Sector Gamma

Take a look at the screenshots from Sector Gamma and tell me what you think of it...

I'm pretty eager to hear your comments...

Doesn't look bad, although bit simplistic in areas, and I hate those textures, they're too 'crispy' :/

Crispy textures? What do you mean?

Outside is somewhat simplistic, that's right... Maybe some more train cars and some crates/containers? Mmh, the large buildings are also kinda silly concrete textured. I haven't made textures for them yet. I'll do.

Not sure whether its the textures or the screenshots themselves, but something has been 'sharpened' giving the nasty 'crispy' look. The FLF team recently did it with some screenshots of one of my maps and I wasn't best pleased - it gives a false impression of what the map looks like.

Either way though, you're map could definitely benefit from a different texture set. There's some nice architecture, just a shame that the textures you chose to use make it look a little lifeless and flat :smile:

I'm creating the textures myself, so... They're too sharpened, you say? Probably the small brick wall texture, but the others, also too sharpened?

I'll blend them a little... :smile:

If it's the textures that are sharpened then i'd say that the grass, the brick texture you mentioned, and the rock are overly sharpened :smile:

good textures and a good map, keep it up

Heh! The grass and the rock texture are from de_piranesi.wad, CS. I use them still but I'll replace them too with self-made ones later. I need a track for the trains anyways... :smile:

I think the textures are lovely. Keep up the good work Captain P!

I think they are too sharp also - sharpness can be nice but only to an extent, and this has crossed that boundary. The bricks on the interior shot need to be changed - why would they build such a large building out of such tiny bricks anyway? Would use a huge load of mortar to hold them together.

Yep, I get the message... blend the brick texture.

@ ReNo: some plaster over the wall, here and there intersected with a break in it, showing the bricks behind it? About large brick walls, it does happen in real-life... but yes, the walls could use some more variation on the texture.

You don't necessarily need to not use bricks, its just that the current texture is of loads of really small bricks and it looks repetitive. By all means use a brick wall if you think its most suitable, just try some less repetitive ones and that will probably go hand in hand with having larger bricks. It might be a good idea to break up the surface as well though, be it with some sections having plaster over the brick or whatever.

The textures, especially outside, are so bland and unidentifiable that it almost looks abstract.

I think the bricks are of good size, in reality they are quite small too actually.

I'll go for the plaster here and there. The repetitiveness of that texture has been mentioned before by some others from my Dutch forum, so I'm aware of it. (If not, I should be by now... :biggrin: )

And what do you mean, Cassius? Keep in mind that some are still test textures, especially the ones on the buildings on the background.

I really like your choice for the direction of your environment lighting and I think it compliments your architecture very well (the first pic especially looks good). I think the problem with the textures is that it clashes your theme (which I'm assuming is industrial factory). Everything looks too clean and perfect. Maybe some pollution and rust hehe. It doesn't look all that bad as is however I do agree about the bricks being too small. Also I can't quite put my finger on it but the third pic just looks wierd...

EDIT: Forgot to add that the mountainy thing in pic 2 looks very good.

The buildings seem excessively large, while the textures seem excessively small.

LOVE the hills, but that grass looks...pretty ugly.

looks interesting. i especially like the third pic, reminds me of the Super Mario Bros. underground areas

To tell you the truth, the problem is hard to identify for me. It doesn't look like there are buildings, just large grey blocks slapped on the ground. There isn't much life in them.

I agree it looks too clean. I'll do something about it.

The buildings are large and they're meant to be large. I stretched the textures on them 4 times. But these textures are Half-Life textures. I still need to replace them with custom ones. They look lifeless indeed now.

The grass texture comes from de_piranesi, and so does the rock texture. I'll replace them too.

Pretty cool so far dude.

Mmh, I redid the brick wall texture now. It's not the final version but I wanted to hear if you like it. If I'm going the right direction, so to say... :smile:

http://www.websamba.com/captainp-home/custom/gamma_inside_3.jpg

Mmh, the screenshots still have some sharpening I see... I guess it's because I take them on 1600x1200 and resize them 50 %...

yes that texture is much nicer but with the whole wall like that it looks repetitive. Maybe a comprimise between the two? Also you could try making it cinder block instead of brick.

Mmh... cinder blocks...

I was dubbing about using cinder-blocks on an outside building, I'm gonna do that. As for the inside... I guess I'll have to do some more research on how old industry buildings like these were constructed... I think cinder blocks could do some but not on all faces here.

Nuclear reactor = reinforced concrete everywhere

got to stop those gamma rays :smile:

Well, actually... concrete doesn't stop gamma rays. Not that effectively. 5 cm of concrete halves the gamma ray intensity... Lead does a better job with 1 cm.

Concrete in nuclear reactors is there to protect the structure in case of explosions. The Chernobyl reactor did not had a concrete shell around it, so when the disaster happened an enormeous part of the roof was blown up high.

After the melt-down, a concrete bunker was built around the still active reactor. That bunker is called the 'Sarcophage'. That's the concrete thing you see in the first screenshot. The one with the vertical concrete beams.

Well, soon I'll have some new screenshots of the reworked inside. I've worked on the layout of the inside last days. I'll put some more trains in the outside bytheway, to provide some more interesting combat area (extra cover...)

Captain P said:
Well, actually... concrete doesn't stop gamma rays. Not that effectively. 5 cm of concrete halves the gamma ray intensity... Lead does a better job with 1 cm.

Um no. obeveously lead does a better job, however it is far to expensive to use as a construction material. I believe a couple meters of concrete is usualy favored over a couple centimeters of lead, unless the application requires a very small mass or volume of shielding, such as protective cloathing.

Doesn't being surrounded by lead do something bad to you? Didn't they used to use 'lead paint' in houses, but there was some kind of problem with it? If you use lead to protect you from the gamma, do you need something else to protect you from the lead?

You probably refer to lead-poisoning, like the Romans had?

Mmh... I see iron needs 1,5 as much length to halve radiation as lead. Still better than crete, though... water needs 2 times the lenght crete needs to halve gamma-radiation.

I guess, in protective suits, they use different materials. As far as I know, the higher the density of the material, the less is needed to halve the radiation. There might be other factors as wel, though.

About my map, soon I'll give out some more screenshots of the inside, wich I'm reworking (if only I didn't had so much tests and exams on school now).

I've worked on the inside of Sector Gamma:

http://www.websamba.com/captainp-home/custom/sectorg_i1.jpg

http://www.websamba.com/captainp-home/custom/sectorg_i2.jpg

That looks really nice actually, I really like the wall tiles for some reason, it makes a change from seeing the normal brick / plaster / concrete that most maps use.

I was looking at snapshot 2. I think the top of the "bunkers" or whatever the small buildings are, could use either (A) a few more textures, or (B) more detail. Most buildings have a standard of 3 materials (textures) but the small buildings were a bit simplistic.

I love those wall tiles in shot3. =D The tile real good with the size of the object.





Yippie Ki Yay!

Yes, those buildings will get another roof texture and a trim texture on their walls (to fit the roof texture better).

I haven't made these textures yet so I just used the wall texture. But it's going to be replaced soon.

About the third screenshot, that's the area I'm currently devoting a lot of time on. Nice to see it shows. :smile:

The 'tile' texture is misaligned on the vertical supports in the upper section of the third screenshot. :smile:

You're a true Sniper, A_S... You've accurately spotted my texture lazyness. :smile:

:biggrin: Thanks.

I really like that area, but it looks a little too empty. I understand it's supposed to be abandoned but it looks as if it was never used aside from the dirty textures. Maybe add a couple of vents, a fancy computer or even some cryptic posters! :smile:

Still lacking some tracks for them trains.

Those aren't trains you moron. They're a rare breed of box-antelope indigenous to Chernobyl. They feed on grass and stones and are liable to explode if irritated, cornered or touched.

s**t, and I just took a handful of grass...

Never actually though of the idea of mutated trains... :biggrin:

But yes, tracks will follow. Progress is slow now due to exams, too bad...

looks slightly blocky tbh

Eww --- maybe I'm not seeing this right, but I can quite EASILY see a gap between those sheds and the grass. If you're doing the "1 unit gap trick" then maybe instead you should put a small func_wall on the bottom of the shed to fill it in?

That's because those 'sheds' are meant to be trains, and I haven't added their wheels yet. Actually, I still need to make a texture for the wheels. I've redone the train texture now, though.