Threatening Skies Pre-Demo

-the bottom of the elevator (at the bottom of the initial sequence) is coincident with the brush underneath it (the textures are overlayed)
-At the start of the 2nd map, the ceiling in front of the lab door is pretty low.
-anything supposed to happen in the lab door area with the hatch to the left in the dark?
-in the station, the gate on the trigger side doesn't drop down when the tram is triggered.
-tram stops at the next map transition after getting aboard. Maybe a fade-out, do the transition, fade-in? That could hide the slight drop you get when the new map loads also
-include the nodegraphs. I got a nodegraph rebuild at the start of several maps
-when the tram arrives at the last platform, nothing happens. Barney doesn't open the door, etc. I noclipped onto the platform and, after a minute or so, the scientist started his ai and conversation with Barney.
-in the tram tunnel: you put a lot of effort into the piston thing with the steam sprites. Bring up the lighting a bit so it can be seen better
-the doors of the tram are well-synced. nice job.
-everything is just a little undersized: hallways, doors, platform sizes, etc. Kind of hard to resize them all now, I know. Something to think about in further maps?
-good job with the opening/closing of various doors through which the tram goes. Good syncing of sound.
-the lighting at the last platform is dim compared with the illumination of the tram as looked at from the platform.
-the outdoor scenes are good: lighting, things to look at during the ride, etc.
-I'll run through it again soon

5w337! C@N7 W8 2 P14Y!

WOW! That was excellent!!! Man, the detail, the ambience, everything! I havent seen such skill at mapping for ages! The only problem was the fps at certain points :/ Anyway, excellent. Must have taken you AGES to map, hey!?

I think there is something wrong with the gamma on my monitor, it doesn't look that dark on my computer, but everyone else says its too dim on theres. Guess I should increase the brightness of the lights. And this is the Pre-Demo, the last tram drop-off is the last place in the demo. Don't worry, next version will have plenty of run around in it. Even some new voice acting.

But thanks for the support and notes, I take them all very seriously! And will implement accordinly. Thanks to everyone so far.

Good! Oh yeah, the lighting was very dark and dreary

I'll remove the reflections from my edited version then I'll finish it.

Alright elon....

Next time you request a review from me, PM me. I don't look at maps here that often.

Anyway. Here goes. Some things have already been covered so I won't comment on everything when I don't think it's necessary anymore.

Overall, I think this is a good job done so far. It certainly shows you know what detail is. I think it gives a good impression all in all. There's some spots I liked especially like the orange-steaming vents in the end. But, as in all things, there's flaws (and some errors) to it, and I think I'm particularly good at spotting those. Forgive me my critical point of view, overall the map looks good, but there's just things I notice and won't let slip by. So, a list of bugs/glitches/stuff acompanied with suggestions follows:

1. The elevator made some nasty sounds at the start. It also looked flipped upside down due to how you placed the side panels. Usually, they're put down to prevent people from falling. Could do with some cleaner textures, other than that, it's fine.
2. The area thereafter feels cramped, too small. I'd suggest some wider corridors, or more options to make it feel more like a real complex. The book shelf fits better in a room, or make a reading area over there or such. Also, don't let Barney wait for the voice system to be finished. Those voices feel quite triggered bytheway. Triggering them with a delay might help, or just playing some at random.
3. That ladder behind the window is a nice touch. It doesn't lead anywhere though so add a door. Adding a door that the player can see on the other side as well is better I think (locked, of course ;)).
4. Entrance to the control room is small, cramped, and you feel it when you get back off the stairs: I got some headache when bumping into the ceiling. The sewer acces(?) didn't really fit in that area, though it's a nice detail. Some valves and electricity stuff (control box or such) fits better.
5. The train room is ok. But it's odd that I can't get on the rail while the bar is still open... senseless clip brush. You might want to use clip brushes on the train instead, to prevent people from jumping out. That sweeper in the corner looks slightly misproportioned.
6. The dam scene was nice. The dam itself is empty, though. Adding some control towers could make a good difference. Also, I don't like the water. I don't like Half-Life's standard water anyway. It kills fps easily and looks odd. Maybe you should check my map The Playtest for some inspiration on different water methods? I'd happily supply you with the custom textures and all. Just make that look better...
7. The machinery room looks nice. Good athmosphere and nice details. The whole area feels somewhat blocky though, mainly the rough architecture. But maybe that fits the style of the building there just fine. Just don't use 90-degree angles too much in your maps. The lab there is a nice one. Just make those windows clear. That's eye-candy that could get some more attention...
8. Outside area was good. Odd bunker there (not bad-looking though, I kinda liked it) but the rest seemed to fit well together. But those textures on the building are over-stretched. Makes it feel much smaller than it really is.
9. Orange steaming vents. Look cool. The room feels blocky though and seems purposeless. Adding some maintenance doors and stuff that belongs there would be some nice touches. Detail isn't always a small or complex brush. It's also the logic in the level.
10. Only now I noticed the high r_speeds and the bad job you did on VIS. 3000 poly's at some spots? Runs fine on my machine and the limits are increasing now that people get better systems, but that could've been toned down a lot with proper VIS work. Did you even ran that compile program?

So, that should keep you busy, again. Don't get me wrong, it's a good job done overall. Just fix the most nasty glitches and everything should be mostly fine. Keep it up there!

Thanks Captain P, Awsome Review! Again, I truely appreciate any input someone has.

I'm going to replace that horid elevator noise with an ambience noise that will be quiet but stay on til the bottom. And craft a new elevator. (it was the third thing I made in the hole mod, needs a upgrade)

I agree that the next area is somewhat small. A little clostiphobic. But I'm adding a new recreational room there as we speak, going to remove the staircase (its sloppy)

And, I was going to let people up into the control, but decided against it. And I guess I could alter the doorway, wasn't really thinking when I copy/pasted that area for the new level, and didn't want to go back and alter it(since I'd have to do it in both places)

And about that bar.. I couldn't get in to go down, then back up... it would lower just fine, but no matter how I triggered it again, it wouldn't raise!! I should look into that, maybe I know enough now to fix that.
And... going to delete that awful sweeper (was just messing with the rotate feature.)

I blocked off the lab from main sight for the "gee, if he made that that good and didn't show it off, I wonder what he CAN do" effect Don't worry, that place will be revisited in later chapters.

The 'odd' bunker was there to show the seriousness of security in the area. It looked even more odd when I first made it.. trust me. No one noticed the 'plane' flying way up in the air after you pass the bunker? (you have to duck and look up the out the window)

Yeah... I'm not completely done with that section of the map, was just getting the main layout of the area complete. Going to put much more interesting things there (besides the 4 humongous vents), trust me.

And no, I didn't run vis. I wasn't planning to intil I completely finished a/the map(s). sorry.

I'll get to work on all these problems immediatly!! I am SOOO Grateful, truely! I'll put all you playtesters in the credits, for sure.

"Don't worry, that place will be revisited in later chapters."

That's a good thing. Showing area's (long) before you can visit them is nice.

"No one noticed the 'plane' flying way up in the air after you pass the bunker?"

Nope, didn't notice. Didn't notice any plane sounds there, either...

"And no, I didn't run vis. I wasn't planning to intil I completely finished a/the map(s). sorry."

Run vis before detailing area's. That gives you an idea of where you have enough poly's left to spend on detail while still not to wrecking performance. Most of your area's are already quite detailed, I think this is beyond the layout test already. It's better to know where you have to hold back with details than to have to delete a lot of work afterwards. Saves you time, and I think that's an important factore here...

How do I display how many polys are being run by the game?

The most usefull commands for performance checking are:
r_speeds 1 (displays world and model poly count, fps and time it took to create the frame)
gl_wireframe 1/2 (1 displays a wireframe overlay, 2 displays a wireframe of all drawn faces, which is quite usefull)

ok it was alright for a start but i dident get to see much due to you not running vis and my own troubles wil the tram (spins out of control) i would like to see an update soon

spins out of control? I've never ran into that issue... ok, I'll re-compile all the maps and try to re-post if BJ will host the new update.

K. First of all I have to say this is a very well done, complicated setup, that I would probably never even try. Awsome job!

I noticed some of the same bugs the others did as well as some others. I really should run through it like 5 more times soak everything in--there is so much--but I'll put down what I remember:

-I got stuck on the train 2-3 times and had to noclip to get the train moving again. I didn't notice anyone else mention this, so maybe the problem is on my end somehow.

-towards the end of the last map, the track textures are ever-so-slightly misaligned. 2 or three other small instances of this that you can barely detect.

-you have brush overlap in places that is quite noticeable, but I think the others mentioned this.

+I loved the section where you looking through the venetian blinds, astoudingly detailed and quite awsome!

+ towards the end the ventilation room was also quite impressive.

+And pretty much everything else was top notch, more detailed than the original by far... This must have taken a long time!

Excellent job and good for you! Looks like we have another really good mapper on this site!

no what i meant by the tram spinning out of control its my computers fault i got a really old video card and yea i got stuck in the tram a few times as well

It's a tram ride and not much happens except the player getting stuck when the level changes (and it does, often).