I was able to put in a lot of work on dod_rive lately, so I guess it's time for an update...

The map is nearing beta2 status for playtesting (hopefully next week end) and has had a lot of changes, mainly due to a completely new layout. The map was going to be a 6 flags map (4 flags drawing a "fight square" at the middle) along the riverbanks (rives in French, hence the name of the map).

Based on the feedback I received from the first playtest, and the awfully long lines of sight I had, I decided to convert it to a 5 flags "Caduceus" map. The principle is to design a straight road from the two spawn flags going through the middle flag, with an "s" shaped secondary route that follows the river, for the two other flags.

This is based in a gritty, war torn village (though the screen only reflects that partially).

Obviously still a lot of work to do, especially on the optimization front with that much water, but it's slowly getting there. Depending on the next beta playtest, I may try to have objectives in the map instead.


http://perso.wanadoo.fr/froughol/907th/dod_rive/dod_rive0002.jpg

Looking Good !!!

:)

That looks great! I'm looking forward to trying it out. Awesome atmosphere there. Great work.

the lighting, skybox, and the fog match great
good hue :)

It looks excellent! I have a curious question, I don't have Hammer in front of me right now. :( Is it possible to change the color of the water in Hammer? Like make green, or have no color to it, and such?

I'm digging the atmosphere you got going on. Very dreary! I look forward to seeing more of your brushwork and overall layout.

Originally posted by SilentSteps
It looks excellent! I have a curious question, I don't have Hammer in front of me right now. :( Is it possible to change the color of the water in Hammer? Like make green, or have no color to it, and such?

Sure! But you have to know your way around the VTFs, it's not controled within hammer.

Map looks good but that water is no doubt going to kill some peoples machines, hows the swap buffers running?

Well that's not really the problem here....the problem is this screen only shows half the map :) So there actually is just as much water behind me in the screen.... I can tell you the lod transition is very small (starts at 250, ends at 500 units)

FPS are "good enough" on my rig (which is really crap). I don't get below 30 FPS as it is, but the map lacks detail (though it won't ever be as detailed as a town map, this is a small village anyway) I haven't really started the optimization though.

[QUOTE
(rives in French, hence the name of the map).

[/QUOTE]

You must be speaking that "other" french, because here in france "river" is "riviere"(with the backslash above the first "e")

Originally posted by Ace_McGirk

(rives in French, hence the name of the map).



You must be speaking that "other" french, because here in france "river" is "riviere"(with the backslash above the first "e")

And I did say rives is the translation for riverbanks, not rivers....

really good work Furyo.
I can see a flying tree on the left

Like the atmosphere...

this looks really good, and I really like the atmosphere, but i feel that that huge oak tree looks a little out of place and unrealistic. It's cool, but I think it would be better without it, IMO. Cant wait to see more of this map.

Originally posted by Ca-Chicken-Soup
Sure! But you have to know your way around the VTFs, it's not controled within hammer.

Map looks good but that water is no doubt going to kill some peoples machines, hows the swap buffers running?

I just recompiled the map fully last night and had a walk through it right now, and I was puzzled by the impact the water had on the level. It has almost none. The cheap water level is so low that the FPS aren't impacted by it. And the good news is there's a chunk of it that'll go in the 3D skybox too.

Right now the hit in performance comes from the displacements. It adds up to twice as much as any other bar, including the usually high "world rendering" and "brush props rendering". It isn't all that surprising when taking into account the fact that this map is a 7500 by 5500 Hammer units rectangle ENTIRELY covered in level 3 displacement brushes...

I'll try and stick with level 2 instead and see what that does, it shouldn't have much influence on the general look of the map, and it could help on the fps front. That and some more hints/set distances for props and it should be good to go for a test.

That does look really good Furyo. Reminds me of some of the old para maps from beta days.

Its got that para_hedgerow feel to it. I like it. ;)