McNuggetFiend
L3: Member
- Jun 22, 2009
- 147
- 51
Yea I have been playing there recently since I had to shut off my server that hosted a lot of Arena due to lack of interest in the game from my player base. I'll def be playing it there then 
[ARENA] Shale
- Thread starter Attsy
- Start date
Updated B4
Improved visuals in gravel pile area
Water area now puts out fires
Fixed small catwalks over cap
Switched some directional signs
Reworked under cap visual area
Train now moves slightly faster
Decreased ambient water sounds
Edit: Final compiled with some visgroups turned off. I guess thats what I get for using a third party compiler.
Will update the file in ~30 minutes.
Edit: Done.
Improved visuals in gravel pile area
Water area now puts out fires
Fixed small catwalks over cap
Switched some directional signs
Reworked under cap visual area
Train now moves slightly faster
Decreased ambient water sounds
Edit: Final compiled with some visgroups turned off. I guess thats what I get for using a third party compiler.
Will update the file in ~30 minutes.
Edit: Done.
Last edited:
Updated B5
Removed several areas
Fixed train doors starting in open position
Improved Clipping in several areas
Swapped some textures around
Improved prop fade
General Optimization
Added new area
Depended water area once more
Increased cap rate (6-10)
Removed several areas
Fixed train doors starting in open position
Improved Clipping in several areas
Swapped some textures around
Improved prop fade
General Optimization
Added new area
Depended water area once more
Increased cap rate (6-10)
Siveran
L1: Registered
- Aug 29, 2010
- 8
- 5
Wow!
I'll admit I was a bit skeptical of the removals at first, but now seeing the map itself I'm convinced. Haven't gotten a chance to play it yet (is it even updated on the server yet? Not sure.) but the new routes up to the CP as well as the clipping fixes make the rooftop battles look like they should be much more fun now.
Playing around on it by myself I found only one bug: If you get hit by the train while standing right in front of the door as it goes in, you'll get pushed through the gate and you can see the "naked" skybox behind the black.
Other than that though this map's really maturing very nicely. There's nothing I can see that I'd change. Good work!
*cries* They grow up so fast!
I'll admit I was a bit skeptical of the removals at first, but now seeing the map itself I'm convinced. Haven't gotten a chance to play it yet (is it even updated on the server yet? Not sure.) but the new routes up to the CP as well as the clipping fixes make the rooftop battles look like they should be much more fun now.
Playing around on it by myself I found only one bug: If you get hit by the train while standing right in front of the door as it goes in, you'll get pushed through the gate and you can see the "naked" skybox behind the black.
Other than that though this map's really maturing very nicely. There's nothing I can see that I'd change. Good work!
*cries* They grow up so fast!
Haha, thanks alot! With B6 I believe I've fixed that bug.
Heres the changes:
Changed Skybox texture to Upward
Changed outdoor lighting to match skybox
Changed Ramps leading up to the building beside cap into cliffs, as well as rotated them towards spawn
Added a building for cover out of spawn
Fixed players being pushed into sky by train
Changed around lightmaps for better preformance
Added maplist icon files for server owners in zip file
Swapped a few textures around
Thanks!
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Siveran
L1: Registered
- Aug 29, 2010
- 8
- 5
I've got mixed feelings on the new skybox/lighting. From an artistic perspective I love the dramatic lights and darks, but on a few surfaces (specifically on top of Red's spawn) the reflections are messed up and they're eye-bleedingly bright.
The upward sky texture is also really bland compared to the old one, but the old one wouldn't match the new lighting. Personally, I've always wanted to see a map with a sky like this.
What? It could work!
I love the cliffs. Ironic they were one of the first things you removed, and now they're back eh? Dunno if this is a problem or not but there's a very visible seam between where the cliffs and the wood meet, and you can see through to below. If this was the intent then it's fine, but I'd change it.
This time around I also noticed quite a few visible seams where the "out of bounds" gravel area meets the 3d skybox.
I'm also not convinced on the new building outside of the spawn. It doesn't really seem to add anything. What was your intention with adding it anyway?
Also, the "clothes rack" in Red's spawn? The clothes are blue.
I have no idea why, but while looking around I realized I've never tried sticky jumping anywhere on this map before. So I gave it a try.
Holy hell.
Demos are really, really flexible if they're skilled with the jumps (which strangely I can never seem to pull off in an actual game when everyone's shooting at me, but there are plenty of comp players who can). You can sticky jump with a single sticky up to the point from any part of the map that doesn't have a roof. If this was a Koth map I'd hate to think how imbalanced this would make things, considering a demo can literally get back to laying down stickies on the point within 2 seconds of respawning.
You can also very quickly get from your spawn to the enemy spawn. Then again you can do this as a demo on basically every arena map so it might not be as big of a problem as I think.
There are also tons of exploit jumps. I'll get a full catalog of these as well as the potentially overpowered sticky jumps possible later, but none of the exploits are gamebreaking. For now, uhh...
(2 stickies needed. For now I think this can only be done from Blu's side, but it might be possible on Red too.)
The upward sky texture is also really bland compared to the old one, but the old one wouldn't match the new lighting. Personally, I've always wanted to see a map with a sky like this.
What? It could work!
I love the cliffs. Ironic they were one of the first things you removed, and now they're back eh? Dunno if this is a problem or not but there's a very visible seam between where the cliffs and the wood meet, and you can see through to below. If this was the intent then it's fine, but I'd change it.
This time around I also noticed quite a few visible seams where the "out of bounds" gravel area meets the 3d skybox.
I'm also not convinced on the new building outside of the spawn. It doesn't really seem to add anything. What was your intention with adding it anyway?
Also, the "clothes rack" in Red's spawn? The clothes are blue.
I have no idea why, but while looking around I realized I've never tried sticky jumping anywhere on this map before. So I gave it a try.
Holy hell.
Demos are really, really flexible if they're skilled with the jumps (which strangely I can never seem to pull off in an actual game when everyone's shooting at me, but there are plenty of comp players who can). You can sticky jump with a single sticky up to the point from any part of the map that doesn't have a roof. If this was a Koth map I'd hate to think how imbalanced this would make things, considering a demo can literally get back to laying down stickies on the point within 2 seconds of respawning.
You can also very quickly get from your spawn to the enemy spawn. Then again you can do this as a demo on basically every arena map so it might not be as big of a problem as I think.
There are also tons of exploit jumps. I'll get a full catalog of these as well as the potentially overpowered sticky jumps possible later, but none of the exploits are gamebreaking. For now, uhh...
(2 stickies needed. For now I think this can only be done from Blu's side, but it might be possible on Red too.)
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Updated to B7
Lowered hdr intensity
Changed area out of spawn
Removed shaft building
Added small health pack to top of tower
Improved player clipping in several areas
Changed skin of a locker prop in red spawn to the appropriate team color(thanks Siveran!)
Made gap in cliff walkway less apparent
Changed ramp way over sewer
Fixed some overlays not assigned to brushes
Also I do believe that areaportal issue is fixed, as I couldn't replicate the issue with this compile. Me thinks vvis just needed a second try to figure the area out.
Lowered hdr intensity
Changed area out of spawn
Removed shaft building
Added small health pack to top of tower
Improved player clipping in several areas
Changed skin of a locker prop in red spawn to the appropriate team color(thanks Siveran!)
Made gap in cliff walkway less apparent
Changed ramp way over sewer
Fixed some overlays not assigned to brushes
Also I do believe that areaportal issue is fixed, as I couldn't replicate the issue with this compile. Me thinks vvis just needed a second try to figure the area out.
Siveran
L1: Registered
- Aug 29, 2010
- 8
- 5
I didn't see this in the changelog but you fixed the skybox seams! Great work.
I don't really like the new walls put up outside the spawns. I also don't like the moving of the spawn building to be around the tower. It kills the two big open fighting areas and makes the map feel really cramped overall.
Also you didn't fix the jump spots I told you about, like the fencetops, here, or here.
Also messing around on the map I found a few more jump spots. You can get up on the roofs near the spawn here and here, notice there's also a small brush intersect issue there.
Finally I found another weird one here. Also what I was telling you yesterday was right, there is a lower ceiling near the spawns. I didn't change the aim of my sticky launcher. Notice how the sticky's bouncing off the air right there?
I don't really like the new walls put up outside the spawns. I also don't like the moving of the spawn building to be around the tower. It kills the two big open fighting areas and makes the map feel really cramped overall.
Also you didn't fix the jump spots I told you about, like the fencetops, here, or here.
Also messing around on the map I found a few more jump spots. You can get up on the roofs near the spawn here and here, notice there's also a small brush intersect issue there.
Finally I found another weird one here. Also what I was telling you yesterday was right, there is a lower ceiling near the spawns. I didn't change the aim of my sticky launcher. Notice how the sticky's bouncing off the air right there?
Thanks alot I'll make sure to get those fixed up for the next version.
Update to B8
Fixed many, many clipping issues (thanks Siveran!)
Shortened angular storage building out side of spawn to open area
Removed a few unseen displacements
Minor optimization tweaks
Fixed many, many clipping issues (thanks Siveran!)
Shortened angular storage building out side of spawn to open area
Removed a few unseen displacements
Minor optimization tweaks
I'd love to, but I always seem to catch it when its full.
It is on rotation here 8.3.5.63:27015 and its normally the updated version so I get alot of good feedback.
Maybe next gameday I'll make it.
Updated RC1
Fixed strange collision bug
changed up several ramps
lots more optimization
changed up cap barriers
upped hdr intensity
removed lower right side area
changed train side building interior
Fixed strange collision bug
changed up several ramps
lots more optimization
changed up cap barriers
upped hdr intensity
removed lower right side area
changed train side building interior
Siveran
L1: Registered
- Aug 29, 2010
- 8
- 5
Steam's bugging out on me so I haven't gotten a chance to play the full rc1 yet, but I'll mention this: The designation "Release Candidate" is usually used when a piece of software is done qua features and design, and all that is left to hammer out are bugs. The convention for maps may be different but if you're still messing around with adding/removing areas I wouldn't call it RC quite yet.
Methinks I'm done with that. :3
There are quite a few areas on the map where it looks like it leads to an exit/entrance but deadends. Mostly in the middle of the map. Also, I didn't even realize there was a long walkway by the train area until the last round. The map has interesting geometry, but not especially intuitive geometry.
In addition, the center area got pretty laggy for me, but only in the center area.
I did really like the area in this screenshot; felt it had a good dynamic as people struggled for higher positions from the various entrances. It was also one of the few areas that was decidedly intuitive to navigate: you knew what options you had as soon as you entered the room.
Kep
In addition, the center area got pretty laggy for me, but only in the center area.
I did really like the area in this screenshot; felt it had a good dynamic as people struggled for higher positions from the various entrances. It was also one of the few areas that was decidedly intuitive to navigate: you knew what options you had as soon as you entered the room.
Kep
Updated:
RC2
Removed Train area
Reworked Center Building
Removed ramps above the sewer
Changed skybox/lighting to Wells
Improved lighting in Spawns
Added Lots of Prop Fade/Lightmap optimizations
Added Cover out of Spawn
Added additional cover in courtyard out of spawn
Reworked Building over sewer
Areaportal, Hint/Skip Adjustments
Fixed a few minor clips
Fixed a few z-fighting issues
Fixed an visibility issue in the Blu spawn base
RC2
Removed Train area
Reworked Center Building
Removed ramps above the sewer
Changed skybox/lighting to Wells
Improved lighting in Spawns
Added Lots of Prop Fade/Lightmap optimizations
Added Cover out of Spawn
Added additional cover in courtyard out of spawn
Reworked Building over sewer
Areaportal, Hint/Skip Adjustments
Fixed a few minor clips
Fixed a few z-fighting issues
Fixed an visibility issue in the Blu spawn base