CP Intrusion B4

-Fixed HDR Problems
-Fixed Missing Holograms

Read the rest of this update entry...

Kobolite said:

I feel like this map is way too overdetailed, it has like 3 different themes, this is all makes the map really wierd, you should probably remove the entire medical area and turn it into some spytech rooms (look at 2fort basements or junction), there are also prop spam

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Which area does the prop spam occur in? If it’s around A, I’m changing props around currently. B is getting a makeover from a greenhouse into a large underground spytech facility to help change the theme over to a jungle/spytech theme completely.

Kobolite said:

Yeah point A was kinda prop spammy

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Yea, the shipping containers around A are getting replaced with computer terminals and yellow barrels (things that would fit around a nucleus/spytech-ish environment. The rest of the boxes and crates are probably going to be removed, with a few barricades being placed to improve cover for engies and snipers.

"After 90 days in development, hopefully it will have been worth the weight."
-Added a new control point: C
-Redesigned B from the ground up - New Visuals
-Moved B into the small shack/shelter - Now acts as a midway point
-Completely textured from A to B: Basic details are finished
-B to C still remains in Dev Textures
-Redesigned and detailed RED's Final Spawn
-Fixed players sometimes getting the train stuck using buildings
-Fixed players glitching the train gates
-Tidied up displacements and optomized them more
-Fixed Players building in the Waterfall
-Fixed Z-Fighting in BLU's Main Spawn
-Slightly Lowered HDR Bloom around A
-Increased the height of the girders around A and adjusted cover props
-Lowered the lava pit at A for less eye strain

"Thanks, and have fun."

Read the rest of this update entry...

Well that was an interesting playtest...

• Audio is Too Loud and breaks Hitsounds (fixed for B5).
• Large Doors sound weird (changed to default sound for B5).
• Not enough signage for RED (adding stuff similar to what will be done to A).

• Slippery Floors (fixed for B5).
• It's hard to push out of BLU Spawn
  • Players feel that RED can hold BLU off around the waterfall for too long
    • We’ll add another exit from BLU spawn to combat this (around the building next to the waterfall)

• The long fall increases the respawn time
  • Long fall was a nice visual effect, but longer respawn times as well as pyros not getting assists for air blasting players into the pit causes issues
    • We'll replace the critical death scream and long fall with a fall kill trigger.
• The inconsistent frame drop issue (some players receive poor FPS when around the outside area while others don't)
  • This issue is extremely difficult to fix (and before you start asking, yes I have used areaportals and hints correctly here), but I will try to fix this by B5.
    • Basically we'll have to rip apart this area and rebuild to fix the frame issue, it has been isolated to relating to VVIS failing to block visibility to A here.

• The area around the point feels overscaled.
  • There are areas around the point that just felt too big and there isn’t enough height variation
  • How about some sniper balconies? We’ll remove one of the computer labs and replace it with some stairs that lead to a platform overlooking the point. We’ll also add another balcony near the fans for RED (or BLU if they manage to flank successfully) to combat players near the point.
• Players get stuck in the waterfall (fixed for B5).
  
• Players can access an area behind the waterfall that hides them (fixed for B5).
  
• Players can stand on the dock (fixed for B5)
  
• Overbright cubemap (fixed for B5).
  
• Confusing Signage.
  • Specifically related to a sign by RED Spawn leading to a dead end.
    • We'll add some Red arrows that will be active while A remains uncapped.
      • We'll also add a huge arrow pointing straight to A that will be active during Setup time to help direct new players.

• The sightlines around the point are too large and generally feels boring and repetitive to play.
  • RED Team Snipers can camp near the train and gain an advantage, and BLU has a difficult time fighting due to lack of height.
    • We'll add some height variation on the main path (maybe a creek with a bridge?) to add some height and make snipers less powerful. For the right path and the pool of water, we'll add a cliffside that will serve as another entrance/sniper balcony for BLU to enter the building housing B, and allow BLU to gain height advantage beside the pool and fight RED better on the right side.
• Large unnecessary door (leftover of B2, fixed for B5)
• The two water pits appear weird beside each other
  • The croc pit appeared interesting, but interferes with appearance and increases respawn time
    • We'll remove the croc pit when the cliff is redone and replace it with a simple deathpit.
• The point feels very tight and doesn't fit for 12v12 gameplay
  • B is only in a very basic room at the moment, but Engie and Demo spam can effectively hold off BLU due to chokes
    • We'll tear the building down and increase the size of it to accomodate for the new cliff route that will added. This will be done by pushing it against the doors between A and B, and allowing the main two doors to enter the building itself (with cover protecting these doors of course) while reducing the sightlines of snipers and solving the height variation problem.
      
    • We'll also remove the underwater pipe from B to the main underwater route due to blocking it easily with buildings and the addition of the new cliff route.
• BLU spawn can be spawncamped too easily and feels out of the way
  • One exit out of this spawn was a poor design choice and needs to be corrected
    • Instead of increasing the size of this spawn, we'll move it into the new building housing B, and centralize it for convenience.
• Spies can block the train gates using the dead ringer (fixed for B5)

C​

• The point feels very overscaled, and BLU's height advantage makes it too easy for them to cap
  
  • Concept was interesting, but proved to be a poor choice in practice
    
    • We'll redesign RED's side of the point to increase the height and make the point more enclosed.
      
      
    • The main ramp from Gate 1 (the upstairs route) to RED spawn will be split into two smaller ramps leading to the sides of the two main routes on the main level.
• No healthpacks or ammo (fixed for B5, somehow got “removed” from Hammer)
• Long fall increases respawn time (same fix as A)
• Explosion fade lasts into next round (fixed for B5)
• Clipping through RED Spawn's dome (fixed for B5)
• Proper areaportal and hints (probably won't be until B6 when the layout for C is finalized)

And before you ask…

Yes, I will create a prefab containing the moving walkways and escalators seen in the map.

DrSquishy said:

Try removing some of the (steam?) particles above A - in spectator mode I had a frame drop while looking at them, and they don't contribute too much to the map, given that most people don't look up too often

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Removed all of the steam, but only adds ~10fps. Main problem is VVIS not drawing visleaves properly around this area (adjusting some areaportals around this area might help).

DrSquishy said:

Hints might be more helpful if the visleaves aren't what you want. If that doesn't help, perhaps try occluders as well

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I think I may have found a solution, it's not 100% perfect, but reduces the frame drop for me from 300 to 160 now to 300 to 250. I read up more on areaportals and used some func_areaportalwindow around the windows to make them "opaque" at a certain distance (I also cleverly used the fake skybox texture I created to make the windows appear that they are showing the skybox from the inside when they are really not).

Just to affirm, development for Intrusion stopped recently, but I’m starting to work on it again.

Just been really busy with life lately so I haven’t had time to work on this (I also needed to plan out the new area for B). I also have been working on other mini-projects in hammer such as a new alpine payload map and a new vs. saxton hale map.

Since I’ve started development again, I’ve torn up point B, fixed the frame drops around A, and fixed the clipping issues around C. The new point B will have the point on a centralized platform with bridges attached, above a pool of boiling water (with the water hurting people who fall in, but not instantly killing them). Platforms and pathways will surround the area, allowing for BLU to flank if they get the chance to, and vice versa. The high ceiling will probably change too, if it doesn’t become part of the skybox.

I plan to completely finish this sometime in the summer, with B5 coming out Late March/Early April.

Glad to be back, and also happy not to be working with broken displacements.

ics said:

You surely know how to make a good looking map but thats only part of the level design theory itself. Framerate issue is one thing and as you are aware, visibility needs to be cut somehow so not too much of the area currently not player sight draws out.

I get about 70 frames when i'm alone and looking right side of the BLU base towards the first cap. On actual server with players, it will be around 40. Both these numbers on multiplayer games are barely playable. Really might want to look into the issue more and reduce whatever you can with the cost of visual < frames. Its a map where you play, not where you live.

There is also other technical aspects that you need to reconsider. At the moment you've not yet even finished area C and you're already using 1600+ edicts on the map. If it hasnt crashed yet on 12vs12 gameplay tests, its sheer luck that it didnt. It is advisable to keep edicts under 1400.

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The framerate issue around the area with the waterfall was fixed by adding func_areaportalwindow's around there (turns out players could look through an "opaque" texture because the other side was translucent). I also read up on hint brushes and realized I screwed up my usage of them around A.

Did a test today and only got a drop of 300 down to 270, compared to the drop to 180 before.

Thanks for the heads up about the edicts issue, I reduced it to 1300 just by removing some env_lightglow's today that were already hard to see. What I will do is kill a bunch of glow effects as well as some of the particle effects when a point is capped (so, say A is capped, visual effects around BLU base and the waterfall will be removed, reducing the edits count while enabling the ones around C). I aim for a maximum of 1300-1400, which should be enough for 12v12 matches not to crash, even with 24 sticky spamming demos.

Development Update

Yea, it’s been a while since the last update came out. Got busy with school and other matters, and it was only in February that I started working on it again. I’m hoping to push out B5 in the coming few weeks, however, and I promise it will be worth the wait.

First off, let’s talk about the optimization. Yes, it’s bad around Blu spawn and A, but after three failed attempts at adding hints, I finally figured out how they actually work. I also looked at some of the valve maps I had inspiration from (Mercenary Park, Upward, and Gorge) and saw how that optimization worked.

To sum up, the optimization has improved by at least 200% thanks to a proper hint structure and the use of Occluders. I’ve also used areaportalwindows that close at far distances.

Second, layout changes to A. Off to the side near Red’s first spawn, I’ve made a new platform for snipers. I’ve also changed the layout of the stairs up to the second level to be encased in the wall near the room with the laser to make it harder for Blu to flank up to the second level.

Third, I’ve decided to combine B and C together into a new final point. This uses elements that were found at these two previous points, such as the crocodile pit and the left side flank near B, and the centralized point at C. This is going to be the final major layout change, but expect other layout changes to this area before detailing based on how it plays on the imp.

If you have any requests or changes you want to see, feel free to give your thoughts!

Screenshot coming later once I hook up Red’s reused final spawn to the layout.

Development Update

Hoo boy it's been a long time. Almost a year since my last "update". Life gets in the way sometimes.

For starters, I had to rebuild almost everything in order to fix the optimization issues. The bad news is that this took a long time to fix. The good news is that the frame drops are gone finally!

I also made the decision to scrap the current layout for B and C. Instead, I am combining them into a final point for B (going back to 2CP) using design elements from both of these points.

Lastly, I just released a VSH version of the first half of the map. Most of the design and detail changes to the waterfall area and A are going to be included in the next update. Consider it a preview of changes to come (minus the ability to break glass of course).

An update will be coming within the next month. I can now grind away at this again thanks to my classes being cancelled.