Posts by Thrik

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    Looks great, but the HDR is definitely overdone.

    Once it gets to the point where the lighter end of the scale starts to burn out, you need to stop. The idea is to let in as much light as possible without causing colour information loss. This is what Valve does, and indeed so does your own eye. ;

  • Renewed site!

    For the sake of about 30 pixels you could stop it scrolling horizontally for 1024x768 users, though. A lot of people still use 1024x768 even if they're on a higher resolution at work like me (1680x1050 at work, 1920x1200 at home) simply because running maximised windows on such high resolutions is pretty wasteful.

    If we were talking about more than like 30 pixels I wouldn't argue it, but it won't really affect the design at all.

    991 pixels is roughly the limit of what a 1024x768 user can see without scrollbars. Your Flash movie is currently set to 1024 pixels wide.

  • Renewed site!

    I don't think it's too bad to be honest. As an HTML, CSS, and Javascript fan I'd always do it without Flash if possible, but in a portfolio site I don't think it really matters either way as long as the process of going through pictures is smooth. Flash has the added benefit of being easily portable (unless it references pictures stored elsewhere), which means you could add a download link to the .swf so people can download your portfolio to show others/etc.

    The only criticism I have of the way you've implemented it is the sheer size. On 1024x768 it's simply too big, and causes a horizontal scroll bar. Your lovely artwork behind the Flash is also completely hidden on this resolution, which kind of makes the site look really boring as the only things visible are the flat, blue bits.

    Simply scaling down the Flash to a width of about 925px would work wonders, and also hide the JPEG compression better.

  • Mapcore Trojan

    Seeing as everyone probably wants a status update:

    Mojo told me last weekend he was buying new hosting and would try to move the forum there that weekend. I said he should let me know if he needs any help with anything seeing as I had successfully moved the forums to my own quality hosting for testing previously.

    Not only did that weekend pass without the promised move, but now a second weekend has passed too. The forum has suffered dozens of hours of general downtime since (it's been down for entire days on a couple of occasions), and people are still being infected by the virus.

    In my opinion this kind of thing shouldn't be allowed to go on for even a few days, and I would put time aside to fix it. If you haven't got the time to work on it Mojo and are only willing to do so on weekends, you should really consider giving it to someone who can as it's become downright negligent to keep treating the forums as an absolute last priority.

    I seriously shudder to think of all the professionals who have come here from work computers and had virus messages flashing up, permanently turning them away and tainting the name of MapCore. The fact that it's not been dealt with after six weeks is basically a joke, and I've long since lost my patience hoping that someone will display some responsibility and move the forums.

    It really pains me to see the forum down for days at a time and infested with viruses, with no apparent action being taken to stop it. It might sound like I'm being overly dramatic, but that is the actual reality of what's going on here. The members who have visited for the first time during the past six weeks will probably never return, and I know for a fact from talk on IRC that regulars have stopped visiting too.

    What makes it even worse is that if the virus isn't turning people away, the fact that the forums are down for 40% of the week is.

    The forums need moving and they need moving now. If you haven't got the time to deal with this within days Mojo, please do the right thing for MapCore and let someone who can take care of the technical side of things like myself deal with it. It's not like I'd want to take away your admin access or anything, and you'll always retain control of the domain name.

    Simply pointing the name servers towards another host is sufficient and does not transfer any control of the domain to that host; if the name servers are ever changed again, that host loses any and all coordination with the domain. If the name servers were changed I could literally have a complete copy of MapCore up just as quickly as I got my test installation up.

  • TF2: CP_REDSTONE

    I think the most important thing is that it kind of goes against the general theme of TF2 maps in general, which is to have a building/area that looks normal from the outside but when you go further in you realise it's actually concealing a secret base (sometimes only the spawns). Valve said something they kept in mind was along the lines of "as if two secret organisations built two bases right opposite each other without even noticing".

    So in the cases of Well and 2fort, they actually built/used two whole fake buildings to hide their bases in. In the cases of Gravelpit, Hydro, and Granary, the implication is that they built their bases on both ends of an existing industrial area (hence why computers and base-like stuff isn't found inbetween).

    This map does kind of do that, except the big globe and satellite makes it really obvious from the outside it's not what it's meant to be. It'd make the map seem cooler if it was hidden better rather than floating above the whole structure I think.

    This is really just something I'm pointing out as a general note to TF2 mappers, though. Good to understand why Valve the designed the maps like they did.

  • TF2: CP_REDSTONE

    The globe thing is cool, but I think it'd be better if you visually communicated what it's actually for a little bit better. The perspective probably doesn't help, but it's kind of hard to discern what's supporting it, why it is where it is, etc. Perhaps just grounding it in the world a little better.

  • TF2: CP_REDSTONE

    Prove your point about what? You're the one who took it upon yourself to take a bunch of screenshots, draw circles on them, and moan about the stolen material.

    If Granary were a custom map then your criticism would be justified, but it's common fare to take materials and assets from the host game if it's a map for the same game. I seriously can't even begin to comprehend why you thought it was worthwhile pointing out the similarity.

    It's like someone making a Half-Life 1 map, using various assets from Half-Life 1 itself (happened all the time), and then calling them out on it.

    I honestly can't see what could have been going through your mind. If skdr had made a map for another mod or game then fair enough, but it's a TF2 map. How is it having content from other parts of TF2 something to criticise? It's not like skdr even said all his content is custom.

    Nobody's being over-anything here except you, JP.