Posts by borgking

  • Star Wars

    Just saw it and here is my humble opinion:

    This is a Marvel movie in Starwars paint. Like Fastfood unhealthy and not that good, but can be enjoyed from time to time, but nothing lasting remains. And every time they have touched a more meaningfull and serious topic for 5 seconds they instantly put on some action or humor that kills the mood.

    So basicly: You don't miss anything when you don't see it, but you can enjoy it anyway. Just don't expect Starwars like it was.

    Spoiler And I hate how all critics say it was different to TFA in that it didn't rely too much on the old movies: It did! It just used some scenes and dialogue 1:1 and added a change of characters or minor plottwist for the sake of having it changed. THAT IS NOT "DIFFERENT"! That is the "Anti-Same", and very familiar! Like ST Into Darkness chaning Spock/Kirk with the Kaaaahhhhn. Totaly different... For sure...

    Also all the unresolved situations from the last movie are really resolved without any real resolution or consequences, making them totally meaningless, and actually devaluing TFA.

  • [CS:GO] Bug - Lightmapped4way problem

    Had a similar bug. I fixed it with looking at other 4wb materials, and using all parameters they used. My observation was that propably the missing detail texture might lead to the problem, but it could be another value that I didn't recognize that I changed.

    Quote

    Quote "$detail" "detail\dt_stone1" "$detailscale" "[8 8 8]" "$detailblendfactor" ".5" "$detailblendfactor2" ".3" "$detailblendfactor3" "0" "$detailblendfactor4" "0"

  • [PRE-RELEASE] Geothermal

    Thank you!

    Well, currently the 3d sky consists of only 3 parts: 1. Some displacements with a simple 4way blend material (that I also use in the rest of the map. 2. Four Mountain meshes. These were created using world machine, and then reduced to working ingame meshes, with a shared texture atlas. 3. The lake wich is just one 25px texture as unlitgeneric spread on one func_detail. Simple, but considering the time i spend on it, very efficient. Obviously there is still a lot there, that can be improved, and i will certainly come back to it at a later time.

  • Ghost In The Shell Movie

    I have seen it today, and I expected it to be way worse than it actually was. It has some problems, but overall it was an enjoyable experience, that was not as far from its source material as many other adaptations. Visuals obviously where spot on, neatly executed (except for one or two minor action sequences). The casting was working well, and those claims of whitewashing don't in any way reflect my experience with the movie. There are some minor incosistencies in the story, but most of them are neglectable for the sake of flow. My biggest problem with the story though is not leglectable. It is the reduction of the philosophical themes to merely sidenotes. This hurts the story, and causes an effect many critics will describe as "dumbing down the story" for the sake of target audience. Details contain spoilers for both anime and live action:

    Spoiler They took the question, where consious begins and at what time the humanity of a person is lost when replacing parts, and tossed it out the window. The whole character of the Puppetmaster, that everyone thought to be a human at first, and later turns out to be an AI without a ghost is completely neglected. Instead they put in a shitty stereotypical "the government/company took my humanity from me without my knowledge" plot that is not nearly as interesting and complex as the source material. Also the issue with the characters name felt like a very cheap fan-service pseudo-plotdevice.

    The second problem I have is that they try to reference scenes from the anime everywhere. Not in a way that is disturbing the plot, but I felt it as a very cheap fan-service in some places. Those scenes are mostly shortened and are removed from the original context. They feel inserted for the sake of reference.

    Summarized:

    The movie is a dumbed down version for a "general audience", and in most aspects inferior to the source material. BUT it is not as bad as it sounds. It works as a enjoyable watch. Compared to other reboots (*cough* Oldboy *cough*) it is not a failure, but a target-audience adjusted interpretation, that, for me, belongs to the better medicore movies.

  • [CS:GO][WIP] de_geothermal

    Hello Mapcore,

    after a break of 1 1/2 years I am back with a new map! Well, actually the map is not really that new, but it never had a release, so here it is: de_geothermal!

    Geothermal is set near a vulcano in the middle of iceland, where for some unknown reason Terrorists try to blow up a geothermal powerplant. The map is designed for competitive 5vs5 play.

    The layout actually was created by a friend of mine and me in highschool back arround 2007 or 2008 for CS:Source. After the map was never fully finished, and I was looking for a cool new project I decided to reboot the map, as the Source version actually worked well. So very special thanks to Fabian "baqueta" Triep at this point!

    Obviously this is currently the first Work in Progress version. I am already excited to find out, how this develops within the playtests!

  • [CS:GO][WIP] Moscow

    After playing through your map at todays playtest I have a little feedback for you.

    Good things:

    • The basic layout feels like a solid basis. Especialy the bombspots have the right access, and the main encounterpoints (1,2,3,4) all feel timed right.
    • The scale also feels solid. In most rooms the spacing feels right, while having a good variety of spaces and distances
    • The timings feel right
    • I like the Idea, that the main switch is not instantly populated, and is more usefull in the second half of a round.

    Things to improve:

    • The middle switch (5) feels wrong. It has no clear timing, since there can be players incomming from 4 sides at different timings (T from 3/4, CT from 2/4), which makes the area feel unpredictable.
    • This area also inserts a 5th encounterpoints. At a 5vs5 that means every encounterpoint needs one player, which is on the one hand difficult to control, and makes the strategic aspect to assume attack angles and reinforce that encounterpoint with an additional person obsolete.
    • The middle bridge (over 3) feels too exposed. As you can get shot from either side, also be attacked from both sides of the roads, and also from the middle switch (5) this is currently very risky and difficult to approach strategicly. Meaning this is a potential deathtrap.

    Suggestions:

    • Change the middle switch (7) to a connector from middle (3) to the bombspot B (4). Maybe it might be usefull to also have a seperate connector from lower to upper middle, but I would keep that seperate. That would make the intent of the area more clear, remove the weird timing, and propably make for an interesting second attack approach to middle (when someone attacks from the B Apporach)
    • Move the corner (6) after the bridge to A more to the CT-Side. That would on the one hand shorten the distance between the bombspot, and make this currently underutilized area more interesting.
    • Also the dead end (8) has no gameplay impact and serves no special purpose. Remove it, for the sake of simplicity, and the learning curve!

    Thats my two cents. As I already said the map currently feels on the right track, so keep up the good work.


  • What do you think about the new look?

    I think the design looks better and more modern on an astetic perspective, but due to the missing tableborders between topics and post the readability is suffering. I would suggest adding some kind of border, or change the background of every second topic/post to a light grey, so the posts become more easily distiguishable.

    Also fix this EX2, it is getting annoying...

  • Good mirrors in CS GO

    Besides already said solutions, this sounds like the multiple-water problem:

    Source can only display one surface of water at a time. If more than one are visible (meaning being inside a visible visleaf) only one will be rendered. Since the lightmappedreflective uses the same method as water, I am assuming water is visible somewhere, and the mirror is not rendered.

    Sollution:

    A) change the mirror to a cubemapreflection (not as nice looking)

    B) try to find the water, and get only one of both surfaces visible at any given point in the map

  • [CS:GO] de_carrier

    Thanks everyone for the awesome feedback!


    Since today there is another playtest let me share my thoughts about the changes:

    [Blocked Image: http://svenmonhof.de/foren/carrier/an_02/overview.png]

    On the overview there are only two major changes visible:

    1. I moved bombspot A outside of the seperate room into the second hangar.

    Obviously almost never did anyone even get to the spot, so I placed it closer to the actual combat area. Both teams should reach the spot almost at the same time, with the CTs being able to controll the bombspot from their entrance a few seconds before the Ts can arrive.

    2. The route from CT-spawn to B is slightly longer.

    I felt like the CTs could stop the Ts at B too easy at the doorway, so I gave them a little less time to set up.

    [Blocked Image: http://svenmonhof.de/foren/carrier/an_02/bombspotA.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://svenmonhof.de/foren/carrier/an_02/mid.jpg]

    As you can see, I reduced the planes to one per hangar. To counter the height advantage of the elevator only the plane on the bombspot is climbable.

    Also I have tried to reduce the legshooting through placing blocks besides and under the planes.

    [Blocked Image: http://svenmonhof.de/foren/carrier/an_02/bombspotB.jpg]

    With bombspot B I lowered the floor under the bombspot, and added Handrails. Also I added some supportbeams on one side and added two crates, as there was the need for cover.

    I increased the size of the windows, so now you can climb through them. I also removed the grate, so now the Ts can enter in silence.

    [Blocked Image: http://svenmonhof.de/foren/carrier/an_02/elevator.jpg]


    Quote from El Moroes

    Cool thematic ! Will you make your custom models ?

    Yes of course


    Quote from TheGuma

    I can help you out with custom textures, certain assets and brushwork if you want, but unfortunately I'm not that good at modelling.
    Wadd'ya think?

    Currently I am working alone, but if I need help I'll let you know. Thanks for the offer anyway.


    Quote from Klems

    Funny cause I also wanted to make a boat map at some point. There's stuff to be done with this theme, like tilting the camera when the bomb explode to simulate the sinking, or adding a helicopter in the skybox ala Aztec for the CTs, or similarly with a smaller boat.
    But to be honest I was just looking for an excuse to put the somali pirates in a map.

    Well, Operation Boat always needs moar boats!


    Quote from TheGuma

    You should add giant motor blades on the side of the carrier to make it flyable AKA

    Helicarrier

    Great idea, but i'll stick to reality.


    Quote from Muffin

    Optimization of upper area = o.0

    Well, that won't be that big of a problem, since most of the flight deck is clipped of. So I can keep most of the deck relativly low-detailed, while from the hangars you cannot see the flightdeck. The only big performance issue will be the elevator, where you can see both the hangar and the flightdeck.


    Quote from Vaya

    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:US_N…_ammunition.jpg


    Ground level cover isn't a crime


    I would have many less planes and any planes left should have more 'normal' cover around the edge of it to gameplay is less frustrating. The bombsites need more cover and to be a little more interesting- considering the map is on an aircraft carrier you could be blowing up something more interesting than a couple crates- how about a new model of stealth fighter?

    I have thought about that idea, I might pick it up in one of the next versions

  • [CS:GO] de_carrier

    [Blocked Image: http://svenmonhof.de/foren/carrier/an_01/elevator.jpg]


    Hi guys, I am working on a new map called "Carrier". As you might allready assume it is placed on an aircraft carrier the terrorists want to sink.

    The layout is very experimental with a very large "mid", but very few actual routes:

    [Blocked Image: http://svenmonhof.de/foren/carrier/an_01/overview.jpg]

    The map is seperated into three layers.

    The flightdeck serves as the t-spawn with no actual fighting or rotation in mind.

    The hangar deck is the middle and houses bombspot A in an munitions storage room.

    The lowest layer houses the ct-spawn at the messhall and the nuclear reactor as bombspot B.


    Both bombspots are supposed to have very different playstyles.

    Bombspot A has only two entrances facing the same direction making it easily defendable for both teams.

    Terrorists have the advantage on the mid, though CTs can defend both entrances to A form their access points.

    Also CTs have a second entrance to mid for retaking A.

    [Blocked Image: http://svenmonhof.de/foren/carrier/an_01/bombspot_a.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://svenmonhof.de/foren/carrier/an_01/hangar.jpg]


    Bombspot B on the other hand is a very tight close combat area, featuring three entrances, with two of them in the terrorists hands.

    [Blocked Image: http://svenmonhof.de/foren/carrier/an_01/bombspot_b.jpg]


    Tomorrow I got the opportunity to have the map playtested on the Mapcore playtests. I would like to thank RZL and everyone who makes this playtests possible.

  • [CS:GO]de_acceleration

    Thanks for all the awesome feedback!

    At this moment I would like to thank the Playtesting Team, without the tests and the regular feedback this map wouldn't be what it is now!


    onebit: I am impressed how much you found. With the first update I have fixed the most problematic issues, though I will need another update to fix everything. Thank you for taking the time looking for this flaws. This feedback helps me a lot and is really invaluable!