Yey, a new Dod map! And it has a town-setting! Wow!

Boring stuff :

Max r_speeds 612, although I havent added hint brushes yet
(3-400 overall)

6 flags, no "middle flag", to keep the gameplay fast paced.

Mix of indoor and outdoor fighting, with the houses actually looking like real houses :eek:

I've only worked on it for 1 week, so it will end up looking alot prettier than this. As the topic says, Work In Progress :)

Fun stuff :

Screenshots! Yey!

http://www.undertheinfluence.org/insta/wut1.jpg
(Allied first flag)

http://www.undertheinfluence.org/insta/wut2.jpg
(Leading up to Allied 3rd, and the house overlooking it)

http://www.undertheinfluence.org/insta/wut3.jpg
(People should take in their laundry during ww2 ;( )

http://www.undertheinfluence.org/insta/wut4.jpg
(Near Axis first)

Hmmm, okay I guess thats about it :D
Please post opinions/comments/deaththreats and such in this very thread.

Oh, and thanks to Skdr for help with the light_env (very nice) and particles :D
And thanks to Veridian for hosting the pictures!

I've had a run on this map day ago and I must say I'm impressed. Brushwork is very solid and pretty + layout is just great.

Can't wait to see updates from you Insta. Some crazy stuff coming I can promise to all ;D

/me calls first dibs on the playable beta!

wooot nice!!!

very nice,..now give meh a BETA...:-)

very nice. I like it. Cant wait to host it and play it.

Looks cool. Do you have/can you post an overview? :D

Looks great! As long as it has a couple more sandbags/ mg spots I'll be more than happy:)

Sandbags/mg positions will be added (I've mainly just put down the layout now, and placed the flags)
I will work on details and such this week, maybe even have beta 1 out by sunday or so :)

Thanks for all your kind comments :D

Hot damn that looks nice! The lighting is perfect, I like the very subtle contrast with the sky. Very nice texture usage, plus I always like the extra effort in the roofs. About the only thing that seemed kind of iffy for me was the median in the last pic dunno if u should change the brushwork to be a bit shorter, or change the texture it just seems to stand out. Otherwise good start keep it up!

good job insta, keep it up....look forward to playing it :)

I didn't run around this map a week ago, and it looks great! :P

I like the architecture, really looks detailed. Same with the lighting, I like it. Good work.

Looking really nice! Got an overview for us sometime? =)

Monk

looks great bro, I love seeing houses that are actually detailed instead of straight up and down sides etc ;)

Can't wait to get my paws on it ;)

wow this looks great, cant wait for release :)

Gorgeous lighting and skybox. Look forward to seeing the gameplay layout!

wow looks awesome

thats the kraftstoff sky, right?

Yep, kraftstoff sky, and textures by kleinluka.

theres a lot of these rural town set maps going around lately. Not thats a bad thing, in fact, it creates a better atmosphere in my opinion, with the textures being able to stand out more. Are there any fields and hedgerows with more of the real rural fighting ala campagne? or is it more flash / hameau township with the rural backdrop?

hope the gameplay is just as good as railroad's. and the name is a killer for sure. excellent choice. the name alone give the map so much atmosphere, fits the setting nicely.:D

theres a lot of these rural town set maps going around lately. Not thats a bad thing, in fact, it creates a better atmosphere in my opinion, with the textures being able to stand out more. Are there any fields and hedgerows with more of the real rural fighting ala campagne? or is it more flash / hameau township with the rural backdrop?

No, there are no open fields or any such thing (there are open areas in the map though). I guess you could say its like Flash with the focus being on the town itself, and a rural backdrop :)


hope the gameplay is just as good as railroad's. and the name is a killer for sure. excellent choice. the name alone give the map so much atmosphere, fits the setting nicely.:D [/B]

Haha, thank you :)
Gameplay is most important for me, that is why I have set myself very strict restrictions on r_speeds, use of models etc. No FPS-drops, no combat zones with high r_speeds etc.

I dropped the middle flag because of this as well. I want to keep the gameplay fluid, moving all over the map. With a middle flag, you get a main chokepoint, where everybody ends up and shoots at eachother. Here, you can move from one flag to another with ease, and there's no real sequence you have to cap the flags in.

Its your map and your call, but I like the idea of 1 mid-cap that gets a lot of focus/attention. You did this particularly well in railroad. :)

but, then again, this is a different map, so why not have it be different, right?

I do think 2-man caps (at least 1 or 2) is a good way to demand a little teamwork out of players rather than let a map be dominated by guys working solo.

Regardless, Railroad and R2 are both great, so I'm sure this will be a lot of fun as well. Screenies look nice.

Sorry for bumping my own thread, but I just had some updated screenshots. The map is close to betatesting now (only need to add spawns + hook up the flags), and then release it :)!

http://www.lol-dod.com/sigs/misc/soli1.jpg
http://www.lol-dod.com/sigs/misc/soli2.jpg
http://www.lol-dod.com/sigs/misc/soli3.jpg
http://www.lol-dod.com/sigs/misc/soli4.jpg

Let me know what you think :D

*drools* looks fricking great mate ;) I like how the buildings look like actual buildings for once or I should say more realistic buildings ;)

wow just amazing :D

amazing stuff! Don´t now why but this is almost perfect!!!
Looks great, i love it check PM please. :D

I just want to add that using hint brushes won't help a whole lot...maybe a very miniscule amount, but they aren't a fix all :)

R_speeds are not an issue at all. The highest right now is 650, and that is in a low combat area. I'm not too worried about it :)

wow....im feeling lonely already. definately have to have the quiet ambience, with the owl hooting and the cricket chirping....:p

As Always another Excellent Map by Instacrome

What happened with the final version of RailRoad2 ??

Contact Me for a DL Mirror and Beta Test Server at bomus@hotmail.com

Loving it :D

Insta, im taking my 3rd or 4th look at these screenshots, and something occured to me.

A great deal has been made, of late, about how dod with it's many nifty little addons, transparencies, et cetera, is "pushing the 5 year old HL engine beyond it's limit" People seem to think that making things complex, variable, and complicated is the sure path to success.

reading some comments on some other maps furthers this. Mappers seem to think they make great maps by adding as many dod features as possible to it. I sometimes think that some of these people think that a map with advancing spawns, shifting objectives, moving tanks, paratroopers descending off in the distance, rubble everywhere, artillery fields, collapsing buildings, etc - on a map that takes up the whole map grid - would be the best map in the game.

Then you look at these pics of solitude. The texture and brushwork is outstanding. There is nothing over done, you haven't crammed 40 models of burning tanks and jeeps on the map, there arent a hundred rubble piles to get stuck on. This is a map that will play well because it is made to deal with the engine, not push it.

when you consider that the HL engine was geared toward maps like crossfire, frenzied, bootcamp, and the like (those are HLDM maps, for the uninformed) and you managed to use the same technology to make a map that is both visually stunning, and plays well, at the same time. You wont need a supercomputer to play this map, either.

In my opinion, THAT is the key to success... not going "beyond" what the engine can do - leave that stuff for HL2 - staying within the constraints of this aged game, and making an awesome map - now THAT is a true victory.

You have alot of talent, insta. I hope we see you in HL2.

[/buttkissing]

Definitely Nice! :D I like

looks great, can't wait for it

Thanks for the kind words :)
Here is an overview, you can't see whats inside the houses or anything, but it gives you a basic idea of the layout of the map.

Many thanks to skdr :D

More to come :D

Wow. that is a wonderful overview. :)

Instacrome, you have done a great job on this map.

The lighting, the textures and the brushwork, is just... perfect

GJ :D

I can't properly tell from the overview, so you may have already thought of this, but just make sure you have distinctive landmarks so it is easy to become acustomed to the map.

Yes, landmarks and the possibility to navigate using architecture is important to me. I hate getting lost in maps, so I try to make it so that people won't get lost in my maps ;)

There will be a playtest tonight sometime, 6vs6, if you are interested in playing, let me know via PM or this thread :)

Release will come shortly after the playtest :D

i wub you insta now get on steam so we can finish our game of checkers you big fruit! (im CAL-o checkers) :(