[CTF]Spider

Hell yes! Say hello to SPIDEREX!



My second map for the game (5th in generall) is a large CTF map, created just for you, ladies and mantelgen, because I heard that Xonotic lacks CTF maps. And also because I want to give community competitive ctf map and also because the CTF contest Its not typical Xonotic map. It has a lightly different style. You will find out during tests. I hope you are not afraid of spiders and their webs! TZork should like this map cause it contains huuuge boulders in it
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DOWNLOAD HERE:
Spiderctf-v3.pk3

If you find just a couple of minutes of spare time: Lauch the game and try to make a few runs around the map and tell me what sucks.
Im gathering all the information about:

• Layout
  
• General flow and connectivity of the map
  
• Texturing
  
• Fun? Or crap?
  
• Whats bad ideas whats wrong?
  
• General idea of the map (spiders and their webs all around the map) - ok/cool/crap/o no, dude, go home?
  
• ?
  

POST UPDATED.

Nice! Can't wait to try it.

You already can: See the link above (this blue one)

BTW: Map has no lighning system and itemplacement. And when it comes to details.... meh there is none. I focused mostly on layout.

I know but I don't got time atm, setting up my computer atm.

Whats changed:

• Layout (especially in the main room)
  
• Halls design,
  
• few webs,
  
• trims, details and textures
  

map layout looks fine ...

there are some strange shadows that dont make sense here and there ...

also the dark hole around the pillar in the screen shot ... am I supposed to die if I fall in that ... cause ... i dont ...

overall its looking very nice so far

Okay, we just have talked on IRC, so I will write down light painting.

Look at the pic from UT2004:



Notice, that Level Designer from Epic Games used 2 colors of light ON PURPOSE. White one indicates, that there is ramp in the far distance. So this area becomes more:

different than others
easier to remember
easier to navigate

With a little effort, you can have this feature too. And you need this, because your map is a maze ATM. Hell to learn.

Look at those pics and think, how much you can achieve but using different lights to indicate different routes/areas:





Extra example from UT2004

Thank you Majaki so so so so very much! Your tips and tutorial you gave me opened my eyes!
Here there are several screenshots for the community with special dedication for you:

Hmm, I can't load the map, I've placed it in /data but it doesn't come up at the menu.

Can you use chmap Spiderex-v5 in the console?

You can make sure it's loaded by doing ls maps/Spiderex* in the xonotic console and see if the bsp is in there.

Thanks Bougo, it worked with chmap.

Now to the feedback:

Great job Justin, amazing map!
There two ways from and to the flag on the outer parts should be a little bit more blocked at the beginning, they're really fast compared to the inner ways, so the flagrunners will run different ways and not just that one. Also, at the bases, I don't really like that you can get up on those platforms/roof. It looks like it can get a bit too easy to defend if that's possible, it's also wierd to be up on them due to the small space to the skybox, you can't really move up there. Besides from that: awesome!

I also added lighmaps so it looks smoother.
Thank you machine for your kind words and constructive feedback. Sure thing I will make clipping brushes. What do you mean by saying: 2 ways out? I counted carefully and there are 3 ways to run OUT the enemy base.

EDIT: Blocked means: barrels and other stuff like that on a way? hmmm As I heard it pisses players off as hell. So instead of blue base they "see red"

Well, I mean't that the inner way between the two flags won't be used since the 2 outer ways(the one on the left and the one on the right) will mostly be used since they are 10 times faster. By blocking I don't mean that you should not do smooth movement, maybe add a corridor in the beginning with 1-2 quite tight turns will do it.

I ve listened to your requirements, Machine, Packer, Majki and updated new version with new layout ideas. I also made:

lightning (specific cloros)
trims,
QUAD,
lots of shards to play with,
I also changed a bit item placement (weapons)\
Fixed mapinfo and preview, so it is visable now in the maplist when you put a .pk3 file in your data folder.
I made clipping (but still not in the corridors, so you have to be carefull to don't touch walls when running extremly fast (details might stop you)

Justin, if you're going to release a lot of versions, here's a tip for your map and pk3 naming: use minor version numbers (some maps in nexuiz have followed the "v<major>r<minor>" naming, version X, revision Y).

For example, you release spiderex_v1r1 then notice that a texture is misaligned, or a shader is missing, or the mapinfo is broken, or the caulking is not good enough, or some details could be improved, or some items are misplaced, or something similar. You then release spiderex_v1r2 that fixes the problem. That way, it comes after v1r1 alphabetically and it's clear that v1r2 is more recent than v1r1. And this way, v1r2 works if you put it in the data directory, even if v1r1 is there already.

For major changes to the map (new rooms, major retexturing, and other big updates), you bump the major version number and start back to 1 for the revision number. For example, v1r8 becomes v2r1.

If you know in advance that you're going to go through a lot of minor version numbers, start at v1r01. That way, you can have up to 99 revisions of the same version.

Here, you're already at v8, and when you release v9 you will be stuck because v10 comes before v9 alphabetically (between v1 and v2), which is rather annoying. Of course, you could always skip 890 version numbers and have v900 right after v9, which can then be followed by v901, ..., v912 etc. while preserving alphabetical order and leaving you with enough room (hopefully) for further versions.

EDIT: I'll add that it's important that each map that you release has a base name (the name you use before .bsp and .mapinfo) that is different from the previous revisions. This assures that the client always uses the same release of the map as the server. Otherwise, the server tells the client to check if it has "spiderex-v8.bsp". If the client has an older version of the same bsp file loaded, it will use that one instead of downloading the one the server uses. This can lead to very strange behaviour if the brushwork has changed, such as clients falling through the ground or going through walls that exist on the client's side but not on the server's side.

Please, do clipping here:
http://imgur.com/a/JPlbm

There is no excuse for NOT doing that. Pppl want to play, not piss off on you :-)

Great job! The map needs a better name though.

Whats wrong with Spiderex, Machine? Do you have any other ideas for a name that contains "Spider" in it? (Apart from Spiderman, of course ).

Majki: I did some clipping but still the middle corridor can block the player. I think I found the way to fix this problem and I will implement it later.

Thank you, Mr Bongo for your tip. from now I make Spiderex-v1r4 , so the next relase will be Spiderex-v1r5. That really sorts things out, thanks!

My suggestions:
Spider
Spider fortress
Nest
Lost Temple

Justin, you have already released v8, going back to v1r4 will be confusing. I suggest you do v80r1 or something like that next, then v80r2, v80r3, ..., v81r1 and so on. Otherwise, if both pk3s are loaded, it's the v8 that is used and not the v1r4.

Majki: I did some clipping but still the middle corridor can block the player. I think I found the way to fix this problem and I will implement it later.

Clipping is easy and fast, look:



Clip Brushes CAN overlap with other ones :-)

Also, you are not using detail brushes!

All right, people, I have a serious problem with my map right now:

I build the map (test bsp, vis, lights medium) and launch the game to test it but then it seems that the light is everywhere the same! (Like lights weren't build properly)

My map is open and large. It has around 150 lights. I hope it doesn't have leaks. I attach the map file, and I really need your help, cause lightning in this map is VERY important.

EDIT 1: I deleted all light entities (expect from one) and now it works again, What might have caused the previous failure to build the lights? Huge amount of them? Or mabye some of them were somehow broken? How to check tit?

Read the compile log, maybe. Or post it here.

thats strange ... I remember having the same issue a long time ago with a nexuiz map ... although ... I was never able to fix it

Just saw what you did to the lighting following Majki's advice, Justin. The map takes big steps to pure awesomeness, very nice! Also +1 for constructive critizism in this thread and conversion into great results!