[WIP] cp_oilrig * alpha 1

Gadget

aa
Mar 10, 2008
531
527
Hi guys,
I started mapping some years ago for tfc, dod and counterstrike but didn't touch Hammer for the past five years. When the great TF2 came out I became motivated again to do some mapping. So in the past two weeks I spent about 20 to 30 hours on creating the gameplay layout of an oilrig map. What you can see on the screenshots is the first playable alpha version which is basically a collection of ideas I came up with...just basic lighting and texturing, added a little detail here and there, no hint brushes and other optimizations so far. I'd like to see first how the gameplay's working and then I'm going to redo every little part of the map. Let me know what you think.

The map can be downloaded at http://www.manschitz.com/projects/tf2/cp_oilrig_a1.zip

and some more screenshots at http://www.manschitz.com/projects/tf2/cp_oilrig_a1_screenshots.rar

Greets,
GarbageMan
 

drp

aa
Oct 25, 2007
2,273
2,628
seems a little dark. not sure how well tf2 players will take with that. dont want that damn spy sneaking up on ya ;)
 

Scotland Tom

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 19, 2008
332
64
I do have to agree with drpepper. TF2 was designed with visibility in mind. The silhouettes of the various player models were even designed to be recognized from extreme distances. It'll be difficult for anyone to effectively create a nighttime map in TF2, though I'd like to see it done well.

Try experimenting with more lights and brighter light_environment entity. I also see in your screenshots you've used the standard light entity exclusively instead of any light_spotlight or point_spotlights. Check out this link to the Valve Developer Wiki (and related links on that page) for more on lighting entities and techniques.

Overall I think the idea and the design have a lot of potential. It'd just be nice to see a bit more of it. ;)
 

l3eeron

L8: Fancy Shmancy Member
Jan 4, 2008
593
88
nice lookin alpha...

keep it small and use lots of light entities if you're going to keep the sky that dark.
 

Gadget

aa
Mar 10, 2008
531
527
Thank you for your comments. As I wrote above this is just basic lighting so that the map isn't completely dark. It would be a total waste of time to do a final light concept before the gameplay hasn't been testet once. What I'd like to read is if you think the map could be fun to play. Is there a way to play the map on a server with some guys? That would be really helpful to see if I need to make any changes to the layout (ways, distances, space, et cetera).

I like the fact that the map plays at night but maybe I'm going to change that later in the development process after the brushwork, texturing and detail placement is done.
 

Gadget

aa
Mar 10, 2008
531
527
here's a little update. I spent some time on the architecture of the blue spawn area.

I also experimented with different light_environment settings and sky to create a daylight map but I always get the error that skyboy can't be loaded to build the cubemaps so in the game I have those purple squares on every reflective texture. Does anybody know what causes this error?
 

Gadget

aa
Mar 10, 2008
531
527
maybe that it's caused by HDR mode because I didn't use buildcubemaps in LDR and HDR. But what's strange is that I ran buildcubemaps and restartet the game but still got the error. When I use the sky you can see in the screenshots (sky_day01_09) I don't even have to run buildcubemaps and don't have any problems. But when I switch to sky_dustbowl_01 or sky_tf2_04 the error appears. I'm trying to find a solution in the next days...
 

Gadget

aa
Mar 10, 2008
531
527
here's another little update of the area where the blue team hits red's oilrig.

I got a problem with moving ropes on the crane. I attached one to a phys_prop_multiplayer but the rope won't move although I set the parent right, just like in a tutorial I read. Does anybody have experience with moving ropes in TF2? The phys_prop_multiplayer is moving fine only the attached rope stays in place.
 

phatal

L6: Sharp Member
Jan 8, 2008
259
21
here's another little update of the area where the blue team hits red's oilrig.

I got a problem with moving ropes on the crane. I attached one to a phys_prop_multiplayer but the rope won't move although I set the parent right, just like in a tutorial I read. Does anybody have experience with moving ropes in TF2? The phys_prop_multiplayer is moving fine only the attached rope stays in place.

There are a few different rope entities. Did you set the ropes to dangle?

O BTW... like snipergen said it does look very promising. :)
 

Amun-Ra

L1: Registered
Mar 21, 2008
5
0
This looks pretty fun. I say keep it set at night, but maybe bring the playable areas up a notch or two in brightness. Or have a few dark areas and a enough nice and bright areas so that you're not always shooting blindly into corners or squinting to make out the team color of the pyro coming towards you.