[WIP] tc_meridian

[Shmitz]

[GET BETA 3 HERE!]



There aren't too many changes since beta 2. The biggest and most important one, however, is that the CTF hud now works. I really need feedback on how this impacts the balance of each round combination, and whether or not one side becomes favored as a result of the fact that now everyone can tell where the flags are.

 

[Cerious]

Brilliant! Optimize it even more and you can even have my babies.

 

[Shmitz]

FPSB Page, in case anyone finds that site useful.

 

[Rexy]

O:

Sounds great! Glad valve finally made us power users!

 

[Shadow Monkey]

Your map is awesome....
I like the tropic style with the little houses on the island....awesome.

 

[Spike]

I should play this map

 

[zpqrei]

I'm going to play this map now! Looks AMAZING!

 

[PMAvers]

One of my players found this while running around by themselves:

 

[Shmitz]

I take it that he sticky jumped up there?

 

[The Asylum]

I've always found Snipers to be a little useless in this map, with the exception of BLU's base defense round

 

[Acegikmo]

I haven't played this map enough to comment on the gameplay.
The only thing I don't like so far is that some areas are a bit too dark.

Also; how did you reskin those rocks without having the next map get that skin too?

 

[FreeLance_FoX]

I just walked through B3 and OH MY. I was reminded once more why Meridian is my favorite map in existence. Honestly you've made great strides in playability, and honestly if I had a server to offer I think I could run Meridian 50/50 with another great custom and have an incredibly popular, unique server.

I love the heat mirage effect you added in the Robot base. It's very clean looking but it surprised me at first, to say the least. The HUD was inevitable but the fact that you've pulled it off makes me VERY excited. It means that at the least Valve has taken note of you, and I'd like nothing more than to see this released as an official Community map. ^^

 

[Shmitz]

I haven't played this map enough to comment on the gameplay.
The only thing I don't like so far is that some areas are a bit too dark.

Also; how did you reskin those rocks without having the next map get that skin too?

I decompiled the rocks so that I could give them a new set of skins (and also so that I could create the rock "door" in the Village/Volcano round). So the rocks with the volcanic-rock texture are actually different models than the stock rocks.

As for the darkness, which areas do you consider too dark? Could you take a few screenshots?

 

[Acegikmo]

Along the cave walls it's a bit dark:

It's a bit dark down here:

And right outside that spawn there's a pillar that's kind of annoying as you exit the spawn:

A little too dark here too:

There are a few more places, but I didn't take any more screenshots.

Also, the little structure that the intel is on top of can be annoying to walk into. Consider disabling collision on it and add a playerclip cone that you can walk over.

Other than that it's a great effort
Also; how much modeling skills do you need to decompile and recompile with a new texture?

 

[GrimGriz]

I've decided to run Meridian 27/4 on my server for this entire week (unless a mapper with admin hops on and runs a quick test of their map), just to see what happens.

As with any custom map I put on my server Shmitz, that means I'll also give you admins if you pm me your steam ID. I've never actually played the map myself, but since everyone seems to love it I'm curious what running it 24/7 will do to my server stats

 

[uma plata]

I've decided to run Meridian 27/4 on my server for this entire week

Bitchin. I'm there

Haven't tried the latest version with the hud changes yet, but that was really my only gripe with previous versions. Very excited

 

[Shmitz]

Also; how much modeling skills do you need to decompile and recompile with a new texture?

None, you can do it without opening any modeling program at all. The decompile can be tricky to get working (I've had to use a hex editor to change the file header so the decompiler would read it), but once decompiled, changing the material is simply a matter of find/replace in the SMD file, and changing the skin families in the QC file if you want to have multiple skins.

 

[Acegikmo]

None, you can do it without opening any modeling program at all. The decompile can be tricky to get working (I've had to use a hex editor to change the file header so the decompiler would read it), but once decompiled, changing the material is simply a matter of find/replace in the SMD file, and changing the skin families in the QC file if you want to have multiple skins.

Could you link me/write me a small tutorial?
It would be really helpful for adding custom skins for the snow theme

 

[TheDarkerSideofYourShadow]

Could you link me/write me a small tutorial?
It would be really helpful for adding custom skins for the snow theme

This is a copy/paste of something I sent another member earlier. I guess I could write it up in tutorial format later. Should work. If you get an error, let me know, and I'll try and fix it.



*************

What you need to do is decompile the models, which will give them to you in smd form. For getting smds into max, I think you'll need a pluggin, but I'm not sure (I used XSI when I was modeling).

You'll need three programs:
Notepad++ (or some similar editor)
Cannon Fodder's StudioCompiler
GFCScape

You can find the StudioCompiler here, though I haven't used that link myself, so I don't know how safe it is: http://www.chaosincarnate.net/cannon...iocompiler.php

Place the StudioCompiler in scourcesdk/bin/ep1/bin folder (Consider making a shortcut to someplace more useful for you). After installing Notepad++, right click on StudioCompiler and click "Edit with Notepad++." Do a search for the line "ToolsAppId" and change it to "FoolsAppId". StudioCompiler will now work correctly.

Now, extract the model you want to change from the gfc file using GFCScape. Make sure to extract all the files that have the model's name in it (there are usually 4-5). If you're editing the model, I also suggest extracting the texture. Where ever you save it, I suggest you make a subfolder there to house the decompiled model.

Now, go to the .mdl file, and open that with Notepad++ just like you edited the program. The very first line will say either "IDST." or "IDST0", delete the last character and replace it with a "," so it will look like "IDST,". Save the file.

Load up the model with Studio Compiler (need to have steam running), and go to the Decompile Tab. Change it so that the only box checked is "Do Not Fix rotations on animations." Then select the .mdl file and the destination. It should work, though there have been a few occasions where I had problems (this is somewhat of a hack job anyways).

This should produce several files for you, different .smds and a .qc file. You're interested in the .smd, though if you just want to scale a model like I've been doing, all the changes can be made in the .qc.

That should be everything. If you have any issues, let me know, and I'll see what I can do.

 

[Acegikmo]

Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow!