Forum posts

Your remarkably archaic political views aside, zeeba, how in all holy fuck do you browse the internet like that? What even is that? IE with 50 toolbars installed? It hasn't even rendered Grim's transparent avatar properly.

Gigantic cat

Delivered.

Both Rimrook and Urby have been using the same photos on TWHL for like 4 years.

Texturing is overall quite poor at the moment, Rimrook, but I know it's WIP so I forgive you

Looks really promising. Don't scratch the bowling alley idea. It's a really good set piece.

You all know me by now :3

Full Name: James Archibald
Age: 19 in less than a month
Hometown: Glasgow, Scotland
Born in: Glasgow, Scotland
Self Classification: Carefree
Education: Currently on the HND Creative Industries: Television course at Cardonald College

(Interests)
Favourite Films:
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. High Fidelity
3. Apocalypse Now
4. Dr Strangelove (or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb)
5. In Bruges
6. Pulp Fiction
7. Young Frankenstein
8. Some Like it Hot
9. Empire Strikes Back
10. This is Spinal Tap

Favourite Meal: Steak, medium rare with all the trimmings.
Favourite Actor: By sheer number of films I love with him in them, probably Bruce Willis.
Favourite Actress: Keira Knightley. Omnomnomnom
Favourite Game to Date: Hnng. Fallout 3/HL1/HL2:ep2/Mass Effect 2
Game you're most looking forward to: Right now, Shogun 2: Total War
Favourite Bands/Musicians: In Flames, Pendulum, Rihanna, B.o.B
Favourite Drink Hot/Cold: Tea / Pink Grapefruit
Favourite Alcohol: Scotch.
Hobbies:
Gaming, Level Design, Shooting videos/short films, drinking with mates, parkour, badminton.

(Other)
Girlfriend/Boyfriend Yes/No?: Alas, no.
Past Girlfriends/Boyfriends: Actual relationship? Uhh, 3.
Things that make you smile: Seeing people not give a fuck.
Things that make you really laugh out loud: Anything with Simon Pegg in, The Expendables.
Things that annoy you: That only one person in this thread correctly spelled "truly."
Things that well and truly piss you off: People who seem to think their life is a novel by Stephenie Meyer. They revel in drama and whine about it on Facebook for attention. Life is too short for these people to apparently set out with the purpose of making themselves miserable.

OPTIONAL PHOTO


You can find me on Facebook.

thanks, Tetsu0

Here's a better idea of the layout.

Hey guys!
So for the past 3 months or so since the release of cs_trepidation I've been working on a defusal map under the title "de_desertion."

After seeing what I guessed to be the fortieth generic Dust-clone map I had come across in my time as a CSS player, I decided that I needed to make a point. I wanted to show that it's possible to make a map in the Dust setting without losing a sense of uniqueness and originality. This map would not be a Dust clone. This map had to have its own personality - it had to be crammed with custom content and with things never usually seen in the environment CSS players devote themselves to.

So I came up with several ideas but the one that stuck was a high-tech lab hidden underground in a desert environment. This was for two reasons - one, I had just made a neat set of lab textures based loosely on the game Evil Genius, and two, I wanted there to be an extremely stark contrast to the map to give it some flair.

Three months later, I had a playable layout.

The following shots are very WIP, but give a good idea of the location.This is without a doubt the biggest map I've ever made. The surface alone is bigger than de_aztec, and there are also a whole series of underground passages and labs.
It messes with the conventions of CSS by having quite an open layout and expansive bombsites which make firefights extremely unpredictable. It's my hope that this will keep players coming back. There's always a new tactic to try.

I'd love to know what you think of it so far and whether or not you agree with my desire to be as far removed from de_dust2 as possible. I mean, obviously the classic does something right or players wouldn't keep going back to it - but I personally am sick of playing the same rounds over and over on it.

Any suggestions are welcomed with open arms and an open mind.

Also, I would really, really, really like some help regarding optimisation of huge open maps like this. The compile times are starting to get... Excessive.

Cheers, folks.

Toy Story 3

I was so worried going to see this, but it turns out I had no need to be. It is utterly fantastic in pretty much every way. I laughed, I was excited and dare I say it I almost cried at the ending.
9/10 easily.
My only wee problem with it was that Lotso the Bear was a bit interchangeable with the Prospector from Toy Story 2 - but it isn't a huge issue.
Go see it.

Inception next week. Can't wait.

there was no alt fire

Yes there is...

What's action reload? How do you do it?

Quick reload. Watch above your name bottom right when you reload. Press R again when the bar goes into the white section to reload in about half the time.

I got used to the controls really quickly, although I admit they seemed really odd when I first started.
Never experienced any camera glitch, though.

I really, really like this game- and not just compared to other free games, but compared to a lot of ?20 games.

My only issues are that friendly fire is almost guaranteed and that only one campaign on release leaves me wanting more already.

It has got my mapping juices flowing, though.

Set Delay before reset to -1.

The door should then wait to be re-triggered before closing again.

I don't think Atom noticed this was in the Source engine discussion

With source, use a combination of env_steam(heatwave), env_smokestack(smoke) and various sprites(glow&flame) parented to the bottom of your rocket.
You can use the sprite used for env_fire as an env_sprite and rotate and scale it to your heart's content.

Glasgow.

Old, vibrant, full of culture. Home to the best patter in the world.

Somebody set us up the bomb!Also fuck you, I want to play CoH now :<

3 and World at War were pretty rubbish (comparatively), and Modern Warfare 2 was a sellout. 1, 2, and 4 are excellent, though.

^ That.

This was discussed reasonably recently and I'll just say what I said then which is that the Body Mass Index (BMI) is nonsense. It doesn't take muscle weight into account. According to that chart I'm "overweight."

Been in one of these in Glasgow when it was on offer as one of those odd prize giveaways that shopping centres do but that nobody really knows how to enter.

I can't find anything I like about this "car" at all.
The interior is a desperately flimsy looking plastic affair - the sort of thing you expect to see in a 10 year old Skoda, but the exterior... I don't even know where to start. How can you say this is a modern, innovative design? It's like they took all the aesthetic qualities of a transit van, mushed them into the size of a city car and then blended it with a telly-tubby to round off the edges.
It reminds me of one of those old plastic lunch boxes primary school kids use.

This is not innovation. If anything, this is going backwards.
A good example of recent innovation in design?

Honda Civic Type ROr if we're leaving the typical road cars behind, there's always the Ferrari Dino concept car which makes me excited in my special places.These are innovative designs. They are not lunch boxes.

who said that they need to make a 100% copy of hl2 in goldsource?

Then why say it's HL2 in Goldsource at all? Refer back to:

Come up with something original.

The only problem

ha.

Been tried before and failed horribly.
Why?
Because it's such an utterly pointless undertaking.

Seriously, there is literally no merit in doing this whatsoever. Come up with something original.

On set for the final scene of 'The Sims Virus,' a short film in which EA try to take over the world by using the term "Viral Marketing" far too literally.
Sorry for the quality. Screengrabs from compressed video during editing. Final render will be HD.

Using crappy quality audio seems like a pretty poor way to bypass the system, haha.
There are actually sections of copyright law you can quote in your copyright dispute which work most of the time, but it doesn't change the fact that WMG are idiots :3

The idea isn't dead, but I've just kinda stopped receiving submissions, and I don't feel I have enough to make it an effective message.

Troll'd

Also, you should stop using the term "clipping," as "clipping" is a term in GoldSource and Source mapping, but means something completely different.

The set-up you're describing is known as "parenting."

Anyway, am I right in thinking Opposing Force was the only official hl1 mod which allowed sprites to have train-like properties?
The elevator doors are certainly doable in TFC using the method ZombieLoffe mentioned, but I'm not convinced it can be done with sprites.

Just because you don't play consoles doesn't mean that nobody plays consoles

Did I suggest that?

Elitism? Probably.
Fear? Perhaps. Gaming is being dumbed down and creative ideas are getting stamped on, with massive generic titles taking the limelight.

My hostility is directed at people who decide that their thing is the best without being remotely aware of any alternative; who continue to use arguments with absolutely no research or experience behind them at all.

Call it hypocrisy if you like, but I base my arguments on fact and I try things before I judge them.

the controller is closer to an arcade machine than a keyboard is.

find me one fighting game released on the PC which doesn't let you use control pads. One.

Platformers and the like work ten times better on consoles

Strongly disagree. Play Psychonauts to see a platformer done far, far better on PC.

RPGs also seem to work better because an array of menus is arguably more comfortably navigated on a controller than a keyboard

Again, either plug in a controller or even better, use a mouse?
Oblivion was shite on the Xbox too.

PC is the best platform.
This is not bias elitism. I own a 360, a Wii and a PS2 as well as far too many retro consoles.
I also own several games on PC as well as their console counterpart in order to be fair in my judgement.

I literally can't remember the last time I turned on my 360. Currently it's gathering dust on a shelf somewhere after I attempted to play the atrocity that is Fallout 3 on it. This is one of, if not the best game I have ever played on PC. Everything about it is stupendous, and yet somehow on the 360 I couldn't even get to level 10 without giving up in frustration. The loading time differences alone were laughable, especially when there was a loading screen for going in practically every door. What the hell? More surprising still when it did finally load and it looked like shit. I played the game on the two platforms side by side, using an HDTV for the 360. It still looked like it was sub-lowest graphics settings on the PC.
Bring in the lack of custom content, poor FPS controls and repeated instances of severe framerate drops, there was no contest here.

Almost identical stories with GTAIV, CoD4 and Mirror's Edge, although I'll add that CoD4 on Xbox Live was fucking horrible, too.

The Wii was entertaining for the first 2 weeks after we got it. I don't think I've used it since.

It's also worth noting that Valve games especially (although there are examples of others) require console players to pay for new content like the recent add-on for L4D2.

Consoles limitations also basically halt the advancement of graphics as developers have to scale down everything to work on non-upgradable plastic boxes.

As for the issue of the console community - there hasn't been this big a surge of ill-informed fanboyism and blind baseless defence of opinions since the dawning of Christianity. GO WITH THE MASSES HALO IS THE BEST GAME EVER NO WAIT METAL GEAR SOLID 4 IS NO WAIT COD4 IS NO WAIT MW2 IS NO WAIT etc etc etc.

As for PS3, I just kinda laugh in its general direction. Everyone I know who has one seems to be waiting for its big moment which still just hasn't seem to have come.
The two titles I constantly hear PS3 players going on about are Metal Gear Solid 4 and Heavy Rain, both of which I've played, and both of which would probably be better suited as movies.

Heavy Rain especially wasn't so much gameplay as "press X to continue story"

*And

There's no point. I just wanted to let people know & they clearly know now, for better or worse.

Creating a new thread would not only be pretty pointless as comments/queries can be made to me directly here or on SnC, but also it would fuel the fire for those who claim I am some sort of mass marketing advertising demon.

Sajo, I am not associated with Tuna.
Please refrain from attacking me in your responses to his posts. Yeah? Thankyou.

I was talking to you.

You quoted him?

I'm not Tuna.

Theres really no point in doing a video review for a shabby ugly map.

Well, actually, the entire point of this was so that mappers who maybe don't have the skill to get a MotM win or shining star ratings still get their work properly examined.

I don't see how a video review by random unprofessional vloggers is in any way a boon to one's mapping 'career'.

You've missed the point. Yes, there's the exposure to our subscribers aspect, but it's more about getting work fairly reviewed.
When I see a map I've made on a site I never submitted it to, with a range of screenshots (sometimes a video) and a full review I get this huge surge of... worthwhileness. So why not actually offer to do that for people?

However, going by what Trapt says, what Huntey is doing is unacceptable.

Going by what Trapt says, I'm the second coming of Hitler.
I fail to see how (what used to be) a weekly journal update and the odd shoutbox post to let people know about competitions is mass advertising.

you can still make and send the videos.

Have done several. They're still not on TWHL. I don't know what the new winners are, so no, I can't do more.

green dev texers?

I like having an expanded dev palette too. If you can't make your own - there's a million places to download more.

why not finish off the video reviews of the MOTM instead?

I've done quite a few which haven't been published on TWHL, and I can't do more because our MotM hub is down. Daubster can't fix it until after his exams and to ask him otherwise would be completely unfair.

why not update your vlog?

Because I've been really busy at college, and with...

...this Sims Virus thing

No, it's not another whimsical project. It's a short film which is about 80% complete. It has actors and everything ;D

The results of the second competition weren't announced until two months later.

Yes, this won't happen again. There were a couple of reasons for this. One was that I had lost my job and actually had to do some fund-raising to afford Rimrook's prize.

Are you going to mention the questions people ask you on formspring in your vlog?

The formspring is more for personal reasons than SnC reasons. Mates on facebook use it, but I thought that I'd make it open for the SnC community too.

And what about your podcast?

Don't have an answer for this. Allan fucked us about and it really put me off.

Nobody gives a shit.

Trapt, your words have opened my eyes. Of course I shouldn't try to expand our community by offering a genuinely useful service to up-and-coming mappers.
What was I thinking?

But then of course, the very post before yours, as well as Cstriker's and several more on other sites suggest that actually some people might give a shit.
Could it possibly be that Trapt's opinion isn't the same as everyone else's on the planet? Certainly such a revelation should be kept secret from Trapt himself as the blow to his ego might send him over the edge.
Ah, who am I kidding. He'd never believe it, anyway.

If you're not interested - just don't post, because I'm not interested in your opinion either. The thread isn't harming you in any way.
You're so obtuse it actually warrants research.

Looking for a very in-depth video review and playthrough of your latest and greatest maps and mods?
As a mapper of many years, I know how frustrating it is to spend months on a project only to end up feeling that nobody has really played it and that it hasn't been noticed.
Too many mappers are demoralized by this situation, and I've decided to try to help rectify it.
Scotch and Coffee are now offering guaranteed video reviews of ANY map/mod for any Valve game posted in our 'Show off your stuff' forum.

Of course, we aren't going to spend our precious time for nothing - but all we require in return is that you are a member with at least 25 posts on our forums.

Think of it as a you scratch our back, we'll scratch yours situation. You get an in-depth and fair review and exposure to our subscribers and our community grows.

Note: We will not review every map you've ever made. Submitting them all constitutes spam.

I can't get those giant yellow boxes that enclose props to go away

In hammer options, 3D views or general tab. Can't remember which. There's a slider for "model render distance"

The layout of Detritus really wasn't good for a single player map, either, but that didn't stop you.

I'm sorry, but that is a pretty barren map from the screenshots. There is no way there's enough detail there to crash hammer when it's rotated.

Hammer would likely crash

Why?

all my decals might be lost.

Why? Use overlays. They're actually assigned faces.

yes, that would definitely be an awesome marketing strategy :/

Simon And Garfunkel - The Sounds Of Silence

in the top 5 best songs ever. y/n

wow that's bad in source, haha

I don't know about CS 1.6, but I can categorically assure you that in CS Source, Terrorists can not manipulate hostages in any way other than killing them. Anything otherwise would make gameplay vastly unfair.

HAWL, DONT CALL MA BRUV AN IDIOT

Whatabout things like editing the hosties to 'act busy' and react to what is going on

Not possible in CSS.

Is there a way to allow terrorists to move the hosties around?

nope.

haha, me and urby just made it up.

It can be done with standard entities in Hammer, or through server console commands (with mani-admin plugin installed)

Here's a basic run-down of the rules we came up with, and how to achieve them.

Players only have 15hp. Simply cover the spawn points with trigger_hurts that deal 85 damage once per round. logic_auto might be required, as retriggering every round can be buggy in CSS.
Can be done in mani through console commands, but I can't remember how.

CTs are outnumbered. mp_autoteambalance 0. mp_limitteams 40.
Then it's just up to the players to join the right teams. We found 2/3 CTs versus ~10 Ts proved to be extremely fun.

CTs are stealth-oriented. Restrict non-silenced weapons (except scouts). Can't remember how to do this in mani OR hammer.

This set-up results in some VERY tense games. Make sure the maps used are nice and big with loads of varied routes so that CTs aren't at a disadvantage due to numbers.

Pick them off 1 by 1