Codeword Nightingale.

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/nacht_big1.jpg

Setting: spring of 1945, a village somewhere around the mountainous silesian-bohemian borders.

The US troops are advancing rapidly due to the relocation of German troops from the west to the east.

On this day though, they've run into a refueling Panzergrenadier Regiment; the Wehrmacht troops will try to protect the valuable tanks as long as they can, while the US soldiers run the risk of overstretching their lines of supply, making this battle extremely important for both sides...

The combat zone of Waltersdorf includes a bridge, a water mill, a cloister and a fortified church as well as meadows, orchards, acres and a small forest; both long range classes and close combat classes will play an important role.

Brushwork:
-55% finished.
Ambience/athmosphere/lighting:
-so far, so good
Optimization:
-reaching 55 - 85 FPS on high details on an AMD Venice 3500 & a 7600GT, not going to drop below that level
Layout & Gameplay:
-not ready for any testing yet

Screens:

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/nacht_big2.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na16.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na17.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na18.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na19.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na20.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/nacht_big3.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/nacht_big4.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na21.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na22.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na23.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na24.jpg

The Level is going to feature almost everything the community has contributed to DoD level design until today.

There are Pedroleum's field models, Spineroyal's textures, bone450's beer cart, Happyernst's excellent tree and fence models and those of Flashy_NL; last but not least, the Citroen of TheSurgeon.

The valve-sky was adapted by PiuPiu, the other custom textures and overlays come from myself and my digital camera ;).

I guess it's correct to consider it a DoD-Community map :)...

Okay, comments and critizism, please!

EDIT: Downsized all large pics to standard dimensions.

youre only getting better

The hugeness is awesome. Thank you for pushing the scale! I can't wait to try this out.

Your gettting very good at mapping!! This map looks very good. Now get it done but without anyway problems and make sure it gets plenty of eyes looking at it to look for errors and exploits and gaps where players getting under the map.

Is there any way that you can post the pics in link format instead of image format? They take a while to load, screw up the width, and sometimes it's hard to see the detail.

When I am trying to read the thread, regardless of trying to read the "First unread post".

Or, maybe you can post one pic, then link the rest.

So far it looks amazing, and you do some nice work. Just hope you listened to some of the guys on Mapcore.

looking very nice as always mr. albatross

Awesome, hope the frames are as smooth as the map ;)

Youre a map making fool!

how do you do this so fast? this looks amazing... much more detailed than your work in the past. wow.

This looks the most intriguing of all your maps. Once you feel comfortable to do playtests, REALLY try and make this thing perfect... it looks awesome.

Oh darn now I have to change my pants......

To be honest, the previews of this map hit me about as hard as those of Plateau... This is what some small German towns actually look like. I have photos that could easily be matched up with these if the walls were off-white instead of yellow (or is that mostly lighting?).

I hope you get to finish this and I hope it plays well. I will be waiting for this one if anything just to LOOK at it close- up :D

nice look! :eek:

what i can say to the pictures,
maybe add some open windows with look inside.

i cant tell u, but something is wrong with that doors look
and burning outdoorlamps while daylight?
http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na22.jpg

center the grate
http://www.albatros44.de/wip/nacht_big4.jpg

some bad texture offsets here on the right and middle wall
also that one tower looks like flying
http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na16.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/nacht_big2.jpg
the window models in front have no shadows, behind they have
(cause that brush windowfronts u used i think)

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/na20.jpg
i can see 3 different fence models, i think 2 would be enough
(but keep mine oO )

at all i like it.

Albatros;1043946'] the other custom textures and overlays come from myself and my digital camera ;).


also the red flower detailsprites ?

Is there any way that you can post the pics in link format instead of image format?

listen to this guy alba! :)

It is just not fair that you can step out of your door for inspiration. :)

We need more mappers like you, located IN germany and france.

dude. it'd be great if you were to open it up and make a helluva lot of paths to take. I LOVE your maps but the whole thing i have an issue with is how linear they are. There are usually 2-4 paths that all lead the same way. I dunno. I just enjoy having multiple ways to take a flag.

but thats just me ya know

- Branches

Beauty ! A good bottle of wine and let's lunch in the countryside ! Keep going.

My only gripe with it is that you mention the map as being in spring of 1945, when everything in it screams of autumn instead. Not the least the wheat fields, which would never ever be ripe around April :)

Tell me this is autumn, work on the lighting a bit more so the contrast is even more appealing (blue shadows against a brownish sun).

summer 1945 and you are set. flowers would not be about during autumn. and the flowers look nice. mid/late summer.

this map looks beautiful.

Like I said once already, Albatros is a map-making machine, coming out with a masterpiece every time!

Hi Furyo,

got me on the logical foot :D.

In fact I guess I'll just have to call it a fictional scenario since everything you've mentioned is correct.

What would you guys think about August of 1944?

New screenshots will follow tomorrow - I've taken care of the old ones, downsized the large images and made the rest into html links.

Cheers!

Albatros

P.S.: Colonel Krust, I'm still busy sorting out those demo files. I've recorded a _lot_ of them, not making it easy for me to pick the useable ones, to be honest... :( I'll inform you as soon as I can.

how the hell do you do it albatros...i really do wish i could do this **** as fast as you are and make it look that great

I dunno lol... it's just my biggest passion and my head's full of ideas, guess that helps concerning the speed. About the looks... well, having a) the ability to imagine what something is going to look like, b) the tools & resources to build it and c) the technique to make it run perfectly smooth on a mid-range machine is to a huge part nothing but practicing and experience.

Also, the speed of mapping depends greatly on experience with hammer... you can save a hell of a lot of time if you know your pool of textures and models and how to make displacements, cables, control a complex I/O system and so on.

Anyway, it's not that hard if you really want to do it :)

Cheers,

Albatros

That is some swell mapping!

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/npa9.jpg

http://www.albatros44.de/wip/npa10.jpg

Two screenshots showing the orchards behind the cloister portal.

The first one is taken from the little forest I mentioned before.

:)

Jesus christ this map is insane. I love the use of levels and that autumn feel. You've inspired me to make a map :D

I love the use of levels

yeah same. its a good variety of terrain that adjusts the level of play.

Like I said once already, Albatros is a map-making machine, coming out with a masterpiece every time!


coulnt agree more. :D

:P Oh well... thanks ._.





Two more little somethings with a touch of HDR.

Cheers :)

Looking good mate, keep up the good work

Ok...a little rain on this parade. :)

Layout? Gameplay style? Looks great...but the road to multiplayer level design heaven is littered with nice looking maps that play like crap (mine included...trust me). What's your gameplan on the actual gameplay?

I like it alot

Hi Fuzzdad!

Absolutely correct, a map that plays crap won't be played a lot :D.

Well, the only thing that I can rely on are the pubber's opinion and my own experience of six years heavy DoD-ing.

For that map, I've planned five flags, two one-man-caps near the spawns, another two on the two bridges, and a 2 man cap in the middle, comparable to the symmetry of DoD_Argentan. Do you think this might work? :)

Cheers,

Albatros

Update... :)








Working on the tank-hunt scenario right now - hope it's gonna be fun...

hey albatross. this map looks really really awesome, and i was wondoring if you planned on spending a little more time aligning textures and tightening up your brushwork. your previous maps also look amazing large scale, but once inside the level, the lack of detail(not amount of details, but the accuracy, if that makes any sense) takes the player out of the experience a little.


regardless. your maps create a huge overwhelming beautiful atmoshere, setting them apart from anything else.

Yea...hopefully at map cap we can join with a decent horde guild to take the Nefarian in Draenor after we get through Nightingale...

:)

nice pictures! but the bridge looks like a foreign body in that map. i think the bride is definitely to bright

@BlackJack:

Yep, true. I'll add a few dust and dirt overlays to tune it down a bit.. :)

@McJewels:

I'm working much more accurate on this map - also, I won't try to keep the filesize down at all cost, so I can spend much more time on detail work and better texturing with custom content.

Cheers :)

Albatros

love the new screens, keep it up m8

Looking good as per usual.

One thingcI'd like to comment on from the last screens and some previous ones. You've used displacements on the roofs to show 'sagging' and so on due to beams breaking or generally 'sagging', while this is fine to do when the roof is 'sagging' in the middle. I've noticed that some of your roofs 'sag' in away that would actually make the roof collapse. I know it's a small silly thing, but me being me I always look at the roofs (I'm a roof *****).

PS, turn the hook around 180 degrees on the barncrane, it'd be abit hard to get the stuff off it :p

As far as the bridge a wood bridge would fit this map me thinks

This map seems awesome man but I wait to play on it because all the maps you've done had some error in the construction,...as if you want to make speed mapping.
But for this, It has a very good presentation and I like so much! Be care on the brush mapping and on the details and I hope to play on a beautiful and on an fun map!
Good continuation and takes into account the quoted remarks well! ;)

This map seems awesome man but I wait to play on it because all the maps you've done had some error in the construction,...as if you want to make speed mapping.
But for this, It has a very good presentation and I like so much! Be care on the brush mapping and on the details and I hope to play on a beautiful and on an fun map!
Good continuation and takes into account the quoted remarks well! ;)

yep. take your time with this one before it goes public. it looks beautiful, and i can just imagine playing through it all. as long as its fun, with no problems :) keep it up

Yes, awesome looking map... GJ. Thanking you for your time and efforts making the DOD:S community better.

Cheers, Kurt

I really like the architecture on the buildings. It's original among DoD:S maps.

:)

:) thanks guys, I'll definately expand the testing phase for this one to get rid of as many flaws as I can.

About the roofs... well, you'll probably have to see some 15th century buildings in real life to believe that all the bumps and the "sagging" won't lead to a collapse ;).

I'll take a couple of pictures when I find the time to... right now I'll have to take a break for a week to finish non-PC stuff or I'll starve sooner or later :p, so a last set of screens:

Ty :).


The chapel and some sheds and the council hall (building with the letters on it) and a view from the first to the latter.








Concerning the bridge: I use a darker texture now aswell as some dirt overlays, so it fits better into the landscape, although a wooden bridge would also be quite picturesque :D.

so, how big is this layout in scale? snow map scale, or flash like?

Albatros;1046530']
About the roofs... well, you'll probably have to see some 15th century buildings in real life to believe that all the bumps and the "sagging" won't lead to a collapse ;).



i believe you.... just here in the states, nothing is old enough to sag that much.. and in here California... everything just falls down from these damn earthquakes.

this map reminds me a lot of some scenes in the movie "triumph of the will", a beautiful, but disturbing film.

Hi :)

Flash is coming to 6800 * 5300 Hammer Units aka inches, about 29000 square yards.

Nightingale will be at 5700 * 4600 inches / 20000 square yards, so it will be smaller than flash was. :)

Albatros;1046540']Hi :)

Flash is coming to 6800 * 5300 Hammer Units aka inches, about 29000 square yards.

Nightingale will be at 5700 * 4600 inches / 20000 square yards, so it will be smaller than flash was. :)

wow, thats pretty small :)

is there a lot of vertical action?

Oh, I hope so! The map will offer enough opportunities - if players want to use the advantages of elevated areas, they can do so, but they don't have to.

Axis will probably find it to be a good idea to use the fortifications of the old city wall, castle and buildings to defend their tanks, while the allies may see a good opportunity in using the river or the hills around the village for some surprise attacks or covering fire.







I'll try to get as close to a rural combat zone in a mountaneous area as I can :].

Last set of shots until April 18th.

I think 2 weeks until a beta release should be a realistic estimation :).

That is the most beautiful map I have ever seen, well done. I hope all those trees, bump maps and water doesn't drop the fps too much :P

extreeme hot map! im looking forward to play the map! good job my friend!! ^^

It's making me all warm and fuzzy inside. Now where did I put my K98?

Albatros, why aren't you employed at Valve??? Your maps are 10 times better than the Official! :)

yeah, those screenshots remind me of who crappy i am at mapping, lol...

good job, man...i'm sure you could easily get a job as a game designer/artist if you wanted to...if you aren't one already...

Hey airbornetrooper =)

Lol, I don't know, maybe they don't like my style :p.

@Cheipazgeimur

Nope, I'm not working as a game designer or artist yet :).
I don't know if the game industry will employ anybody without any "formal" university education, so I haven't given it a try yet ;).

I'm still improving my technique & working at my "quality control". Some day I might be good enough for doing something official, but until then I'll have to focus on getting better.

On topic:

I've been busy detailing the church tower a bit which hasn't been that easy due to the 1 : 16 scale of everything within the 3d-skybox. For now I'm pretty satisfied with it.

church tower looks fine, especially if thats in the 3d skybox. :D very lush and pretty stuff so far, really digging it. if you've nailed the layout and the gameplay as well, this could be a real winner.

well to be honest at this point I'd probably just be happy running around banging two rocks together on this map. If it plays wells too, bonus!

I love the medieval look, looks actually like the town my Dad was born in, Herford, Germany.

have u finished this map? Are you close to being done with this map? What is the status of this map?

All I really am looking for is a update.

:)

I'm still working on it.

All I need are two models, rather three but two of them really crucial to gameplay.

As soon as these are done I'll launch a betatest and release a beta of the map - it's about 95% done, I'd say.

Cheers :)

Albatros;1053683']As soon as these are done I'll launch a betatest and release a beta of the map - it's about 95% done, I'd say.


its too early to justify that. you will need to complete the test before you can decide whether to release that version or not. there may be some heavy bugs that need work before release. so after the test, make approriate/necessary changes. if you feel its up to par for a public release, then go for it. but if you would like to keep working on it, then do so, test again, ect.
who do you plan on testing with? there are a few groups out there that do an excellent job (by supplying a good amount of players, and offering feedback on gameplay and bugs)
keep us posted, id be glad to test.

Aye,

true that.

There'll have to be lots of testing and balancing - I just wanted to say that it won't take very long anymore until the release :).

Cheers & yay, I'll get you a copy of the final bsp as soon as I can.

Can you please post your light_environment values and which skybox you took for this map? (if it's a stock one)

Hi Furyo,

it's a custom skybox I'm afraid :(.

I'll send you that data asap, either later tonight or tomorrow. Celebrating my birthday later on so there'll be quite some desaster to survive... ;)

I had a feeling it was a custom one, from its color. The reason I asked is that though the sun color is very nice, I'm afraid the skybox could be a bit screwed up with HDR, being custom and all. Gotta pay extra attention to the HDR settings on this one :)

Dear Albatros,

Happy belated birthday. I am from the department of public safety of the WORLD, and for the safety of this world we live in, you need to release this map ASAP.

Grazi,
The World

lmao, aye :D. I'll keep that in mind. As long as my own safety isn't directly threatened and I won't become a very endangered species... :p







Had that laws examn today and now I've got a week of time for both projects again. Wish me luck. :)

So, Good luck & Have fun !

Thanks :)











Getting real close to the finishing line... couple of days left until the first inofficial balancings can start.

:)

@Furyo:

thanks, I'll keep the HDR-issue in mind! :)

This map looks f****** sweet, great job there. Graphically it looks amazing, hopefully, gameplay wise, is amazing as well.

i cant see the pictures too well because the monitors at work are hella dark. when you mean you are releasing for balancing, are you releasing internally or publicly?

Internally.

You're among the first to get a copy aswell as some others from the forums here - your feedback would be very important to me, especially since spawn + objective mode will be something rather experimental. It could be about anything between a blast and a flop - we'll see. :)

This...looks...awesome.

Can't wait.

Thanks :)


__________________________________________________ _________


__________________________________________________ _________


__________________________________________________ _________


__________________________________________________ _________


Okay guys... about 920 hours of work coming to an end.

Wednesday 06/13 I'll upload a first alpha version - it's not supposed to be a fully working, functional pub-version.

It's only for bugfinding, rough balancing and exploring whether the new gameplay mode will work. It's going to be a combination of Capture the Flag, objective destruction and playing against time.

I'm already in PM contact with some of you who'll get a copy of the alpha-1 version - anybody else who'd like to take a peek at it, please send me a PM with "Nightingale Alpha" in the title and I'll make sure you'll get the DL link.

:)

Thanks in advance,

Til/Albatros

i can only say wow, stunning visuals. the look of the map is unique and superbly realised, well done.

Hey Albatross,

Is it possible to also release it without a timer so us realism guys can play on it with unlimited time?



Thanks,

Branch [5th RB]

Hi branch!

Yup, would be possible - chances are good the final version will go without a timer, since all in all it mustn't be too complicated.

Don't release a public beta, playtest it first

Aye, playtests are already set :).

I'll send out a version to the other "usual suspects" - hoping for a lot of feedback!

Cheers!

I'll send out a version to the other "usual suspects" - hoping for a lot of feedback!
*waves wildy*

*meh's wildly*

How can you "meh"? This map is awesome. :P

How can you "meh"? This map is awesome. :P

I suspect the "meh" has a lot to do w/the fact that over the years we've seen a lot of nice-looking WIP's that either never made it into a release schedule or had really bad gameplay.

I'm looking forward to it but all we've seen are the same front areas of the map (which looks great btw). Until you get 20 people on it in a full on firefight all we can do here is add conjecture. The map certainly looks solid from these pics and the mapper has a nice eye for detail. We'll see if that "eye" projects to gameplay.

I suspect the "meh" has a lot to do w/the fact that over the years we've seen a lot of nice-looking WIP's that either never made it into a release schedule or had really bad gameplay.

I'm looking forward to it but all we've seen are the same front areas of the map (which looks great btw). Until you get 20 people on it in a full on firefight all we can do here is add conjecture. The map certainly looks solid from these pics and the mapper has a nice eye for detail. We'll see if that "eye" projects to gameplay.

Yeah, I know about that. Believe me, I've followed hundreds of maps (and models, for gmod posing) that have never made it out or were rushed out and turned out to not be played much. :(

Hi again :)

Well I certainly do hope I have that "eye", because otherwise mapping would be pretty pointless. ;)

I might fail, but I spend a lot of time pushing new gameplay modes ahead. Take the generator switch-off of street illumination on Stuttgart, or the arsenals that could be opened by using explosives.

Nightingale now will require some patience from players.

It's not the perfectly functioning cap-a-flag-of-five-and-smile gameplay that became worn out over the years, so it's going to be a risk I'm willing to go in.

The fact that players first need to knock out the enemy tank before they can cap a flag, and that this knocking-out can only happen with well aimed bazooka shots or very much better aimed grenades will definately make cooperation necessary. If this is being accepted, it can be a hell of a lot of fun.

Coming to the release progress - FuzzDad is definately right when he says that there are dozens of beautiful maps that never happen to appear on our screens or simply become orphaned with LDs changing to another Mod. I promise that this is not the case with that map here since I've spent a thousand hours on it by now and there's only little to be changed according to the testers (thanks again to Neutrino who did a hell of a job taking screenshots, commenting certain aspects of gameplay and pointing out bugs).

Still - on the whole, FD is right. As long as it's not out, you can't really tell whether it'll be a top or a flop.

Cheers,

Albatros (back to work!)

The same can be said of visuals too Albatros. That's why I posted earlier not to send a public beta version out. On a typical screenshot you may be able to spot 3-4 dodgy things. In game, the same area will give you 20+

Hi Furyo,

aye. Until now I've only given a few previews because I had so much to fix on my own, so the first "public" versions will still not make it into the releases-section.

The feedback I got so far was really very useful and I sure don't want to make the same mistake over and over again, so this once I'll take my time and release only what I'd call a proper, clean map.

Cheers :)

Albatros

Albatros;1060392'] so this once I'll take my time and release only what I'd call a proper, clean map.


thats the best way
because this limits the amount of versions to the public, and will really make a great impact on the first impression

:eek:

If you always wanted to know what this stuff looks like on the inside, here's a series of screens picturing a few indoors locations.

Still unter the WIP-label, though.















Either tonight or tomorrow I'll send out the private test copy to everybody who sent me a PM - looking forward very much to getting feedback & bugreports. Thanks in advance to all who have contributed :).

you mean the Wow, ImPpressive!-label, right?

this is going to be my summer-vacation.

Albatros, count me in for the playtest :) Be warned though, I'm a picky son of a b*tch

Ah, see you changed that car. :P

Yup, had to change it in order to reduce the filesize :/.

It's a shame that HDR more than doubles the bsp-size in certain cases...

Oh and Furyo - the more picky, the better, so I expect your pickyness to go to the max ;). Qualified critics are the only way to make an buggy map a flawless one, so please feel free to pick on anything that deems you improvable! :)

@Piu:

Just like that, but then... different. :] It still is a construction yard really - I'll update the screenshots later today (since the last compile has finished without giving me any trouble).

Oh and yeah - if there are any european server admins around feeling capable & willing of running a playtest, please check back with me so I can send out a copy! Thanks!!!

Cheers!

Yes , my clan is willing to test your map .
visitus www.kshclan.de

Your map looks amazing. Perhaps change some small things to get an even more realistic look: in the first picture the walls of the churchtower could be thicker, in the second picture the wooden ceiling construction doesn't look authentic, maybe check some reference pictures of such ceiling constructions. In the third picture the tower in the right part of the picture seems to be too twisted. I'm sure you going to improve the texturing in the 4th and 7th picture.
Besides these little things I really like the overall ambience of your map and how everything seems to fit together.

Hi Andi, jori.

@Andi: I'll gladly send a link out to you and your mates... it's gonna be a matter of days now :).

@jori:

Thanks, very good points there - I'll work on them.

Okay, definately the last set of screenshots now... it's enough :D.

The spawn system is more conservative now; also, I've changed the flag system.

Instead of 2 bazooka targets and 2 standard caps, it's 4 bazooka targets now; in order to get more action in it, all flags can now be recaptured and only 1 player is needed to cap them after the destruction of the target linked to them.

I also implemented some more vertical combat, e.g. adding higher level locations from where to shoot at the tanks, trenches, barb wire and bunkers... oh well.

I'll upload the Alpha version tonight around 7 pm CET. Those who haven't received anything yet after sending me a pm will automatically get the new version link. :)

That actually looks amazing, not even the stock levels look that good, if you need any more play testers I have a few friends who play DODS with me every day so we can do our own play test if you would like some more testers.

p.s pm'd you as well.

Albatros your levels keep getting better and better and better we run every one that you have released :D WoW Amazing work is all I can say . You Rock ! :cool:

Ty, great to hear there are servers actually running my maps :) :).

- Albatros

P.S.:

You've both got mail ;).

Thanks for the link, will have a play later and let you know if I find anything.

dear Albatros , I´ve never got a email from you sry , could you send me please the link again by PM or to ksh-clan@gmx.de .

Valve should hire you!!!! Awesome map :D

Heh, ty.

I'm pretty certain they won't :|...

Anyway. I plan to release the map tomorrow in a first beta version - if any of you (especially the alpha testers) have anything they'd like to see changed, please give me a note.

I think I'll run the final compile overnight - I've changed a lot of stuff so far, including better protection (additional defense positions) for both spawns, less shots to blow up the tanks, additional bazooka stacks and lots of optical/player movement fixes and a passage above the waterfalls.

Cheers :)

Albatros

Look forward to this, was good when i played it last time.

Spawn points! Please take a look at them, especially on the Allied side, I think only 13 of them were valid.

Looking forward to the release. :)

Yes sir - fixed most of the invalid spawn points, relocated a couple and added a few more.

Final compile is done to about 75% now - vrad takes about 5 hours in each run... that's what the "-final" parametre does to it. Ack...

Your Maps are crazy good man going to try this one but for the screenshots seems wonderfull.
Thanks for your awsome work.

Hey guys,

I'll come up with b2 sooner than expected.

Finally got HDR running again on my machine (had to force DoD to accept directx 9 on my 7600 GT first), so I've been able to fix the HDR related problems and the result is looking quite okay.













You can either get B1 from the release section or wait for B2 to come out (which will be within a couple of days because I'll have to leave for Spain next week).

Thanks for your support.