Posts by Radu

Quote from Plat

15 hours ago, Plat said: Thanks a ton for the very valuable info. It is set in italy, and I think the main reason it may not be consistent is because some of the detail is reminants from the map's old artstyle, which was set in a more middle eastern area. Are there any areas in particular I can preserve? I've been working seriously hard on this level and this is a huge letdown.

This is something that has happened to me a lot in the past. I worked with a specific theme in mind only to find out that it doesn't work or look the way I wanted it to; so I tried to adapt existing shapes to a different theme, but that just causes more issues. Sometimes it's easier to just delete and start clean.

Here's a few photos I took on my last trip to Italy http://imgur.com/a/NBum1 You can notice that the buildings are completely flat from bottom to top and that the windows are pretty much the only details. The bottom level is usually a bit fancier (made out of cut stone or bricks) since that's where most shops are located. After that and all the way to top it's usually just windows with very small balconies here and there. Then there's a trim at the top, just before the roof. There are some buildings that incorporate more details, like ones built in the renaissance or baroque period, but most of them follow this approach.

I don't know if anybody has told you this, but I really can't tell where this level is set in. I'd say Italy because of the skybox, but the environment is one giant mess; absolutely no consistency. I understand some of the textures and models are place holders and I hope you don't take this too hard, but I recommend you redo the art pass from scratch. Research the respective architecture and focus on giving your spaces a purpose. Though, that's more easily done during the early stages of designing your layout; later on it's more difficult, but not hopeless. Once you've decided on the location and architecture, create a prop palette of 20-30 props that make sense and stick to them. I normally split the art pass into two stages. During the first one, I give the environment a basic shape using as few brushes possible to which I add a couple models to detail it. I only bother with textures and small details during the second stage. If it doesn't look right without textures and small details, it still won't look once you add them. This is something you master in time, though it should be one the first things for new mappers to learn.

I also recommend you watch this entire talk, but if you want to see the part that's relevant for you atm go to 14:40

Quote from Plat

9 hours ago, Plat said: Whats up with all the stain looking things hanging from the roofs? Are those bugged shadows or decals? If they're decals, they may be a little too excessive. Just a small gripe! Looks great otherwise!

Those are overlays. I slapped them on to get a better feel of the level. Bare white geometry seems a bit odd at times.

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They're doing inferno next.

Use info_lighting entities to override the prop's lighting source.

I think most cs and cod maps set in the middle east are way too monotonous; The guys behind Insurgency have managed to pull off a more believable look:

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I like the lightage. You should submit it for a playtest.

Quote from Vaya

he had one yesterday.

I think the chokes need to be reworked. They felt a bit meatgrindery.

Oh, nuts!

It's not that uncommon for terrorists to bomb crates in counter strike, but the size of that crate near A vent is ridiculous.

I found an interesting article on the business insider http://www.businessinsider.com/why-terminator…his-year-2015-6

Cameron will finally regain ownership of the franchise in 2019

“I wish I hadn’t sold the rights for one dollar,” Cameron told the Toronto Sun in 2009. “If I had a little time machine and I could only send back something the length of a tweet, it’d be — ‘Don’t sell.’ ”

Terminator Genisys - We need to go back in time, kill their mothers and stop them from making the last three films.

Small screenshot update on the new skybox and lighting

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I believe the commands you are looking for are "r_drawviewmodel 0" and "cl_leveloverview x"

Thanks for the detailed feedback, Jack! I had no idea the first bombsite trigger will always be called A.

The last two playtests made it perfectly clear what the issues are, but I'm glad you took the time to go into more detail. I will probably make the entrance to the bottom site larger to prevent it from being held with just one smoke; I'll see how I can clean the site, make it a bit more open and add some platform for height variation. I'll see about adding more height variation though the entire level as well, but it won't be anything too radical.

My main concern at the moment is middle, which will clearly need to be remade from scratch.

2nd offers much needed colour variation.

Quote from LATTEH

I don't know I just imported all the textures with the default settings.

Check the ground textures for their reflectivity. You might just need to increase it a bit - $reflectivity "[0.90 0.90 0.90]" or $reflectivity "[1.0 1.0 1.0]" It should help with darker areas without needing to add more lights.

What reflectivity do your textures have?

Creating a skybox can sound pretty easy - 6 textures that blend together at the edges without any visible seams. Simple ones, like clear skies, can be done quite quickly and without too much trouble; more elaborate ones, cloudy skies - multiple types of clouds, can be a pain if you do not have a development process to follow. I think that's what discourages people to create their own skyboxes. There aren't that many tutorials on how to create good quality ones and most of them are completely outdated; and the ones that are valid don't follow the same method.

I think that a lot of people on this forum would appreciate a clear and relevant tutorial on how to create a skybox. I know I would.