CTF Map for upcoming FF Created 18 years ago2006-07-18 02:32:48 UTC by Professa Oak

I am anxiously awaiting the beta release of Fortress-Forever have some time to mess around with Hammer. I'm waiting for several items to be shipped to me for various projects so I figured I could get lots of hours of mapping in. Once I get the structure set up, I'm guessing the sure drooling sensation of finishing it will carry me from there.

I seem to have lost all my content on my previous map "Adrenaline", only having the BSP downloadable from this site. I've redesigned the map with loads of extras yet keeping the main concept. The one thing I don't like about TFC is the maps are so dry cut. There are lots of hallways, open areas, and places for turrets, but you can't find cover. I figured that if you add the cover, and put them in a position where they will benefit from it, they will use it.

The map focuses a lot on the middle, rather than the bases themselves, which allows teams to occupy more than just their own base, giving teams territorial advantage. I also tried to make the map as compact, as in combining the maps many different pathways to collide and mix and match. The one feature I like is the glass waterway, which allow people walking by to see someone going down the waterway. You may think that would defeat the purpose of using the waterway (in hopes of going undetected), but I put them in places where most of the offensive players would find them. This puts them in a situation to either engage them or just ignore them.

As of now, all I have is a bunch of sheets of paper filled with the layout and details of the level. I'm not sure how far I will get to do finished up texturing, lighting, and smoothening (something the FF maps seem to show off nicely). If I get to the point where someone would like to help out with that, I am open to assistance. I will let my map present itself and if you like it, the job is yours. I have hardly any experience with advanced lighting and polygon smoothing. I may start tomorrow, otherwise the day after.

Everything seems to be going OK now. I've gotten the exact reference size I want for my buildings. Now I need to figure out how to make pushable boxes; man, its been a long time.

I did get this in my first test and have never seen it before. Any idea what it means? This

I should be able to get pretty darn far on this map tomorrow, that is if my shipped stuff doesn't arrive .

Strange error oak, your sure all the HL2 content is working alright?

I just recently cleaned up my computer by uninstalling and removing like half of the software I don't use anymore. The thing is I also played one of my older creations and it didn't give me this error. It seems to happen about five seconds after the maps starts. Everything is fine, then BAM, this.

I forget where I say this but I know I saw it somewhere. Someone had the exact same problem, thinking that all of the sprites were missing. Text doesn't show up in-game, console, or menu. I forget where I saw it. I wanna say I saw it only Fortress-Forever.com, but I can't seem to find it.

I'll have to either remake the map and see if that helps, maybe try single player. This shouldn't stop me from continuing with the map but it does get kind of annoying as I have to ctrl-alt-delete to get out of it.

UPDATE: I turned off my computer last night and just restarted it this morning. It seems like the problem is gone. I'm guessing it was something with Hammer that would have been fixed with closing it and reopening the app. Now I can continue!!! Don't they make func_pushables anymore, I'm stumped!

It's not needed anymore!!

You can just use a prop_phys with a box! or a phys_override or something like, im quite unfamiliar with this, i think Ant or Rabid can help you better out with this.

Finally figured it out with the prop_phys boxes. I needed them indestructable and got that working to. I'm not liking the new ladder system a whole lot. I'm working on the elevator system now. I miss the good old days

I'm not sure how you guys deal with this, but I am at a loss here. I know vertex manip. is the safest and best looking way to go, but even if I'm doing simple wedges, a total of 5 faces, one of the faces ends up messing up the brush, turning it into a black brush with no way to replace it. What do you guys do to battle it? Do you just redo it and hope it doesn't mess up? It's been going OK recently but I had a horrible time before.

I've finished the struture of the middle and am now working on the bases. It doesn't look fancy, as it is just the structure of the level. Once I finish the structure and the playtesting with it. I'll look at doing the fancy VMing around edges and such. Hopefully the textures for FF are out by the time I get to that. I'll have pics of the structure if anyone wants them; they won't look pretty, but you can at least see how it functions.

make sure you dont have 2 faces on a single plane, otherwise it will give erros.

After a good 12 hours of work, I'm nearly done with the structural part of the map, a skeleton really because I think the extra theme work that will go into it will change its feel. I just need to finish spawn rooms, one of the entrances to the flag room, and one of the water ways.

After I finish those few things, which I hope will be done tomorrow, I can maybe get you guys the .bsp if you want to get the feel for it. That is, I still need to add the ladders and elevators to the level.

I think a lot of this map will involve the middle because holding it will allow flag captures to be easier. It is harder to get to the flag, but leaving the base is much easier. You are actually safer in the middle with the flag then you are on your way to the flag return in your base. Carelessness will cost you your effort to get the flag and bringing it back.

I should be able to do the fancy VM work myself since I am now able to use it more effectively. I'm not sure how lining up textures and lighting will go once FF is finally released. Is it a good idea to be working on the VM stuff before the textures are out? I don't want to do all the hard work and have to change everything because of the textures.

You could handle default texture sizes, keeping heights in a multiple of 2.(128, 256, 512 etc.).