Multi Stage Dune (CP) [B13] 13.0.1

TFBot Snipers and Engineers should function between rounds now. Again, I'll get 'round to creating new photos for the page, jus' shush.

Wanted to give a quick update on the bot hints: how their logic functions at the moment, it seems as if Sniper and Engi TFBots often want to leave the stage their on in favor of existing in previous stages. I'll look into a fix for this later on tomorrow and push a patch.

Hey, so fun fact: CompilePal never actually compiled either LDR or HDR cubemaps for me. Thought maybe it bugged out at having to switch between LDR to HDR, but apparently it never even did LDR to start. With that said, previous bsp files would only have HDR cubemaps, and an attempt to make LDR cubemaps resulted in crashing because the file was already packed twice over. Now I know: Full basic compile, then build each of the cubemaps myself, then pack+repack. My bad!

Additionally, despite these point entities existing in Mercenary Park, sniper spots are considered obsolete, I guess. I resolved this issue by using the brush entity func_tfbot_hint and marking specifically for snipers. I do recall on previous maps of mine that this method actually worked, and TFBot snipers would consider these spots. TFBot Engineers seem to work alright with their respective point entities, and there wasn't necessarily a need for the nest point entity. Of course, feel free to test that out if you can deduce the lack thereof impacts them harshly or not.

Finally, I've gotten myself a laptop, both to use professionally for work at a later point, and for personal use, such as stress-testing maps. Upon playing Dune on the laptop, I was averaging out 30-60 FPS; ideally, the additional skybox brushes atop rooftops should help block some visleafs in the calculations. We'll see how that unfolds, and if anyone has any recommendations on how to help the FPS if it is a severe issue, feel free to let me know!

Added tfbot_hint entities in the map for recommended sentry, teleporter, and sniper spots. Also tweaked respawn wave times a bit, and added more skybox brushes around the map to block more visleaves, hopefully.

Images will be updated soonish!

Eyo folks, last test went very, "eh," but there was still some useful insight provided in some comments and the TF2Maps Discord.

Preview images will be updated in due time, looking to take it easy today!

OPTIMIZATION:

• Brushes have been trimmed down.
• The control points no longer have brushes made of func_brushes, and are now made of one/two func_details which both should help performance and looks generally better. AKA, less ents is good, I think.

GAMEPLAY:

GENERAL

• Adjusted cap times and respawn wave times.
• Adjusted the layout of a few flanks in all stages.
• Fixed some clipping problems.

FIRST STAGE

• The flank behind the Data Center has been opened up to RED.
• The flank in front of the Data Center has slightly less cover for more wiggle room.
• The small health pack by the tires at point B has been removed.
• Point A now has a capture time of 19.
• Point B now has a capture time of 9.
• BLU's spawn door triggers have been decreased in size.
• BLU's respawn wave while A isn't captured is 6, while RED's is 7.
• BLU's respawn wave while B isn't captured is 0, while RED's is 9.

SECOND STAGE

• The sightline outside the fort's front entrance looking at point C has been opened up to provide more wiggle room for BLU coming out of the big garage door.
• The battlements by point C are now open in the back, opening the area a bit more and providing another flank.
• The upper peeky gap at point C looking down on point D is now sealed off.
• Health and ammo on the outside path to point D have been lowered to medium packs.
• The sightline looking down the lane from point D has been opened more to make the Bunker more useful.
• Point D is now moved into the corner of the Bunker's exterior area, forcing BLU into a corner.
• RED has more cover at point D to help them hold a defense and hide from the lower peeky gap.
• RED now has more health and ammo on each side of the Bunker.
• Point C now has a capture time of 27, and point D now has a capture time of 7.
• BLU's respawn wave while C isn't captured is 7, while RED's is 3.
• BLU's respawn wave while D isn't captured is 0, while RED's is 7.

FINAL STAGE

• The rocket building's interior has a wall protecting RED's spawn exit.
• RED has more cover around point E, but at the cost of less value in health and ammo nearby.
• RED has a full health and ammo pack nearby spawn, protected by said cover.
• The middle ground between bases now has a medium health and ammo instead of large ones.
• BLU's respawn wave while E isn't captured is 3, while RED's is 0.

Apparently you could build in the dip in the center of the sand in BLU's spawn at the Final Stage, right in front of the small exit doorway. Pulled it downward, should be fixed!

Fixed a gap issue in a wall near point B's left-hand flank, behind the Data Center, basically. Tiny lil' thing I noticed compared to what I could only assume to be a rope spazzing out, moving so quickly and rapidly I could see the pixels in the blur. Visual bug? Not sure. It was coincidentally the rope over that left-hand flank. I think it's gone; I simply removed the rope. Couldn't narrow down if it was the move rope or the keyframe-whatever.

Added another view onto point D from point C, as well as fixed a nodraw brush being visible in the fort front entrance in the Second Stage.

First Stage had fencing near BLU spawn that, while had player clipping covering it, bullets and projectiles could pass through. Should be fixed now, will be updated to b3b for the testing queue.

Quick patch to adjust the filename scheme; gonna go with beta (letter) (number) from now on. Should be the last of the patching I have to do for a while, hopefully.