Build Around The Track

YM

LVL100 YM
aa
Dec 5, 2007
7,158
6,079
FYI i seem to remember YM discovering that excessive path tracks increase file size significantly. YM experimented with smoother payload curves/turns around the time he produced hoodoo, if not immediately afterwards, and found that there is a sensible balance to be found between aesthetics and perminant file size. Deleting multiple path_track's on such corners on a map wide scale hlped reduced the file size by several MB.

current version of my map is about 10 mb, about 2 mb without lighting, and it has about 230 path tracks (and over 100 breakables too :p). doesn't look like path tracks are doing anything extra bad to the filesize.

It wasn't filesize, but entity counts I had something like 300% ent data or something stupid.
 

Psy

The Imp Queen
aa
Apr 9, 2008
1,706
1,491
Erm, a single entity basically costs nothing in terms of filesize.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
It was a while ago :p but i knew there was something about too many path_tracks that was detrimental. I did think it odd that a point entity with little input/output activity would add that much data. I guess that's why.
 

Montezuma

L2: Junior Member
Oct 16, 2010
57
3
I'm up for this. Gives me something to base this map I came up with the other day. Big dam go boom! At least... I hope I can do that...

and the sooner we get a version of this map with the path_track already programmed the better...
 
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grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
Urgh, i can't believe i actually looked at the angles some of these tracks have. 29.99993, 90.4449, 0.205133. No wonder it was becoming increasingly difficult to align stuff towards the end of the track.
 
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Sep 1, 2009
573
323
I gave up after realising Making a payload from someone else's track doesn't work for me.
 

grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
An alpha doesn't have to be exclusively DEV textured.

I will admit to doing artpasses during alpha as it allows me to keep style and work aesthetic into the theme in a fluid manner. It's quite frustrating balancing an area with a specific artpass in mind only to find a focal prop you want to use is too big/small and ruins the entire concept of the map.
 

Montezuma

L2: Junior Member
Oct 16, 2010
57
3
My work has been slow due to school but I'm just getting done with the transition between the second and third point. The fact that the end and the beginning of the track are so close together is killing me. The way its going now, blue is practically blowing up their own spawn... but oh well, this is tf2 universe, can't help if shit doesn't make an sense.
 

Fruity Snacks

Creator of blackholes & memes. Destroyer of forums
aa
Sep 5, 2010
6,394
5,573
Disciplinaryaction.PNG


You are all now working 40% faster.









Man, I really need to be working on my HW...
 

Another Bad Pun

In the shadows, he saw four eyes lit by fire
aa
Jan 15, 2011
806
1,850
I probably won't finish because this is all I've made so far.
It's a mix of upward and harvest, with cliffs and bridges to make up for the small track size.
353BB0C09212FBFEBA9E2FB02069E8AE35E0A150
 
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grazr

Old Man Mutant Ninja Turtle
aa
Mar 4, 2008
5,441
3,814
It's quite funny that a large portion of people who are entering are really behind, myself included. Perhaps disciplinary action is in order.

It's not really that funny. Even though there were 2 months to do this, most people couldn't commit to at least the first 2 weeks because of the sudden announcement only days after the planning thread went up and/or are starting school now and cannot commit to the final 4 weeks.

Out of the 4 maps with WiP threads 2 belong to Sergis (one of which is abandoned) whilst the others aren't even sure if they'll finish in time/want to quit.

I've been working on my own one in the shadows when i've had free time but i'm not even sure i'll finish it either. 5 weeks in and i havn't even set the cart up or built the final area yet. At this rate we'll end up with a half finished map that wins by default in a contest that had so much potential.

It's actually pretty sad.
 
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English Mobster

L6: Sharp Member
Jul 10, 2011
355
299
I personally call for a time extension to Thanksgiving. Most of us will have enough time to work on this, either on the weekends leading up to it, or over our Thanksgiving breaks.
I have a (mostly) finished alpha, I just need to add roofs to the RED and BLU bases/spawns/what have you. I also need to flesh out CP 3 a little more.
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