Comments

Hey computergod666, you should download and watch this demo: http://xtreme-jumps.eu/check.php?filename=kz_creek_heL^_x_0206.rar

Its the world record on that map, nobody is faster. And you can see how
you need to jump on the map. I map for a community where 95% can bhop this
map easly. Not so fast as HeL^x but still. They can. Sorry for the rest, I
just map for 10000+ people who CAN jump it.

(Copied from a PM you sent me.)

So were you being sincere or were you taking a jab at me because I don't like your map? I'm inclined to think you're taking a jab at me because you didn't post this reply in the map vault, where it should have gone. If you don't want to discuss this in the open, maybe you shouldn't have replied.

I'm not saying "this map is too hard" or "I don't like it because I can't play it", I only expressed my concern that the Half-Life engine is not a good platform for this type of gameplay to be too popular.

So there are 10000 people who can jump this map. Did you check that exactly? How about the total number of HL and CS gamers out there? It's a lot bigger than that, I'm willing to guess. Therefore I say "not popular." The Half-Life environment was meant for you to use terrain strategically and shoot things, not to jump around to see who goes the fastest. Please don't throw out figures like this again because they only show that you don't really want to address any of the issues I pointed out in my first post.

One issue I didn't mention earlier is that every ground surface is flat and nearly every wall is perfectly vertical. This architectural quirk last appeared in the Build engine. If you want to go for realism, less vertical walls would be a good idea.

Don't ever say de_dust2 around me again!

The idea of a jumping map is a good one. If anyone has heard of the Quake III mod called Defrag, they will know just how good of an idea it is. There are, however, several differences between Defrag trickjumping maps and Half-Life jumping maps:

Different physics: Defrag uses a special physics engine which allows you to speed up, climb walls, etc, by jumping. Half-Life doesn't even have good air control. This automatically means that a jumping map for HL is going to be harder.

No tricks or traps: Defrag maps are simple and straightforward. When you land on something, it doesn't break or sink out from under you. Those sinking crates really annoyed me. People who have never done a jumping map before (or who don't spend their time bunny-hopping around half-life deathmatches) won't be able to complete the map because they keep getting teleported back to the last patch of solid ground. Putting in a half-mile of creek full of sinking boxes is, to quote Zero Punctuation, "pants-on-head retarded". (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Basically, it's a great concept, and the level architecture is great, but the Half-Life engine just isn't up to the task.

Absolutely amazing. I was struck speechless by the combination of action and brainwork that you cannot find in a typical run-and-gun game. Here are a few specifics:

+The puzzles where you have to sneak past the sentryguns are the best puzzle I've ever seen for the HL engine. Doesn't quite beat Portal, but it's still impressive. I'm glad you used your own textures on the boxes instead of the annoying wooden crates that came with Half-Life.

+The action is great. I especially like the last map where you get to fight all the grunts. I like the fact that you decided to put in a lot of cover instead of making it a Deathmatch-like bloodbath.

+Good thing you made some of your own textures. Halflife.wad gets boring very quickly.

+The horror theme in the second map is amazing. You only meet about five zombies and two headcrabs, but it still has an amazing feel to it.

+I like the placement of items and medkits in the map. You get just enough ammo to fight through everything, which adds to the challenge. Also, the health chargers were always in just the right places.

-I'm not quite sure what the story is. However, it doesn't really need one. You put action, horror, and brainwork in a game and it's a great game.

-The skybox seems to change between the three maps in an unusual way. It's broad daylight in the first map, dusk in the second, and broad daylight in the third! Why?

Overall, an amazing game. It's challenging enough even on the Easy skill level. I will probably find myself playing through it a few times in the next few weeks. You should expand this into a full mod. It looks like it's going to be amazing. If you ever feel a bit busy, I would be quite willing to come along and help you out if you would like. The world of Half-Life needs more mods like this.

I hate filefront.

You have made two things a habit, MaMuS: Releasing excellent maps and releasing them as RAR files, which not everyone can use. What's wrong with ZIP files?

I'm making a HLDM map that I want to put some music in. The music is about 1 minute 25 seconds. I've set it up with four ambient_generics, each set to play the WAV file, which IS 8 bit mono, and they all have Play Everywhere checked. No other flags are set. It looks right according to this tutorial, but the music won't repeat! Does anyone know what's going on?

Knife map in the dark. So, your only options are to run around blindly, swinging your knife and hoping you'll hit someone. The only way this would work is if the map has NO terrain so it's easy to get around, and if the players are good enough to locate people by their footsteps.

Just a friendly warning: are you new to Hammer or HL mapping? Because the way you posted this map, it makes you look like a new guy. Please, put some lights in here.

Hornet gun/Snark arena.
That sounds like a slow and painful death for everyone. Not that I don't like slow and painful deaths (I created a toxin flechette cannon and a sticky grenade launcher for Unreal Tournament), but the Hornet gun can't kill anything and snarks are just plain annoying. You could make this map a frenzy DM and remove all the health, which would put a little more action in it.

"the 3d Sky model is awsome too"
I don't think HL supports 3d skyboxes! Is this map categorized correctly (DM or DM2?)

I hope the screenshot doesn't show all of the map. Please don't tell me this map consists of two towers with a bridge between them.

Same here. By the way, is this with the hi-def pack or something similar? Because that weapon at the end of the bridge in the screenshot looks either like one of the CS shotguns or the M4.

About the skybox: I tried taking some random sky textures and renaming them to start with "wm_volcanic", but they didn't show up and the map crashed quickly. I would suggest taking out the fog (which is really too bad: that was amazing) and see if that does anything. Maybe put a lava lake at the bottom instead?

i try download, but it not work because download not can do on this ISP. Me like screenshot but where the light. Not bright map = no is good for teamplay.

I prefer map descriptions when the English is fluent. Too bad I can't download this right now, but I can tell from the screenshot that players will need to use their flashlights a lot. That's not a good thing when the object is to kill people without being killed.
By the way, what kind of CS map is this? as_, de_, cs_, or what?

Absolutely awesome. Just a few minor realism things:
-The power generators aren't that obvious. They need to look more important than a wall-mounted breaker box. After all, this is THE LAST TREE in the world.
-The terrain at the end of the large retention pond. I find it particularly frustrating in any CS map when there's a clip brush placed across an open space. There needs to be a reason you can't walk off the compound, like a fence.
Again, this is really good work.

Thanks, DragosLt. Still, there are some resources that don't come with CS, but are necessary for CZCS maps. I tried downloading a czcs map a while ago from someone, and it didn't run on my version of Counter-Strike. It said it required hlbasics.wad, czcs_office.wad, and a few others. That's the only reason I wanted to know.

I noticed that there are lots of people posting CS maps, but they don't say whether the map is for Counter-Strike or Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. Please specify which engine this map is for, because the two engines are different enough that one map won't run on both of them!

Someone made a comment a while ago about the room behind the slime pools being too plain--just a few computers.
Does anyone else know what that room is for? Don't worry, I'm not going to spoil it.
Hunter, I would suggest that V3 should have some ammo in that room.

Also, I think the mass execution button needs to be a little more obvious, like the one in crossfire.

First, was this a HL or HL2 map? (I ran it successfully with HL.)

+Awesome detail with the power station outside. This is the main reason I thought it was a HL2 map, because it was extremely detailed.
+I like the places the train goes through, because the large spaces make it less linear than the original HL1 intro.
-The train needs to go faster.
-I want to be able to see out the front of the train.

Amazing. Textures were perfect for the setting. How did you use custom textures without sending a WAD file along with the map?
The layout was wonderful. The use of force field floors, computers, and the hangar showed quite clearly that this was a gigantic spaceship, not just a series of hallways. The map is as original as some of the Unreal Tournament maps, and as futuristic and detailed as some of the Halo maps.
Usable objects (buttons, chargers) were well placed. I'm glad you used custom textures for these because the usual HL chargers would have looked completely out of place in the environment you created. The unusual elements, like the force fields and hazardous materials tanks, were extremely well executed.
I would have liked to see a little more of the outside of the ship. For example, a window that looks out on part of the hull. There weren't enough windows on all sides, so I couldn't tell if the ship was actually floating in space.
Game play should be awesome. I haven't yet had the chance to do anything except explore, but I can't wait to put this on at a LAN party.

Amazing. This map rivals some of the Halo maps for architecture, realism, and surrealism. I like the way you used func_pushes for elevators, but I would suggest that you make it more obvious that they are elevators, for example: put in a non-solid func_conveyor with a good scrolling texture. One thing I REALLY want to know is: what did you make the push speed for the func_pushes? I've tried making this kind of 'elevator', but I always have to make two: one that pushes you fast enough to go up (push speed 1000), and one that is just slow enough to allow you to get down safely from any height (push speed 500). Also, the top of the elevator tubes should be rounded, so the player gets pushed out of the tube, instead of hitting the top and falling back down. Another thing that's been irritating me is that room at the top of the tower, that has a circular door on either side. How do you get to that room? I've tried jumping from the platform with the rocket launcher, I've tried air control, rocket jumping, and cheats (which, unfortunately, don't work in multiplayer mode), and I can't get to it.

The Xen landscape was extremely impressive. I liked the 'dried-out swamp' near the beginning where you have to run through the canyon, and come to a depression full of xen_hairs. The first time you jump into a cocoon was also amazing. It looked like the start of a very impressive transportation system, that would definitely not be something you would find on earth. The way you have to enter the cocoon would work very well in a low-gravity environment like Xen...except that you didn't lower the gravity in this map. One other thing I noticed was about the transportation system itself: the room near the end looked too much like a warehouse, and the other cocoons and the crane to carry them only strengthened this impression. In the original Half-Life Xen levels, there are always plenty of alien slaves running around. A good Xen transportation system should be able to carry lots of aliens around. It should also be non-linear. You did a pretty good job on this, with all the hallways branching off of the one your cocoon started in. However, the cocoons can only carry one individual, and you can't really see out of them without jumping. It had too much of a "Residue Processing" feel, where you find yourself stuck in a gigantic mechanism with no ability to control it.