cp_Midnightoil

Kronack

L2: Junior Member
Oct 26, 2009
74
4
I would like input and criticism on

  • Positioning of cover
  • Positioning of Health/Ammo packs
  • General layout

Also if you want the story and all that:

"The setting is an old abandoned Oil Refinery in the mountains. Why is it abandoned? Why is it in the mountains? Who knows! Who cares! All BLU knows is they found it just a few days after RED, and all RED knows is they don't want BLU mucking around in their affairs and taking the refinery for themselves."

WARNING! decompiling the map may result in blindness due to the VERY messy skybox brushes. I WILL be re doing the skybox very soon.

Also credit goes to DaBeatzProject for the skybox and Rexy for the forklift model!
 
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J4CK8

L11: Posh Member
Mar 4, 2009
820
243
It's way too dark even for a night time map. I can't really tell any part of the map but it did look like the final cap is way too close to the spawn room. Make it lighter and post some screenshots so we can see what it looks like :)
 

Attsy

L3: Member
Jan 31, 2010
110
29
All of then points seem really close together, I suggest moving them farther apart, as well as adding some props for cover, as it seems really open atm.

Also playerclip those stairs to make it more like a ramp (or just make it a ramp as many mappers do for the alpha stages).

It seems like there's a few corridors in there which don't play well in tf2 at all (mainly coming out of spawn, and around the second point).

Lastly, whats up with the name? Midnight Oil?

I'm loving that section by the second point though. As well as the skybox. Is it custom? Or have I never noticed that awesome moon/sky before in other night maps.

This is defiantly a map I'd love to see on gameday.
 
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tyler

aa
Sep 11, 2013
5,102
4,621
It's going to be a night map, there will be proper lighting later on, but right now I only need just enough to show the structure of the map.

If you dont want to put in light props, just add generic light entities all over. It's way too dark to even run around in, at least for me.
 

Ost

L2: Junior Member
Jun 26, 2009
61
32
Haven't played (can't, atm) it, and the OP didn't upload screenies so...

But anywho, don't

1. Just use props for cover. Work with map geometry in order to break up long sightlines. Props can be used for minor cover.

2. Add lights everywhere or wait with lights until later stages. If the point is, as you said, to show of the maps structure why have the map so dark people can't see what is going on? Just up the brightness on the light_environment. Night maps are all about using lighting in a proper way with correct textures and skybox - not making the map really fucking dark and then adding lights.

Good night.
 

Terwonick

L6: Sharp Member
Aug 25, 2010
278
190
It's way too dark even for a night time map. I can't really tell any part of the map but it did look like the final cap is way too close to the spawn room. Make it lighter and post some screenshots so we can see what it looks like :)

I love how when VALVe makes a map with the spawn 10-20 feet from the last point you LOVE them for it, and don't complain. BUT when this guy does it, it's a problem (small, but you still think it's a problem)

I vote leave the spawn where it is, but add another exit.
 

Kronack

L2: Junior Member
Oct 26, 2009
74
4
New map is available for download, with more lighting and much more visibility. Added a wall here and there to try and increase travel time a bit more. Not much more I can do until I have time tomorrow. Will also be expanding the two thin hallways leading to each bases final point. Also thanks to Ravidge for creating a lighting library!

All of then points seem really close together, I suggest moving them farther apart, as well as adding some props for cover, as it seems really open atm.

Also playerclip those stairs to make it more like a ramp (or just make it a ramp as many mappers do for the alpha stages).

It seems like there's a few corridors in there which don't play well in tf2 at all (mainly coming out of spawn, and around the second point).

Lastly, whats up with the name? Midnight Oil?

I'm loving that section by the second point though. As well as the skybox. Is it custom? Or have I never noticed that awesome moon/sky before in other night maps.

This is defiantly a map I'd love to see on gameday.

Added a wall here and there to try and increase travel time, will most likely do a lot more tomorrow. Was hoping that with a few cleverly placed props and brushes I could manage to create good cover for both sides and increase travel time to each point.

The skybox is from DaBeatzProject could have sworn I gave him credit in the original, editing if not :).

The name? I dunno, hah. It's an old abandoned oil refinery at night, and I just rememebered the saying "Burning the midnight oil" so I thought why not, :)

Heading to work soon, so won't be able to get any more work done until tomorrow.
 

J4CK8

L11: Posh Member
Mar 4, 2009
820
243
I love how when VALVe makes a map with the spawn 10-20 feet from the last point you LOVE them for it, and don't complain. BUT when this guy does it, it's a problem (small, but you still think it's a problem)

I vote leave the spawn where it is, but add another exit.

I'll be honest and say I don't really like half of their maps anyway for one reason or another... In most 5cp maps it seems you have to leave spawn, walk a few feet then do a 90-180 turn to gain access to the point which is good. By the look of the video, in this map you can just exit spawn and fire straight onto the point like in Fastlane, which tends to be stalemate on the last point whenever I play it.

Anyway, onto the screenshot: Make your stairs 12x8 units but the lighting looks ok, and the geomatry looks good although possibly a bit open, depending on which point is it. Also, I like the name :)
 

Confidence Man

L1: Registered
Jun 26, 2009
47
6
I'll be honest and say I don't really like half of their maps anyway for one reason or another... In most 5cp maps it seems you have to leave spawn, walk a few feet then do a 90-180 turn to gain access to the point which is good. By the look of the video, in this map you can just exit spawn and fire straight onto the point like in Fastlane, which tends to be stalemate on the last point whenever I play it.

It looks like you have to at least walk around a wall after you exit the spawn to get a shot at the point, which is more than you have to do in Fastlane or Dustbowl final cap anyway.

As long as the player spawn positions are far enough back it doesn't look like it should be any worse than something like Well.
 

Mr.Blob

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Jun 12, 2009
573
249
First impressions massive snipers lines, very open.
But it looks good regardless!
 

Kronack

L2: Junior Member
Oct 26, 2009
74
4
C'mon guys, can use any input you all have since I seriously doubt this is ready for beta. Any hallways need changed? How are the sight lines? Is it still too dark to see? Do I need to reposition the medkits/ammo packs? Can't update it without input and I have 4 days in a row off next week so I need something to keep me occupied, haha.
 

Eyce

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 13, 2010
370
225
C'mon guys, can use any input you all have since I seriously doubt this is ready for beta. Any hallways need changed? How are the sight lines? Is it still too dark to see? Do I need to reposition the medkits/ammo packs? Can't update it without input and I have 4 days in a row off next week so I need something to keep me occupied, haha.

It's pretty flat. Each CP really doesn't have a hook for the player to say "This looks worth fighting for" or anything to really have an interesting fight at.

Looking at the runthrough you did with the scout, the two routes to the final CP come from the same room, with the longest one you ran down first can easily be held down by soldier spam.

CP2 looks awkward to get onto, you're a scout and you had an issue getting onto the point. Put some stairs up or something.

The windows at mid are far too high and awkwardly place to be of any real benefit to use while fighting at mid, Justin Bieber would hit puberty before a projectile hits the ground from up there.

You have some amazingly long sets of stairs. They're generally kept fairly short in one direction for a reason in most maps, because 1. They give a crapton of height advantage to a player and 2. they're rather boring to ascend and descend on regularly.

As some people here have said, the prop spam for cover is generally fine in small doses, anything like this is really screaming for some redesigning of rooms or brushwork.

It's a generally negative review but you'll be able to put something pretty decent together in the future- If you want some inspiration, check out how that ctf map in my sig started out from and see where it got to :p

Edit: +1 for the naming of the map after an Australian Band. :p
 

Kronack

L2: Junior Member
Oct 26, 2009
74
4
It's pretty flat. Each CP really doesn't have a hook for the player to say "This looks worth fighting for" or anything to really have an interesting fight at.

Looking at the runthrough you did with the scout, the two routes to the final CP come from the same room, with the longest one you ran down first can easily be held down by soldier spam.

CP2 looks awkward to get onto, you're a scout and you had an issue getting onto the point. Put some stairs up or something.

The windows at mid are far too high and awkwardly place to be of any real benefit to use while fighting at mid, Justin Bieber would hit puberty before a projectile hits the ground from up there.

You have some amazingly long sets of stairs. They're generally kept fairly short in one direction for a reason in most maps, because 1. They give a crapton of height advantage to a player and 2. they're rather boring to ascend and descend on regularly.

As some people here have said, the prop spam for cover is generally fine in small doses, anything like this is really screaming for some redesigning of rooms or brushwork.

It's a generally negative review but you'll be able to put something pretty decent together in the future- If you want some inspiration, check out how that ctf map in my sig started out from and see where it got to :p

Edit: +1 for the naming of the map after an Australian Band. :p

Hmmm, I have some ideas on how to fix some of the things you mentioned, but not sure about it overall. Think I should scrap it for now and try working on something anew or is this still salvageable?

Thanks for the input, either way :)