dm_predator_v1 by Tron

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This is my second map but my first time using displacement. Its jungle themed map. plz let me know if i have packed everything in to the bsp correctly as i am a noob at that. let me know what ya think.

Discussion

Posted by Tron on Fri Apr 30th 2010 at 6:09am
[Author]

Thx peeps 4 all your comments. They are very helpful in the making of V2 but dont no what 2 do about the ferns. Do i disable the shadows on them ore just delete them altogether!!!!! sry rage there is no way up there but thx 4 the good idea. i might just add that in V2.

Thz again peeps

PS updated pic's of V2 in the making

[IMG]http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/5830/dmpredatorv20006.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/4087/dmpredatorv20005.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/8586/dmpredatorv20004.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/840/dmpredatorv20003.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/3177/dmpredatorv20002.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/6230/dmpredatorv20001.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1839/dmpredatorv20007.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/7049/dmpredatorv20000.jpg[/IMG]
Posted by rage on Sun Apr 25th 2010 at 5:08pm

the map is great. Congrats! But can u tell me plz how do you get in the tower. Where is the entrance, if one exist?! I would be very thankful if you'd reply to me. Bye!
Posted by haymaker on Sun Mar 28th 2010 at 4:41pm

Ha I had a daydream once of a map with no human elements in it. Thanks for vindicating my laziness, and in such an elegant manner. Some first impressions:
  • It's well on its way to being a truly beautiful map in the interactive-wallpaper sense. Can't wait for the sounds.
  • For those prop shadows, disable them for now but alternatively try -staticproppolys and -staticpropshadows in the vrad command line. I'm assuming those are static props.
  • Because the foliage is so dense, you can and should be pretty aggressive with model fades. Standing at the bend in the river yields a pretty massive hit at the moment.
  • Gameplay is gonna be pretty challenging here. Hiding in a fern with a crossbow is not great deathmatch material. I suggest concentrating the items around the bend in the river and include the top of the 'island' in accessible area.
  • I actually didn't have a problem with orientation, you have the two big river rocks, the tower and the waterfall, for me that seemed enough to be able to find my way to the shortcut passage in short order.
-Good job on the filesize too. Next version go nuts with the items too so the playtest will work! Don't worry about placement too much but I wanted to suggest an xbow or mag on top of the big waterfall-end river rock :)
Posted by Le Chief on Sun Mar 28th 2010 at 1:40pm

"Yak_Fighter" said:
These fern shadows look horrible. Off the top of my head I can't remember the best way to fix this.
You just disable shadows on the model.
Posted by Yak_Fighter on Sun Mar 28th 2010 at 7:39am

This map is in dire need of variable heights as it is currently flatter than a pancake. Totally horizontal combat on a flat plain gets old real fast. Additional heights, ledges, overlooks, ditches, embankments, ridges, etc would do this map wonders.

I also agree with Juim about adding additional z-axis areas for improved pathfinding because as is, everything looks similar at a glance and it is tough to get your bearings.

Weapon placement seemed sparse, but I might have missed some things in the dense foliage. I definitely suggest increasing the amount of prop_physics in the map so that the gravgun has a use. I might have missed those too but it seemed like there were none at all. I suggest the throwable gray rocks in EP2, maybe some log chunks, axes, barrels... the point is you need physics stuff in there to take advantage of HL2DM's (only) strength.

The displacements seemed ok to a point, but I would try to break up the rocky skyline so it wasn't so uniform and I would smooth out the banks of the river a tad. The aggressive flatness of your map comes into play here as well. You could easily make gently rolling hills or depressions and it would improve both playability and the visuals. I would suggest looking at the radio station hunter ambush from EP2 for inspiration.

Also,
User posted image
The water texture is tiling really badly. I would increase the texture scale to at least 2x from its current setting. Also, this picture is a good example of the flatness of your displacements. Past the riverbank it looks like you just added noise and nothing more which has less than ideal results.
User posted image
The waterfall looks cool but it seems to be falling slightly too fast.
User posted image
A ton of props are floating over the ground.
User posted image
This dead end holds a powerful weapon and is easily camped. To add insult to injury the only way inside is also very narrow. At a minimum you should add another way in.
User posted image
These fern shadows look horrible. Off the top of my head I can't remember the best way to fix this.
Posted by Juim on Sat Mar 27th 2010 at 4:30pm

Very impressive indeed. The only few suggestions I would have would be to maybe add some rustic structures of some type to add z axis gameplay, and to better help visualize where you are in the map. (Maybe a boat dock, or a shed, or perhaps a rangers lookout tower or something), Oh and more weapons/pick ups would be nice. I ran through the river quite a bit and thought some hidden ammo in there would'nt be a bad idea either. I'll suggest this one for playtesting at the FF servers. Can't wait for b2!.
Posted by tnkqwe on Sat Mar 27th 2010 at 2:32pm

That's too nice for a first time. You gave allot of effort in it, didn't you?