Thought I would post a small update on the progress of dod_sora. I'm currently working on optimizing and details. I would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Beta Release Date : Now Available

http://dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59839

:D

ht tp://img353.imageshack.us/img353/3570/dodsorabyultranewbalppic01c3ly.th.jpg (http://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dodsorabyultranewbalppic01c3ly.jpg)
ht tp://img149.imageshack.us/img149/4083/dodsorabyultranewbalppic02c9ch.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dodsorabyultranewbalppic02c9ch.jpg)

..more :D

htt p://img149.imageshack.us/img149/8797/dodsorabyultranewbalppic01b4js.th.jpg (http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dodsorabyultranewbalppic01b4js.jpg)
ht tp://img353.imageshack.us/img353/8967/dodsorabyultranewbalppic02a0jb.th.jpg (http://img353.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dodsorabyultranewbalppic02a0jb.jpg)

Wow...looks great. Keep going!!

Simply amazing, i love that skybox!

Looks great! I love the canal.

All i can say is....... WOW

next to anvil_rc2 looks just as good!!

Feed me semore!!!!!

Now this is what custom maps for source are supposed to look like!! A big round of claps goes to you and fuzzdad!!

mother of god thats beautiful D:

Those are some sweet looking pics! :cool: The mountains in the background are especially nice looking. Really helps give you a "sense of place," like you're in an actual mountain village.

Can you describe the map in more detail? :)

Really nice!
I think you and Fuzzdad will be the heroes that save Dod:s...=)

Looks really good. Maybe more stain decals and such on the buildings would help a bit. Like the mountains good job.

wow really nice...lookin real fun.

p.s. you can get in teh church right? the top part.

looking great. those mountains in the background look damn amazing... how did you do those? is it just a skybox texture?

also looks like there is an error on your church roof.

yep, looks really beautifull and 'picturesque' - the canal and the skybox.

i agree somewhat about what propaganda is suggesting, but dont go too overboard. i think the 'yet to be touched' feeling that is acheived with the skybox would contradict the 'dirtier' feel by adding lots of stain decals and rubble. The style looks pretty good already.

About time you gave this great map a separate thread ;)

The screenshots not only look awesome, but promise good gameplay as well.

Keep it going and take your time.

as always, very very nice work

I've got a suggestion:

RELEASE IT!

It truly looks amazing, whats the gameplay like?

Looking good.

:)

Looks great, something I will add to our server for sure. My only negative crit is the outdoor lighting looks exactly like every other map. Its more of a preference, I am nobody to tell you what lighting to use, but I am really tired of all maps using the same boring lighting, theres no color which is a shame. Just my opinion, great map nonetheless. :)

Looks awesome though few of the textures look like they are the wrong scale (side of bridge in pic #5 and side of building in pic #8).

Really nice, but as already mentioned, it could use a bit more interesting environment light.
Evening orange with murky shadows perhaps?

Don't change a thing for now (lighting, textures, etc)...it looks really nice. Playtest and make sure gameplay works and it runs at acceptable fps. You have a lot of detail and some pretty long visual ranges. As long as you can keep most area's in the same fps-ballpark as Donner you'll be fine.

Looks really great. Lots of nice detail and architecture. Skybox looks awesome as mentioned by just about everyone.

Just one suggestion: the arch under the bridge looks like the type of arch you'd walk under on the street, not one you'd find under a bridge....is too clean, and should be a bit dirtier from the water.

How long have you been working on this map?

Looks nice m8 keep going

I think your a tad on the dark side, definately needs an ambient light boost. Almost reminds of a small french town Ive seen named colmar. Anyways, gj.

Thanks for the comments, appreciate it. :) I have been working on this map now in my spare time over the past 3 weeks, prolly about 2 weeks steady. I do have a full time job that is not computer related, so bear with me. :p

I think the layout will promote some good gameplay, keyword "think". We'll know the answer to this when beta testing commences.

FPS is proving to be a challenge to tame (as fuzzdad mentioned, view distances can get big). I'm still working on this, so we'll see. Optimizing is not my strongest point.

This is a purely fictitious location, any resemblance to a real place is completely coincidental.

:D

Spectacular work. I eagerly await its release.

This maps gets an O for OMGWTFLEETLOLZ!111ONE

Wow, looks great. I cant wait to try this out.

Very nice, like the surroundings

hey wow looks very very good. im surprised it took only 2 weeks. the only thing i would change is the number of flags. usually 4 or 5 flag maps play the best. but hey, thats what beta testing is for. as for the look of the map, 9.9/10. great job

I had only seen the reference in one of Josh's posts, and after I got a direct link, all I can say is wow, UN!! It looks like a keeper!! ;)


--Ozz

Originally posted by ultranew_b
I think the layout will promote some good gameplay, keyword "think". We'll know the answer to this when beta testing commences.

If you need a good place to beta test, give me a holler.

Originally posted by Shane
If you need a good place to beta test, give me a holler.

/me gives Shane a holler :p

I have recently began looking for a place to do a closed beta test. Thanks for the offer Shane. I'll PM you after I get home from work today.

:)

Hey ultranewb, I can arrange a private test as well if you like, our server is always packed (except mornings) or I can get alot of regs together, whatever you prefer. Just message me here or visit the paf website/forum and contact me there. Great place to host files as well when you go public with it ;)

Same here ultra. :)

I can probably arrange for a private test on my server too, if you want/need.

Otherwise, if you need another tester, I'd be happy to do so :)

The map looks amazing, and can't wait for the release.

After all the praising and the sucking up to you I wanted to post some kind of criticism...
...
Hmmm...
Can't seem to find any ! :-)

I can think of two questions though...
What are your plans with the lighting ?
I tend to agree with the people that are asking for some more ambient lighting.
What about those two flags ?
Do you plan on adding some or are they capture areas. If it's a no on those two, then the map can be easily won by a stray guy who wondered into enemy teritory (maybe even without getting noticed by anyone) (good point from Alk)

Anyway (here comes the slimey part)...
This map indeed looks awesome !
I can only hope that the gameplay will be as good as it looks !

Still working away on this...optimising etc. Waiting for the sdk to be released basically. When it's released, testing time begins. I've had a few kind offers to host private tests and will let the admins know the second it's ready. Thanks dudes !

ht tp://img456.imageshack.us/img456/3108/dodsorabyultranewbalppic03e2gh.th.jpg (http://img456.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dodsorabyultranewbalppic03e2gh.jpg)

Wow, that's a nice pic!


Can't wait


--Ozz

How did you make the 3d skybox? some kind of external program?

...tileable high res photo I created with PS, very basic skybox :)

I am normally not one to note looks before gameplay, but I must say that looks absolutely beautiful. Has anyone else been to Denver and those pics reminded you of them? Anyway, it looks exceptionally refreshing and original (visually at least). I'm thinking the main things to worry about at this point are the FPS (because it looks like you have some wide open areas there) and gameplay. I guess if optimization isn't your strongest point at the moment, then you could maybe hand it over to someone who is expert at that. Right now, those screenshots are the nicest I've seen of a source map (no offense FD, yours is still very nice), and it would be painful to see it not do well just because of FPS and/or gameplay. I know there's not a whole lot of collaboration on map efforts nowadays, but I don't see a big problem with it (especially since maps are becoming more complex and visually appealing). Most of the mappers around here seem pretty trustworthy too.

Originally posted by Ubiquitous:
I guess if optimization isn't your strongest point at the moment, then you could maybe hand it over to someone who is expert at that.FuzzDad posted what was (to me, anyway) some interesting info on map optimization, about 1/2-way down the page in this this thread (http://www.dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=58246&perpage=15&pagenumber=4).

The FPS is quite good now. :) Comparable to the fps I get on the stock maps. A couple of public tests will be the true test.

yeah i know whatamack, i read it awhile ago. it's just basic stuff that i already kind of knew back when i mapped, except a few terms and cvars were different back then for HL1 maps. back when i used to make maps, i learned a lot about optimization through trial and error, experimenting with hints etc. but i know that now, there's probably a lot more to optimization with hl2. i spent/wasted a lot of time on mapping back then, i can only imagine how difficult (and time consuming) things are now.

regardless, my main point in my earlier post was that those screenshots look so incredibly nice, that i'd hate to see it not succeed due to FPS problems, mainly because one of the things dod:s is lacking besides fun gameplay, is maps we haven't seen/played before.

edit: good to hear about the FPS being reasonable/good

Lookin schweet

I'm thinking about beta testing in about 2 days or less. The map is set-up for ppl who do have HDR. My ancient graphics card (Geforce4ti 128Mb) is not HDR capable, so hopefully some testers with real computers could take some nice pics :)

1st pic - Allied Spawn ( 1 of 3 exits w/ spawn camp protection, thanks FD)
2nd pic - Canal Objective (lotsa cover: will require more than 1 person to cap, same as church objective)
3rd pic - In the rafters of warehouse at canal (great mg/sniper spot overlooking the canal area)

ht tp://img396.imageshack.us/img396/6784/dodsorabyultranewbalppic04f6xx.th.jpg (http://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dodsorabyultranewbalppic04f6xx.jpg)ht tp://img396.imageshack.us/img396/7602/dodsorabyultranewbalppic04e6vp.th.jpg (http://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dodsorabyultranewbalppic04e6vp.jpg)

i want to play it now!!

I'm just wondering if you compiled it with HDR, but are unable to run HDR how you can build the cubemaps for HDR.

You now have to buildcubemaps twice, ones for HDR and LDR. Also the sky isn't HDR compatible (I assume) so with HDR being run, may get funky.

I've only run the cubemaps once on Dijon and I enabled HDR without being able to test it myself. The test today went without anyone noticing weird HDR stuff AFAIK

Odd, the Valve wiki says you need to run buildcubemaps once with HDR off (for those that cannot run it, else the cubemaps would be dodgy) and once with it on for HDR Cubemaps.

well to be perfectly honest it's possible that mine are dodgy I don't know for sure. Before releasing the map, I asked for someone's help to check HDR and it worked ok (on screenies) so I released it that way.

The latest batch of screenies another friend of mine took actually show weird reflection on the Lost Coast props (which are HDR enabled), so that might be just that.

EDIT: Yeah confirmed, HDR cubemaps weren't compiled. Will have to remember that... I also read about the "-final" parameters for vrad, which sounds nice

Actually, Furyo, I noticed some weird effects w/ HDR on, but of course I can't be sure what the cause is. Look in the attachment -- those effects (super-bright) aren't present in non-HDR mode.

yeah it's exactly those ones. Those specific models are HDR compatible, so in this case, they appear fullbright ish...

I need to be able to build my cubemaps with HDR on my 9500 Pro. Fun times ahead....

To anyone who doesn't know, the church pic above belongs to furyos map, dod_dijon.



As for the HDR cubemap related stuff. That is an HDR sky. But, I was unaware that I required an HDR compatible card to build proper cubemaps, thanks for the info Ginger. :angry:

Well, when beta testing starts, Hopefully I can get a volunteer with an HDR compatible card to build the HDR cubemaps on their machine, then send the level back to me for packing.:(

Yeah I just asked on the VDC and got a very quick reply from Jeff Lane who confirmed it's not possible to have HDR on your map if you as a mapper can't have HDR yourself.

So the process will look something like this:


- Compile
- build LDR cubemaps
- compress
- Send to friend, explain what to do
- Receive back from him with HDR.
- Pakrat
- Upload again

Twice as much time at least to get your package ready. Thank god one doesn't need to do that every day....

I just want to say: My jaws still on the floor.
This map looks beautiful.

I hope this problems doesn´t delay your work too much. Would be nice if you´d mention something about a beta test in a single thread maybe.
And if you look for beta testes you could count on me ;)

Just got finished bsp zipping, beta 1. Sent some PMs to a couple of server hosts on these forums to set up 1 or 2 closed tests (to hopefully catch any major issue that may arise), public beta right around the corner.

:)

cool, can't wait!! GJ new_b

Beta 2 testing is over, couple very minor issues to clear up for beta 3. WILL be released within 2 days !

Special thanks to RosieTheRiveter and Sunlit games for their wicked servers and the great ppl there, that helped find bugs and supply some very helpful feedback.

:)

That's great news! Can't wait to see it! :ds:

WOW!

How do you do the buildings so well?!

Cool deal!!!! Can't wait [still!!]

Alright, another high-quality custom map to play. I must say that the detail you put in sora is amazing. I applaud you.

it does look nice.
/drool

Can't wait for this one!!!

Originally posted by ultranew_b
WILL be released within 2 days !
:)

today is day 2, wtf! lol, I've been waiting for this guy for a long time, lets see it!

Originally posted by josh_u[RR]:
today is day 2, wtf! lol, I've been waiting for this guy for a long time, lets see it! Yeah, roger that. ;) I posted (http://www.82ndallamericans.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=3670) in our clan forums about this map back on Nov. 8, and have been looking forward to its release ever since. But, good things do come to those who wait. :D

Looking good, keep it up :D

Sorry about the delay guys, it's out now, enjoy !!!

http://dayofdefeat.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=59839

:)

Downloading ...and hopefully playing on a server soon :) ..looks awesome!

Yay more highly detailed maps for dod source =D