[TF2] ctf_aerospace (beta 4)

Unfortunately, I don't have a new version working for testing on this weekend's gameday at TF2maps.net, and with all the changes to the hangar, the old version really doesn't work anymore.

But fortunately, I have some screenies to share (disclaimer, There are problems with the lightning, especially on the red base as the sun shines on opposite walls)

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I need now to start doing some minor optimization, as I can feel the FPS drop when standing in one base's corner looking towards the other. I bet the engine is rendering the whole forest, even tough you can't see it

I decided to use models for the forest because well, they just look good.

Extra points for spotting the HL:2 model in there. (it's just a placeholder until I get my own)

Quote from Psycho

However, the skybox has a skybox texture on the outside which increases compile a lot.

Oh, and I'm doing the happy dance now because this was the problem, you saved my life!

Have been quietly working on some details around the entrance to the bases while the forums have been down. I'm not going to make any major detailing on the hangars until I get a chance to play it on gameday.

I'm also modelling some stuff to go on the 3D-skybox, but it is still a major WIP.

I made a special light for the cave area, see what you think of it. It's based on a lightstick I saw on the The Fifth Element movie. I added a couble wardwired batteries to fit the TF2 theme better, see if you like it!

Here are a couple screenies of my current progress.

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Mind you that these are the good looking parts and angles, the rest is just a major WIP and really just put togheter for now. All this is going trough a major rework to really be pretty the way I want it!

Cheers!

Thanks all! I haven't had much time to work on it for the last few days, but I'm going to put some more work on it for the rest of this weeek.

@ Psycho: Thanks man, I'm glad you liked it!

@ Jenn0_Bing: Thanks a lot man, I agree with you that the cartoon look is a bit too strong in there, and I am working to reduce it a bit. The trees especially get a stronger orange hue when lit with my current enviroment light, so I'm going to work on that.

@ [HP]: Thanks a lot! I'm trying to put as much new content and style in it as I can without making it look out of place.

@ Freak: Lol, thanks for the vote of confidence. I hope that I can get it to look better and better as I go, and belive me, thare is still a LOT of ways to go with this map.

Thanks a lot guys, now I need to get back to work!

Quote from sk3tch

but I also know it's not done yet. I'm sure it will be a classic when it's done!

Thanks a lot sk3tch, I hope you like the progress I made so far. I have studied a little bit about airports and hangars to do this map, but I have to keep a balance between my availabe time to finish it and making custom content vs using stock content to simulate a real hangar and airport.

I've been working on the 3Dskybox, and even if it still need a little bit more work (some custom props for sloped terrain and some polishing) I think it's quite near the final form:

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AS I said, I'm having problems with the HDR settings, if anyone knows of a good tutorial for it, or some basic parameters, please share.

Thanks a lot for all the help so far. I can't belive it's finally taking shape!

Quote from Josch

Looks astonishing!

Thanks man!

Quote from Freak

wow it´s getting really awesome, i love what you´re doing with all those trees, and the cliffs in the back on the 2nd shot are pretty cool, but the other ones.. i think the texture is scaled too high

Thanks Freak. Yes I belive that the texture is scaled too high indeed. Thing is, I modelled and textured the prop all the way before putting it in-game. When I got it in there, it was waaay too small, and I scaled the model in the QC file by a factor of x3 I belive. I'll have to redo those textures on a bigger size, that I know.

Quote from ReNo

Otherwise looking like it's coming on well on the whole, keep it up

ReNo, thanks! I'm going to make a custom skybox texture at some point in the future. The current skybox has a line of clouds really low on the horizon, and thus at points the fog does not work. It'll do for now, as I really need to spice up some of the playable areas before fine tuning the remaining skybox stuff.

It's just that people had a hard time seeing the map in it's context, and felt that the trees and caves where out of place, so I decided to make the rough of my skybox ahead of time, to give an idea of the ambience, as it is quite different from any TF2 stock content.

Thanks a lot for the feedback guys, keep it coming! We'll probabbly have a test game this weekend at the TF2maps.net forums, and I'm trying to get the map on a new stage by then. I'll let you know

Well, Alpha 6 is up for gameday this saturday on the tf2maps.net forums, and here are a couple screenshots.

Nothing fancy here, I've finished the new basement and tried to fix most of the darkest spots around. I also tweaked the HDR a little bit more, thanks to Min0 helping me out I think it's pretty close to what I want. The top of the hangars are still a lot overbright, but I guess it's due to having plain walls all around. After I add more detailed brushwork around the buildings it should tone it down (as happened in the yard).

I also have to tone down the fog a bit to show more of the skybox around, but no time left for it this week

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Oh, and I guess you can spot some arrows to point your way around!

Download the map here:

Download: http://forums.tf2maps.net/downloads.php?do=file&id=376

Mirror download1: http://%7boption%7d

Mirror download2: http://%7boption%7d

Okay, after a long hiatus I am back. Long story short I was busy.

Glad we got that part over, now for the updates!

Thanks to your great feedback from the last gameday and on the several posts above I was able to get a lot done over the course of this week. Here is a summarized list of the changes made:

Spawn areas: I have started to draft out the looks of the spawn areas, they are not final, but at least you are not anymore in a black box when you first enter the map. There is even some coffe there for you. I have fixed the weird respawn visualizer issues and now everything should be working properly, including: Doors!

Resupply lockers: I have taken away the fake metal doors on the buildings to the left of the yard and on the sewer entrances, and made them into resupply areas for each team. These foward resupply lockers should help engineers, demos, heavies and snipers set up a good foward defense wirth a safe point to fall back to. Also controlling the middle area is now critical to prevent the enemy from setting up strongly near their resupply.

Cave: The cave has been refitted with a crack in the ceiling to let some light shine trough. Along with more waterfalls and vines hanging from the ceiling, the cave now is a lot more fit to the nature of TF2 gameplay. The metal walkways are gone and are now incredible rock formations that should make any geologist intrigued.

Invisible walls and playerclipped areas: I have remodelled the outside of the hangars so that there should be no strange invisible walls blocking your way. These new areas still need some fleshing out, but should provide some cool gameplay areas where pyros and demos can set their traps and spies can hide on to recharge their cloack and change their disguise. Also engineers looking for a little strategy should find good spots to hide a teleporter from the enemy right under their noses.

FPS: I have reworked all the expensive tree models and especially the skybox foliage to prevent the drop on FPS that was very noticeable on the last version of the map. Although it is not perfect yet (I have to make better oclluders and some minor tweaking on a couple models) the small drop in FPS I notice on my low-mid end machine (with3ds, photoshop and hammer running while I test) is barely noticeable.

Directions: Check the first image below to see the new signs I made for now. Nothing too snazzy, but they do their job.

Anyway, I hope to meet everyone expectations since I am now taking a major step towards Beta. My guesses are that if this next testing goes out smoothly I'll be moving from Alpha to Beta on schedule for a possible final release by the end of the year.

And in the spirit of the heavy update:

TOO MANY TINY LITTLE WORDS, WANT BIG IMAGES, CLICKY LINKY BELOW

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Download link: http://%7boption%7d

There will be a large playtest on the TF2maps.net servers this weekend, and my map is included. All details you find at the linky: http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=3214

Thanks a lot everyone so far!

Edit: I just noticed the overexposed areas now that I am on my notebook. The problem with sharing a PC with someone else is that I can never get the monitor set up properly, because the other parties think that it is better to use them at lower brightness. That's why to me it looked OK until I got here.