Testing to see if this works, I hit reply in the Alpha chapter - as I did last time - and it didn't work.. maybe it's 'cause I always have to hit that "Can't see this box?" button, I guess since I use Firefox (Doesn't happen in IE).

Anyways, yeah.. I like the look of lightmaps a lot in most areas, but in some areas with such sharp contrast it's hard to deal with. :\

Regardless, it's not a huge deal - maybe you can try lowering it a bit more if possible and just get it to look as good as you can. I actually personally thought that the screenshot that I mentioned the lightmap scale on (default 16-size?) looked better than this, since the contrast is so high it looks worse with the current size (very steppy) versus at least the old one blended a bit more.. I'd just suggest trying it lower if that's possible, or going back to 16-scale.. unless you can get very precise lightmaps, fall back to the blurred-but-nicer-looking ones. :smile:

I'd like to wander around here again to let you know more what I think about the layout, once I get back from work - quite mazelike, in a cool way, but I need to get more familiar with it. :smile:

Hey, midk, thanks. You're making me blush a little as some of the areas are really rough, still. :smile:

You're right with the lightmaps. It is one of the few times where I wish HL2 had more Doom-3-ish real time lighting as even with a downscaled lightmap grid the edges look very unnatural. I knew I should have looked at the brightness levels more. The darkness of some of the areas is rather obvious and I could have fixed that quite easily.

I like the "Chapter" system of this board so, please, for further posts about the current alpha use this thread chapter.

Whoa. This map really blew me away.

The first thing I noticed was the incredible contrast with the lighting. I spawned right by the toilet and garbage pile. The sunlight's extremely bright and its hotspots look sublime.

I began to walk around, and reached a point where I could look up into the sky - absolutely perfectly set-up sun (very bright; yellow-orange). I continued to admire the excellent lighting contrast. I wandered through some watery areas, and really liked the blue lights diffusing out from under some of the pillars (excellent idea, feel... perfect). The water was also perfect - clear and clean. I ducked underwater for a moment once, and I saw a floating ragdoll stuck under a grate - very nice touch. :smile:

Continued to walk around, really enjoying the sights. I approached the area I'd seen in screenshots; the stairways leading up with a blue-lit passageway underneath. This on its own is most definitely the coolest lighting I've ever seen in Source and certainly one of the most atmospheric areas I've ever seen in Source as well. The sunlight filtering down, combined with a warm glow on the stairs and a blue glow underneath is indescribable (everybody reading - turn on HDR and poke around there, now). I hopped up on the corrugated metal sheets and really enjoyed the lighting up there. Lots of little touches like that catwalk were cool.

I headed around to an elevator; on my way I came back across the area I first saw the sun earlier, and I noticed a very cool bluish structure sticking up. When I reached the "edge" of the map near the top of the elevator, it was very "wow". The whole structure of the facility is so fascinating, it seems very alien and surreal with the fog (actually it reminded me strongly of Cube, if you've seen that film - some huge, weird location in somewhere impossible). I loved the architecture right there, and indeed all over the map. This whole.. facility.. an incredibly gritty-realistic feel.

I have two minor complaints. One is the lightmap sizing in some areas - it's too bad that you probably won't ever get very smooth lighting with such harsh contrast. :sad: I noticed you increased the lightmap size where I suggested and it was really necessary, although it could surely stand to be even smoother. All over I noticed that lightmap sizes should be much more dense (namely "sunspots" and under those blue pillars). You should cut out just the sections of brushes that are in bright sunlight and reduce the lightmap sizes on these sections to as low as possible - like 4 or even 2 if that's possible. The second complaint is the brightness overall. The indoor (read: far from sunlight) areas are too dark in some areas, especially in some of the places with those blue-lit pillars with low ceilings and water. I hope you add more lighting to these areas but whatever you do, I beg of you - do not touch your ambient lighting setting. The incredible contrast between light and dark in some areas is perfect. I don't want to see that lost.

I'd like to end this by saying that this is probably the most original and most hands-down cool layout, architecture, mood, feel and especially lighting I've ever seen in a Source map, and probably in any other level in any FPS, period. You've got a masterpiece on your hands, reaper47. I cannot wait to try actually playing on this. Bravo.

This version is outdated. For comments and suggestions see Alpha2a look here!

This is a first "preview" version of the map. I could list tons of "known issues" (the elevator is buggy, there's a lack of physics props, some parts are probably to dark... ) but see for yourself what you consider most urgent to be fixed and fine-tuned for the next release.

There are no lighting fixtures, only basic texturing and some parts are still very blocky. This version is meant as a play test to see how the map works on a server, find undiscovered bugs and balance basic gameplay. If you have a good idea regarding architecture or general asestetics feel free to post it too, I'm happy to hear how you see parts of the map I'm probably blind for myself.

If you know a server where I could host the map for a test or two that would be awesome. I try running it myself on my pathetic DSL line but I'm afraid this won't work very well.

Ok, it's up. I hope the files are zipped correctly and that the download and the included files work.

reaper47: Awesome! I really can't wait to try it. :smile: Hurry up! :biggrin:

The alpha version is ready and compiled. All I have to do is zip it and load it up. Should be finished by tomorrow or the day after. :heee:

I prefer patroling rats. :razz:

I Like the Manhack idea it seems like it could definetly add some life to the map

I'm afraid it would.

I hope with the skybox and soundscape you get into the theme quite quickly. Unfortunately I haven't added much to the skybox yet that would show in a screenshot. It's just the background (which can wait). The same is true for the soundscape.

I'm very close to an alpha release, though (could be by the end of the week). It will be a bit blocky at places. I'd like to just test the gameplay in an earlier version in case I have to remove a whole junk of a building. But I'd be more than happy for some early ideas about the visuals, too!

What about a few patrolling manhacks? Would that be too HL2ish?