[Contest Entry] Stovepipe Wells

TheDarkerSideofYourShadow

L10: Glamorous Member
Apr 12, 2008
792
286
I like the way it played today. The toughest part seems to be capturing the third point, but that might just have been because we had 3 soldiers spamming rockets from the top area over 2. The final area is WAY better now, since we saw a round were it was successfully captured, and another round where it was defended. I'm looking forward to playing this even more :-D
 

Void

Local Man Unable To Map, Sources Say
aa
Sep 14, 2008
1,865
2,972
Just fix that door that closes while someone is still under it and you'll have function down, then just work on detail.
 

FLOOR_MASTER

L3: Member
Mar 10, 2008
118
140
Glad you could join us in trying out a7. I know I had a very negative reaction to the map, but I should note that I really enjoyed your map in every prior test.

The difference tonight, which revealed (IMO) a major flaw in the map was the presence of one of our best snipers on the server. He was able to make use of numerous large sniper lanes in the map layout. All things being equal, the presence of a single competent sniper on one team will dramatically shift the balance in favor of that team. Here are a set of illustrations of some of the aforementioned sniper lanes:

pl_stovepipe1.jpg

pl_stovepipe2.jpg

pl_stovepipe3.jpg


Some of them can be fixed easily, e.g.:
pl_stovepipe5.jpg


In general, it's simply a case of adding obstacles, making alternate routes truly safe from sniper fire and facilitating BLU's ability to flank RED, etc.

What compounds the problem is RED's constant height advantage over BLU. I won't get into potential solutions to this since it goes hand-in-hand with addressing the sniper problem.

Spawn times could certainly be tweaked, as well as time added when a point is captured.

One other specific problem:
pl_stovepipe4.jpg


Looking forward to a8!
 
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TheDarkerSideofYourShadow

L10: Glamorous Member
Apr 12, 2008
792
286
Just one thing I thought of when I still saw people exiting the blu spawn and going the wrong way, have one of the pop up arrows in the middle of the path that looks down at b. I know how many arrows you have now, but that still isn't doing it. :-/
 

Nineaxis

Quack Doctor
aa
May 19, 2008
1,767
2,820
I'm moving BLU's entire forward spawn to face down the correct path when they come out the door, so that problem will be solved.
 

laghlagh

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 15, 2008
389
53
I think It would be more fun if there were more paths, and more houses were fully accesible. But I only got to play the last point though.
 
T

The Asylum

We played this right before pipeball, right? I think it's very well put together, though there's not much room for Scootan Gaems (which is one of the reasons why I'm not too fond of Badwater) aside from the beginning of the map.

the rest looks good and as far as I could tell balanced for every class, except for that one spot by the furthest left of the Blu spawn gates, that plateau where Fungineers could camp Sentries. But I'm sure that's already been addressed in this thread though.
 
Feb 14, 2008
1,051
931
Good job there hardhat!

You've done a fantastic job on it Nineaxis, if I had one criticism, it's that you could spruce up some of the walls around the final cap with windows, some of them are a bit plain to look convincingly inhabited.
 

YM

LVL100 YM
aa
Dec 5, 2007
7,135
6,056
having a look in just a moment - will report back with opinions

Edit: D: "You were killed by %Killername%" That doesn't sound good, I even got a death still when I jumped into the pit after it exploded... what kind of kill area are you using? valve use a trigger_multiple that sends an output to !activator (setHealth -1000) which works well when I tried it in halfacre.

Other than that it's looking very promising :thumbup1:
 
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Jan 31, 2008
555
1,482
I just noticed that the track layout is quite similar as it is in pl_repository :D

comparison.jpg


I'll test it on saturday ;)
 

Nineaxis

Quack Doctor
aa
May 19, 2008
1,767
2,820
having a look in just a moment - will report back with opinions

Edit: D: "You were killed by %Killername%" That doesn't sound good, I even got a death still when I jumped into the pit after it exploded... what kind of kill area are you using? valve use a trigger_multiple that sends an output to !activator (setHealth -1000) which works well when I tried it in halfacre.

Other than that it's looking very promising :thumbup1:

I don't know what is up, I did that...
 

Ravidge

Grand Vizier
aa
May 14, 2008
1,544
2,818
If it's just a one time thing I shouldn't be worried, I've gotten the same message a few times on regular valve maps. I've had %Nemesisname% pop up where it should say "New Nemesis!" on the killcam shot too.

But it has happend maybe 3 times in all my playtime so it was probably not a map error.
 

Nineaxis

Quack Doctor
aa
May 19, 2008
1,767
2,820
3186252443_e6872e5d19.jpg


Stovepipe Wells Beta 1
Download: TF2Maps.net or FPSBanana

Changes:
  • Detailed entire map
  • Added 3d skybox
  • Finished displacements
  • Adjusted health and ammo
  • Adjusted cart settings for smoother motion
  • Playerclipping
  • Soundscapes
  • Implemented explosion

3186252347_dc187f9d81_m.jpg
3187092196_c5346494fa_m.jpg
3186252625_bb0f648eff_m.jpg
3186252661_18a3bdf105_m.jpg
3187092154_81928fff2c_m.jpg
3186252483_d08818ae76_m.jpg
 
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Cerious

L420: High Member
Aug 10, 2008
455
133
Looks pretty solid, I'll provide feedback when I look through it.

EDIT:

-In the tunnel directly after point B, there is a floating rock. I'm sure you'll see it and I'm confused why you haven't spotted it yet too).
- Some things in this map make no sense whatsoever. Outside of Blu's first spawn, why is there a satellite dish on top of some rocks? No cables (which you need more of, by the way) linking it to anything, no sign of any building it could be on top of, nothing! And you have a few BLU logos inside buildings that RED has access to during setup (the cart travels through a building before the first point, and inside there is a BLU logo).
- This map seems very inspired by Badlands. I love your detailing work outside of the fenced areas during the first and second points.
- You seem to be very reliant on natural slopes. Good job on those, I like them a lot.
- Solve some clipping issues. I can recall a ton of instances where during the first and second points of the map there are a ton of little ledges that you can't simply walk over, but have to jump over even if they look like they are 6 inches high. And while you walk along some of the walls in this portion as well, the clipping blocks you from touching the wall completely.
- Your buildings in the third and final portions are extremely bland, open, and dull. In fact, most of your buildings suffer in this aspect. Look at Badwater, Badlands, and Granary; they all have great indoor sections that don't look dull, yet can support a large fight.
- While noclipping around, I noticed your skybox is excessively large. I don't know how to fix it, but it's just huge (and mostly empty too).
- On top of some of the plateaus and cliffs in your map, maybe place a few little detail shacks and buildings on top? It'll break the overall monotony and spice up your map a little.
- The playable areas in your map overall are near detail-less. Look at Badlands: there is the rock rubble all over that helps give some flavor to the otherwise bland map. Spare tires and barrels that are sunk into the ground would be very good too for detailing (just make sure you can clip right through them without hassle).
- The path the cart follows, frankly, has almost no height elevation issues, and is very linear. This is a bad thing, actually. Maybe some little twists and turns in the map, perhaps the cart can go down on a slope and then go up again. I don't know what to do necessarily, but it just feels a little too linear.
- Congrats on getting to b1!
 
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tenaciousg

L1: Registered
Jan 8, 2008
44
7
this is by far my favorite custom map coming out nine, you've done a phenominal job on the layout and the gameplay is just how it should be. no complaints here.
 

Nineaxis

Quack Doctor
aa
May 19, 2008
1,767
2,820
Stovepipe Wells Beta 1a
Download: TF2Maps.net or FPSBanana

Changes:
  • Fixed detailing issues
  • Fixed playerclipping
  • Adjusted displacements for ease of movement
 
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Icarus

aa
Sep 10, 2008
2,245
1,210
having a look in just a moment - will report back with opinions

Edit: D: "You were killed by %Killername%" That doesn't sound good, I even got a death still when I jumped into the pit after it exploded... what kind of kill area are you using? valve use a trigger_multiple that sends an output to !activator (setHealth -1000) which works well when I tried it in halfacre.

Other than that it's looking very promising :thumbup1:

It's caused by the SetRequiredObserverTarget input to tf_gamerules. It doesnt matter how you die, but if you die while SetRequiredObserverTarget is active, you'll be teleported to that info_observer_point, and/or show the killcam as the last person who damaged you. (if in the case nobody damaged you, it shows %killername%)

What valve does is send another SetRequiredObserverTarget I/O to <none> shortly after.