Posts by TheGuma

At this point I'd just love the map to be a completely claustrophobic isolated area in the middle of an ocean.

It would add some tension to the combat and area itself.

But yeah, whatever Skybex chooses.

I love the idea of pink in your map, but unless it's Japan full of sakura trees I don't think it fits well.

Haha, you should do Attack On Titan theme, that would be amazing. Imagine the skybox being huge walls around the map.

One more thing is that on the second picture the balcony to the right has no platforms to support it. How does it hold on cinder bricks? Add some wooden beams, they would also serve as detail.

Map lacks some trims as well.

Lastly, if you work with custom textures you might want to look into adding normal maps and $detail to them.

Go to Valve Developer Community to look these things up, it will make your map 10x better.

Quote from EddieLTU

some new pics, this time i've revamped the bottom of the map, including the bombsite A. Now its a garden. Ignore the crappy shadows, since i've did a normal compile

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Just tick Disable Shadows as yes on prop settings (window models specifically), it will not remove shadows, but it will remove the blobs of lighting.

No need to change compile settings!

Looking really beautiful so far by the way. Keep up the good work.

So when are we going to start? Should we set up a graybox first? I'll be in charge of roads and lighting. Hopefully you guys can take care of models.

Change the water texture to Inferno water or Boathouse water.

Thank you everyone for the feedback! I decided that there will be two separate versions, one of which will be called de_oasis_db.

I will probably host a server with dynamic buyzone maps. Hopefully, other people will get into that as well!

So let's get on TOPIC.

I've been working ridiculously a lot for the past few days.

It mostly takes an hour or two for me to complete a single area.

Why?

- I research reference photos.

- Decide which reference photo/architecture fits the best in a certain place

- Shape it so it fits the layout and does not affect the gameplay in any matter

- Is the thing you wan't to make possible in Source? What is your range of modelling/mapping knowledge?

- Adding your own custom content, shaping so that the building/architecture/thing you want to make is not a 1:1 copy.

- Testing

Here's the fun part, though.

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Also, do not worry about layout. It is just to give you an idea.

I'm building map chunk by chunk based on a different version, so at the moment it looks weird.

The upside of things is, once I finish detailing and polishing all the areas shown in the screenshots I can begin working on T spawn and areas connecting the T spawn to middle and bombsites.

One of the things that you may have not noticed is that I have changed the skybox (AGAIN) based on Squad's Zoo, I had some trouble with skybox sun not being in the correct position based on lighting. Changing lighting direction made the map look worse, more parts unlit, so I made my own custom skybox. I hope it looks good!

I could have waited a little bit longer and finish a lot more things, but I just couldn't stay a few days without updating.

So that is pretty much what was going on so far.

And as usual, remember, more polishing will be done. There is still a lot of inconsistency, low detail stuff and weird lighting.

Quote from KOLARI

Some progress on my aim map. Going to start texturing the temple soon.

Anyone know how you can fix lighting bug on my temple door model? It appears black although it is light grey at the moment. I have few other of these kind of lighting problems so if someone knows what is causing them and how to fix them, please help me.

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Go to prop settings, tick Disable Shadows as yes.

It will not remove the shadows or ambient occlusion, however, it will remove the black blobs that Source makes which look awful. Try, let me know how it works.

Looks beautiful by the way, never seen anyone so dedicated to an aim map. You should try turning it into a de_ map sometime.

You can try using Propper for certain detail brushes like arcs. It's a tool that allows you to turn .vmf into a model.

But I'm not sure how it works on shadows, and I'm absolutely clueless on how good it is. Either way, having a model would MOST LIKELY save performance.

Definitely an improvement!

When you start texturing the map, add some key colors such as green to make it stand out more!

I like it so far

Hey guys, just wanted to ask for your opinions here.

This WILL be included in Oasis if it works, so that's why I'm writing this here.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT.

I decided that my map will have dynamic buyzones.

Something that Counter Strike never had before.

However, in order for that to happen, I need to explain what dynamic buyzones are and what it means for gameplay.

Lastly, to hear your thoughts.

So what are the dynamic buyzones?

It is a new gameplay element.

In normal maps, there are usually two buyzones - One at T spawn and one at CT spawn.

They are limited to certain amount of seconds.

However, with dynamic buyzones, there would be two additional buyzones somewhere at the map.

For example, at middle areas or areas that are very exposed (so you don't just keep buying stuff and spamming, someone can still kill you).

So why are they dynamic and what do they do?

First of all, unlike normal spawn buyzones, the dynamic buyzones would never run out of time. You could buy anytime during the match.

However, it changes the economy.

An example

T's are doing an eco rush strat, their entry fragger gets 2/3 picks.

However, he does not need to wait for the next round.

He can take his time and run to the nearest dynamic buyzone and buy himself a gun.

However, again, he would take time and stay exposed.

If CT's remember the buyzone locations, it would be very easy to take down anyone buying guns there.

As for grenades, you can only buy one of each grenade every round.

So how would the buyzones look like?

Well obviously, it would be some sort of a crate with a laptop on it. The area to buy would be exposed and not very big.

I'm interested to see how this would work out. If I get around uploading the graybox of Oasis, we could definitely test that out on Mapcore!

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The top down preview isn't very top down... I usually form an opinion whether to download a map or not after checking the preview, so you should post some actual top down screenshots and not fancy side-angled screenshot.Lastly, the Dust2 theme is very overused.You seem to have a good grasp at the editor and the geometry and general lighting are good.However, theme is bland and boring. Also, keep in mind that Dust2 is the most played map!My suggestion would be, if you don't have any ideas, is just to simply use different geometry and textures, maybe some custom models/skybox to make it stand out.That's all buddy, good luck.

Well, this is guaranteed for the next operation!

Although, are you sure it was a good idea to change the sky texture?

Doesn't it add additional size to pack?

Looks quite nice. Reminds me of those Source 2 leaked screenshots a little bit!

For those who don't know, Google it. I'm talking about the entrance.

Here's an interesting fact;

Maxima in real life is not a clothing shop but rather a market on Baltic regions.

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No, but in all seriousness I really love your work so far.

I think that this style of mapping you are going for is what makes your maps distinct and defines you as a mapper. I'm sure if I saw a map of yours I'd be able to know that it was done by Skybex, just because of that.

Either way, again, keep up the good work.

Here's a question though,

are you going to make the assets available for everyone if the map gets to an operation or anything of that sorts? Just like you did with Bazaar, Workout and Chinatown? I think it was a really good move.

More people should do that honestly!

Looks really good! Did you make the custom models yourself?

Now, if you were to port this to CS:GO you could compete in the Operation Ship contest!

Sorry bud, but I honestly don't like feel someone is going to pass a layout just for the sake of it.Old layouts are usually bad and unbalanced, good layouts are usually kept so people can make a new map later.I think instead of just "getting" the layout you should start thinking of making your own one.This gives a lot of experience and in the end run you can always change things. This would also give you an idea of what theme you wan't to look for.You can also do a remake! Some layouts like de_contra were played in leagues but the CS:GO versions are ugly and bad. You could do a remake with graphical design in mind.There's also quite a few CSS maps that have good layouts but don't have proper CS:GO remakes - De_Nightfever, De_Russka, ETC.Lastly, you will always be able to playtest your layout here on Mapcore.So don't hesitate starting to work on one, and let us know how it goes!We'll try to help you out as much as possible.That's pretty much all that can be done here.

If he's really good at making beautiful unique map designs I'll gladly give one of my layouts.

That's great to hear!

Theme reminds me of CS:CZ cs_miami and de_vegas

MORE UPDATES.

Okay, so this thread is apparently turning into my little blog.

Hopefully you guy's don't mind.

Also, quite frankly I don't think I'll be able to finish my map until the deadline for operation maps.

But I'll use the deadline as some sort of motivation to keep me going at a faster pace!

Anyways, here's middle in it's current state -

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I've added a lot of new custom textures. I do realize that the ground texture in the middle is not the finest quality, however, I couldn't do it any better. I've tried to compensate for it by adding reflective properties and $detail blend on texture.

Hopefully, I'll get a better texture in the future.

Here's the final version of hallway -

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Let me know which one you guys like better. I just thought this one fits the environment more.

Lighting is not final, though.

Here's a placeholder skybox.

The final one is going to look 500% better.

VERY WIP, BEHOLD THE AWFULNESS

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Normally, people would use the final geometry shrunken down to make skybox seamless, however, since my map will be surrounded by water in some parts, I did not use scaling placeholders. I just went and made the skybox, that's why it's not final. It's more of an concept art!

But again, you have to remember that usually Work In Progress pictures don't look as good as final ones!

I'll replace the water texture, though. It will be more light blue. Here's what I'm currently using as a reference picture -

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I don't see why this wouldn't be an operation map. It looks really good! I remember the first pics you posted, it gotten so much better!

Congrats bro.