"Lifeline" Q3A FFA map FINAL

[Mikko_Sandt]

Edit: Public beta is over and here's the final version of the map, Lifeline (FFA 5-10 players, TeamDM, Tourney).

I fixed various bugs and improved some things based on feedback. Here are some:
-Added a jump pad as an additional route away from the ground floor to increase flow
-Added some sounds
-Removed BFG (replaced with MH) & a box of RG ammo from the upper part (which is still a bit unfair location)
-Added a winter version of the map (changes only skybox & ground textures)

Thanks for feedback & help.

Download (ten megs):
http://www.mediafire.com/?69p3xntm9r3
http://www.fileplanet.com/hosteddl.aspx ... feline.zip

Gameplay video (although of the beta version):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQGb1JXV-JA

Screenshots (showing both versions of the map, non-winter & winter):

[obsidian]

I see that you finally got it working. The flow is a little awkward since you can't easily get from one part of the map to the other. You have limited options to get inside from the ground floor, for example and only one way to the top floor.

You have RG, quad, BFG all on the top? That gives me no reason to want to do anything else other than camp up there. There's even lots of health. I suggest removing the BFG completely, maybe replacing it with a yellow armour. Maybe switch the RG and LG locations or something. That top part is really overpowered.

From the first screenshot, you can see that the patches on that platform are not casting shadows. Use the -patchshadows switch. It also feels strange that you can walk against the sky along the top floor. Consider some kind of barrier up there. Same thing with that BFG pillar. Underneath the U-shaped platforms, there's a small piece of untextured surface you might want to fix. Jump pad to top floor texture is not centered.

[st3ady]

Played around in it, great job! really fun map, could maybe use some water out front to break up the long grass field monotony. Where did you get that sweet teleporter from? staring at the center gave me a headache lol

[Mikko_Sandt]

Thanks for comments & suggestions.

The flow is a little awkward since you can't easily get from one part of the map to the other.

Yeah. The map started as a tourney map but then I started expanding so it went a bit out of control.

That top part is really overpowered.

Indeed.

you can see that the patches on that platform are not casting shadows.

Yeah and I also noticed that I'm unable to align the texture on them. Is there any way to do that?

It also feels strange that you can walk against the sky along the top floor. Consider some kind of barrier up there.

Maybe but I'm afraid it'd look artificial. Of course I could just remove the invisible barrier and let the player die if he falls off the gameplay area.

could maybe use some water out front to break up the long grass field monotony.

Not sure if water fits there (anyone swimming would be an easy prey to anyone above) but I actually had some problems filling the grass field. The only thing I came up with was that big tower with the BFG.

Where did you get that sweet teleporter from? staring at the center gave me a headache lol

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Found it from some prefab site. I wouldn't even have looked for custom teleporters but for some reason my GTK couldn't find any of the models packed with Q3A.

[obsidian]

"s" brings up surface inspector, "Shift+s" brings up patch inspector. Use shift+s for patches.

Prefabs probably from here:
http://www.wemakemaps.com/mapmodels10.htm

[dichtfux]

could maybe use some water out front to break up the long grass field monotony.

Not sure if water fits there (anyone swimming would be an easy prey to anyone above) but I actually had some problems filling the grass field.

You could use very shallow water.

[Mikko_Sandt]

Okay, here's what GTK recommends as the final compile (-patchshadows added):

-meta, -vis, -light, -fast, -patchshadows, -filter, -super 2, -bounce 8.

Anything else I should put there?

[obsidian]

replace -filter and -super with -samples 3

optionally, also add -gamma 2 -compensate 4 (tweak as necessary, to prevent lighting and shadows from going too far out of color range).

It's fun to get down and -dirty.

[Mikko_Sandt]

Okay, the map is now done. Check the first post for additional information.

[nitin77]

I dig the snow version more, the skybox alone adds so much.

This is another map where I seem to get splotchy textures though (like pjw3dm5 and unitooldm6). Is it because the textures are low res or is one of my settings off? I posted in GA about this but I noticed it when I fired this map too.

[dichtfux]

The winter version looks really cool due to the skybox!

[obsidian]

I thought so too. It matches the colder grey hues of the textures in general.

[monaster]

Talking of skyboxes: is there a chance to do some kind of "reverse drawing" with terragen that means producing a terrain with an old pic of yours once produced with exactly that terragen version? That's because I need to have a skybox with higher resolution (the one I'm using at the moment looks quite crappy) but I've never saved the settings for that one.
By the way I encountered the same problem nitin77 has got, I guess it could be something with my GPU ot it's just because the game is failry old, but I'm not too sure about that, so who's smarter than me? EDIT: Or mabe it could just be solved by using the cushion clip texture... see here: http://bubba.planetquake.gamespy.com/terrain3.html

[obsidian]

I don't know why Bubba recommended using cushion in that tutorial. Cushion prevents fall damage. Noclip prevents players, bots, spectators from moving into certain areas. He should have just used noclip.