Here is my comprehensive list of bugs/suggestions/improvements. Unfortunately, it will get buried in this thread due to feedback from multiple testers. If you need a copy as a checklist, you can PM me your email and I’ll send you the Word document. [COLOR=‘Red’]Red=critical stuff,[COLOR=‘Yellow’] Yellow=important stuff, [COLOR=‘Lime’]Green=health/ammo placement
General impressions
After a complete playthrough of ST w/your sections, I can say that the quality of your work is on par w/BMS as a whole. While your sections stand out for their quality and contribution to storytelling, they do not stand out negatively in any way. There are no issues w/pacing or excessive loading screens when compared to the rest of ST and the music track for the tank battle in C2A5H is all you need.
It goes w/o saying that you’ve done great work here so I’m just going to provide you with my list of suggestions and keep things as streamlined as possible. Some of these are major issues and some are not, but everything is organized by order of playthrough for easy tracking. Past suggestions that I’ve made for you will be kept concise.
General
[COLOR=‘Red’]Is it possible to make C2A5G and C2A5H “less shitty” (quoting you) in the map editor w/o significantly revising it? When you brought this up, it raised a red flag in my head w/regards to integration w/BMS. While the quality of your work as observed by the player is as good if not better than the devs, the mapping apparently is not. Since all of the maps in BMS are very well constructed, yours would potentially stand out as the weakest link as it’s not up to their professional standards. If your maps were brought up to par, the chance of getting them officially integrated into the mod would be higher.
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Ammo and health placement: I’m going to keep the explanations minimal and just make the suggestions below. I think my placements are very logical but if you don’t want to use them, use these two simple rules instead: 1) No batteries near HECU gear…place them elsewhere. Marines only use health packs (at least until OpFor). 2) Explosives and energy weapon ammo should be reserved till AFTER the tank battle in C2A5H to minimize script breaking but the current placement of tripmines and grenades are acceptable.
C2A5G
.50 cal vort shootout
Add xenofauna by the silo door (just the moss).
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Add 2 medpacks by the dead marines in the .50 cal vort shootout (they are there in full ST playthrough but apparently absent when using console).
Get rid of the vort that spawns behind the player after the shootout. Players will have 0 battery by this time and have already take enough damage from the vorts because they don’t miss. The last thing they need is a cheap shot before going into the garage.
[COLOR=‘Lime’]There are 2 crates in the room leading up to the old garg chase. Add a battery inside each crate.
Garage
In general, needs a few more signs to enhance its detail. Put “Exit” signs over the spiral driveways. Add things like “Stairwell,” “Lot A,” “Floor 1-3” etc.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]The color of the pavement in the spiral driveway is noticeably different from the pavement in the garage. Ideally, they should match.
Don’t park the hummer in the handicap zone of the 1st floor.
Crack open the ceiling a bit above the 1st jump pad. It makes the destruction pattern on the second floor make more sense and prevents the player from feeling like their head will be crushed when using the pad.
[COLOR=‘red’]From the second floor, you can see the building housing the vent scene. You MUST add INDESTRUCTIBLE windows to the top of the building as there is currently nothing there. As it stands now, you can kill every single marine inside w/ the hornet gun and grenades. If you do this and you get to the vent drop sequence, the “marines” shoot holes in the vent and when you drop down, there’s nothing there, which looks really stupid.
Similarly, you can kill all of the marines outside the garage by shooting hornets from the second floor which will leave you w/a shitload of aliens to deal with later. To prevent these problems, have a script triggering the marines to come out of the silo door (vent side) once the player gets to the 3rd floor or approaches the exit/AC units.
Marines vs aliens
Add some blue crates below the AC unit (near the debris) such that the player doesn’t have to take fall damage. Alternatively you can move the blue crates near the snark vent to this location.
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Add a medkit near or on top of a blue crate.
The silo door on the alien side (opposite the vent) is “leaky.” By standing at either corner, you can see a sliver of the background landscape at the edge of the door.
The silo door on the alien side has a keypad w/a blue screen. If BMS has a pad w/a red screen, use this instead to indicate that the player can’t go here.
Vent drop/car shop
[COLOR=‘red’]The vent layout here is exactly the same as the layout during the garg scene. I suggest you change it in this location and make it less convoluted.
There is one white light inside the vent that is trapped in a sea of red lights. This should be changed to red to maintain consistency w/all vents in BMS.
If possible, make it so that player can see through the bullet holes but keep the lighting effects.
The piece of the vent that the player stands on is perfectly square after the rest of the pieces fall off. It might look more realistic if it had a more jagged appearance.
[COLOR=‘red’]This scene is meant to showcase the effectiveness of snarks but unfortunately they don’t do shit because the marines are aimbots. I suggest you delete 1 marine. Of the 3 remaining marines, make one visible when the player is in the vent. Place the other 2 marines close to the vent such that the snarks don’t have to close in as much to get into melee range.
The car shop could benefit from some HDR effects. Perhaps have some rays of light come from the rooftop windows.
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Health dispenser should dispense 75 health if it doesn’t already. Consider adding a battery charger as well to address the TOW courtyard (see below).
[COLOR=‘yellow’]Add broken window fragments to the exit window after the bomb detonates. It might also be nice to have the rooftop windows shatter after detonation as well.
The lift that you use to get window access has two extensions that seemingly disappear into the ground. You should make depressed areas on the ground to accommodate these extensions or delete them entirely.
TOW courtyard
[COLOR=‘yellow’]There are still some problems here with the layout which will require revision. Again, the best design is to have a single road with a T-JUNCTION extending from said road as opposed to two roads juxtaposed from the start. This is consistent with the road design in the rest of ST and will probably look better too. If you keep your current layout, delete the parking bumper where the old lamppost used to be and replace them w/a pair of highway bumpers (you used 3 of them in the garg scene). They might look better.
The A/C unit is illogically placed as it’s “protecting” the main entrance. Perhaps change it to something else or move it closer toward the petrol station to free up space.
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Add a second medkit by the TOW.
While the grunt battle is hard, it’s not imbalanced. You can take them out reasonably well w/RPGs and satchel or w/tau if you use cover and have high health. It’s really the TOW launcher that’s shit because of the slow manual reload. I suggest that you don’t cut down on the number of grunts…it’s pretty impressive to see 4 of them fanning out in formation and you don’t get this effect w/3. Here’s some possible solutions: 1) put some of the TOW missiles closer to the launcher 2) add some cover on the left side of the sandbags…[COLOR=‘lime’]a couple of destructible crates w/one of them containing a medpack would work 3) add a battery charger in the carshop.
Consider adding a few alien grunt noises when players approach the silo opposite the TOW launcher. This will hopefully encourage them to use the trip mines.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]From the TOW courtyard to the end of C2A5G, there are plants coming out of some parts of the pavement. You have to look carefully but make sure to delete these. This problem is not found in C2A5H or C2A5I, just this map.
Delete the cactus in the little garden. It looks unnatural near the tree and the other plants.
Delete the metal railings on top of the hangar entrances. Functionally, they serve no purpose and are inconsistent w/the design in the rest of ST.
[COLOR=‘yellow’]Harrier takeoff needs some optimization. The plane needs to be horizontal until it nears the end of the take off. Add some jet sound effects and an exhaust trail and it should be perfect.
Background textures are too orange and stand out. They need to be more detailed.
Consider darkening up the air traffic control tower a little. It’s connected to the bunker emplacement so it should be made of the same materials. Plus deserts are windy and the dust will grime things up.
Road leading to Osprey
The third cactus you encounter is adjacent to a lamppost which is unrealistic. Move it a little further away. There is also a rock near this cactus w/a plant coming out. The plant should be deleted, as plants don’t grow on rocks.
[COLOR=‘yellow’]The M35 in the road is empty. Add some green boxes inside it as well as some undeployed sentry turrets. Make one of the turrets pick-up-able so that the astute player can use it against the aliens in the LAV courtyard (the player could really use an advantage here).
Delete the rock textures in the middle of the road.
Osprey/LAV courtyard
[COLOR=‘Red’]This is the only section in C2A5G where I experienced a framerate drop.
Unlike some of the other posters, I’m really glad that you made this battle blatantly favor the aliens. By making it so obvious, it forces the player to intervene and become a participant rather than an observer. Keep it this way. Note that the player can choose to tip the balance to the HECU’s favor simply by killing the alien grunts.
The white desk underneath the army tent looks really out of place. Either delete it and put the map on one of the green crates or add some chairs.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]The harrier and first manta need to be higher during the script. It looks like the manta’s wings almost hit the far wall as it continues to pursue. The first manta also needs a speed boost to more closely match the harrier.
Impressive work w/the helipad…I’m really glad you added the marines flying off the pad and the cracked pavement effect from the manta. Make sure to delete the highest green crate on the pad as it’s obstructing the player’s view of the defending marines as well as the Osprey (the elevation makes it difficult to see as it is).
[COLOR=‘Red’]Destroyed Osprey debris causes damage to the player. This needs to be fixed.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]Merge the main road w/the pavement around the hangar. As it stands, this area is a little too grid-like and the dirt gaps between the pavement sections are unrealistic (all of the gaps should be removed). Completely cover the section underneath the hanger with pavement, as it looks a little sloppy currently (w/plants coming out too). Alternatively, you can get rid of the non-road pavement surrounding the hangar altogether and it should look fine.
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Add a battery or a medkit inside one of the destructible crates below the helipad.
C2A5H
Opening section
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]Have the vortigaunt face the health charger and use the heal player effect in HL2 to create the sense that it’s using the charger. [COLOR=‘lime’]Decrease the amount of health dispensed by the charger to 30-45.
[COLOR=‘lime’]You can compensate for the health dispenser by making the door of the dead Barney room accessible and adding a medkit in there or alternatively, place a medkit in the alien grunt room.
The alien grunt that flings the marine has some texture issues when it uses its melee attacks on the player (hornet arm clips through unbroken wall).
[COLOR=‘yellow’]The explosion that opens the player up to the tank battle seems to have no cause. Add a dead alien grunt near the street debris to show why the section was targeted for destruction. You can add a harrier sound effect and missile effect just before the explosion to suggest that it caused it or you can position the tank within line of sight of the player (as opposed to driving out) to suggest that it was responsible for the damage.
Tank battle
The road that the tank emerges from has a silo door and the player can walk up the sides of this door. This should be prevented, as players cannot do this on the same doors in the TOW courtyard. Also, delete the metal railing on the top of the silo.
The swath of destruction cut by the manta beam looks a little unusual. It appearance will be improved if you make the swath narrower and blacken the area inside and surrounding the swath to create a charred effect. You can also do this on the helipad in C2A5G.
The building containing the Xenian bathroom could do w/a few more battle scars externally. Just make sure not to put the blast marks over the windows (as they would realistically shatter).
[COLOR=‘yellow’]The outside door of the hut leading to C2A5I should be locked like the inside. This makes the most sense as why would one door be locked and not the other? [COLOR=‘Lime’]Since the grenades inside are useful, simply place them by the .50 cal instead.
Put the dead Barney inside the hut on the floor rather than on the desk…he looks like a gravitationally unfeasible mannequin currently. A model w/a bulletproof vest might be more realistic.
[COLOR=‘yellow’]Currently the .50 cal is useless as there is no third alien wave that spawns when the player reaches it. You also can’t add this feature now because of the 2 marines on the high ground shooting at you (it’s too distracting). Instead of deleting the .50 cal, I recommend that you have an alien wave spawn when the player gets near the gun AFTER he rescues the Barney. This is a nice variation on a theme, as the player is trained to know that turrets equals instant spawns based on previously sections of the game. However, the late appearance of the spawns here would serve as a nice surprise.
If possible, move the jump pad ever so slightly more to the blue pipe. It’s surprisingly hard to get on that pipe and rather easy to take fall damage. For some reason, the pipe also occasionally pushes the player back, which can be disastrous. Fix this if you can.
Bathroom and rooftop
The snarks in the Xenian bathroom can be a little annoying but keep them if you like. Note that not all snark pickups have to spawn aggressive units (as evidenced by one of the hidden pickups in FaF).
[COLOR=‘Lime’]On the rooftop, add a dead marine with an RPG launcher and 2 missiles as a way to address the sniper.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]The maintenance access hatch sign needs to be changed as it looks like something you stick in the mud rather than on a building. Remove the sign and add the words “Maintenance Access” on the hatch itself.
The broken ladder after the fall can make it difficult for players to get out of the water. When I suggested this mechanic, I wanted you to use the handlebar ladder that you see once in Office Complex and more frequently in Blast Pit, as this looks really old and fits w/the feel of this area. Also, consider having the ladder be broken PREVIOUSLY and not because you fell.
Satpipe and furnace
[COLOR=‘yellow’]Have the satchel detonate about 0.5-1 sec later. Currently, the marine door is not closed fully before it detonates and it’s kind of hard to get out of the tunnel and survive the blast.
The tunnel to the left of the pipe has an odd, crescent contour when viewed from the side and when approaching it. It should be more circular.
After seeing the furnace firsthand, I still think the walkway is funny because the furnace is EMBEDDED in it. Consider fixing it as previously discussed.
[COLOR=‘Red’]If possible, make it so the red valve CANNOT be placed inside any section of the furnace. If the player drops it in too deep, they’re screwed.
When placing an explosive barrel in the furnace, the detonation should hurt the player.
On the two “Danger” signs in the furnace room, the word “maintenance” is misspelled.
The way the blue pipe looks now, it seems like it’s extending into the roof as well as connecting to the horizontal section of the pipe on the upper floor. If possible, get rid of the “extending into the roof” appearance.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]Delete the upside-down “high pressure steam” sign and change “high pressure steam” to something else as it doesn’t make sense to feed steam directly into a fire. Perhaps “gas line” would work better.
[COLOR=‘yellow’]For the furnace puzzle proper, I recommend the following: redesign the pipes such that the horizontal section of the blue pipe is swapped w/the yellow pipe. Then put the valve holder on the TOP floor and the valve on the BOTTOM floor. This makes sense as the valve fell due to gravity and gameplay wise would make players hunt for it…currently this “puzzle” seems a little too obvious as the valve is right next to the blue pipe.
[COLOR=‘Red’]The destroyed section of the pipe that the player exits from to get to the gasworks currently has a black/purple grid over it.
Gasworks to end
[COLOR=‘red’]This is the only place in C2A5H where I experienced a framerate drop.
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Add a pair of MP5 grenades to the stack of dead HECU.
[COLOR=‘Red’]The areas above the blue doors on both levels have the black/purple texture.
[COLOR=‘red’]The black pipe that you first need to jump onto in order to do the steam puzzle MUST be expanded such that the player can walk onto it. I literally fell 10 times and died from fall damage because it is TOO NARROW. Widening it will also fix the unrealistic-looking (clipped) segment that’s incorporated into the wall.
The locked blue door on the second floor should be unlockable from the inside once players get in. This is consistent w/the rest of BMS.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]The tripmine layout is a little lame currently, as players can hug the opposite side and detonate the first 2 mines w/o taking any damage. For the first mine, place it so that the beam hits the desk. Reposition the second mine and add a third mine between the first two, having it face opposite these mines.
[COLOR=‘Red’]Killing Barney before he unlocks the door MUST trigger a failure notice, e.g. “Assignment terminated. Subject demonstrated extremely poor judgment.” Use the exact same notice that happens when you kill the armory Barney (just prior to your sections) before he lets you in.
Barney has some clipping issues during his speech and when pushing the control pad.
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Add a crate of uranium in the Barney room.
Once Barney opens the doors, keep the white silo door OPEN. If you don’t do this, Barney will get stuck and there’s no way to retrieve him. He’s quite helpful.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]While the script of the Apache crashing into the building looks nice, having two downed Apaches so near each other (one on the roof of the gasworks) strains credibility and creates what I call “chopper eye strain.” If you want to keep this script, perhaps have the gasworks Apache crash into the building once the player kills the aliens and have the debris fall from the roof. Otherwise, a much better idea would be to see 3 Ospreys in the distance flying away (toward the player’s left) once Barney opens the silo door. This greatly reinforces the FUBAR/evacuation concept introduced in C2A5I and FaF.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]Add an alien spawn as players approach the .50 cal (see above). [COLOR=‘Lime’]If you implement this, add a medkit by the dead Barney in the hut.
C2A5I
Garg chase
[COLOR=‘Lime’]Move the 2 batteries from the black suspended beam to the side of the walkway opposite the pipe (a more realistic placement).
Remove the walkway handrail overlying the pipe to get rid of the clipping issue.
Fix the clipping issue at the intersection of the beam and the pipe.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]Move the snark attack further back into the pipes. Currently, the player has no way to prepare for it, as the placement is too close to the entrance.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]During the garg intro, ideally it would be possible to run into the tunnel he came from. An invisible wall strains belief. You could have the tunnel terminate w/a silo door, thus ensuring the players death. The garg’s entrance site could be evidenced by a large hole in the wall that’s inaccessible to the player because of debris.
The garg has clipping issues when he’s trying to pry open the silo door.
[COLOR=‘Red’]The new movement nodes that you’ve implemented are very impressive if you don’t get on the airstrike tower but there are two problems: 1) Sometimes if you stand on the pool walkway near the valves, the garg will run back to the artillery tower and just stand there. 2) Once you get on the airstrike tower, the garg becomes stupid again. If you get off the tower, he will no longer chase you or respond when you attack him. He will still shake the tower though.
You can see the ground through the two pipes closes to the strike tower ladder. This needs to be fixed.
There is plant growing on a rock near the fence. Delete it.
The connection between the pool area and the reservoir should ideally have metal doors, as the whole point of these two areas is to prevent water from flowing into each other if need be.
Improve the effect when an artillery shell hits the water. Currently the single artillery shell generates multiple small splashes in the water or none at all. The impact should look like a diver hitting the water, but greater in magnitude.
[COLOR=‘Yellow’]As mentioned previously, the wall guarding the entrance to FaF should be destructible. If an artillery shell hits the metal gate, make sure it is destroyed such that the garg can access the entrance.
I do think the ability of the garg to run into the tunnel leading to FaF should be fixed. Unfortunately, it will have to be dealt with later, as the garg idles once you get on the tower.
At the very end of the tunnel to FaF, there is a distinctly disjointed appearance of the central white line in the road between the segment before the white stripes and the segment after. This looks incredibly stupid and can easily be fixed by extending the whites stripes to the garage.
