Just FYI - this map was one of two selected for playtesting in our Double Feature tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. ;-)
- Thread starter Rexy
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OK- we had a ton of fun on the map. The visual were superb, framerates were good, and the custom content really made it stand out.
A few players commented on the need for clearer routes (probably fixable with some additional signage), and the first point seemed to get capped in a heartbeat (although the last point was a real slug fest).
The biggest problem that would probably hold it back from wide adoption in server rotations is just the sheer download size of the map file itself. At 72mb (bzipped) on our fast download server (which is a dedicated file server with a 1Gbit connection) download times for quite a few of our players were pretty significant. While there are some servers that can get away with larger custom maps, most downloads over 25-30mb will cost a server 40-50% or more of its population.
Having said that, with a few more tweaks I could see this getting picked up by Valve due to the outstanding overall quality of the map, in which case size won't matter ;-)
A few players commented on the need for clearer routes (probably fixable with some additional signage), and the first point seemed to get capped in a heartbeat (although the last point was a real slug fest).
The biggest problem that would probably hold it back from wide adoption in server rotations is just the sheer download size of the map file itself. At 72mb (bzipped) on our fast download server (which is a dedicated file server with a 1Gbit connection) download times for quite a few of our players were pretty significant. While there are some servers that can get away with larger custom maps, most downloads over 25-30mb will cost a server 40-50% or more of its population.
Having said that, with a few more tweaks I could see this getting picked up by Valve due to the outstanding overall quality of the map, in which case size won't matter ;-)
I'm looking for ways to improve (particularly the first stage) the map, and it seems a complete revision of stage one will do the trick. It's just a horrible mess in most places. All other comments about the bad parts of this map only ever involved stage one anyway, with the exception that the last may still be too difficult to capture (even though maps become harder and harder to defend over time, the more people play and learn about how to win maps like dustbowl, egypt, etc).
I'm afraid also the map may not compile anymore--some update months ago before I finished major work on this map seemed to limit the max amounts of things (from what I heard), although I haven't tried it myself. Stage one may be redone to bare minimum, with major simplifications.
This will help a great deal with filesize, as the majority of the bulk file size is associated with lighting, and the sheer surface area of map present that needed to be lit. I could see the map shrinking another 25 mb or so.
I'm afraid also the map may not compile anymore--some update months ago before I finished major work on this map seemed to limit the max amounts of things (from what I heard), although I haven't tried it myself. Stage one may be redone to bare minimum, with major simplifications.
This will help a great deal with filesize, as the majority of the bulk file size is associated with lighting, and the sheer surface area of map present that needed to be lit. I could see the map shrinking another 25 mb or so.
It certainly wouldn't hurt to remove some models and simplify some structures. In some places there are models which you can't even see unless you're trying to rocket jump out of the map, or looking from a corner of the map that nobody would actually use during gameplay, and some of the "detail bays" ontop of buildings seem unnecassery since they're way above the players normal FoV.
An example of this is the building above and beside CP1, stage 1. There are crates and doors on a bay which can only be seen by spectators or someone rocket jumping whilst looking away from gameplay, and windows and "extensions" that are only visible from the back of the CP where people never bother to stand. The building could have a third of the amount of detail you've given it and people probably wouldn't even notice the difference.
Another example of excessive/non-focused detail is the pond on one of CP2's flanks in stage 1. I played Zink about 50 times before i even noticed that and only because i was spectating and caught it from an odd angle. There are a lot of models, not to mention the water, adding to your file size that are visible from a very small FoV, and a FoV that would never practically occur during actual gameplay. It should either be as visible as possible, have less detail or not there at all.
The map's beautiful but perhaps too much focus has been put on the beautification of the map in general. There should be areas of focus detail so parts of the map can appear to be more important than others, instead of the entire map just looking like one big detail scene. Ironicly, when i look at some of your buildings i think they could do with a few bare walls.
Cutting down detail like that would certainly also reduce the amount of content lit, and thus light data.
An example of this is the building above and beside CP1, stage 1. There are crates and doors on a bay which can only be seen by spectators or someone rocket jumping whilst looking away from gameplay, and windows and "extensions" that are only visible from the back of the CP where people never bother to stand. The building could have a third of the amount of detail you've given it and people probably wouldn't even notice the difference.
Another example of excessive/non-focused detail is the pond on one of CP2's flanks in stage 1. I played Zink about 50 times before i even noticed that and only because i was spectating and caught it from an odd angle. There are a lot of models, not to mention the water, adding to your file size that are visible from a very small FoV, and a FoV that would never practically occur during actual gameplay. It should either be as visible as possible, have less detail or not there at all.
The map's beautiful but perhaps too much focus has been put on the beautification of the map in general. There should be areas of focus detail so parts of the map can appear to be more important than others, instead of the entire map just looking like one big detail scene. Ironicly, when i look at some of your buildings i think they could do with a few bare walls.
Cutting down detail like that would certainly also reduce the amount of content lit, and thus light data.
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Exelaratore
L2: Junior Member
- Mar 18, 2013
- 91
- 56
Wow! This map looks superb! I hope I can make maps with as much or close to the amount of effort put into this in the future!
Melvin D Engineere
L4: Comfortable Member
- Feb 25, 2012
- 173
- 192
how to install?
how do I install maps and make a private server for me and my friend to play on XD
how do I install maps and make a private server for me and my friend to play on XD
Why do you ask that in a map thread instead of utilizing the wonderful knowledge oracle you have available, that is google?
He works for a game dev company that has a non-compete agreement. This agreement means that he can't work on anything that gives advantage to a competitor.
... maybe he could work on it and release it for free, but it couldn't go official.
.... also, he's MEGA busy.
- Aug 6, 2014
- 1,056
- 535
Okay, I can understand the mega busy part.
But I'm gonna take a wild guess that he works for EA.
Raven, subsidiary of activision I think, but that doesn't matter. If I recall correctly, every state in the US has non competes except California, where they are illegal, and Washington state. Raven is in Wisconsin.
Yeah it's too bad this map was never finished since the author went to work for Raven, I thought this map had a lot of promise but did still need some work. The new art assets created for the map are beautiful and I would of loved for Valve to buy the map so other map makers could make maps with the same art assets (plus TF2 badly needs more A/D CP maps since the last one was Mountain Lab/Mann Manor back in 2010).