that looks amazing, well done. I really like the whole setting. the ground doesn't need to be perfectly flat to be built on- so the relatively ugly (compared to rest of map) big grey sections could be more terrain just like the rest of the map has. I'd try to avoid using models such as that industrial thing in the village, that are in HL2. what about putting sand along some of the edge running into the sea if these areas run into the sea? amazing work so far though
Looks good but instantly I see two bad things in it. It's too red and I have heard of some researches which researched peoples reactions when they saw certain colours on big areas. Seeing red big amounts caused the persons to feel more aggressive. So red isn't good lightning color because it may make sensitive people behave very aggressively and start to shout and get pissed off and everything. The second thing which I noticed was that the map isn't symmetric. That may be a very big advantage to other team. If you aren't going to add any balancing factors there, then the asymetricity of the map may benefit the other team a lot. But overall looking good.
The colour is a tricky one as I wanted it to be dusky (not fully light but not totally dark) so the sky and light go well for that (its fairly close to the recommended light colour for the sky). Other than sticking with the red, it could go to daytime proper or maybe just an evening with little/no sunset type light - the downside there is no difference from being behind hills etc (since it gets fairly flat - unless theres night with bright moonlight I suppose). I was meaning to put sand around the edge but I started off by making the whole thing from a (too) few displacements so changing the texture may look horrid since theres no natural join and its all in squares. I can try the clip thing I suppose. The hl2 refinery thing was the main large model, it seemed to do what I want. Why should things like that be avoided? eg is the crane I have on the old dock (i think thats in a shot) ok or should that and the sunk boat go byebye? edit: good call on the lighting actually, I didnt expect it but it does look nicer in a generic pale light - the grass not looking brown may be a good start.
empires being a total conversion has gone to great lengths to avoid standard half life things, as it is trying to show that it is an entirely new game and does not need to rip off bits from HL2. for example, many people have complained about the standard noise set in 1.0 being the same as HL2's- other things are also going to make people feel this way. sorry. It does look really nice. i'm especially looking forward to the village- I'd be tempted to suggest putting a ref in one of the buildings because I would love that to become a center of battle.
Thats what the refinery place is trying to achieve - its tucked away in the corner so theres a couple of ways to get to it but could hopefully get people fighting. The model is a little generic (especially the botched way I've added a few buildings to it) but does look like I wanted it to look making it a shame to get rid of - I'd end up fairly much copying it, but there would a few pluses to that like not having unclimbable ladders up some of the pole things. It may also get smaller that way, a few chimneys and a boiler or two but less in total. hmm, that'll go onto the todo list I suppose :0( Are there any good examples of small buildings in empires maps? I want to avoid the standard concrete lumps but not sure quite how to go about it all. I was thinking flat roofed houses, maybe brick ground floors on the two storey ones but wooden for the rest? Also what sort of religiousish building would fit with the world? (for the BE flat bit) I was thinking of some sort of pillared building that would be half townhall half templeish. hot damn I'm good at explaining. That said, both my flat areas seem very cramped when you try to build there, so I'll have to either extend them or be very careful about putting things there to have an excuse for their existence.
Now available in paler light: 1. Fog added, it seemed a good plan at the time 2. Park area spruced up a bit, probably done for now (until underground added) 3. BE flat bit emptied of concrete, but not worked on yet. the new light angle leaves this side in the shade, will that be an issue? I've made the water move, however when I trigger it it causes a noticable dive in fps. iirc displacements dont block for vis, will it help when/if i learn to use hint leaves etc or will there always be a big slow down using a func_water_analogue over a huge area? breaking the water up into small blocks made it worse (I think) so its now one big huuuuge lump of water.
do nodraw things cut up the vis bit? that seems bizarre as they're see-through. Sounds good to me though as that makes it quite straight forwards (I think). Thanks
Nodraw isn't seethrough, it just isn't rendered. Look at a nodraw brush sealing the level, you'll see repeating areas.
I can't wait for this map, if only so I can say "I've got a real sinking feeling" at the beginning of every emp_sinking round
not sure if your having REFs on lower ground and whether they will be underwater but what if you could place refs on pontoons or boats that float when water rises???
I haven't tested this yet, but I was hoping to have some sort of trigger_hurt following the water a few feet below to take out the buildings that get submerged. If that doesnt work then I'll make it so that the resnodes get killed at the same time the water gets past them. Its all part of forcing people to go higher, but tbh I wouldnt expect the games on this to last long enough for the secondary levels to get washed out so its only the started bases that need to go (plus any lower areas I hadnt foreseen building on). I was assuming that building on movable things wouldn't work? otherwise pontoons could be amusing.
You can try using the logic_measure_movement entity to move the resource nodes with the moving part, but i don't know if refineries will move with it too.
Looks to be a sound plan for non-solids but if the collisions get messed up then probably not for refineries (so as you say the res node could move but maybe not the refinery...). I've made the water rise in little bursts now - I realised that for a 3d skybox to happen reasonably it'd need to have the movement divisible by the skyboxscale (fairly obvious but I hadn't checked whether it needed an integer which I think it does). Next jobs are to make the village place, redo the refinery and then make a skybox. The underground stuff can wait for now I think. Edit: piccies 1. A bit of scenery for near the BE flat bit, the area is there as the island's temple and (small) burial ground. Noone answered on my question about empires religion so I just gave them a little place which isnt very religious looking (will show in picture 2 if I get a nice one of it). And yes, there are a lot of non-empires models, sorry 2.
Sorry to keep bumping my own thread, but could someone give advice on creating a lot of small buildings without having them too bland at the same time as not making them too complex? I'm not too happy with what I've got currently. I need to learn to put this map down and walk away rather than spending ages playing with it, there is much more useful stuff to be done...
What you have so far looks good. Maybe add some wooden out-buildings, and definitely put some overlays on those walls. Stuff like exposed brick and broken plaster.
