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Dm_valley by MisterBister

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Map Description

This map is originally based on a map called "halo" made for HLDM. It was supposed to be a half-life variant of the map "blood gulch" from the game halo. Half-life?s graphics engine didnt manage to render a landscape similar to bloodgulch and forced me to make the map into an "L" shape.Since i had played blood gulch with my friends with "rocket launchers only" and had a damn good time with them the night before i started with "halo", i thought it would be fun to see if it was as fun to play with "rocket launchers only" in my HLDM map.The map looked like hell and had alot of visual flaws, though it was not meant to be beautiful since I mainly made it to improve my skills in how to make realistic terrain.

Despite its ugglyness, the map turned out to be a huge success during "LD-LAN #1", a LAN for swedish mappers held in Gothemburg a few times a year. Everyone loved the idea of running around with rocket launchers.

When HL2DM was released i thought it would be fun to make a follow-up on the old "halo" map.

And so it begun, the creation of Dm_valley.

Originally, the map was meant to be very similar to its predecessor, although many of my friends thought it would be more fun, and challenging, if I made it straight, instead of the old "L" shape. After that, things has evolved quite a bit. At first, the map was intended to have to exactly the same bases with only one route between them. However during some gametests one way turned out to be insignificant, so I made two more around the main route, creating a chocke-point in the middle aswell as sideways for the sneaky bastards. I made a unique base for each team to make the map feel more alive and not so dull.

I took alot inspiration from dm_island17 when creating the rebelbase, as you easily can see if you compare the maps.

After seeing a great nasty cool bridge on the map dm_lake i got very dissapointed when you couldnt run up on it, and I thought that I would add a bridge on Dm_valley from where you could get a great advantage over your oponents to make it more unique and fun to play, aswell as adding some eyecandy.

The gameplay of the map is extremely fast paced since everyone respawns with a rocket launcher in addition to the original kit. The map has great support for teamplay but works just as fine with the good old deathmatch mode.

The map is now released and below is the readme, although the personal comments in the thanks to list has been removed to save some space:
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
Dm_valley V 1.0
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
Release date: August 5 2005, Gothenburg, Sweden
Half-Life 2 Deathmatch (HL2DM)

Title: Dm_valley v 1.0
Name: Dm_valley.bsp
Author: Filip "MisterBister" Coulianos
Email address: f_misterbister@hotmail.com
URL: none specific.
Description:

A fast paced deathmatch map where all the players respawn into the mayhem with rocket launchers in a big valley.
The map is originally created with teamplay in mind as each team respawns in a separate base,
but the map works just as fine in Deathmatch.

Play information

Deathmatch: Yes (4-12+)
Team deathmatch: Yes (6-16+)
New sounds: no
New graphics: yes
New music: no

Construction:

Base: none
Editor: Hammer World Editor V4
Other progs: Batchcompiler
Known bugs: Texture problems may appear with Nvidia cards.
Build time: 6 months

Thanks to:

My mom and dad, My girlfriend Karin, Satchmo, Frissi, Habboi, BlisTer, Orpheus, Myrk-, Addicted to Morphine ,Spartan, Hugh, MoneyShot, ReNo, Crono, Dark_Kilauea, Pureferret, mazemaster, CrazySteve, Underdog, dragonfliet, Grim Reaper, wiggle987, IZaNaGI, seppe, Dead-Inside, Spas12, Vash., Blink, habboi, YokaI, vasko, Yoshi, cur_sed,Athlete{UK}, mabufo, Lonedog, Xlator, Wolf/Sky, Olleman, Coldblooded, Westberg, Lingon geisha, Bladebitch, Alucard, NotueRn, Kobi the leopard, Fenix, Twiggy, Teddybear, Ace, RatFace, Namron, Toor-, Skunken, Ank4, Frank_Desembler, Synthetiq, Clawfinger, Klasse, Skumtomten, Surfer, XPerience, Nilesh and Juim

Additional thanks to:
The Snarkpit community.
The Leveldesign community.
The Interlopers community.
The Halflife.nu community.
The Valve company.

Special thanks to YOU for reading this document and for downloading this map.

Other notes:

If you have a server with this map, you may notice that people cannot download the map directly from the server
via steam. This problem appears since this maps file size is bigger than the maximum file size that Valve has allowed
a HL2DM server to upload. This problem can be solved by entering this command in the console:
"net_maxfilesize 30"

If you have suggestions, feedback or anything you want to tell me, please don't hesitate to send me an email:
f_misterbister@hotmail.com

? 2005 Filip "MisterBister" Coulianos

Discussion

Posted by MisterBister on Sat Jun 4th 2005 at 11:49am
[Author]
Sort out the draw distance with the fog... Maybe use some giant
fog dust s**t around the whole level too to give it more motion (the
particle distance fog is boring and static- such old skool
technology).
I'm working on optimizing the map in order to be able to increase the
max viewable distance. So far I've managed to increase it with about
1000 units, but I'm afraid thats about as far as I can go...
Posted by Myrk- on Wed Jun 1st 2005 at 9:51pm
Sort out the draw distance with the fog... Maybe use some giant fog dust s**t around the whole level too to give it more motion (the particle distance fog is boring and static- such old skool technology).
Posted by MisterBister on Wed Jun 1st 2005 at 8:17pm
[Author]
Todays progress update:

I have removed some of the thumpers and replaced two of them with the
big ones, I'm working on making it possible for the player to climb up
on them...

Furthermore I have placed combine looking posts all around the map to increase the detail level.

When looking at them, I suddenly feel that the ambience lightning of
the map has to be reduced and damped, so that it will look more like
late evening..

What do you guys think?

Here's some pics:

User posted image

User posted image
Posted by MisterBister on Wed Jun 1st 2005 at 6:49pm
[Author]
First off the picture looks really good. Ok now onto the part to Orpheus..

If you have displacement surfaces you can put a solid surface behind
it, and build your skybox off the top of that solid surface. Im not
sure but I think that can even be a No Draw texture behind the
displacement.
Yes, that is correct. You may use a nodraw block to prevent the map from leaking, wich is exactly what I have done.

I have made a skybox except for the bottom block, wich is textured with the no draw texture.
Posted by G4MER on Wed Jun 1st 2005 at 5:38pm
MisterBister said:
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>Orpheus:
</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV> Im afraid it doesnt matter if i remove all the holes in the map. Since displacement surfaces doesnt count as solid brushes, I still have to make a skybox around it to prevent it from leaking all over.
</div></div>

First off the picture looks really good. Ok now onto the part to Orpheus..

If you have displacement surfaces you can put a solid surface behind it, and build your skybox off the top of that solid surface. Im not sure but I think that can even be a No Draw texture behind the displacement.
Posted by MisterBister on Wed Jun 1st 2005 at 4:35pm
[Author]
Thanks alot for all enthusiasm, I really appreciate all the suggestions and comments. Here's a small list of changes, if you have something to add, please tell me =).

Things to be added:
A really cool 3D-sky.
More details outdoors (such as rocks ETC).
Rubble under the crack in the bridge, wich should work as cover.
Teleporter effects, including sounds.
Ambient sounds in all the different enviroments.

Things to be changed:
Remove some of the thumpers
Improving the visual quality in the areas inside the big combine fortress.
Texture alignment here and there.
More smooth terrain.
Fixing the APC on top of the bridge.

Things i'm considering:
Redoing the rebel base into a deserted/destroyed combine base.
Adding specific weapons to make the gameplay more diverse.
Making a second version of the final map with "normal" weapon config.
Adding a crashed spaceship somewhere, maybe in the mountains?
Posted by Myrk- on Wed Jun 1st 2005 at 11:17am
It was fine before- just a little bare. I suggest playing the single player level with the teleporter and take ideas from that- maybe have protected spawn points behind force fields or something. Also you need some sounds in there- something big and epic, with a big fat ass sprite doing crazy s**t round the teleporter so that it makes it look more unstable.
Posted by Hugh on Wed Jun 1st 2005 at 10:59am
The room should definitely be darker, it doesn't seem very moody for a Combine fortress. Maybe add some fancy access doors, too, those are always cool. It's kinda hard to tell if you're on the right track yet, though the architecture does look like in the same general style of the Citadel so at least that's a good thing. :smile:
Posted by MisterBister on Wed Jun 1st 2005 at 9:40am
[Author]
<div><div><div><div><div><div>I have been working on the interior of the big combine fortress. This is what ive got so far:

User posted image

Personaly im not really satisfied, first of all i need to dampen the
lightning, to make the room be a bit darker then perfhaps... What do
you guys think?

Am I on the right track?

Im currently working on a "what to do" list aswell and will publish it
soon so you can see what im planning aswell as easier pointing out
things that I have forgot.

Orpheus:

</div></div></div></div></div></div>
Im afraid it doesnt matter if i remove all the
holes in the map. Since displacement surfaces doesnt count as solid
brushes, I still have to make a skybox around it to prevent it from
leaking all over.
Posted by Guessmyname on Tue May 31st 2005 at 2:25pm
If you look at the bridge screenshot (its in the post with the layout) the apc's wheels are in the concrete...