RedWood said:
I didn't know light ents values were important. Thanks, im actually working on it right now. I'll give it a shot.

oops!
...light ents hdr values...

Aaron
I think you put the nav. file (what bots use to navigate if u didn't know)in the wrong spot. It goes in the same folder as the bsp. If you don't have a nav file for the map when you ad bots it will build one for you. You don't want to use that one ether. Nav. files need a lot of tweaking to get them working smoothly. the nav packed with the bsp is by no means a finished one but it is playable (fairly good actually).

more screens coming...

I had a little run around in the map and it seemed pretty solid to me!

I tried adding a few bots to see how the map played out but it ran a whole bunch of processes that where taking forever so I just gave up.

Nothing worth mentioning really, I understand this is a beta and will be improved. Layout looks pretty solid, I don't think I was able to get onto those containers. It dosen't have much playable height variation but I don't think that's a problem. Glass was fun to shoot.

Keep us updated!

I didn't know light ents values were important. Thanks, im actually working on it right now. I'll give it a shot.

Screens are showing some good Redwood promise

As for HDR what I learned in my first foray was to name the env_tonemap_controller, say "tmap", and then in-game you can change settings using ent_fire with cheats on.

For example, in console

ent_fire tmap SetBloomScale 0.3

and using the other inputs available, you can mess around pretty good. Then you can write them down and have the logic_controller fire them at map start.

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Env_tonemap_controller

Also don't do what Riven caught me out on, that is neglect to adjust your light entities HDR values. I found setting them to roughly half LDR value was a decent starting point, you can go up or down depending on texture saturation, blindness etc.

I should have mentioned that i know the lighting is bad. Iv done about half a dozen compiles trying to the the hdr right but it hasn't gotten much better. I wouldn't say I have a lot of talent as a mapper but i know really suck at lighting. If anyone knows of a advanced hdr lighting tut I'd appreciated if u drooped me a link. (and iv already read the wiki hdr tut twice)

This is still definitely a wip but, after having it brought to my attention, even at this stage, i realize i haven't been paying enough attention to wall and floor noise. Iv just been lazy when it comes to scaling the grass but i didn't think it was noticeable on the concrete. I'll tweak it. I agree that wood floor needs a change.
When i started the map i was cringing at the thought of it becoming a crate whoring monstrosity. Having a lot of crates in this map actually works out well seeing how it an unloading dock for trains and trucks. Tell me if u think i went overboard.

I honestly wasn't trying to dig for comments. I wasn't expecting any especially considering i said i haven't been working on it lately. Im even more surprised you guys responded the same day i posted. With the pace the pit has been moving at lately i figured if was going to get any comment it would be at least three days. Thanks a ton Reaper and Aaron.
I haven't been getting any hours at work lately so i think ill work on it a little and hopefully get back to u with some better screens.

In the process of downloading the map now but just a few aesthetic comments I have just by looking at the screenshots.

• Firstly, I think the HDR is perhaps a bit bright, might be better off turning it down a bit.

• It appears every texture in the map is at 25% scale. Some people don't like increasing the scale of textures but I think for large surfaces it needs to be done just a little in order to make the space seem balanced and hide the evil obvious repeating of a texture. Take the first screenshot for instance, the ground on the left is noticeably tiling, the roof texture on the far right needs to be stretched a bit more and even the path's concrete texture is noticeably repeating, as is the brick wall texture on the right. I think that it shouldn't be obvious that the textures are tiling, it really just ruins the look of a space in my opinion.

• Alot of the surfaces lack definition and character. Look at this screenshot. Every surface I see is textured with a generic texture (at 25% scale). The windows and wooden supports add a bit of depth to those surfaces but it just isn't enough. No decals or anything? No variation in the walls and floor for that matter.

• Some of the texture choices could perhaps be improved. The wooden floor texture in this screenshot should probably be changed imo and maybe because I used this as a placeholder brick texture in one of my levels for a looong time but I have a personal disliking of this brick texture.

Anyway, that's all for now. I don't know if this is a wip or not. I'll give you the rest of my thoughts when I play the thing and remember, I haven't mentioned the merits of this map I have observed so far.

I like what you're doing with sun light. Try to tone down HDR brightness for some of the lights to avoid 255 255 255 white areas of total brightness (like the white walls here or the floor under this light). Try experimenting more with indoor lighting as well. You're using the same, ceiling-mounted lamp everywhere. How about some colder, florescent ones, spotlights from lower angles, ect.

Try finding more structured textures for this brick wall, it's to homogeneous for such a huge brush.

Also your floors need detail. Maybe it just looks a little empty because of the general beta-state. You could, however, see if more three-dimensional floor detail might even add cover/gameplay opportunities. At the moment, you rely an awful lot on evil, evil crates for that. Floors are so incredibly important since they make up 70% of the screen most of the time.

I assume you know you can jump out of the windows, here?

You probably know more about CSS gameplay than me, so I won't pretend like I had anything to say in this regard. Looks solid, though!

The setting of this map is a old railway unloading dock. The facility has been added to repeatedly over the years and it can be seen in the architecture of the structure. The CT's start off in the most modern section and make their way to the T side to rescue the hostages keep under the stairs and in the cargo container. The has a rather wide open but compact play area. If you control the second level you control the map so a good amount of your man power should be concentrate there. It should make for a fun and dynamic chok point. Watch out for grenades and have fun.

You can see the whole map is the pics shown. I tried to keep it as small as possible while allowing lots of players comfortably. I haven't worked on it in months and, I think I only posted now out of boredom. I'll get back to it soon and finish it. Me and mapping tend to go in phases.
I haven't been posting lately and i definitely haven't been giving any feedback on peoples maps so i don't expect any feed back but, if you happen to take a look don't be afraid to leave a comment.
The Nav file is included in the rar and if you have any experience with my last released then I'll say this time i pulled the bsp from the cs:s folder (so the cubemaps are compiled).