So we've been playing alpha MvM maps for the contest and I have some comments to make based on what I have seen so far:
1. Like I have mentioned before, feel free to use a Valve pop file to test your map as you develop the layout. If you submit an alpha map for testing, make sure to submit a pop file with it (rename a valve one if you want). Otherwise, it wastes everyone's time if someone has to make the pop file for you (it also glitches up the server). Your map risks being skipped from testing if you don't do this.
2. If your map supports tanks, make sure tanks work on your map (give it the proper path_track name). We've had some maps where the tanks auto-deployed on the hole and so we can't actually test the tank working on the map. If you want to maximize your testing feedback, make sure the map works at a bare minimum. On the same token, make sure the mission you use uses the same info_player_teamspawn names for the bots that the pop file does. If the mission uses, say, "spawnbot_other" but you only have "spawnbot" on your map, then the bots that should spawn in "spawnbot_other" won't spawn on the map, thus hanging up the wave. (Bigrock pop files avoid this since they use exclusively "spawnbot", so you can just use bigrock missions to avoid that headache if you want.)
3. Use a difficult pop file for testing. If the pop file is too easy then the middle and entire back of the map usually never gets used, so problems not at the front of the map will never be noticed (i.e. only the front is ever tested). Difficult pop files will push players all over the map, which not only allows them to test the entire map but also allows them (and you) to see how various sections of the map are used. It also will tell you where players will tend to camp when they get pushed back from the front, and if certain back routes have too strong chokepoints. You don't get any of that useful insight if people just steamroll the bots at their drop point.
4. Be diligent while playing WIP MvM maps - you don't always play MvM as you would in mann up or elsewhere when map testing. There are moments where mappers want the bots and tanks to *not die* on purpose so that they can check if a certain area of the map works with them (e.g. bot pathing, nav mesh, tank maneuvering, etc). It's incredibly frustrating when people ignore this and kill the bots anyway. Although you think you're being helpful for helping the team win the game (which you probably are), you're not being helpful to the mapper which further lengthens the testing process. Pay attention to and obey what the mapper says - they are in charge of the game.
5. Don't pack in the nav and pop file into your map while it's in development. I'll release instructions on how to do this correctly when we reach the end of the contest, but for now leave the nav and pop files out of the bsp file (at the very least it lowers the bsp file size so people download it faster; at best it avoids server crashes).
Please repack your map as well so that it saves us a lot of time during map transitions. The server does bz2 all maps but the lzma compression that repacking uses typically compresses better.
6. Our FastDL server kind of sucks and can misbehave at bad times. When it works, it works really well. Other times it just refuses to work. If you get dropped from the server for missing map, try reconnecting again to download the map. On the same token, if you notice that the HUD has checkerboard icons, that's because you likely have "map only downloads" set on your client. You'll need to temporarily disable that and then download the ~1000 class icon files (yes I know, it sucks) from the server so that custom robot icons show up on the HUD.
7. Although the server is not owned by TF2Maps,
the official TF2Maps forum, chat and server rules are still in full force on the MvM server (mostly because we're too lazy to come up with our own set of rules and it helps with consistency). We haven't had any issues with this from the testing we have done, but just keep that in mind so there are no surprises in terms of moderation.
I think that's all I have to say for the moment. The procedure for submitting maps for testing is kind of a mess right now but we'll
eventually straighten that out and have some systematic approach for MvM map testing. Thanks for submitting your maps and I hope to see more submissions and updates soon!
