PL Escarpment

We played b3 yesterday 12vs12 for 40 Minutes. Second cap is almost impossible to reach except team red is a bunch of noobs. But your changes sound good :thumbup1:

Alright, first off, the laser at the back looks like it has mipmap issues, which I'm sure of you've noticed. The AO should be baked with enough edge padding to ensure mipmaps render correctly. (4 for 512x512, 8 for 1024x1024, 16 for 2048x2048, etc)



There's a massive sightline at blue's first spawn which has always made me feel really really uncomfortable as a medic ever venturing out here.



As for the issue of making the back flank path at second a little more obvious.

People normally turn right if possible if they're unsure where they're going, and at every point where you could reach the back path, you're faced with a left turn.



You could probably make it less of an issue if you removed the cliff that blocks the view of the flank route. The way you have it now, the players keep right, and the only way they'll see the flank path here is if they look left at the spot where they're most likely to get getting shot.



In addition to removing/altering that cliff that blocks view of the path, you could also take the waterfall you have in the back path, and make a stream flow out of the area and connecting to the main path, this would atleast give players more of a reason to turn and face that area.

Selentic said:

As for the issue of making the back flank path at second a little more obvious.

People normally turn right if possible if they're unsure where they're going, and at every point where you could reach the back path, you're faced with a left turn.

Click to expand...

That screenshot alone really shows the issue that whole other path has - you just can't know it's there unless you walk into what looks like a dead end. That's one place where chicken wire would actually be useful as well to at least show the door.

The BLU arrow pointing to the right does not make it any more obvious there's a path back there, all it does is make people immediately turn to the right even more.

to piggy back what trotim is saying...

if you worked on your lighting you could also solve problems like this ^^

I see no exterior lights, at all... no where... they don't need to be on, but just because it is a daytime map doesn't mean you shouldn't add exterior lighting

So you don't forget

USE IT!

Something that stood out to me, without even looking for it, is that for an all-wood map there's no sign of wear and tear anywhere. No use of those broken-wood textures anywhere or even the "woodhole" overlays that keep the wood from just looking like a uniform texture. 2fort even has actual physical holes in some places where it doesn't leave a place to shoot through. Something to think about.

If you're looking for someone to texture your laser, I volunteer, if you don't already have major plans for finishing it.

Maps lookin great Aly. Just got a couple of issues I found:


That light fixture looks like you can jump on it, but it has no collision. It would be nice to use that as a way to reduce your fall and avoid taking fall damage, which you currently can't do from up here.



Red team being able to go back into their spawn even after point 2, during 3 and also during point 4. eek. pl_upward is a good reference. It does a one-way out after 2. and a kill trigger after 3.



(while cart headed for point 2) relatively easy for a Blue engi to sneak right past here and start building at the final cap if the flank isn't guarded. You could make it riskier to sneak past if you opened up the top door near red spawn instead.



I feel the cubby down there could use a medium/full metal instead of health and possibly a route up into the building with the 3 windows. would be nice for engi, as well as spy!

This map is looking really great. I love the lighting, the blending and the use of trees in the main combat areas.

Haven't had time to try it yet, but the screenshots make it look great!

OK, here are my assessments so far:

First off, I like the additional touches you've added to the detailing. That's what I really meant when I said that stuff about woodhole overlays: the map seemed monotonous and repetitive from all the identical wood walls. The new signs and props have freshened it up nicely.

Secondly, the tonemap controller might need to be tweaked. Some things in the outdoor areas seem overly bright, like the sand and the top of the stump and especially that dam.

Thirdly, the wooden beams. It looks like you used the regular wood plank textures almost exclusively for them instead of the solid plank textures, and it's led to a lot of beams with slits running all the way from one end to the other. That's what the "woodbeam" textures were meant to be for (at least the shorter ones; the longer ones just need to be checked and realigned). I wish I'd noticed this sooner, because they're going to be a huge pain to fix at this point if you're so inclined. I don't know how Valve's maps stack up in this regard.

Finally, a few things I caught: The water barrel in BLU's spawn is nonsolid for some reason; I'm guessing that's a bug.



The dustmotes are just sort of clouding around the light in all directions. I don't think that's how they're supposed to work. There are a few of these. Also, the shadowing on those barrels is awkward; I would recommend disabling vertex shading on them and a couple others I found.



There's a visible nodraw in this ceiling. (And uh, yeah, I found your little balloon friend. Both of them. They kind of stand out thanks to the dynamic lighting.)

This is a really good looking map, god job Aly

I promise we didn't touch the bell while playing it /evil face

You need to add triggers under the doors that close when a point is captured, that prevent them from closing if someone is standing there. I got stuck in a closed door during yesterday's gameday.