This is a map I just started today set around the assault on the Brecourt Manor artillery installation, well known as the focus of the second Band of Brothers episode, Day of Days (map name pending).
Anyone who plays DOD will probably be wondering why I'm doing this map, as just recently a map of the same theme has been circulating. If you have played the map then I needn't explain myself. To be perfectly frank it is a gaudy, poorly constructed, poorly researched, poorly textured monstrosity of a map, doing little credit to Band of Brothers, the actual location or the men who fought there.
Hence my map, which will attempt to 'right' the wrongs, by replicating as accurately as possible not only the Band of Brothers episode, but the actual historical data.
Here are some preliminary screens of the first two guns and the beginning of the installation. The actual installation was located in one long field, but to allow for R's I have divided the field in two. This is still a work in progress, but I am very pleased with how it looks so far.
Discussion
Posted by G.Ballblue on
Thu Oct 7th 2004 at 8:21pm
ReNo said: DoD is designed with higher spec computers in mind than Half-Life - it is the same engine but it will run awfully even on some computers than manage HL easily. By designing it this way from the start, they don't have any fans who have become alienated by having the mod grow beyond what their computers can handle, as something like CS would.
A map with 1500 w_poly will run just the same in DoD as it would in HL, however most people playing DoD can put up with this sort of w_poly because even the official maps of the mod have figures this high.
It is still preferrable to design maps to keep w_poly as low as possible, but its not unexpected to see them over 1000 in this mod.
Something doesn't sit right.. O_o I have a computer that can blast me to the moon and back, and yet, I get extreme lag in HL1 when my w_poly hits 900. Why? :dorky:
Posted by Agent Smith on
Thu Oct 7th 2004 at 6:24am
[Author]
Yeah, it's taken me a while to get hedge's looking right. Nothin' worse than a hedge that looks like its a flat image on cardboard cutout or something. There are some barns and cottages to be added, but unfortunately as this is the countryside, there aren't really many occaisions for the inclusion of water towers :biggrin: .
cool foliage but it lacks some cool features, such as houses, watertowers etc
Posted by Agent Smith on
Mon Oct 4th 2004 at 8:39am
[Author]
Thanks Gorbachev, when I test after a quick progress compile I generally use the old WON system, it tends to be a bit quicker. I'll check it out in Steam, thanks a lot :smile: .
Agent Smith said: Well I've eliminated snipers from it completely and have limited the number of MG's to a realistic amount, with 4 for the axis and 2 for the allies. However, with the large field of play, plenty of cover, long ranges and multiple paths, It'll be hard for MG's to dominate, unless they have a pro team of other players just to make sure they stay alive and in position.
As far as the epoly goes, its been surprisingly good, easily below acceptable levels. also the combined sky/brush wall in between each hedge does well to block out anything that isn't supposed to be seen.
One problem I have been having is that models disappear when the point entity is out of view. It looks a bit dodge, does anyone know how to fix it?
The model issue shouldn't happen in Steam. It renders different than the old engine. (i.e. when you're testing single player) In Steam it renders by bounding box, WON was by origin.
I've never had any problems running DoD. Even back when I had completly lower specs. They may have optimised some of the engine code to get some of the effects they have and speeds, But I'm not sure.
Posted by Agent Smith on
Sun Oct 3rd 2004 at 1:45am
[Author]
I don't know, I could be wrong. To tell you the truth the constant delays of HL2 have really f**ked me over. I was hoping for a release ages ago, and had all these great ideas for maps, but with the delay I've been trying to create them in HL with little success. The engine is just too old for what I need to do.
I've been learning UnrealEd and am attempting radiant, but the problem is these games (COD, UT... well maybe not UT) don't seem to have the same lifespan as HL.
Paralaxion was a map idea I was going to do for HL2, and as you all know the R's weren't too high, but were really pushing the limits. Pegasus didn't even start out as a map to be released, I was just getting warmed up to make a pegasus bridge themed map for DOD source.
Now it looks like there won't even be multiplayer for HL2, what the hell is happening?
Well the beach on dod_charlie is constantly above 1000, but seems to
peak around 1300. I checked about 4 other maps and couldn't find
anything more than a fraction above 1000. If some of the maps do hit
1500, its very rare.
