Streets of Fire update

Discussion in 'Mapping' started by Varbles, Jul 19, 2016.

  1. Lazybum

    Lazybum :D Staff Member Moderator

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    Popping in to say that I rather liked that new screen shot, that red tone gives it a autumn feel to it. Considering I can't really think of any autumn maps outside of forest(I think) and something else I entirely forget the name of empires could use an autumn map.

    Yeah a city map might sound like a weird choice, but if you pile of dead leaves every where on the streets and could keep a few fall trees in the middle parts of the streets I think it could look swell.

    In any case whatever you do it's going to look great, keep up the great work Mr. Varbles.
     
  2. f1r3w4rr10r

    f1r3w4rr10r Modeler

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    I also like the lighting. If can ask one thing of you: Could you please test your cube maps and lighting with this tool https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Weapon_cubemap
    Just to check that the lighting isn't unnaturally bright or too dark. That would help make all materials look better and our job in making new materials easier.

    Oh and use multiple baked cube maps if you can.
     
  3. Xyaminou

    Xyaminou Member

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    The trees and middle of the road in A1, A2, C4 and C5 should not have been removed as they serve as cover for the infantry, with them removed you now have a giant no-man's land to cross with no cover was so ever making playing as infantry wildly impractical. I think it should be put back.
    Besides it gives BE even more room to build in the middle, and as we well know SoF is BE sided, giving them more room to work with will only serve to increase the map's imbalance.
     
    Last edited: Jul 20, 2016
  4. Caelorum

    Caelorum Member

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    He mentioned something about changing the bridge, so I'm sure he'll also change the roads leading to the bridge. Let's wait and see what that will bring us, untill we judge ^^
     
  5. complete_

    complete_ lamer

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    i think emp_fuel uses a similar looking thing but its a model, maybe you can crib it from that?

    i loaded up the map and drove around so i have a couple things. first is i think it looks great and in game the colors look great. i cant imagine how horrible the vmf must've been. second is that im a little sad to see the old road texture go. third is that the dirt in be main and the grass around the map is a little too stretched. onto screenshots

    [​IMG]
    texture overlap and the barriers are into the ground

    [​IMG]
    on the old sof that was never played because it broke the trees here were replaced with that model that has the advertising in it. i hope you know what i mean, i dont think there is a name for it like billboards have.

    [​IMG]
    i do get what you're going for here, but i think it ends up being a little bland. i think i prefer splitting the streets up like the old version

    [​IMG]
    same goes for here, i do like the new bridge area, however. i think the area might be too wide and no cover and could hurt nf's ability to get out of their base

    [​IMG]
    over here there used to be windows that couldnt be destroyed but used to be, i was hoping they would be destructible again but you replaced them with walls. if theres no middle part or windows theres not much infantry can do when they're stuck in their base.

    [​IMG]
    same goes for here. there used to be a windows here that gave be or nf ammo

    [​IMG]
    sad that theres no more bike...

    [​IMG]
    i used to like parking an apc here but i get it



    a thing you can do with the minimap is just cut out and delete the parts that are not accessible+add tunnels. it could do alot for helping the com navigate the real map and prevent him from thinking the top parts of the map are accessible.
     
  6. Caelorum

    Caelorum Member

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    I like the style of the minimap of district. You might be able to do something like that, but with the underground tunnels coloured in.
     
  7. Trickster

    Trickster Retired Developer

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    Varbles, are you working on the latest version? The current version of SoF is like a 2.23 version or something where I entspyed the BSP and made the spaceship button not work. Grizzly made a newer version with different colour correction and some new assets, but for some reason it caused commanders to crash sometimes towards the centre. I'm really talking from the perspective that, the new assets (billboards and shit) might be of use to you.
     
  8. Z100000M

    Z100000M Vithered Weteran

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    Im really not sure why you are removing the mid road barricades, they were a really nice piece of cover to infantry and made running people over not the default tactic like on any other map.
     
  9. Varbles

    Varbles Simply Maptastic. Staff Member

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    I think I'm going to try opening up more downward ramps into the central park. You're right especially about refineries not being rebuilt because vehicles are blocked out of NF's side.


    That's actually a great idea for reducing blandness that I didn't consider. The autumn leaves below the trees are actually there in the original just don't show up because of the blue. I think I will try to reskin some trees for a more orange autumn feel and see if that makes the map feel more vivid.


    So far I've just used the original placed cubemaps which are kind of oddly placed but at least spread out well enough. I will make a pass at some point to make sure there's transitions in logical places. The old materials for the map (everything from the concrete to the plaster walls) were all using specular maps with odd settings, and I had to reduce them to just diffuse and normal because combined with the sheer number of faces it was producing console spam errors. I'm curious if you have any ideas for adding realistic specular to this texture palette cost-effectively.


    You're right, it wasn't a step in a better direction. I was hoping that opening it up would increase the effectiveness of walls and turrets and make the battles more free-form but it's not.
    I don't want it to go back to how it was however, because I think it's too restricting in general. I'm going to try a different street profile all together:
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    more screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/1zarp

    This is just a rough design obviously, but the entire north/south main road will be like this. Maybe the bridge will still have the divider in the middle, I'm not sure. Combined with more storefronts accessible to infantry, roadkills should be much less prevalent.



    I'm working off of the VMF that was in the asset source repo; I was wondering why the spaceship was still activated, I didn't realize the map had been entspy'd. The old billboards are gonna go because they're trash, more of the newer assets will take their place. Smithy also has a lot of great looking urban props that are gonna fill out the map nicely. I would love to see a VMF of the newer version because I don't think I've ever played it, but this version has changed so much under the hood that I doubt much could be merged.
     
  10. Donald Trump

    Donald Trump Member

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    Derp I just re-read your bottom part about store Fronts. Will they be on every road way? Because I know leading up to the BE base theres a lot and all the way up to NF base there is a lot. Would be cool to see the new infantry combat if that's the case.

    Can you add some with 2 levels etc to make sniping useful? And perhaps lower the res income on the map to make it more combined arms rather than infantry until mass tank push?
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2016
  11. Z100000M

    Z100000M Vithered Weteran

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    Those walls seem awfully short and are really close to walls so i dont really think they will provide much cover against tanks whatsoever..
     
  12. Caelorum

    Caelorum Member

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    the one currently in the middle don't give much cover either. They are just a place to hide, waiting till the tanks are gone or you can sticky/mine them.
     
  13. Avatarix

    Avatarix Member

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    What about putting concrete roadblocks around the trees and grass and maybe somewhere on bridge?
     
  14. Xyaminou

    Xyaminou Member

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    Looks great, well done!

    They give enough cover that you can prone in it and wait until a tank passes by and sticky stun him to help your allied tanks. Which is the entire point of infantry support in the late game, so job done.
     
  15. flasche

    flasche Member Staff Member Moderator

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    i mainly see lots of walls for splash damage :P
    but then, this wasnt different before ...
     

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