[map] DE_STATION2STATION

This is a a discussion topic for the map "DE_STATION2STATION" by R_Yell which can be found here

Map description:

DE_S2S simulates a desert enviorement, including sun, wind and dust effects. It's a objective based map too, terrorist must control one of two zones if they want access to the bomb site. Once they are able to activate a generator or a hidro plant, a train starts and crash against the fortress. They can ride it and travel fast and safe to bomb site. Then strategy changes radically, defenders must attack and vice versa.

Recommended players: 20 min. 40 max, but if your server can stand against 50, go for it.

Bots included (advice: long loads times).

Requirements:

CPU 2GHz or better, 512MB main memory, a graphic card with 64MB (128MB recommended).

Map screenshots:

Link fixed.

Buildings could have more detail, but I hadn't too much room like I said. And nothing is random in my map except wind gust XD

Ok, that explains some

About water:
There is a limitation/bug or whatever in HL2/source that prevents you from making expensive ("see through water") in multiple heights on the same level, if you do, it will ALWAYS be buggy and wierd, also it will NOT help making one cheap and one expensive one.., you need to use all cheap water OR change the layout so its all on one level,(no waterfall ) if not if will turn black randomly etc.

Yeah I had a go at your level:

+Train idea although it looked really stupid when the train flew in the air :/

+Nice wind effects and the cans that move.

+Nice custom textures although a lot of them are stretched.

-Stretched textures
-Train idea is brilliant but looks a bit fake :/
-Buildings are plain but I understand that it's big enough without the detailed stuff.
-Long loading time!
-Waterfall looked good in the pictures but looks really rubbish up close and the water needs to be cheap all over otherwise you have a problem.

Yes, waterfall must go, isn't made with a proper method (should be a moving texture or a shader), it takes resources and don't pay for it, and needs some expensive particle effect to be creible. And more important, it isn't really needed, water could come from hidro plant (it recives from dam trough pipeline).

Some textures in close view don't look good, I know. Loading times are related to bots I think, may be there is something wrong or simply .nav has a size out of this world. If there is a new version (not planned except enough people want) I'll try to fix the flying train XD

Very nice, couple of thoughts:

• the sand looks great, and so do the hills, but the flat terrain might be nicer if it had a little more roll to it. The hills don't feel like they rise up out of rolling sands, they feel like they're put onto a flat surface.
• The stone towers might benefit from being much larger, and increasing the texture depth. THey look a little lacking detail with that combination of texture and size
• I see what you're going for with the open space, but it might play better if you cut a triangle out of the center, which was 80% of teh rail line as the base of the triangle, and the top of the triangle being a point above the center bulidings, and then placing what's left over in the skybox at 1/16th. You could get the same impression of space, but without the incredibly slow pay. I mean, with six bots running around you get from 3-17fps. You just can't aim an awp well at distance the way it is. One of the HL2 maps does something like this on a long windy road. You could also curve the train tracks a bit to make them more natural and move the CT spawn area to the left (from the t's persepctive) and get some occlusion.
• THe mission objectives aren't really enough. I agree with others that it's complex enough that you need more than what's possible with text. Create some visual cue, whether it's arrows, or a 3d brush with texture or soemthing that tells the Ts what to do. I got on the train and couldn't figure out what to do next, or what directoin to go.
• On thing that was troubling was that you have to jump onto the tracks. I think you show lower them so that movement across the tracks is less restrictive.
• The buildings need to tell a story together. They fulfill a tactical purpose, but they don't feel natural the way they are. Consider making the bulding area look like a burned out fuel storage or something of that nature.
• I read a really sarcastic posting by someone about the size of the map, (which was a bit humorous really) but really,if you do the skybox thing, you'll solve a lot of that problem, keep the sense of visual space, and make the map more playable.
• The fortress or whatever at the other end is probably the weak part of the map. Consider making it a warehouse or something of that nature, and making it smaller. It just looks like an afterthought after seeing the rest of the map. (The tumbleweed is wonderful. Nice use of the bird.)

• The way the map is set, I think most of the conflict will happen along the tracks from a distance late in the game, or at the CT end early in the game. It doesn't pay for the CT's to go out and try to take the T's on. I'd just camp spawn and wait for them. GIven that distance the T's will be spread out, and by the time they get to the bomb site, they'll be picked off one at a time.

I hope this helps. The screenshots don't do it justice. Very nice work. - LN

• I see

On a more realist point of view, desert dunes where a river flows usually have extremely green coasts, like the nile. Sand + Water is very fertile in the desert, try using alpha textures with grass and such around the water, and maybe add rocks in the river's floor

What are alpha textures?