40K Source

Hello guys.

In the past I started the work on a map for Exterminatus, but I hadnt much time to finished the map.
But since the EX Beta cames out I continoue my work on it.

This is my first realy try to make a map for the HL² engine and I dont know if the performance is good.

The map call city_conflict and it is a remake of the old one from RS1. And I dont mean the bigger second version of city_conlict, which I released at least. (the last version was frightening  :( ).

But enough to wrote. Here are some pictures.

(http://i7.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/2f32820123627.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/hn8snw/20123627)
(http://i6.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/ba2d820123636.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/nizbsh/20123636)
(http://i7.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/52ad020123637.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/nizbsh/20123637)
(http://i8.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/5a79e20123638.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/nizbsh/20123638)
(http://i9.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/a36a020123639.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/nizbsh/20123639)
(http://i4.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/ffddf20123644.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/nizbsh/20123644)
(http://i5.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/0236720123645.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/nizbsh/20123645)
(http://i7.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/b331820123647.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/nizbsh/20123647)







The 3D-Skybox isnt finish yet and at the moment I havent add to much details.
And I have to think about the mission objectives. Maybe I make them similar like in the old city_conflict map. The structure of the map is very similar with the old one, too. Only the most ways are a bit bigger than in the past, because the tyranids are so fat. ;D

I cant wait to play it when you release it, to me it feels a little too bright and you should make it a little darker.

I got some trouble with my webspace, but now you should see the pictures again.


You are right Recon. I will do this. 

Thank you, plus for the skybox since its a tyranid invasion. A red color would be great for it.

Hot damn man, this map looks good :D

Great job, I would like to see some improvement with the skybox, adding some more scariness to the map (more blood, some screams, lots of gunfire, creaks in the building if you have any :D ) yes do make it darker.

Thanks for the compliments guys. :D

I will see what I can do. Iam very inexperienced with the HL² engine and with the new functions in the hammer editor. And at the moment I Have a problem with the fps. I used to many models and therefore I get 40 fps or bader on some areas in the map. I have to fix this at first.

Sorry (this really isn't a sorry but) I couldn't tell with the screams and such lolz I was kinda jotting things down. :D

Have you done proper map optimization?

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Visibility_optimization

My english isnt the best, but I think this will be still helpfull . Thanks for the link siegemonkey. :)

Ohh shiney, nice to see you back Dark Marine :-D.

Hello Bahl. Nice to see you, too. :)

I wasnt far away. In the last years I took an eye on RS2 and followed the development of the game.

It looks really cool, the only change I would do is to lower the ambient light value on from the environment light because it looks almost all bright right now.

Long time ago that I posted this thread.

At this time I got trouble with hammer and to run it with the latest version of Exterminatus.
But now I get it right and find the time to continuning the work on the map.  :)

I updated my first post with new pictures. Now it shows the old HL1 version of city_conflict and the counterpart of the new one. I hope you like it.


And here are some examples for the lightning.

(http://i8.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/846cb20123658.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/1uxa2o/20123658)
(http://i5.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/b8eb620123655.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/1uxa2o/20123655)
(http://i7.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/5e20620124117.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/v8g700/20124117)
(http://i7.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/e675820123657.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/1uxa2o/20123657)

Ah this thread brings back memories ^^

Of these four lighting variations I think I prefer the first, sunny one.    However I think the infested sky version could be the best with some tweaks.  If I post the settings used on other infested sky maps would you mind trying them out?

Yes I think so too. :)
I like the sunny one more, than the others. But of course I can try the infested sky. Maybe its look then better.

The "infested sky" look is a combination of 3 things (so far):
1) sky_ex_01 skybox - Map->Properties->"Skybox Texture name" = sky_ex_01
2) Red sunlight - light_environment entity where brightness="199 103 64 500" and ambient="199 103 63 15"
3) Ref fog - env_fog_controller entity where "Primary Fog Color"="159 81 47" and "secondary fog color"="217 68 4" and "Fog Start"=1200 and "Fog End"=7000

Thx Chrome Angel. I tried this and updated the picture some post before.
The invested version dont looks bad. I like the fog, which I could not use in the sunny one.

Thanks DM.  I think that looks better.  The pink buildings in the background don't look so good with that fog setting.   Please try to match the far fog color to the sky at that height.

If could just be that particular view point, in which case ignore that request ;)

Here you see the fog a little bit darker.
(http://i5.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/0818220128025.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/xwmxc7/20128025)
And here the other one.
(http://i7.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/5e20620124117.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/v8g700/20124117)

But the whole map gets more dark with this setting. And that is what I dont want. The map shouldnt be to dark. At the moment Iam undecided which lightning I will use.

Personally I think the top (darker) one looks better. 

If you think it's getting too dark maybe you could add some lamp posts at points of interest and spotlights on the architectural features you want to draw attention to,  The forcefield generators really should be generating a blue glow too,

Some ex entitys dont work how I want. At first the view direction of a ex_break_objective dont change when I give it another direction.
Second the ex_award dont give extra points to his user. I have a button which has the output when pressed ex_award get activate. I see it works on other maps. What I do wrong?


Here an other pictures. It shows the whole map, so you can see the structure of it. It isnt a big map. ;)
(http://i5.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/60d8120134535.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/x5ej3j/20134535)

ex_break_objective is very new, the whole system of objective cameras for "deadcam" mode is on my list of things to do list for 6.10.  The plan is that you would name an entity to act as the camera for an ex_break_objective and the view you would get is from that entity.  If you plan for "city" to work that way then hopefully I will be able to get EX to behave correctly by the time you are ready to playtest it.

ex_award requires a parameter on the input that activates it to say how many points to give.  Go into the properties of your button,  then into the "output" tab, select the output that activates the ex_award and enter "25"  in the parameter field.  Applying this change should gibe the player who presses the button 25 points.

Good to know that the camera system dont work at the moment for the ex_break_objective. I can wait.  :D

But the ex_award works fine now. Thx ChromeAngel.  :)

Sry for double post.

Normaly I am mapping for the newest version of Exterminatus, but I compiled a version for Beta 6.0 without the newest entitys. It works the same way. Only there are no mission marker which shows you, where the missionobjectives are. But the map isnt very huge and I think you will find it out by yourself.  ;)

For all people who want see what I have done, here is the download link.

It is the first version of this map and it will be improved in the future. And now, please enjoy.


Edit:

Link deleted. No need of this version anymore.

This looks good to me Dark Marine :D

Is it OK I include it in the next alpha test patch?

If you think the map is good enough, then iam happy when you do this.  :)

Just had a test game, which raised a few points:

• could really use making the two mission buttons ex_capture objectives.  Players did not know where to go.
  As Tyranids I had trouble USEing the button at the tower, can you make the box the button is in big enough for a fex?
• The final objective has a similar problem the tyranids are nearly all too big to fit the doorway.
• Marines can also break the final objective, it should really be an ex_breakable_objective or use a team filter on the damage.

PS
Typheron wants to know when you're adding the Eldar

The version which you get from me is for the beta6.0. Therefore the new ex entity arent in it. But I will change this, when I compile the next version for the newest alpha.
Maybe it isnt very obviously, but if you look at the walls of the arbites security station you can see some places with a plaster texture on it (decal). All this walls are destroyable. The bigger Tyranids can reach the last mission objective from the side through the wall. Except the Carnifex.

Thx for the feedback.

At PS. The Eldar? In the original version of city_conflict the Space Marines was fighting against the Iron Warriors.  ;)

Edit:

The new entitys are added, but I dont understand how I can tell the ex_breakable_objective or a normal func_breakable to get damage only from one team. I tried it with both filter entitys, but I didnt found the right setting to make this work.

And an other thing. I noticed that the Carnifex isnt able to activate the ex_capture_objectives. The same thing happens on other maps, which I played.

Ah, the breakable walls weren't obvious, we thought you were just being artistic.

ex_breakable objective should be invulnerable to the team that it belongs to and un-breakable until the previous objective in the sequence is captured by the attacking team.

Thanks for the reminder about the carnifex capping troubles, I had forgotten about that...
/me adds carnifex capping to the the list for 6.12

Here is the city_conflict version for the latest alpha.

Edit:

Link deleted. This version is already in the Beta 6.20

Just been testing this as part of alpha 6.12.  To clarify each objective needs to have it's own set of dropzones, one dropzone per player per objective.  If it's a 16 player map (8 VS 8) you need 8 dropzones for each objective.

If the marines cannot re-cap the arbites station objective it's safe to put them in the same places as the tyranid start objective (thunderhawk does this already).  I would suggest putting another set of dropzones around the shield generator objective, so whoever owns it can spawn there.

What entity type was used for those lamp posts by the way?

Dropzone are added and I change the spawn system a little bit. If somebody is capturing the generator then his race will spawn there (like you suggested ChromeAngel). Therefore I set the recapture time for the Space Marines a little bit higher.
When the generator is turned off, the Tyranids spawn again in the area with the ruins, but now in a forward position. To get sure that the Tyranids or the Space Marines doesnt spawn at the generator position again, the generator objective gets destroyed. Well dont wonder why the generator objective dont show up anymore after the deactivation of the energy shield.
The download link above implement the newest version already.

The lamps were prop_dynamic. I change them to prop_static.

Here is an overview picture made in the hammer editor.
(http://i6.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/de35420201956.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/1k6v5n/20201956)
And the other which I made ingame again.

(http://i5.instantgallery.de/g/gu/guest0001/i160/60d8120134535.jpg) (http://www.instantgallery.de/i/x5ej3j/20134535)

Please change the map name to ex_city_conflict. I gave the map a version number because I thought the map starts as a costum map. But now where it gets official it doesnt need this. Thanks. :)

Thanks for those DarkMarine.  The In hammer shot seems to have a broken link.   Please could you get me a wireframe top-down view to match the exiting map overviews.

I updated the picture. The link should work now.

i must say , this is really good work

Thanks Ngss. I like the style of hive city too. Its remember me on WH40k Space Marine or Firewarrior.

The work on city_conflict is still going on. I have some changes in my mind where Iam working on it.

I think I will increase the time until the Space Marine wins from 15 min to 20 min to give the Tyranids more time to get the last objective.

The Area with the generator gets a new way for the Tyranids. From there they have a better fire position which shall help them to capture the generator more easier.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 14.jpg)

But the Space Marines have a new fire position too.


(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 15.jpg)

I came a good step forward and compiled a new version of city conflict with the working title ex_city_conflict_v2. Now the three doors which are controlled by the "door control system" have a red light above so new players ,who dont know the map, can see that this doors are not passable atm.
(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 16.jpg)
I also wanted add a green light, when the doors are open, but this hadnt work because the source engine get realy fast trouble, when to many dynamics lights are on the same place. But that is a mapping thing and I dont want bore you with it.


The building where the space marines get a new fire position is just walked on them. This should prevent that the tyranids cant go in there and camp this position. Ok this can still happen if a space marine open the door and a tyranid rushs in, but this is bad luck. ;)

The map also include a "new" background sound.

Atm I dont post a link to this new version. It will be surely in the next alpha.

Yeah the limit on the number of lighting styles is the reason why I ended up using env_sprites for door lights on Thunderhawk.

I found this VIS bug near the Tyranid start (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21236891/ex_city_conflict_v20002.jpg)

There has also been a report from players who say they have managed to get on top of the bridge in that area and that it has no top,  Better make sure that's clipped off.

Finally can you make sure that all the objectives have name tokens, the Tactical Overview does not handle un-named objectives very well.

Strange. I have this VIS bug too. Dont know what is causing this problem. I try to find it out and naturally I will fix the other things which you have mentioned. Atm I have not much time. Hopefully I can do this in the next days.

Its me again. Current I havent solved the VIS bug, but I added a new way for the Tyranids. I saw some people on the server asking, why the maps have no ways which are reachable for the stealer only. That in mind I made a small way at the generator position for him.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 17.jpg)

With this way the stealer have the chance to surprise the Space Marines from the side.  :)

Apart from that Iam rebuilding the 3D skybox a little bit. The optical map design isnt my strengh and I need a little bit time to find the right inspiration or idea how it could look like or what I could change.

This post is to show you that I still work on the map, inasmuch as my last post almost is back one month.

Version 3 is compiled and hopefuly in the next alpha.

Now I replaced the HL2 generators by the new plasma generators, which are made by Coldheiser. Thanks for these.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 18.jpg)

Here is a picture of a part of the new 3D skybox

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 19.jpg)

The work will going on and I will try to add more details in the future to make the overall picture of the map better.

i suggest putting more huge buildings around the player accessible area, im starting to get the feeling that im  really in a small imperial city. add more huge buildings to give it a porperly imperial/epic look. since i have finished with modelling the priority stuff for chrome, i could make some nice props like quad antiair autocanons, icarus lascanons, imperial guard generators, leman russes, turrets... whatever makes the battlefield look like a battlefield.

Iam happy that you like the 3d skybox. Normaly the proportion of the 3D skybox to the current level is 16:1. Therefore the models for a 3D skybox like the buildings from HL² or the cathedral from Exterminatus are very small and I cant use these for my 3D skybox.
For me was important to use a normal world model for the 3D skybox, like the imperial eagle icon, which looks huge on a skybox building. An other thing is the highway. I couldnt use the normal HL² highway, because I couldnt reduced the model for the skybox. So I had to build my own highway with brushes. My skybox has a proportion of 2:1.
I try to make more huge buildings if I can. But the next step is to rebuild the sea side a little bit. The thing is that I reached the maximum of allowed brushes on a map. Iam at 93%. The reason for this is the lot number of ruins and of course the low using of models for the 3D skybox. Therefore I have not much space to add to much.

Now we come to speak of the models. I tried to use so much models of Exterminatus I could and when new models come in, then I will pounce on it like a bum on his alcohol.  ;)

Now I've turned to the sea side and that is the result.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 20.jpg)

The proportion of the buildings is now a little bit more realistic and fills almost the entire horizon of.

needs more imperial statues or eagles or arcs or whatever it takes to make it look more imperial, but you get my idea of the map, looks so much better

how about adding fume effects for the chimneys and tracer fire towards the sky? i somewhen had the idea to make something like spores falling from the sky in the distance with flakfire trying to intercept that... dunno if thats possible, the spores would be 2 d images , and being away so far that wouldnt be a problem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-jkuemhP3o&list=PL1E042178C0497364&feature=plcp

this guy seems to know everything about source mapping, he even got custom textures everything free to download.

hes an amazing mapper.

i also found some dude whos an ace with particle coding, he made a flamer effect so realistic it compares to nothing ive ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G21RLNfe9Lk&feature=BFa&list=UUQj6kd5g8Jjg0daavZDkl5Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M4c8028hsc&feature=BFa&list=UUQj6kd5g8Jjg0daavZDkl5Q

i will learn how to do these things at some point, but models are priority right now.

Thanks for the links, Stahlhagel. Iam very inexperienced with special entitys like fire or flakfire, which ones you can see on the map lycantium. But I will see what I can do. A smoke trail effect out of the smokestacks is already in the map.

the place where you have to defent the generators under the landing pad need a lot more cover, the nids get slaughtered in the open once the marines have dug in on the platform

I placed on the important spots all the tanks to give the Tyranids cover.  But you are right. At the generator they have to less of them and I have to think to give them more without spaming more tanks.  :P

An other thing. Few days ago I found one old picture of city conflict, which I posted here in the forum as I started the map back in 2005. I was surprised to find this on the internet.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 21.jpg)

You see that some of the ruins have made it in.

To make the balacning in favor of the Tyranids I added more cover for them.

Before ....
(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 23.jpg)

...and after.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 22.jpg)

The work on version 3 dont come to an end and therefore here are some new things.

At first I added the new force field pylons made by Stahlhagel!?
(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 27.jpg)

We have a new way for the stealer. Now he can go into the sewer to reach a new entrance into the ventilation shaft.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 24.jpg)
(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 25.jpg)
Also he got a new exit out of the ventilation shaft.
(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 26.jpg)

I hope with these innovations the people will take the stealer class more often on this map.

The Tyranids got some benefits so I thought the Space Marines need some too.
If the Tyranids are holding the generator, they tend to rush the Space Marine spawn zone. To protect them for this "cowardly attack"  ;) I added two power fields which are only opening for the marine team. At the same time I block this way for the Tyranids, if the Space Marine are holding the generator. The stealer is the only one who can come from this side.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 28.jpg)

The Space Marines have a hard stand when they have to defend the Arbites security station at the second time, because now the Tyranids are spawning nearer to the tower. Therefore the top of the tower is now passable, when the power field is down. From there they have a good view of the incoming hordes. The veterans under you recall that this was possible on the old Rival Species 1 version too.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 29.jpg) 

Nice idea shielding the marine spawn and I look forward to defending from the top of the tower once more.

Please can you use a different texture on the front of the steps on the tower roof, that non-slip texture is fine for floors, but makes no sense for uprights.  Can we also have frame around the roof entrance/exit,

cheers.

in my opinion , there could be more objectives to do , you know , some other sides of city , maybe

Nqss wrote:

The thing is that I reached nearly the maximum of allowed brushes. I cant add to much anymore. Iam happy if its enough for some new ways or for new buildings for the 3D skybox before I reach the maximum.
But this map shall be a remake of the old one only, not a complete different map. Iam happy of the status of the current version.

@ChromeAngel: I updated my webspace.

Chrome Angel changed some entitys, therefore some objectives dont work correctly with the newest alpha.
From there I have to make version 4 of my map.

But this time are just some small changes in it. I added some sounds for the forcefield and the generator. I also redesigned the Chimera hall a little bit.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 30.jpg)

This is all at the moment. Maybe I have some more ideas in the future.

That lighting is much more atmospheric.  I still feel that door and window frames would improve the realism of the room too.

I am not too fond of the hazard stripe bays, they seem really jarring.  I do not have a nygood suggestion to fix it though :/

It just occurred to me that the windows should be red from the light outside, like the daylight we can see out the open door.  What texture are those windows using?  It should be easy enough for me to make  a tinted version.

I updated the picture above. Now the windows and the gate have frames and I replaced the black yellow stripes with white ones.

For the windows I took the glass/glasswindow005b texture.

Oh yeah  ;D that looks much better

too bad you cant make the doors arched imperial style :v the room seems a bit empty. damn we need a shitton  of props to make the maps look more convincing :I

Here is a new picture.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 31.jpg)

Maybe some of you noticed that the gouvernment buildings is passable now. I made it just for fun. The classes which could reach this position cant realy do anything on this one.  :D
In the background you can see a new building in the 3D skybox. Atm I do just some polishing work and change some textures or make some lights darker.

i wouldnt waste your polies on a roof that has no use, you cant even jump on the platform or use it to a tactical advantage... maybe there are better ways to make the map more useful. btw jumping units can still spawn kill marines even behind the shields.

The roof hadnt cost to much brushes and I like the overview look which you have from there.  :)
Iam at 97% of max allowed brushes and I think there is nothing huge one which can be add into the map what I could do with the less 3%. But I think the current state of the map is okay (from the balancing point of view).

Yes the spawn protection is now with the jumping Lictor not this effective like it should be. But the most important thing to hold the Fexes out there is still working. It wasnt my intention to make the Space Marine spawn totally unattackable and on the most other maps you spawn right next to an enemy.

Had it been my map you would not be able to cross many of those roofs, as I would have used sky to block off the 3 big parts of the map for VIS optimisation.  However that would have been premature, as this map runs great without it  ::)

i actually hate those limitations of the sky, it makes the vore useless whereas it should actually been a very good class on such an open map.

I know that my mapping is unconventionally like normal source maps and it isnt very performance friendly.
On my 5 years old PC which I was palying with until a few month ago, before I bought my current PC, had some loss of fps in some areas of my map. But it was playable.

The source engine is limited like the hl1 engine to make huge areas visible and I not wanted accept this. ;)


 

Just got trapped as a Carnifex in the arch area. Why is that even a spawn area?

(https://wjquag.blu.livefilestore.com/y1p8hkWFkwLv1ZbWKEKYk-K6WXQ0ZnDhUq3mUZDdHNOKqUtX-YNDCS1MADPFy4rAZr0Sibl7u8FOjKfJvIyVnsa0jg1TnaSXAac/ex_city_conflict_v40000.jpg)

You couldnt trapped in this area. You can destroy some of the arches.  ;)
One on the side to the repair garage and one on the side to the middle ruin.

Would have helped if there was a way to tell it was destructible because I couldn't back up my team after that. The damage pillars aren't a good enough indication.

Here is some new stuff.

I replaced some HL² lamps with the new ones from Stahlhagel and also added the Tyranid droppod particles effects from vman into the skybox and give the Space Marines some ammo shrines (one at the Arbites station and one at the generators).  City_conflict has now a fourth objective. After they absorbed the biological material, the Tyranids have to escape into the sewers. The last objective open a door and leads to victory.

(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 35.jpg)
On the ground you can see the two entrances into the sewers which open, when the biological material got absorbed.
(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 32.jpg)
(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 33.jpg)
(http://home.arcor.de/darkmarine1/ex_city_conflict 34.jpg)
On the other pictures you can see the new wall lamps and the sewers.

Well done DM.  This looks really atmospheric.  I can't wait to give it a try.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=128689217

Space Marines can get inside the vents by ducking, which shouldn't be possible. Don't know if you fixed this in post 7.25 versions.

I don't regard that as a bug, if the marines are stuck in there they aren't defending the generators.

It wasnt never planed to forbid the Space Marines to enter the vents. Like Chrome said, if they do that, then they be missing at the defending of the generators.

Otherwise the only way I could lock the vents for the Space Marines would be doors which are open just for the Tyranids and that wouldnt be realistic.