ns2_tunnels
The_Welsh_Wizard
Join Date: 2013-09-10 Member: 188101Members, Reinforced - Supporter
Join Date: 2013-09-10 Member: 188101Members, Reinforced - Supporter
Current minimap:
Workshop
Original Post:
Hey,
I want to play with the editor again, so I made a sketch of a BRANDNEW MAP.
Does this layout work?
It is nothing special, but I am not sure if it could be balanced with that RT placement.
I want to play with the editor again, so I made a sketch of a BRANDNEW MAP.
Does this layout work?
It is nothing special, but I am not sure if it could be balanced with that RT placement.
Comments
When you develop it further you should ask again and we are sure to help you.
Do all tech points have have an rt? It seems whoever spawns on the bottom or the left will have an advantage given there are two RTs very near each other.
On top of the middle tech point, you have a cluster of hallways. These also generally do not work well in NS2 as new players get easily confused. Maybe make it one big room?
The bottom right tech point seems secluded compared to the rest of the map.
Obviously I haven't ran around the map in person but these are the issues that seem the most problematic to me. If you are serious about making this I can look around and give you more feedback.
Yes, all TPs got RTs. I am not sure if it would really be an advantage. However, I releyouted that part and the center because I didn't like it, and I shrinked some routes so there is only 1 RT left on that one.
It is a placeholder too. A big completely undetailed room is too marine friendly so I created that "cluster of hallways". I thought it would work better in an early greybox state.
Travel times should be similar on all routes afaik.
I don't know how to bring it in steam workshop.
I think I will rebuild the center of the map, I am aiming for something like this:
In your ns2 folder, there's a program called "launch pad". You should be using this 100% of the time. Make a new mod for your map, and place your .level file in the mod directory's "mapsrc" folder. This will also allow you to put custom art assets into your mod and view them in the editor without having to clutter your main ns2 directory with your new files. If you run the editor/game from launchpad, it'll look in both your ns2 directory AND the "output" directory of your mod for content. Running "builder.exe" will copy your map from mapsrc to the output/maps folder, as well as compile any models/textures you have placed in the appropriate source directories. If you want to put something on the workshop, simply use the "publish" command at the top of launchpad. This pushes everything from your "output" directory onto the workshop.
Good to see you working on the project again.
Atm I am trying to make this somewhat ready for playing but there is a problem I can't solve: When starting the game on this map, all Power Nodes and CCs / RTs are losing armor becuase of infestation?
It is weird because there are no cysts and no other infestation around the structures.
Hmm... but apart from that have you setup everything needed? Eg. Room location entities, minimap extents, ns2-gamerules entity, pathing mesh, commander cameras, tech point entities, resource points?
Lots of non 90-degree angles used, lots of organic shapes, I suppose.
Haha yes. I thought about it to make it 11 RTs but I wasn't sure yet which one to delete.
I will rework parts of the layout the next week and then I will see.
Btw I tried the workshop thing and hope this is working:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=554622134
And yep... there are many organic shapes yet because I want the map to be caves and tunnels inside a mountain.
It is a RT room and this is the left route from it leading deeper into the caves:
Powered RT in Hole.
Moved Crystals RT near TP.
Moved Cave RT near TP.
Rock now Marine fixed spawn.
Cave or Unknown now Alien spawns.
Added more Ready Room spawns.
Added more building space in Unknown.
Reworked Sky Bender interior.
Fixed hole in Nani.
There is an invisible wall in Sky Bender. Make it clear somehow that you cannot go beyond it (fences, etc).
Give the players more space where it's needed, around RTs and Tech Points. Right now, you cannot move around RTs in Cave, Crystals, ArcSaber, Nest (because of the drop), and Unknown. The Command Station in Rock sticks through the glass walls (when unoccupied at least).
Borussia Dortmund probably has too many objects in it. It is already a room divided in three sections, and then also has opening doors, a very large truck, suspended containers, and that pipe prop with the red girders.
Lulz is a maze, very hard to navigate and quite cramped in places, especially around the RT. There is a spotlight in Lulz pointing at an opening in the wall, but it's too small to enter. Use light to point out exits, don't have it light up dead ends.
I fell down in Nest as marine, couldn't see a way to get back up. If there's a way to get back up put a big light on it. If there's no way to get back up, make a way to get back up and put a big light on it. :P
LOS on the hive from Nani is quite significant.
I worked a bit on the map and tried to fix the issues you mentioned (not all yet).
The thing with the navigation is... I find it very difficult as a creator of a map to make this right because I know every room and route because I created it. It is interesting to see new players trying to navigate through it. In detail: I just placed the lights to get a rough color theme in a room, didn't think about other uses of it yet. Now that you mentionend the difficulties with navigating I tried to rework the lighting in lulz and Nest. In lulz I highlighted the entrances and tried to make clear which route is the main route because the room shape is basically an ellipse. In Nest I darkened the bottom where you usually should not go to or fall onto to and made the ramp more obvious... but yea it was possible to climb up again xP
I hope navigating is a bit easier now, I also moved some objects around or removed them.
Do you mean this one?
I planned a vent there... It should lead to Nani but I found it too strong because you could save too much time through it, so I decided to close that vent. But maybe I am wrong here, do you think a vent could work there?
To the Borussia Dortmund problem: When I build it I realized I had to change some things from my building plan because it would not have worked the way I wanted it to build. So I ended up with that room:
At first the door near the vehicel wasn't there. I added it later to give an additional route because pathing is difficult over the ramp and up the pipe. Also the room looked too marine friendly and I thought the additional route could help the aliens. Orange route is the basic route, the green one is the added route:
I did only place the crates because the room looked too open. The two on the entrance to Central are LOS blockers and the two crates on the entrance to Rock should give cover to aliens. But these two might be unnecessary so I removed them now.
Red girders were only placed there as LOS blockers, the pipes and the vehicle should give the room its reason for existing, I placed them for the room theme only.
I have to say overall I don't like the room too much too... It is planned to completely rework it.
What I did so far:
Made invisible wall in Sky Bender partly visible.
Tuned lighting in Nest.
Added more space to Nest RT.
Made ramp from bottom to walkway in Walkway/ Nest more obvious.
Removed/ modified a few objects in lulz.
Moved RT in lulz.
Tuned lighting in lulz.
Added new location in the center of the map (Core).
Modified objects in Unknown.
Added more building space in Unknown.
Added more space to Unknown RT.
Modified route Unknown <-> lulz a bit (slightly moved away from TP).
Modified route Nani <-> Cave to make hive not so easy snipeable (still needs improvement).
Removed object in Nani to give the route a better shape.
Renamed Nani to King's Pass.
Added OcclusionGeometry to ArcSaber windows.
Moved Rock TP slighty more to the center of the platform.
Removed one window from the platform in Rock.
Added more building space around the platform in Rock.
Added ladder in Rock (for marines, if they fall down).
Moved RT and crate in ArcSaber for more place around RT.
Removed two crates in Borussia Dortmund.
Still many things to do, for example Crystals and Cave. And I planned to rework the entries to Cave and South Access from Sky Bender and the ArcSaber room. And I will rework Borussia Dortmund too when I get an idea of a fitting room there.
Update:
Renamed Rock to North Rock.
Slightly rebuild Crystals Geometry.
Slightly rebuild Voltric Geometry.
Moved Voltric -> Crystals entrance a bit sideways.
Moved Power Node in Crystals to a more central position.
Moved RT in Crystals.
Moved one object in Hole a bit for LOS reasons.
Small geometry tweaks in lulz/ Core center location.
Completely reworked entrances Sky Bender <-> South Access and Sky Bender <-> Cave (still rough greybox).
Next I will rework the Borussia Dortmund room.