Updates will be limited to none for the next two weeks. I’ve got my show performances and tech rehearsals all this week, then I’m off to Sydney for a holiday the next week.
I’ve also started a map project of my own, not related to pre disaster. See you all on the side - I’m sure Admiral will keep you updated with his map.
UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES: PRE DISASTER [PART 1] OUT NOW!
steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=670499434
So, although I’ve had this sitting around being sort-of-finished for a while now, I’ve finally decided to finish it off and release it on the workshop! (Keep in mind this certainly was not months of work, it’s just that I get terribly distracted or dis-interested sometimes when I’m working on projects).
Now when I say finished, I don’t mean it’s the final version of course. There’s already a few bugfixes I need to do, like a floating sign and a door that doesn’t auto-close. But the map is in a nice playable state and you can now explore c1a1c (first part of Sector B seen in the campaign) in a pre-resonance-cascade state.
Enjoy!
Literally just saw this; subscribing now!
All right. Here’s my rundown.
I was not able to run the map of the box, and had to unzip the VPK to get it to work. However, in doing so I could not find a single thing wrong with the way you are packing it, so I am at a loss to offer advice on how to fix it.
As for the map itself, overall I’m very impressed with it, which is exactly why I went over it with a fine-toothed comb. I’ve highlighted the clear bugs in red, everything else is just suggestions or how I would have done things:
These whiteboards look very high to me- I think it would be the lesser of two evils to have them lower down, and the right on basically flush with the backsplash on the lab table. There’s also a large battery shadow, which calls attention to the fact that the cabinets don’t have shadows at all.
Tanks and equipment don’t have shadows.
Overall, I think the lighting in here is a bit bright. It looks like you used the corridor lighting from Anomalous Materials A map- I’d suggest using the lab or server room lights instead.
The storage room also looks rather empty- I remember here being more crates in there before. It turns out that those explosive crates actually fit really well on the shelving racks, so I would have put them up there.
Maybe stick a few trashbins or other things in here, possibly a crate or two… currently looks a bit empty for its size. Also, the shelves don’t have shadows.
This is what I’d consider normal light placement for a real room, but being unbound by the physics of how light actually propegates Black Mesa likes to space them out more than that. I’d have just put one in the space between where the two are now.
Wonky lighting and/or cubemaps on the elevator button control.
This tank has cubemaps for a completely different part of the complex. I didn’t know that could even happen.
These lights are working, but still have the “off” skin.
This scientist is currently mute.
The glass in this door, and in the one on other side of the airlock, is invisible from one side.
I would have gotten rid of the super blue-green lighting in here, especially since it doesn’t seem to color the ceiling. If you’d like, I can send you the lighting info for the lights in QEPD, which go well with that same ceiling type.
Not sure quite what’s going on with this room- it’s very empty, we have a potted plant (usually only found in Office Complex) and a pile of papers with no clear source (in fact, didn’t there used to be a filing cabinet in here?).
As I look at this area, I am suddenly struck with the realization that there might once have been a shelf in here, which was taken to build a barricade either in the zombie room downstairs or behind the “hazardous area” door (its hasty removal having resulted in the boxes being spilled onto the floor).
This door opens backwards (or the texture is backwards).
This one doesn’t close. Random healthkit on the ground?
This panel sticks up rather conspicuously from the ground. Might want to move it another unit down.
Not sure how close your map fullness is to maximum, but you may want to move the level transition onto the freight lift itself and include the metal-walled area at the top in C map- I think it just provides a more cohesive thematic transition.
Hey Admiral, thanks for this great rundown! I’m glad you enjoyed the map.
As for the unpacking, I have no idea why this isn’t working… might start a thread about it.
Some of those bugs I noticed literally right after I uploaded it to the workshop, but I’m glad you found a few more!
Will update the map ASAP, hopefully to make it unzip properly too…
EDIT:
.vpk has been (hopefully) fixed, uploaded to workshop.
It seems I had one too many folders inside the .vpk, as it should have been:
pd_c1a1c.vpk
-maps
–pd_c1a1c.bsp
Instead of:
pd_c1a1c.vpk
-pd_c1a1c (folder)
–maps
—pd_c1a1c.bsp
Anyway, it should work now without having to unzip the .vpk
UPDATE: (BIG thanks to Admiral Sakai for pointing out most of these to me)
A number of bug fixes and overall improvements.
ADDITIONS/IMPROVEMENTS:
- Improved lighting in the lab at the start - less bright
- Shadowing has been fixed throughout the map - props that should have shadows now have shadows, and props on top of shelves have shadows removed to not go through the the shelf.
- Slightly bumped the whiteboards at the start down
- Added more props to storage rooms throughout the map, eg. cardboard boxes, bins
- Added a few more cubemaps
- Removed healthkit at end of map
- Turned some shelves around as some were facing the wall
BUGFIXES:
- Fixed some weird reflections
- Fixed lights in a particular room that still had their ‘off’ skin but were still lighting the area
- Fixed a scientist being mute
- Fixed glass on some airlock doors not being visible from one side
- Fixed flipped door texture near end of map
- Fixed the door that wouldn’t close at the end of the map
- Bumped metal hatch/panel at end of the map down to be flush with floor
- Moved ‘Level 4’ security sign at the lobby custom area to be on the wall instead of floating
- Stopped the ladder from falling over in the main cooling room
- Moved speaker decal at the security checkpoint to the middle, in line with the original map.
- Fixed the ‘thank you for noticing our notice’ decal not showing in the airlock after the security checkpoint
Looks great! I’m seeing some errant shadows and many of the scientists seem to be wearing bloody lab coats, but kudos on all the hard work!
Thank you!
As for the bloody lab coats, yes, unfortunately that is a problem with the game itself and not the map (I believe it has something to do with naming of the NPCs, as all NPCs in anom. materials are named and have a set appearance) so in a custom map some appear in their post-disaster state.
And what do you mean by errant shadows?
For example, in this room, there are some binders and a box on some shelving units which do not have shadows themselves, nor does the chair.
And there was one near the beginning where a large bottle of medicine(?) was casting a shadow but the cabinet it was in was not casting one, but I booted up the map just now and it’s gone. Maybe there was an update. Sorry about that.
Ah, I may have missed that storage room with the update. But as for the bottle of medicine, yes that was fixed with an update as with most things.
CURRENTLY WORKING ON NPC QUESTS FOR A FUTURE UPDATE.
Right now I’ve got ‘fetch quests’ working whereby you press E on an NPC, they’ll ask you to get an item for them, and if you bring it back (ie. a folder) the quest is completed.
Obviously these are basic and usually pretty crappy quests, but at least it’s something to start with. Maybe one day there’ll be science experiments to do. It’ll make the map less of a ‘walk around and look’ and more of a fun little thing to play.
SUGGESTIONS HELPFUL AND VERY MUCH NEEDED - WHAT SORT OF MINI-NPC QUESTS WOULD YOU LIKE?
Get a guard some pizza - He can’t leave his shift, but he’s hungry. He’ll give you like five bucks[/size] [/size]
just kidding about the five bucks.[/size][/size]
Sounds great haha! Maybe he’ll owe you a beer 
All right! Time for round two!
Not a big fan of that particular spark effect for NPC quests, I’d look into different render modes or some sort of sprite.
Continuing the Quest of the Unreachable Whiteboards (I love it when the BM devs design us into a corner by making things that make zero sense when restored), I bet you could get away with moving that board (and only that board) a bit to the left so that it would no longer collide with the sink if you lowered it the rest of the way to the counter.
The additional props in here certainly help, but now I’m wondering if instead of a second trash bin a few floor decals might do more to establish this as a maintenance area…
Not sure why this one shelf is being like kind of jutting out and impudent or whatever… Usually they are flush with the walls.
Hmm…
I’m seeing a ladder…
… and an open ceiling section.
(If you do end up moving the ladder, you might want to consider moving some of the barrels over to its original position, making that dead-end corridor in fact a drum storage area.)
Weird black wall behind the dumpsters… not actually sure what’s causing that.
The texture on the back side of this gate appears to be misaligned.
I for one would have left “restricted” areas accessible to the player… possibly including the sewers.
Actually, thawing out the cryogenic storage area might be a good component for a quest.
Still not feeling the lights in general, but they do look much better (in some cases way better) with the gamma turned up to absolute maximum. Weird.
Also still having some concerns about the emptiness and squareness of the back areas…
Do you plan on releasing the VMF?
Thanks for the second round of feedback, Admiral.
Considering that’s an airlock and the next bit around is a lobby, I’m pretty fine that those two parts are empty. As for the squareness, they are using the same square designs of the original map.
Maybe when all of UC is released (not sure if you were still working on the third map) I could release the VMF.
I actually lost that map when I switched hard drives, so all of the work that went into it (mostly just fixing the bridges) is now gone. You’re welcome to it.
Ah, alright. No problem!
Thanks for the quest idea, by the way. Thawing out the room for some sort of maintenance inspection perhaps? Either way, those valves seem to only be for emergency use, it states above them. Perhaps there’s a room in that back section behind the frozen room (that quite maintenance-y looking corridor) that may have the proper controls for that room? Or even the room accessible from the catwalks at the top of the cold room.
Just wondering.
Or there are controls on the tanks themselves, or on the catwalk above… Although I do like putting the controls in that blue-and-white corridor, since it’s kind of a long path with nothing at the end of it currently.
One last thing:
It is possible to climb up on top of the tanks in this room, and fall down into this inescapable crevice.
Working on pd_c1a1d now, won’t be long!