[TDM] Evermore

This is a map I've been working on obsessively for a few weeks. I think it's almost ready for release, but I realized that I should get some other people's opinions on it before I do that, so I came here.

Current Version: v1r3
Download the .pk3!

<Reserved for screenshot later>

Major Features:
*Four bases around a central "pit" (bases facing each other are for the same team)
*Lots of open spaces for fighting, but almost all of the weapons/ammo are inside the bases
*Almost no "safe" areas -- designed to have almost no places where someone can hide out or camp indefinitely
*Wide variety of weapons available
*Central "pit" -- actually a creature's open mouth (à la Pit of Carkoon from Star Wars Ep. VI) -- falling in will kill you
*Trigger_pushes and a laser fence to prevent escape
*Fully waypointed and lighted

New in v1r3:
*New roofs on second-floor bridges
*Redid flag placement
*Trapdoor health increased
*New trims on lower level bridges (from bases to central area)
*Added health and armor packs on second-floor bridges

Currently working on:
*Finalizing décor and details
*Could probably use a retexturing in some places
*Increase overall brightness (it's kinda dark now)
*Getting a decent screenshot for a preview pic

Any and all suggestions and recommendations are welcome!

P.S. Can anyone tell me how to set maxplayers to 16 in the .mapinfo file?

Screenshot:



look at other pk3 to make a proper pk3

Thanks cortez666. May I use that pic as a placeholder in the top post and the .pk3 until I get my own?

I know that I'm supposed to include an "evermore_v1r1.jpeg" in the .pk3; that's not the problem. The problem is that whenever I try to take a screenshot, it doesn't hide the HUD and you can't see anything of value. (How did you turn off your HUD? I know I read somewhere how to do it but I wasn't really paying attention to it at the time.)

Also, what did you think of the map itself?

Thanks cortez666. May I use that pic as a placeholder in the top post and the .pk3 until I get my own?

I know that I'm supposed to include an "evermore_v1r1.jpeg" in the .pk3; that's not the problem. The problem is that whenever I try to take a screenshot, it doesn't hide the HUD and you can't see anything of value. (How did you turn off your HUD? I know I read somewhere how to do it but I wasn't really paying attention to it at the time.)

Also, what did you think of the map itself?

use viewsize 120 it hides it totally

to get it back viewsize 100 or viewsize 110
i dont know which one you prefer.

r_letterbox 1 is another way of hiding things.

Thanks, I'll try those.

The map seems to be incorrectly packaged so I cannot access it in game. Immediately within the pk3 file you should have the maps, textures, scripts etc. folders rather than within a subfolder of mapname. I'll repackage it so you can see what I mean.

Repackaged: http://sites.google.com/site/sep3lio/eve...ects=0&d=1

The map:

Generally fine. Could do with better texturing. You seem to have used fitted low quality textures on a lot of brushes. Avoid doing this if you can. Split brushes and make separate trims.

The big trapdoor in the middle is quite cool I will say. It might be an idea to not make it triggered directly by damage, but by shooting a button (such as any of the symbols on the buildings). Up to you though, it has the interesting property of meaning people need to be careful about fighting in that area.

Other than that stuff the walls/platforms are all a bit thin. Try to make them thicker than 1 box. I rather liked the lighting in the bases.

Bad .pk3 format? Wha-? Oh... dammit. My old computer was set up so I would put all my files in a new folder, then select the folder and compress and it would make a .zip of the contents. But now I have a new computer which just makes a .zip that contains the original folder, instead of just the contents. It might take a while for me to get used to.

-- Some Minutes Later --
Fix'd. Try it now. Will update OP in a minute.

Texturing:
Yeah... I was mostly using placeholder textures until I finalized the layout because retexturing the entire map was a pain in the @$$ until I discovered the "Texture ind/replace" button, but I'm too lazy to fix it right now. I also want to wait until some official Xonotic texture sets get released so that I can keep with the art style (read: "look chic"). I was just thinking about making some trims the other day, but didn't get around to it.

Trapdoor:
Yess!! *fistpump* When I first thought of that, I asked a bunch of my friends who were more experienced with FPS mapping if it was a good idea: half said yes, half said no. I decided to fly with it and pray, and now my work has finally paid off! w00t!

Floors:
True, the floors are a bit thin, but I like them somewhat because they enforce the "no safe zones" concept: you may be camping up on the top floor of a base, but remember that there's someone a floor below with a rocket launcher... (stealth kills ftw)

Lighting:
Like the textures, the lighting was rather... slapdash. I did it to test my lightmaps and it turned out to be more awesome than I expected.

COMING SOON:
Finishing up a new version tonight/tomorrow morning. Couple major changes, but not enough to warrant a v2. Hope to have time to post it this weekend.

*Fun Trick*
Go onto the map, get the HLAC, and aim for the side skyboxes (not straight up). Fire away. (Explanation: the trigger_pushes for killing escapees seem to think that HLAC lasers are physics objects and therefore are fair game for a trust exercise, so they go all Aerial Faith Plate [Portal 2 joke, go look it up] on the b*tches. Fun, and might be useful in-game for remotely triggering the trapdoor... I might leave it in, I might not; what do you guys think?)

Moved to correct sub-forum (Map Releases & Reviews)

Ill have a look at the map later today.

Sorry tZork. I consider the map to still be in kind-of-beta, so I didn't consider it a release yet. My bad. Thanks for correcting me.

np, but well you *did* release it so..

UPDATE: v1r3 now released! Get the new .pk3!

See OP for changelog.

I added a few structural changes, specifically "awnings" over the 2F walkways. (BTW: trying to walk on top of them will launch you into the pit!) I did it because it solved two problems I had: (a) gave me a way to light those walkways more brightly (overhead lights) and (b) I wanted to be able to use the hanging flags as partial cover. (The fact that they didn't break the map was also convenient!) Try the new map and you'll see what I mean.

The other major change to the map was the increase of the trapdoor's health. Before, it had 1 health, so any stray shot would trigger it. It made it near-impossible to get to the mega health/armor at the center, and while human players learned to avoid it, bots did not, so they just dived into the pit creature's mouth rather often. I'm sure that Pitty (tentative name) appreciated this, but I did not. So I set the trapdoor health to 135, meaning that you would have to fire the MG continuously for about a second before it would open. This made the central health far more accessible and made Pitty's gaping maw far less accessible, which was my intent.

So, go DL the new version and tell me what you think! My current concern is that viewing the central area is too graphically intensive: my brand-new, moderately-fancy laptop gets about 12 fps when rendering the central area with 11 bots, which is pitiful compared to the hundred-some it gets with no bots or lightmaps. Opinions? Comments? The Quick Reply box is at the bottom of the page.