WIP CTF_Convoy

[jahrain]

http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy/screens/ctf_convoy_beta10000.jpg
http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy/screens/ctf_convoy_beta10003.jpg
http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy/screens/ctf_convoy_beta10026.jpg
http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy/screens/ctf_convoy_beta10020.jpg

And I got lots more pics at:
http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy/screens/'

I'm running beta tests on 72.234.227.57:27016 and 72.130.249.206:27015, so join that if you want to play test the most recent working beta. I'm looking for some feed back.

[Intraman]

woah.. those are bursh work right?.. looks nifty.

[jahrain]

woah.. those are bursh work right?.. looks nifty.
Thanks, yeah, thats all brush work. I still don't know how to export custom models yet. I will learn once I find a Maya 8.5 or 2008 exporter.

[Snipergen]

Inspired from the UT map right?

Anyway im joining a server now.

[Snipergen]

Ok i had a run.

LOL

http://img528.imageshack.us/img528/5136/bugno5.jpg

Map is fantastic gorgious. ACE.

Now the "bad" things but I would like to call it "less good things"

1. Textures lol but you will fix that.
2. I dont get the illusion of driving yet. You have to make the ground texture scroll. But make sure it is PERFECTLY aligned with the weels. If you dont get that right it really would be a bummer. Also tray a way of rocks that move past the trucks.

3. Too narrow spaces indoors. Theres a hallway somewhere with a turbine on the floor (laying on its side) or something and it blocks the whole way, probably cant pass 2 teammates or something, open that up a bit.

4. FPS a bit? With 32 players,... dunno.

5. No uber sentry spots on the outside where snipers cant get you.

6. Overall flow of the map a bit, yet blocked too much by obstacles. Its a dillemma because it blocks you but also protects you from the snipers (oh yes it will be a snipermap :D )


Freaking good job though.


Id love to play it on a full server. As sniper. Mwoehahhaha

[Fragimus_Max]

Convoy was a great map in UT2004. Are you going to have the wench that swings around and acts like a bridge? Also, this map is *supposed* to be a bit crowded. It's a real "stick and move" type of map when you're inside the convoy - when you're outside/on top of it is when you have to move fast and have a lot of clear space to run through.

How are you going to handle the jump boosters?

[Snipergen]

Convoy was a great map in UT2004. Are you going to have the wench that swings around and acts like a bridge? Also, this map is *supposed* to be a bit crowded. It's a real "stick and move" type of map when you're inside the convoy - when you're outside/on top of it is when you have to move fast and have a lot of clear space to run through.

How are you going to handle the jump boosters?

Just play the map, its not a remake, its the same style but diffrent level design.

[Haas]

I like it to bad of the purple textures.
And the exit spawn is very close to the intel.
Maybe make some obstructions from intel to spawn.

[Fragimus_Max]

Just play the map, its not a remake, its the same style but diffrent level design.

Oh, I didn't realize it was available yet. Cool.

Visually - it's a nice throwback, if anything.

[Youme]

In thye world of mapping people are so shallow! So what if it has purple textures at the moment? It won't do once its dun so stop moaning. Thats like no going out with a girl as a teenager because she has spots.....she wont do later in life.

Anyway, looks lovely and feels like its gunna be a good map! My suggestion to make it feel like its driving is add an env_shake.
I went and dropped the intel on the ground... stupid me, you should return it to their base as soon as it hits the ground.
No demo jumps from side to side :O how rude.
The so called obstructions snipergen is talking about, really arent so bad.
The rocks in the distance should move but you can't tie displacements to an entiy, perhaps put some normal sized rocks in the skybox (so they are 16x size) and move them (func_tracktrain, looping path...)
My FPS was about the same as on the stock maps, so nothing wrong there. Snipergen, stop complaining!
All in all awesome start :D

[PandaN]

Just a question: did you make the wheels of the vehicles rotate? that will contribute a lot to the feel of movement. Also some ambiance re:motor and traction sounds should finish off the feel.

Also, how does the engine of the two vehicles work? Is there an exhaust - if so, where's the smoke :D

[Youme]

Just a question: did you make the wheels of the vehicles rotate? that will contribute a lot to the feel of movement. Also some ambiance re:motor and traction sounds should finish off the feel.

Also, how does the engine of the two vehicles work? Is there an exhaust - if so, where's the smoke :D

If you played the map you would know the wheels do spin and there is a nice engine ambiance. I didn't see an exaust but your motor is seriously b0rked is smoke is coming from it.

[Snipergen]

In thye world of mapping people are so shallow! So what if it has purple textures at the moment? It won't do once its dun so stop moaning. Thats like no going out with a girl as a teenager because she has spots.....she wont do later in life.

He could atleast pakrat it mate, gives a bad impression :/ it only takes 1 minute.
About fps, I could be wrong :) I had lots of other stuff running in the background lol.

And indeed we DEMAND demo man jumps from side to side.

[jahrain]

I don't know how to make the map automatically download the custom materials, could someone tell me how or how to embed materials into the bsp!? I have them uploaded to http://jahrain.com/tf2/materials/

Just throw them in your materials folder and the pink textures and gone and the ground and tires will move. If this doesn't work out, I might have to do the ground in a different way than using a custom scrolling material.

[A Boojum Snark]

And indeed we DEMAND demo man jumps from side to side.
Actually... I'd probably put some large trigger_pushes in the air above/between the vehicles to both prevent that, and improve the illusion of motion by having you get thrown back/off the things if you end up high in the air :P

[Shmitz]

I don't know about actively preventing jumps across, but a "wind" pushback towards the rear of the vehicle would both improve realism and increase the amount of skill involved in jumping across effectively.

[Youme]

Yeah, what shmitz said. Its like hitting a brick wall at the moment, which isnt fun.

You should put a push on the ground (try and see if you can get it to push dead bodies too) that is the speed of the ground, and above that there should be a slower set brushes covering everything except the main area of the two vehicles.

[jahrain]

There is a "trigger_push" entity that works like wind that pushes players back in the map if they try to jump across. The barrier thats in between is also a place holder at the moment. If the map can't be exploited without the barrier il remove it.

Also, how do you embed custom vmt files in the map?

[A Boojum Snark]

Also, how do you embed custom vmt files in the map?

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Bspzip

A lot of people around here seem to use something called PakRat instead, I've never touched it though, I find using Bspzip's list-add function and having it run automatically at the end of a compile far simpler.

[Snipergen]

There is a "trigger_push" entity that works like wind that pushes players back in the map if they try to jump across. The barrier thats in between is also a place holder at the moment. If the map can't be exploited without the barrier il remove it.

Also, how do you embed custom vmt files in the map?

pakrat :O

start the program, select your .bsp, click AUTO, click save as. BOOM its embedded

[Youme]

pakrat :O

start the program, select your .bsp, click AUTO, click save as. BOOM its embedded

I know it uses the java runtime stuff but does it acutally use bspzip.exe (could I delete it and still have pakrat work?) If it does then I will have to get it because none of the bspzip based programs work for me, neither does bspzip itself...

[Snipergen]

uuuh try it out? :p
I don't know if it works without bsp zip :/

[jahrain]

Ok, thanks for the help. I have the materials embeded, my server are currently down, but I will put it back up soon with a newer beta version.

[Scoobingsthe2nd]

I can't believe I didn't think of that map to do it. I LOVED THAT MAP in UT. It looks beautiful and you are definitely doing it justice. I will love you forever if and when you pull this off.

[dirtyminuth]

Looks promising, jahrain! I especially like the slight metal ramps where walls meet floors. It's an amazing touch that I want to steal ;-)

[Haas]

i thought you could link the sky camera to a func train so your 3d sky box is moving saw this on interlopers a while back

[Youme]

Played again, looks much better now the ground scrolls. i have a few more suggestions

The ground is too fast, we weels and ground don't quite match up.
Lower the range of the HDR with an env_tonemap_control (either that or a very similar name) as it takes ages for the sky to become normal when you first go on deck.
get some people playing it! I'm dying for a decent battle on it!

[Haas]

server has very bad ping in holland we where with 4 players on it but the server made it unplayble all 300 ping
I got 1 thing and that is the blu spawn door texture is not good aligned

[Snipergen]

The ground is too fast, we weels and ground don't quite match up.

If this true (i didnt check it but i believe youme), fix it. This is extremely important.

Make a backup of your map, delet everything except the weels, ground, smoke and skybox, and compile. If its not good, adjust you vmt of the ground texture, compile again and so on and so on. I cant wait to see it working like it should.

[Deadeye2007]

Wow, that is some damn nice brushwork. You had me fooled there that it was a model.

[jahrain]

This is only the second playable build of the map, I'm surprised everyone is concerned about the small nit picky details about the map already (the ground/tire speed and skybox model etc) I guess thats a good thing? I appreciate the feedback and I agree with the suggestions given, however my main concern is how the map will play at this point. Usually before the last play build, I go through the map and add nice visual details, polish off the effects, maybe even recreate the skybox and such.

Sorry about the ping on my server, I'm hosting it in hawaii.

[Youme]

Is there somewhere we can download it to put on our own servers? if there is I'll get it on ours over at colts playground, we are all living of custom maps over there and i garentee we will get a full 24 server on this for you.

[Cdsand]

DANGIT! I was gonna do a mobile map next. :bored: And I was also inspired to do so by that UT 2004 map. Still though, nice work. This is much better brushwork than mine. I want to play this real bad like.

[Voztron]

Really nice looking map. I am at work so I will give this a go tonight.

[jahrain]

Is there somewhere we can download it to put on our own servers? if there is I'll get it on ours over at colts playground, we are all living of custom maps over there and i garentee we will get a full 24 server on this for you.
That would be great, but I would like to get the map polished up some more. After playing it today with about 6 players, I decided there is lots I want to change. Maybe by beta3 we could put it up on the server to see how it plays with 24 players.

[PandaN]

If you played the map you would know the wheels do spin and there is a nice engine ambiance.

Calm down, I hadn't had time to see it, I was ASKING if he had included that. I was not being critical in any way....

I didn't see an exaust but your motor is seriously b0rked is smoke is coming from it.

It's called exhaust fumes :)

[jahrain]

Ok, I got a newer version hosted on my server. In this version, I removed some of the cluttered objects on the upper decks, however I already found one small glitch (some of the ibeams are floating above ground). Also, I added a 4th entrance to the intel, if one gets on top of their control room, they can drop in through a opened escape hatch. Also, in this version, i am playing around with the idea allowing demomen to sticky jump across the gap. I think this might give the demoman too much of an advantage on other classes on this map, but its only speculation. I would like to see how it plays out in a real game. The trade off is there exists wind that will blow the player pretty far back onto their deck.

The bz2 file can be downloaded from http://jahrain.com/tf2/maps/ctf_convoy_beta3.bsp.bz2
or you can join my server (72.234.227.57:50651)
http://www.game-monitor.com/server-stat-image/0/FFFFFF/000000/0000FF/000000/72.234.227.57:50651.png (http://www.game-monitor.com/GameServer/72.234.227.57:50651/)

[dirtyminuth]

Warning! Possible stupid idea ahead

Add a large trigger_push near the top of the map. Those trying to rocket / sticky jump will feel some air resistance, requiring additional skill to time jumps. Probably too much of a gimmick to see wide acceptance, but you never know.

[jahrain]

Warning! Possible stupid idea ahead

Add a large trigger_push near the top of the map. Those trying to rocket / sticky jump will feel some air resistance, requiring additional skill to time jumps. Probably too much of a gimmick to see wide acceptance, but you never know.

I tried that, a while back. The problem is that the trigger_push is a terrible brush entity for wind effects. Its very stiff, and works as if a solid object is actually pushing the object when they are in it. What happens is, it acts like a brick wall that pushes the player flying straight into the ground when they hit it. If there was a trigger_wind entity or something that actually slower accelerates objects up to a velocity, then it would work much better.

[jahrain]

Beta test going on right now! Join 72.234.227.57:50230 I will change it when I get another server with better ping hosting.

Im looking for another server to host beta tests, anyone whos an admin or knows any admins let me know.

[Jive Turkey]

This map is very cool looking. I'm looking forward to playing it later tonight, but for now a few suggestions.

You can find the right tire spin with a little math. angular velocity * radius = linear velocity. So the speed of your ground texture scroll divided by the radius of your tires would give you the proper rotational speed of your tire texture (I'm assuming that is how you did the spin animation, with a material?). That's in radians so convert to degrees (multiply by 180/PI) if necessary. I haven't done many materials myself so I'm not quite sure how that operates.

You should also simulate the tires moving through their shock range over bumps in the terrain by making the tires bob up and down a few small units. You could do this by tying each tire brush to a func_door entity and giving it a lip equal to the tire's diameter minus a few units. Then you repeatedly open/close these func_doors with the randomized firing of logic_timers. You could even have the doors play some sort of slight suspension sound.

And as someone else suggested you should use an env_shake. Set its frequency to 255 and give it a suitably small magnitude to give a slight rumble to the passengers.

They're all small touches but I think they'd go a long way to selling the speed and the mass of the convoys, which is the most attractive part of your level.

Also, have you tried putting a few phys_ragdollmagnet entities along the ground around the convoys? It could be a little tricky getting the right number of them and the right radius (so as not to affect ragdolls that fall onto the convoy vehicles themselves), but the effect could be pretty damn cool watching dudes you just killed have their lifeless corpses get tossed far behind the convoys menacing advance.

Anyway that map is sweet looking, gonna try it out later this evening.

[Jive Turkey]

I just thought of something else. You could use the same logic_timers to fire each line of tires, with small delays on the rear tires (delay = the distance between tires divided by the speed of the ground scroll). This would make it look as though the tires were hitting the same bumps in a line.

As you can see, I have more fun thinking about the entities than anything else :P

[Youme]

We played it on our full 24 server and we love it, but it has a few problems:

There aren't enough crossing options, either a walkway nearer the front and/or demomen and rocket jumps are needed.

There is a crazy snipe fest which made it a little lame so lots more cover along the two adjacent sides.

Don't get me wrong, its an awseome map but there are some quite large playability problems. We're thinking of puting up a sniper restriction for thenext time we run it, hopefully that will make it much better

[hacky]

The map timer is way too long! First game went 25 minutes, second game the timer quickly went to 70+ minutes and was a deadlock until teams stopped trying at around 25 minutes left.

Consider either not adding map time on cap, or adding much less time per cap.

Also, rocketjumping across is possible. ;)

[Varadero_be]

Well, only for the idea, you deserve the 10/10 I gave you fpsbanana!

Only 2 little things:

- I agree with youme for the crossing options.
- The crossing ways are too "heavy material". It doesn't look as a bridge only used for an assault. the idea is to get little bridges fixed on a vehicule but not on the other one (don't touch the other one), like the drawbridge of a middleage castle. Sorry for my english, I hope you understand what I mean.

[jahrain]

I don't know if anyone has played this map as intensively as I have for the past few weeks on heavily populated servers, and I feel as if allot of assumptions about the gameplay are being made from a quick look or run around the map. I usually assest the gameplay of my own maps by playing the repeatedly as all the classes to see what frustrates me or how frustrated can I make other players, and how I could improve it.

Rocket jumping across is indeep possible, and I have done it many times. Its really easy if you have it hot-keyed, but not as easy as the sticky jump. All you need to do is jump onto the ground from the front end, jump across as far as possible, then rocket jump onto the other side right before you reach the rear tires. It takes some practice and timing, but its possible, and very useful. Its even possible to get across as scout, but this will take you 100s of tries, and is something to try to do if you are bored in a low populated server. Just double jump onto one of the rocks passing, then double jump across right away.

And about the proposed sniper issue. I have played offense and defense in many rounds on 32 player servers without being sniped once (mostly playing as demoman, engineer and scout). I intentionally made the outside area easy to snipe people, but its so easy to avoid if you take the interior and non adjacent routes to the other end of the carrier. The areas where its easy to snipe out people is where you want to travel on when on the opposite team's carrier so a sniper can pick off people chasing after you. Its actually the snipers who are easy targets for other snipers because the snipers hardly have any cover. I have played as the sniper once, and scored 25 head shots on other snipers from a certain spot on the map before running out of ammo and dieing. If anything this map would be most frustrating for snipers because of the lack of cover out in the open. I think the 5 snipers I sniped out repeatedly went to different classes out of frustration after I did that because there was barely anywhere for them to hide behind while sniping. If I added more cover out on the deck, the snipers will have access to the cover the make them harder to cancel out with other snipers giving them a bigger advantage over other classes.

The only place where its possible to be sniped if you are aware is when crossing the bridge, but when a sniper is looking down at that area, any other sniper on the other side can snipe them out since they are not paying attention to anywhere else. It can be a sniper fest, but only if there is a bunch of noobs on the server to snipe at all the time, but it would be worse if more cover is added on the upper decks, especially placed on the adjacent sides. I realized this in a much earlier beta, and removed some of if the cover the adjacent sides had. Make use of the lower passages when on your own carrier as well as the pathway on the upper deck that doesn't face the other team when on your own carrier. Use the upper catwalks near the rockets and adjacent sides of the carrier when you are infiltrating the other team's carrier. Also, scouts, demos, engineers, and soldiers have a free ride to the intel room if they travel on top of the rocket, since it is pretty much out of the line of site of any snipers until you reach near the intel room. There is also a defense rout straight to the intel room that is also completely interior and out of the line of sight of any snipers. When playing, i see allot of people running outside, then going up the steps to enter the intel room and whining when they get sniped. Thats silly.

Also, I noticed getting across the map is extremely easy for almost any class but heavy on a full server mainly because its almost impossible to hold the areas near the bridges. Getting across from one side to another is not a problem if you played the map enough times to realize. There are already 3 choices to choose to get across if you are not launching yourself across as demo. That is, the upper bridge, the top of the rear bridge, or directly through the rear bridge. If the team has a defense built up near the rear extension bridge, the upper bridge onto the catwalks would be completely out of the line of sight for any sentry guns and provide access for people to take out their defense of the bridge from behind.

I have decided however, that I will be adding some cover on the lower deck outside the spawn. And perhaps a jump or launch pad on the back end of the vehicle next to the rear extension bridge that is directed to launch people over to the top of the rocket. I don't know how to do jump pads yet, but I will experiment with using the trigger push entities for that. I think it would be allot more exciting for attackers if more classes were able to travel along that rout for ambushes. Especially for pyro's.

[hacky]

Another thing that I noticed that I'm not sure if anyone caught, is that the stairs don't have playerclips to smooth them out.

[Deadeye2007]

I played 1 game on this map the other day.

The map itself is gorgeous. You really do have some great skill in brushwork. I would rank this map right up there with valve maps as far as professional design goes.

I did find sniping on this map to be quite easy - I am a very skilled sniper though. Sniper vs. sniper in the centre of the map is great fun. I can even pick off passing soldiers/scouts etc. as they run from end to end.

The wind effect in the centre is a bit annoying for shooting rockets/grenades across to the other side. I imagine you did this intentionally so as to prevent too much mayhem and promote actually going over to the other team's convoy.

The game dragged on a bit . . . a lot. You may want to think about reducing the timer a touch. There were a few people (not me) who were complaining about the game lasting way too long.

Overall, I would give this map a 10/10 for aesthetic design - I haven't seen a nicer custom map yet. For gameplay, I would rate it at about 7/10 currently. There are some issues with length of the game.

[Snipergen]

The gameplay is great imho. You did a great job man. I played it a few times, no comments anymore from me, its a great map.

[Scoobingsthe2nd]

I played it. Overall I think it's a good map. It's beautiful that's for sure, although I'd like to see a little more variation in the terrain that passes by but that's nit picky.

If I had to say one thing, my big problem is how much this lends to snipers and spies. I think gameplay needs to be worked on, and I think adding another crossover point would do just that. Also the flag room seems ridiculously easy to defend, but that just might be because my team was using terrible teamwork (none).

Overall I have to say at first I was disappointed that this wasn't a remake of the UT map that this is obviously influenced by, but it carries it's own CTF gameplay strong, and it leaves the possibility of making a map like that for myself so I'm not complaining!

Overall I think it's good, just needs some gameplay tweaks.

[jahrain]

I played it. Overall I think it's a good map. It's beautiful that's for sure, although I'd like to see a little more variation in the terrain that passes by but that's nit picky.


If only I knew how to tie a displacement to an entity, I would have the entire skybox move though variations of terrains instead of just a texture on a terrain moving.

[Youme]

Could you move the sky_camera instead? Radical idea but it may or maynot work.

[Noggin]

Very unique and very well done.

[jahrain]

Could you move the sky_camera instead? Radical idea but it may or maynot work.

Well, the sky_camera entity cannot be parented to any other entities so I don't think it would be possible.

[Scoobingsthe2nd]

so currently you have a displacement with the texture scrolling across it?

[Noggin]

I think the illusion is great altho its kinda funny falling off and not moving... couldnt u just put a trigger push on the ground to move the players?

[jahrain]

I think the illusion is great altho its kinda funny falling off and not moving... couldnt u just put a trigger push on the ground to move the players?

Have you played it? It already uses a conveyor entity to move the players. For some reason, it doesn't move projectiles, gibs, or ragdolls.

[Snipergen]

Have you played it? It already uses a conveyor entity to move the players. For some reason, it doesn't move projectiles, gibs, or ragdolls.

And, if you made invisible brushes low to the ground that move but in a higher ratio like the rocks, that push the ragdolls backwards? Wouldn't that work?

[Squirrelly]

Looks really good from the outside! Good brushwork too!

I'm really interested into how it plays, if it plays well well then u are golden!

[VelvetFistIronGlove]

I have to agree with everyone else -- this is a fantastic looking map.

However, I don't find it plays quite right: it seems to be mostly lots of different long corridors, and I found almost all the battles ended up being 1 on 1 in a corridor. There weren't a lot of areas forward of the intel that seemed good for setting up defences either.

I guess to me it feels very deathmatchy.

[Shmitz]

There weren't a lot of areas forward of the intel that seemed good for setting up defences either.

Yeah, I found that it was fairly easy to lock down the intel with two sentry guns inside the room. I tried looking for a different place to set up camp, particularly someplace I could prevent enemy engineers from getting onto the intel rooftop, but anything that was a chokepoint was also easily sniped/rocketed. The only other places a sentry gun would last more than ten seconds were the easily avoided corridors towards the back.

Not all maps have to be super engineer friendly, but by making the intel room just about the only valid place to set up a sentry, it almost guarantees defensive turtling.

[Scoobingsthe2nd]

I guess to me it feels very deathmatchy.

Interesting, a few people said the exact same thing in the server I was in.

[Noggin]

I found it to be a sniper fest, need more barricades! I think their should be maybe a bridge up nearer the front.

Great work tho.

[MacNetron]

I've played it once now, but unfortunately it was me against 2 clan-members. Hehe, but I only lost 3-2 :P (sometimes I do think I can play this game a bit).
Looking forward to play it on a better populated server. I like it. Not really TF2, but it has it's own atmosphere. Well done.

[Godling]

This map is now on rotation on our server and everyone loves it. I could personally play this 24/7, it's such a blast. Great work.

Suggestions/Request:
Have the music on a continuous loop with something additional for when the Int is grabbed? Sounds great and we all miss the music when it stops. Makes it feel like we are playing a movie not a game.
Varied terrain. Would it be possible to see a mountain and tunnel ahead that the convoy then goes through? Including the enclosed sound environment?
A day/night cycle?
A way to prevent sentries from being built on the ground and air between the rigs? This is caused by Engies jumping off the rig as the rock outcrops zoom by and building their sentries on the rock. The rock, of coarse, keeps moving and leaves the sentry floating in between the rigs. An exploit that really kills the level if there are no admins around to prevent it.

[jahrain]

Heres some major changes I made for V2.

- Added more cover the area outside the spawn area. Its now nearly impossible to snipe people in this area. (look for the glass inbetween the arcs)
http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy_v2/ctf_convoy_v20000.jpg

- Added jump pads in replace of the upper bridge to provide faster access to the other side.

http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy_v2/ctf_convoy_v20005.jpg

- Gutted out the interior near the back end of the vehicle to reduce the cluttering of that area as well as providing more space for building a forward defense from a newly added bridge that provides much quicker access to the other side
http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy_v2/ctf_convoy_v20008.jpg

- As mentioned earlier, I added a lower bridge closer to the spawn area to create a quicker route for players who aren't so agile, and it is completely closed off from the outside to provide complete cover.

http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy_v2/ctf_convoy_v20006.jpg

I would add more pics, but it only allows 4 images per post which is retarded.

Other notes:
I did some small other minor changes, such as added a 1 way door that is the entrance to the lower interior area outside the spawn on the side that is closest to the other team's vehicle. This is to help prevent the other team from spamming the spawn area from both doorways if they have taken over the area.
http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy_v2/ctf_convoy_v20002.jpg

I had a hard time trying to get the newly added bridge to both fit into the design as well as provide a covered passage from one deck to another. This was the best I was able to come up with, which is that it is supposed to be a tire servicing area to access the and maintain the tires while in motion that was hijacked by the opposing vehicle and had a bridge added.
http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy_v2/ctf_convoy_v20014.jpg

- Added some more cover around the area forward of the intel room.
http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy_v2/ctf_convoy_v20009.jpg

- Added a effect that makes the screen rumble a bit to give a better illusion of motion.

- Shorted the time added when capturing significantly, as well as hid the game round timer from the hud to be consistent with valve CTF maps.

- Fixed the wind from blowing away rockets. It was okay to do this now that the spawn area cannot be spammed from the other side with the added exterior cover.

- Removed rocks moving in between the 2 vehicles so crap cannot be built on them and not collide with the newly added bridge.
All the rest of my WIP shots for version 2 of ctf_convoy can be viewer here:
http://jahrain.com/tf2/wip/convoy_v2/

[Scoobingsthe2nd]

Some good changes. Maybe that'll make it easier for people who can take out Sentry guns to get over to the flag :)

[Godling]

Some awesome changes. Really looking forward to slapping this into rotation.

No 24/7 music playing? :(

Nice to see the sniper fest has been toned down... even though that's my fav class for this map.

Also, seeing as how the new version isn't actually out yet and I can't test it, I would like to mention that you can also build turrets on the actual ground between the 2 rigs, not just the passing rocks. Is this still a problem in the new version or can you place a brush/entity out there to prevent engy builds?


Edit:

Checked out the beta of v2 and yes, you can still build sentries on the ground between the rigs.
Miss the glass in the first screen already...:( The glass really was nice as it would have allowed you to see more and the anticipation of what is going on would have added a nice level of tension.
Also, the door on the right in the 1st screen only opens from one direction. Is this intentional?

[Haas]

to prevent sg building you can add a brush no build but that other idea of a moving invisible brush over the ground is i think a good solution.

[Godling]

fyi... I only looked at the beta of v2 on my local machine. Any chance of getting permission to host the beta on our server or would you prefer we wait for public release?

[Earl]

I played this last night on a full server and had a blast. It was fun sticky-jumping across the the other side (it's challenging, but fun) and dropping down in the cockpit and stealing the intelligence, catching the Eng's unaware.

Good job! I like the reference to AS_CONVOY of UT2004.

[jahrain]

Edit:

Checked out the beta of v2 and yes, you can still build sentries on the ground between the rigs.
Miss the glass in the first screen already...:( The glass really was nice as it would have allowed you to see more and the anticipation of what is going on would have added a nice level of tension.
Also, the door on the right in the 1st screen only opens from one direction. Is this intentional?
That was a really old beta of V2. The screens I posted was from a newer version which has most of the fixes I posted.

Also, the door being one way was intensional. It was to help prevent attackers from spamming the spawn area.

If you want to host the map for testing, contact me on steam: jahrain17. I can send you the latest version. I would highly recommend not using that old version you found.

[Godling]

That was a really old beta of V2. The screens I posted was from a newer version which has most of the fixes I posted.

Also, the door being one way was intensional. It was to help prevent attackers from spamming the spawn area.

If you want to host the map for testing, contact me on steam: jahrain17. I can send you the latest version. I would highly recommend not using that old version you found.

Thanks a ton for the response.

As I said, I only checked out that map on my local machine. Wouldn't have dreamed of putting it on our server without first talking to you about it.

Some sorta 1-way signage would be cool for that door you mention. Any feedback on being able to build sentries on the ground?

Also, we have 2, 32 player servers (modded) that are full every night. If you would like to drop by I'd be happy to load Convoy (regardless of what map is being played) for you to check out with a full server?

[jahrain]

My server is back up with the newer beta of v2.
Server IP: 72.234.227.57:50473

[Snipergen]

omg i love your map sooo much XD its the best custom imho because i OWN with demoman on it

[Colt Seavers]

I'm running V2 on the main Playground Teamplay server - left it in the rotation for a second week we are all enjoying it so much. A vast improvement on the original betas - significantly, it now feels like you really have lots of route options, can enjoy what Demomen enjoy best - jumping to unlikely places for spurise attacks. Love playing Soldier on it - now the wind's stopped blowing me rockets away :P more cover means the snipers are not so powerful. The fact that it's a 'sampled map' takes nothing from the fact you saw it appropriate to do a tf2 version - inspired!

I'm very impressed by the effective simplicity or the scrolling background - really you have got this so much better than before - it all feels natural and exciting.

Now people are getting to know it, there is no doubt its becoming a server favourite. Some hate it but meh - they can rejoin after and number very few. A small detail - but i love the way you can drop down into the train by the intel :D Very action movie 8-)

This is the point where i'm supposed to sugegst improvements. I had many after the early versions - and thought you were off track with things like the strong winds etc. By v2, you've addressed all my gripes. Maybe it's because each game is so exciting and i'm too imersed it it - but i have nothing to suggest except that maybe you make lots more maps :D innovative and special :thumbup1:

[Earl]

A lot of people are asking what the music is for this map -- where's it from?

[Snipergen]

Ut 04?