CP_ArcticFortress

CP CP_ArcticFortress 2016-03-24

Billo

aa
Feb 8, 2016
920
397
CP_ArcticFortress - snow

Greetings From ArticFortress!
its A Snowy Map With Some Secrets and other things to find.
Try Not To Fall On The Steep Clif!

This Is The Final Version Of The Map And Now Everything Should Work Perfectly.

In Case I Am Wrong Let Me Know In The Comments
 

nickybakes

You should've played Rumbleverse
aa
Jul 28, 2015
911
1,739
Didn't you already have like 5 threads for this map? Or at least 1 working thread for the map aready? You can update the map in that thread, you don't have to make a completely new thread for a new version. Anyways, speaking of the map, did you ever get it tested on the tf2maps game days? I don't remember ever seeing it played once, maybe I just didn't see it.
 

DrLambda

L69: Teeheehee, Member
aa
Feb 18, 2015
458
475
So, how do i start... i downloaded your map and walked around it for a bit. I can clearly see that you are motivated, and some of the stuff actually looks quite nice. There sadly are quite a few major problems that make me realize that you still are missing some, even basic knowledge about mapping in the Source engine and TF2 in particular. I took some screenshots, will do some explaining and will give you a few links to read.

DISCLAIMER: Sorry for the screenshot quality. I took them on my work pc, which is running tf2 on a really low-quality fps config to make me able to even play the game during the lunch break.

1. Versionize your map name. If you don't add versions to your map and update it, anyone who already downloaded your map will get an error when joining a server running an updated version your map because it differs from their version. Per example, in this state i'd call Arctic Fortress an very early beta, so call your fill cp_arcticfortress_b1. If you update it, call the next version cp_arcticfortress_b2 etc.

2. Repack your maps. Noone has to download 37mb. I just repacked the map and decreased the size to 13MB. You can learn how to do this here.

3. You should really, really reduce the prop spam. Yes, most of the props you placed somehow make sense where they are, but there are probably no 128hu without a prop throughout the map. It makes the map look really really busy, and it clashes with the minimal art style of TF2 quite a lot.

4. Let's begin with the screenshots.
20160324113112_1.jpg
Just a preview of things to come. This is a screenshot of your map, going out of the blue spawn, with mat_wireframe 1. What do you see? Or better, what do you not see - The engine loads everything in your map, safe for the death pit on the right, both from the red and the blu spawn rooms. I'd guess there isn't a single visleaf that is not visible. This will cause most players to have performance problems. There are so many things you could improve upon in this concern that it's hard to give you a single link. So, i'll link you to The TF2 Mapping Link Ressources thread. Check section 19. Optimization Guides / Techniques.

5.
20160324113407_1.jpg
More of the same, but with mat_leafvis 3 instead of mat_wireframe. What is blatantly obvious here is that you are not using func_detail to tell the engine which parts don't cut vis. I see this especially on the stripes around the point, because there wouldn't be 1-unit high visleafs on the floor otherwise. This will also cause performance issues, but what's even a bigger problem, this will cause your compile process to take much longer. From the visleafs i can see on that screenshot alone i'd guess that your compile took literally ages where it shouldve at max taken a few minutes.
Also, while what you did is one solution to put stripes around your control point, it's by far not the best one. I'd suggest either using a brush that is the same height as the underlying platform (Check out the Clipping tool for that,) which has the added advantage of not adding 4 more faces that noone needs to see to the scene, or optimally using the stripe overlay - check this link for that.
And while it is easier to visually show what happens with visleafs without func_details, the next two screenshots of the hut next to the death pit make it much clearer what it does to your map.
20160324113451_1.jpg 20160324113455_1.jpg

6. Clipping
Man, sorry to say that, but while you definitely used playerclips, they are really off. Lets begin:
20160324113836_1.jpg
Blue spawn exit (and a few other places) - It's possible to get completely stuck behind some props because you haven't clipped them. In the screenshot, i hold a Rocket Jumper, so i am able to get back, but all normal-speed classes are able to get onto that rock, fall behind it and get stuck.

20160324114004_1.jpg
While i can't stand on the roof right behind it, i can stand on the huge sign over red's second point.

20160324114132_1.jpg
I can also stand here, which is the ledge on the left and right of the death pit. This wouldn't be as interesting if there wasn't a playerclip that prevented me from jumping into the pit or going more than 128hu to the left or the right. So basically, most but not all of those surfaces are clipped.

20160324114154_1.jpg
As a side effect to the previous screenshot, after manoveuring through a few playerclips, you can stand on the bottom of the deathpit, outside of the trigger_hurt range. You can't even get to the trigger_hurt area, because there is a playerclip somewhere in front of you. You are basically stuck between incomplete playerclip areas there.

20160324113219_1.jpg
You can also stand on top of these roofs, but not on the ones that you can see to the left of the screenshot, which are obviously a few hu lower. At first i thought that this was an oversight, then i found a small health kit up there. The only options to get there are Rocket jumping from the balcony on top and double-sticky jumping. This is not a good idea because those buildings are so high that damage falloff will make every shot that hits you (or that you hit when you shoot down) deal such a low amount of damage that you can't really fight from there. I'd suggest clipping those roofs as well.

20160324113246_1.jpg
You can also stand on this ledge here, but not 64hu behind this position because the playerclip randomly starts in the middle of that ledge.

7.
20160324112803_1.jpg
I don't know what happened there, but the wall to the room behind the glass is clearly 1hu off from where it should be.

8.
20160324112904_1.jpg
I have no idea what this is, but it doesn't create a leak. Still looks weird.

9.
20160324113007_1.jpg
The texture on the ramp makes absolutely no sense. I think it might be possible that you weren't able to fix it in hammer because you rotated the building. In this case, check the arbitary alignment section of the Texture alignment VDC page.

10.
20160324113022_1.jpg
Last but not least, most of your brushwork, especially anything that would require clipping or vertex manipulation is really really off. Also check all the roofs. I don't have any link for basic geometry, but someone else might have something.



There we go, hope that helped. Please consider that i neither said anything about gameplay (because i didn't play it with other players,) although the points are really really close to each other and each take a very long time (30 seconds or something?) to cap.
There also are some finer problems with the map, but i neither wanted to post 30 screenshots and explain them all nor want to overwhelm you. I only did alll this work because i clearly can see that you are motivated to create maps, so don't disappoint me ;)