[WIP] DoD_Nightingale

[Albatros]

Hi E-Freak!

Well, your comments are always like heaven and hell to me, not devilish . Half of it is very useful and appreciated, while the other half is, to be honest, totally pointless.

Some things of those are certainly correct, but: a) noone would ever think of critizising them were they found in stock maps, b) as I told you concerning another map, it would help to take the time for both an extensive critic AND actually play the map (which you couldn't do in this case, but in that other one, you remember? ) and last but not least c) please! read my introduction - it does have a purpose, you know.

If you had considered point a) and c), you could easily have saved half of your text there .

Let's take that water wheel, for instance; it should look used? Well, I took it from DoD_Kalt; maybe that mill in the other map wasn't used a lot, or it was bought as a late addition or restored sometime later, but I'm certain a reskin for neglictable optical reasons doesn't make much sense compared to the amount of time & the bigger filesize.

Coming to the next point: I mentioned in my intro text that I'm hoping for the sovjet skin pack to work properly soon, so this could in fact be an eastern front map; I grew up a few Kilometres away from Mülhausen in Elsaß-Lothringen, where not a single village is of french origin and German was the only language taught between 1939 and '45, so I can assure you it won't be a bitter blamage to see German Inn signs in a Franco-German-border village if I ever had to change the scenario, so sorry - but that kind of points is rather pointless.

The horizontal timbers on the wall at the left do both look wired:

The higher one (beneath the first row of concrete windows) uses a totally different wood than the entire rest of the half-timbered construction, the second one further below looks like "Katscher Leimholz" - a bunch of small pieces stickied together because it seems you forgot to rotate the texture (same problem as above here) 90° round.

Second thing: From there is the guest supposed to see the "Gasthaus zum [...]" thing and why is it in german - pushing towards the german border sounds to me like france (or elsas lotringen)

Nope, it's rotated correctly according to the author.

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta6.jpg

texture on the bottom looks extremly blurry, wall texture at the left behind the tree looks (at least from that pov) extremely oversized (the brown one)

Correct, too blurry. Will be fixed!

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta10.jpg

hillside looks to bland and lowdetailed

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta12.jpg

rock edge in the foreground looks too blocky, texture on the left is not correctly set up

bridge texture seems to be oversized

Yep, these are the WIP points in it. Thanks, will be fixed.

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta13.jpg

text is extremly blurry (german language here as well)

angel is not at the actual pin point of the roof

upper window row on that building is undetailed and repeating

small windows on the displacement roof seem to be to small

displacement roof would extremely benefit from a dirt overlay (the lower roof part)

Good idea on the overlay - other points will be fixed, too. Thanks!

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta14.jpg

Give that Waterfall a Model or some sprites and cliffedges

texturing at the far left over the waterfall looks extreme blurry

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta15.jpg

I assume that little river is meant to spring from the waterfall - needs movement (modeling militia style)

If the boat is already destroyed - move the parts further away from each other

cliffs look edgy

The boat is an integrated model - I could add some gibs, that could do the trick. What do you think?

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta16.jpg

signs look wired

wheels of the keg-waggon seem to tinny

dirt on the low wall below the fence

Yup, dirt sounds like an idea there . I'll tell the Author of the beercart that the wheels aren't correct, though I suppose he has had quite some reference material.

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta17.jpg

give that window on the left a trim

same goes to the doors

Yup, should look nicer

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta18.jpg

churchwindow does not fit into that building

Funny you mention it. It is the only one of those buildings that really have an existing original, a fortified medieval church of the Holy Wolfgang that can be seen in Rothenburg o.d.T. I'll tell it's architect that the windows don't fit in . J/k, I get your point - will try some trimming.

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta5.jpg

i love the new "Büsche Dünger" on the bridge

looks wired to raise the trim of the bridge in the middle

tower spikes don't look good on bridge trims

Matter of taste, I suppose. Might be a mix of styles, but then again it's one of the nicer kind .

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta2.jpg

why would someone light that latern in war and at full daylight - make it cracked down - looks more interesting (or something like this is my suggestion )

It's an evening scenario with a setting sun, and the only lighted lanterns are lighted in dark areas. Then again, the war-time-thingy wasn't too much of a problem in dod_zafod, dod_pier or dod_granville, so I'll allow myself that bit of artistic freedom for the sake of grand athmosphere :].

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/nachta1.jpg

ortsschild looks wired as well

displacement windows need trims

graveyard in the cornfield?

there's a strange decal on that house on the right behind the cornfield (the abflussrohr next to the street - doesn't fit the style)

With wired you mean like barbed or weird? Aye on those window trims.

Graveyard - no, it's simply a cruzifix. There's dozens of these in my area. About the gutter pipe - even today there are buildings from the 18th or 19th century that feature those; I guess it's a matter of taste, too, whether to allow those inhabitants of the village some gutters or not. :]

Thanks for the constructive part and hey, I'd really appreciate your critics even more if you tried to remember point a) to c) in the future!

- Alba

[Albatros]

Some shots showing a bit of progress...

[von*ferret]

Hot, your lighting is really selling the map.

[FrieChamp]

[OrnateBaboon]

Its coming along very nicely. I would say that the bridge feels a bit out of place though.

All the other geometry meshes together so well, both in the textures and shape. The bridge however, has comparatively bright textures, and is quite flat and blocky. If the textures were changed to something more fitting of a bridge, and the top was made more curvy, I think it would really improve things.

Some other ideas:

- Lots of leaves on the floor, since the map seems quite rural.

- Making the ambient lighting darker, so that there is more of a contrast between the shadowy and the the illuminated areas. Possibly even lengthen the shadows.

- A scarecrow prop in one of the crop fields.

- The village looks like it is still occupied, so the odd smoke stack here and there.

- The castle tower might benefit from having a trim added to it.

- Some (turned off) lamps on the buildings.

- I know this one might be a bit too much, but I can really picture some butterflies in the map.

Keep up the good work!

[Albatros]

Hey ,

Okay, I'll try and see what I can do.

I really forgot the leaves on the new half of the map :] ... the rest of your ideas is also nice, the only thing that could turn out to be complicated being them butterflies .

The next series of screenshots will feature a slightly enhanced lighting... brightness being just a tad darker, ambience a bit darker and stronger.

Thanks for the suggestions =)

[Mazy]

Beautiful stuff~

[Albatros]

Ty .

New area with work being in progress... A chapel and some sheds, the council hall (building with the letters on it) and a view from the first to the latter. I'll have to denable the shadows on some of the props.

Ah, and it's featuring leaves now .

Cheers.

P.S.: slightly different lighting, like I said. I guess it could still use some more intensity on brightness and ambience, but that's just my personal taste. What do you people think?

[Furyo]

In your second and third shots, I'd argue that the sign is just too big and stands out from the building, as if added later in a marketing campaign. I would take out the date in it, and make two separate overlays, a small one for the date, that I'd put over the main entrance to the building or on its side (as in real life) and would do a similar thing for the rest of the title.

Both overlays would be made to look as if the inscription was carved in stone.

[Zacker]

Your windows, or whatever the retangular black thing in the upper right corner of the first picture is, fits in very badly with the rest of the map.

[Albatros]

Yep, that's the shadow-problem I mentioned. Shouldn't be hard to get them illuminated correctly .

Thanks anyways, and also thanks Furyo - I'll see what I can do with the sign. I already use two overlays, but it really isn't beautiful to have the date right next to the letters.

Cheerio

Albatros

[Rick_D]

http://www.albatros44.de/nachtwip/npa20k.jpg

Why does this wall on the right appear to be scaled at 0.5 or above?

The bump map looks very blocky at that scale.

Is it the angle? (although it appears to be behind the house, so, I doubt it).

Anyway, looks nice so far, hope it plays equally well (but then again, it's dod, so no chance ) - oh and I agree with Baboon, that castle needs something - it looks very unfinished right now.

[Dodger]

your map looks good of course and I don't even know what you could put more in it.. looks very detailed wich is good!

the lighting is nice too.. like the orange theme.

do you have a 3d background? well you could try to make a town in the 3d background map and we would get a cool dod map.

and I don't play dod but could you convert this map to counter strike or something like another game like half life 2 dm.. if you can then it would be nice.. you know what i'm sayin it's not hard to change from a mod to another.

so um.. well can you get inside the houses in this map? would be good if you could walk inside and stay both outside..

plans on custom sounds for map? like your own content?

like.. you know all that.. good sounds adds atmosphere..

well.. keep on mapping and if ya need help tell

[Rick_D]

your map looks good of course and I don't even know what you could put more in it.. looks very detailed wich is good!

the lighting is nice too.. like the orange theme.

do you have a 3d background? well you could try to make a town in the 3d background map and we would get a cool dod map.

and I don't play dod but could you convert this map to counter strike or something like another game like half life 2 dm.. if you can then it would be nice.. you know what i'm sayin it's not hard to change from a mod to another.

so um.. well can you get inside the houses in this map? would be good if you could walk inside and stay both outside..

plans on custom sounds for map? like your own content?

like.. you know all that.. good sounds adds atmosphere..

well.. keep on mapping and if ya need help tell

lol @ the above

[Albatros]

Lol,

oh well... I never knew DoD:S was such a rare bird on player's machines... I only *felt* it .

Anyways - yeah, there is a 3d-skybox, a large one indeed with an independent lighting, extra models and so on.

The church tower in this Screenshot is a skybox object, and I'll be busy and take care of adding the likes of it to create a feeling of distance

Still, this is a very very early stage, so lean back and watch the progress on that .

About the sounds - there will be just enough custom sounds that should fit perfectly into the scenario. Smetana's "Moldau" piece will probably be played near an old gramophone as a highlight and to resemble the theme, as will some other pieces.

The soundfiles are already cut, converted and "aged" for a nice fit.

The Gameplay... well, forget all you know about DoD:S.

All of it. Nightingale will not feature any flags, nor will there be SMG-overkill or Detonation-packs since that stuff simply wouldn't do justice to the layout & setting.

After quite a while of thinking & several hours of smoking ears, some hard-core DoDers and me have come up with the following scenario:

The axis will spawn within the village; the allies will be spawning in four spawn zones within the surrounding fields and orchards.

Axis must protect their tanks for 15 minutes against Allies attacking them with bazookas (2 hits kill a tank).

To keep it from getting boring, the Axis guys can take their own Panzerschrecks to attack the 4 allied Halftracks.

Each time a Halftrack becomes blown up, one of the allied spawnzones will be deactivated, each time a tank gets destroyed, allies will get 3 additional minutes to finish the remaining two tanks.

It's gonna be an experiment, again... but then again... no risk, no fun :].