Dod_dijon made its first appearance on Wednesday on the 907th private servers, as beta test started. It will soon move onto the CoJ server for some more testing, and will be released upon the SDK release (once HDR can be implemented).

For the time being, here are some screenies of the map. It's my first map ever, so while you shouldn't expect anything brilliant, I also made it a point that you shouldn't expect anything but my best.

Here are 6 screenshots taken in 1024x768, all details on high, AA 6x. I also quoted the dod_dijon.txt file I made to present the map.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon1.jpg
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon2.jpg
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon3.jpg
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon4.jpg
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon5.jpg
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon6.jpg


This is Sept. 4th 1944. In the dying days of the German occupation of Dijon, the Resistance has just launched a first series of attacks to help the advancing allies.
After successfully destroying a German outpost, a local Resistant got captured and is currently being held in a nearby basement. Keeping vital information away from the Germans, he may not survive the day...
Allies will need to secure the perimeter to get to the French prisoner, but the Germans are not reknown for giving up easily....
------------------------------------
This is my first map ever, any constructive criticism can be sent to Furyo@907th.com
During WWII, Dijon was liberated by the Resistance and the French Army in between Sept. 6th and Sept. 12th 1944.The specific area of Dijon that inspired this map went through the war unscathed, the greater area got massively hit.

Credits:
Mapping: Furyo
Models: Valve and Twigee
Textures: Valve and Furyo

Big thanks to: Twigee, Fuzzdad, PickItUp, Waldo, the Dev Team, CoJ Beta Testers, 907th RAID, Mattaz.

TEST! TEST! TEST!

Looks Sweet!

Soon Cran ;) Probably by next wednesday :)

hmm.. it looks good, but it also looks very blocky (reminds me of maps for 1.3) - i mean, for a first map its excellent. i think you need more rubble in the streets, or at least make them look less blocky somehow, and a lot of the buildings are just straight up and down blocks as well.. since i haven't mapped for source yet thats all the help i can give you, but thats just what i noticed.

It does look pretty damn good, especially for your virgin run.


Keep it up and you could be one of the best mappers on the scene.


I hope you can polish it off and have it out soon!!!

--Ozz

at first glance it looked like the old engine
im sure u can improve it over time though. just keep working at it.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/90.../dod_dijon3.jpg

Love that tree :D

Does lack atmosphere a bit. Make it dark & gloomy!

Originally posted by Multiple Wounds


Does lack atmosphere a bit. Make it dark & gloomy!

brushwork looks good. needs more detail, but the basics are all there. I agree on lack of atmosphere. almost seems like allbright is on or something. tweak the light color and everything should really pop out nicely.

Lighting is one of the areas I know almost nothing about. I'm still looking for good tutorials on the subject.

Buildings *should* look blocky, because this is a major city with existing city planning. Don't try and see another St Mere l'Eglise all over France, there are many differences within the different regions of France, and Dijon had city planning way before the beginning of the 20th century.

All the buildings you see in this map range in real life from the 14th to the 18th century, and still exist today.

I agree that it does look blocky, but at least that makes the map playable by all standards. I'll try and change things of course, I think the church is responsible for a good part of that chunkiness.

looking good mate. Only thing i could suggest would be to dirty it up a bit. Dunno if you know what i mean, but it looks like its just been built. Maybe throw a few prop_phys's around, the odd barrel here and there, maybe the odd rubble pile, or abandoned bedstead :D

There were no combats in the area, it's *not* a war zone/destroyed city. I'll add details of course

I forgot to add that to my previous reply, but the chunkyness feeling probably also comes from the multiple storey buildings, which I wanted to do because I'm tired of the horizontal gameplay. I wanted to have something that would feel like a real multi dozen thousands people city quarter, as opposed to a couple houses thrown together and called a village.

Originally posted by Furyo
There were no combats in the area, it's *not* a war zone/destroyed city.

Why make the map for a war game then? nah, kidding of course, just making suggestions to make the map look 'rougher'.

Originally posted by Caldbeck
Why make the map for a war game then? nah, kidding of course, just making suggestions to make the map look 'rougher'.

I happen to live in the Axis spawn, that makes it a hell of a lot easier to learn how to map ;)

Originally posted by Furyo
I happen to live in the Axis spawn, that makes it a hell of a lot easier to learn how to map ;)

good thing you don't live in chicago ;)

Lol you don't say.

I've spent tonight changing all light entities to fit dod source standards (fixtures using light_spot as opposed to light entities in the Beta), and also changed the sun/light environment, shadow/fog combo.

Tomorrow will tell if that was wise :)

The layout looks alright but it is very bland and hardly any detail

You might also want to set AF to max when taking screens, it really makes the textures pop

Yeah but that makes my 9500 Pro crash (even AA does actually, I've had to have 3 sessions on my map to take these screens)...

Ah yes, the infamous crappy ATI drivers, i feel for you

YES!!!ANOTHER MAP!!!!!:D

very nice indeed, but a bit too clean imo.

church looks pretty cool. Get some HDR in there!!

Right,

Picture 1

Its too clean and block in general
Displacement for cobble areas?


Pictures 2 & 3

Looks good but again too clean, add some rubble ( via destroyed houses or just some stuff in the road, wagons, tanks)
Displacment roof's


Picture 3, 4 & 5

Blockyness again.
Large areas of bland wall space on buildings with nothing on them shows up the block building style, balconies, overhands, drainpipes etc.
Sharp 90 degree road turns = no. Even if you can't curve them give the effect of a curve with a 90 degree curved pavement.
Add damage decals to walls to break them up again.
Vines up walls maybe?


Picture 6

Good start but it just smells of HL1 engine, get some arch models in there.
Fake light beams, anything to break up the large expance of nothing.

Thx for the feedback John, here is a bit more on my side:

Originally posted by Ginger Lord
Right,

Picture 1

Its too clean and block in general
Displacement for cobble areas?



Details to be added, cobble streets are already displaced, though you can't see it that way. All my streets have a light rounded effect. I'll probably increase it a bit though


Pictures 2 & 3

Looks good but again too clean, add some rubble ( via destroyed houses or just some stuff in the road, wagons, tanks)
Displacment roof's



The purpose of the map is not to have destroyed buildings and go for a cleaner look because I'm tired of seeing the same shelled out places. France didn't end up destroyed entirely, and this district of Dijon is the perfect example.

Same as streets, all roofs are displaced (those that make sense, not the metal roof) and will also be increased. Then again, this is a town, not the countryside, and buildings were properly built.


Picture 3, 4 & 5

Blockyness again.
Large areas of bland wall space on buildings with nothing on them shows up the block building style, balconies, overhands, drainpipes etc.
Sharp 90 degree road turns = no. Even if you can't curve them give the effect of a curve with a 90 degree curved pavement.
Add damage decals to walls to break them up again.
Vines up walls maybe?



I hadn't even noticed the sidewalk 90° turn yet, thanks for that (and I agree it's a big no no)

Detail to be added for sure. I leave that for the end, right now I'm testing the gameplay.


Picture 6

Good start but it just smells of HL1 engine, get some arch models in there.
Fake light beams, anything to break up the large expance of nothing.


Thanks for that feedback I'll look into messing up the church a bit. I already changed the lighting and added the anzio church windows too.

I want to play it allready. Have any copies you can let me put on my server yet?

No and not for some time.

Only 907th get to play it for now. We will do a test later today. But it already seem to play well, we just need to get a good 20 player on it to get a good feel of it.

a lot of helpfull constructive critisism already, for you to work on, i'd add that the ground is too flat, and that is very old engine style. Work in a more vertical form to the ground, add some slopes, some natural bumps and formations, even on the roads.

From the screenies, it reminds me of the v1.3 map dod_crete

Which isn't a bad thing, as that was a pretty cool map for its time. I'd like to playtest it on COJ before I make any solid comments on it, but as a personal request, I'd like to see pathways through more buildings so that it plays fast and ambushy.

I made that word up I think.

Trust me it's about as accessible as any map will get. There are more routes available than there are custom maps out by now ;)

It's actually too much (not performance wise) but to funnel the fights, so I'm gonna have to resort to drastic measures...

Is there any playtest in preparation soon ?
Id be happy to help improving it.

btw Furyo please check your pms

No playtests for now and not for a long time, I've just decided to go back to the drawing board and make some major changes as well as bring it slowly up to source standards.

Stay tuned for news on this forum, but it will be a while...

as long is it is good, (whict from seeing it will probaly be) good luck in making, it. See you in the servers.

So after a couple days work in the church only, here is where I am at today. As always constructive criticism is welcome, if you have any ways to improve on this, please share.

This was before:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon6.jpg

This is now:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon7.jpg
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon8.jpg
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon9.jpg

I'm looking into changing the two big colums with models.

Very nice work, gotta say thats looking stunning, so much more feel to it too.

I'm pretty much doing the same thing with one of my maps atm, after playing it and realising its actually going to work im going back and making major changes.

It looks like it will be a fun map, but can you give a map layout? I just want to see how all the streets are, and how it is all set up. If not take a screen shot from really high, and that would be cool. So far from the screenshots GREAT job! i could not make that.....:(

Unfortunately the layout is going to change a bit, so anything I could do would be irrelevant comes release time.

I'll get a screen up whenever it's finished. You can basically picture a square in which the 4 sides are the main roads, with a maze of different possibilities especially in the middle of said square.

quick suggestion, you should replace those large pilars with a single brush based displacement and you can have a perfectly round pillar made out of 1 single brush. Just make 3 equally sized cubes, go into displacement mode and select ONLY the outsides (except top and bottom) of the cubes then create displacement, and then with all of those sides selected click subdivide. Now delete the outer cubes and you can stretch the center cube to a perfect fitting pillar. Perhaps a carpet down the center aisle on the floor? Just needs some more detailing.

I just tried that with displacements and the results are fantastic. Thanks for that. I end up with squared base and top of the pillar, but it morphs into a perfect circle, that's a pretty neat effect actually so I might keep them that way.

furyo, much better on the church. gj!

that new pillar thing sounds really cool, but I'm not sure I get it. could you post a screenshot of it?

Furyo, that church looks insanly better now. Keep up the good work man!

Like the new pics !!

Great improvement.

I'll hold off suggestiions until you say the church is complete.

Well Skdr told me to use glow sprites on the candles, and there will be some other stuff, but please Agent 0, I definitely want to hear your suggestions

Very nice looking. Looking forward to putting it on our server. How soon do you think before you have a release? :D

Furyo

Could you post some of the church interior references you are using?

Off the top of my head I would try and put a carpet running down the centre of the isle.

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_dijon/dod_dijon8.jpg

The stone texture used on the walls looks abit too smooth for a church but if you reference backs it up, nevermind.

What else do you plan on adding?

A carpet is one of the suggestions that were made, and I'll try one, though the ones that exist more or less fit a house as opposed to a church. I'll see what I can dig up though. One that I tried was to force some sort of shadow from the pews, but they are meant to be used as prop_static so they don't cast any shadow.

I don't have picture references of the church, seen as I live across from it and can enter it any day of the week and see things with my own eyes. It's also very dark and to the best of my knowledge no pictures from its inside exists on the web.

Mind you I'm also doing with what is available right now in terms of models/textures (I don't model but I'm always on the look out). As it stands today, what you see is more or less the direct result of my imagination with what's available, as the inside of the real church doesn't look anything like this.

For example I'd include more windows such as the anzio one, were there different set of textures for the stain glass. I don't want to have 16 exactly identical windows side by side.

I'd also like a set of chandeliers, like those that stand about 4 feet from the ground where people can lit a candle. That'd be a great light source for me in certain parts of the church.

Here is a pic of the church from the outside:
http://www.kr-stredocesky.cz/data2/dep_30/brg_dijon.jpg

As you can see it's a gothic church, not a roman one. It's not made of bricks in a small village, it's a big big church made of huge blocks of properly sculpted rock from Burgundy. That's the main reason I chose this texture

This current texture I have exists in different color tones. I have mixed in the church a whiter texture for all the outside architecture and a greyer, more stained texture for all the faces the player is supposed to walk on, to add a "dirt" feeling.

It has some way to go still, and I only hope that the release of Lost Coast will give me more material to work with. It looks from the videos like I'll be able to use some very cool stuff.

I know a successful mapper should take the time to do his own custom work, and I have for some stuff like editing the common window texture to add some shop names and what not, but learning to make proper textures would just take way too much time and I'd never finish the project.

It's just like modelling, I'd rather teams are made around a single project where everyone specializes in a specific thing rather than trying desperatly to find a one man does it all wonder...

Holy crap! The church looks amazing! If you need help with numbers for a play test, DO get in contact with me or my clan, I'm sure we'd be more than willing to help! Your map looks like it will be intense and awesome when you're done! Good luck mapping!

Oh! One suggestion I do have is, on the streets, trying to provide realistic cover so that an Axis/Allied soldier can move up the street from cover-to-cover, protecting themselves from enemy MG/Sniper fire. It'd really help with single/double man rushes up hard to cap alleyways! GOOD LUCK MAN!

My question is...who would light all those candles on the chandeliers in the middle of a war!??! Other than that, it looks great!

Lol tonedef, I know and that's just one of the 100 similar questions I ask myself when mapping, but if you're gonna go for a perfectly preserved church (no sun coming from the destroyed rooftop), something's gotta give :)

Wax (and therefore candles) was extremely valuable too, so I'm not sure how many candles would just be around by 1944... Oh well, dod would have been long dead if maps had to be 100% realistic.

I think the church would really get more mood if youd turn off these candles and destroy parts of the roof using displacements.you could also add some sun rays models piercing the roof.

If you feel like doing so,dont forget to place some rubble and perhaps parts of the fallen roof.