[MAP] Tides of War


(FrostyChilli) #1

Tides of War

I would like to present you a map, which I started making in 2010, almost finished, but then stalled it. I today decided to polish and finalize it for public release.

Firstly as I finished the map, I started thinking a name for it(I had one before but because of the gameplay changes I had to change it). I came up with the name “Tides of War” because it’ll be a second map in my campaign rotation. Yes, I know, I have finished my second map before the first one. But the first map in the scenario is on its way. I just need to finalize and polish it as well. Then before coming to forums, I googled if there is a map in Enemy Territory called “Tides of War”. I found out that there was an expansion for Wolfenstein called Tides of War. So my map shouldn’t be confused with the expansion maps/missions because they are in no way related to one another.

Secondly, the map looks very similar to LNA 1v1. It is so because that is exactly where the inspiration came from. I remember it all started 4 years ago when I wanted to learn mapping and I took LNA 1v1 as a blueprint for me to copy. I however decided to make it bigger because I wanted to get my map on servers with larger population. I was in Weeman FuN Clan at that time. And that is the reason why this map also has an objective. In my clan it was not allowed to put maps without objectives into rotation. So it used to be just a map I wanted to create for learning but now I have decided to use it as one of the maps in my upcoming campaign.

Now, getting to the map itself.

Scenario information:
“Stealing the documents from an Axis airbase, has given Allies intelligence about a location of an underground Axis lab. The Allied forces are now trying to locate the entrance to the lab for further investigation.”

Allied: “Destroy the axis Generator and the hidden door to gain access to the Axis underground lab”

Axis: “Stop the allies from destroying the Generator and defend the entrance door in the basement at all cost”

EDIT: I have also added a Dri version of the map, which includes Death Row Inmates community posters.

Download

Download DRI version

Screenshots

Thank you!


(Mateos) #2

Nice, going to try it now :smiley:


(twt_thunder) #3

cool, will test it later today


(twt_thunder) #4

extra download


(twt_thunder) #5

overall ok map… maybe a bit confusing but using the map I figured it :slight_smile:

minor critism:



stair texture… turn in 90 degres… no stair is built this way


use another texture for floor and roof, will look much better


rise this a little bit… crashes a bit when crouching


(FrostyChilli) #6

Thanks for the extra download link!

And I’ll get these things fixed. Though I’m not sure about that floor and roof thing. As a floor, maybe a wet muddy ground and for roof…Hmm…Not sure. But I’ll test!

Cheers,
Frosty!


(Teuthis) #7

Congratulations, will Check it out tomorrow. Judging only from the Figures you can add some more Realism by Texture blending and by Not making the hills all the Same height. These Are Minor Things, Most importantly, you made it until this point so the Rocky Part is Lying behind you :wink:

You’re making More Maps ? Love to See more mapper around Here.


(FrostyChilli) #8

Thank you, Teuthis!
I am making more maps, yes. One of them, as I mentioned, is almost complete. It just needs polishing. And now that you mentioned it, Texture blending is the problem in my map I’m trying to complete.

I was wondering if there was another way to blend textures rather than use the method taught here: http://www.simonoc.com/pages/articles/terrain2_1.htm. I’m not really into creating these “posts” or “pipes” around the map, simply because it would take so much time and I’m sure there is a simpler way to tell the editor that hey:about these 2 textures, when both of them are on brushes that are next to each other, blend them. If you could point me into the right direction, I would be glad. :slight_smile:

And about the hills, yeah…I thought about remaking them and I might even do that if I’d find an easy way to to create hills that would actually look good. I believe one way would be to use gtkgensurf. Or are there any other methods? I’ve also thought about laying brush on brush with different contours.

Cheers,
Frosty


(Teuthis) #9

[QUOTE=FrostyChilli;515282]Thank you, Teuthis!
I am making more maps, yes. One of them, as I mentioned, is almost complete. It just needs polishing. And now that you mentioned it, Texture blending is the problem in my map I’m trying to complete.

I was wondering if there was another way to blend textures rather than use the method taught here: http://www.simonoc.com/pages/articles/terrain2_1.htm. I’m not really into creating these “posts” or “pipes” around the map, simply because it would take so much time and I’m sure there is a simpler way to tell the editor that hey:about these 2 textures, when both of them are on brushes that are next to each other, blend them. If you could point me into the right direction, I would be glad. :slight_smile:

And about the hills, yeah…I thought about remaking them and I might even do that if I’d find an easy way to to create hills that would actually look good. I believe one way would be to use gtkgensurf. Or are there any other methods? I’ve also thought about laying brush on brush with different contours.

Cheers,
Frosty[/QUOTE]

Blending and scriptmover are certainly Points Not easy to get. There are two ways of blending. Using pcx Methode implemented in EasyGen. This Way is quite easy but does Not give you the Flexibility that you have with the alpha blending Way. I Personally do everything with alpha blending and Once you know how to use it you’ll Love it. Just download the Tutorial Maps from simonoc and See how it’s done. It’s Not complicated.

To the hills, you can use Programms like EasyGen for making the Terrain. I Personally do all the Terrain Stuff on my Own using the vertex and Edge Mode. You can find Tutorials for everything including blending on TWT Website.

Last wird on blending. All you need are Those alpha Poles which are Put at the enges of the blending Brushes and a Shader that dös the blending. Very easy in General.


(Mateos) #10

Meh at PCX method, you have more precise and powerful results with alpha blending. You can’t advanced stuff the easy way… Choose between lazy and simple or hard work and advanced :slight_smile:


(FrostyChilli) #11

Well I generated my terrain with FATE surface editor, which was a quick way. This is the situation I have right now.






There are surface layers under surface layers. I made a mistake not using another program. Does it mean I have to add Alpha poles at every position illustrated below?


Cheers,
Frosty


(Teuthis) #12

@ Mateos, you are of Course right but for a Newcomer the more simple Way is a good Starting Point before you go more Advanced in the next round

@ Frosty, in your picture the Lines of the Brushes are misplaced which will create Problems in the Map. Better to do it Manually using vertex and Edge Mode (see Tutorials on OUR Website). The Poles only need to be at the edges Where you want blending. Best Thing is to make a Tiny Test Map and then Try it out until it Works. Then go back to your Main Map and use what you learned in the Test Map.

The Way I learned it was to use simonocs Test Maps and to replace some Textures in the shaderfile. That’s all you need


(stealth6) #13

I think FATE makes 3 brushes per triangle (I don’t think this is a problem since only 1 has the actualy texture on it and the rest have caulk)? Also doesn’t it have blending built in? I remember when I generated terrain in FATE there were small cubed brushes above all of the vertices. The problem was that the cubes weren’t long enough I think (the alpha brushes need to enclose the vertices not hover above them)

For texture dilemma just think about real buildings. When you have bricks or cobblestones on the floor then there is grass, dirt & moss between them - try to look for a texture like that. As for the roof if it’s a flat roof then it’s probably concrete, if it’s curved then you could get away with using the same texture as the walls.


(FrostyChilli) #14

@stealth6, final version of FATE, which I found is 0.13 and it does not have blending nor textures implemented.
About the textures, I changed the floor texture and added a detail to the ceiling edges., as you will see in a future update.

@Teuthis, I found EasyGen to be a really simple tool for creating what I need, however there is a slight problem with that. I’ll pm you about it.

I added a new constructible to the map, some hard covers for outdoors, fixed some issues and changed the stairs textures. :slight_smile:
I will try to make hills(map edges) realistic as well and then I’ll release the next version.

Cheers,
Frosty


(Teuthis) #15

I appreciate your enthusiasm. That’s what ET needs and enthusiasm always pays off. I am absolutely convinced that you’ll Not only Handle this blending Thing, you’ll also Come up with a Decent Map.

Offer on the side. I can send you a Tiny Test Map Where I Used to Experiment with some alpha blending. I can send you this map file Along with the Shader and Textures I blendend. But you have all you need in simonocs Test Maps as well.


(Mateos) #16

RayBan already released something like that, with some simple patch meshes and foliage shaders I recall

Edit: foliage_example2.zip, trying to find a link.

Edit 2: http://www.wolffiles.de/index.php?filebase&fid=1424


(FrostyChilli) #17

Wow guys, thank you!
The help I’m getting in this forums is huge. I will get alpha blending work and finish a decent map.

Cheers,
Frosty!


(FrostyChilli) #18

Hey there!

I made some visual updates to the map and added an extra objective!

I changed the Dropbox and Screenshots links in the original post for you to access. However just in case, I’ll type them here again. File size has increased due to textures I didn’t know how to access without copying them into a separate folder.

Thanks alot to people helping me!

Download

Screenshots

Cheers,
Frosty!


(Teuthis) #19

I noticed you made the hills now a bit uneven. Looks much better now :wink:


(FrostyChilli) #20

Ahh, yes, thank you! That is actually the main update. Before…There were just 4 walls, like a house has. Now there are hills, on which you can actually walk. You could say that the earlier “hills” had no depth to them. :smiley:

Cheers,
Frosty