wylde

New map themed around an old salt mine turned mining museum and storage facility.

Could use more displacement sculpting, texture work, modelling, lighting etc., but deadlines be deadlines.

Started a new map back in August with the intention of finishing it for this contest. In order to accomplish this I chose an entirely indoor setting to avoid making a 3d skybox. I focused on making textures and crafting a playable layout over making custom models as I didn't have time with this project.

Non-custom assets come from publicly released packages on mapcore.org, textures.com, and 3dtextures.com

All feedback is welcome. Thank you for viewing!

DOWNLOAD LINK: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1115417071

A modern railway museum is the target of a terrorist bomb threat. Counter-terrorists have been called in to protect the museum's outdoor cargo trainyard exhibit as well as its historic railway turntable, featuring two centuries of antique steam engines. Inspiration drawn from various modern railway museums, particularly Kyoto's. 

Was working on this map layout for a few months but had to step away to focus on finishing my studies. Now that school is over, I am back to mapping. I've done some internal testing, timing, and casual 2v2 and 3v3 play, but I just scheduled this map's first THW Casual playtest for Jun 10 @ 2pm.

Currently somewhere between graybox finalized and temporary assets placed. I plan on spending this summer making custom models and textures for this bitch (hit me up if you are interested in working on assets with me). 

Right now I'm looking for any layout feedback. What areas are fun, which aren't, which are confusing, etc. As models will change, clips and bomb spots aren't that important, but I'd like to know about anything major I missed that would be useful to fix before the first playtest. I am just looking for any input at this point before I begin my heavy art passes.

DOWNLOAD LINK: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=762603900

Circles indicates battlefronts:

Thanks for checking it out!

On 2/26/2017 at 0:02 PM, kinggambit said:

That's actually what I initially planned but I sucked at designing a layout conducive to csgo (had to wall off a lot of open ground without making it feel constricted)

Ended up going with the south pole's research station. Its elevated base and underground tunnels/dome gave a lot of easy ways to "wall off" routes:

Have you seen this: 

This looks very nice. Congrats on the release!

When you take a look at the map in a week or two to address some small things, I think a few tweaks to the lighting/some textures might make it look better, but Squad probably hit it on the head already.

There is an (unintended?) cartoonish effect from the current bright colors that is similar to de_pharoah's early builds, which were eventually addressed and made for a much more visually appealing map.

I don't have an answer but I am interested in the solution. A map I am working on has many trees and plants and I can't seem to figure out the best model settings. What're the best practices?

Do I disable per-vertex lighting? Disable self-shadowing? Both?

I haven't said anything because honestly I'm just mad jelly, but god damn does this map look great, and I can't wait to see more progress pics!

So I am a little late to the party, and I can't experiment with this myself right now, but what would happen if instead of a func_detail nodraw and grenade clip combo, you tried a func_brush nodraw with the solidity set to 0 and grenade clip + player clip combo?

In theory, func_brush with 0 solidity is 

• 100% penetrable
• blocks LOS for bots/names (I'm hoping)
• blocks the flash effect of flashbangs (I'm assuming)

and grenade clip + player clip obviously

• bounces nades
• blocks players

**To clarify, by 0 solidity I actually mean 1: Never Solid.**

I can't run around it now to give layout feedback, but here are a few suggestions:

I think the light_environment's brightness/ambient can be raised a bit. It took me a while to realize all the good maps have like 600 brightness and 200 ambient, which removes many of those those dark shadows.

Changing the skybox from dust (use one of these https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Counter-Strike:_Global_Offensive_Sky_List) will do wonders for the overall appearance as well.

Other than that, I think you have a good start based on the minimap layout and the screenshots! Might be close to time to schedule a playtest.

Guys, I apologize for how basic these questions are, but I recently got the student license for Substance Designer and Painter. As I am starting work on my second CS:GO map, this time I wanted to create some custom textures from scratch, and these programs seem like the new industry standard for texturing and skinning models.

Before I delve too deep into either, I just want to make sure I understand the basics. Do these tools work in such a way that SD is used to create "materials" (like brick wall textures and grassy textures), while SP is used to apply these materials to models (with some overlapping features between SD and SP)?

For example:

If I wanted to make CS:GO textures, would I use SD to create substances which I then export as bitmap and convert to VTF?

If I eventually make my own models (or want to re-skin a Valve one), would I do it in SP? Using substances made in SD?

Or am I way off base?

Alos, if there are any CS:GO specific guides with SD and SP I would love to know about them.

Thanks for any help!

Been looking at the dev screenshots of this for months with anticipation.

Ran around this map for 20 minutes yesterday and was truly stunned by the visuals. My favorite color is orange, so I was really into the orange highlights and decals on white and silver backgrounds. The castle area is great, the roller coasters and queues look amazing, and the playable areas seem well proportioned.

I think this map likely has the same problem de_santorini had when it was first released—one or two superfluous little connectors. I wouldn't dare suggest which these are without some more playtesting, but I hope you guys are open to removing a connector or two (or vent) eventually for the sake of competitive balance.

Incredible work. I look forward to playing this in the operation!

It is usually ok/necessary to have some models be a little off/into the ground as long as they don't create any visual bugs once you compile. 

I played this on the reddit play test a week or two ago and have been following along with the blog posts. Great map, the visuals and theme are very strong. The gameplay in most individual areas felt very good to me, but I had a feeling that all the tunnels heading toward A were a little intimidating for Ts.

As a T, I wanted to go B every round, smoke off mid, and slowly work my way in to a pick. Trying my luck in A halls felt like a CT flank was always nearby. And T walks through A tunnels are ended with two long hallway peeks, one a head peak on stairs. In short, it is really tough as a T to attack A. As a CT, I wanted to flank A tunnels into gift shop mid or T spawn every round.

I have a layout suggestion that wouldn't be too difficult to implement even in this late of a stage, but I think this simple route change could make the map much more intuitive to play.

It makes mid more attractive for Ts to take as it would provide an entry to A that isn't available from A Halls, make A a simpler site to hold for both teams, and declutter the radar a tiny bit. It also allows Ts to plant in A and then rotate through A halls to the other A entrance in a more reasonable amount of time, or CTs to fake which entry they are retaking from. 

Current Radar:

Hypothetical Route Change:

Anyways, even without any layout changes, this map could easily be in the next operation. Fantastic work!

On 4/3/2016 at 6:46 PM, Quotingmc said:

An airport map I started a kind of scrapped following the events in Brussels. Full Credit for the large frame pieces to @Yanzl.

May continue with it, not sure if I should though. Was only a rough idea with some simple props thrown down.

This looks really nice. Do you think you could make it into a bus/train/subway/ferry station instead?

The main post says I need to request the feedback and/or demo from my playtest of de_stolen, so I guess this is me doing that.

No rush though. I'm not sure how long it usually takes to do these things. 

I will be working on simplifying textures overall and replacing a few stock ones with custom ones over the next few weeks. Any particular examples you can provide would help!

Just did a fresh compile with many new clips in place and OP spots fixed/removed. I still have a few OP spots to work out (3-4 double boosts with an OP angle), but I'm pretty sure no one can get out of the map any more. 

One fairly big layout change - I removed the window from A main that peeked into middle, along with the entire elevated platform and ladder inside A main. Now instead there is a little more cover for Ts to hold A main from behind.

Thanks for everyone who played in the playtest yesterday! Once I get the feedback I'll work on incorporating more changes. A tophattwaffle 5v5 playtest is coming up on the 17th at 6pm CST. Follow along here or at r/csmapmakers if you want to be involved.

Big thanks to u/iizdat1n00b for compiling a list of 25+ OP boost spots with pictures! What a guy!!!

Should be fixed! I had my brother check it, but can anyone else confirm?

I'm doing a full recompile as we speak. I tried my first entity-only compiles with my last update which may have screwed things up?

Somebody posted this screenshot to r/csmapmakers, anyone have any idea what is causing it? I think at least two people have experienced this, but not everyone. The black lines don't seem to correspond with any clip/hint brushes or anything, and I haven't gotten any answer as to whether it moves with him or not. I also noticed his $60,000 and was a little confused. This has me very anxious!

Fresh update! Many bug fixes, additional clips, and more detail. There are still one or two small bugs that I know of, but please keep the feedback coming!

I think a playtest will happen as soon as I find a good time to schedule one. 

Small update with clipping, decals, foliage, and a few new func_details.

Still thinking about how to fix a couple issues that have been raised. For now, I removed one of the windows from the security hut overlooking B to remove a tiny AWP angle. Once I remove all tiny angles and am positive no one can boost out of the map, I'll schedule the playtest. With this update, I prioritized the spawns to try and work on meet-up times a bit. I think CTs are getting to B Main a little too early as is, so I might have to move CT spawn back a little.

Thanks for all the feedback so far, please keep it coming!

Some new foliage detail in A Main:

New brick texture (needs some alignment):

New texture and foliage in skylights:

One less window in B security hut:

2 hours ago, sevin said:

Gives me a Siege vibe.

In a bad way?

edit: Just realized there was a siege in GO. I was thinking of like 1.3 siege which was pretty ugly. Hopefully you meant the GO version, which I'd be pretty happy with a comparison to  . Maybe I can learn a thing or two from its roofs.

There are a million positive things I can say about this map, but I'll cut right to the chase.

This map seems to have the same balance problem cbble has, that others have identified. In cbble, Ts can get to long B at the same time/earlier than CTs can get there and set up. It makes rushing long B as a T too attractive of an option. I will take a closer look at it when I get home, and I see you have updated it by pushing the CP spawn closer to B, but you run the risk of forcing CT teams to play sites by spawn position (not favorable at pro level). It might be a matter of moving T spawns a meter to the right and CT spawns a meter to the left, but this timing will be critical in terms of becoming a truly competitive map.

Also, B site itself may ultimately suffer from the problem B site on inferno has: two ways in, two ways out, but inferno has a back route to help CTs retaking the site, same as how B site dust2 has window for a 3rd option (I am only judging this from the overview right now, been a while since I ran around the map). Maybe you could solve B site retake and CT spawn timing problems by adding a small connector somewhere from the CT side of B that functions similar to inferno's construction? If it gets CTs into site a second faster, it could balance the map.

Anyway, fantastic work! This should be in the next operation.

Like Shibou said, your brush work is great for such an early layout! Scale looks good from the screenshots. The raised porches are a cool visual element, but be sure to clip them off so that guns or the bomb can't get lost under them. 

I agree that you should put it on the workshop so we can run around it!

Are all the curved roofs done with vertex manipulation? I think I really need to experiment with that tool more.

Thanks for the detailed feedback!

- I'll work on adding a majority of clips by the end of this week.

- I can raise the girders from crane in A site.

- I can open up the A site skybox (and elsewhere). I think my intention here was to force players to go into the A Main building and throw smokes through skylights or windows. Perhaps this is too artificial of a restriction.

- I think upper CT B route is supposed to be a challenge to defend from, making the CT either commit to the site or play from afar and go for entry picks. I could be wrong about that though. CT spawn will likely be moved a second or two back, which would make it the fastest way into B site/peeking B Main.

- Very possible that I need to remove a route to A, or vent to mid, or one of the two windows overlooking B (or all of these). It will be easier for me to remove them now then add them if they weren't there. I'll keep an ear out for any one else mentioning it. I also think this is why I have stopped adding detail to look for feedback, as I don't want to spend hours making window frames and rooflines if I need to rework a passageway entirely. I know I'm pretty close to a truly competitive layout, but I'm sure it isn't perfect. Is it the mid to A route that seems unnecessary?

- I agree with the detail comments, I need a few more displacements and decals. I've been making some of my own textures from maxtextures.com and haven't gotten around to making my own decals yet, but they should be added in pretty soon. I'll work on the widths of my walls.

Was there an image missing in your post? I see you referred to one.

Thanks again!