RS_Earthquake

RS_Earthquake rc1

BackSun

L1: Registered
Apr 4, 2019
22
3
mvms_earthquake - A coop/singleplayer survival map with dynamic difficulty, similar to Call of Duty zombies.

Install Instructions:

There is a readme file in the zip file that gives instructions on how to install, uninstall, and play the map; but here are some highlights:

This map requires:

A folder in the custom directory of TF2. Which should be removed if you want to play regular TF2 again.

The commands “sv_allow_point_servercommand always” and “sv_cheats 1”

A custom tf_English.txt file. (included in the custom folder) Which should also be removed if you want to play regular TF2 again. (this allows me to use upgrades, entities, and menus in ways that aren’t conventional in TF2. And sorry to all you non English speakers out there it will look the same for you).



Feedback:

Please leave me feedback here on TF2maps.net

I especially need to know if the difficultly is where it should be (is it too hard or easy?), and if anything is to difficult to understand.

Please? I want to make it better :)


Gamemode Description:

What does mvms stand for? Why “Mann Vs Machine Survival” of course! (it’s the best I could come up with :p )

Mann vs Machine Survival is a wave-based survival gamemode: every wave a certain number of melee bots are spawned, which the players must kill to advance to the next wave. After which they gain money to buy weapons, upgrade those weapons, and open doors to explore the map. On game start each player has their their primary and secondary weapons removed, and must dual out the first few waves using only their melees. But after a few waves they can buy the shotgun and/or their class’ primary weapons (once they are found in the map).

There is no real ‘victory’ in this mode, although there are only 100 rounds that can be fought through. So you could potentially fight through all 100 and win, but it will take a while. The main goal of this gamemode is to shoot robots.



Map Description:

This map is based in an underground hydro-electric powerplant, with lots of medium sized hallways, rooms, and one enormous room. But the detailing is mostly unfinished, just in case something needs to be majorly revamped.



FAQ:

Q: Why are my weapons rapidly swapping and my screen flashing when I spawn?

A: For 2 reasons, 1st to refresh the weapons so certain upgrades are applied correctly, and 2nd because of how weapons are removed.

Since the only way to remove weapons from the player is to kill the weapon entities directly, this causes issues if the player is still trying to hold them (specifically going into the T-pose). The rapid weapon swap is so that players will always be holding a weapon, even if they don’t have a primary or secondary. The reason that your screen flashes is because when the weapons change you are teleported into a different section of the map to refresh your upgrades and give back the weapons you have unlocked. This is done specifically because of how the damage upgrade is applied in TF2, if you have it applied to a weapon (EX: the rocket launcher in normal MVM) the damage upgrade can be applied and removed from that weapon without any issues. But what I have set up is that the damage upgrade applies to all weapons (so even though your primary is still your strongest choice your melee and secondary won’t become worthless after you have bought the damage upgrades).




Q: How do I get my weapons back?!

A: The shotgun can be purchased in the spawnroom by using Uber canteens in the marked area. The other class’ weapons can be likewise purchased around the map.



Q: Why can’t the engineer build anything?

A: The engineer needs to unlock his weapons just like every other class before he can build anything.



Q: Ok, I unlocked his weapons, now why can’t I build dispensers and teleporters?

A: Balance.

Engineer is easily one of the most powerful classes in this type of gamemode. The teleporter could allow you to easily move across the entire map preventing the bots from ever getting close to you. And the dispenser allows for turtling, by preventing the dispenser it forces players to go around the map for ammo, instead of just staying in one spot.



Q: How do I open doors?

A: Each door has a counter which can be decreased by using Uber canteens in the marked area around that door. Once the counter reaches 0 the door will open.



Q: Why can’t the medic revive or use his shield?

A: Balance.

The shield completely blocks bots and messes up their pathfinding; and if you have a few medics in a corner, you can hold off the bots infinitely without ever having to worry about getting hurt.

The removal of reviving is up in the air, I currently have it removed because I feel like the game may already be to easy. But if someone says that it should be returned, I could be persuaded.




Q: Why is weapon X not allowed?

A: Some weapons (base jumper, widowmaker, etc.) are removed because they would make the game too easy and you would be stupid not to use them.

Other weapons (Bison, eyelander, etc.) are removed because they don’t work properly with the HHH bots, upgrades, or some other part of the map. (laser weapons can’t have their damage upgraded. Why is this Valve?)

Lastly botkillers aren’t allowed because when they are removed the dangling bit isn’t removed and stays in front of your face for the rest of the game.



Q: What do you mean this map has “dynamic Difficulty”?

A: The number of bots that spawn is directly proportional to the number of people playing the map. So theoretically the difficulty should be similar for 1 or 6 people, because each person will have to deal with the same number of robots no matter how many other people are playing.



Q: Wait, so does that mean that this map is singleplayer too?

A: Yes! That was one of my main goals when developing this map.



Maybe not FAQ but general mapping questions



Q: Why didn’t you just pack everything into the BSP? You are a horrible person.

A: Ouch! Well first off, I tried to pack as much as I could into the BSP (custom textures, models, and the nav file to name a few). But some things can’t be loaded via BSP (and can’t be packed by Compile Pal). For instance, I wanted to have a custom upgrade window (so there could be more upgrades overall), but the only way to do that is to edit the HUD via the custom folder; and that can’t be loaded from the BSP. There are also other custom files (the sentry idle sound was changed, the HHH’s sounds were all removed because of engine limitations, and the replacement of the English localization files) as far as I know, none of these can be loaded via the BSP.

(If I am wrong about any of this please tell me I would love to have more in the BSP)



Q: What are the demo/soldier bots? Are they regular TF2 bots?

A: The bots are remodeled and reanimated, Horseless Headless Horsemen. Because of how TF2 handles standard bots you can only have about 21 of them at any one time (on blue in MVM). But there is no such limit on how many HHH you can have running around at once (the only limit you will probably run into is when your FPS drop to 5 because of how many are running around). When I tried doing this gamemode with standard bots I never felt like there were enough to feel like I was truly fighting a horde, and they often wouldn’t act how I wanted and would end up roaming the map instead of chasing the player.



Q: Will you release the VMF? I want to see how you did X.

A: Yes! I plan to release the VMF along with a prefab pack so people can make their own MVMS maps (I need to work on that prefix…)



Q: But how did you do X!?

A: Once the map is fully released and I release the VMF I will make a more official list of how I did all the weird things I needed to do to get this map working (and believe me there are quite a few bizarre things).

Although you could probably just decompile the map and mess around under the hood if you are really determined, I’m not going to stop you. (just please don’t reupload my map :) )



Background:

(for those people who want to read my mind)

When viewing different shooter games I have seen that almost every single one has had a zombie survival mode; and since I never got into any shooters besides TF2 I always wondered… how would our 9 favorite mercenaries fair in the same situation? Well there has always been zombie fortress and other multiplayer mods, but it isn’t the same. You need a good internet connection (which I haven’t always been graced to have) and usually you must play as the zombies at some point (which isn’t as fun in my opinion). I wanted a purely coop/singleplayer zombie survival experience (like Call of Duty), but to my dismay… there wasn’t one anywhere to be seen. So I made one myself! 400 hours after booting up hammer for the first time I am proud to release the first ever TF2 zombie survival map; and the best part is that it requires no server plugins of any type, just the map file and custom folder.
 
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deluxghost

L1: Registered
Jul 31, 2018
30
10
i'm really happy to see another custom special gamemode (which tf2 need more), i will try this later

but because of sv_cheats, i won't host this map on my public server, darn

i wonder is cheats necessary? if so, can you provide a sourcemod plugin to do the same things, but without cheats enabled (just like machine attacks maps)?
 
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BackSun

L1: Registered
Apr 4, 2019
22
3
@deluxghost
The reason for the map requires sv_cheats is so it can change the bots' health, speed, range, etc. (but if there is some way of changing these variables without sv_cheats, I am all ears). The reason I didn't create a plugin was because I specifically designed the map to run without plugins (for those people who just want to LAN with their friends and not worry about complicated server stuff).

But I did find a plug-in (cheat control by: berni) that prevents users from accessing any commands that require sv_cheats, but (should) allow the server and admins to run them. I don't know if it would work in your situation, and I have yet to test it myself, but it is an option.
https://forums.alliedmods.net/showthread.php?p=600521
 

deluxghost

L1: Registered
Jul 31, 2018
30
10
well... maybe we need a server friendly version of the map XD (yes im so bad, i still cant find a PERFECT way to host this map in a public server)
the fact is, you cant tell players "download this mod and restart game" neither "delete this mod after changing map"
now the tf_english and hud part is really hurt as they're fully client side, and if players dont remove them, his custom hud and UI might be broken
and another thing is, could you pack every other resource into the map? i.e. materials/models/particles/sounds, this will make everything easier a bit, the size isnt a problem, Machine Attacks have some 100+ or 200+M maps
i wanna players can ignore any mod except fastDL, especially something must be removed after playing
as this map is still at a1 phase, i think i have enough time to wait a better version
 

BackSun

L1: Registered
Apr 4, 2019
22
3
@deluxghost
Thanks for the feedback, I will try and pack everything up in the BSP for the next release.
(which hopefully will be in the next week or so)

And did the plugin I suggested work for you or was that a problem as well?
 

BackSun

L1: Registered
Apr 4, 2019
22
3
@deluxghost
I was able to get a most of the files packed into the BSP; but after some research and testing I found that without plugins there are several files that must be installed via the custom folder. (specifically the text replacements; HHH sound, model, particle, and animation replacements. Which must be loaded via the custom folder). But at least for the model and sound replacements it may be possible to fix with plugins.

Although currently I don't plan on creating any server plugins for the map to run on a normal server; since I designed this map primarily for LAN usage (or on a server between friends). So thanks deluxghost for the patience and willingness to try out my map, but I don't think I will be able to get it to run on a server with a normal map rotation.
 

BackSun

L1: Registered
Apr 4, 2019
22
3
Sound and bug fix update

Additions:


- Added soundscapes
- Added sound effects when unlocking upgrades and weapons
- Added more particle effects around the waterfall in the intake room
- Added the ability to refund
now players won't be confined to one class or weapon combo

Balance:

- decreased the cost of buying any class's weapon to 3 (was 4)
- increased the number of hits to kill a player to 3 hits (was 2)
and reduced the max melee resistance upgrade to compensate
- added a damage upgrade to every upgrade unlock
(since the only feasible upgrade path was speed, now any of the paths should be feasible)
- increased player health regen to 6 (was 4)
- increased starting money to 150 (was 50)

General Changes:

- moved door for the water intake room past the elevator shaft
and adjusted spawnpoints accordingly
- removed swapping away from melee after leaving a upgrade station (it was unreliable)
- the door to the storage room will now open if 2 of the 3 adjacent doors are opened

Bug Fixes:

- fixed buying demo's weapon (originally cost 0, which would then roll over to 99 preventing purchasing it)
- added an openable door from spawn into the office
- fixed the valve in the filter room so it will no longer close after 4 seconds
- fixed the spawns from behind the tank
- fixed opening the door between the backroad and water
filtration rooms partially removing the door between the generator room and the water filtration room
- slightly delayed the spawning of bots at the beginning of a round
(so that when the weapon refresh happens the bots don't spawn at the same time)
- fixed floor spawn in the ramp room not being enabled when opening the storage room door
- Fixed how some weapons couldn’t be purchased
- Fixed a bug where a bot would spawn when a specific was door opened, regardless if the wave was over or not

Read the rest of this update entry...
 

BackSun

L1: Registered
Apr 4, 2019
22
3
Easter Egg Update.

Additions:

- Added an "easter egg" to gain permanent crits
- Replaced TF2's default background images
(this way you can see if you have the mod/map installed or not)

General Changes:

- Improved the install instructions in the readme file

Bug Fixes:

- Prevented a bug with the weapon refresh that would cause players to
enter the reference position and not regain their weapons.
- Fixed a bug where multiple players could potentially cause issues with
the dynamic difficulty setting

Read the rest of this update entry...
 

Truckojr

L3: Member
Feb 23, 2019
126
67
I like this gamemode so much. I only have one problem and that's that I get stuck in the robots if I stay too close to them
 

Truckojr

L3: Member
Feb 23, 2019
126
67
I hope you are still working on this map. Working on details in the map. Something I would like is a miniature model of the map near where you spawn, which includes markers where the class's weapons are and other important places.
 

BackSun

L1: Registered
Apr 4, 2019
22
3
@Squidward... no wait
Thanks for the great feedback :D

Great idea about showing where each class' weapons are!
I will have to add that later.


When it comes to height variation; I can only do so much before making scout, demo, and solider completely overpowered. Since they can quickly and easily move between said height variation, whereas the bots can not. (Am I overreacting? I am just worried about the map becoming to easy with those classes, by simply having them jump up and down from some ledge).
But I agree, currently the map is too flat. I will have to see what I can do about that


And when it comes to getting stuck in the bots... yeah... sadly there is nothing I can do about that.
I have done countless hours of research into changing the robot's collisions and have only found the following options:
1. what we have now (robots collide with everything, including each other)
2. Bots don't collide with anything (including projectiles and hitscan weapons)
3. Bots don't collide with anything except projectiles and hitscan weapons (but not melee and projectiles are unreliable)

I would have loved to have the same collisions as the tf_zombie entity (they only collide with melee, hitscan and projectiles), but from the research I have done seems impossible (even with plugins). (but if I am wrong and someone has some info I don't, please let me know, I would be extremely grateful :D)
 

BackSun

L1: Registered
Apr 4, 2019
22
3
The Beta Update

Additions:

- added a map of the world to the spawn with locations of interest marked
- Added a screen fade when a weapon refresh happens
- a new area for bots by the spawnroom
- Added a "cheat room" that allows players to have one wave last forever,
that can only be accessed using noclip.
(although it can only be used after a wave has been completed)
it gives players control over:
bot health
the dynamic difficulty level (how many bots spawn at once)
spawn rate (how fast they will respawn, if enabled. by default it is 8 seconds)
whether or not giants spawn
whether or not all weapons are unlocked
bot running speed
- added a speed boost when in between rounds
- the waterfall now slightly damages robots
- added the recall canteen
- added text to tell dead scouts to join spectators
(since I can't stop them for instantly respawning)

Balance:

- bot health was tweaked slightly
so the beginning will be slightly easier but later
waves will be much harder.

bot health at round:
0: 40 (was 45)
10: 220 (was 225)
20: 770 (was 575)
40: 5270 (was 1525)
60: 19270 (was 3375)
80: 43470 (was 6150)
100: 69470 (was 12150)

- the money gained per wave now increased by 5 per wave
(was a flat 250 each wave)

money gained at round:
0: 150 (starting money)
10: 290
20: 345
40: 445
60: 545
80: 645
100: 745

- slightly increased bot's attack range in later waves (every 5 waves, from wave 25 to 60)

- changed the sniper rile charge upgrade from a speed upgrade
to a support upgrade (the shield)
and separated it into 2 upgrades (each half of the original)
- reduced the maximum number of any single upgrade to 6
(so the default GUI can be used)
this effected: almost every ammo related upgrade (max ammo, clip size, etc.)
- added an ammo regen upgrade

- removed the "rage on hit" and soldier buff duration upgrade
- reduced passive health regen to 4 (from 6)
- increased the cost of "Sniper charge rate" to 200 (was 100)
- increased the cost of soldier, engineer, and demo's weapons to 6 (was 3)
- increased the cost of pyro and heavy's weapons to 9 (was 3)

- gave engineers 75% sentry resistance
- improved sentry damage upgrade to +75% with a cost of 250 (was +40% with a cost of 225)
- improved the metal regen upgrade for engineer to 5 (was 2)
- the cost to unlock medic's weapons will now only increase by 1 per player (was 2)
- decreased the cost of medic's weapons to 2 (was 3)
- allowed medic to use Ubercharge (although uber is set to 0 on wave start)
- added an upgrade to increase uber charge rate
- added an upgrade to increase move speed when aiming (which affect heavy and sniper)

- disabled the following weapons:
(most because they don't function correctly with these bots)
- battalion's backup
- buff banner
- concheror
- quick fix
- killing gloves of boxing
- holiday punch
- vaccinator
- bazaar bargain
- hitman's heatmaker
- ambassador
- diamondback
- big earner
- Sharpened Volcano Fragment
- natascha
- frontier justice
- vita saw
- solemn vow
- weapons re-added
- widowmaker
- thermal thruster


Changes:

+ Major:
- moved the train to the loading dock and rebuilt that area
- revamped the room down by the water intake
- revamped the office next to spawn
- revamped the water filtration room
- moved the hallway between the filtration room and the intake room up
- added a large pit to the generator room
- on wave loss instead of reloading the whole map it reloads the population file
which makes restarts instant
- moved the sniper rifle, so it can be bought without leaving the spawning area

- revamped the room between the water filtration room and generator room
- revamped the filtration room
- revamped the water intake room
- robots can no longer walk underneath doors

- slightly off-centered the "map loading text" (so that it doesn't overlap with the crosshair)
- slightly brightened the HDR version of the map, so it is more in line with the LDR version
- some minor lighting changes
- moved the bot spawn in the spawn room
- removed broken glass in 2 areas, allowing players to jump through those areas
- added a raised platform by the tank upgrade station
- music now plays at the beginning of every 5th wave
(when bots running speed increases)
- updated the icons for a few upgrades
- removed the shield effect that could appear around players
- Made the normal bots slightly larger, and shrunk the miniboss bots slightly
- changed how bots skins are selected so that there should be more diversity
- improved and updated the nav mesh
- if all players die between waves they will automatically be
respawned
- added textures to the bottom of the waterfall
- Dispensers and teleporters are now unable to be built, instead of being killed
shortly after being built
- removed some boxes by the water filtration room and secondary upgrade station
- minorly changed the lighting in the generator room
- holograms now glow slightly
- smoothed out some of the floor in the water intake room
- combined a few doors so they will open together
- removed some ammo packs that were stuck in walls
- cleaned up some clipping
- updated the background images

Bug Fixes:

+ Major:
- fixed a bug that would cause the server to crash whenever a player leaves
- fixed a bug that could cause incorrect hats to appear on your character

- fixed a bug that would prevent the dragon's fury from being
used until the soldier's weapons were unlocked
- fixed a bug where scout could respawn, but the map would think they were still dead
- fixed a bug where demo's weapons would always stay the same cost, regardless of the number of players
- fixed a bug where the cost of doors and weapons wouldn't change with the number of players
- fixed a bug where the crit boost from the Easter egg would disappear after the rounds end
and reappear after the start of the next. It is now permanent (minus class changes).
- removed the "you already have a powerup" text
- the map will now set sv_cheats to true upon launching, preventing a number of errors
- fixed a bug preventing wave 47 from being completed
- removed the rumbling sound when robots spawn
- the announcer's voice lines at the start are no longer controlled by the music volume
- fixed a bug that could cause the player to enter the reference pose upon leaving an upgrade station
- fixed a bug where players wouldn't spawn with regen and damage resistance

Read the rest of this update entry...
 

Truckojr

L3: Member
Feb 23, 2019
126
67
Damn nice update! I was wondering what you were doing in all this time. The map is really fun so far with the additional updates! Since it gone onto Beta I hope you are changing the textures on the next update because I've gone to really disliking Dev textures that are inside (especially the white dev textures).
Some other things that I'm asking for is some windows looking into the outside world (just so the place isn't as spooky). Another thing that I would like is some more of the mini maps around the area, so someone doesn't have to keep going all the way back to the only one in the area.
Overall though the map is really cool and I'm excited to see what you do!
 

⁽ᴵᴰᴳ⁾CaptainRussia94

L2: Junior Member
Nov 26, 2018
91
75
Technically impress and unconventional as hell custom map, normally I'd only imagine something like this being done via a plugin, so this strikes me as impressed!

Hope this gains more traction, it seems to be largely unknown at the moment.
 

BackSun

L1: Registered
Apr 4, 2019
22
3
@Squidward... no wait and @⁽ᴵᴰᴳ⁾CaptainRussia94
Thank you both for the kind words, you just made my day. :)


@Squidward... no wait
I am glad you liked the update. :D
Now that the map is in Beta I will start the process of art passing. I was originally planning on a spookier style map (and I guess I succeeded :p), but looking back I suppose it probably doesn't fit the standard theme of TF2. I may continue the spookier style as a bonus or something, but time will tell.

I did a quick sketch up for how I plan on changing the map.
Anything circled in blue will be outside and anything circled in orange will be inside.

FBD7FEAF8700C81D7DBBCF2CF3FEC4BFBAE4E94D


I will try to continue working on this in the next few weeks or so, but life happens so we will see.
:)
 

BackSun

L1: Registered
Apr 4, 2019
22
3
The Textured Update

"The world is so bright and full of color!"
Now that the world has an outline, the next step is to finish art passing and fix any bugs people find.

Additions:

- all dev textures have been replaced with real textures
- new upgrade locations
- wall maps
- a status light to the water filter room
- when a user spends a uber canteen they get an extra 5 seconds of uber
- text to the cheat room so the buttons functions are easier to understand

changes:

- new soundscapes to match the new surroundings
- changed some map geometry to match the new surroundings
- removed the water tanks in the filter room and replaced them with a walkable area
- expanded the area directly outside of spawn
- removed the tiny walkway between the storage room and the train room
- added an extra door by the spawn room
- expanded the area between the water filtration room and the generator room
- removed weapons
(because their affects didn't work correctly)
- backscatter
- market gardener
- huo-long heater
- short circuit
- when a class or weapon has been purchased all others will no longer become 1 canteen cheaper
- the button in the cheat room that enables and disables the weapon remover now no longer starts the next round
- updated the nav mesh
- updated localization files
(I wish this was a joke, but because of how several things work in this mod
I do need to have different localization files then the default game.)

Bug Fixes:

- possibly improved performance with some different server and client commands
- NOTE: running the map on a server will reduce lag, even if it is only
one person.
- Server
- increasing nb_update_frequency to 0.15 from 0.10
- setting nb_update_framelimit to 1 from 15
- setting nb_saccade_speed to 0 from 1000
- setting sv_maxrate to 80000
- setting sv_minrate to 7500
- Client
- forcing cl_interp_ratio to 2 (the default)
- forcing cl_interp to 0.15 from 0.1
(the reason behind these is so that the bots will appear smooth, and
since you aren't fighting other players the lower interp rate shouldn't
be as important)
- setting rate to 80000
- fixed a bug that could cause floating robo-killer heads
- arrows hitting robots now have the correct sound effects
- fixed a bug that caused the upgrade holograms to stop rotating
- precached giant heavy loop and sentry buster explosion to remove an error message

Read the rest of this update entry...
 
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