f13.net

There had been some talk in one of the other threads about making maps for TF2 that made me have a look at making some. So this weekend I had a go at my first attempt.
Yet another CTF canyon fort variant  :awesome_for_real:!
I called it River Fort. Not sure if there is an existing map with that name?

There wasn't a massive amount of thought put into the layout (just wanted to get something that worked). I tried to make sure there were a number of different ways in and out of the forts to avoid excessive turtling. The open area in the middle probably favours snipers a bit too much. I originally wanted the middle to have the two forts, the two bridges and a valley that players would have to go down into but scouts could jump over. But to make the valley go as deep as I wanted would have made the map much longer. The water isn't too deep, but I can lower it a bit to help. I want to put a little shed on the island and add in a few other bits of cover on the banks.

I still need to figure out how to do water correctly, and fix up the lighting a bit. I think the textures are fine, although most were showing up with the purple 'missing texture' overlay in Hammer, but that might just have to do with the unsupported hacked up way to get the SDK to work with TF2. The purple reflection on the water seems to be the only noticeable problem on my machine.

(http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort0001_thumb.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort0001.jpg)   (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort0002_thumb.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort0002.jpg)

(http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort0003_thumb.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort0003.jpg)   (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort0004_thumb.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort0004.jpg)

I'll fix up a few little things and then post it later today if anyone is interested in having a look.

We can throw it up on disco tonight or tomorrow and try it out :)

I see you too couldn't figure out how to fix the stupid water issue. It led me to madness, which led me to uninstall the SDK.

There was a map from the game "Soldier of Fortune 2" called Bridge of Argonath. The CTF had some of the greatest fragging ever. If someone could recreate it.....it was a VERY simple map design.

http://soldieroffortune2.filefront.com/file/Bridge_of_Argonath;4912

I know im dreaming but............

I was actually thinking Jordan Market TF2 would rock... I'll have to start working in Source some, and call up a couple of my clan friends who modded SoF2.

I played on a server a few nights ago that had the "classic" (CTF) version of Well.  It was AWESOME.  A few minor issues (like not being able to blast open the underwater grates), but I had a lot of fun on it.  As did Helm, who kept on running into me at exactly the wrong time.   :awesome_for_real:

:inluv:

ctf_river_fort.bsp (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort.bsp) (~11MB)

(http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort0005_thumb.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort0005.jpg)

Almost everything seems to be okay now, even the water (just followed the directions on the source wiki).
Apart from a few flickering wood textures, the only problem is with the roller door to the blue spawn room. From inside the room when the door is closed it thinks there is nothing there, but when the door is opening it is fine. It is due to the use of areaportals, which I put in to cut up the map for performance (so the engine doesn't have to render the whole thing, only the bit you are in and whatever you can see through the next portals). There must be a leak somewhere around the blue spawn room but which isn't giving off errors I can trace to a location. The red side seems to be fine.

When compiling I got two "cluster portals saw in to cluster" warnings, so that might help. But even then it is an easy fix, just make the areaportal in the door to think the door is always open (the doors were existing prefabs). But I only realised I should have done that after I started compiling, and that took over 12 hours this time so I won't be doing that again in a hurry!

So I'll fix it next time, but I'll see if there are any suggested changes first after it's been played (like make a better island!  :oh_i_see:).

Started working on version 2 after playing it the other night. I'm starting by shrinking down the bases and filling them up a bit with props.
(http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort_v20000_thumb.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort_v20000.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort_v20003_thumb.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort_v20003.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort_v20004_thumb.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort_v20004.jpg)

This is looking better.

I'd say it's about 95% done now.
(http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort_v20005_thumb.jpg) (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort_v20005.jpg)
The outside area is now a good bit shorter with some additional cover to avoid favouring the sniper too much (the hut is higher up, which helps block the view)
The island in that shot was my first attempt at making a displacement, so it didn't turn out too great. Had a bit of practice on the cliffs, so I think I can do a much better one now.

So other than that and having to clean up some stuff it's just about ready to be tried again  :|.

So you're wanting me on to test the sniper play, yes? :evil:

Unfortunately, last time I tried to load one of your maps, Obo, I was for whatever reason unable to do so. All the other maps worked though.

Was it a problem downloading via the server or with actually with loading the map? If it was loading the file, was there an error message (maybe in the dev console)?
I know there were initially problems with downloading the file (I think there were a problem with the length of the filename), but didn't hear of any problems with the file itself.

I wasn't able to actually get into the server when the map was running, if that's what you mean. As soon as someone swapped the map, I was able to get on just fine.

We should test a new batch of maps again on Tuesday?

I am OK with this idea.

Horrible idea. Rock Band releases.

Oh, nevermind then.

Heh. I think am taking Tuesday off to spend time with my new love. If I can procure a copy.

Think this should be it. Should be a complete, non-shiny, map. And if it doesn't work, I wouldn't have a fucking clue why.

ctf_river_fort_v2.bsp (http://oscan.net/files/ctf_river_fort_v2.bsp)

You put your name in it somewhere right?  You have to tag your shit.

Can anyone point me at the .vmx file for one of the ctf_well maps?  I've come up with a cool way to make demolishable grates (instead of a detpack it uses a series of precisely placed stickybombs), and I want to see if I can put it into practice outside of a dinky test level.

Ugh. Well that would have been a smart thing to do. So I obviously didn't
Although it is supposedly protected from decompiling by vmex. Don't feel like taking four hours to recompile.

Samwise, I just decompiled ctf_well_classic_b1.bsp with vmex into a vmf. So that should help you.

Linky?

You can get VMEX here (http://www.geocities.com/cofrdrbob/vmex.html)