Trainyard (working title)

DjD

L5: Dapper Member
May 18, 2010
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55
KotH_Uplift_b1

DOWNLOAD NOW AVAILABLE




Hi !

This is my first actual map which isnt just some alignment of walls and props ;)
I'm looking forward to constructive criticism. Thanks in advance.

-DjD







Featuring:

-Elevators
-Poisonous water sourrounding the koth-point
-Night setting with proper lighting
-Various ways to the middle point (e.g. ventilation shafts)

Future plans:

-Real trains driving through instead of static ones
-Better layout of the CP dungeon


EDIT: Now with new name and version b1: KotH_Uplift (formerly known as KotH_Trainyard)
 
Last edited:
Mar 23, 2010
1,872
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sounds interesting. Elevators are usually looked down upon as they slow combat and they can only be used by one person at a time (as the other person is just left waiting).
 

Seba

DR. BIG FUCKER, PHD
aa
Jun 9, 2009
2,364
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The first thing I notice is 'elevators' and 'poisonous water'. These are usually bad in TF2, unless done very carefully. The second thing is, you have tons of glass in your map. This can be a good thing, but in your case it seems a bit overdone.

P.S.
I don't think that a gardening shelf in a concrete/metal room is very thoughtful detailing ;)
 

DjD

L5: Dapper Member
May 18, 2010
230
55
First of all, thank you for your comments.

I know that elevators can be a problem in TF2, but dont have to be.
Therefore I constructed them so, that they are continously moving. If someone stands on the platform he does not have the control on it.
Players who try to stop them by standing between the elevators and the ground/ceiling simply get "crushed" ;)
Also, the way they go up and down is not that much and they move at an adequate speed, ensuring no slowdown of the gameplay. (I hope ;) )

EDIT: For clarification: The elevators I mentioned can be seen in the last screenshot.

The poisonous water was intended to be a hazard in which players who are capping can get pushed. If it doesnt work out well, I'll probably have to change it later.

The glass problem you speak about, well, it might be caused by the screenshots, because while playing the map it does not really turn out as too much glass brushes, at least not to me and some friends who tested it.

And of course, your right with the shelf in the red spawn. Gonna change that asap :D
 
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DjD

L5: Dapper Member
May 18, 2010
230
55
Hey,
so... I released the beta1 version today after fixing a couple of bugs.
You can download it now, but attention: You need the swamp theme pack in order to avoid the occurence of evil map errors. Fixed

I would be happy if you would try it and give me some feedback :)
 
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YM

LVL100 YM
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Dec 5, 2007
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but attention: You need the swamp theme pack in order to avoid the occurence of evil map errors.

Just so you know, you should never ever expect your map to get played anywhere ever if that is your stance.

It totally alienates the average player and the average server. The player will join "wtf errors everywhere" and leave. the server will look at it then see you need extra content and wont consider putting it on their server because players will do exactly what I rescribed above.

You absolutely must pak everything needed to run the map into the map itself Otherwise no one will bother checking it out. I know I have most of, if not all of the swamp pack but I don't want to have to double check before running this map.
And what if it's in one of our gamedays and people are playing fine then this map comes on, a bunch of people haven't got the swamp pack for whatever reason... then they're just going to leave.

anyhow, tl;dr: Pak the content into your map or expect it to crash and burn.
 

VIVA LA NWO

L2: Junior Member
Apr 6, 2010
74
36
I don't know why (TF2 just crashes) but I'm unable to load this map on a listen server and I'm fairly not interested in setting up a dedicated server to try this. Can you investigate and see if the map works for you? Other, non-valve maps work, so I'm not sure why I'm crashing.
 

DjD

L5: Dapper Member
May 18, 2010
230
55
well for me it works, might be a problem with compiling... gonna upload another version in the next 5 mins

EDIT: Uploaded an updated version which should work properly now. I'd be happy if you could try it out. thx
 
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redcommunism

L2: Junior Member
Feb 13, 2010
57
12
The other downside to elevators is that both ends can be camped easily with sentries. The concept is interesting though. Go for the real trains
 

StickZer0

💙💙💃💙💙
aa
Nov 25, 2008
664
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"Attempting to create unknown particle system 'goo_bubble' " is spammed constantly in the console. Did you forget to pak it?
Heh.

koth_uplift0000.jpg

The lighting isn't very tf2 - it's not so much the block blue/red that's doing it, it's that garish yellow. Maybe some white spotlights with slightly smaller outer cones would help with the atmosphere?

koth_uplift0001.jpg

I see sunlight...

koth_uplift0002.jpg

... but not sun.
You can see this at the mid as well, the light_environment has a daytime sort of colour when it's clearly night time - change either the skybox or the light_environment!

koth_uplift0003.jpg

Put all of these faces into the same smoothing group, that should help with the odd lighting

koth_uplift0004.jpg

This light is very harsh, but i'm not sure how easy that would be to fix seeing as the light on the walls looks fairly natural

koth_uplift0005.jpg

You have a door prop going through the wall ;)

koth_uplift0006.jpg

These electrical sparks were quite offputting - make them spark once every 10 - 20 seconds instead of all the time, that will make it seem more interesting and less annoying

koth_uplift0007.jpg

This is my nemesis in this map.
Firstly, the water has no clear indication it's a death pit, because I can assure you that players are not going to spend their time reading the itty bitty signs ;)
Secondly, there's no cover or height variation, it's very boring to be in.
Third, there's three entrances for each team - one which is campable, on which gives you fall damage half of the time, and is shut the other half, and a third which always gives you fall damage and both teams will be using.
Fourth, there is only one exit, and you have to wait for it to appear. Players don't like dying because of map elements that slowed them down.

Basically, I don't see why you don't use
koth_uplift0008.jpg

that as your cap. If you lowered it a little bit, made it a bit wider, added a tiny bit of cover and put health inside it, that would be a much more fun point to fight over.



Of course, if you want to keep the lower cap, then by all means do it, but I would suggest raising it a lot so players don't get fall damage from entering, removing the lift, adding some stairs and then placing some catwalks or something in it to make it a more interesting area to fight in!

Also, don't change the whole map just because I said so - it's your map ;)