[WIP] Nightfall

[Con]

You're probably all wondering what happened to Valhalla and why I'm working on this map instead. Well, this map is just for learning the H2EK a bit more and what I can do with it. Valhalla is by no means canceled or forgotten. This map, Nightfall, came when I felt like learning a bit more about the H2EK and making an original map. When I had my Gold trial, I loved the co-op gametype Zombies (http://www.h2ek.com/wiki/index.php?title=Zombies). Seeing as the only few maps being played for Zombies were Foundation and District, I wanted to make my own Zombies map. I got the idea for Nightfall and started sketching it out on some paper, working out gameplay stuff.

Nightfall is an asymmetrical UNSC storage facility that was stripped of everything useful when the war began with the covenant. The map is really too small for warthogs, so I've included just one ghost per side. All the features in the map in a relatively small area should really make for some fast-paced gameplay, I think it should be fun for any gametype as long as there aren't too many people. I'd guess this map plays well for around 4-12 people in team games, 2-10 in FFA.

Along with creating an original map, I wanted to create an original sky for the map. I was browsing around the tags and came across the cubemap for the sky in the old New Mombasa, the one seen in the E3 trailer that got scrapped. I really liked the look of it, especially the sunset, which inspired me to create a custom sky for Nightfall. Unfortunately, none of the render_models of the provided skies were suitable for my bitmap (most were domes with different UV's). I had to make a big cylinder around my level to put my sky on, but it seems this has caused too many problems and I can't package the level now. The custom sky has been ditched for now until I can make a real one.

Here are some pics from sapien:

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/6530/capturezs0.png

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/6479/capture2pl7.png

http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/8897/capture3na0.png

http://img104.imageshack.us/img104/484/capture5vw2.png

Thoughts and suggestions?

[Skyline]

Nice. The tunnel there could be more then just a box [] (second picture; the further one).

[Tweek]

needs more pics
send me your file. i want to have a looksie

[Patrickssj6]

I think it looks very nice! :)

[Tweek]

looked at the file, i love the way you have the tunnels laid out.
good interior, i like. should turn out to be a really good small map!

[Boba]

I bet Geomar would play good with Zombies too, ;p. Anyway, looks nice. :o

[Zeph]

needs a sky without seams

[Bastinka]

Zeph makes a good point, then again no-one in game will be like 'omg theres a seam, lets not play this map.' So it's not that important, I think Calm before the storm fits this map as a better title. Doesn't really look like nightfall.

[Tweek]

you care, i can see it, i CAN SMELL IT!! YOU CARE!

[Bastinka]

Me? :X

[DaneO'Roo]

I do believe Con's going to fix that sky :/


Awesome work connie :d

[Con]

Nice. The tunnel there could be more then just a box [] (second picture; the further one).
It was intentionally made like that. That square shape is only for entrance to the tunnel, everything else underground is a lot nicer. I wanted the underground hallway to have a sort of bunker feel, with little access shafts connected to it.


needs a sky without seams
The sky is actually seamless, it's just that max fucked it up when I tried cutting edges to give the sky cylinder a bit more shape. Maya ftw. It's not there anymore anyway, I need to wait for Jahrain's tutorial on custom skies with new render_models for H2V.


I think Calm before the storm fits this map as a better title. Doesn't really look like nightfall.
Too long, and nightfall makes total sense. The sun has just set. If you guys can think of a better name, that's fine, just not too long.

[Stealth]

oh, nice looking map, and nice idea con, maybe it'll work well with my "Ghost" Game type. :p

[Rob Oplawar]

The textures are too bland.






lol jk jk. Srsly tho I'd love to see it textured, but focus on the layout and gameplay first and foremost. Looks intriguing, but we won't know until we play it. Alpha mbmb?

[Con]

yeah, I've left it untextured for that reason, to test gameplay and make any changes I need to. I've only tested it with Lightning so far, but it played fine for us.

[et_cg]

Well, it looks great so far, Con. And I do hope your problems do sort out (custom sky).

[Pooky]

Is there a slightly darker Halo 2 skybox? That one doesn't work too well =\

Other than that nice job

[et_cg]

We were given:

Ascension
Zanzibar
Midship

Sadly, those are the worst map skyboxes for tons of different ideas.

(forgive me if I missed some, not really all here right now)

[spookers622]

that kinda of reminds me of the map i as working on... well i hope nobody thinks i copied you or anything cuz i have posts with it since a month ago

EDIT: it may not loo the same in the pics but i got tunnel entrances in same place and was thinking about putting a bridge type thing in the middle... i hope the design doesnt turn out to much like yours cuz i dont wanna be accused of not thinking of my own map...

EDIT AGAIN: although, i was thinking of a DESERT at night, but im sure sure if that makes too much sense with my underground cave being there...oh ya, and mine has bases made by me:)

[Roostervier]

Oh hai, :awesome:.

I was wondering when this map was going to pop up with its own topic when you showed me the model. Great job so far!

[Con]

I have an update for you guys, but it's information only; no pictures. Sorry, don't boo me off the stage just yet. I've been trying another method of getting my sky ingame, where I use jahrain's gbxmodel upgrader and get some shifty anonymous street people to edit a few scenery related tags to reference the new render_model with their secret programs. This works alright except that jahrain's app messes up my UV's and makes the sky look like it has a seam. It cuts off about 1/6th of the texture's width at the original place where the two edges of my texture meet :saddowns:. I've PM'd jahrain about the problem, maybe he can help. Until then, I think I'll work on other projects.

[Roostervier]

If I had my old computer up and running I could've helped you with that... D:

Also, I had found, when I got my model in sapien, that the UVs are messed up no matter what. I am pretty sure jahrain told me either the x or y is half of what it should be (in scale), or something.

[Tweek]

because your skybox wont work?

quitter!

[Con]

Quitter? You'll say otherwise tomorrow morning.

.:mad:
<|>
./'\

[Tweek]

is that a sexual reference? :awesome:

[TeeKup]

is that a sexual reference? :awesome:

I honestly can't tell. I'm sure all of us want con in bed so we can use him for his skinning capabilities. Come to my house you hack!

[Con]

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/3483/captureze0.png
what

[Ki11a_FTW]

Wow thats looking great, added rep

EDIT: "you must spread reputation before giving it to conscars again"

damn this rep system

[Con]

Yeah, the map is called Frostbite now so :awesome:

[Stealth]

Ice, sounds like fun, as long as there is no vehicles but ghosts, but then again, zombie is no fun with vehicles.

[Ki11a_FTW]

I wonder if it would play better with a trans hog

[Stealth]

=_= I don't think so.
Warthogs + ice = fail
if you add in the zombie gametype.
Humans in Warthogs + Ice + zombies = failer game of zombie/super game of Halo 2 bowling.

[Con]

Stealth, where did I say anything about ice? ffs..

Warthogs won't be going into the map, only a ghost for each team. Zombies isn't played with vehicles anyway.

[Tweek]

the ice on th bridge fails :< you'd best be off modelling some icicles.

[Con]

yeah I know the icicles fail, working on them now :(

[Stealth]

that'd be cool, to have icicles that fall on people.

[Con]

what do you think this is, waterworks or something? ;p

[Ki11a_FTW]

that'd be cool, to have icicles that fall on people.


Conscars, contact the ghost ;)

[Con]

omg h8 h8:

Don't mind the patchy black wall or the black spots on the ground. Those have been fixed. What I really need help with is that retarded blackness that appears on one side of the ground. I played around with the shaders, they seem to be irrelevant. See how the floor on that structure is all black? The shader is done correctly, but only some parts of it are lit. This lead to me to beleive it was a lightmaps problem, but I've recompiled and re-lit the level about 5 times now. Anyone have any ideas?

http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/9656/captureom2.png

as you can see, I've got a murphs problem...the little halo gnomes that screw with your work when you're not looking and cause problems that make no sense.

[Sever]

How did you make the floor? (Spline mapping, Plane mapping, etc.) I have seen some funky stuff like that in gmax before, and it's not cool. If it is what I think it is, you either have verticies of a plane crossing over each other, or verticies of a spline triangulating to each other, that shouldn't. Unless its something completely different, and caused by HEK errors, which I have no idea about yet.

[Con]

I modeled the structure and the cliffs with plane modeling, then the outside sniper base with box modeling. The ground was just filled in with triangles that fit between the two buildings and the manhole. There's no coplanar faces there or anything. I've only got two errors on my map; a few degerenate triangles inside that don't really matter because you can't see them and they don't make any difference.

Here's lightmaps on super. As you can see, there's still odd black surfaces where there shouldn't be. Some parts of the surface are lighter than other areas, or darker than they should be.

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/8885/capturetf3.png

[Patrickssj6]

Apply a test standard material to the entire level...if the error still occurs it's a geometry error. ;)

[Con]

I didn't have the problem when there was no material there before. It must be something I did when I added on the shaders, but it makes no sense. Once I'm done doing these lightmaps, I'm gonna try applying my cliff shader to the problematic walls and see if it's truly my shaders. That'll narrow it down.

[Sever]

I've seen this same thing before. Download Mothergoat's Anxiety and go to the areas under the flag bases. One of the pillars sades from the normal skin to black, just like your errors. I have no idea what causes this, but if you could look at Anxiety you might be able to figure what went wrong there.

[Patrickssj6]

I didn't have the problem when there was no material there before. It must be something I did when I added on the shaders, but it makes no sense. Once I'm done doing these lightmaps, I'm gonna try applying my cliff shader to the problematic walls and see if it's truly my shaders. That'll narrow it down.
That is indeed correct, sir. :awesome:

Also, I don't have the H2EK but can we modifie lightmaps again like in the HEK? Is it still a bitmap? :D

[Con]

Yes, it is. Jahrain's got an app that can let take mental-ray lighting on your level from max, and put it into your level so you don't have to use shitty halo lightmapping.

[Con]

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/1780/captureil9.png


it is definitely a shader/material problem

[Con]

lol triple post

this gets weirder. All I did was switch my shader back from the cliff to the pavement, and the problem seemed to fix itself...

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6981/capturetd1.png


:wts:

[Con]

more updates and quadruple post :awesome:

I fixed the wall shader, but that somehow made my road and structure floor shaders stop working. I just fixed the road shader again, look my road shader is happy:

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/4499/capturepk3.png

This randomly appeared, no joke. Methinks my map is haunted.

[Stealth]

maybe, you can put that as some kind of burn mark, to hide it.

[Syuusuke]

Looks like a face.

If you can't hide it, just put something that's totally immobile over it? If you can blend it with the map, of course.

[Con]

Why would I hide it? He would get sad :(

[Sever]

It already looks pretty sad.

[Con]

Ok, I found out why it wasn't working!

I have to make sure that the bitmaps I reference in my shaders have the "UNUSED" not checked. My problematic surfaces referenced detail maps or bump maps that came with the editing kit and had "UNUSED" checked.

[Skyline]

Where were you when we discovered this five months ago D:.

[Syuusuke]

Ha! It WASN'T discovered 5 months ago because H2V wasn't released on April!

Sorry had to point out your exaggeration.

At least Con got rid of the face.
D: put a face in secret place

[Skyline]

Yes, D: <smilie; exaggeration ftw. your right.

[Syuusuke]

I didn't get that part, crossed out "right"

[Con]

hay look, update

http://xs320.xs.to/xs320/07411/Capture.PNG

[Bodzilla]

Everything looks a bit flat atm. how are u going for hills, gullys in and aroudn the level?

also a bit bright dont ya think?

but other then that :)

[Con]

supposed to be flat, it's a storage yard + parking lot

also, supposed to be bright; it's liek the arctic srsly

[Rob Oplawar]

heh, neat.

[Bodzilla]

supposed to be flat, it's a storage yard + parking lot

also, supposed to be bright; it's liek the arctic srsly
ahhh k makes sense now :)

[odseraphim]

I really like what you did with this map. Is there a lot of people playing on Halo 2 Vista? I'd probably be interested in porting some metroid maps over for some standard Halo gameplay.

I need to get a cd-key though :fail:

Keep up the good work, can't wait to see video of the final product.

[DaneO'Roo]

Con, you can do better texture work than that I know you can. Try incorporating a little high ground influence in there. I'm just really not liking the plain flat textures on the structures.

[Patrickssj6]

Holy Anti Alias, Christ.

[Syuusuke]

Berry Nice!

[Con]

Con, you can do better texture work than that I know you can. Try incorporating a little high ground influence in there. I'm just really not liking the plain flat textures on the structures.
yeah, i'm working on getting more texture variety. Don't you worry.

[Skyline]

The beta was fun even though it was just us two, except the part where I lost badly :v.

[Syuusuke]

Was that on my dedi? D:

[Skyline]

Maybe.

[Syuusuke]

It's your turn to make the dedi, if there is a next beta...if there is even a beta, if Connor is still alive. =D

[Con]

'course I am

http://xs320.xs.to/xs320/07416/Capture.png
http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/3117/capture2sp5.png

Lots of stuff to fix still

Also, I'll be releasing ALL of the textures I made for this map once I'm finished.

[Syuusuke]

If only you can make destructible scenery...can you?

[Con]

For the wall right? it's probably more work than it's worth the wait. I think we can only do render_models right now, no collision. When we can get that with better UV conversion in the upgrader, then we could reference it in a modified crate tag like the fusion core.

[Bodzilla]

Now thats looking alot better :)

Keep up the good work man ;)

[JunkfoodMan]

Wow. Thats looks awesome.
Just that wall/cover on the top left, It seems a bit boxy.

[Pooky]

I don't really see the "Nightfalll" theme... looks more like high noon. Is that because you couldn't get a custom skybox in?

[Con]

I don't really see the "Nightfalll" theme... looks more like high noon. Is that because you couldn't get a custom skybox in?
Correct. It was too difficult to get the sky I painted into the map. Jahrain's gbxmodel upgrader messes with your UVs and it put ugly seams on the skybox. Having the sky as a massive part of the BSP was also causing problems.

[Boba]

http://xs320.xs.to/xs320/07416/Capture.png
Looks forerunner. :x

[Syuusuke]

Or some tunnel/clean sewage system?

[Con]

Tunnel houses tubes, for things such as internets. also, gameplay balancing.

[Syuusuke]

Make that place destructible =D So the internet dies when we destroy those tubular tubes.

[Con]

You can't kill the internet http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-colbert.gif

[Syuusuke]

Disable?

[Con]

hay guys i got moar pics
http://xs320.xs.to/xs320/07416/Capture2.PNG
http://xs320.xs.to/xs320/07416/Capture3.PNG

[Bossniak]

I want.

Looking good.

[Syuusuke]

I want candy to play!

[Pooky]

Make that place destructible =D So the internet dies when we destroy those tubular tubes.

it would be cool if it killed the power to something.. like maybe some lights or screens... but I doubt thats possible in h2v

[Syuusuke]

Whoa that's a good idea.

[Sever]

I have always had this idea for a map (any offense/defense map. really) where one team controls an intel room with many video screens showing key points of the map (and whatever is going on there at the moment), and the other team has the ability to temporarily take the system offline. Probably won't work in any current Halo game though. Maybe it could be done with HL, since 'they' got the "viewpoint A displayed at location B" to work in Portals to work.

[mined]

This map is shaping up nicely. I am starting to think we may have a few great custom maps by the end of the year. Keep up the good work.

[Syuusuke]

You know the sniper rifle in Halo 2?

Actually nevermind.

[Sever]

Yeah, that sniper rifle in that game with the OH SO GREAT AND BOUNDLESS editing kit...

[Con]

I remember someone saying that you could do that camera screen thing such as the one on the SR with a special number in the shader, then place a camera in sapien with the same number. Something along those lines..

[Sever]

And could one add effects, such as a looping static overlay (much like clouds or twinkling stars) and make the image greyscale with high contrast?

[Con]

I don't think you'd be able to make it greyscale, but you could have another shader just overtop of it with the static effects.

Also, regarding the recent H2V update, map shots were not fixed.

[[EJ] Bean]

Were map shots not available before? (I assume you mean the map preview when selecting the map in halo 2)

[Con]

At the moment, the game displays the same custom map preview even if you have a map shot set up like I do:

http://xs320.xs.to/xs320/07410/frostbite.jpg

[Kornman00]

I remember someone saying that you could do that camera screen thing such as the one on the SR with a special number in the shader, then place a camera in sapien with the same number. Something along those lines..
shaders\shader_templates\texture_camera\texture_ca mera

Its how they did the view screen on In Amber Clad in that one cinematic.

[stunt_man]

This map is going to be a classic... But don't forget about Valhalla! That map was coming along so well...

[Con]

But don't forget about Valhalla! That map was coming along so well...
and still is :)

[Pooky]

and still is :)
:picsorstfu:

You know, that really is a useful emote.

[Con]

Yeah, it def is. Too bad though, cus you're not getting pics yet ;p

[stunt_man]

and still is :)

Cool, just making sure...

Any idea if you're going to need beta testers? I've got a Gold account, and I'm always down for a good custom map.

No pressure...

[SMASH]

Same here Conny. I'm really excited to see what these camera things are capable of. It'd be nice to have a control/ security room with cameras of the outside.

[Con]

I have no clue how to place cameras and set up the shader to use it. There won't be any security screens. I don't need any more beta testers for Frostbite, but Valhalla's still fair game (I didn't mean that literally for all you nubs reading this :U). We'll see when we get to that point.

[Syuusuke]

I just want to be able to play with you guys while hosting my dedi-dedi.

[Con]

oshi-

http://www.h2vista.net/forums/showthread.php?t=6914