Posts by Deh0lise

I remember the first one in xbox360, I had a great time with a friend playing it in coop mode.

What would be great are postmortems, but people is not into critizicing their own map...

Quote from Klems

But why? This has to be one of the weirdest decision I have ever seen regarding skydome. You know stars are BY FAR the furthest objects in any scene, right?

I made a skydome with stars once, but it was to give an impression of rotation to the entire map. The parallax effect is even weirder when you noclip through the map.

You should made the clouds as a skydome, not the stars. Right now it looks like the entire map is surrounded by fireflies.

Maybe you should block the visibility under the tank train in B? I think the whole train won't be used because of that.

Some planks are a bit too thick, especially in the area from T spawn to A.

Anyway, it's a really great map, one of my favorite in the workshop. I'd love to try it in a 5v5.

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-Regarding the sky:

That's something I may improve in the future, but I'll tell you how it went and why I'm letting as it is by now. The fist time I did the skybox with some textures that were too low res (I wanted a fast mood, was in a hurry as I set a close release date), the stars resembled more frozen snow flakes than stars, despie for most playes was ok as the mood was well set, in every single screenshot I kept seeing those blurry stars.

After that I tried smoothing the sky and adding the stars on it, but because of the resolution stretching occured (despite being better than before) so I wasn't getting the expected result. The photos I was using to make the sky weren't of enough quality and I had (and still have) banding issues, so recreating it from 0 didn't suit me at all and I didn't find any free photo with the shapes I wanted nor had an appropiate brush (nor wanted to spend more time doing one, at that point I was satisfied with an ok but better result).

After a while doing some different stuff (no stars by then), and as I had no modelling program at the time (thought about skydome with rotating clouds that could hide some background stars), and I wanted to achieve a starred sky I tried a different approach, brush planes. The first time was more a time constrain, this time an experiment (the plane and changing colors). Players don't usually pay much attention to details, the sky is the last thing you look at in CS (and never when runing), and screenshots would be fine. In my mind the result was going to be better by then, I thought i could just play with sizes and distances with small textures.

I placed the stars higher after some tests, reduced their size to decrease the wtf feeling, and after noticing how horrible looked with $nofog, removed that command and played with the fog to make them less noticeable. With the fog I could eliminate the ones in the front, keeping those above. The small planes contain a different set of stars to make the tiling not noticeable, though I also wanted to change their size by placing them in different heights though it didn't work as inteded (I could increase separation dramatically for that purpose, though I wasn't into it). The colors was another test I was doing, my original idea was to set few of those planes with the dynamic texture and make them blinck periodically, just to make players notice the sky, though aAt that moment I was just sick of spending tons of hours with the experiment, and if I recall it right, there was an operation selection by then, so I tweaked it a bit to make it feel fine and shipped it as it is.

In my experience most players don't see many details, the stars floating and changing color seem not to shock them at all, some have not even noticed that, and the mood is mantained among the versions, which was my main concern.

I may tweak it in the future as I'm with max now (gotta fix banding tough), but by now I want to fix other stuff first (I'm on), the sort of stuff which is more noticeable by players.

-Regarding the train:

The bottom of the tank train in B is let that way on purpose. The common flow with one entrance (rush main) makes Ts prefer that one rather than the blocky one (which is closer to CT). I'm giving cts a little advantage there, despite Ts can use the small platform to remain behind without their feets being seen or hide behind wheels. It is a mechanic I liked as it may be interesting when dealing with defuse situations, the train is close and you can always go around (you may know that situation). As it is I think Ts have ways to control that.

-Wood planks:

Fair observation. I'll make them more "natural".

Thanks for the compliment, I'm glad you liked it.

Quote from Minos

I don't recall it, mind link/name? :$

My specs, just in case: C2D e6750; Nvidia 260GTS; Wxp; 4GB ram.

Btw, any plan on using some of those futuristic de_train props? some fit and might be helpful in order to redudce the filesize (I saw a thread you were discussing about reducing it).

Quote from Squad

It doesn't lag your computer during compiling.

I haven't tested this tool yet, but I use "-low" command to prevent lag when compiling. Put it in vrad and vvis, and you won't have lag at all. I compile an area while mapping another one.

Quote from RaVaGe

Since when did they introduced that 4 blend option ? That's owsum.

In the last operation, with cs_insertion (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…htext=insertion). I haven't made a 4wb yet, but at first glance the twovertex blend with a blendmodulate texture is more appealing to me despite it may be helpful some times (I used to cut displacements in de_rust to fit >3 texture blends as workaround).

Quote from kinggambit

I noticed some TF2-ish influence in the new de_train too.

Other than the more vibrant color palette, I don't notice too much TF2 aesthetics in the map. It does feel a bit more sci-fi for CSGO's taste i guess.

It is very tf2ish, less contrast and details on textures + tall square buildings with some 45º angles; blue vs red coloured buildings (notice blue is in ct areas); industrial old masonry style with chimneys, big windows etc; wider and clean spaces...

Quote from jackophant

I don't understand the CSGO community, the majority (or a very loud minority) seem to despise change.

I've heard so much hate for the new train. Personally I think it's a nice direction, my only confusion is the slight TF2ishness of it and the slightly out of place "high-tech" tunnel area, which others have picked up on.

I think it's a good update, apply a thick layer of gameplay to a map that was being held together with new technologies from when the game played very differently before.

In CS there has always been rage when dealing with new stuff or changing the old style/maps. Despite that, I can understand the shock of some players, it's a big rework of the gameplay (for good imo) and doesn't follow the previous criteria they had regarding maps ("consistent style", "spaces that feel like a real place", here they criteria http://steamcommunity.com/games/CSGO/ann…3535507901582).

Regarding gameplay (I haven't tested it yet though) I'd change:

1.- The upper B ramp. You can make double ramp (like double stairs in T side) instead of making players jump/climb a ladder. The bottom ramp is fine as it "counters" Ts entrance (CTs see Ts feet before they can see em).

2.- Holding areas in long. There is no more hole, stairs, fence nor the dark good holding spot. Newb teams may face CTs rushing as there are no holding areas for Ts as before.

3.- Concrete/brick on snipers corner (the one closer to Ts). It is an exposed position that can be aimed from main Ts entrance for the whole game. Some cover might be good.

Also, I can understand they change their art style/criteria, after all they've continued a saga and didn't make a break point like in tf2, but I really liked textures based on photos. I'd have changed the player models or made it easier for mappers to create their own skins to make spotting easier while maintaining a "realistic"/more detailed environment.

Same error here. I've sent an email and posted in a csgo thread just in case it was juts me. Hope you can fix it , it makes mapping days more interesting

Quote from El Moroes

This train update is nice. I'm just a bit disturbed with the "futuristic complex" implemented in a old railroad area, it's a bit out of the global thematic for me...but this update is welcome, really !

Quote from blackdog

Why Train is so modern/techy looking now?? Never liked to play that map much, now it's also horrible to look at.

I'm neither into the potpourri style some cs maps have (I'd have kept the old urban graffiti style), but despite that, the map feels good when playing it, it's readable and has many nice details (v.g pidgeons, unreachable areas...), and what is most important, as it shares different styles there will be more room for different custom maps.

While this mix of styles is more common, what surprised me is the new texture style. I know it is more readable, and the light on them looks nice, but some textures are too washed out and the bumpmap (if any) doesn't seem to work on them as it should, the overall feeling is close to a cartoony game. I prefer the old style despite being less readable.

Note aside, I've seen they've made some brick textures with a grey diffuse + tint in the vmt. Not new, but a nice trick to save memory and work!

Nice update, the new train looks great and seems an improvement regarding gameplay, and as Single said, assets are great, I'm gonna update rails with them for sure!

The only thing I disliked is silenced M4 price, 3100... they should just put both m4 together like the rest cs versions.

OFFTOPIC what's up with our chat!? I wanted to go idle and I just can't

Ok, I've been able to play it (thanks Minos!), and got a positive first impression, but there are few aspects I'm not sure about.

The game seems to follow the "easy to play hard to master" Blizzard approach to games, though it seems like it is more casual oriented as it doesn't seem to take that much of knowledge and time to get into the mastering part of the learning curve, it ends up being more about basic skills and teamplay.

This last part is not bad as it opens to a bigger amount of audience, not just hardcore gamers, and enforces a less individualistic and bad behavioured attitude. One example is the experience system, that seems to be global (no last hitting), or blocking the ability to chat with the other team (I miss that). The closer camera + the progressive revelation of heroes and their abilities seems to be a good strategy to engage new players (specially casuals), but I'm worried about retention of good old players, mastering the game seems easier (as Sjonsson said, there are not even items to pick up, so there are less variables).

The strong point are the levels, they can add those lacking variables I mentioned, though currently most of them feel a bit the same (go kill special creeps till you win) ,besides the mines one (opens more playfield) and the canons one (you can actually steal and the ship is overpowered). I think it could be a hit if they actually work on making the levels more interesting and harder to master. For example interactive game mechanics with the environment like actively breaking a path to encourage a certain strategy, maybe activate traps (flamethrower?, spikes? air pushing players?) to make micromanagement interesting to compensate the lack of items, or stuff like that. By now, despite they're greater than the plain dota like level, most of them kinda share the same feeling. Damn, I'd love to make such levels! this is what I like about mapping, dota was a turn off for me in that respect.

If I had to classify this game not using the new MOBA denomination, I'd call it third person action game. It moves away from other game mechanics: the rpg diablo like games (studying a massive amount of items to get the perfect combination) and rts ones like warcraft3 (many stuff to manage, fast paced games with multiple variables). It is more of a simple action game with few spells. I like it, I'll play it more, but needs more complexity to suit me (harder levels?).

My two cents.

P.S I solo queue, so my experience is not "full" right now.

One essay of Bertrand Russell I really like, On Youthful Cynicism: http://vserver1.cscs.lsa.umich.edu/~crshalizi/Rus…l_cynicism.html

You may feel like it is outdated and that it will only serve to understand the in between WWs period, but it goes beyond that. If you're into power lectures this one is quite interesting nowadays and can open your eyes.

And here a video suited for everybody, funny and interesting about the relations of patronage when helping third world countries: http://www.ted.com/talks/ernesto_…t_up_and_listen Helping others is worth and admirable, but sometimes it is done plainly wrong, this video shows the receivers point of view in those cases.

I like that drawn style, but wont it get too repetitive after a while? I like to play in different environments that inspire different moods, and using only white will make that difficult...

I have nothing against the Netherlands, I even like it, but a summer meeting would be cooler in a place like Barcelona...

Minor update.

GAMEPLAY
-Made entering bombsite B easier for Ts. Wood planks and vents provide more cover for common angles. http://i.imgur.com/31OeTSr.jpg
-Fixed a displacement that caused blocks in dark tunnels.
-Adjusted clips
-Fixed spawn spots to prevent stack cases when the 32 spawn points are being used.

VISUAL
-Made CT spawn walls thicker.
-Changed specular color of ceiling texture in bottom B route.
-Moved a flying bush in the Ts door corner of bombsite B

Quote from Budfudlucker

Cheers,

I have put 2 version of rails on our server. Even ran it in an internal comp so i am stoked to get positives.

You've managed to make a unique theme with stock content and mixed it with nice ideas, so you shouldn't be stocked at all, creativity and novelty are heavily appreciated in a mapping environment, you'll keep improving as you map.

I'm glad you liked rails, though take into account the first version is a beta and has few gameplay flaws. I've left it there because some people asked me to and I felt like it could be fun for some and helpful for others to see the development. Notice there are some places cut in the snow version as it was too complex in the beta.

We're not used to do postomortems (post release analysis of strong and weak aspects fo the map) but if you find some they can be of great value. Keep on.

Not an AAA, but I'm amazed by Monument Valley despite being too easy, the game is favulous both artistically and conpetually.

I like the mood you're going for, also some concepts you've put there like those silos with the smokes, and the Z play.

Despite that, and although I haven't tested it properly nor with people, at first glance the layout may benefit of some changes like simplifying few areas(specially underground/inside areas) and removing some props/windows that generate too many angles.

You've got my thumbs up, specially regarding composition, colors and concepts.

Good job

Quote from El_Exodus

I just found this in my Shadowplay recordings This happened in one of the playtests.

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I suffered that bug even on official maps. Once in cbble it stayed until Ts arrived to the bombspot... I was obiously killed. I've read that pressing space/crouch solves it, though I've always kept runing till it went off.

I liked some ideas but the map is very complicated, imo you'll have to give it more thought, redo some connections and simplify it.

-A route has two huge rooms that were hardly used and need to be reshaped.

-The B T route had two paths that made it harder to defend and complicated it too much

-I liked the L shaped glass (I've just seen the log, I meant make it thinner in order to wallbang), being able to shot enemies in the corner was cool, but you'll have to make sure to adjust bottom angles, people get killed without being aware and may have a hard time depending on the situation.

-Many corridors should be wider

-I like the platform idea on A with the bottom wider path and top stairs (CT side), but the Ts entrances felt weird and way too narrow. As CT I confused some Ts by peeking both sides and playing nades several times (they get overwhelmed before peeking to the entrance and are stuck in a small room).

-You could probably reduce the distances players have to travel until they fight, move spawns and also reduce the size of some rooms, which are just huge.

-The bottom room of A could be an interesting middle, the current one is boring and underused. I'd think about moving A closer to B and play with that area as a mid.