Sub Base Beta 2 Released

[d3coy]

Ok, after many good comments and lots of great feedback, Ive put together some changes to this map.

http://www.etdoa.com/decoy/sub_base_cc%20copy.jpg


Here is the list:

Raised water level in river (1st phase)
Removed stairs in bridge room and added a ladder
Added a truck on the bridge to give more cover
Added secondary path at axis hut through broken wall
Spawn times balanced at 30 allies, 20 axis. (remember axis attacking here)

Reduced ambient lighting
Added secondary path inside the sub pen leading to the enigma
Close off one area to reduce camping at flag area
Added new and final command map
Added new target location files to be more accurate.

Id like to see this version tested quite a bit. If anyone is willing to set it up on their server, Ill gladly join for some testing.

DOWNLOAD HERE
http://www.etdoa.com/decoy/sub_base_b2.rar

[Der'saidin]

Nice! Test it when I get home :D

[Nail]

These (http://www.chickenbucket.com/e107/news.php) guys are pretty good about testing maps, good bunch of guys and gals

[]UBC[ McNite]

Just my opinion... don't spam the community with lots of betas? Reading the changes makes me think that they could ve been done found out about with some private testing and that s it.

On the other hand... I m probably the only mapper with his own clan and server lol.

[d3coy]

Just wanted to post that it is running on the ETDOA.COM Map Test Server provided by ETGAMEHOSTING.COM

Game Server IP:
206.123.111.244:27961

Server pass: maptest

[d3coy]

sorry for double post, but i guess you posted same time as me. I do have my own private server for testing maps. But i prefer to reach as many people as possible but releasing my betas publicly rather than trying to put together a test session. I myself have trouble finding enough time to make changes to a map, let alone try to schedule for a couple hours to play. To each his own... might be the reason I can get a map to final in about a month, compared to others who take several? :P

[Der'saidin]

Yeah, dont listen to mcnite, he doesnt even use betas :p
More betas is beta! (Lamest thing ever!)

Some pics with feedback: (mostly minor stuff)
http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/765/astheticut8.th.gif (http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/765/astheticut8.gif)
http://img327.imageshack.us/img327/1555/doorcw4.th.gif (http://img327.imageshack.us/img327/1555/doorcw4.gif)
http://img327.imageshack.us/img327/1830/mineszv7.th.gif (http://img327.imageshack.us/img327/1830/mineszv7.gif)
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/6717/pipesok1.th.gif (http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/6717/pipesok1.gif)
http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/528/pipetexpy8.th.gif (http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/528/pipetexpy8.gif)
http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4185/wallkm6.th.gif (http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/4185/wallkm6.gif)

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/8518/vis1hq3.th.gif (http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/8518/vis1hq3.gif)
PM me and I'll see if I can help with the vis.

[D3C0Y]

UBC[ McNite]Just my opinion... don't spam the community with lots of betas? Reading the changes makes me think that they could ve been done found out about with some private testing and that s it.

On the other hand... I m probably the only mapper with his own clan and server lol.

I had a clan & clanserver once, but they disbanded before I could release my map :p

[Diego]

Since we all know that I like maps that are pretty (possibly at the expense of framerate or gamplay) :eek2: I just had a bunch of artistic comments regarding the terrain. Since a lot of work at this stage needs to be flexible, I didn't want to be an ass in public making comments on things they may not be finished.

Instead, I just sent you a pm regarding most of it.

However, one issue that I did want to address in public, are the texture choices for the terrain. I went into more detail in the pm, but essentially, I think the textures are way too dark against the bright sky and that they don't work well with one another.

Since I think other mappers could benefit from this, Here is an image that I made using all of d3coy's terrain textures. The textures on the left are the original ones. As you can see, his mud and rock textures are so dark, they look like they are made for a nighttime map.

The textures on the right are the same textures modified to give them all a similar brightness, saturation, and color tone. I also sharpend one of the softer grass textures to match them up a little more. In my opinion the modified textures look like they belong together in the same geography. It also helps ease the contrast between the sky and the ground while ingame.

http://webpages.charter.net/dt3d/screenshots/et/texture_line.jpg



I sent d3coy a link to a pk3 file to try them out. But their is so much of the Mud texture in his map, the alphmod brushes in his dotmatrix2 terrain will need to be more detailed.

d3coy, looking at all this textures lined up, consider making texture blends between the grass textures using the dead grass as your primary texture.

I would set up my shaders like this:

Primary/Secondary
Rock/Mud
Road/Mud
Grass1/Mud
Grass2/Mud
Grass3/Mud

Grass1/Rock
Grass1/Grass2
Grass2/Grass3

You can get more variety in your blends. With enough brushwork detail in the terrain, you can easily make a complex blend like this:

Rock/Mud/Grass1/Grass2/Grass3/Mud/Road/Mud/Grass1/Rock

Use the greener grass textures for the terrain under your trees and near the river.

[nedd3h]

nice map :)

• axis dyno starage wall game says allied
• above starage wall are sections of invisable wall so at some points nades get stuck
• at B5 in map can jump out of map (left of fence)
• MG near buildable barrier if you jump/crouch/prone you can get through it... deliberate?
• coverts unable to open doors
• etpro icon file coming?
• light leak at H4


i can post screenies if you like
nothing wrong with relasing betas imo... as many as it takes i say :)

[Northerner]

d3coy, i would like to see a README file before i can post your map at RTCWFILES.COM
(readme files should include the map name, size, your name, email addy, description, bug fixes, site url, etc..)

and how about a few 'clean' screenshots of the map

thanks

[d3coy]

I always forget my readme file and northern is good at reminding me about :P Ill make sure i get one to you soon. There are some screenshots in a previous thread for b1... that i posted here in the forums.


Ok, Diego, you rock... im going to take your advice and try to do more with the terrain. I do have some other shaders and textures that blend better together and I think im going to give them a try first to see how it looks.. ill post some screenshots tonight i hope and get your opinion on this.


@nedd3h

Please post screenshots of where the nades are getting stuck. Im not sure where you are talking about. There are some doors that are just locked, neither team can open them. Ill change these to a new texture so it will be less of an issue. Also post where you can get out of the map at as well.

Thanks for the great comments guys... Ill be working on this alot today to get some of the much needed changes made.. thanks again.

[]UBC[ McNite]

@ Diego: I disagree about making them all similiar. Difference in between the textures, especially different grass textures is what will break the terrain look and thus make give an impression of more variation.
But agree on the big difference of terrain - sky, only I would try make the sky less bright.

[Diego]

UBC[ McNite]@ Diego: I disagree about making them all similiar. Difference in between the textures, especially different grass textures is what will break the terrain look and thus make give an impression of more variation.
But agree on the big difference of terrain - sky, only I would try make the sky less bright.

The grass textures already have some variation. But I think you can add more variation without adding black to your textures. Black is not a color that appears naturally in nature. And all of the original textures look like you are looking at them through sunglasses. If more contrast between the textures is desired, that can also be accomplished by shifting the hue, or the contrast within the image. This can make the grass appear to be a different type.

The mud texture though is really the main one that I don't like because in game it looks almost entirely black. At the very least it should be a closer match to the original rock texture. But I noticed when I brightend his textures that the mud texture covers 90% of the visible terrain. You only see small hints of grass in areas around trees or buildings which makes me believe they are no instances of grass at 100% opacity.

With the brighter textures, the terrain may look too bright for some people, and just fine to others. But the terrain can also be darkened down by reducing the ambient light since most of it is in shadow anyway. But that would not necessarily look right with the existing sky texture.

I've never used this type of sky texture before. I think it could look better with a more detailed skybox texture that is not so white and flat. Add that to terrain textures that are more evenly balanced and more detailed brushwork and with stronger transitions between them. And then possibly a reduced ambient with a stronger key light would do wonders for the map.

But everyone has their preferences and the only one that really matters is d3coy's.

[nedd3h]

Please post screenshots of where the nades are getting stuck. Im not sure where you are talking about.
...
Also post where you can get out of the map at as well.

http://www.ned.theoldergamers.com/sub_base/shot0001b.JPG

http://www.ned.theoldergamers.com/sub_base/shot0000b.JPG


LIGHT LEAK IN THIS AREA
http://www.ned.theoldergamers.com/sub_base/shot0002b.JPG


also, being in a clan that often gets spawncamped :D could you make it not posible
to gain entrance INTO the axis spawn... maybe destroyed stairs just to stop potential spwan ownage
http://www.ned.theoldergamers.com/sub_base/shot0003.jpg

[d3coy]

ok cool, the nades getting stuck, i dont see why you would want to throw a grenade up there anyhow.. but ok... not much i can do to change that one that I know of.. your throwing it into the sky brush... Ill do some better clipping to solve the 2nd problem with being able to get out of the map there...

and for the stairs, I guess i could damage them in some way to make it harder to get up them, i dont know.

[nedd3h]

also, if axis dyno rear door their forward spawn is lost permanently
is being able to sqeeze through the mg hole supposed to be?

[d3coy]

if rear door is dynoed the axis gain flag spawn permanently... this is supposed to be this way... also, i made the mgnest hole big enough to crawl through.. that is supposed to be. It also allows an engineer to climb out for defuse should it be dyno there..

[nedd3h]

if rear door is dynoed the axis gain flag spawn permanently
when we played it the spawn was LOST permanently
PM me if you like and i can fire up my testing server to show you

[nedd3h]

ok, i did another test

• if axis dyno rear door WITHOUT getting flag... all good
• if axis dyno rear door AFTER getting flag they lose forward spawn

i've set my test server to have unlimited time and it has this bug on it now... no forward spawn after rear door destroyed
jump in for a look... i PM you with IP and pw now

[da*Rogue]

if rear door is dynoed the axis gain flag spawn permanently... this is supposed to be this way... also, i made the mgnest hole big enough to crawl through.. that is supposed to be. It also allows an engineer to climb out for defuse should it be dyno there..
It also allows players to climb in...seems strange ;f

I took a few s/shots of very low FPS areas - mostly around the sub pen/CP.
http://www.users.on.net/%7Erogan/temp/subbaselowfps.zip

GL with the map! :)

[Der'saidin]

Check your PMs d3coy.

The reason why its so low is because theres heaps and heaps and heaps of triangles.

Screenshots (http://img48.imageshack.us/img48/4914/subbasea2hitrivj7.gif)
Those torpedos have like 999999 tris on each head, and theres 18 of them. 2 or 3 should be enough to make it look good.

Brushwork in some areas needs to be fixed. If a vertex from another brush is on an edge, then it will split that edge, so there'll be an extra tri. Match up the vertexes.

Basicly just thin out all the pipes and pretty stuff.