I don’t know if u need to compromise it, maybe u can do those effort to make it, the reward is bigger than u can imagine.
BUT maybe we first need to see it before we can judge about it
Logistically speaking, the runway doesn’t actually need to be next to a hangar and could be deleted. Most aircraft usually get towed by a vehicle to a runway that’s farther away (think airports).
For TEXT, regarding the revisions to the car shop area, you mentioned yesterday that the building behind the former hangers could be anything. I suggest that instead of anything, you make it SOMETHING. The reason is because all of your design choices for C2A5G-H are very logical and have a purpose (e.g. blown up area repurposed as garage, a gasworks-like area change to an actual gasworks), unlike in the original HL, where there were many non-descript areas. Perhaps that building outside the car shop is a shop for armored vehicles, or an armory for such vehicles? If so, design it as such.
I’d also like to see how you treated the road in this area as well. It’d be great if you could post some screens giving us a 360 degree picture of the location, starting near the Agrunt entrance (opposite the TOW).
So far the work has been done on the TOW area and the Helipad area, I haven’t really changed much else. The Skybox is being heavily tweaked too.
Don’t expect much else to majorly change from the commentated video I put up so long ago. The car park will see visual improvements and some new objects here and there. The road from the TOW courtyard leading up to the helipad (the one surrounded by the metal wall) is almost perfect I think and won’t see much change, if any. The road you look down onto from the carpark by the garage (where you see marines fighting grunts) will not see much change either. The inside of the garage won’t be changed much, though I have massively overhauled the destruction of the extension, and it’s looking pretty damn fine.
And…that’s it. Don’t expect more than that, the rest will be under the hood changes, such as visleafing, lightmap optimization, areaportalling, etc.
I’ll do a quick runaround video in a couple of hours once I’ve finished putting the skybox back together - I can’t get lighting to work on the level until the skybox is set up.
I don’t have many more suggestions for improvements but one thing I remember thinking is if part of the metal grate to the helipad should break when the osprey is destroyed…
As it’s raised and accessed by ladder it seems a good opportunity for a jump to get to the door to the next level…
But I have already realised that the debris from the Osprey might screw this up…
I’m serious about those green windows… I think they would look good on an air traffic control tower couple of graphic designs here
seriously think it would create great depth to the vista too…
Last thing that I can think of is before you leave this level behind the girders on the top floor of the car park… Is there any chance to make the struts look more like the original using a truss texture with an alpha in it… I think it would make a slight improvement to the solid beams making them more like girders
A little more like the original but not so fat they are way to big in the original but I like the fact you can see through them in the original
Ospreys can land and take off like a helicoper and like a plane but I think that it is easier for them to land like a helicopter carrying heavier weight than take off… There are weight restrictions on vertical take off when carrying heavy loads this has to be a runway take off but once momentum is achieved i believe that they can hover obviously using momentum but again certain risks of stalling but very nimble when only carrying troops no jeeps slung underneath or heavy cargo in the bay
I was lucky enough to go on board an Osprey and talk with a pilot so I quized him about a few things. but did not fly in one but saw it fly
Good deal, looking forward to seeing you new video…the main reason why I was concerned with the road was because the section near the carpark looked nothing like the rest of the roads in ST (especially with that super-narrow opening and ugly split). I think Roster really helped you to fuck up that layout lol. Here’s hoping it looks more like your original version.
Will be curious to see how the new hangar turns out too. As a side note, even though the original version of the main hanger does overlap with C2A5H, from the player’s perspective, it’s pretty irrelevant and hard to pick up as there’s a giant wall on the player’s left hand side (during the tank battle) that completely obscures it.
lol what it’s not my fault
Gosh Ronster, you’ve ruined everything. My maps are going to fail and the blame is on your shoulders. Live with the guilt.
Jokes aside, the 3d skybox is looking lovely. Far lovelier than I’d hoped. Will fire up a video in a couple hours (remember, with me a couple hours could mean any time from now till tomorrow evening) showcasing how it looks now. I think you’ll all like it. It’s just a shame that because of all the structures I’ve put around, it might be difficult to see the 3d sky.
I think I’m still going to keep the two roads merging into one for the TOW scene, because I’ve now designed an entire layout around it, as there are now side sections which you can access. I can make it more aesthetically pleasing later on using curves, but that’s going to be one heckuva chore so for now it’s staying as it is.
Curved roads seem to use a number of vertices I think you can probably achieve it in 3 vertices and replicate it the other side. the key to this will be a plain tarmac texture on the road
If the 3d skybox looks good then I hope we can see it!
are you using any blend textures like sand and tarmac?
I just ran around the lit version of my level for the first time since I started work on it yesterday. Just trying to get everyone a bit hyped, but the level really is looking fantastic right now. I was kinda blown away by how good it looked myself. It is a significant step above what you last saw. Will put the finishing licks of paint on (hoping to start working on C2A5H after my busy day tomorrow), and then post a short video for you guys.
The fog in the 3d skybox is still giving me problems though, which is rather annoying. I’ve been messing around with sky_camera settings, with difficulty, and it’s not looking too promising. I’ll see what I can do.
In terms of C2A5H, the largest amount of raw work is in my furnace reworking. Everything else is largely feature complete. I will also rework the first area with the alien grunt throwing the marine through the wall (will rework the introduction to the large battle). I think it should take about the same time as C2A5G has - two days.
Some suggestions for C2A5H
Since we’ve already discussed some of the major changes, like the furnace puzzle and bathroom reworking, I’ll post some minor to-do’s for your checklist.
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The light coming from the ceiling and the particle effects just before the marine-tossing scene look really off…it’s almost like particles being illuminated in water rather than particles in air. Ideally, the light should have a yellowish-orange tint to reflect the sunlight that you see during the tank battle. The particles might look better if they were grey rather than white.
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As a previous poster had mentioned, it would be nice to have the marine come out of the wall head first vs leg first. It’s just a little more realistic.
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Take out a couple of dead HECU in the room with the Agrunt because it doesn’t seem like one Agrunt could take out a total of 4-5 marines. Alternatively, you could add an Agrunt corpse in the room, but that would make things too cluttered.
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During the tank battle, make sure the marines surrounding it don’t die when it fires. It’s hilarious, but not cool.
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The tank battle area is supposed to be a warzone and as such, the buildings on the right hand side should better reflect that (e.g. broken windows, bullet holes, explosions, etc.). They currently look a little too clean. It’ll probably be nicer once you tear out the bathroom too, which will also give players a visual cue on where to go.
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Some xenoflora by the corner jump pad and bathroom pad should be enough. The rest of the pads in your maps don’t need it. If you put xenoflora by every pad, you’d be making an association that isn’t really there (and may not be in Interloper), since the pads are fundamentally different from the plants.
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While you’re trying to simulate a warzone in your maps, be careful with placing too many dead marines in them. Try to simulate the marine population density in previous sections of ST. Otherwise you run the risk of making your sections stand out too much.
P.S. Make sure that road’s fixed before you release the video. I’m gonna scream if it’s the only thing wrong with the map!
Ah fuck it, I didn’t want to spoil it for myself, but if you still need alpha testers count me in if you want to. The anticipation is killing me. lol
Done and done. Don’t worry, my idea of “alpha,” I’m pretty sure is vastly different to the norm. I think most would consider what I’m about to release as a late beta!
I think this completes my list of alpha testers. I’ll post the list a bit later, along with my video.
Duly noted, though I make no promises for the road.
Fixed the fog problem. Looks good. Should be set to start recording the video soon. An hour should be the longest you have to wait to see it.
^ sounds pretty close to the process I do things when developing anything. lol
Out of curiosity, are the maps already going to be linked to the rest of the Black Mesa campaign for the “alpha”?
No, but they will be linked to each other. Think of it as a 3 map mini-campaign.
In order to link my maps to the rest of the game, you have to replace Black Mesa’s C2A5G with mine, same filename and all. The landmark and trigger_transition on my C2A5G also has to be properly set up for it. I’m not comfortable with getting people to do that just yet. Beta release maybe. For now, no.
So in fact it’s a mini mod, so seperate startup?
For the purposes of testing, during the alpha test, yes. But it’s really not a chore.
Launch Black Mesa. Open console. Type “map bm_c2a5g_uncut”. Done. Play through till the end of C2A5I.
When the Beta/Final Release rolls around, I will tie the maps to the rest of the game, but as an optional package. There will be two downloads, so people can use what they want. Separate, and integrated.
Separate = it’s not part of the main game, and doesn’t replace anything. Type “map bm_c2a5g_uncut” to playthrough.
Integrated = Part of the main game. Seamlessly integrated.
Hope this clears things up.
100%
Already uploading? Just wanna know if I have anything to look forward to.
Rendering is about to finish, then the upload will begin. So yeah. Should have no problems either, it’s 2am here, nobody in my house is using the internet except me.
Can’t wait!