[WIP] Gridlock (56k beware, 1920×1128 pics within)

[English Mobster]

Basically, Gridlock is a medium-sized map, a "sequel" to Domain of sorts.
It is located south of Domain, past the Pelican and the wooden door, and is almost completely based off of ODST concept art.
The map is larger than Domain, but there is an attempt to blend close-range combat (interior sections serving as a shortcut between bases/fight for the rocket spawn), medium-range combat (fighting within the bases themselves), and long-range combat (the "Main Street" of the level, serving as the Warthog passageway).
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/Untitled-4.png

New:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgatenormal-1.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgateclay-1.jpg
Some work on the new section of Gridlock:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/petermarksnormal.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/petermarks-3.jpg


Old:
11/3/09:
Redesign!
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgate-8.jpg

WARNING: CRAPPY AS HELL ORIGINAL MODEL BELOW!
10/14/09:
New Gridlock-y things:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/escalators-4.jpg
Not a fan of the tiling at the top there, but it's something I'll have to fix. Also, yes, I realize the window right there IS ew.
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/gridlock_render_1-6.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/trainstation-5.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgate-4.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/petermarks-1.jpg

Some textures used ARE ripped from Halo 2, courtesy of Inferno. I understand ripping is frowned upon, although I have little choice in the matter as I am lacking a serious texture artist and my texturing skills aren't... Up to par.
I'm working on making more ODST-authentic lighting, as well. Lots of reds and blues and such.
Also, new ingame shit (though not the same BSP build as the one in the above renders):
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/e08de658f5b054ca88a4005e76eb9fe465494c72.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/d031f494660f56765de3630e943bdd334f2b041d.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/9d5a56805b3afd12db12f8744d5b4b880657bdda.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/7a2e0bc9f477e302ae0832bfcdf1a394e813f4aa.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/0e95caa496695eb775c553e3fc555e86b52709fe.png

9/20/09:
Alpha build screenshots:
Trees need to be planted.
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/faa3ddd0ac08791c84be7ef11ca04f02d0151998.jpg
Going to remove the smoke, I don't care for it, myself.
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/e7ce3c4cf0b57f0333e789fbc28ed30646dcf0cb.jpg
A bit of the Mall interior:
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/7be5b1c82311286d300a8c6e807805eef0923ae9.jpg
The "escalators" (which aren't going to move and thus are more like stairs right now) to the blue flag:
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/55bbc3a7e9b78354e8e52b0531bf57fa02645268.jpg

Finally, a tribute to a fallen Spartan (going to light the area up better later).
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/e98a6d8fff370aa32abd7e068f908801ef22ca6a.jpg

9/6/09:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/gridlock_render_1-4.jpg
This render has just had a bit of cleanup done, some new Mat IDs were in place, and there was some detailing done up at the top of the mall. Other than that, there aren't any real changes.
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/trainstation-3.jpg
I've tried to make the train station less cardboard-y by taking out a massive chunk of the roof.
Also, I was thinking back to the Domain betas way back when and remembered how a single entrance to any structure is bad news when it comes to Oddball camping. As such, I added in a tiny hole near the base of the Train Station which leads into the station itself.
While it's not readily apparent in the render, there IS some rebar supporting it, the render's just at a bad angle.
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/halo-3-odst-20081227114040770.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgate-1.jpg
The "West Gate", the gate which Blue Team can close to send their base into lockdown for 30 seconds, shows off the main part of the mall. The right side of the render needs some detail work, shops need to be placed, etc. In the middle right-hand side of the render, you can see some broken windows, serving as one of the 2 main sniper nests for Blue base.
You can tell I've made some deviations from the concept art for this one, in order to provide a place for the flag (in the mall, at the top of the escalators) and to add in some other gameplay mechanics (sniper nests, gate, etc.).
As for the middle and left sides of the render, this is one of the main courtyards for the Mall. I'm still going about adding in lights and little details to make it seem less plain and "blocky", but you can see the basics of gameplay. The escalators serve as the primary way to the Blue flag, and you can see a BIT of the hallway which marks the secondary path to the flag. The secondary flag path also doubles as the entrance to the blue's other sniper nest, which you can see a part of next to the escalators.
There is also a Warthog near the center of the picture, marking where one of the 2 Warthogs will spawn for the Blue team. The pavement hasn't been UVW'd yet, so just ignore it for now.
You can also see in the render the other side of Domain's "Wooden Gate", which was one of the few sections of the old District this mall was built on not demolished to build this mall.
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/escalators-2.jpg
This is a better overview of the Blue base.
You can see the second Warthog spawn and the Blue's second sniper nest quite easily in this one. The sniper nest is below the "Shelter" sign, and the Warthog spawn is below the sniper nest.
Next to the 'Hog is the escalators, which will mark the way up to the Blue flag. You can also see the other half of the hallway for the secondary way to access the flag.
Moving lower, you can see a bad polygon an extrusion jutting out from the sidewalk, with what will eventually be a planter in the middle. Since there's no trees in it as of yet and the angle of the render keeps you from seeing the dirt, it looks like shit. It'll look a lot nicer once the trees get put in.
I feel like the entire blue base is too blocky, and, as such, I'll be putting in some more details here and there, updating when necessary. Hopefully, it'll look a lot nicer come beta/release.

8/28/09:
http://www.modacity.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=157&pictureid=1189
The destroyed Wraith has been turned into a destroyed Scorpion, and there is now a hole allowing access into the wall to kill Inferno someone camping in the mall with a shotgun.
http://www.modacity.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=157&pictureid=1190
Train station really hasn't had too much updated (I've been working on the mall interior), but there has been a UVW map applied and the errors Mass pointed out have been fixed.

8/15/09:
Wraith (yep, another one, been thinking about fucking the concept art and putting a dead Scorpion there):
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/gridlock_render_1-2.jpg
Concept art:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/Halo3-ODST_EnvConcept-06.jpg
Train Station (I must stress this: THERE IS NO SMOOTHING.):
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/trainstation-1.jpg
Anyway, from my past experience, posting the renders early as possible while having them look semi-good seems to generate the best possible crit.
This thread will be updated every time I make some bit of progress, so keep your eyes peeled, ladies and gents.
For those who enjoy looking at Halomaps forum threads:
http://forum.halomaps.org/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=28394

[Donut]

SHOT TAGS MOFUCKA

other than that, it looks pretty decent

[Siliconmaster]

I like the architecture- looks to me like you've done a nice job of working off the concept art while adding in your own touches here and there. When I look at the buildings I think, oh, I wonder what those are, instead of, oh, I wonder what those are supposed to be. I'd call that a good distinction between an object and a building. :P As you mentioned, textures aren't final, but some detail work could result in a very nice looking building facade.

The map layout sounds cool as well. I'll be interested to see what the rest of it looks like. :)

[Cortexian]

SHOT TAGS MOFUCKA

other than that, it looks pretty decent
.

[English Mobster]

That took longer than expected. I had to start getting nitpicky, and I'm STILL unhappy with the render (the building I'm working on looks like the street, and so it looks as if there is a random jagged line where there shouldn't be).

Also, shot tags are now in place. =[

[MetKiller Joe]

Very nice job on transferring the concept art into models.

I'm liking this so far.

[Alwin Roth]

So wait, would this be sort of like high poly?

[Futzy]

Looking very nice.

[Rosco]

Thought you ment GoW Gridlock.

:smith:

'tis cool however.

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

Thought you ment GoW Gridlock.

:smith:

'tis cool however.

Same here :'(

[Inferno]

Nice map. Make me want to own you on it. Dibs on beta.

[n00b1n8R]

Is it really big enough to support 4 vehicles? Ghosts are versatile as fuck and I can usually get them into places GOD DID NOT INTEND (eg, shitting all over yoyorast, sever is even better than I am at that).

[Sever]

Ghosts are versatile as fuck and I can usually get them into places GOD DID NOT INTEND (eg, shitting all over yoyorast, sever is even better than I am at that).Quite fuckin' true, n00b1. Basically, I can get anywhere on that map within 60 seconds with a ghost. Keep in mind that the vehicle path takes at least 100 seconds to do a full circuit. I'm confident that if I REALLY wanted to, I could get a ghost in the top sniper tower.

Reread the section on vehicles in the HEK Tutorial if you need a better idea of how to construct infantry-only paths, and keep in mind that people like me WILL break those constraints. It's just a matter of how easy it is to do it, not wether or not it can be done, because trust me, it can be done.

[English Mobster]

Yeah, Ghosts are a bit... iffy.

And I severely doubt you will own me this time, Inferno.

[Inferno]

You want to test that theory?

Not in your server.

[English Mobster]

Can't, right now.

And I'm willing to test it on a map either a Ghost or a Banshee. =P

[PopeAK49]

He's making a hax so you spawn with no weapons inferno. I like the building in the first pic.

[English Mobster]

Thanks. I've really decided to put a lot of time into this model, and, as such, a lot of things I normally would have gotten done ages ago aren't even begun yet.

Although most of the interiors are modeled; they just need to be detailed.
Maybe I'll use scenery for the interior details, I'm going to have to portal this shit up pretty good ATM, but if Snaf's map can do it...

[Inferno]

Banshees are bad for game play. A map has to be at LEAST twice the size of death island to suit a banshee.

Don't do it.

[n00b1n8R]

Banshees are bad for game play. A map has to be at LEAST twice the size of death island to suit a banshee.

Don't do it.
What?
Isnt' there a banshee on yoyoV2?

[Inferno]

What?
Isnt' there a banshee on yoyoV2?

On slayer only and it's hard to get + there is a spartan laser specifically for taking it down.

Yoyo balanced it.

[PopeAK49]

You don't need a spartan laser to take down a banshee.....

[sevlag]

You don't need a spartan laser to take down a banshee.....
yeah but its the only way to completely kill the pilot

[Inferno]

A good banshee pilot is impossible to take down with rockets and FRG and plasmas.

Pistol'ing it down is hard as shit too sometimes.

[kid908]

shotgun always works for me. I took down dozens of shee whores with shotgun.

[sevlag]

A good banshee pilot is impossible to take down with rockets and FRG and plasmas.

Pistol'ing it down is hard as shit too sometimes.a goo banshee pilot? i seem to only encounter the people who use it as a battering ram

[PopeAK49]

a goo banshee pilot? i seem to only encounter the people who use it as a battering ram

Heh. I didn't even know good banshee pilots existed! The AI elites on A30 are better pilots then the people online. Plus, lot's of people don't pick up stickies like they should for such encounters if they don't have anti-vehicle weapons. Also it's easy to hit a banshee with a fuel rod gun if you try. But I don't know. Banshee could seem like a bad idea not only for the whoring concept but also for the fact that this is a city map and you can get ontop of buildings or objects in which your not suppose to. :iamafag:

[English Mobster]

Banshees are bad for game play. A map has to be at LEAST twice the size of death island to suit a banshee.

Don't do it.
I was joking, referring to me pwning you with a Banshee on Snowtrap. :-3

Although, I admit, I did toy with the idea of having an optional Banshee...

[PopeAK49]

O SNAP!

[Inferno]

Good banshees stay high up in the air and rain bombs down on people. You just have to stay out of range and your invincible.

[Heathen]

WHATTTTT

Its like your other map, but way sexier.

[Mass]

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o97/nate-the-great_photos/ewww.jpg

Frankly, you'll need to do better for it to look right

[English Mobster]

WHATTTTT

Its like your other map, but way sexier.
Thus would be the point. :p

http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o97/nate-the-great_photos/ewww.jpg

Frankly, you'll need to do better for it to look right
Thanks Mass. I'll try to fix those.

[sevlag]

will kermit make a come back in gridlock?

other than that i look forward to this and possibly testing, and i have to agree with mass, i can kinda see it too with the sign looks like its drooping in one corner, you could possibly add rebar or something protruding with some chunks so it looks like its coming loose

[English Mobster]

will kermit make a come back in gridlock?

other than that i look forward to this and possibly testing, and i have to agree with mass, i can kinda see it too with the sign looks like its drooping in one corner, you could possibly add rebar or something protruding with some chunks so it looks like its coming loose
Kermit? What Kermit? :p

Yeah, I might try to dig up some pics of her in the froggy suit, but they may be hard to come by since she deleted me from her Myspace recently.

Anywho:


The interior section is mostly finished. Texturing needs to be done (and I'll do it right this time, I swear) on the interiors, lights need to be added, etc. etc.
Work has begun on red base ("The Courtyard"), located behind the crashed Pelican. My reference pics are from the CGI ODST trailer at E3 '08, mixed with some screengrabs from Jason Jones playing a bit of the beginning of ODST. Once the framework here is laid out, the entire map will have its foundations done.
Detailing has begun on blue base ("The Mall"), located near the train station in the renders and behind the big wooden gate on Domain.

[sevlag]

Kermit? What Kermit? :p

Yeah, I might try to dig up some pics of her in the froggy suit, but they may be hard to come by since she deleted me from her Myspace recently.

Anywho:


The interior section is mostly finished. Texturing needs to be done (and I'll do it right this time, I swear) on the interiors, lights need to be added, etc. etc.
Work has begun on red base ("The Courtyard"), located behind the crashed Pelican. My reference pics are from the CGI ODST trailer at E3 '08, mixed with some screengrabs from Jason Jones playing a bit of the beginning of ODST. Once the framework here is laid out, the entire map will have its foundations done.
Detailing has begun on blue base ("The Mall"), located near the train station in the renders and behind the big wooden gate on Domain.


sweet, and i recently saw that topic at the halomaps forums (was bore) and you said you'd remake domain with that ODST weapon tags or whatnot? what became of that?

speaking of domain still have the staircase versions :D made oddball fun

[English Mobster]

That?

Oh, I just replaced 2 of the weapon tags and tried to compile when Tool told me the pistol wouldn't animate.

My .JMA exporter plugin for Max 8 isn't working, so I couldn't fix it myself. It was on my to-do list.

[sevlag]

That?

Oh, I just replaced 2 of the weapon tags and tried to compile when Tool told me the pistol wouldn't animate.

My .JMA exporter plugin for Max 8 isn't working, so I couldn't fix it myself. It was on my to-do list.
ight

so with gridlock how do you think combat will play out if its let's say a 4 on 4 CTF match with no vehicles?

[English Mobster]

ight

so with gridlock how do you think combat will play out if its let's say a 4 on 4 CTF match with no vehicles?
4v4, CTF, no vehicles.

A bit lengthy:
I'd imagine there would be a rush to the shotgun spawn. People will be navigating by entering through the building's fire exit hallways (so people are going BACKWARDS through the 2 fire exits), which are located near each base. These hallways meet up in a large room, part of the food court for an indoor section of the mall, and the shotgun spawn is up a couple ramps and over a small bridge in the middle of the room, inside one of the restaurants.
Grenades will be flying, etc., etc., and there should be several casualties until one side emerges victorious from the Firefight. Let's say Red team wins, and only has 2 people survive. One of them goes for the shotgun as the other proceeds the OTHER way across the bridge, out of the building and onto ANOTHER bridge (seen in the screenshots) to get to the rockets, which are located in the lobby of a weapons contractor.

The guy with the rockets jumps down off the bridge and proceeds towards the blue flag through the main route.
The shotgun guy (let's call him Inferno) goes through the fire exit which the blue team will enter. He can either go out into the big, open space with little places for a shotgun to hide where the Blues will spawn, or he can try to camp the fire exit hallway.
Since it's Inferno, he's going to camp.

Now, the rocket guy will have reached the main spawn area for the Blues, located in the mall courtyard. He'll probably get a few kills, but the Blues should overwhelm him quickly and take his rocket launcher.
The Blue team will begin to go into the fire escape only to be killed by a shotgun-wielding Inferno.
Eventually, one of the Blues gets smart. He goes down the main street, gets to the destroyed Wraith, and uses it to hop into the broken window and into one of the restaurants (the destroyed window is still fixed in the renders you've seen, this part was added the other day when I thought Inferno would become a problem). He picks up the pistol from the pistol spawn.
The Blue can then sneak up behind Inferno and kill him from out of his shotgun's range, allowing their team to break through.
As the 4 Blue members come down the hallway, they meet up with the 3 reds (Inferno is respawning) again in the main food court area. The Reds take some hits and the Blues pass through, down the Red fire escape, and into the Red base.

The red base is another open area. It is a large, park-like courtyard of sorts, with a collapsed hotel's barely-intact lobby serving as where the flag is (it's also the source of all the rubble you've seen where the Pelican is in Domain).
The Blues rush the flag and one of their members grabs it as they get out of there. The Reds manage to pick a few off, and grenades fly up and down the fire escape as the Blues make a run for it.
Somehow, the Blues make it to the mall's main courtyard, run into one of the shop's lobbies, and capture the flag.

Rinse and repeat.
The gameplay is VERY different with vehicles, however. The Warthog is intended to be able to transport 3 of the team members to the other base, where one of the map's defining features is utilized: The Superintendent.
I haven't touched on this before, so let's say the Blues have a Warthog and come knocking on the Red's doors. The reds see that they're about to get into one little fight and are afraid their moms will get scared, so they walk up to one of the computer consoles and hit the big, shiny, red button.
A large door descends from the large walkway over the entrance to red base and seals off the main entrance to Red base before the Blues can get in.
The big "WELCOME TO LUMUMBA DISTRICT" sign on the walkway turns to a bright red with a picture of the Superintendent.
Text appears: <LOCKDOWN>, followed by a countdown timer, counting down from 30.
Below that, smaller: <SUPERINTENDENT OFFLINE>
After the timer hits 0, the gate will rise again and allow the Blues access, but the reds had time to prepare for the attack: They are armed with their own Warthog, and a gunner who can successfully counterattack the Blue team before they can break into the red base.
The "WELCOME TO LUMUMBA DISTRICT" sign comes back, but the "<SUPERINTENDENT OFFLINE>" remains for a full 3 minutes more, at which time it disappears and the gate can be shut once more.

Both sides can use the Superintendent's lockdown feature for their respective bases, but the lockdown does not cover the Fire escapes, meaning the other team can still break through by using those.

By the way, this is how the screen will change:
The "Welcome to Lumumba District" sign is built-into the BSP.
Meanwhile, everything which comes over it is all just scenery which was deleted at the start of the round. When the Super is activated, the respective scenery is created again.
As for the countdown from 30, I was looking into a way to animate it, but, as a last resort, I can just simply create the "30" scenery, wait a second, delete it, create the "29" scenery, wait a second, delete it, etc.
I would prefer a way to animate it if it is possible (a little help is needed on this one).

[Echo 418]

You could animate something like that (but much, much bigger [I have this in 1483x813]) on one the screens:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2634/3841718354_6c53c9ffaa_o.png

The numbers would move like the sentences in Halo 3 ODST first teaser/trailer (at the start, when it search for ">>PLEASE REMAIN CALM<<")

If you are searching for a way to animate, maybe if you ask to AdmiralBacon, he could *maybe* help you (I saw a topic he recently did because he had found one of his old BSP with alot of animated stuff in it. HERE (http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=17546))

Anyway, I can be wrong but that's normal... I never did an Halo map. No skills when it comes to 3D softwares.

[English Mobster]

You could animate something like that (but much, much bigger [I have this in 1483x813]) on one the screens:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2634/3841718354_6c53c9ffaa_o.png

The numbers would move like the sentences in Halo 3 ODST first teaser/trailer (at the start, when it search for ">>PLEASE REMAIN CALM<<")

If you are searching for a way to animate, maybe if you ask to AdmiralBacon, he could *maybe* help you (I saw a topic he recently did because he had found one of his old BSP with alot of animated stuff in it. HERE (http://www.modacity.net/forums/showthread.php?t=17546))

Anyway, I can be wrong but that's normal... I never did an Halo map. No skills when it comes to 3D softwares.
That image is fucking awesome. :iamafag:

[Echo 418]

That image is fucking awesome. :iamafag:

Thanks :) .

Countdown is done.


http://localhostr.com/files/34adee/1.gif

[English Mobster]

:iamafag::iamafag::iamafag:

You just won yourself 50 million internets.

[Inferno]

The problem with that gameplay theory is that I actually die in it.

Me + Pistol + Shotgun on domain was.... Bliss.

[English Mobster]

Exactly. You die. We are keeping it that way. This is why the bases are NOT IDEAL SHOTGUN CAMPING SPOTS THIS TIME.

[Echo 418]

:iamafag::iamafag::iamafag:

You just won yourself 50 million internets.

Hurray :-3

By the way, I was also doing this for the map. If it can be useful, here it is.


http://localhostr.com/files/2cd25a/Pannel+1.png

[Inferno]

Exactly. You die. We are keeping it that way. This is why the bases are NOT IDEAL SHOTGUN CAMPING SPOTS THIS TIME.

Dun worry I'll find a way.

[English Mobster]

Hurray :-3

By the way, I was also doing this for the map. If it can be useful, here it is.


http://localhostr.com/files/2cd25a/Pannel+1.png

I swear, you are the next Dano. Except you're nicer. Much nicer.

Dun worry I'll find a way.
And then I'll fix your way.

[n00b1n8R]

I swear, you are the next Dano. Except you're nicer. Much nicer.
Wasn't Dano a bit before your time EM? :downs:

This was a very fancy mall at one point. Mombasa by 2552 is a very rich city, and the mall is surrounded by 4-star hotels, due to its proximity to the beach and one of the major freeways leading to the New Mombasa Space Elevator.

I'm going to make up some backstory:
The mall was built in 2450, demolishing several blocks of housing and an old shopping center. It came shortly after the completion of a major freeway which connected Voi to the Space Elevator. Due to it being the first major exit following the Space Elevator, it received thousands of tourists an hour and eventually was chosen as the spot for the city arena (expect to hear some more about that arena, no contests or anything involved, but I have something in store) and it received its own dedicated train line.
The mall had 17 above-ground floors and 27 below-ground floors, and was THE place to be in Mombasa. It also had a walkway which linked it directly with the Mombasa arena.

Although, MrBig, even though the mall was built fairly recently (in Halo terms), I still like your signs, and they could be adapted to fit the mall.
It's over 100 years old. :raise:

[Inferno]

Trust me mobster. You will never stop me from owning your map.

If you break the shotgun I'll go pro with the pistol or the sniper.
:realsmug:

How hard is it to get the rocket on this map?

[English Mobster]

Exposing yourself to enemy fire, running around in a combination of closed spaces and open spaces, the works.
It's also the longest route physically possible. =P

[English Mobster]

Wasn't Dano a bit before your time EM? :downs:
No, he was banned in February. I registered in November and became really active in late December/early January.

It's over 100 years old. :raise:
In HALO terms. It still has futuristic signs, just not the MOST futuristic. :p

[sevlag]

How hard is it for sevlag to get the rocket on this map?thats the big question :D i whored those things during the domain beta

but seriously, try to get the ODST magnum working on this map or the SMG atleast :P

still cant wait, and the countdown idea, would that cause any possible lag?

[English Mobster]

Maybe a slight ping spike for a second, but it should go back to normal pretty fast. It uses some of the same tech as the Yoyo V2 panic room, it's just that there's only 2 of 'em rather than the 5 or so that are on V2.

[sevlag]

Maybe a slight ping spike for a second, but it should go back to normal pretty fast. It uses some of the same tech as the Yoyo V2 panic room, it's just that there's only 2 of 'em rather than the 5 or so that are on V2.

ight

hopefully the shotgun doesnt respawn every 5 seconds like it did on domain

[English Mobster]

New pictures.
http://www.modacity.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=157&pictureid=1189
http://www.modacity.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=157&pictureid=1190
Took a fucking hour to render those two (30 minutes each).
The mall interior is now completely textured, and the fire exits are nice and labeled. The women's restroom now looks like a women's restroom. All is well.
I wish I could take a render of the inside without ripping off half the fucking building (light source, I'm using a skylight and any kind of interior structure turns black), because it looks really nice, IMO.

[n00b1n8R]

That building looks like it was made of cardboard (the way it's crumpled), not concrete(would have crummbled)/metal(bent and sheared more).

Otherwise seems good to me. Already much nicer than domain.

[English Mobster]

Got a couple new renders for you, with 1 more on the way.
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/gridlock_render_1-4.jpg
This render has just had a bit of cleanup done, some new Mat IDs were in place, and there was some detailing done up at the top of the mall. Other than that, there aren't any real changes.
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/trainstation-3.jpg
I've tried to make the train station less cardboard-y by taking out a massive chunk of the roof.
Also, I was thinking back to the Domain betas way back when and remembered how a single entrance to any structure is bad news when it comes to Oddball camping. As such, I added in a tiny hole near the base of the Train Station which leads into the station itself.
While it's not readily apparent in the render, there IS some rebar supporting it, the render's just at a bad angle.
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/halo-3-odst-20081227114040770.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgate-1.jpg
The "West Gate", the gate which Blue Team can close to send their base into lockdown for 30 seconds, shows off the main part of the mall. The right side of the render needs some detail work, shops need to be placed, etc. In the middle right-hand side of the render, you can see some broken windows, serving as one of the 2 main sniper nests for Blue base.
You can tell I've made some deviations from the concept art for this one, in order to provide a place for the flag (in the mall, at the top of the escalators) and to add in some other gameplay mechanics (sniper nests, gate, etc.).
As for the middle and left sides of the render, this is one of the main courtyards for the Mall. I'm still going about adding in lights and little details to make it seem less plain and "blocky", but you can see the basics of gameplay. The escalators serve as the primary way to the Blue flag, and you can see a BIT of the hallway which marks the secondary path to the flag. The secondary flag path also doubles as the entrance to the blue's other sniper nest, which you can see a part of next to the escalators.
There is also a Warthog near the center of the picture, marking where one of the 2 Warthogs will spawn for the Blue team. The pavement hasn't been UVW'd yet, so just ignore it for now.
You can also see in the render the other side of Domain's "Wooden Gate", which was one of the few sections of the old District this mall was built on not demolished to build this mall.

There is one final render, showing off a bit more of the Blue base escalators and such from another angle, but it's only halfway finished as of right now. I'll post it once it's done rendering.

E: http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/escalators-2.jpg
This is a better overview of the Blue base.
You can see the second Warthog spawn and the Blue's second sniper nest quite easily in this one. The sniper nest is below the "Shelter" sign, and the Warthog spawn is below the sniper nest.
Next to the 'Hog is the escalators, which will mark the way up to the Blue flag. You can also see the other half of the hallway for the secondary way to access the flag.
Moving lower, you can see a bad polygon an extrusion jutting out from the sidewalk, with what will eventually be a planter in the middle. Since there's no trees in it as of yet and the angle of the render keeps you from seeing the dirt, it looks like shit. It'll look a lot nicer once the trees get put in.
I feel like the entire blue base is too blocky, and, as such, I'll be putting in some more details here and there, updating when necessary. Hopefully, it'll look a lot nicer come beta/release.

[Jean-Luc]

http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/halo-3-odst-20081227114040770.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgate-1.jpg
I'm going to be perfectly honest with you; this whole map was looking okay until I saw that comparison image. I know you weren't going for a direct 1:1 recreation of that environment in the ODST concept art, but yours is very, very inaccurate and truth be told, if you hadn't shown me the concept art as a base, I probably never would have realized that's what I was looking at. The biggest problem you seem to have with it is the scaling. In the concept art, there is a sense of grandeur, a sense of something large scale. Yours evokes both a sense of amateurism, and a feeling of claustrophobia. If you're interested, I'd have no problem taking that concept art and adding approximate dimensions to it to help you achieve a more accurate re-creation of it.

[English Mobster]

It's not really a 1:1 recreation; if it was, I would have made the map bigger.
Really, I just showed the concept art to try to demonstrate what the area was based off of.
The source of the inaccuracies in that particular image would mostly be due to the fact I had set up the map's layout beforehand, and so I had been modifying that image until I got something which would fit the map's gameplay. Tbh, I really shouldn't have posted the concept art for that one, since it wound up deviating from it quite a bit.

[SnaFuBAR]

even based off of it, you completely missed the style and shapes of things.

[Disaster]

Not to mention the terrible textures.

[English Mobster]

even based off of it, you completely missed the style and shapes of things.
I'm going to take a closer look at those pieces of concept art, but, what, exactly, am I missing? I thought I had captured the feeling of New Mombasa pretty well. I had bought The Art of Halo and The Art of Halo 3 just to look at the human structures and try to base a lot of my structures off of them. I just want to know exactly what's wrong so I can improve it.

Not to mention the terrible textures.
What's wrong with them? A lot of the textures you see in those pictures are from Domain, although there are a few custom ones. For some reason, the lights on the escalator and such just glow a bright white when I render them, even though they have a bit more detail to them. Can you point out which ones are wrong so I can replace them/work on them, please?

I can't really make changes unless I know what's good and what's bad.

[Disaster]

None of the textures match the theme in the concept. All of them are extremely bland. They just feel like solid colors except for the terrible concrete tile and road texture. The road texture doesn't even look good. It doens't even look like asphalt.

http://capitalpave.net/images/Asphalt_Road_with_Ribbon_Curb_H.jpg
Thats how asphalt looks.
http://media.merchantcircle.com/21687765/Asphalt%20Road_medium.jpeg

Its shiny and smooth with only small grainy pebbles.

http://magma.cs.uiuc.edu/cs440/hw/hw1/road/road2.jpg
Now there are grainy asphalt roads but the general texture of it is still much smaller and smoother than yours.



http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/article/988/988812/halo-3-odst-20090601013611993.jpg

Atleast pay attention to the theme you are trying to create when making the textures next time please?



The billboards are good though :)

[SnaFuBAR]

Your sign is more like a grave marker than what's shown in the concept art. in the art, the ends are half cylindrical, and have two boxy fin type things at the top. The human architecture also has a lot of supports jutting out, supporting balconies. Take a look at the entryway of "makura body". See how it uses quarter-cylinders at the top that taper inwards? Above that is the structure with two panes of glass, one at 45 degrees to peer downwards through to the street. Below "makura body" is another tier of shops. that semi-circle is the overhang of another storefront. The fallen palmtree behind the car is a tier below it. The street level of the car and the "makura body" shop area is the same height.

The streets have shallow curbs and the street itself does not bank like yours appears to. Neither is it that asphalt texture you have. Detials such as the slope at the crosswalk also neeed to be accounted for. Look at the super structure in the background behind "makura". Do you see the design language there? You haven't incorporated any of the desing language into your map at all. I know it's a painting, and somewhat soft in areas, but it is by no means vague, so you can't really use that as an excuse. The style of human architecture is pretty well defined here.

[English Mobster]

Duly noted. Thanks, I'm going to get to work on fixing them.

[OpsY]

Personally, I like what I saw. Of course not perfect, nothing is, but I think it's matter of tweaking. A good sky tag to go with, ambient fog that makes you believe.... The fire effects will be key to believing the city has just been hit.

[W1zard]

Personally, I like what I saw. Of course not perfect, nothing is, but I think it's matter of tweaking. A good sky tag to go with, ambient fog that makes you believe.... The fire effects will be key to believing the city has just been hit.
this really, more enviromental factors like vegatation, more destroyed scenery for the feeling, some fire effects and ofcourse, lightrays modelled as transparent scenery for static lights apart from emitting sources.

i think you could make it look alot better if you consider those minor looking factors, lastly i do have to agree it's a bit claustrophobic which is one of the reasons i liked ODST (yes i played it on my xbox, hardmodded one, thanks to french people who leaked it lmao) all the maps are ROOMY :woop: no map feels like that underground map...putput or whatever it was called ratrace or so...

[English Mobster]

Barring any unforeseen delays, Gridlock should be ready for its first alpha test by Sunday.

I am currently sealing the last of the holes in the map (that's what he said) as well as upgrading old textures/making new ones based off of references from the ODST footage I've seen. Final UVWs are being made, followed by smoothing groups.

The streets have been UVW unwrapped; however, the texture is too low-res for any kind of lines on the roadway to look nice. I will attempt to get them in SOMEHOW (possibly as a custom scenery, or as a plane overlay, similar to the graffiti). It looks absolutely fine on its own, but the lights themselves are simply too small of a detail to make it look nice. One of Domain's massive issues was my LOLHUGE 4096x4096 texture for the pavement which lagged everything. It only made it in because I wanted to place that yellow circle by the Hog spawn, and it was the simplest way to do so. Now I've learned my lesson, and the highest-resolution texture is a 1024x1024 one (the street's UVW unwrap).

For those who complained about Domain's lack of different textures:
Domain = 49 separate textures (not counting graffiti).
Gridlock = 110 separate textures (not counting graffiti), and I'm working on a few more now.

More detail has been placed into the map, as well.
Current triangle count: 17,137. Portals have not been placed yet, but will be implemented soon.

After the map has gotten ingame, I'll begin fussing about making custom scenery, notably phones and stoplights.

Here's my current timeline:


9/17: Finish sealing holes/making tiny details. Place lots of lights so people don't think it is "too dark". Finish texture work. Use playerclip to make sure Inferno doesn't try escaping the map again.
9/18: Fix any errors preventing it from getting ingame. Place graffiti.
9/19: Run radiosity while I'm on my date. Make some scenery/populate once radiosity finishes.
9/20: Private alpha. Find gamebreaking bugs, begin to fix them.
9/21: Make Gridlock Public Beta Modacity thread. Determine best date for Public Beta.
9/22: Bitch to self about missing release deadline, yet at the same time feel accomplished for at least getting the damn thing ingame. Play ODST.

[English Mobster]

6 solid hours of fixing errors later:
[01:11] Abominable Snow Mobster: HAH
[01:11] Abominable Snow Mobster: GRIDLOCK HAS GONE THROUGH TOOL
[01:11] Abominable Snow Mobster: WE ARE INGAME BABY
[01:11] Abominable Snow Mobster: IN. FUCKING. GAME.

[paladin]

Hurray :-3

By the way, I was also doing this for the map. If it can be useful, here it is.


http://localhostr.com/files/2cd25a/Pannel+1.png


way to copy it out of the Bungie Prepare to Drop panel presentation give at PAX.

[Lateksi]

Have you thought about playing as an ODST? I know having energy shields makes it unfaithful to the canon but WHATEVER. It would be a pretty cool touch IMO.

[English Mobster]

Yep, I've thought about it.
You played as an ODST in Domain, the map's "prequel". I was pretty proud of my ODST, too, I managed to get the camo on their suit to match their team without it looking stupid as fuck.
E: Radiosity running.

[English Mobster]

Alpha build screenshots:
Trees need to be planted.
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/faa3ddd0ac08791c84be7ef11ca04f02d0151998.jpg
Going to remove the smoke, I don't care for it, myself.
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/e7ce3c4cf0b57f0333e789fbc28ed30646dcf0cb.jpg
A bit of the Mall interior:
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/7be5b1c82311286d300a8c6e807805eef0923ae9.jpg
The "escalators" (which aren't going to move and thus are more like stairs right now) to the blue flag:
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/55bbc3a7e9b78354e8e52b0531bf57fa02645268.jpg

Finally, a tribute to a fallen Spartan (going to light the area up better later).
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/large/e98a6d8fff370aa32abd7e068f908801ef22ca6a.jpg

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

Oh god, those fp arms :gonk:

[English Mobster]

Don't worry, I'll fix 'em.
I didn't like them in Domain, either, tbh, but it made more sense than Spartan arms.

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

Will there be ODST arms?

[Jean-Luc]

Lighting is off to a decent start, but you REALLY need to work on your textures man.

[English Mobster]

Will there be ODST arms?
Depends on if I can find a good pair of ODST arms.


Lighting is off to a decent start, but you REALLY need to work on your textures man.
I'm not a texture artist, I'll be the first one to tell you that. I will try to work on the textures, but I'm going to need someone who is a bit more professional at it than I am.

About a quarter (I just counted) of those are actually borrowed from the H2CE team and slightly modified, if they were modified at all.
I see Snaf's watching this thread, and now I await his bashing of every little detail. Don't worry, I <3 your crit, Snaf.

[sevlag]

Depends on if I can find a good pair of ODST arms.


I'm not a texture artist, I'll be the first one to tell you that. I will try to work on the textures, but I'm going to need someone who is a bit more professional at it than I am.

About a quarter (I just counted) of those are actually borrowed from the H2CE team and slightly modified, if they were modified at all.
I see Snaf's watching this thread, and now I await his bashing of every little detail. Don't worry, I <3 your crit, Snaf.
you using one of the SOCOM pistol tags fot this map or no?

and why are you and pyong doing CTF by yourselves?

[English Mobster]

Inferno and FailRain quit on us, so we were messing around on our own.

Anyway, from those in the first alpha, how was the gameplay?
I was a bit worried the map was too open, but actually, playing that changed my mind.
I need better portals though.

[FRain]

Get 16 players nao

[English Mobster]

Well, Alpha part 2 was fun.

We'll have a public beta soon, I promise. Gotta light the map some more and fix some buggers.

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

It was fun, but imo it needs to be more authentic to odst.

[English Mobster]

Well, long time, no see.
New Gridlock-y things:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/escalators-4.jpg
Not a fan of the tiling at the top there, but it's something I'll have to fix. Also, yes, I realize the window right there IS ew.
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/gridlock_render_1-6.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/trainstation-5.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgate-4.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/petermarks-1.jpg

Some textures used ARE ripped from Halo 2, courtesy of Inferno. I understand ripping is frowned upon, although I have little choice in the matter as I am lacking a serious texture artist and my texturing skills aren't... Up to par.
I'm working on making more ODST-authentic lighting, as well. Lots of reds and blues and such.
Also, new ingame shit (though not the same BSP build as the one in the above renders):
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/e08de658f5b054ca88a4005e76eb9fe465494c72.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/d031f494660f56765de3630e943bdd334f2b041d.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/9d5a56805b3afd12db12f8744d5b4b880657bdda.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/7a2e0bc9f477e302ae0832bfcdf1a394e813f4aa.png
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/0e95caa496695eb775c553e3fc555e86b52709fe.png

[Dwood]

Lookin' good, all things considered.

[n00b1n8R]

Some of those textuers are gross as fuck (looking at you rubbish piles) but it's certainly come a long way visually. :)

[W1zard]

Hey this topic still alive?

I've been playing (and modding for lulz) the map, but I can't help but notice too much "empty" spots, the biggest tripwire was one hallway which was completely stripped of anything interesting

http://i36.tinypic.com/ehett1.png
and
http://i36.tinypic.com/34is4li.png

How about adding some beams, wires and other interesting objects to make it less blant? It'll also automatically means more texture work, but hey it's worth it, I'd gladly help you with it if you want

[MissingSpartan7]

from the pictures the map looks a little dark, maybe needs a new sky
perhaps similar to the night skies in odst (if you can find someone to make it)

[Ro0ster]

I am liking it, though there are some bad UVs I can see here and there, but overall its great. I really like that new area where the memorial was.

What's that I spy in the train track? I fly in there in dev cam and noticed there is a big room. What's that for?

[English Mobster]

How'd I miss these?

Hey this topic still alive?

I've been playing (and modding for lulz) the map, but I can't help but notice too much "empty" spots, the biggest tripwire was one hallway which was completely stripped of anything interesting

http://i36.tinypic.com/ehett1.png
and
http://i36.tinypic.com/34is4li.png

How about adding some beams, wires and other interesting objects to make it less blant? It'll also automatically means more texture work, but hey it's worth it, I'd gladly help you with it if you want
Yeah, that's actually why I'm back in Max once more: There are LOTS of places which NEED detail. I'm working on bringing said detail into the map.

from the pictures the map looks a little dark, maybe needs a new sky
perhaps similar to the night skies in odst (if you can find someone to make it)
I have a new sky. It is sexy. Let me finish sealing up this build so I can run radiosity and show you it.

I am liking it, though there are some bad UVs I can see here and there, but overall its great. I really like that new area where the memorial was.

What's that I spy in the train track? I fly in there in dev cam and noticed there is a big room. What's that for?
One word: Griflock.

See if you can find the other easter egg, as well. It's nearby.

[Llama Juice]

get rid of the modeled letters in the Clearview Mall sign, or at least make them less OMFG EXTRUDE 'cause as is it makes it hard to read.

[paladin]

Nice HUD

[English Mobster]

Gridlock isn't quite dead yet.

Before I put this next build ingame, I'm trying to try to make it at least as aesthetically pleasing as the map threads which are pushing 100 pages. A lot of time has been spent on "Mombasa Streets" as well as a lot of time in "Terminal" and "Ivory Tower", marking my first foray into playing Halo 2 in about 2 years.

While I'm disappointed that I don't have any renders to show you (cleaning up the texture work on 'em, first), I do have a couple major changes I'd like to address:
1. The "Train Station" you've known and hated has been torn down and a better one put in its place. I've listened to all the bitching about it in the quick-crit thread, so I made a new station entirely, one that ISN'T destroyed and has a flowing, wave-like style to its exterior.
It's actually quite pretty, IMO. For those who are curious, my Easter Eggs over there are untouched.

2. Blue base has been UVW unwrapped into a single texture instead of the clusterfuck it was. :woop:
While I'm at it, I'm taking care to spice up some visually uninteresting areas of the base with cool-looking stuff (and 1 Nazi Zombie reference). Unfortunately, the area in the picture above is currently still boring as hell. I don't know what to make it into, quite simply.
The map won't ship that way, but for the next few screenshots it will probably be boring still.

[Ro0ster]

Sweet I can`t wait till the next build!

[English Mobster]

I just spent 29 minutes making a render, then I noticed that 4 polygons were the wrong color, so I had to fix them and make the render again.
FML.

[English Mobster]

After I got done making this render, I noticed ANOTHER rouge batch of polygons.
FUCK YOU ROUGE POLYGONS!
...They're mocking me...
Old:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/escalators-5.jpg
New:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/newescalators.jpg

[TeeKup]

You know, your map could also be a great FireFight map for CE...just a suggestion. ;)

I'm still eagerly awaiting this build though.

[English Mobster]

I have plans for Gridlock, don't worry. ;)

Though they didn't involve Firefight until right now, when I thought about it...

E: Woot! 77 open edges!
I LOVE open edges!

[Bastinka]

The HUD is very nice and flashy, love it. Though the map geometry really could use some re-doing. It seems messy and hastily done without much shaping or thought put into the detailed bits.

[sevlag]

nice work mobster, i fired up a old build to dick around and liked the layout. hopefully this makes a big splash for CE (being ODST themed and all)

[W1zard]

The HUD is very nice and flashy, love it. Though the map geometry really could use some re-doing. It seems messy and hastily done without much shaping or thought put into the detailed bits.
but i love detaills :C

as for the hallway, add some fundamental pillars in it, like those mineshaft pillars, a bit more modern concept though but that style imo

[English Mobster]

http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/escalators-6.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgate-5.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/trainstation-6.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/gridlock_render_1-7.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/petermarks-2.jpg

[MissingSpartan7]

still think cov energy sheilds should be scenery to allow more control over placement

[English Mobster]

Unfortunately, making them scenery presents problems with collision and such. I really don't want to have Warthogs glitching through that.

[paladin]

still think cov energy sheilds should be scenery to allow more control over placement

Actually, including them in the bsp gives you the best control over placement.

[Inferno]

Why is the city rusty? It got hit by a explosion.

:raise:

[Ganon]

that and why are the roads melting

[English Mobster]

Why is the city rusty? It got hit by a explosion.

:raise:
...I can't believe I never thought of that.

that and why are the roads melting
They aren't melting, although I am retexturing them for the 3rd time.

[Higuy]

They aren't melting, although I am retexturing them for the 3rd time.
its not the textures (well it kinda is), its more of how there actually modeled that make them look melting in a lot of places, especially on curves and ramps you just model them really weird.

[Ganon]

...I can't believe I never thought of that.

They aren't melting, although I am retexturing them for the 3rd time.

Roads are meant to be level. Explosions cause craters and whatnot, not ugly unlevel geometry slop hth

[Gwunty]

ok im going to be perfectly honest here.
1) the model is absolutely terrible.
2) Texture placement is equally as bad
3) Uvws are equally as bad

Now if you need someone to show you how to model human and uvw and do various other things I will gladly help you out.

[teh lag]

Roads are meant to be level. Explosions cause craters and whatnot, not ugly unlevel geometry slop hth

This is exactly what I said in the QCT. Your damage - especially on the ground - looks more like someone tried to fuck up the mesh rather than an explosion fucking up its surroundings. That isn't what damage looks like. We've been telling you this for ages now. If you can't execute damage well maybe you should go for a different look.

[Ki11a_FTW]

This is exactly what I said in the QCT. Your damage - especially on the ground - looks more like someone tried to fuck up the mesh rather than an explosion fucking up its surroundings. That isn't what damage looks like. We've been telling you this for ages now. If you can't execute damage well maybe you should go for a different look.

.

[English Mobster]

I've been trying to get rid of the damage, actually.

...And tbh, there never was any damage on the ground, just my shitty modeling, I guess.
The road is perfectly level now, except for the short downhill section by Blue base (Mall area) and for the short uphill section by Red base (Hotel area).

[Inferno]

Pics or fuck the shut up.

[English Mobster]

Give me ~1 hour to render.

[SnaFuBAR]

Remodel and retexture. No matter how many times you try to give shitty geometry a facelift, it's still shitty geometry. I've tried to tell you nicely before but outright, this sucks, dude.

[English Mobster]

Gotcha. Sometimes telling me bluntly is what I need to hear.

Going to be completely remodeling this damn thing.

[English Mobster]

OK, I want to know what you guys think of my potential changelog for the remodel:
REMOVED/ALTERED:


Streets will be 100% redone and reunwrapped.
The main red and blue "fire exit" entrance to the mall (the infantry route closest to each base) is going to be remade from a fire exit to instead a section of the Superintendent's data core from the ODST level "Data Hive". I feel this is probably the best way to cover up an otherwise bland hallway.
The area which someone on the last page felt was "too bland" is going to be remade into an exterior fire exit. This will allow people sneaking up on a sniper/turret gunner to be picked off more easily by a good team, as well as allow people climbing said fire exit to spot people shotgun camping on the fire escapes and pick them off before they climb the stairs.
Blue base (the former hotel area) is going to be remade, more extensively based off of the Firefight map "Crater" than it already was. The Hotel is going to go bye-bye.
Train station remodeled to match the one from H2's "Terminal".
Entire South side of the map (freeway side) going to be ripped out and replaced with a parking garage like the one in "Terminal".
Most of the shitty-looking wreckage is going to be removed; the exception being where Domain's Pelican crashed. Here, I will take steps to reduce the wreckage without fundamentally altering Domain's BSP, as being able to see Domain from Gridlock is part of the map's basic setting.

SALVAGED:


Domain's BSP.
The Blue base "Escalator" area (mostly). Is going to be remodeled, but will retain the same shape.
The "park" I have by the hotel; this is part of the "Crater" remodel I was talking about earlier. Most buildings surrounding the area will be removed, however.
The "Grifball" court.
Mall interior going to keep the basic shape and function, although is going to be more akin to H2's "Ivory Tower" appearance-wise.

To sum it up:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/Untitled-4-1.png

Anyone have any objections?

[TeeKup]

There should be no objections, only suggestions. This is your map not ours. I'm glad to see some further and enhanced optimization, it means the map will be only that much better.

[English Mobster]

I was against having to remodel the whole fucking thing at first, but things are looking much better already.
MUCH better.

Currently I have the streets done (nice and even now) and I'm working on the parking garage.
The map has also had a bit more realism included as far as the street layouts go. I don't have the road going all the way up to the escalators like I did before; now the street has a tiny little plaza area for drop-offs/pick-ups/u-turns.
Similarly, the entire area by the hotel has had a remodel as well; I mirrored the streets and now I'm having a sidewalk lead to the park with the same sort of plaza area for U-turns near the park entrance itself, something which I feel is much more realistic.
I'm actually happy I've been able to squeeze things into this map I didn't know where to put them before (parking garage, Superintendent tunnels).

Renders will come once I get this parking structure close to finish.
Hopefully they're better. :p

[English Mobster]

Let's try again.
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/parkinggarage.jpg
Things going off to either side are monorail tracks, shield generator is just there to show why one side of the garage is so bland (so people don't escape the map).

[English Mobster]

D-D-D-D-DOUBLE POST
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgate-8.jpg

[n00b1n8R]

What's with the weird graniness in the renders :S

Looking nicer though :)

[SnaFuBAR]

Urgh stop clay rendering...it hides your errors and reduces discernible detail. You have misaligned vertices, you've chosen a VERY poor place for the street lamp (that intersection with the wall is just... what were you thinking?), those planter type things you have on the side of the walls are actually what the lamps should be in, and they are modeled too low (should be level with the wall, also wrong shape), and your planter on the terrace foreground is some weird, ambiguous shape (the one in the concept art looks nothing even remotely similar to that, and i'm not even sure how or why you'd come up with a shape like that), and you have some very severe changes in wall thickness all over the place.

You really really really need to pay more attention to both the concept and how you're modeling. You're getting closer to the odst style, don't let your modeling kill it.

[English Mobster]

The "planter" things on the walls are going to hold streetlamps eventually; I took them out to remodel them.

Other points have been duly noted, thanks.

[Inferno]

TBH your only problem is that things aren't all lined up. The top of the wall on the right side is not very consistent and changes width a bunch and a few other things in the picture are a skewed or out of line.

[Llama Juice]

Urgh stop clay rendering...

^ This.

To spend more than fourteen seconds on a render to show progress is just silly.

[English Mobster]

Render time: 0:24.
Skylight with Automatic Exposure Control/Camull-Rom filter FTW. :p

[Llama Juice]

Render time: 0:24.
Skylight with Automatic Exposure Control/Camull-Rom filter FTW. :p

Give me ~1 hour to render.
.

[English Mobster]

I was using real clay renders then; took forever. :p

[Disaster]

For new WIP pics - Just make a dark gray color as your diffuse, give it high specular and make the gloss half the specular level.

No more clay renders. Get rid of the skylight. Render with your anti-aliasing filter of choice on and a dark gray render background.

[English Mobster]

http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgate-9.jpg
Better?

[Llama Juice]

Yes, much.

E: I'd toss in a directional light with some simple shadows in there tbh... but that's just me.

Also, Im talking purely about the render, I'm too tired to try to compare that to your old render to see if you fixed any geo.

[MissingSpartan7]

any renders of that sky you promised?
*impatient for awsome*

[English Mobster]

Just got all playable areas finished, save the interior of the mall.

The entrance to Blue base (with the escalators) is nice and open, while the entrance to Red base (park area) feels much more... imposing, with buildings towering above you on both sides. I actually rather like the different feeling each base gives you. I'll have to get a render for you soon demonstrating what I mean.

The bland "fire exits" which used to be the only way to the mall interior have been replaced with tunnels much like those seen in "Data Hive". There are also more than two ways into the structure now: We have the broken windows you can jump through and the former "fire exits" still, but now we also have a parking garage you can use to get into the mall interior. As such, this has turned into an infantry-only "hub" of sorts.

One other change: The shotgun and rockets have switched locations.

I would have some renders for you, but I said "playable area"... meaning there are only fragments of buildings in place as of yet. I'll get some soon, I promise. :p

[English Mobster]

Oh, hello there.
Progress on the above:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgatenormal-1.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/westgateclay-1.jpg
Some work on the new section of Gridlock:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/petermarksnormal.jpg
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/petermarks-3.jpg

For reference, this is what the old version looked like, from the same camera:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/petermarks-4.jpg

[SnaFuBAR]

I'm wondering how you manage to always always always somehow manage to make planar surfaces non-planar. The heck are you doing??

[Higuy]

I see alot of them were his ramps are, and seeing that there in curved spots too it could becuase of how hes chamfering or hes using the move tool axises wrong. (like when he moves on y hes also moving on z), which to be honest, isn't very hard to mess up on :S

[Mass]

I'm wondering how you manage to always always always somehow manage to make planar surfaces non-planar. The heck are you doing??

This.

It's like you kind of have an idea of what it should be/look like, but no capability to get the angles right to have it look good in the bungie style.

I really don't understand what is too hard to understand about how to not make non-planars.

[SnaFuBAR]

I see alot of them were his ramps are, and seeing that there in curved spots too it could becuase of how hes chamfering or hes using the move tool axises wrong. (like when he moves on y hes also moving on z), which to be honest, isn't very hard to mess up on :S



Shift+X to constrain movement on an axis. It's also isn't very hard to not fuck it up.

[Higuy]

Shift+X to constrain movement on an axis. It's also isn't very hard to not fuck it up.
Yeah exactly. But there is a little square on the sides that will move both axises. idk either, It was just a thought. But yeah its pretty hard to mess that up

[English Mobster]

It's odd, because the Z axis match up the whole way; every vertex has a corresponding vertex on the other side of the ramp which is at the same height.

If you're talking about the park picture, I realize I did fuck up on one of the ramps, which I mirrored (and then mirrored the mirror), so there are 4 nonplanar ramps in the park picture.

As for the escalator picture, the same business applies: each vertex has a corresponding vertex at the same height on the Z-axis. I honestly have no idea how nonplanars get there, because, to my knowledge, I am doing everything correctly.

[Mass]

The top and bottom edges of your ramps need to be parallel.

And it looks wierd if the sides aren't perpendicular to those edges too. You really have very little wiggle room beyond rectangles before your ramps will appear distorted. You also need to understand how much the halo style relies on your geometry following the axis, because all of your maps have this ugly beer-goggles thing that just doesn't cut it aesthetically.

[English Mobster]

Very small little update:
Is this project dead?
Short answer: Yes and no. It really depends on my mood.
Long, confusing answer: I'm not really feeling the urge to put this thing into Halo. That's not to say I won't put it into Halo, it just seems like a lot of effort to make something for a game that is populated primarily by Coldsnap/Yoyorastfags and RPers. Hell, Yoyo V2 isn't even that popular; what chance does my tiny little project have?
If I can find another engine to put it in, for sure I'd put it in there (my shitty computer can't run Unreal). A Halo port is currently "Most Likely" rather than the "definitely" it used to be.
Since I don't have the urge to put it into an engine, I'm not feeling the drive to finish. Perhaps that will change. Perhaps not.

However, that's not to say I haven't been working on this project. Progress has been made. Things have gotten done. Interiors have been created. Non-planars have been (mostly) fixed.
My to-do list is really as follows:


Complete mall interior (Bathroom and Restaurant need to be completed).
Complete mall exterior (Lots of work here).
Complete Blue courtyard/Blue base (Not looking forward to this, technically is part of mall exterior).
Finish Red base (Red courtyard has been completed, Red base has not).
Seal.
Texture.
Beta.

I'm not giving a potential beta date. I picked this project up today simply because I was bored and someone bugged me about it on Xfire. I got quite a bit done today.
I hope to have it released this Winter or early next Spring. Then again, I had also hoped to have this released before ODST.

Some screens (more to demonstrate what has been done than anything else):
Red Courtyard/Peter Marks Memorial:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/redcourtyard.jpg
Blue Courtyard (Ignore fail lighting job and incomplete geometry):
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/bluecourtyard.jpg
Blue Courtyard, alternate angle:
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/bluecourtyardalternateangle.jpg
Train Station/Parking Garage (examples of unfinished geometry abound):
http://i435.photobucket.com/albums/qq80/Mudkipz47/station.jpg

[Lateksi]

I think it's pretty accurate to the Halo 3 ODST's style but what's up with the Hang em High blocks?

[English Mobster]

The Hang 'Em High blocks are a memorial to Peter Marks, creator of Hang 'Em High, who died recently.

[Con]

Nice touch. I'm really lovin' that bsp.

[POQPrince]

Long, confusing answer: I'm not really feeling the urge to put this thing into Halo. That's not to say I won't put it into Halo, it just seems like a lot of effort to make something for a game that is populated primarily by Coldsnap/Yoyorastfags and RPers. Hell, Yoyo V2 isn't even that popular; what chance does my tiny little project have?

Of course, you can also look at it this way (if it were available for Halo): Halo is a game that is populated primarily by Coldsnap/Yoyorast AND Gridlock players.

:cop:

[Higuy]

That BSP still dosent look that great, not sure if you've fixed it up at all either?

And yeah, to be honest most multiplayer maps these days have no chance to get played for a long period of time. If its good enough and original, then it might get played for sometime, but not forever.

Heck, I barley even see the new CMT maps being played any more, and Snow Grove is really only played on Zombies and on 1.00.

[sevlag]

Of course, you can also look at it this way (if it were available for Halo): Halo is a game that is populated primarily by Coldsnap/Yoyorast AND Gridlock players.

:cop:
dont be a faggot, CE is populated by the following:

people just playing stock maps
coldsnap players
people who play that shitty desert map
hugeass
POQ's shitty zombie server

and last but not least, the multitude of shitty RP servers with 12 year old asspie admins

fuck no one even PLAYS yoyorast island anymore

i say make it just for the people who actually like to play CE and not play in a shitty christian server with a shitty map

[ODX]

Make it for the purpose of perhaps a gamenight for anyone who still has CE installed/would be willing to install it.

Question: What weapons are being used for this? Stock, custom, ODST stuff?

[POQPrince]

Uh...okay?

They do make medicine as a treatment for certain displays of cynicism that are fueled by clinical depression. Maybe it is time to pop a pill or two?

:smith:

Besides, I don't fit into any of the above categories in your "assessment." There are still plenty of CE players who aren't 12 yr old admins, Yoyorast or Zombie players or cynical logs or wry oafs who complain about all of the above. We appreciate nice maps too.

This map looks fantastic...and it would be well appreciated by plenty of us who continue to lurk around the CE universe.

:realsmug:

[bobsam]

I like Asspie. And I like the new Model on Gridlock. Very ODST.

[sevlag]

gridlock DOES look good, and having played domain i hope it gives the same action

but on a sour note this will probably be played on a CE game night and then sit and collect dust


I'm a massive faggot who doesn't bother to understand anything

you dont really look at the server lists do you that often? probably jsut join a POQ server via xfire...

the LAST time i saw a full yoyorast server was i THINK 1.08
and when i mean full yoyorast i mean COMPETITIVE, not "herp lets find the secret room"

the new players to CE are either too dumb to google "halo custom edition maps" to find halomaps or are too lazy to go get good the good ones, if they DO end up downloading a map it turns out to be coldsnap or snow grove so they can play zombies

the real world's custom map server is usually populated with whats left of the players who want to play GOOD custom maps and not have to spend an hour and a half trying getting the flag

[English Mobster]

Make it for the purpose of perhaps a gamenight for anyone who still has CE installed/would be willing to install it.

Question: What weapons are being used for this? Stock, custom, ODST stuff?
Perhaps. I'll look into it; I don't have much more to go. Just going to have to fix a few bad polies I found the other day.
As for weaponry, I love the stock weapons. However, this is a map based off of ODST:
Silenced SMG instead of Assault Rifle (SMG does same amount of damage, same fire rate, same clip size as H1 Assault Rifle).
ODST Pistol instead of H1 Pistol (Same as above; does same amount of damage, fire rate, and clip size as H1 Pistol).
The weapons look slightly different, in keeping with the map, but are exactly the same as the H1 weaponry.

[FRain]

gridlock DOES look good, and having played domain i hope it gives the same action

but on a sour note this will probably be played on a CE game night and then sit and collect dust



you dont really look at the server lists do you that often? probably jsut join a POQ server via xfire...

the LAST time i saw a full yoyorast server was i THINK 1.08
and when i mean full yoyorast i mean COMPETITIVE, not "herp lets find the secret room"

the new players to CE are either too dumb to google "halo custom edition maps" to find halomaps or are too lazy to go get good the good ones, if they DO end up downloading a map it turns out to be coldsnap or snow grove so they can play zombies

the real world's custom map server is usually populated with whats left of the players who want to play GOOD custom maps and not have to spend an hour and a half trying getting the flag


Sev, keep your cool. Personal attacks aren't cool, and quite frankly I'm tired of seeing this kind of shit on our forums.

[sevlag]

Sev, keep your cool. Personal attacks aren't cool, and quite frankly I'm tired of seeing this kind of shit on our forums.
wasnt a personal attack, kid just doesnt seem to notice what servers run now a days

anyways i think you should bring back a massive chock point like in the domain betas with that spiral ramp

made oddball fun

[POQPrince]

wasnt a personal attack, kid just doesnt seem to notice what servers run now a days

Thanks...but I am not a "kid" -- and I do know what servers run nowadays.

:golfclap:

[SnaFuBAR]

knock it off. now.

back on topic.

[ODX]

Perhaps. I'll look into it; I don't have much more to go. Just going to have to fix a few bad polies I found the other day.
As for weaponry, I love the stock weapons. However, this is a map based off of ODST:
Silenced SMG instead of Assault Rifle (SMG does same amount of damage, same fire rate, same clip size as H1 Assault Rifle).
ODST Pistol instead of H1 Pistol (Same as above; does same amount of damage, fire rate, and clip size as H1 AR).
The weapons look slightly different, in keeping with the map, but are exactly the same as the H1 weaponry.Ah, because I have some pretty nice animations lying around for both the SMG and Pistol (using the ODST Rig..). Though, the pistol has no reload right now but if ever I have time I could make one if you so wish to use my animations.

[FRain]

The pistol does the same amount of fire rate and damage as the H1 Assault rifle ???

[ODX]

...lol, I didn't notice that when I was reading/quoting the post.

You mean it'll be as powerful as the Halo 1 Pistol, aye?

[English Mobster]

Yes. My bad. -.-