TF2 Map: ctf_overpass

[kromano]

It's difficult to tell presicely given it's still just a sketch in planning stages, but the scale of the map looks pretty huge. Travel distances seem like they'd be fairly long between points and the base layout also seems like it could be a little confusing.

In my work I've always been a fan of many, many pathways between areas so that no one route could be locked down with gridiron defense, but I've slowly learned that having that many hallways is confusing at best and creates a steeper learning curve than most are willing to put up with for a map.

I really like your idea of having the overpass to look down at the map from, it could be pretty cool. I wish you luck and look forward to seeing your progress.

[Zealotlee]

Thanks kromano. The valley is definitely getting shortened up, as are some of the caves and such. I blocked out the valley today and it doesn't seem too large at the size I have it at, so that should be good.

Speaking of which, what would be the best way to build the valley with brushes? This is considering entrances for both the caves and the bridge on either side, and the depression in the middle. I'm not too familiar with working with displacements in hammer, but a link Swizzle posted in another thread said you can't sew two different surfaces on two different brushes.

[kromano]

Displacements are a source of many headaches, but they're a very useful tool. I wouldn't do the valley without them, you just have to understand how they work.

Source SDK Wiki (http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Displacement)

Sewing displacements only works on brushes that are either 1:1 ratio or 2:1, that means in order for sew to work the edges that are touching must 1) touch. the two edge vertecies must occupy the same location and 2) must be the same size or one must be exactly half the length of the other.

you can sew an edge if the two touching edges are 128 units long or one is 128 and the other 64, or one is 256 and the other 128. See the pattern? It's not so hard when dealing with simple surfaces, but when you start adding in caves you really have to start planning out how you're going to build your faces.

Create a blank map and play with displacements for a while until you're familiar with how sew works.

Look up some information on subdividing displacements as well, it's a useful tool for constructing convincing cave entrances or other rounded corner shapes.

A tip for texturing, with the apply texture tool open, select a face then hold the ALT key, right click to apply the texture to a face adjacent to the selected face. This will apply the texture in relation to the selected face, it's a fast and easy way to make sure most of the edges around a curved shape line up for smoothing.

Remember, displacements don't block VIS, the engine will see through displacements as though they are not there. Make sure to block off the area behind displacements with tools/nodraw textured brushes to cap your level and avoid leaks.

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.