ok so heres kinda my first map i've been playing around with it for a while now and thought i'd see what you guys think.

first off i know its pretty open and bare, and i haven't figured out any objectives so if you guys have any ideas that'd be awesome.

second this map is based off of band of brothers episode 5 when they're held up at the dike (i know i know another bob map, but hey i thought it'd be cool :) )

anyways so i have two diff versions one's at night and the allies spawn on the backside of the road in the ditch (where they come in the movie) also the axis spawn on their side of the road. allies can only go up the hill to start. i know its quite dark in the pictures i was kinda going for that because it was quite dark in that episode, so i might change the lighting a bit, but i like the really dark feel to it. also i'm not sure why the trees are all bright but they are. i need to find some other foliage models because i don't like the ones that are available right now, maybe i'll try and make one, but i'm not too good at that kinda thing

second version is daytime and the allies spawn in their positions in the ditch as in the episode.

let me know what you guys think, what i could change, add, remove etc.

i tried to add as many little holes and ditches to the open field as to make it less of a sniper map, so you should be able to run from dip to dip and be able to survive. cause i hate the wide open sniper maps where you spawn and die. and can't even get across the map, so i tried to make as many hills to help remedy that.

so without further adeu

(here's the night version, i had to make the sky texture cause i couldn't find any that worked :) )
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike14.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike18.jpg

here are some more pics of the map

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike2.jpg


http://www.sisavath.com/moviepics/bandofbrothers5_5.jpg http://www.sisavath.com/moviepics/bandofbrothers5_4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike8.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike22.jpg

http://www.sisavath.com/moviepics/bandofbrothers5_7.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike23.jpg
http://www.sisavath.com/moviepics/bandofbrothers5_3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v208/commanderkeen/dod/dod_dike11.jpg

looks awesome dude, I can't wait for this release.

looks like you're getting 30-40 fps a lot of the time, thats not all the good for playing a map by yourself, I'd expect to get maximum fps on any map if i'm the only one on it. Also, while it looks like a good representation of what it is, it's pretty much just a large open field, looks like a camping/rifle battle, plus if you get 22-32 players in that open field all doing their thing, performance is gonna go way down.

Also the Night pics are too dark IMO, is the map going to be day or night, or maybe you're gonna find a way to switch it back and forth?

i agree with the fps thing, but it also depends on his computer.

I've said this before. You can't judge a maps performance based on the FPS in the screenshots dammit!

For all you know he could be getting 20 in official maps and 30 in that map. Whats to say hes not got hammer in the background and just loaded map to take screenshots or something?

Theres so many things that can effect FPS, mainly hardware. You can't judge a maps performance by someones FPS on it.

A fair representation of the FPS would to do a time demo on the other maps and then on his map and compare it vs an average, otherwise its unfair to comment!

Even though it may be too dark, that night skybox texture looks sweet.

Few suggestions, try and make that smoke look like in the movie shot. I haven't messed with effects like that, so I don't know what would be fps friendly, but it would look cool with a red smokey haze covering part of the field.

Also, try making that ditch look more like something dug out and less like a natural hill. I don't remember offhand what it looked like in the episode of BoB, but I think it would look better as more of a dug in foxhole/trench.

I would like to try it though, as long as you allow 0 snipers. :)

yea when i figure out how to make it no snipers i will :)

also as el capitan said, i did have hammer on in the background, and on top of that i put all the textures and effects on high just so it would look nice and pretty for you guys :)

and yea i am worried about it being too wide open, thats why i tried playing around with hills and ditches to make it so you could get around without getting sniped, but we'll see.

as for the ditch, i believe it wasn't dug out, it was already there, it was as far as i knew a irrigation ditch type thing. i can probably play around with it.

yea about half way through making it a night map i realized that it might be hard to play at night, so thats why i changed it to day, but i wanted to see what you guys thought.

the smoke was a quick add, i haven't finished playing around with its size, i know i can get the same look. i also have it set on a timer so it will only last for about 5 minutes then it dissapears.

i'm still working on the skybox, i can't figure out how to get it look like a wide open field, it needs hills and mountains but there weren't any in that place, so i dunno. also the sky texture is just the basic one, i'm gonna probably take my camera out and get one that i want :)

any other suggestions as to how to make it not a sniper map would be welcome.

thanks for the feedback, didn't know if i was getting it right or not, but sounds like somebody kinda recognizes it :)

i bet when this map is done its going to own nice wip man

Perhaps scale back the size of the moon a bit. It's merely a pet peeve of mine, but the size of the Moon and Sun in games always seems to be much larger than it actually is in reality.

Another small detail, if the moon is full, it should be lighter out. A full moon means an illuminated battlefield, the light you have would be more appropriate with a waxing or waning moon.

The light in the episode is very bright, full moonlight. It'd be cool to see it like this!

Another BoB map, that's awesome! Are there really that many out there? I've seen more SPR knockoffs than anything else.

Whoa, the map looks so simple but still it's nice lookin'!

Real good job!

And the moon looks freakin' great.

Cool

When you take pics for PR, turn off the fps display altogether.


:)

gotcha, no more fps :)

and i'll play around with the lighting, see if i can maybe get the same feel.

i thought there were a couple bob maps about, maybe not. well maybe there will be when this one's done :)

make sure to have a sky box.

i thought there were a couple bob maps about, maybe not. well maybe there will be when this one's done

Agent[S] has dod_ardennes and I'm finishing dod_foy, inspired by episode 7, chapter 6. :D

heh maybe sometime in the future we'll be able to play through the whole show :)

yea i will definately be making a skybox texture.

and i kinda need some help on the skybox, i'll explain more later :) i'm tired

If you end up going with the daytime version I'd recommend turning down the ambient lighting just a little so there'd be a little bit more shadows. Of course it'd have to be super subtle cause the haze would refract most of the light... but I still think a little bit more would give a little more depth.

It'd be great if there was a way to enclose the players so you could avoid "invisible walls" around the battlefield.

yea i'm trying to think how i could do that, because in the episode there weren't too many objects to enclose them.

like the road there were road blocks, so i have that covered, and behind the axis there was heavy foliage, but behind the allies and to the left of them there wasn't really anything i could see, so i'm not sure how i could do it.

i really don't want to have to change it from the episode, but i might have to, i dunno we'll see

very small subtle rolling hills need to be in your skybox, and adjust the sky_camera's height precisely to make sure it doesnt look like your map is setting up out of the 3D skybox. I think that, along with the haze that nave talked about, you'd get the look you were goin for. Setting the fog controller to a Start of 50 and End of 25000 or so would look real good.

I actually like it. Looks like what REAL combat usually plays out in. (FYI %80 of combat is NOT in buildings, they just make for better gaming a lot of the time). I have always beena fan of the open field maps in DOD, although I will warn you a lot of people don't like them. My favorite map for regular DOD is dod_june11

Looks good mate, bit open but that's warfare :P

Perhaps some fox-holes would go down a treat? I love the detail shapes on the grass though they make it look really nice

maybe name it dod_crossraods for the daytime one.

Originally posted by Lt. Stephenson
dod_crossroads fixed :)

Am I the only one who thought that one of the trees he had glows in the dark? Other than that I welcome the rifle fest this map will surely bring to the table :)

yea the tree i couldn't figure out why it was glowing, but i don't want to use those models because they don't look too good, and not really what i want, but i needed something to fill the area with :)

as for foxholes, i was thinking of something like that, but those ditches i was using as that, just kinda something to get around on without getting shot.

i put a few dips and stuff that players can run to and get some cover from, i haven't tested it with other players to see if it actually provides cover, but i'm working on it :)

i'm gonna work on it tomorrow a bit more and i'll put some more pics up

thanks for the continual compliments, its really getting me pumped to finish it :)

Please dont name it dod_crossroads. I would be a very sad panda D:

yea i believe crossroads was more for the end battle at the battle of the bulge, where all those roads met and i think it was foy. i don't remember exactly, you history nuts will most likely correct me :D

Originally posted by Wile E Coyote
I actually like it. Looks like what REAL combat usually plays out in. (FYI %80 of combat is NOT in buildings, they just make for better gaming a lot of the time). I have always beena fan of the open field maps in DOD, although I will warn you a lot of people don't like them. My favorite map for regular DOD is dod_june11

It reminds me of dod_frad3. IF you havent got it on the 95th server than hope you will get it on the server. Its a very good field map that needs good teamwork. I love it, and hope this map is kind of like it! ;)

Nice map. Yeah, I can see myself crawling through the whole thing already......can't find me!

ok so i tried a quick test with my clan and when we loaded it up most of them couldn't see the textures because i had made them myself, how might i load them for everyone to see?