CP Steel Event rc4.1

[Scampi]

cp_steel_event - Halloween variant cp_steel

Of the two brothers, Redmond Mann always had a particular fondness for extravagant manors and mansions. So much so that he could hardly settle for just one. One such manor became a new front in the mercenary war when a nearby mine was revealed to be a BLU corpse disposal site. Many years have passed, and the decaying chateau has become haunted with the many spirits of those who died on, around, and under the property.

This is my first map, a Halloween-ified version of my favorite map, cp_steel. Although it's technically a reskin, I've tried to make it original and interesting, without saturating it with gimmicks. At its current state it's pretty much done, except for fixes and testing. Oh, and a special end-of-round event involving both teams having a truce and fighting skeletons for a minute. I'll add that later.

Am I allowed to call it cp_chateau_event? I would really like to name it that, but I understand if this is not an option.

My hope is to get this thing to as refined a state as possible before I throw it up on the workshop. The short term goal is to lure a community server or two into running it soon, and the (maybe very) long term goal is to (hopefully) get it into the game. Was this the best beginner project? Probably not. This is my first run at doing anything like this. Either way... I am open to any and all suggestions and criticism for making this map the best it can be. Happy Halloween!

 

[Tuaam]

Looks good, nice job.

I'm especially pleased with how it doesn't look like steel at all, it's a completely different map at first glance. Hell, you can probably re brand this map and people would think of it as a different concept.


It doesn't even feel like a spytech base, it feels like an actual mansion

 

[Billo]

not going to lie, the second i saw the thumbnail for the map i was thinking... "great another reskin of an already accepted map which will be like another skybox and a few pumkins here and there" but i can clearly see that you dedicated a lot of time to completely retheme this map and that is great. i love how it looks! i think you did an amazing job and goodluck with the map.

 

[Rytu]

Some misaligned textures on screenshots 9&10&12 that are triggering me way more than they should, just a heads up, otherwise it's very nice !

 

[Micnax]

It doesn't even look like Steel anymore, and that's great. Good job!

 

[Crash]

It looks really cool. Surprised me, even. I think the biggest thing holding it back visually is the lighting, though. It's very consistent and flat. Every room looks so evenly lit, there's barely any dynamics to it. I think a really good solid lighting pass on this could make it look killer.

 

[SoundChaser]

Honestly, I gave a bit of a run and the one that's surprised me the most was point D, it feels so different from the original it's uncanny. Fantastic job!

 

[Scampi]

-Redid a lot of the chateau exterior. Looks bigger, grander!
-Added in some of those sweet new blood overlays
-Made some small changes based on feedback from limited testing. Mostly clipping.
-Compiled with HDR on. I know this has something to do with nicer lighting, but I'm not sure. It made the overall lighting a little prettier, but it apparently makes any reflective surface full bright. How do I get this working?


Things to do:
- Add a special end-of-round-event involving skeleton warfare
- Deal with the basement
- Get detail sprites working on the terrain... how do I do this?
- Figure out what water type to use. Something actually visible, which is apparently hard to do.
- Rework most of the interior lighting to be more dynamic and interesting

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Scampi]

- Did some work on the interior lighting to make it more interesting. Changed the atmosphere from warm and inviting to positively loaded with spooks (maybe an exaggeration).
- Added some ambient sounds
- Fixed the basement area

Things to do:
- Fix cubemaps
- Add that skeleton thing
- Get detail sprites working
- Fix water issues

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Asd417]

This is awesome!
Here are some of my thoughts and bug reports.

Visible Nodraw

You can get stuck here. please clip.

The lighting inside is so nice. It is diverse, exciting and spoopy.

White lighting is bland. But you already know this. I want to talk about the texture variety.
I think you can change some textures to be not stone like how gorge_event was done. Mixture of stone and wooden structure. Maybe if you change the lights to be non-whites and leave some part of the building darker, (like how buildings in plr_pipelines are done) you can make it more interesting.

The rock texture here is too repetitive and small for the surface it needs to cover. How about bumping the texture size to 0.5 or even 1? Also the lack of well, anything just above the rock breaks the immersion for me. I guess you could add more trees there. Or you could even add some rock props which I believe will certainly make the scene prettier.

Please keep working on this so that we might see this in the next halloween update!

 

[Scampi]

This is awesome!
Here are some of my thoughts and bug reports.

Visible Nodraw

You can get stuck here. please clip.

The lighting inside is so nice. It is diverse, exciting and spoopy.

White lighting is bland. But you already know this. I want to talk about the texture variety.
I think you can change some textures to be not stone like how gorge_event was done. Mixture of stone and wooden structure. Maybe if you change the lights to be non-whites and leave some part of the building darker, (like how buildings in plr_pipelines are done) you can make it more interesting.

The rock texture here is too repetitive and small for the surface it needs to cover. How about bumping the texture size to 0.5 or even 1? Also the lack of well, anything just above the rock breaks the immersion for me. I guess you could add more trees there. Or you could even add some rock props which I believe will certainly make the scene prettier.

Please keep working on this so that we might see this in the next halloween update!

Thanks for the feedback! Good news on the cliffs, it just so happens that yesterday I redid their textures, replacing the previous with a more detailed variation with a mossy alpha. I also intend to add a 3D skybox (when I figure that out) with plenty of those low-detail 2D background trees, finally solving the blank clifftops. As for the castle exterior, it looks much better when I compile in HDR, but I didn't do that because I haven't sorted my cubemap issues out yet. Still, I'll see what I can do involving some texture variation. Cheers!

 

[Scampi]

-Changed the name to cp_chateau_event. Is this good? Is this bad? It's a more fitting name than cp_steel_event, it's what I've always referred to this map by in my head. Someone let me know if this was a bad idea.
-Fixed cubemaps. The lighting should be good to go now... except for a few glitches here and there.
-A texture overhaul for the cliffs and ground. Looks muuuuch nicer! Combined with the fully functional HDR, everything should look pretty much how I want it.

Things to do:
- End-of-round-truce-with-skeleton-fightin'. This requires a lotta map logic work, something I know very little about. This will take awhile!
- 3D skybox with forrest
- Fix the plethora of small texture and lighting oddities

I'm approaching the point where I will submit this for testing. It will be before Halloween, make my words. Also, the lighting in gmod isn't nearly as good as it looks in TF2, but that's how I had to take the preview screenshots.

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Scampi]

Added a 3d skybox. I think I'll submit it for testing later today, then I'll work with the feedback and add in the spooky event.

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Scampi]

Big update coming soon, gonna push for full completion ASAP.

 

[FloofCollie]

Such a great idea for a Halloween conversion, it feels awesome and so much fun to run around such a sprawling map when it looks like this.

 

[Scampi]

Chateau is almost done and ready to enter RC status! Going to send it though extensive testing after this to iron as much out as possible.

Additions:

- Major detailing on the exterior. I tried to evoke a Gothic theme, though it's still kind of a castle.
- Gutters! On all of (most of) the roofs!
- Certain rickety structures will creak under your weight.
- Did the final pass for ambient sounds.
- A monster lurks somewhere...
- Skeletons will spawn in specific locations when points are capped, providing extra challenge for defenders and attackers alike depending on where they decide to run.
- A few skeletons will also spawn when a someone burns to death in the lava.
- Lighting is done as far as I can tell, awaiting feedback.
- Final detailing everywhere.
- Custom, theme-fitting doors. Certainly got my mileage out of the portcullis models.
- A whole host of less notable minor things and/or things I'm forgetting, because I kind of forgot about this for a while after off-and-on work.
- Fixes for water, thanks fubarFX!

To Be Added:

- The post-round skeleton thing, MAYBE. I'm a hell of a lot better at map logic than I was when I first started, but I'm still under the impression what I want to do is a formidable challenge. I can't even guarantee it would be fun, so I'm kinda shelving it for now until I can give a definitive yes or no answer. Further experimentation required.
- Responses to feedback. Have fun playing this on test sessions (hopefully), and let me know what you think.
- Map photos (whatever those things are called, those photos you see when loading the map)
- There are a few custom props I'd like to use in place of some one the ones already there, mainly mossy rocks. I can't pack custom content at the moment, so that's off.
- The navmesh packed into the bsp. I've found it to be impossible to pack it in without creating a map that crashes your game. I still need to figure this out.

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[Scampi]

Thank you to all who helped test and provide feedback during the last imp. I was able to make a significant amount of changed based on your feedback.

Additions:

- The Big Finale. Ask and you shall receive, though this was planned from the beginning. At the end of each round, the entire map turns into a game of TF2 zombies, as the map opens up and skeletons pour in. The winning team gets fully healed and spawns in an advantageous position together, while the losers get dumped all around the map randomly. The losers have already lost, make no bones about it, but they can end up with a tie if all the winners get murdered by skeletons.

- Lighting. The map is brighter, and candles are realistically dimmer. Should look better and play better.

- Skeletons can no longer enter spawn. Though neither can you, during the Big Finale!

- Fixed various bugs, including clipping issues, texture seams, bits of broken light, water, etc.

- Detail improvements, mostly small touches, but the basement area has been fleshed out more. Moss has been applied to areas where masonry touches the ground, this should ease the transition from dirt/grass to stone.

Hopefully all goes well on the next test. I've tested the Big Finale as best as I can, and to my knowledge it works, but that was obviously with just one person. Have fun!

Read the rest of this update entry...

 

[TheMightyGerbil]

Um you mentioned a fix to some water among your posts but the water seems to have looked better in an older version? /confused? Did you forget to build something in the b3 version?

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd....188/66E730171A16BB899E6FFF6586F42D5DE5BD5C47/ cp_chateau_event
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd....820/A5876D1CC78C98EA1064BFACA38A50F7A5F108B8/ cp_chateau_event
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd....003/1B6ED514A02FCA56B20173A624770DDC8F8C4494/ cp_chateau_event_b3
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd....414/6B29E4FF86020CF8D7C67B8CFA043236B6E0FF68/ cp_chateau_event_b3

 

[Scampi]

Um you mentioned a fix to some water among your posts but the water seems to have looked better in an older version? /confused? Did you forget to build something in the b3 version?

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd....188/66E730171A16BB899E6FFF6586F42D5DE5BD5C47/ cp_chateau_event
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd....820/A5876D1CC78C98EA1064BFACA38A50F7A5F108B8/ cp_chateau_event
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd....003/1B6ED514A02FCA56B20173A624770DDC8F8C4494/ cp_chateau_event_b3
https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd....414/6B29E4FF86020CF8D7C67B8CFA043236B6E0FF68/ cp_chateau_event_b3

Yeah, I'm using cheap water now. I learned that multiple water levels usually don't work because it will switch between pretty and cheap water at random and incorrect times, I had an experienced player point this out. Replacing the water with cheap hydro was the only solution as far as I can tell.

 

[TheMightyGerbil]

Yeah, I'm using cheap water now. I learned that multiple water levels usually don't work because it will switch between pretty and cheap water at random and incorrect times, I had an experienced player point this out. Replacing the water with cheap hydro was the only solution as far as I can tell.

Ah I've been having a problem like that for ages. I was going to post asking about it eventually as it seems to be effected by certain angles crossing visleafs. In particular I've got two maps where a pit or window looks downward on water where it occurs but nowhere else. If you ever hear tell of why or learn how to fix it I'd be grateful if you shared the solution.

At one point it seemed like it'd be possible to make a fake water texture, one that looks like water visually but isn't classed as it, and then make another, non rendering, texture defined as water under it on another brush. I can't remember the results but I don't think I ever figured out the proper .vmt syntax.