Shared Map

Post by **a13n** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:15 am

@ix-ir
Does different ambient color for each func_group really work?
It didn't work for me.

(q3map2 2.5.16)

@dichtfux
Thank you for the useful link. (If only Mirix supports command line automation...)
By the way it tried to replace Windows' protected system file on its installation.

Post by **dichtfux** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 11:01 am

I don't know whether it supports batch processing, but you can leave it open in the background all day long and just click the "convert" button whenever you changed major things and want to compile the complete map. No need to close and restart it everytime.

Don't remember it trying to replace system files, can't help with that.

Post by **a13n** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:28 am

@dichtfux
O.K.
It's not the most elegant solution but it should work.
Thanks for the tip.

@Magnus
O.K.
Give me the map file.
I'll do the quick yet safe lighting.
Could you uplaod it?

note:
It would be really quick.

Post by **Silicone_Milk** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 8:07 am

The latest .pk3 has the .map file in it already...

Post by **a13n** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:23 am

really?

O.K.
Here is a preview of quick lighting.

Is this O.K.?
If so, I will upload back the updated pk3.

Post by **Magnus** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:36 am

Looks OK from the POV of that shot. Lets see the .map/.bsp so we can all have a look around inside.

By the way. Thanks guys for giving me a little break. Gave me time to toy around with various play styles and come up with a good view of proper size for halls in a ctf that will accomidate all play styles.

I also managed to build 2 more CTF maps. :icon25:

Well lets see what we have in the CTFPTM so far.

Post by **a13n** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 12:24 pm

ctfptmalpha3

The lighting is very flat like an ambient but it has sublte helper gradiation between each seam.

Be sure to add ctfptm to your shaderlist.txt!
Brief change log is also in the pk3.

Post by **obsidian** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:28 pm

Hrrm... that map still seems to have a lot of hallways. CTF maps of that sort have a tendency to suffer from the flag carrier ducking around corners and makes it impossible for the opposing team from recovering it.

Personally, I wouldn't have hallways per se, but more like small rooms that are more open and connected to the flag and central atriums.

Post by **Fjoggs** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 2:33 pm

Study q3wcp1, wcp5, wcp9 and wcp14. Those are perhaps the best ctf maps for q3. Simple layout, and so effective. Brilliant maps.

Post by **Magnus** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 3:53 pm

obsidian wrote:CTF maps of that sort have a tendency to suffer from the flag carrier ducking around corners and makes it impossible for the opposing team from recovering it.

maz0r wrote:No chance to escape with the flag... On the nearly all standard competition ctf maps.... Also you should really consider making more intersections between the parts of the map. At current state a fc has NO chance to steal away alone.... It's just the essence of ctf to fool the defense where you are by changing route and doubling back

:icon23: :icon7:

You all have really good points and ideas. I hate to say "you can't please everyone" because that would sound like being a jerk, but....

I guess the number of players on each team would have a great deal to do with being able to cover more areas of the map thus knowing the general location of the FC.

Thanks for all the input though keep it coming. :icon25:

Thanks for pointing me to some more CTF maps to look at Fjoggs.

Post by **obsidian** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:23 pm

Hehe... sorry. maz0r's right that you need more intersections. Making it more "open" actually helps with that since the main atriums and side hallway-atriums will allow for more interconnectivity.

Instead of being funneled down a hallway, you can choose to turn back into any other atrium.

If I can find time, I'll try mucking around with your alpha for you guys to see what I mean.

edit: Holy brushes Batman! What's with the crazy brushes? Haven't heard of curve patches?

Post by **Magnus** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:36 pm

Cool. Anything that may inspire good ideas is welcome.

Thanks obsidian!

Post by **Foo** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:09 pm

Second what's been said recently about opening things up a bit. THe middle section could be blown way wider open. As it is it's an area that flag carrier is going to cross in a few short seconds which is a bit too short for the central section IMO

Post by **ix-ir** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 6:59 pm

edit: Holy brushes Batman! What's with the crazy brushes? Haven't heard of curve patches?

Heh, yes I noticed that. This is an ALPHA, we should be blocking out square and rectangular rooms at this state. No rock effects and no complex things like curves. Diagonal brushes should also start and end from grid points, there seem to be a lot of brushes that did originally but were then cut so are no longer on the grid.

Post by **Magnus** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:09 pm

obsidian wrote:edit: Holy brushes Batman! What's with the crazy brushes? Haven't heard of curve patches?

Curve Patches? What area these curve patches you speak of?

Just kidding...hehe. I was just waiting for someone to to say something about those brushes.

Actually to be honest I haven't used curve patches too much. I suppose it is time I start to get WAY more familiar with them than I currently am.

Post by **Magnus** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 2:38 pm

OK. I am going to adjust the hight and width of the halls so they will accomidate more play styles and I am also going to adjust the size of the middle room to to offer the defending team more of a chance to confront the FC before he/she heads into the next set of halls.

Will have the results in a bit.

Post by **dichtfux** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 8:26 pm

Gave the map a short try and I absolutely agree that it's too tight in many places. Making the central room bigger ist also a good idea.

And there's a lava pit that you can't get out of once you fell into it.

Post by **Magnus** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:17 am

Sorry guys. I am having a bit of a problem. Not sure if it is hardware or software or what. My entire system and the internet is runing really slooooooo. I ran a spyware/virus scan using SpywareBlasterand, Spybot S&D, Ad-Aware SE and my AS/AV the only thing found was normal stuff in the MRU list found by Ad-Aware SE.

Anyway right now even simple -meta compiles are taking a painfull 10 min or more when it usually takes about 3 seconds on most maps, so I will get back to this stuff as soon as I figure out what is wrong and get back up to speed.

Post by **obsidian** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:50 am

Sorry to hear that, but in a good way, I haven't had that much time to work on my layout. I reworked the middle room and started working on some of the hallways leading up the the flag room. So your computer issues is buying me time to finish my version of the alpha.

Post by **boilingoil** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:19 am

I've been learning 3ds max, so when/if the map can make use of some models/whatnot i'd be more than happy to help. I downloaded the map the other day and i really like the progress!

Post by **Magnus** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 3:19 am

Well I got my system back up to speed. Still don't really know what was wronng, but I think it may hav had something to do with the file system.

I ran 3 online AV scans and found nothing. I manually updated all of my AS/AV programs and manually updated windows, I DCd from the net, I turned off system restore, deleted my cookies, deleted all my temp net files and offline files, cleared my history, cleared my start menu, ran a disk cleanup, ran all of my AS programs and AV and again found nothing, turned system restore back on, ran a defrag, then ran a error ckeck and selected to automatially fix file system errors and then gave it a restart.
When it loaded back up my system and the internet was running fine.

Anyway you still have time to work on what you need obsidian and thanks for any help and input.
I decided to rebuild my personal textures and scripts files to make them more organised. they got way out of controll from adding new textures and shaders I have made over the years. And since I learned to add my .shader to the shaderlist.txt I need to clean it all up anyway.
Will take a day or so see you guys in a few.

Post by **Magnus** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 1:26 pm

OK, I got all my stuff straight and ready ot go.

I'm gonns do some work now on the width and height of all the halls again later today.

Hey, I had an idea. I think we should probably stick with this one CTFPTM event for now, but what about a possible ptm map pack event?

Good idea? Bad idea? You could have a larger team so those that have always wanted to get into a PTM, but couldn't yet would havea chance to get in on it.

You could have a couple of mappers do the alpha and general blocking for gameplay and flow, and a couple do lighting and trim, and a couple doing texturing and items.

Anyway just a thought. So anyone else done any work on the CTFPTM in the last few days?

Everyone still onboard?

OK, later

Post by **ix-ir** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 5:27 pm

Hey, I've been resizing and modifying the brushwork a bit although it's not really finished.

http://www.box.net/shared/4yfgfjxhbb

It still needs a lot of resizing and making areas more interesting, particularly the room between the base and the middle needs to be larger and have less steep approaches (like flights of stairs at 90 degrees to the current corridor angles or bounce pads). Most of the brushwork's been tidied and put on an 8 unit grid. Some areas are just boxy now like the bottom left (mapping view) exit from the flag room, we need to make these areas into something with more gameplay, rooms with things going on rather than thin corridors. I've also generally removed the curved brushes, any detailing stuff like that needs to come after the areas have been finished.

Post by **boilingoil** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 8:21 pm

I'm still onboard.

I like what you've done so far ix-ir, clean brushwork and good open spaces (thanks for the input on my tourney map too!)

Still learning 3DS max too. The modeling part is easy, MaxScript is what's breaking my brain now.

Post by **dichtfux** » Fri Jul 27, 2007 9:21 pm

What about a pk3-file of the current version so others can giev it a try more easily?

Don't know whether that's due to my hasty compilation of the map, but the JPs didn't work for me.