[WiP] cp_cathedrals

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
hey man that looks great! if performance is an issue that's why i said a light fog yellow/green color would work they both feel like "toxic" colors to me..
The problem is, I don't know how to make "light fog", except with env_fogcontroller (which is perfectly inadequate for this situation).

also, one note on the brick walls you got going there, try scaling just one wall and see how it looks with bigger bricks and i hope you're using a hell of alot of func_detail in there lol.
I've been thinking about bigger bricks for quite some time now, I just didn't try it yet. I'll keep you informed. And yeah, I believe that approximately 90% of brush faces are func_detailed ;)


Speaking of brushes, my last compile attempt ended on line one of the compile log, with a capitalized MAX_MAP_BRUSHES or something of that taste. Prop modelling is on the way to replace some of the brushwork. Once again, something I had planned to do anyways, but just not yet.
 

flubber

L4: Comfortable Member
Nov 16, 2007
171
35
Bon en français pour le gars Apom c'est plus simple : y'à des gros ERROR qui clignotent au dessus de l'escalier dans l'eau prêt des derniers point.

UK:Got big binking ERROR in the windows over the "water" stairs.
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
Well apparently, it means the props here were not properly added to the bso. This is surprising, considering that they were added in the exact same way as the rotating fans (which work). I'll double-check to see what's gone wrong.
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
Here are some fresh news. I'm just back from 2 weeks without access to my computer (GPU fan broke down). I've received some feedback and should have a new version available in a couple of days. Expected changes are essentially of two types: first, replacing a number of brushes with props (98,7% brush fullness at the moment...), which of course includes fixing the currently broken ones. I will also change the crypt so that it gets any use, as testing shows it's nice-looking but quite bad in gameplay terms.
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
The fog itself isn't actually toxic, only the water is. I used the fog to make the water's toxicity obvious for the freshly-arrived player.

To answer your question, you don't die instantly, so if you fall in the water because you missed a jump between two floating barrels, you still have a chance to live. But the degen rate is quite high, so if you land there after a pyro blasts you away, chances are you will just panic and die off. /cruel laughter
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
After some tiem spent on respawn rooms for the mini-contest, I came back to Cathedrals. I finally came around to make much-needed changes to the crypt. First of all, the stairs in the shrine have been entirely reworked, they look a little less nice (in my opinion) but at least they are easy to use.

Also, instead of being an underground passage with the same general direction as the main path, it is now significantly longer and pops in the tools room under the stairways, allowing a cornered team to take their opponents from the back.

I'll post this version as soon as I've done all the compile-related stuff.
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
It's not a spawn room, but rather an usual place to stay. At least it was before I modified the crypt (it was just a dead end with metal and health then), I may change that after some playtesting.

(it's not as dark in reality, I had accidentally removed a light on that screenshot ^^)
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
Apparently some textures were badly included in the .bsp, I fixed it and took advantage of this to make a couple of extra changes: the tunnel below the desert has been enlarged to make it possible to pass between the carts and walls (before it was required to jump), and lighting in the clositers was improved thanks to Youme's post about ugly shadows.

tunnel_ZFV.jpg


cloister_ujY.jpg
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
I can't texture for the life of me, so I can't help but agree with you :/ And XSI Mod Tool won't let me blend textures and colors (you need the paying version) so I only used a base color with soem shades from lighting.

The red windows actually don't look to bad (I think?), I may switch the blue ones to some white-grayish color to be more in line with the walls.
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
I've been working on changing parts of the layout around cap 2. The spiralling staircase has been removed, thus creating space in what was before "the blue room" (or red on the other side). The cloister in the left aisle now connects to this room, allowing for a route that does not go through the previous choke point.

Additionnally, the separation wall between the two cathedral areas is now more massive, which reduces the area available around cap 2 (too advantageous for mobile classes) and cuts sniper lines at the same time. It also offers better sentry positions for the cornered team.

Finally, the flowing water shader proved to be too expensive to render, it has been removed for now and should be replaced by a cheap variant later on.

PS: the pillars appear grey because they've been turned into props and hence have different lighting in fullbright (I'm reworking the lighting, last step before b8 release).
 

Psy

The Imp Queen
aa
Apr 9, 2008
1,706
1,491
You need to use a rockwall texture for the walls of the mining section.
 

Apom

L6: Sharp Member
Sep 14, 2008
366
65
I'll try that in the next version; I also will give a try to Flubber's suggestion to make a wooden cathedral for RED. I just uploaded beta 8 (here) and this one should be the final layout, although further detailing work and performance improvements are still to be made.

As you can see in the attached screenshots, I reworked the main cathedral hall to allow more protection from snipers and more ways to go between caps 1 and 2.
Now that the room below the staircase is more accessible, I made a more classical lighting scheme, which was a major recrimination from the previous version.
I also removed the "relics" around cap 2 and put a couple of big gas lamps there (I'll probably try and make a model for these, although I'm pretty happy with their current shape).
Finally, and that's the first change to the desert section since b3, I removed a large number of containers and replaced them with rocks, something which has been asked for for a long time. I still have two containers left, I couldn't find a proper rocky replacement yet but that's something I'm thinking about.

One note: the pillars have weird lighting. I could fix the "uniformly lit" problem by making vertical subdivisions, but for some reason, normal mapping gives catastrophic results, and the walls all around are bump mapped so the mixed effect is quite unpleasant. I'll probably discard the props and go back to brush geometry in the next version, unless I've found a workaround.

All suggestions and comments, aside from this lighting issue, are welcome as always.