Has anyone picked up on that Vietnam theme I did last year?
I'd hate to see my work go to more waste than it already has.
[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;34579159]Has anyone picked up on that Vietnam theme I did last year?
I'd hate to see my work go to more waste than it already has.[/QUOTE]
I don't know but I just Googled it and see you used my shitty old attempt at a skycard :v:
[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;34579159]Has anyone picked up on that Vietnam theme I did last year?
I'd hate to see my work go to more waste than it already has.[/QUOTE]
You got a link to it?
[QUOTE=Deodorant;34543912]With player clips in that sentence, you're referring to solid architecture brushes in general, right? Playtesting a map consisting of transparent playerclip brushes sounds horrible.
I figured the general process was to build the basic shapes of the map (flat walls, ceilings, floors, stair-ramps and ground, generally textured with dev textures) along with the required entities, and stuff like water. The second step would be to playtest and change until it worked well, then finally to add all the decorative stuff.
I've done basically that. However, I've used game textures instead of dev ones, and I've done a bunch of premature detailwork just to see if I could make sections of the map look good. I also used either props or long rows of (func_detailed) steps instead of ramps for the stairs.
I have to use a bunch of playerclips to make the stairs off-rocket-jump-able, and to prevent people from getting stuck on beams and stuff before the map can be tested.
When I've done that, though, the worst that can happen is that I have to delete a bunch of my decorations, right?
Oh, and one completely unrelated question. What's the deal with cp_orange maps? I only played one once, found it sort of boring, and figured it was a dev texture map in development. Since then, I've heard people talk about them as though they filled some very specific and sort of shameful purpose, but I haven't managed to understand what this purpose is.[/QUOTE]
Many players, especially professionals, don't like how steps causes your view to jitter as your Y loc jumps in large increments. (1,1,1,1,4,4,4,4,4,8,8,8,8,8...etc) Making every stair a playerclipped ramp both removes this (1,1.34,2.12,2.97,3.55,etc,etc.), and more accurately simulates a natural view. If people might want to rocket jump off of it, I would suggest you use a clip brush instead of a playerclip, or the push force from the rocketjump will be very inconsistent.
[QUOTE=Mechtroid;34595204]Many players, especially professionals, don't like how steps causes your view to jitter as your Y loc jumps in large increments. (1,1,1,1,4,4,4,4,4,8,8,8,8,8...etc) Making every stair a playerclipped ramp both removes this (1,1.34,2.12,2.97,3.55,etc,etc.), and more accurately simulates a natural view. If people might want to rocket jump off of it, I would suggest you use a clip brush instead of a playerclip, or the push force from the rocketjump will be very inconsistent.[/QUOTE]
Hm, I guess I formulated stuff a bit unclearly. I know why ramps or playerclip-ramp'd stairs are better than normal stairs. All stairs I'm adding now are of the dev texture ramp variety. I built normal stairs earlier because I didn't know. This was a deviation from standard procedure, but the only negative effect is that I had to put in some more work to put playerclip ramps over them, which I've done.
Doesn't anyone else have stuff to talk about? This thread has turned into TF2 Emporium: Deodorant edition.
[QUOTE=Deodorant;34589078]You got a link to it?[/QUOTE]
Here: [url]http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=17330[/url]
I worked on it for like 5 months, becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of any kind of support or feedback despite asking for it several times, until I got fed up and abandoned it.
[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;34608784]Here: [url]http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=17330[/url]
I worked on it for like 5 months, becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of any kind of support or feedback despite asking for it several times, until I got fed up and abandoned it.[/QUOTE]
Aww. I don't think it contains anything that's useful for my map, but I figured that by asking you to link it instead of googling it myself I'd increase the chances of other people downloading it.
I've finally flipped my map now. I'll still have to make a bunch of corrective adjustments to the BLU side, but it's basically playable. I'll hopefully release it for playtesting on TF2maps fairly soon!
By the way, what do the acronyms used on TF2maps stand for? 'rc' and that stuff.
a - alpha
b - beta
rc- release candidate
[QUOTE=A B.A. Survivor;34608784]Here: [url]http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=17330[/url]
I worked on it for like 5 months, becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of any kind of support or feedback despite asking for it several times, until I got fed up and abandoned it.[/QUOTE]
Dude, wtf, we gave feedback on it, the map crashed the server and was spewing out pages or errors in the console, the spawns exits being so close each other created easy spawn camping and your fix for that didn't help, the main cap zone was too dark and you optimization was appalling, but you still insisted on keep the map's detail. i tried to get his across to you multiple times as did others when we tested it. Don't talk shit. The map needs rebrushing/starting afresh and you need to make the gameplay fun before trying to make a full theme, which you didn't pull off if you think you did.
go look agian: [url]http://feedback.tf2maps.net/map/koth_hot_zone_a1/[/url] and that's just the stuff we wrote down , you were there while the text and voice chat was going on.
[QUOTE=Venezuelan;34634210]a - alpha
b - beta
rc- release candidate[/QUOTE]
Thanks! Where's the line drawn between alpha and beta?
So, yeah, koth_sanitarium_a1 should be released fairly soon. However, I have one more question. Most maps seem to be released as .bsp, whatever that means. How do I convert .vmf to that format, and is there anything else I should to to the file? Stuff it in specially named folders or whatever.
(Also, I couldn't have asked in the TF2maps steam chat, as one apparently needs to own something of value on Steam to join chatrooms)
[QUOTE=Deodorant;34635320]Thanks! Where's the line drawn between alpha and beta?
So, yeah, koth_sanitarium_a1 should be released fairly soon. However, I have one more question. Most maps seem to be released as .bsp, whatever that means. How do I convert .vmf to that format, and is there anything else I should to to the file? Stuff it in specially named folders or whatever.
(Also, I couldn't have asked in the TF2maps steam chat, as one apparently needs to own something of value on Steam to join chatrooms)[/QUOTE]
you have to compile your maps. Open your map in Hammer and press F9. This will bring up a window where you can change several settings to affect your map's compile time, VVIS, VRAD and HDR lighting. There's a button in the bottom right corner that will start the compile process. And remember to check the "Automatically launch game" option.
[QUOTE=OffTheRoad;34635710]you have to compile your maps. Open your map in Hammer and press F9. This will bring up a window where you can change several settings to affect your map's compile time, VVIS, VRAD and HDR lighting. There's a button in the bottom right corner that will start the compile process. And remember to check the "Automatically launch game" option.[/QUOTE]
Ah, so that's what compiling does. I've done it pretty often, but just for the sake of running the map. I thought the compiling part was just about processing, finding errors and translating it into a playable thing.
Alpha is for layout testing and are usually just dev textures, entire sections of the map may be changed in the alpha stage, yours falls in alpha even though it's detailed. Beta has details and only minor things are going to change.
[QUOTE=theharribokid;34634357]Dude, wtf, we gave feedback on it, the map crashed the server and was spewing out pages or errors in the console, the spawns exits being so close each other created easy spawn camping and your fix for that didn't help, the main cap zone was too dark and you optimization was appalling, but you still insisted on keep the map's detail. i tried to get his across to you multiple times as did others when we tested it. Don't talk shit. The map needs rebrushing/starting afresh and you need to make the gameplay fun before trying to make a full theme, which you didn't pull off if you think you did.
go look agian: [url]http://feedback.tf2maps.net/map/koth_hot_zone_a1/[/url] and that's just the stuff we wrote down , you were there while the text and voice chat was going on.[/QUOTE]
You actually played the map?
I was told 7 times that my map either didn't get on the list or crashed the map.
I was never, ever in one of the test sessions, and I was never aware people actually played the map more than the one session you actually played it.
Sorry but I'm fucking pissed that people only ever told me what was wrong and never helped me fix things when I asked for help.
[editline]10th February 2012[/editline]
So, yeah, don't treat me like a shithead when I spent 5 months waiting for any kind of feedback or help, and received neither.
[I will ignore the drama, as I have no knowledge whatsoever about the events discussed]
Well.. I'll have to add some lights, make a test run and then correct the errors I find in that run. When all that's done, I think koth_sanitarium_a1 will be technically playable.
Howeeeever... I read a bunch of TF2maps tutorials now, and got frightened. I haven't used a cubic value size system. I'm using dev measure textures with the default 0.25 scale just because they look temporary and neatly teamcolored. I haven't even started dividing the vis; I've tied everything to func_details, and I'm planning to untie appropriate brushes, but I haven't managed to figure out which brushes that would be yet. I had to add a big ugly extension that I really don't want to a vital part of the map, just to break two horrifyingly long sightlines. Whenever I run the map I get the feeling that all proportions are off compared to normal TF2 maps.
What do I [I]need[/I] to fix before even releasing an a1 version? Which problems can I leave in for now and let disappear in the radical changes I'll be forced to make after playtesting? Is there any way I can prerelease the map here, where I sort of know the people, before throwing it to the judgmental pros over at TF2maps?
Gah.
I know a site that's got a neat optimization tutorial.
[url]http://rvanhoorn.ruhosting.nl/optimization.php?chapter=intro[/url]
And the most basic thing about func_details is that you should use it on brushes that won't block visibilty such as stair steps or window frames but I suppose you already know that.
The dev textures are a good way to make sure that your stuff is on scale and on grid. The usual height or width of a wall is 512 Hammer units while the textures in TF2 are made to fit on a 1024 units high/wide surface. This would equal 2 Stories in-game so keep that in mind while working on a building.
And don't be afraid of hearing what others have to say about your map. It may seem harsh, but just ignore the part where someone has said something about your skills or how much of a mindfuck your map is. Instead pay attention to parts where they give advise and tell you how to improve.
[QUOTE=OffTheRoad;34647668]I know a site that's got a neat optimization tutorial.
[url]http://rvanhoorn.ruhosting.nl/optimization.php?chapter=intro[/url]
And the most basic thing about func_details is that you should use it on brushes that won't block visibilty such as stair steps or window frames but I suppose you already know that.
The dev textures are a good way to make sure that your stuff is on scale and on grid. The usual height or width of a wall is 512 Hammer units while the textures in TF2 are made to fit on a 1024 units high/wide surface. This would equal 2 Stories in-game so keep that in mind while working on a building.
And don't be afraid of hearing what others have to say about your map. It may seem harsh, but just ignore the part where someone has said something about your skills or how much of a mindfuck your map is. Instead pay attention to parts where they give advise and tell you how to improve.[/QUOTE]
I knew most of this already, but thanks.
I have two main problems with my optimization. Almost all my walls have doorways and windows in them, and all my roofs are slanted. From reading parts of the tutorial, it seems like the best option would be to leave pretty much everything as func_details, and then build boxes of hint brushes around my rooms. Does this sound like a horrible idea?
Here's my current plan, by the way: I'll release the current map as koth_sanitarium_a1 with a bunch of written disclaimers about why it looks like it does, and just ask for peoples opinions on the general layout of the map. I'll then build a new map from scratch, based on the current layout but adjusted after the criticism, and made with properly proportioned dev brushes. I'll release that one as koth_sanitarium_a2 and work normally from there. Sounds good?
Also..
[QUOTE=OffTheRoad;34647668]ignore the part where someone has said something about your skills[/QUOTE]
Implying that nobody could say anything positive about my skills? :P
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