Desolation - Back from the dead!

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
Desolation - RC1 Released! Arena, CP, CTF, KOTH, Push

Doctor, it's....it's....it's ALIVE!
So about a year and a half ago I released the first beta of Desolation as an arena map. I then took a break from it to work on other things, and then a break from mapping altogether, then I went clinically insane for awhile. During this time my hard drives died (never use raid 0) and I thought that it, along with a dozen other maps I was working on, were gone forever. Then, I remembered my old friend vmex :D Now, all this time later, I have brought Desolation BACK FROM THE DEAD (insert TF2 ghost here). Desolation is a small desert map focusing on multi-tiered terrain and vertical gameplay with complex routing. The map bounds may be small, but there's a lot of playing area/walkable surfaces packed in there.

RC1 Release

Changelog:
*made proper spawns
*adjusted hinting/portaling
*removed some clutter
*adjusted time to cap in cp version
*set some models to have a mindxlevel
*fix some visual cracks
*soundscapes
*koth version has proper paking
*push version now has a cp under intel start point that changes color based on who is carrying the intel

DOWNLOAD

arena_desolation_b2a0012.jpg


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DOWNLOAD
 
Last edited:

Botervloot

L1: Registered
Feb 28, 2009
21
2
The colour correction doesn't fit TF2. It's all too yellow.

Don't get me wrong. For the rest, it looks very nice.
 

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
updates, check first post. i changed lighting alot and would like suggestions please
 

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
I really need feedback on the lighting, I'm ready to release the second beta, just need to compile each gametype. I've assembled five different color corrections for this map and am having trouble deciding between them. Here is the current lighting with no CC:

DesBeta2_BaseLighting.jpg


And here are the different color corrections:

DesBeta2_CC1.jpg

Des_Beta2_CC2.jpg

DesBeta2_CC3.jpg

DesBeta2_CC4.jpg

Des_Beta2_CC5.jpg


Sorry the camera got knocked around a bit on the last one.
The bare lighting, second CC, and last CC look the best to me. I really need advice on this, people did not like the last lighting I posted :D Please give any feedback at all. Thanks!
 

Nineaxis

Quack Doctor
aa
May 19, 2008
1,767
2,820
To be honest I like it best with no color correction.

Only a couple official maps use it, I see no thematic or visual reason to use it on such a small map.
 

Mr. Happy

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 16, 2008
320
158
Thanks alot to everyone here and elsewhere that has commented! I am proud to finally, after a week of not wanting to tie my computer up with half a dozen compiles, a month since the last update, and nearly two years since beta 1, at this time, release BETA TWO!!11!1!!!1 Nineaxis, the main reason to use color_correction is that it's easy to setup, fun to play with, and I wanted to? I find that while vrad has beautiful radiosity calculations and the engine a beautiful renderer lighting often will lack depth, or punch. For that reason I use at least a basic levels CC on pretty much everything. Besides that, I'd been told (especially dissappointingly by friends in the industry) that in some versions the lighting was boring and unoriginal. Besides that I feel that the current CC better expresses a feeling of desolation, maybe that's just me. At any rate, if you didn't think the yellow version looked good, well, you don't want to see some of my experiments with lighting alone. I find it's much easier to create this kind of exaggerated look, if it's desirable, by applying CC to a basically lit map rather than trying to find the perfect non-alien looking light values. At the very least there's a noticeable increase in texture detail if you go in game, bring up the ui, and turn it on and off due to the levels.

August 18th 2010 - Beta 2 Released! :D

What more can I say? Download it, play it, feedback it! :D
This release contains five flavors: Arena, CP, CTF, Koth, and Push. Push is a rarely used gametype you may remember from the TFC map of the same name: there is a single, neutral, intel in the middle of the map which you must carry to the ENEMY base to score a point. As far as I know this is the only TF2 map that supports this many gametypes.

I have also put together a rar file of .bz2 files for server admins. Click this sentence for it.

Screenshots ho!

push_desolation_b20050.jpg


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DOWNLOAD DOWNLOAD DOWNLOAD!! :D

Download Beta 2!
 
Last edited:

re1wind

aa
Aug 12, 2009
644
588
The colour correction is, if i may say so: Rather disgusting. You've turned tf2's colourful style into an ugly and eye-hurting brown smear. Congratulations... o_o
 
Sep 12, 2008
1,272
1,141
It looks like an old photograph that's been laying in the sun after it has been jarate'd on (yeah, it smells terrible too). It might be cool for screenshots, but I don't see how this might work ingame.
 

Scotland Tom

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 19, 2008
332
64
I've got to agree with those who've posted before me. The color correction is terrifically, eye-meltingly bad. Seriously, drop the color correction entirely. Just don't bother with it. It's ruining an otherwise fine looking map.