Map testing

Annath

Annath

New Member
Hey, I had a general question. I was wondering if it be possible to run a map I've been working on one night to see how well it holds up in a full sized game. I've only ever tested it on a lan server with a one or two people, and I'd love to see what people think of it. I'm not asking for it to be added to the regular rotation, of course(even I don't think it's that good. xD), just to be run one night to get some feedback and good testing. Would this be possible?
 
Hey Annath glad to hear you got your new map done :D You need to talk to Shagz about getting your map on the server. You may want to post a link to your map here if you have one as well.

I also tried out your other map too. It looked alright, nice presentation. Its just too small. Really what it felt like it was only the first leg on a dustbowl cp type stage (a single texture also appeared not to load but that was minor and the only bug I could find).

Anyway sign me up for beta testing! <shouts and bangs on wall> WE WANT ANNATH'S MAP! WE WANT ANNATH'S MAP! WE WANT ANNATH'S MAP! </shouts and bangs on wall>
 
Last edited:
I'll post a link when I run off the final compile and get it all ready for release, and I suppose I will send Shagz a message later. Thanks for the vote of support guys. ^_^

EDIT!: http://www.fpsbanana.com/maps/64865 << There's a link to the map. :D
 
Last edited:
Took a quick run through of your level Annath and my opinions are...

The only actual error I found is the brush under the barrels near the last point is messed up. It shows as a weird reflection.

My suggestions are...

1.Add a secondary way out of the blue spawnroom. There are many different ways to do this, a path out the back, a second floor, a path under ground etc. If you don't like that you could instead add an entire secondary blue spawnroom on the other side of the hangar, around the corner, out of line of site of the first and approximately the same distance away from the hanger door (trucks can be moved outward to allow a path there). Of course you won't be able to cover the blue spawn via those windows if blue has 2 spawns so I'd go with the first option. I also noticed the invisible brush to prevent grenades going over the fence to land in front of the blue spawn. It's a good idea however you can still shoot grenades over the spawn itself to land (somewhat) in front of the spawn. I'd either extend the brush or remove it. I skew to removing it if you do either of aforementioned ideas.

2.Add more arrow and sign overlays to better indicate which way to go. The map is really not confusing it's just the a, b, c thing helps people get oriented faster. Like you did on that nice control box, I could tell exactly what it did. I did however sit and wonder at startup exactly where the main hangar door would open (I could tell it was that wall but not exactly where). That door is niffty so I would not change the brush but you may wish to change the texture on the movable parts to indicate which move or something IDK.

3.Add more time gained on the second cap, maybe 3+ minutes? I don't know exactly but you should get more time than the first cap as the closer you get to the enemy spawn the harder it becomes.

4.Replace the red elevator with standard stairs. I know, I know the elevator gets people up little quicker but its also a spawn campers dream. With no way for red to go back down (without getting off the elevator) just about any class can stand at the top and shoot you as you are stuck in the corner (with a sentry there pushing you back it would be hard to get off at all meaning instant death using it). Not to mention the nature of the elevator makes it hard for more than one person to get on it at a time so whoever is at the top will probably be fighting people one at a time.

5.You may also want to add a little more detail. I suggest buildings in the background outside the area of play up top.

I forgot to run +showbuget (and I've got to go to sleep now) so I don't know about optimization but I didn't have any problems. Anyway I like the niffty door, the control box and the general layout looks good. Keep up the good work :).
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the feedback Gerbil. ^_^ I think I'll start making most of those changes right away and try to run another final compile tonight or tomorrow. It may be a couple of days though becaust Gustav is about to turn my campus into a swimming pool. @_@
 
Hey Annath,

Sorry for not responding to your earlier chat message, I left my computer on when I went out. Downloading the map, but it's 1:30am and I need to sleep. I'll get it installed first thing tomorrow night and we'll schedule a game night. :)
 
I may have not made my first post clear being tired so...

The point about the blue spawn is just to have an alternative route out of it that is not in line of sight of the first so a single demo or sentry cannot trap you inside. I doesn't really matter how you do it.

Also I was thinking I assumed you've got a long setup time due to the time it takes for red to get to the first point and set up. You may be able to shorten that if you set up another red spawn just outside the back of the hangar or to the right of it (if you don't put a blue spawn there). Then you could set it so when the first cap is made it deactivates and switches to red spawning at the original red spawn. Of course that is a lot of work for a point that is meant to be taken rather quickly and will probably only allow you to shave ~20 seconds off the setup time.

Anyway these are all just suggestions the only must fix is that brush under the barrels. Also, while I haven't posted there yet, Christian Crew http://christiancs.com/modules.php?name=Forums has an active TF2 community and a Source SDK Mapping section (its lower down than the TF2 section on that link) so if you don't know about them you may want to check them out :).
 
Last edited:
K, the version of Rocket that Annath linked to above as been put on the server, but not to regular rotation. Admins just need to load up the map list and pick it from there, or use "ma_map cp_rocket" in the console.

Would you guys be up for testing it Tues night, say 9pm EST?
 
Shagz said:
Would you guys be up for testing it Tues night, say 9pm EST?
Click to expand...
That might be a little early in the evening for me, but I'd be willing to help playtest the map.
 
I know I can't make it at that time. I have PT in the morning at 6:30 so I have to go to bed early. @_@ I could do Wednesday or Thursday night easily though.

Also, thanks a lot for doing this. It's really helpful to have a chance to see what other people think. ^_^
 
Well, not much interest generated, and probably too late a notice. It's 10pm EST now. :p We'll reschedule another time.
 
Hi Annath several of the Toj guys had a couple runs of your map tonight, it was fairly well received :). Just need to get some of the other people to post their opinions :).

As far as me I think my earlier suggestions were validated by the play time. In addition to those maybe widen some of the narrow corridors down below and add a few meshes for cover down that long hall to the second point. It certainly has possibilities it just needs to be balanced a little :).
 
Thanks. ^_^ I've been working on implementing those changes, and should be ready with a new version by the end of the week. Only problem I'm having is with the red spawn next to the hangar that I added. The lower red spawn won't disable for some reason, and as a result everyone spawns there. Which makes the upper one pointless. >.< I'm gonna post a thread on FPSB later to see if I can get some ideas on fixing that.
 
Neat map Annath. Though I think it could probably use a few for signs and arrows, and maybe make it so you can't fire through that chain link fence at the begining, also I noticed a weird glitch under the three barrels just to the right as you come out of red spawn. Other than that it was a good map.
 
Annath said:
Thanks. ^_^ I've been working on implementing those changes, and should be ready with a new version by the end of the week. Only problem I'm having is with the red spawn next to the hangar that I added. The lower red spawn won't disable for some reason, and as a result everyone spawns there. Which makes the upper one pointless. >.< I'm gonna post a thread on FPSB later to see if I can get some ideas on fixing that.
Click to expand...

Sorry I don't know how as I have not gotten into making a CP map as yet. I'd check the inputs/outputs on the spawns and caps in cp_well to see if they show something (note double clicking on an input/output will take you to the associated entity).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top