Gmdm2 beta1

This version includes the rolling boulder.  Huzzah for me!

• Download gmdm2_beta1.zip [5.71 MB]
• Screenshots

The gmdm2_beta1.zip file is actually a complete mod. installation.  You need to remove any old version of the Weapons Patch mod. that you might already have.  Unzip the file to your Half-Life directory; the new version of the Weapons Patch - including the map - is now installed.  Run a Weapons Patch LAN game to view the map.  Don't try to run it in singleplayer or under HLDM, or it WILL crash.

There's still a number of things to change - e.g. some textures, lighting tweaks and even some architecture.  But I think it's looking a lot better since alpha5!  It is not actually complete, but this is the first time the map feels complete to me (hence the beta).

The new Weapons Patch mod. is also incomplete: I haven't finished transferring the old code.

All feedback welcome :smile:

This best be good oh pe0nous one! :smile:

I should probably mention how to set off the boulder:

The boulder always starts at the gauss gun location.  In the room next to it, there is a huge pillar.  On the pillar there is a tacky-looking bit of texturing that is actually a shootable button; it's marked like the doors.  Shoot this :smile:

I'm looking forward to trying this one out :smile: I've read loads about the boulder issues and i'm interested to see it in action :smile:

I shall try it out as soon as I get home - and well done for persevering with an idea. I'd have probably just scrapped it and started a new map :wink:

 Looks like it could be a lot of fun... moved a hell of a lot faster than I expected! All of a sudden bars descended and a rumbling started.. 4 years work was after me! Bloody good show Gollum, overall a very nice design, paticuarly the interaction with the doors and floors - feels almost like a huge abandoned temple we weren't supposed to interfere with, and we will pay if we do! :razz:



There it is... about 3 seconds after and my furious back pedalling to escape, I was crushed

A bit more to come later on this map :biggrin:

Im gonna have to test this out later :smile: & sorry about itlaics I have no idea why its writing like this. :/

Woohoo, as soon as I get onto a computer with a CD burner, it will be mine :smile:

i just walked around this map for the last 30 minutes, and i am not sure if i even saw 1/2 of it..

this map has really changed since i first saw it..?!?!two years ago now?!?! maybe more..

the boulder.. i saw it first hand, the 1st time, from underneath its crushing embrace.. tis a fast booger i tell'ya.. the 2nd time, it zoomed past my position to swiftly for me to get a good look at it, i will endeavor to locate another viewing platform next time :smile:

i saw few if any texture issues.. you really been workin on those doors... last time they mis-aligned after each shot.. very nice..

my greatest thrill, not to take away from the boulder mind you was the water-slide from hell... after all the verbal "whoas and ahhhhs" i was laughing hard enuff to pee myself.. i had to go up for 2 more rides..

when you are ready, i will write up a detailed critique, but i feel it prudent to allow the others a crack at this map first... for 2 reasons..

1) if they are to stupid to install it and run the map themselves, they wont have the advantage of viewing my screenshots till they get smarter..

2) since i have viewed this map a few times in betas.. i think we need a fresh set of eyes before i comment..

i am a bit biased.. this is the best work of art i have ever witnessed in HL map creations... no one has come even close to the visions this map contains.. and no one has come close to its complexity... also.. the forking r_speeds are phenomenally under control..

anyone still in doubt, that you can't have creativity, and NOT keep the r's in check... "F*CK-YOU!!"

Just sodded about on it for a bit, I love the doors & especially the staircase that changes height. Il see if I can test it with a few people tonight.

I'll try and get a 5 person playtest on it tomorrow night, unfortunately don't have a CDRW on this machine so can't get it for tonight :sad:

ReNo said:
I'll try and get a 5 person playtest on it tomorrow night, unfortunately don't have a CDRW on this machine so can't get it for tonight :sad:

http://www.snarkpit.com/pits/orpheus/file_splitter.zip

reno, this is the most amazing file splitter i have yet seen, for its size it packs quite a lot of usability..

break the file into chunks small enuff to put on 3.5 floppies...

the program also creates its own exe to recombine them if you don't have the original splitter proggy..

hope this helps..

Don't have any floppies with me mate, but thanks for passing that my way anyway, will be useful in future when I'm restricted to the rubbish old library computers with no CDRWs.

*grins broadly @ comments*  Thanks guys :smile:

I released Gmdm2_alpha5 on 27th April 2002, so it's been about a year and a half.
Ooooh a 5-person playtest.  I'm so damn jealous.  Have fun  

The doors do lag very slightly on clients.  I've found that this is okay on my network (54Mbps), but I don't know what the perormance is like on a 10Mps LAN.

 

damn...the link ist kaput.....grrrrr.....

LEEEEEPPP!!!!

doc Brass... :dodgy:

Do you mean my map links or the file splitter?  All seem to work for me

I get this error:

ED_Alloc: no free edicts

I don't have a weapons patch installed.  Never had it or the Model Expansion pack.  Blue Shift not installed either.

Firstly, the Weapons Patch is a mod (not an update patch or an expansion pack).  This has confused people before, so I may consider changing the name.

The Weapons Patch is just a mod; it will not affect your copy of Half-Life or any of your settings.

You do not need any extra files to play gmdm2.  The beta will install a copy of the Weapons Patch mod., which must be used to play the map.  Look for "Weapons Patch", version 2.2 under the custom game menu in HL.

Secondly, I should explain about the error:

Gmdm2 has lots of entities.  This causes the map to crash immediately in single-player mode with the error Ed_Alloc: no free edicts.

To avoid this you must run the map in multiplayer - a LAN game.  This works because the edict limit in multiplayer is higher.  However, it will still be possible to crash the map; I am curious to see how stable it is.

I repeat, do not run gmdm2 in singleplayer.  Do not try to use a different mod or HLDM.

ReNo, Korn and anyone else who may playtest the map - I apologise in advance in case it crashes!  Still, it will be useful to discover how unstable the map actually is.

I'm really sorry for the inconvenience this may cause, but the only way to know is to test it!  I will of course do my best to make the map as stable as I can before a final release.

the simple "how to" guide to loading this map..

1) download the zip file.

2) extract it TO the half-life folder, it doesn't matter if its sierra or not.. go to half-life (IE) c:sierra/half-life or c:/half-life

3)load HL normally, and pick "custom game"

4)enable the weapons patch 2.2

5) chose "LAN" game, and create it with GMDM2

should work fine..

please post any further loading issues, some may crop up unexpectedly that do not involve you being the one at fault :smile:

I'd follow Orph's plan there unless you are running cs retail, in which case step two should be extract to the Counter-Strike (NOT CSTRIKE) folder.

That's something I hadn't thought of - some people don't even have a Half-Life directory.

By the way, if you type "fire boulder" in the map, it will stop/start the boulder at any point.  You need cheats on for this.  I have it bound to a key just for fun.

It makes me feel like the god of boulders or something  :biggrin:

Hmmm....Gollum, God of Boulders....has a nice ring to it.

Cash Car Star said:
I'd follow Orph's plan there unless you are running cs retail, in which case step two should be extract to the Counter-Strike (NOT CSTRIKE) folder.

i don't wanna sound really stupid.. crowd gasps but what does CS have to do with this map??

scratches head unless you are saying this works for any mod, which is true.. but i just wanted to be clear.. gollums map is not a counter-strike map for anyone who hasn't been here long enuff to know yet..

I think what he means  is that some people are using CS retail, you know the one that doesn't use Half-Life, in other words the stand-alone version of Counter-Strike.

There do happen to be people that have CS retail insted of Half-Life. This doesn't mean they can't play the Weapons patch/mod + this map, it just means the directories/instructions for installing are different that's all.

Same with Day of Defeat stand alone retail.

Even though I've heard some mods won't work with CS retail. Oh well, proudly points out the crumbled Half-Life box laying on the ground

i'll be damned, i bought all my HL disc's so long ago i never realised that some of the new ones were stand alone..

yeah folks, all my HL stuff was bought legit.. i have 3 HL keys to prove it :razz:

i bought HL,OP4,Blueshift.. downloaded TFC and CS

OMG, PAST 1337 map gollum!!!

Well in about an hour or so ill be able to play this waits exitedly :biggrin: :smile: :cool:

Gollum - I must admit, that is one of the coolest maps I have ever played. Everything comes together so well, it's amazing. I will try to come up with some crits later (if i can!).

mazemaster said:
Gollum - I must admit, that is one of the coolest maps I have ever played. Everything comes together so well, it's amazing. I will try to come up with some crits later (if i can!).

in the event that there are few if any crits... a bit of slobbering will be  perfectly acceptable

BTW guys.. please post a bit of feedback i need something to work with... i could find so little to complain about that i feel i may be a bit TOO biased..

i fully expect someone to find me something before tomorrow :wink:

Where is the damn boulder!?

I find this map utterly confusing with all the curves. call me spatiialy chalenged but the dynamic layout simply blows away my sense of direction, not to mention my sense of what was possible in HL :eek:

 

Unfortunately, I don't believe that with the number of complex entity structures that this could run with more than 10 players without lagging to hell, but prove me wrong and I'll love you.

To be honest I don't know how well this will run with a full load of players.  There are two issues:

• Is it stable?
• Will it lag like hell?

The first one I can do something about, perhaps.  As for lag, this map will probably be terrible on an internet game but I think it may be alright on a LAN game.....or maybe not - we'll just have to see!

One challenge I face before the final release is cutting down on entities as much as I can.  Whilst I don't want to rip any of the cool stuff out, I need to optimise what I have.

5.7MB... My cough*cough*valuable*hack* inputs will have to wait for later :dorky:

Yeah, sorry about that huge file :sad:   Future betas will have the option of just downloading the BSP, but this one needed a big update on the mod.

Tracer Bullet said:
Where is the damn boulder!?

I find this map utterly confusing with all the curves. call me spatiialy chalenged but the dynamic layout simply blows away my sense of direction, not to mention my sense of what was possible in HL :eek:

See my second post in this topic for a description of "how to trigger the boulder".  This is one thing I must improve, as the trigger is not obvious right now.

The layout of the map is certainly intricate.....takes a while to get used to it.

I was impressed with the build.  Very nice achitecture, nice texture alignment, cool doors, and nice rock. 

The rspeeds were very good, and were probably pretty easy to keep low since the map has no long distance views.  It's not hard to keep r's low with a map like this.
It is very cramped, and IMO not a playable HLDM map.

It's a superb map as a "Moving Picture" map...other words, a map a Player can walk thru, much like a museum, walking thru, enjoying the artwork, the waterfalls, the intricate doors, etc.

So yes, very impressive.  Playable, no.  I'd even consider leaving the weapons out, and releasing it as a single player...you'd have to think of a new category to release it under tho.

Maybe Museum because it is a work of art.

 

 

must resist

mumbles mantra repeatedly

must..........resist

/me checks schedule for next appointment for monk lessons..

Orpheus said:
must resist

mumbles mantra repeatedly

must..........resist

/me checks schedule for next appointment for monk lessons..

Don't worry Orph, it's pretty hard to rain on my parade right now :biggrin:  

Besides, I can fend for myself I think.  And I'm not as easily fooled as some people may believe.  Diplomats are often underestimated in this manner.

Oops, did I say that out loud?  Sorry Doc.

Doc, there's all sorts of different styles of play in Half-Life.  Some people like huge open spaces for crossbow whoring; some people like tiny shotgun fests and some people like a bit of both.

As for me?  Well, I always find giant open spaces annoying as I feel it makes certain weapons far too dominant.  But that's just my opinion.

Hell, Gmdm1 was a lot of fun to play and look how cramped that was!  There's actually a fair amount of space in this map but much of it is vertical.  Some rooms are actually taller than they are wide.

I am certainly not going to release this as a "Museum piece".  Yes, it's a speciality map.  Yes, it's complex.  Yes, you have to put a lot of effort into learning it.  Yes, you must play it on a LAN.  But I think it will play well.  I've designed this map right from the beginning with gameplay in mind.

The rspeeds were very good, and were probably pretty easy to keep low since the map has no long distance views.  It's not hard to keep r's low with a map like this.

Er, I beg to differ!  It is very hard to keep R's low in a map like this.  I have had to use all sorts of tricks, some of which I doubt many mappers have even heard of, let alone mastered.  Some of them I invented myself.

The special problems posed by vast numbers of entities have also had knock-on effects on the R's.  You would not believe the lengths I have gone to in order to keep the map playable with a high framerate.

Anyway, you're entitled to your opinion.  Even if it is wrong 

One warning: I have no more to say about this matter and neither shall you.  I will not take kindly to this thread degenerating into a flame war.  I've waited a long time for this moment.  Let's not ruin it with squabbling.

As you often say,

Peace.

Peace, my brother, and nothing but best of luck to you on your map.

Map critiques given here are often harsh but totally fair, so take note and don't get offended!

Yes, I can read the warning text on this forum as well as the next man.  What is more valuable, however, is to be able to read between the lines.

But thank you for your constructive response, and I wish you the same success with your future maps.

Oh yeah, and I've been meaning to tell you - I like your new avatar.  I think it's perfect for you, you should definitely keep it :smile:

Gollum said:
Oh yeah, and I've been meaning to tell you - I like your new avatar.  I think it's perfect for you, you should definitely keep it :smile:

Agreed, it's a perfect fit :biggrin:

You can flip the gif by cheating with style filters!

Can I make it play one direction and then another?  Also there's not much point if I can't actually turn it into a file to upload to the SnarkPit.

Don't try to run it in singleplayer or under HLDM, or it WILL crash.

are you planning on making this a singleplayer or multiplayer mod? cause you could easily turn off the SP functions in the menu GUI if your going MP. checkout "liblist" i believe its [color=limegreen]game_mode "multiplayer" check other mods for exact entry.[/color]

P.S. if you are planning on SP mod, i believe the crash is due to you not setting the startmap "name here.bsp" in your liblist file[color=white]. trainningmap "name here.bsp" [/color]is another you may want to put in, thats your hazard map.

Errr, the mod he has used and recoded is entirely for the GMDM2 and its spinkee boulder features - weapons patch has been a mod before this, for multiplayer.

Gollum said:
Can I make it play one direction and then another?  Also there's not much point if I can't actually turn it into a file to upload to the SnarkPit.

You'll need an image editor :/

P.S. if you are planning on SP mod, i believe the crash is due to you not setting the startmap "name here.bsp" in your liblist file[color=limegreen][color=white].

[/color][/color]

No, I think the crash reallly has a lot more to do with the singleplayer edict limit

http://www.hlgaming.com/

they posted the news I sent them about your map goll :smile:

someday, we will all look back on whom influenced us the most in HL editing... gollum will be on that list..

Wow, nice one Korn :smile:   Thanks very much.

We spent a fair while playing the map last night (after some strange installation problems, claiming we had different DLLs and things) and we all really enjoyed it. The boulder was absolutely fantastic, and I spent most of the game on a negative score due to me trying to outrun it all the time!

The map itself plays pretty well regardless of the boulder, although the layout is somewhat confusing. The delay it takes before you can reactivate a door also means its pretty frustrating if you shoot a door to see what it opens, and all it does is create a dead end.

The other concern was that it was a little cramped, and the only weapon of real use was the shotgun. Personally I'd prefer a little less windy corridors and a little more large rooms, but thats personal preference I guess. The boulder suits corridors of course, so its kinda a tough call.

All in all it was really good fun, and the little details like ripples and dust on the boulder gave it a lovely little bit of polish :smile:

*wipes brow*  Phew, a successful playtest!  And I assume it didn't crash once or suffer from bad lag??  How many players did you have in total?

Any details about the installation problems?

The corridors thing is a fair comment - there are a lot of them!  One of the major problems with this map is that, until you know what all the doors do and know all the routes, you'll find it very tough to escape the corridor network and may end up lost in a maze of corridors.

Now, my intended style of gameplay is a little different - I would like the corridors mainly to be used for quick movement between the larger rooms.  In the corridors themselves fighting is going to be very cramped and limited, but I hope in the rooms there will be more variety.

Maybe I can tweak the items a bit to encourage players to get out of the corridors and into the rooms (?)  I've left the power weapons in the rooms but there's still a fair few items in the corriodors.  What do you think?

Obviously the purpose of the door delay is to allow tactical use of the doors, but the fact that you can accidentally block yourself off, simply by experimenting with them, is frustrating.