Any updates ol' man?

I'll try and get some time to check this out later today, though no
doubt most points have been covered already. It certainly looks like
you have made some good improvements from the screenshots :smile:

Some good points again, thanks :smile:

A_S:

A)
1: There are a bunch like that, I didn't align everything properly yet in case I end up changing the texture.
2: The tree only works on steam or if you have the updated DLLs. I might change this to a brush-based one
3/4/5: I can easily fix all of those.
6: The balls do have a texture, but it is stretched a lot and I don't know how to change that yet.
7: That's actually deliberate because I want the texture going the way it is along the top. I'll try and make some kind of transition.
8: Good idea, but I would quite like to keep that as it is. I'll change it if the r_speeds are still too high after I have tried everything else
9: I want to implement that if I can. If not, smalelr thing in the middle with a tree or something.
10: See Gwil:1

B)
1: I can add some kind of trim or something to those stairs, but r_speeds are getting to the 'need to be thought about' stage here.
2: I got a few lighting errors with the last compile, I expect they will just disappear next time.
3: OK fair enough. I have an idea for that which sohuld be slightly more interesting.
4: I'll try a different glow sprite. I was considering having one glow sprite and one fainter fixed size sprite for every light, but I don't think this would be worth it.
5: I think grass around the bottom of the main tower could be possible. Your diagram was actually pretty good A_S :smile:

Gwil:

1: I did have more gaps, and ideally I would have angled brushes like the indoor cannon holes do, but both of these cause the wpoly to go too high. I can make the gaps a bit wider and see how that looks. The width of the battlement walls is actually less than a few castles I have been to - thin walls just get broken easily :smile:
2: Some more rugs and some hanging things on walls are a perfect suggestion for these areas, I'll definately do that. I know what you mean when you say 'circular', but if I put something players want around a loop (lj, weapon, armor), I think it should work out OK.
3: My friend made the exact same comment. The thing is, I have not made the castle as if it is 500 years ago - burning torches might look a bit out of place in a castle that is electrically lit. There are three of empty fireplaces, I could put another one of these in, although building another chimeny into the map could be annoying.
4: Wooden floors, will definately do that. Upper levels in particular. An ideal way to use the wood texture A_S got me :smile:
5: I'm not really sure what you mean here. I did have a sea-opening down in a_s' 11th screenshot, but the r_speeds were terrible if you actually went out there. Where would these tunnels you suggest go? I am interested but am not sure how this would work.

Thanks for your comments also Yak. r_speeds in the main big area are at the top of the list :smile:

Just had a run round - looking very nice Jeff :smile:

Couple of points off the top of my head before I get some sleep..

The battlements need to be smaller :smile: Theyre too long and wide at the
moment, and also gaps between them are usually designed to tip
rocks/stones/oil/general nastiness onto people - make them a bit
smaller and widen the gaps!

Its a bit too browny/sandy sometimes indoors - the layout felt (i found
it wasnt) quite "circular" in certain places. can you break it up with
colour? tapestries hanging off wooden support rails would be good.

I can't recall seeing a single fire in the castle (aside from the one in the shots) (doesnt need to be
lit) - correct me if i'm wrong. if you can afford the r's somewhere,
stick a nice big fire or 2 in there! anyone who lived in this castle would
have frozen to death :razz:

more wood for your different floors - castles burn well in big fires cos the floors are usually predominantly wood, not stone.

depth toward the bottom! a sea opening would almost certainly be there,
as well tunnels around the edges to and from large areas of the castle!
:smile: it would add greatly to the connectivity as well, and bring a new
dimension to the fighting..

ill write a better crit with screenies tomorrow, thats just a few points for spinkifying i can remember :smile:

otherwise it looks fantastic, and is very convincing :smile: looks almost Basque-esque, or somesuch.

not really, although it could do with spinkifying.. you are limited in
what you can do with castles because of wall thickness/the materials
they were made from - hence the designs are inherently very clunky and
cramped, but bloody strong :razz:

a wooden hand rail or somesuch wouldnt go amiss in my opinion. more
likely is that larger staircases would have been crafted from wood, not
stone - perhaps it could be worked like that?

The main staircase is usually quite large though is it not?
Understandably the servants and secondary stairs are kept small.
Regardless of my misconceptions, it still doesn't feel quite right.

A_S, castles dont have grandiose stairs, not fort/coastal/strategic
castles at least... ive been to castles in england, wales, scotland and
france (must be getting near triple figures soon) throughout my life..
and the vast majority (ie non residential ones) are surprisingly small,
cramped and cold with winding staircases - usually with tiny steps, low
<span style="font-style: italic;">roofs </span>and very very narrow :smile:

It looks much improved from last time. The detail added brings much to the map. However, I would watch out from those r_speeds, as in some areas I was getting a noticeable framerate hit. It wasn't much, but it's enough to interfere with someone's precise aiming for example :wink: . I'm not sure, but the gaps on the parapet look too small to me. It may be from looking at hollywood interpretations of castles though, I dunno. Also as A_S said the areas around the cannons would have bigger windows to allow for better fields of fire. However, these are just little niggles on what is an otherwise great map so far.

1. There's something not quite right with these stairs. Castle stairs
are supposed to be grandiose and these are a bit lacking. I realise you
don't have much room to work with though, and I don't have any better
suggestions.



2. This little section is being lit strangely.



3. A nice touch but wood doesn't bend like that.



4. You can clearly see the center of the sprite hovering below the light.

I'd like to see some more grassy areas on the outside for variation. Best castle map I've ever seen in hl. :smile:

I see what you mean now G... But no, i'm afraid I didn't notice - like
A_S said, he has his fox on a custom setting, I used to play with these
settings all the time (every day/night for nigh on 3 years)... so I
kind of got used to it :smile: