Q4CMP Submissions for Download

Post by **SyncError** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 1:52 am

With the deadline having been reached, all of the entries for the Quake 4 Community Map Pak have been submitted. We have compiled the 34 maps into one pak for play testing prior to the upcoming voting process. Thanks to all of the contestants for their submissions and good luck!

DOWNLOAD (86.2mb)

Extract the .zip into your Quake 4 folder.

Post by **maz0r** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 2:45 am

The requested URL /quake4/cmp/id_Q4CMP_Submissions.zip was not found on this server.

oO

Post by **axbaby** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:00 am

works for me

Post by **maz0r** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:03 am

yeah now it's there. directory was empty before.

Edit:
That should be the reason (found at esr):

Sync, I just checked out all maps and it looks like Lukin's Spiral map has been overwritten with Walls Of Hate level.
-Method

Not sure how that could have happened. The file has been pulled and will be back up shortly, corrected.
-SyncError

Post by **wviperw** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 5:19 am

Whew. Just ran through all 35 entries in one sitting. Here are my favorites (not including maps that have already been released):

02 [Penetration] - very solid map, both theme-wise and gameplay-wise. Theme/brushwork reminds me of Q2 which is cool (ok, technically I think this was released but not played)

07 [Atmos] - unique, pretty, not so sure about the gameplay

12 [Learning Curve] - awesome curvey theme, fun to run around on it, might work as a tdm level

17 [City Heat] - very cool looking map, can't believe you can achieve a unique 20's city theme with the stock Q4 textures, gameplay rox too

18 [Ravage] - seems like a pretty good layout, looks good other than almost pitch black without vertex/forceAmbient on

19 [Vox Nihili] - most beautiful map in the pack, very professional looking, not sure about gameplay

23 [Spiral] - another solid, good looking map from lukin, what can I say

26 [Phlashback] - guessed this was Mr Lycon's work as soon as I spawned in and I was right... very cool theme achieved here

33 [Arid Wastes] - awesome atmosphere, feels like an SP setting from the game

Post by **d3mol!t!on** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 1:44 pm

wviperw wrote:Whew. Just ran through all 35 entries in one sitting.

Can't wait to get home and do the same, though I've already played betas of City Heat and Spiral

Not a bad size at 2.5MB a map average either.

Post by **wviperw** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 1:58 pm

BTW, did anybody else catch Mr. Lycon's seeming reference to the previous CMP--Phlashback?

Post by **Lukin** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 3:17 pm

After I closed "Q4" I had a problem with recalling who made which map, etc. So to help myself a little bit I prepared this:

q4cmp_entry_00 [CMP] REPENT SyncError DM, Tourney, DeadZone

q4cmp_entry_01 [CMP] GRINDER GODLIKE DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_02 [CMP] PENETRATION TymoN DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_03 [CMP] RAIL TROUBLE TymoN DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_04 [CMP] SYSTEMATIC LOCKDOWN Tom 'Phantazm11' Perryman DM, Team DM, Tourney, DeadZone

q4cmp_entry_05 [CMP] RESURRECTION TymoN DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_06 [CMP] PERSUASION BARB DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_07 [CMP] ATMOS Dan 'BARBEERIAN' Mayhew DM, Team DM, DeadZone

q4cmp_entry_08 [CMP] A FINAL ROLL OF THE DICE Andy 'dONKEY' Dunn DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_09 [CMP] DUSTYTOURNEY Johannes 'StYl3' Kemper DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_10 [CMP] KAT FIGHT! Ken 'kat' Beyer DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_11 [CMP] DEEP IMPACT Andy 'dONKEY' Dunn DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_12 [CMP] LEARNING CURVE Blushing_Bride DM, Team DM, DeadZone

q4cmp_entry_13 [CMP] SKYLIGHT Blushing_Bride DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_14 [CMP] QADEMZ Martin 'Moreigh' Micinski DM, Team DM, Tourney, DeadZone

q4cmp_entry_15 [CMP] POPSICLE cuirass DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_16 [CMP] GHOSTPORT REVISITED Tom 'Phantazm11' Perryman DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_17 [CMP] CITY HEAT Method DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_18 [CMP] RAVAGE killat0n DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_19 [CMP] VOX NIHILI Corsair DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_20 [CMP] CAMPER'S DELIGHT Bill Main DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_21 [CMP] ATOMS FOR PEACE mIKE CTF, ACTF

q4cmp_entry_22 [CMP] RUPTURE Bernd 'Bliccer' Macht DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_23 [CMP] SPIRAL Lukin DM, Team DM, Tourney, DeadZone

q4cmp_entry_24 [CMP] CLINT EASTWOOD Lukin CTF, ACTF, DeadZone

q4cmp_entry_25 [CMP] FRAG-N-FLY Leroy 'bolleh' Ramdjan DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_26 [CMP] PHLASHBACK Chris 'MrLyCon' Jensen DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_27 [CMP] CAUSTIC BURN Tom 'Phantazm11' Perryman DM, Team DM, Tourney, DeadZone

q4cmp_entry_28 [CMP] PHRANTIC Rich 'swelt' Jacques DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_29 [CMP] BETTER THAN NOTHING Rich 'swelt' Jacques DM, Team DM, Tourney, DeadZone

q4cmp_entry_30 [CMP] INFELTRADED Kasey DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_31 [CMP] INFELTRADED CTF Kasey Team DM, CTF, ACTF

q4cmp_entry_32 [CMP] WALLS OF HATE g0th DM, Team DM, DeadZone

q4cmp_entry_33 [CMP] ARID WASTES Quaker-X DM, Team DM, Tourney

q4cmp_entry_34 [CMP] WEATHERED Pan DM, Team DM, Tourney

Hopefully this will be useful also for someone else.

P.S. Vote for the bolded ones

Post by **wviperw** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:10 am

Nice Lukin! But that doesn't mean I'm any more likely to vote for your map... :P

Post by **unitool** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 3:23 am

Does anyone know if the map pack is strictly a pc thing? It would be sick if the winners map pack was available on xbox live, but I don't expect to see it there, for a number of reasons. Heck, I'd even buy the pack if MS insisted on charging for it.

Post by **Hex** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 5:35 am

I haven't sorted what I'm doing wrong yet - any other server admins getting things like this?

WARNING: map mp/q4cmp_entry_25 and gametype Tourney are incompatible, aborting map change

seems that I can only run in DM. Any other si_gametypes, result in this error.

Post by **pjw** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:07 am

^^^Yeah, something's sideways somewhere--I tried Tourney with that particular map and got the same thing, even though the addonDef includes tourney as a gametype. Dunno.

Anyway, there are a lot of extremely cool maps in this pak! I've spent pretty much the whole evening screwing around with them and oohing and ahhing. A few of the stand outs for me:

Atmos by Barbeerian: Very cool feel, and the fans and the shooter were nice ideas.

Final Roll of the Dice by dONKEY: Great geocomp-ish geometry.

Kat Fight! by Kat: Great lighting!

Deep Impact by dONKEY: Kickass compact gothic. (Gothic--hooray!)

Learning Curve by Blushing Bride: Very nice patchwork.

Popsicle by cuirass: Cool and different atmosphere to this one. Great feel...

City Heat by Method: Great layout, cool mood and lighting (improved from the beta

)

Spiral by Lukin: Just felt very solid all the way around. The water was a nice touch.

Phrantic by swelt: Very solid compact map with great layout and flow. I liked the blood down low.

Arid Wastes by Quaker-X: This was probably my fave. Just solid all the way around. Great visuals and lighting that didn't seem to impact performance at all. (Although I did manage to slip out of the playable area and "behind" the map by squeeking past the edge of the bent-panel-slope-jump...

)

There were other cool ones, but I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Great comp.

Post by **Hex** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:28 am

Lots of good stuff here.

they're up (q4base and DM only atm) at

q4.mhgaming.com:28004 (Denver, CO)
q4dallas.mhgaming.com:28004 (Dallas, TX)

nifty status page
http://mhgaming.com/q4mon/q4mon-spy.pl

Post by **QuakerX** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:59 am

Great work everyone! I honestly was shocked to hear there were 34 maps submitted and one "secret" map by SyncError. You really can't complain about 35 new maps for a game!

pjw: Nice find

Method found a lot of these little spots before I did and are already fixed, just waiting for after the competition to release!

Again guys, great work by all.

Quaker-X

Post by **A1yssa** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:42 am

Me wonder when we will know what maps will be included in the cmp!

Post by **Lukin** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:01 pm

Don't want to sound like a total prick but so far (after a few glimpses) I'm rather dissapointed with the submissions. There are a few maps that stand out, but overall the skill seems to be lower than it was in "Q3" community (and/or "UT" and/or "Source" scenes).
I don't know what causes this but even the best guys out there, like Quaker-X (no pun, I still think that your map is cool), were in my eyes making better things in their past....
Maybe it is that "D3" engine needs different approach from mappers? Look at Phantazm11's works - that's how "Q4" maps should look like, yet they probably would be rather unimpressive in "Q3". And vice versa - dONKEY's attempts to instill "Q3" mapping style into "Q4" doesn't work IMHO.
Of course custom textures/models and a few weeks more would help a lot, but I'm quite sure that a contest for "Q3" with similar rules would bring us much better results.

unitool wrote:Does anyone know if the map pack is strictly a pc thing? It would be sick if the winners map pack was available on xbox live, but I don't expect to see it there, for a number of reasons. Heck, I'd even buy the pack if MS insisted on charging for it.

IIRC Sync once mentioned that they prepare a patch for Xbox 360. Don't know if they consider including the map pak in this release though.

wviperw wrote:Nice Lukin! But that doesn't mean I'm any more likely to vote for your map... :P

Oh, well, all for nothing ;P

Post by **obsidian** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:45 pm

Sounds like Lukin's tucking a neatly rolled up $20 in everyone's paypal account.

Keep in mind, that most people had a month to finish their map from start to finish, so there were probably some deadline issues preventing people from submitting their best possible work.

Post by **unitool** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 6:28 pm

Lukin wrote:IIRC Sync once mentioned that they prepare a patch for Xbox 360. Don't know if they consider including the map pak in this release though.

Maybe that is why "file size efficiency" was one of the judging criteria.....smaller download size on XBL!

Post by **pjw** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:05 pm

obsidian wrote:Keep in mind, that most people had a month to finish their map from start to finish, so there were probably some deadline issues preventing people from submitting their best possible work.

This.

Also, pretty much everyone that entered (I'm guessing) doesn't have the experience mapping for Q4 that they do mapping for Q3. Hell, I worked on the game, and I know *I* don't...

Also, it's a lot less foolproof to make something look really spectacular in Q4--mainly where lighting is involved. Lighting is way, way more difficult/complicated in this engine *and* affects performance--a double whammy.

Yeah, some of the entries overdid it on the ambient by quite a stretch, and others had some pretty serious performance issues, and so on, but Lukin, of course the skill level is lower than when making Q3 maps.

Post by **dnky** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:35 pm

I have kept pretty quiet on this subject till now, but seeing as my name was mentioned specifically allow me space to answer.
I agree that the submissions do contain a few maps that for any engine would be considered alpha builds or 'newb' maps. There are many straight forward construction errors or examples of poor planning. That said, I would never discourage anybody from being creative and building a level.
To my mind the abuse of ambient lighting is a malaise that has crept into Q4 mapping as a direct result of the difficulties imposed upon a designer by the engine. A level overly lit by ambient lighting looks far worse than many or most q3maps of a similar technical merit.
Lukin's acertation that my attempts to bring a Q3 style into Q4 is of course his opinion and I respect that. I think he is mistaken, but that too is only my opinion.
The point for me is simply that in the push for 'quality' maps it is important to remember that 'quality' is a subjectuve term. One must attempt to evaluate 'quality' from more than a single narrow perspective.
Personally I have little love for competitive styled levels. In the main, to me, they appear to lack artisty and technical merit. Walls meeting floors at 90 degrees does not represent much design skill to me. However, and this is a big however, I totally appreciate that there is an audience for this style. I may not like or enjoy these levels but I can appreciate what it is about them that makes them 'good'.
The thing is, that from my perspective, it's just not what I would make.
I make what I like to see, or rather what I am not seeing being made by others. If Lukin doesnt 'like' it thats OK, but I ask please that the technical merit is appreciated at least.
As a final word from me, there has to be room for more than one style in design. Q3's longevity is in no small part due to the tremendous variety in level content. If competitive Q3 were the only style so many inspiring maps would never have been produced.

Post by **o'dium** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:51 pm

Kinda wish I entered this now, as even if I never finsihed a map (whats new) it would still make the grade...

Post by **unitool** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:01 pm

I don't think it is correct to say that every one of these maps has made the grade at this point. These are not the winners, just an easy way to download all the entries.

Post by **QuakerX** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:11 pm

Lukin wrote:Look at Phantazm11's works - that's how "Q4" maps should look like, yet they probably would be rather unimpressive in "Q3". And vice versa - dONKEY's attempts to instill "Q3" mapping style into "Q4" doesn't work IMHO.

What dictates what a level "should" look like though? That is your personal style and preference. There is nothing wrong with that, however, some of us in the competition did try and go beyond the so-called restrictions of the normal "stock" looking level and gameplay and try something different. dONKEY's level was one of my favorite levels in the pak. I am generally impressed with levels and mappers that try different things. This also does not mean I did NOT enjoy your levels, Lukin, because I did. But MY personal preference, as you have yours, is that I enjoy less "stock" looking levels and less cramped gameplay.

Arid Wastes is not of my best work. I'm extremely proud of it though, considering I had two rooms about 40% complete 2 days before the competition deadline.

Quaker-X

Post by **GODLIKE** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:12 pm

pjw wrote: Also, it's a lot less foolproof to make something look really spectacular in Q4--mainly where lighting is involved. Lighting is way, way more difficult/complicated in this engine *and* affects performance--a double whammy.

Agreeing with this... but I think that generally the community has been less active in mapping for Q4 vs Q3.

As for the contest maps.. There are some clearly excellent maps (Caustic!!), and some maps in which Q4 beginners learned how to make a map with the Q4 engine for this contest. (They didn't all learn how to optimize said maps for performance, but the deadline probably didn't help with this either.)

Either way, it's a win for the Quake 4 scene overall.. We get some great new maps, and a bunch of new mappers who may just decide to hang around and keep mapping for Q4.

Post by **Lukin** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:26 am

First of all: it's all about opinions. I'm not saying: "you're wrong - this map is bad", I'm only saying "I don't like it". Keep that in mind. Second thing: I probably could choose better words when I was writing about phatazm11's maps. I didn't mean that all the maps for "Q4" should look like those made by him, but that he found a way to make his maps looks good (=like they should). Most of us would agree that "Systematic Lockdown" looks fine, wouldn't we?

I appreciate that dONKEY decided to make something different. I, as probably everyone here, like when mappers create something uncommon - it's not 'competitive styled levels' vs. the rest. But 'different' doesn't equal 'always good'. In my opinion ideas of a geocomp and a gothic map could be executed better.

I coud say "I like these maps, at least something original" and my life would be easier, possibly I would raise my chances for a few votes

But then I would lie. Instead I spoken my honest opinion. Not because it makes me happy to bash someone's work but because I want to see better maps. Better maps by dONKEY as well.

Maybe not today, but tomorrow (ofc not literally). Come on, it's over two years since "D3" release date, and we still talk about lack of experience in mapping for this engine.

P.S. I don't think lighting in "Q4" is more difficult. It's different, but sometimes it's even easier, and a real time preview is a blessing.