Return to City 17 (previously named coastmap)

[fug4life]

I'm not very co-ordinated when it comes to boats and rowing of any form.
But it looks fun, and Victoria looks a great place for it. I need more sun!

[DaMaN]

Ack! Ok, so, just another update here, thought I'd post something for back 2 school...

Good news bad news, yet again:

So, I'm back in college now, and it looks like it's going to be an awesome term - lots of projects and stuff. However, that means I'll be hard-pressed for mapping time. Hence, I'll probably be cutting what was going to be 12 maps down to 9 . I just don't have the time to do any more than that. Which is annoying, because some of my neat awesome sequences in my head will have to be cut, and the storyline might seem rushed in places.

But there is good news! I'm getting ever-so-close to finishing map 3. I have one final area to make, then soundscapes/cubemaps/etc, then testing, etc. And since I'll be busy for most of the term, I've decided that once map 3 is completed, I'll be releasing the first three as a sort of "beta-preview-sample of things to come".

So... yea. Back to mapping!!

[Fenrir]

It's a little depressing that the 12 original will be cut to 9, but I guess that's how it's gotta be eh?

Just try to compensate by making the the next maps as awesome as possible will ya?

[fug4life]

9 I think is still quite a load, nice to see 3 of them getting released!

gj

[DaMaN]

It's a little depressing that the 12 original will be cut to 9, but I guess that's how it's gotta be eh?

Yea, it's a bit depressing, but it's been a handful and a half to map. And I really can't keep it up over a college semester.

Plus, Ep:2 will probably steal a lot of my time/thunder.

Just try to compensate by making the the next maps as awesome as possible will ya?

Will do

9 I think is still quite a load, nice to see 3 of them getting released!

gj

9 maps is nuts. I don't know of any other 9 map series aside from the single player campaign.

It's nice to be releasing three maps; I've gone most of the summer without working on another map, or releasing anything else, so I'll be really happy to get something off my Hammer and into the community.


==========================


So, another bit of an update - I've run into a small problem. Ok, it's actually a big problem. I'm getting this error:

Code: Select all

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Dec 11 2006)
1 threads
materialPath: d:\half-life 2\steamapps\SourceMods\Obsidian\materials
Loading D:\Half-life 2\SteamApps\**********\sourcesdk_content\hl2mp\mapsrc\oc_return_c17_03.vmf
Brush 151128: ParseDispInfoChunk: nummapdispinfo > MAX_MAP_DISPINFO
Side 3
Texture: NATURE/CLIFFFACE001A

Yea... which means that I've got too many displacements. Admittedly it's a pretty big map, but I wasn't expecting it to fill up all the avaliable displacements!! I guess it's because there's a lot of tunnels, caves, etc. in the map... but it's still damn annoying.

For those who are wondering, I have something like 1643 displacements, with some of those being multiple-sides (in other words, i've got more than that in displacement faces)

So I did a few more compiles with the cordon tool cutting off sections of the map to see just how many displacements I need to get rid of, and it seems that I have to get rid of around 500 displacements.

It's quite annoying, because I've finished the map geometry - all that's left is to cubemap and soundscape it! Arg!!!



If anyone has any suggestions or solutions for this, PLEASE let me know!!!
(Aside from the obvious destroying 500 displacements... )

EDIT: Ok, it seems i've gotten it down to 2255 faces. Anybody know what the max displacement faces is?

[fug4life]

I'm not sure what the engine limit is, Try asking on one of the map forums or valve developer wiki

Only thing I can think of, Are you using your displacements to the power of 2 or 3? I'm sure you know more than I, but I found making terrain with 1024x1024 by the power of 2 are economic and still workable, but as you know it all depends on the complexity of the terrain. It sounds like you've done all the economising u can though. Have you got any huge disp's they might be the offending error and might need slicing and dicing into yes, more....

^^Which is pretty pointless as you'd have to destroy and reshape^^

Is it possible to make the map into two maps, could add a level change, and you'd have alot more room entity wise to add stuff? although depends on the gameplay of the map I suppose.

and btw, I stopped half through this post, to go fire fighting down stairs, The frying pan was well er.... A BLAZE!

[DaMaN]

I'm not sure what the engine limit is, Try asking on one of the map forums or valve developer wiki

Only thing I can think of, Are you using your displacements to the power of 2 or 3? I'm sure you know more than I, but I found making terrain with 1024x1024 by the power of 2 are economic and still workable, but as you know it all depends on the complexity of the terrain. It sounds like you've done all the economising u can though. Have you got any huge disp's they might be the offending error and might need slicing and dicing into yes, more....

^^Which is pretty pointless as you'd have to destroy and reshape^^

Alas, most of my displacements are power 2 already I'm fairly sure the huge displacement theory is out, because the biggest ones I have have been there for a few compiles now and not given me any trouble - plus, the brush the compiler's complaining about is a fairly small brush.

Is it possible to make the map into two maps, could add a level change, and you'd have alot more room entity wise to add stuff? although depends on the gameplay of the map I suppose.

I really don't want to split the map into two because it's pretty short already (about 45 minutes long), so splitting it into two would be annoying. Also, there's not really any good spot to split it, so that would be annoying too.

I've managed to merge a few more displacement faces and I've got my total down to 2224. Interlopers seems to say that the max faces are 2048, so I've still got to cut out 176 faces somehow...

I'll start by merging any face I possibly can merge together - like in some tunnels, to give the tunnels better shape, I've done 8 displacements instead of 4 (floor, ceiling, two walls), so I'm going to go through and merge as many of those places as possible (it'll mean that the map won't look as nice, but at this point I'm desperate). I might have to start eliminating my displacement floors, which I really don't want to do because of the really-nice-looking alpha blending I've done on them, but we'll see how many faces I can cut by merging.

*sigh*

So, yea... more delays

and btw, I stopped half through this post, to go fire fighting down stairs, The frying pan was well er.... A BLAZE!

Hahaha, that's like IRC's "brb, house on fire" post...

[Tono-Tako]

cut that map into 2 maps? mapname3a and mapname3b ?

[DaMaN]

cut that map into 2 maps? mapname3a and mapname3b ?

It would be decently simple to do that, but I really don't want to - mainly because I like the way the gameplay flow is going right now, and sticking a level change in the midst of it would leave too much scripting in one level and too many puzzles in the other. Right now I've got a balance, so if at all possible I'd like to keep that balance. But if I can't, then yea, I'll just split it.

Slight update!!

I've managed to bring my displacements down to 2047!! YAY!!! Meaning it now compiles!! I managed to bring it down that low by taking a lot of walls that used to be two sections but are now one. (A handy thing to note here is that Vertex Manipulation will not "stretch-out" the top of your displacements, which was really handy for keeping (roughly) the original setup of some edges, while being able to extend others without huge gaps). A few rocks I had originally as displacements are now prop_statics, and one or two rock faces have been rotated just so that only one face is needed to make it work. So, a little less detail for the ability to compile the map is a decent tradeoff IMO.

So now i've got to go and tweak everything so it looks nice again. (A bit annoying 'cause it's a big map, but at least it's a big working map!). After that, if all goes well (it won't, at this point that's guarenteed), I'll be able to start cubemapping/soundscaping, then releasing!


And finally, as a future warning to all other mappers out there:

KEEP IN MIND HAMMER HAS A DISPLACEMENT LIMIT of 2048!!!

[fug4life]

[DaMaN]

Indeedy!

I'm planning on releasing the first three maps this weekend.

(Must release before episode 2!! Otherwise it might never happen what with all the playing and portaling and tf2ing...)

[Hell-met]

I say just wait until oc gets updated with ep2 stuff

so you can add all the awesome new items and npcs

and the magnade

[DaMaN]

I say just wait until oc gets updated with ep2 stuff

so you can add all the awesome new items and npcs

and the magnade

Hehe yea, I'm eager for ministriders, advisors, and some cinimatic physics too...

[Hell-met]

Then, just wait for all this poonage.

With all your coast houses, Im pretty sure the hunters would have fun in these.

[fug4life]

I say no, release now!
You've worked hard now let us play your maps hard <--- sorry if that sounds alittle too masculine.

ep2 support is not garunteed, and you can always make changes later, when your work load is alittle lighter and you have time to reflect