you could slap a garage door there, maybe a generator a few Windows and some graffiti would be nice.[/QUOTE]

The bin has a trash texture in it and like every other building I do plan on finishing these ones.
[img_thumb]http://i.imgur.com/vmAWSLi.jpg[/img_thumb]

[Zolofto]

do it for yourself man. Where you just going to leave these as nodraw unless i said something? but if you're going to rip the cub foods, could you at least trim those extra columns? hint: check the vis groups or ignore grouping.

[BigAlBroSki]

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49450535]do it for yourself man. Where you just going to leave these as nodraw unless i said something? but if you're going to rip the cub foods, could you at least trim those extra columns? hint: check the vis groups or ignore grouping.[/QUOTE]

I plan on leaving them so people know i took the saw to the building.

[Zolofto]

[QUOTE=BigAlBroSki;49450552]I plan on leaving them so people know i took the saw to the building.[/QUOTE]

You should just delete them so they don't think you just shrunk a brush and slapped it in the map.

[BigAlBroSki]

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49450577]You should just delete them so they don't think you just shrunk a brush and slapped it in the map.[/QUOTE]

Good idea, i think I'll try making them bigger.

[Borris_Squad]

[QUOTE=Richard Simmons;49449429]Borris, what you're seeing is nodraw textures on the curbs. It really adds specular lighting to the arena.[/QUOTE]

How do your comments get better ratings than his whole post -_-

And good I see your fixing things.

[gnampf]

[QUOTE=Borris_Squad;49452290]How do your comments get better ratings than his whole post -_-

And good I see your fixing things.[/QUOTE]

Because Richard Simmons is the realest nigga in this thread as well as in all them aerobics videos.