JorisCeoen

Ah, I see. So the actual only cost is when you're entering the fading zone? That's interesting. In that case, I might just use Ringel's suggestion (below) to get rid of that particular cost ? thanks for all the great answers people!

Cool! Are the walls and ceiling still part of the placeholder model (if it is a placeholder at all)?

Hey, excellent response! Thanks for the suggestions should I need to fade, it'll probably be the instant ones for props that are just around a corner that I can't cut off in visleafs.

Hey everyone, Very small and weird question, but I haven't seen it being asked anywhere or find something about it: With prop_static, you can specify fade distances. You specify a range for when it's supposed to be visible, and when it'll start to fade to nothing. I always wondered if this incurs a CPU cost of some sorts, as opposed to not specifying it all. If it does, I'd rather try to find a way to avoid using this at all. In the level that I'm working on right now, I could theoretically avoid doing it all, but for some models I could specify fade distances to avoid having to cut up more visleafs. I just wondered if it was worth it trying to not have to specify fade distances at all (with my current idea that doing so results in more CPU processing). Any thoughts?

You're like the 5th guy in a week time that throws in the towel ? seems like the exam period is taking some hits left and right. The map looked very promising! Hopefully you'll release the full version in the near future. Good luck with those exams?!

Couldn't agree more I'm mapping almost 18h a day... it's insane! Good luck with the remaining progress on the map, also. It's looking pretty good ?

Not sure how to do it myself, but perhaps if you edit the original post it allows you to edit the title somewhere.

...? EDIT: In any event, there are many things that currently can be improved such as visibility (many dark textures) and the layout of the map is almost completely symmetrical. It seems that indeed you have made this map with a gamemode like Unreal Tournament in mind, which I think doesn't fall under the competitive/hostage category for the contest. From the radar it seems like terrorists are closer to the bombsites than CT's, which you most likely don't want to have happening as this is a huge advantage for terrorists and forces CT's to immediatly retake. Most of the layout is large open space with little cover to defend behind. I'd either suggest turning it into a hostage mode, which would more likely fit the map, or re-think a whole bunch of the layout so it works in terms of timings and playability. Good luck

This would be something that could easily be fixed with the Wall Worm Model Tools, but if you don't have time to use/learn it, then I think what the problem is here is that the small tiny collision plane is smaller than 1 inch thick, which is unsupported by Source and thus will shrink-wrap the model as you describe it. If that is not the case, then it means some of the elements inside the collision object are not concave (also, don't forget to use the $concave tag if you aren't using it!). If you truly cannot fix the problem after some suggestions, I'm willing to fix it for you with 3DS Max should you be willing to send it to me. I'll have it fixed in 2mins let me know if the above suggestion helped!

Well your ambient values in the light_environment can easily be like 150-200 with a lighter color than you have now (ambient color needs to be a little what the skybox is, so light-blueish could do the trick).

I haven't played the game a lot (and not yet the beta for Xen), but since Shawn has been working on Black Mesa a lot it would often find its way into our conversations, and at some point I also wondered how the old chunk of the game would compare. It turns out this is clearly the case, but it was inevitably going to look outdated in contrast. I think the minimum requirements for the first part of Black Mesa Source are now far too low if you compare it with the Xen chapters. Regardless, it does look like an incredible improvement and I should really get myself to play it asap!

That has to do with the Render Mode, switch it to something else: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Env_sprite

? great stuff! Perhaps some edges of the 'Corinthian' pillars (I know they're not exactly the same, but you get my point) could use a tiny bit more grime, they kinda look too much the same tone of color. But since you already know about that, I don't have more to say!

Yea, it's quite worrysome. I really don't understand how they've been enforcing proper visibility for so many years, then push this update to even destroy some important visbility on their own maps. I just don't understand it. They must have known this was going to be a problem and then pushed on anyways. Hopefully there will be a fix for this, because I personally don't really see what we can do as a mapper. Almost each color is in at least one of the player models, what are we supposed to do?

Without radar, it's hard to judge exactly how the gameplay is going to play out. Theorycrafting isn't all that great, but being able to tell where each bombsite is can help a ton. That isn't to say that the map and concept look great! An actual historic castle is a great environment to make a level out of, and could lead to some crazy twists in gameplay ? On the topic of using another engine, all I can say is that IF you were to use a different engine at all (for more controls or more versatility in creating your blockout), then I can only advice you to use -or have used- Wallworm and its plugin called Corvex for 3DS Max. This was literally designed to create brushes in the most crazy ways that are simply not possible to do in Hammer. And if it were possible, you can do the same work that would take months, in literally a day or a few days instead. Regardless, everyone has their own ways of working, so I don't see the problem of him using a different engine if it allows him to reach his goal. I'm excited to see the progress of this entry and the results in the final version of the greybox, and later on the map itself ?

Unfortunatly, this didn't solve my problem at all. I put the sampling mode to Off and it still offsets just like it did before. This whole program has gone nuts... ?

I've had this exact same issue as of late. I don't know what the fix for it is. Going back to the old radar is a big no-no for me. Hopefully I'll be able to get to the bottom of the issue. For me too, all of a sudden (without ever really changing major stuff in the scene or even changing the entity for that matter) the whole layout is offset and out of bounds. ?

It's really sad to hear you're going away ? however, I think the deadline is actually 1th of February. Unless you are in the top 10, cause that's indeed when the March deadline is planned.

Oooh amazing, I love the Belgian coast ? Favorites are Bredene, Blankenberge and Dunkerque!

Wow, pretty cool! I like the overall feel to the theme ? The only thing (purely based off the screenshots provided) is that it looks relatively dark in many areas, especially in the first screenshot. Do make sure to account for player visibility! Great work man, good luck with future development ?

I really like the globe prop! Very intuitive. It has, however, a large chunk underneath the top surface that simply isn’t visible (it extends way under the two top layers). I think it would be better to cut it away for optimization purposes, since it’s never gonna be visible and still being rendered in-game.

Oh I see. So this is from the UE4 store (or something like that?). In that case it's still likely that this was made with GrowFX. It just looks so much like how that plugin works ? interesting! Hadn't actually heard of people using UE4 for Source before. Great work on those assets man!

Looks like that Ivy was made with GrowFX, correct?

He does say A sites (which I interpret as A-site), so perhaps the second site is yet to come! However, it is indeed stated that the contest is for: 'original 5v5 bomb defusal maps AND hostage-rescue maps'. So if that's not the case, perhaps tailor the layout to a 5v5 anyways, looks like an interesting concept!