Pylon

hach-que

L1: Registered
Feb 2, 2010
12
0
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Hi everyone, Pylon is my first map. I'm working on a multiple capture point version of it, so feedback is appreciated (next map will be larger than this).

EDIT: Updated to add lighting / optimization.

Enjoy :)
 
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Tapp

L10: Glamorous Member
Jan 26, 2009
776
215
While I have not played through this map yet, there seems to be one key issue with it, and that is its defining feature. Combat on the pylons, or rather the stairs, would quickly form into pyro spam. It is very difficult to move on those stairs, and most combat areas should be at least 512 units. People climbing have an insurmountable climbing distance, combined with infinitely short sight lines and the edge of the stairs. I can't imagine play forming into anything other than pyros repeatedly hitting the airblast button and getting shot down by ground-level snipers. That is, of course, my cynical view. The ground-level combat could work quite well, though being able to see the enemy spawn is a large downside. If you really want to keep the pylon, widen it and allow players to fight inside it. Try to keep stairs short, and vertical changes, while very good for gameplay in general, slow players down.
 

strangemodule

L5: Dapper Member
Sep 10, 2009
223
59
You must construct additional...oh forget it.

This map looks really sniper-friendly. The Pylon capture point itself would fare better as the 2nd/4th cp in a 5-cp map.
 
Aug 10, 2009
1,240
399
I demand a sequel. I will demonstrate how to construct it.
1) make 50,000 pylons throughout the map.
2) Carve all the pylons into a giant brush and delete all the pylons
3) Carve the carved brush into a brush of equal size.

In all seriousness this needs structure and flow. Hence why I abandoned such pretenses.
 

hach-que

L1: Registered
Feb 2, 2010
12
0
It appears that would be the case, however, snipers can easily kill off pyros and the other classes work quite well in it.

You'll notice that the enemy spawn is also hidden behind the pylon, so you can't directly see the enemy spawn entrance from your own spawn entrance - i.e. you can't just spam heavies from there, though I have noticed that heavies can cause a bit of a problem during gameplay as they are fairly hard to get off a pylon (especially in games with low numbers of people when the heavy has a sandvich).

It hasn't been tested with a large number of people (greater than 6?), but I think it should still work quite well for a large number of players from the experience I've had testing it with lower numbers.

cp_pylons is/will be a much larger map with 4 control points, 4096x4096, in which the first 3 pylons also move up and down to shake things up a bit (it gets very interesting when trying to attack from pylon to pylon).
 

Hellfire

L9: Fashionable Member
Jul 9, 2008
601
142
why is it fullbright and without cubemaps? for a map that takes 10 minutes to make and 15 seconds to compile thats.. wierd.
 

hach-que

L1: Registered
Feb 2, 2010
12
0
Cubemaps? o_O

It actually takes a few minutes to compile.. ThreadComputeLeafAmbient takes ages ._.
 

hach-que

L1: Registered
Feb 2, 2010
12
0
They will be whatever the box/arch tool defaults to, which I believe is func_detail.

But the lack of cubemaps explains why the control point has that purple checker on it.
 

Hellfire

L9: Fashionable Member
Jul 9, 2008
601
142
/facepalm/
the are ALL brushes by default...
try VIEW->Load Portal File and see the MESS you made
 

hach-que

L1: Registered
Feb 2, 2010
12
0
No need to facepalm, it's my first map >_>

Load Portal File seems to be under the Map menu and it's asking me for a .prt file, which I don't have (To be honest I thought those menu entries were something used in creating maps for Portal, since I've heard it has a modified physics engine).
 

fubarFX

The "raw" in "nodraw"
aa
Jun 1, 2009
1,720
1,978
well, I won't go into details here but func_detail will greatly increase the compile speed of your map. see vvis is the process that calculates visibility and detailed stuff are a pain in the ass for vvis. so yeah, start by puting the pylons and stairs on func_detail with alt+t and then start reading up a little bit on optimization.
proper optimization will make your compile sooo much faster.
 

Steff0o

L6: Sharp Member
May 31, 2009
295
132
well, I won't go into details here but func_detail will greatly increase the compile speed of your map.

He doesnt run vvis in the first place :p
otherwis he would have a portal file
idk why you leaf ambient takes ages, course you dont have lightning D:
 

strangemodule

L5: Dapper Member
Sep 10, 2009
223
59
He doesnt run vvis in the first place :p
otherwis he would have a portal file
idk why you leaf ambient takes ages, course you dont have lightning D:

IIRC you only need to run BSP to get a portalfile. That's the case for me, anyway.

Anyway, this map does need a lot of optimization, and there are a lot of guides on the internet.
 

Seba

DR. BIG FUCKER, PHD
aa
Jun 9, 2009
2,364
2,728
well, I won't go into details here but func_detail will greatly increase the compile speed of your map. see vvis is the process that calculates visibility and detailed stuff are a pain in the ass for vvis. so yeah, start by puting the pylons and stairs on func_detail with alt+t and then start reading up a little bit on optimization.
proper optimization will make your compile sooo much faster.

It's ctrl-t.

Also, in addition to what everyone else said, use this to get all the tutorials you need. F_D stuff, run VVIS, and listen to other mappers' feedback. As has been said, this could make for an interesting 2/4 point, if it wasn't as tall and/or had more access routes up to it.

Good luck ;)
 

lana

Currently On: ?????
aa
Sep 28, 2009
3,075
2,778
It appears that would be the case, however, snipers can easily kill off pyros and the other classes work quite well in it.

You'll notice that the enemy spawn is also hidden behind the pylon, so you can't directly see the enemy spawn entrance from your own spawn entrance - i.e. you can't just spam heavies from there, though I have noticed that heavies can cause a bit of a problem during gameplay as they are fairly hard to get off a pylon (especially in games with low numbers of people when the heavy has a sandvich).

It hasn't been tested with a large number of people (greater than 6?), but I think it should still work quite well for a large number of players from the experience I've had testing it with lower numbers.

cp_pylons is/will be a much larger map with 4 control points, 4096x4096, in which the first 3 pylons also move up and down to shake things up a bit (it gets very interesting when trying to attack from pylon to pylon).

Nein, nein, nein, nein, nein, nein, nein! Spawnrooms must always be separate areas that are inaccessible to the other team! What's stopping an engineer from building a sentry gun around the corner?
 

hach-que

L1: Registered
Feb 2, 2010
12
0
Nein, nein, nein, nein, nein, nein, nein! Spawnrooms must always be separate areas that are inaccessible to the other team! What's stopping an engineer from building a sentry gun around the corner?
Generally demomen and the health cabinet :p

I'll take a look at the optimization stuff and upload a new version.

I've run into a bit of a problem with cp_pylons. The game crashes whenever a player is facing the moving pylons, even if they can't directly see it. I don't know why it's doing this as I didn't make any changes and it was working previously (I closed Hammer and then loaded the autosave on the next time Hammer was started, but I wouldn't think that a corrupt autosave could cause the game to crash o_O). Anyway, if anyone has had crashes before, can you please check out my topic here.

EDIT: Added lighting.
 
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Bya

L1: Registered
Jan 23, 2010
46
8
You must construct additional pylons