You know what, fuck it. Next update will fix Melee Fort. I really do wish it was as simple as getting admins to install plugins, but that's a hassle I never want to impose on them. During that time I should have (hopefully) figured out how to get PLR to work- I swear it's so horrendous it would give Cthulhu nightmares.
So yeah, new Melee Fort once I finish PLR Melee Fort and the massive optimization job. But some screens showcasing what I've done so far.
Some may immediately recognize this as DM Melee Fort. And you'd be right! ...sort of. With my idea of making every single Melee Fort gametype unique in its environment, I've taken DM Melee Fort and fitted it with the skeleton of a PLR map. Kinda' running out of themes here, and the old DM Melee Fort was hogging two- raining and nighttime, so I've given PLR the night sky.
Please do excuse the placement of RED's cart in the screenshot, this is extremely early work here.
I figured I'd go with a single-stage PLR, taking your cart from your L-Hallway, across the bridge and side roads, up their hallway, and into their courtyard ring.
And of DM Melee Fort?
DM gets the Sawmill treatment- sky, lighting, and rainstorm. The obvious downside to this is all the demos and recordings of DM Melee Fort I've taken so far for a big ass promo video are now null and void. So if you'll excuse me, I need to go cry in the shower now.
Some may immediately recognize this as DM Melee Fort. And you'd be right! ...sort of. With my idea of making every single Melee Fort gametype unique in its environment, I've taken DM Melee Fort and fitted it with the skeleton of a PLR map. Kinda' running out of themes here, and the old DM Melee Fort was hogging two- raining and nighttime, so I've given PLR the night sky.
Please do excuse the placement of RED's cart in the screenshot, this is extremely early work here.
I figured I'd go with a single-stage PLR, taking your cart from your L-Hallway, across the bridge and side roads, up their hallway, and into their courtyard ring.
And of DM Melee Fort?
DM gets the Sawmill treatment- sky, lighting, and rainstorm. The obvious downside to this is all the demos and recordings of DM Melee Fort I've taken so far for a big ass promo video are now null and void. So if you'll excuse me, I need to go cry in the shower now.
So I'm not gonna bother to lie and just come out with it.
I made a GIANT fucking mess. That's why Melee Fort has gone without a fixing update for so long and that's why it's likely to stay as such for awhile.
So where do we go from here? plr_melee_fort_a10 is 100% functional, now I've just got to slog though making yet another set of titantrons. I had almost forgotten how much fun (read: would rather pull out my fingernails with my teeth and then bury my hands in a bag of salt afterwards) making the titantrons were.
Theme music will definetely be "Stone Cold Crazy" by Queen for RED, and I'm still a little undecided for BLU's. I was originally going to go with "Man on the Silver Mountain" by Rainbow, but then I thought to use "Frozen Rainbow" by Saxon. Then I thought to use "Southern Man" by Neil Young. Then I thought I don't know what the fuck I'm thinking anymore and just stopped. And that's where we are now.
So don't expect a new release any time soon, I have a few priorities ATM. Priorities like getting pipeball_event finished before the next Halloween Update is announced. Priorities like drawing up more ideas for a regular ol' CTF map that doesn't suck. Priorities that generally don't include Melee Fort anywhere near the top.
I made a GIANT fucking mess. That's why Melee Fort has gone without a fixing update for so long and that's why it's likely to stay as such for awhile.
So where do we go from here? plr_melee_fort_a10 is 100% functional, now I've just got to slog though making yet another set of titantrons. I had almost forgotten how much fun (read: would rather pull out my fingernails with my teeth and then bury my hands in a bag of salt afterwards) making the titantrons were.
Theme music will definetely be "Stone Cold Crazy" by Queen for RED, and I'm still a little undecided for BLU's. I was originally going to go with "Man on the Silver Mountain" by Rainbow, but then I thought to use "Frozen Rainbow" by Saxon. Then I thought to use "Southern Man" by Neil Young. Then I thought I don't know what the fuck I'm thinking anymore and just stopped. And that's where we are now.
So don't expect a new release any time soon, I have a few priorities ATM. Priorities like getting pipeball_event finished before the next Halloween Update is announced. Priorities like drawing up more ideas for a regular ol' CTF map that doesn't suck. Priorities that generally don't include Melee Fort anywhere near the top.
Last edited by a moderator:
Though I'm sure you don't need any reminders, I take funmapping seriously. Looking good and playing good like any other "legitimate" map. Recently I've found something horribly wrong with Melee Fort, it's filesize. Something was artifically bloating it's filesize, and Ive finally found the culprits; the Titantrons.
Now this doesn't mean that I'm going to be removing them. The first pair of Titantrons I did were well under five megs. The rest of them were 20. For awhile I wondered what could be causing this, and then it hit me. Instead of saving the frames in .png, I saved them in .tga. Essentially I was presenting the same animations of the same quality, but with 15 megs of excess baggage- 30 megs when you count two in one map. 30 megs that could be used for something else, like....
...
.... well, whatever uses 30 megs on your comp. I'm not here to judge.
So, much to my "delight," In addition to the other set of Titantrons for PLR Melee Fort, I'll also have to be redoing the ones for CP and DM Melee Fort too.
The things I subject myself to for fun...
Now this doesn't mean that I'm going to be removing them. The first pair of Titantrons I did were well under five megs. The rest of them were 20. For awhile I wondered what could be causing this, and then it hit me. Instead of saving the frames in .png, I saved them in .tga. Essentially I was presenting the same animations of the same quality, but with 15 megs of excess baggage- 30 megs when you count two in one map. 30 megs that could be used for something else, like....
...
.... well, whatever uses 30 megs on your comp. I'm not here to judge.
So, much to my "delight," In addition to the other set of Titantrons for PLR Melee Fort, I'll also have to be redoing the ones for CP and DM Melee Fort too.
The things I subject myself to for fun...
So PLR Melee Fort (and by extention the rest of the a10 builds) are pretty much finished. Of course I'm waiting for the next big update to add more weapons. If only I didn't put Melee Fort on hold when I did- It's been three months since the Manno-Technology update- three months without what would have been another map-breaking update, especailly considering Valve broke Pipeball Event (what I was working on in place of Melee Fort) so damn soon after it's grand release. C'est la vie.
Also completed are the deflated Titantrons. CP Melee Fort was the biggest offender, and should now be down from 60 megs to 30 megs. The last issue that needs adressing is the themes.
Currently, Melee Fort plays the themes via clusters of ambient_generics. People with lower-end PCs have often complained that they stutter when in close proximity to them when playing. By themeselves, ambient_generics are really quiet. Stacked on top of each other they're much louder. Sure I guess I could bump up the audio level of the tracks themselves, but as they are they are already peaking at 20dB, any more and they'll start to distort and sound like utter shit. Bear with me, I'll find a solution yet.
Also completed are the deflated Titantrons. CP Melee Fort was the biggest offender, and should now be down from 60 megs to 30 megs. The last issue that needs adressing is the themes.
Currently, Melee Fort plays the themes via clusters of ambient_generics. People with lower-end PCs have often complained that they stutter when in close proximity to them when playing. By themeselves, ambient_generics are really quiet. Stacked on top of each other they're much louder. Sure I guess I could bump up the audio level of the tracks themselves, but as they are they are already peaking at 20dB, any more and they'll start to distort and sound like utter shit. Bear with me, I'll find a solution yet.
While I anxiously await the next big update, now's your chance to request titantron themes. Currently I've got Stone Cold Crazy (Queen) and Frozen Rainbow (Saxon) in place, but if you think there's a better 8-second except from a 70s-80s song that could be used, now's the time to let me know
I don't believe it- I havent even released A10 yet and Valve's already broken it.
There's something in PLR Melee Fort that was once working but now causes it to crash, which is odd because I fiddled around with some static props between the last working compile and the one that just crashed.
valve, y u hate melee fort
There's something in PLR Melee Fort that was once working but now causes it to crash, which is odd because I fiddled around with some static props between the last working compile and the one that just crashed.
valve, y u hate melee fort
Still haven't nailed down what's causing the crash. But I suppose there's no hurry; it doesnt look like there's going to be a major update until Christmas, and we've already gone three months without a fix, so what's another month? Maybe in the meantime I can find out a way to make the Titantron themes more lower-end friendly without crapping up the quality.
*sigh* all this would be so much easier if we could just turn Medieval Mode on and off...
*sigh* all this would be so much easier if we could just turn Medieval Mode on and off...
what about the medieval mode entity?
you mean tf_logic_medieval?
Already tried sending it enable/disable/kill inputs. Sure it'll work flawlessly for forcing melee only (as demonstrated in DUEL Melee Fort), but one of my prized gimmicks in the series is the winning team getting their weapons back.
I also could get a plugin made, but that's the last option I'm willing to turn to- I even killed the old Meleefort rather than rely on plugins
Already tried sending it enable/disable/kill inputs. Sure it'll work flawlessly for forcing melee only (as demonstrated in DUEL Melee Fort), but one of my prized gimmicks in the series is the winning team getting their weapons back.
I also could get a plugin made, but that's the last option I'm willing to turn to- I even killed the old Meleefort rather than rely on plugins
And the second Austrailian Christmas update is upon us. Work's been pretty dead for awhile now, so I've got no excuse not to have new Melee Fort out by this Sunday.
Finally pinned down what was making PLR Melee Fort crash. who knew a missing phys_constraint could be so catastrophic?
All that remains is fine-tuning the cart paths and rollback zones, testing the NEW new new stripper system, verifying that the new weaps are properly stripped, and we're ready to go.
All that remains is fine-tuning the cart paths and rollback zones, testing the NEW new new stripper system, verifying that the new weaps are properly stripped, and we're ready to go.
Ah, snag.
The Wrap Assassin's bleed ball doesn't share the same entity name as the Sandman stun ball. So while the baseball will be stripped, the tree ornament won't. Which isn't so bad, I think, as it doesn't leave players defenseless and gives the scout a better shake at the stick in a melee-only setting. For once, just this once, I'll leave it be for sake of getting new melee fort out there. it's been far, far too long.
brb, compiling
The Wrap Assassin's bleed ball doesn't share the same entity name as the Sandman stun ball. So while the baseball will be stripped, the tree ornament won't. Which isn't so bad, I think, as it doesn't leave players defenseless and gives the scout a better shake at the stick in a melee-only setting. For once, just this once, I'll leave it be for sake of getting new melee fort out there. it's been far, far too long.
brb, compiling
http://www.gamebanana.com/maps/162130
CHANGES FROM A9
GENERAL CHANGES
- NEW new stripper system. If this doesn't work flawlessly I'll buy a hat just to eat it.
- Brand new game mode! Introducing PLR Melee Fort!
- Austrailian Christmas 2011 Update compatibility added
- Significantly cut down on Titantron filesize
ARENA, CP, CTF, DUEL, KOTH CHANGES
- nothin foo its perfect
DM CHANGES
- New theme: Sawmill's noon rainstorm.
CHANGES FROM A9
GENERAL CHANGES
- NEW new stripper system. If this doesn't work flawlessly I'll buy a hat just to eat it.
- Brand new game mode! Introducing PLR Melee Fort!
- Austrailian Christmas 2011 Update compatibility added
- Significantly cut down on Titantron filesize
ARENA, CP, CTF, DUEL, KOTH CHANGES
- nothin foo its perfect
DM CHANGES
- New theme: Sawmill's noon rainstorm.
Haven't had a chance to playest the new PLR mode yet, no admin it seems is brave enough to hazard such a concept. If it works, great. If it doesn't, I'll update it along witht he other gametypes with every melee fort-breaking update, as was the model before.
What will I be doing for Melee Fort in the future, you ask? As future Alpha builds will generally only include updated weapon stripper compatibility, I'm finally going to start work on the Beta-1 builds- which may take some time before they see the light of day. I'm experimenting with different things now- from the Titantron sound problems to fleshing out the detailing.
For example:
Something to look forward to. :O
What will I be doing for Melee Fort in the future, you ask? As future Alpha builds will generally only include updated weapon stripper compatibility, I'm finally going to start work on the Beta-1 builds- which may take some time before they see the light of day. I'm experimenting with different things now- from the Titantron sound problems to fleshing out the detailing.
For example:
Something to look forward to. :O
Yeeeeeeeeep, gonna have to be stripping that ornament ball too. The GCF is telling me exactly nothing what it's entity name is.
*shines the Pseudo beacon into the night sky*
*shines the Pseudo beacon into the night sky*
While we wait, I thought I'd flex my creative muscle at work yesterday and come up with how DUEL Melee Fort would have worked if I hadn't chosen the Slobberknocker Storehouse as it's base, but rather the mashup of the RED and BLU bases
Another sleepless night leads to me thinking. Me thinking instead of sleeping usually leads to more horrible ideas. This is one of them:
Back in the old Meleefort, there were trains that would run across the map right in front of the team bases. This was met with mixed reception- The argument against the trains was that it turned a melee fight into LOL TRAINS, while the argument for them was LOL TRAINS.
Since trains are obviously out of place in the new Melee Fort, I thought of something else. The dumptrucks. Would it be cool if I brought more back from the original Meleefort and had the dumptruck props occasionally run across the map, flattening anyone unlucky, unawares, or just dumb enough to be in their way? Melee Fort is a silly funmap after all, and is in no way meant to be taken seriously.
Personally, I'm okay with things the way they are now, but wouldn't be opposed to the idea. Your thoughts?
Back in the old Meleefort, there were trains that would run across the map right in front of the team bases. This was met with mixed reception- The argument against the trains was that it turned a melee fight into LOL TRAINS, while the argument for them was LOL TRAINS.
Since trains are obviously out of place in the new Melee Fort, I thought of something else. The dumptrucks. Would it be cool if I brought more back from the original Meleefort and had the dumptruck props occasionally run across the map, flattening anyone unlucky, unawares, or just dumb enough to be in their way? Melee Fort is a silly funmap after all, and is in no way meant to be taken seriously.
Personally, I'm okay with things the way they are now, but wouldn't be opposed to the idea. Your thoughts?
- Feb 26, 2008
- 1,626
- 1,325
Dripping sarcasm aside, I finally got a chance to play PLR Melee Fort with a reasonably populated server tonight. For the most part it was great- aside from a few problems like getting stuck in the playload. Then someone asked if I was planning to do another Melee Fort. Namely, a throwback to one of the most beloved TFC maps, Avanti.
The inherent problem with that idea, of course, should be obvious. But you know me, I just HAVE to try to make it work.
Right off the top of my head, I'm thinking of going with CP Melee Fort's layout. But even if I just truncate one team's base, it's still going to be pretty small for an RCTF. My options are either to make it a two-way RCTF, or go ahead and axe one base and replace it with something completely new.
The gears, they are a-turnin'.
The inherent problem with that idea, of course, should be obvious. But you know me, I just HAVE to try to make it work.
Right off the top of my head, I'm thinking of going with CP Melee Fort's layout. But even if I just truncate one team's base, it's still going to be pretty small for an RCTF. My options are either to make it a two-way RCTF, or go ahead and axe one base and replace it with something completely new.
The gears, they are a-turnin'.