[WIP] Sandstorm -- Public Beta (and pics)

[Boo Diddly]

I've finally decided to do a public beta of my map. It's nearly complete, and I need to do testing with a bunch of people to get tweaks and such.

In short, there is a new UI, a few custom textures, some weapon changes, and interesting details. The zip file is about 40mb (I hope that you know where to put it...).

You can download it over at http://www.boodiddly.net. Plus you can get a much better description and more pics of it.

Oh, and a few pics!
http://www.boodiddly.net/0db9bf40.jpg
http://www.boodiddly.net/0dc9bf40.jpg
http://www.boodiddly.net/0de9bf40.jpg
http://www.boodiddly.net/0e99bf40.jpg
http://www.boodiddly.net/0fd9bf40.jpg
http://www.boodiddly.net/0f59bf40.jpg
http://www.boodiddly.net/0f99bf40.jpg
http://www.boodiddly.net/0ec9bf40.jpg

Oh, also if you come across any problems or balace issues, tell me plz:v

[~ZMT~Trace]

Looks good, downloading now. i might make a sever too, if im not playing EvE

[Boo Diddly]

thx, I don't have enough $ for a server; I guess thats the life of a student >.<

[An Emu]

it looks good in the first couple of pics, but i scrolled down a bit more and was like WTF?

[Pooky]

Do you use a bad graphics card? Cause the first few pictures looked allright and I was gonna download, then once I got to the 6th pic I was like, what the hell

[rossmum]

TWIN SUNS HOLYSHIT

Looks like a mix of win and funky textures... hmmm. Might give it a shot later.

[Bodzilla]

the map looks pretty good in-game when i last saw it (at dano's). it's worth a check out guys. but it looks like u kept that ground texture near the base, the tile looking thing >_>

[Boo Diddly]

no, the 6th pic is supposed to be like that, it is an area that is "blocked off" from the blowing sands thus no dust in the air and it is pitch black.
After a bit of thought, I did keep the tile texture. although it does not go right up to the metal structures anymore.

download it and give it a try, it may supprise you

i have a x1900 btw, 1600x1200 with a high framerate FTW

(another pic of the underground btw)
http://www.boodiddly.net/0f49bf40.jpg

[rossmum]

Tripped-out purple things 0_o

[Boo Diddly]

they aren't trippy till you see them in game o.0

just as a warning thing, the default race gametype doesn't work too well with my map, you need a custom one that is set only for warthogs. Otherwise you get tanks, and those can't fit through the tunnels.

The rest of the gametypes should play good on defaults, but I haven't had more than 4 people in my map at the same time.

[An Emu]

yeah im still like wtf. if you kept this map to the feel that it had in the first couple pics it would be really good. i like the sandstorm atmosphere and stuff, but then you just get into something completely different and on crack.

[Metkil5685]

This map just looks whoa....

I can't download and play it now, but I shall later tonight.

[DemonOne]

First of all, I want to tell you that I think this maps looks great.
The color scheme fits the theme exactly, and it blends well with halo's theme.
I really like the long dark hallways, those can lead to pretty funny situations.

I do however feel that the yellow tiles don't really belong there, as I was surprised to see them when I turned on my flashlight, and the blue celestial body in the sky seems a bit cartoonish to me.

Anyway, I found a bug (I think) - When you go up the ramps leading to the top of red base, when the sun is in front of you, you can actually see the spot of light before the ramp is out of your sight.
Screenshot (click it, of course): http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2852/sandstormbetabug1pd3.th.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sandstormbetabug1pd3.jpg)


Again, good job man.

Demon.

[Pooky]

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/2852/sandstormbetabug1pd3.th.jpg (http://img208.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sandstormbetabug1pd3.jpg)



What's with the Marathon logo?

[Limited]

Hmm, kinky.

Good job, been long time since some one made a map thast totally revamped halo but not copied a previous idea, brings me back to halo hq days.

[Boo Diddly]

ah, yes the glare. not much i can do about it. Thats the game engine being wonky.

and about the marathon logo...
http://www.bungie.net/images/Games/Halo/Gallery/PreXbox/oldhalo4.jpg

[Chief117]

pretty sweet looking map, ill try find any bugs i see and if i do ill send ya a bug report.

[Pooky]

ah, yes the glare. not much i can do about it. Thats the game engine being wonky.

and about the marathon logo...
http://www.bungie.net/images/Games/Halo/Gallery/PreXbox/oldhalo4.jpg

Allright, so the orange is health and the blue is shield, or something like that, right? So what's the white space?

[rossmum]

Rep?

Speaking of which... :p

[Boo Diddly]

pretty sweet looking map, ill try find any bugs i see and if i do ill send ya a bug report.
cool, thx.

On the pre-xbox halo image, i'm not sure what the white was. So the white is the light in my hud.

[megaxp]

god job!
awesomee

[JDMFSeanP]

Too many long boring hallways below IMO.

[An Emu]

yeah white should be flashlight.

but im still kinda like wtf?



http://www.boodiddly.net/0f59bf40.jpg

[Boo Diddly]

emu, why can't it be there?

perhaps this would be better...
http://www.boodiddly.net/0d09bf40.jpg
j/l, heres a cuple of screen shots of my custom cubemap
http://www.boodiddly.net/0screenshot00.JPG
http://www.boodiddly.net/1screenshot00.JPG

[An Emu]

emu, why can't it be there?

perhaps this would be better...
http://www.boodiddly.net/0d09bf40.jpg


still, like wtf is up with the bright colors. the last two pics look great! I like the cubemap, and i think the map would be tons better if it stuck to that dusty kind of theme. Any map should have a certain color scheme that goes with it, and to me it feels like the pink and yellow colors take away from the great atmosphere you set up outside.

[rossmum]

I agree. Keep it desertlike.

[TeeKup]

It needs a desert camo hog. I think theres one at Halomods.

Yep here it is.
http://files.halomods.com/viewtopic.php?t=59883

Could be a tad more sand-ish though.

[rossmum]

:O Voltage made a winnar desert Hog? Yew fo' serious?

[MasterChief2829]

This looks very nice, however the random colors in the 3rd pic are a bit strange...

I'm glad this is actually a full out public beta... not like some other mods I know of :P That's okay though, I don't want to start anything.

[Bodzilla]

still, like wtf is up with the bright colors. the last two pics look great! I like the cubemap, and i think the map would be tons better if it stuck to that dusty kind of theme. Any map should have a certain color scheme that goes with it, and to me it feels like the pink and yellow colors take away from the great atmosphere you set up outside.
well the map still has one colour theme.
it's just that the outside thats been exposed to the elements is a more yellowing style. the inside of the structures they have been untouched by the sands, winds and heats of the dessert.

i do however prefer the sandy look to it and i would prefer to see it continue through out the inside of the map.

[Boo Diddly]

well, I think I’m going to fix a few of the lighting colors *coughtowercough*

well, can you explain a bit more about the sandy look throughout the interior? mind you that the cavern won't be changing in "feel", but I may change the fountain a bit to make it look better in time.

Just wondering, what random colors in which third picture?


finally about that very purple picture; That’s what happens when you give lighting effects to a texture that is used a lot... I was trying to go for a faint purple which created just a tiny amount of purple, instead it was way too big. That idea got scrapped.

The reason why there are yellow tiles are simple, this was a temple of sorts in this area. That’s the reason for the "ruins" above, the tile that is partially covered by sand, the statue with the spinning object floating in mid air, and the fountain. The glowing pillars are not natural and serve an unknown purpose.
The metal buildings and tower have a different story. It seems between the time the forerunners activated the rings and the humans and covenant landed, something came there and built some sort of outpost. They ripped out the tile and some other buildings that might have been there, leaving the basement and staircases intact. Then they built the buildings on top of these cleared areas. They also seem to have installed teleporters in the ruins, blocking off any entrances to other parts of the ruins buried beneath the sands.

When the forerunners created these ruins, they also created an entrance to other parts of the ring. Unfortunately the path to this area has broken off and leaves what is beyond a total mystery...

EDIT: Just to add, I'm nearing some kind of triangle limit. Past a certain ammout radiosity refuses to run and complains about too many polys (and says to rebuild or something... doesen't work obviously).

[Teroh]

Holy crap I just saw this thread today, and I want to play with some people. I can set up a dedi right now.

[rossmum]

Wow.

I actually need to play this later...

[Teroh]

Yeah setting up the Dedi now...

[Teroh]

Dedi set up! Who wants to play?

[Boo Diddly]

i can run a dedi from my computer, but I cant leave it on the whole time. The name will be Sandstorm Beta Testing. It appears on the ingame lobby, but not xfire (at least that is what it looks like). If you have xfire going though and xfire sees what server you are in, you can put the server on the favorite list.

[Anton]

Wow, this actually looks pretty good. I'm downloading now :P