Emp_Homeland Update 7-01-09: Official Beta 9 Release! Fixed the rooftop player clip. This map is done - unless someone finds a way to break it in half. Enjoy! http://www.hlrse.net/empiresvhe/Flounder/emp_homeland_b9.zip Update 6-20-09: Beta 8 in final testing. Well, that was a nice little vacation. I've been wasting my life playing Company of Heroes and Neverwinter Nights 2 and haven't given a thought to map making. Then I sorta felt bad, seeing as how 6 months of my life went into this thing, I might as well finish it. So here it is, the last beta. After this it's finalized. Only thing I'm concerned about are possible bugs with the physics cars. I'm hoping to test the map out on a dedicated server this week. All of the features I mentioned in my last update have been implemented, except for that fade distance thing. I don't even remember what I was referring to. My only passing concern is that the city looks too "clean." It needs some more destruction and more overlays, but it's a huge map and that's no easy task. I also can't put in a whole lot of destruction, otherwise the roads wont be useable and the open areas not buildable. It's a trade off, and I tried to strike a reasonable balance. I may outsource the decal and overlay work to someone who's up to the challenge, but I wipe my hands of it as of now. Don't let my criticism dissuade you. This is quite possibly the biggest (and I think prettiest) urban rts map ever made, and it was done by one guy in his basement using nothing but google as his guidebook. Special thanks to John Shandy', [LoWd]Keef, Computer911, Drummer, Bitchslap, [R]ex, Solokiller, Communism, Omni, Maxaxle, and everyone who posted on this forum thread for your support. I'd also like to thank Interlopers.net for their excellent video tutorials, without which I could not have even begun to use Hammer; and also Valve, which has always been helpful to modders. And props to Pwnyoass for the capitaldome model. I finally turned it into a cap point, as promised. I hope you all enjoy playing the map as much as I enjoyed making it. Update 3-15-09: The map is not dead! On the off chance that someone cares, I wanted to let people know that the map is still being worked on, and the next version is a major update. Unfortunately, because I have to spend more time doing real life things, I don't think it will come out for probably a month. I've got most of the new brushwork done, but things like lighting, func detailing, and bug testing always seem to take longer than expected. But the next version should have: - Cars that you can drive over and push around. - Many more interiors for infantry to explore. - Breakable walls on buildings, so that infantry can't gren whore inside the new buildings all game long with impunity from HE heavy tanks. - A matching color theme. I got a lot of complaints about the randomness of the buildings styles. I hope you like grey. - Reduced BE's access to the middle ref, which should even the gameplay out a bit. - New sky color (this is what, the 6th new sky color?). - Bottom left and bottom right corners will now be double res points. - The new mini map will be correctly aligned (at least I hope so). - I will double check all the fade distances on the models. Thanks for all your critical input. It's annoying to have add so many features, but in the long run it makes me feel better to know that people actually like this map. Update 2-24-09: Beta 8 will have cars The cars failed. I know how to fix them for the next release, so I'll spare you the details. I can't get over the sense that the map is too small, and that base building is very restricted and tank movement more so. I suppose that's the case with any city map though, and perhaps why people don't like them. Maybe if this wasn't my first map ever it would not have the issues that it does. I think I'm going to wrap up this project after this last beta, perfect or not. So if anyone has anything that they feel is a gamebreaking problem, now would be the time to meantion it. As it stands, these will be the changes: - Reworked top middle section (to lengthen the time required to drive from one main base to the next) - Sky texture that isn't quite as ugly as the current one - Less resources - Fixed cars so that they are solid Update 2-20-09: Special Release with Physics Prop Cars We're going to try using physics models to improve infantry cover on roads, and make fighting on this map more interesting overall. My hope is that the cars won't cause server overload. If this works with little or no problems, I'll implement it in the final release. Update 2-15-09: Beta 7 Released - Wider roads. - MG turrets at main bases. I'm also taking some time to do some cleanup to this first post, so some of the original updates will be reduced or deleted. Update 1-16-09: Beta 6 Released I've player clipped the top of the buildings. This should end the roof exploiting. Update 1-14-09: Beta 5 Released New Features: - Doubled the res flow (this alone should fix most gameplay issues right now) - Moved BE's free ref further to the middle (it's inside a warehouse now!) - Insulated NF's second ref from early BE attacks - Wider entrances in and out of the capitol - Lighting fixes, including darkening the light_environment Update 1-08-09: Beta 4 Released New Features: - Increased tickets from 200 to 300 and start res from 400 to 600. - Took walls out again. A lot of maps don't have walls, so it's not a big deal. - Simplifyied both start bases to prevent defensive stalemates. This also gives NF better access to early refineries. - Added a few more interiors to give infantry more cover in the absense of walls. - Made small scenery changes to make vehicle movement easier and removed some vclips that tanks got stuck on. - Made lighting and smoke fixes, made glass windows respawn after 2 minutes, and made a few other detail improvements. - Removed exploits that allowed infantry onto the roofs. Update 1-05-09: Beta 3 Released After a month of major revision this thing is good enough for a new release. Changelog is in the zip file. Don't hesitate to add some suggestions. I'm mainly concerned with issues concerning balance; minor bugs and stuff I probably already know about. Moved NF Start New Minimap Update 12-20-08: BETA 3 Release TBA When I first started making this map a few months ago, 2.2 was mostly a rumor and I figured that my map would be done well before that mythical release date. Well, I was able to get out an early version of the map for playtesting, but there's no version that I'm satisfied with that could be rushed out for 2.2. Before I release an update, I need to create more buildable areas in the downtown areas of the city, open more buildings, and find ways to skimp of the number of models being used. Until then, I'm removing the download links so there's no confusion. Update 12-04-08: Beta 2 Released! It's difficult to improve upon perfection, but I managed to do it. I've added a 3D skybox, brightened the ambient lighting, revamped NF start, and restricted wall placement after much complaining. I always hated walls in this game anyway. I've also added a few roadblocks, doorways, and interactive buildings to provide infantry cover in the absense of walls. Check the readme file for a full changelog. Update 11-26-08: Beta 1 Release available for Empires 2.1! It's very playable and looks great. Each resource point is unique and each section of the map plays into the theme. You can build almost anywhere on the map, too (no magically blocked areas). A lot of the buildings can be entered and used as shortcuts around the map, with plenty of props and light sources to give the buildings a realistic feel. Update 10-25-08: Original screenshots Original Post 9-30-08: If you're like me, you've noticed that BE and NF always seem to be fighting for control of some empty desert or unpopulated forest. Not that it isn't fun, but I've always wanted to play a map that really pulled me into the setting. So the premise of this map is to fight for control of an important capital city, with BE spawning in the downtown area and NF in the frontier. It has a mix of urban and open areas, with some restrictions on movement using buildings and terrain, but much more fluid movement than the typical urban map. You can also, *gasp*, go inside some of the buildings.
That map is going to lag to high hell. You have to get ready to start optimizing it now or it will be too laggy to play. I know, Shadows is having the same problem and it is not nearly as open as this is.
you could always compile with the hacked bsp compiler whenever you want to do pre-release screenies. and, looks good.
Feedback You're off to a good start. The map looks blocky though, but that's probably just because it's not done yet. Make sure you de-blockify things for the final version. Also make sure you keep to a colour scheme as well. There's a lot of clashing textures placed right next to each other, which makes the map look a bit unprofessional. But other than that, it's good to see a fresh design for a map. You're right, fighting in abandoned deserts is getting boring now.
Hacked BSP compiler only changes vis around. You can compile fast vis in a minute with just about any map. Hacked BSP compiler does not work that wayyyy. However, I want to see the city.
My personal advise: That dome on top of the building (the Renaissance palace) is ether bugged or going to suck performance like a leech from the looks of it (i am guessing bugged), use a model if you can! if not use nodraws to chop it up in a 1*1*1 square
Thanks for looking at the map guys. I'm looking into ways to boost performance. I'm raising the height of the buildings and surrounding hills higher (most will be between 512 and 1024 units tall) to decrease visibility. I nodraw liberally and I know how to create clean leafs with hints and func_details. Are there any other optimization tricks that work specifically for large urban maps that any of you know? Is it worth putting open areaportals and occluders into a multiplayer map? And what about resource limits? I know Source has it's own limits (like 2048 entities and 512 textures), but are there practical limits that I should follow for Empires? Thanks for all the input guys. I'm looking into a fix for the dome (put it in a 3D skybox maybe?). Keep you posted when I compile it.
When u do a normal compile you should see a list of all the components and their limits near the end, it will also give you a percentage so you can see easier when you are approaching them. For a map this size be sure to keep an eye on the face count and brush counts especially. There are a few tricks you can use with displacements to cust some corners tho, such as subdividing three cuboids together and deleting the two outside ones to make a rounded piller from 4 displacement faces. This will give you increased filesize slightly but means you can have a smooth cylinder made with 4 faces instead of creating a brush cylinder that is 20-30 faces. This technique can also be applied to curved walls, spheres, general smoothed edges and shapes etc to save brush sides.
Dome Model Pwned wanted to try making a model for the dome. Here's the rotoscope: And here's a pic of the small version of the dome I'm using for other parts of the building. You don't need to make it look exactly like it, but it should give you a good reference. It's props_rooftop/dome004. Wire frame for the model: The texture I currently use is concrete/concretewall007a, so anything close to that or the dome004 would work best. Here's a pic of the building:
Easiest way to make a done that will compile fast and is cheap to render: Create a cube. Turn all 6 sides into a displacement. Subdivide it so it creates a sphere. Clip it in half and delete one half. You now have a hemispherical dome!
I'm using displacements for all my rounding needs now. Really helps to optimize the map. Excellent suggestion. The displacement sphere works well too. But Pwned is making the model anyway ^.^
Sorry for big pics, but all the better for you to see: For different shapes of done try messing with the brushes in step one before you turn them into displacements.
