[WIP] Hydrom

[beele]

Well it's been quite a while since my last work for HV2.

Temple grounds: Due to unfortunate events with my computer I lost some of the files, one of them being the bsp, luckily enough I had backups, but they're quite old, so I've stopped working on it for now, which does not mean I've abandoned that map, It will be there, but not in the near future.

Hydrom: This is my new map, It will be an indoor symmetrical forerunner map. I've been working on it for the past week, and everything I'm about to show is still in the very early stages of development. I'm just showing it to collect criticism and adapt the map where needed.

This said, I would like to ask if there is someone who can help me with making the textures/shaders for the map, pm me if you want to help.

This will for now be my last map (except temple grounds) for halo 2, because of the small player base.

Pictures:

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_1.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydyo_2.png
The glass you see in this picture has open edges, does anyone know how to get rid of them? (picture 2 and 3 are the same place in the map)

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_3.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_4.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_5.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_6.png

And last, a picture (made in paint.net) showing the more total image of the map, this is very inaccurate, and totally of scale and perspective, but it should show the idea of the map. (I know I suck at making drawings :embarrassed:)

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_7.png

All ideas and constructive criticism are welcome.

[randreach454]

i personally think it looks fun and dig how you did it.

[flibitijibibo]

Yeah, looks like a lot of fun.

How big will the map actually be when it's done? When I saw that there were Banshee spawns, I got a bit worried...

[Sel]

Looks like it has a lack of cover, also, put in a reference model for us to get an idea of scale.

[Ki11a_FTW]

like selentic said, but im sure the scenery and all that will fix it, youve improved on your modeling skills

[Sever]

Quite honestly, the map would have extremely horrible gameplay. Have you even examined the stock H1/2 maps? Take a few days running around them and try to truly understand them. Look at where you can shoot from your current location. Look at where you can be shot from. Look at how confined areas are constructed. Examine how each area is connected to the others. Navigate every possible path from end of the map to the other. Then turn off the weapon & power-up spawns and see if that changes your preferred routes. Please, do not sin against humanity and continue to make any kind of 'progress' on terrible map ideas.

[beele]

Quite honestly, the map would have extremely horrible gameplay. Have you even examined the stock H1/2 maps? Take a few days running around them and try to truly understand them. Look at where you can shoot from your current location. Look at where you can be shot from. Look at how confined areas are constructed. Examine how each area is connected to the others. Navigate every possible path from end of the map to the other. Then turn off the weapon & power-up spawns and see if that changes your preferred routes. Please, do not sin against humanity and continue to make any kind of 'progress' on terrible map ideas.

Everything will be fully balanced, I've already done more thinking about the gameplay then actually modelling it.

Isn't it normal, that a map in pre-alpha still needs to be worked out further (gameplay wise/and model wise), I think you missed it there.

[Sever]

belle, the whole map is even more linear than H2's campaign. Balance doesn't matter when the gameplay is horrible. And no, it is not correct to start modeling before you even have the gameplay aspects worked out. Your map doesn't even have any theme as far as I can tell. If you want any help with theme/setting/layout, feel free to pm me.

[beele]

Here are 2 more pictures, one in sapien, with a banshee and a chief to show the scale (I lost my 3ds max chief :(). The other picture is the early start of the of the beam-chamber like in uplift, thats all for now.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_8.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_9.png

The beam-chamber needs to be scaled down, its just that big now to work with it.

And I'll probably make a video to show the scale of the level, that should show it better then a static image.

[beele]

belle, the whole map is even more linear than H2's campaign. Balance doesn't matter when the gameplay is horrible. And no, it is not correct to start modeling before you even have the gameplay aspects worked out. Your map doesn't even have any theme as far as I can tell. If you want any help with theme/setting/layout, feel free to pm me.

First of all sorry for the double post.

I have the theme and layout in my head and you will see it show up as the map progresses. And why is there anything wrong with linear maps, they can be very fun to play.

The gameplay shall become more clear after the first beta I'm going to give (not yet soon), but thrust me it will be OK.

[Ki11a_FTW]

the second pic looks to boxy

[beele]

the second pic looks to boxy

Yeah I know :(, but I'm still doing the basic layout for that beam-chamber, so I hope it will be OK when I'm done. (expect new pictures in the coming days)

[beele]

Yet again another double post, sorry for that.

I've restarted with the beam-chamber, and I did the inner center.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_10.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_11.png

I'm already liking this more then the previous one, but there's still a lot of work. (smoothing will be applied later on)

[Terror(NO)More]

Sever323 you may think it lacks game-play but on a whole pie chart of basis it would win for game-play its not going to satisfy every person.

[Vicky]

Just go your own way beele, you can make maps without any plan... 1 idea can make a good and playable map... i won't (wouldn't) post my WIPs here anyway, you can't satisfy everyone.

[l SINERGY l]

I haven't been around here lately but I'll just stop by to offer some "constructive criticism".

From what I can tell you have two narrow hallways going into each base, this could pose a problem since it's a larger map and it would cater towards two defenders camping each doorway with a shotgun or something along those lines.

Maybe have a skylight or something for a banshee to drop in just to mix things up.

[beele]

I haven't been around here lately but I'll just stop by to offer some "constructive criticism".

From what I can tell you have two narrow hallways going into each base, this could pose a problem since it's a larger map and it would cater towards two defenders camping each doorway with a shotgun or something along those lines.

Maybe have a skylight or something for a banshee to drop in just to mix things up.

I was already planning that, but thanks anyway :)

[beele]

sorry for the double post.

Just a very small update this time, since I've been caught by the flu.

the beam-chamber is now attached to the main level, but still needs to be worked out further. I've also set up the plasma shader (the one lightning made if I'm not mistaken), but there's a problem with it. In-game when you shoot any part with the plasma shader applied, halo 2 exceptions and closes to the desktop :confused:, what could I be doing wrong?

pictures:

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_12.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_13.png

Expect more after I'm back OK

[beele]

sorry for triple post :embarrassed:.

I'm all OK now after being sick, so I got to work on my map again.

I've made some radical changes, involving the game play (turret range, sniper hideouts). There's still a lot more to come, but the basic shape is now almost complete.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_15.jpg
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_16.jpg

I still need to fill up some empty places, no worries about that.

[Con]

Stay away from the simple extruded details, like on the top of that beam structure

[beele]

A medium size update this time.

I've been doing some work inside the base, And I've been setting up portals. I have been adding detail in some areas, and doing some texturing/shading work. (all you see right now from textures is a very basic 10 min job uv-ing them).

A small video showing some stuff. Some thing are really hard to see without decent textures applied :embarrassed:.

ZSOaWvm9jr4

I could really use some help with the textures (mostly uv-ing) and shaders. I really could use someone to help me with this (pm me or add me on msn).

More to come SOON

All ideas and comments welcome.

[KIWIDOGGIE]

Looks great for big scale!

[l SINERGY l]

Rotate the little white line on the receiver portal so you don't face the wall when exiting it.

This is one of the better tutorials I've seen that covers the basics on UVW mapping: http://waylon-art.com/uvw_tutorial/uvwtut_01.html

[jngrow]

The outside of the base/thing looks like it would "flow" strangely. Sorry if that doesn't make sense. Otherwise, the map looks pretty good, lots of stuff.

P.S.: Holy shit, the end of that remix was sooo off.

[Btd69]

Why are there no walls around the map?

[beele]

Why are there no walls around the map?

Because it's not finished yet :p

[Btd69]

Then why would you want someone to UVW a map that isn't finished?

[beele]

Then why would you want someone to UVW a map that isn't finished?

That was not for now, I was just asking if someone was interested in doing it. :)

[Btd69]

If you intend on having someone volunteer to completely UVW your map, you should first remove a lot of the symmetrical pieces of it.. by that I don't mean the layout, but change the visuals of the map so it's not exactly the same on both sides.

[beele]

Massive update:

It's been quite a while since the last update, but here I am to show you some of the progress that has been made.

I've started to texture the base, since the finished map will consist out of two identical bases with minor differences in textures and lightning. There's still a very long way to go, but thing are shaping up nicely.

At this moment there are no walls around the map, these will be made later on (works easier for me).

The game play has also been revised, to give more challenging game play several adjustment have been made, one of them being the teleporters.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_14.png

As you can see in the schematic picture above, I still need to make the ramp and the tunnel, and texture loads of things, but there will be a public beta (for those who still play the game) in one of the following months (I hope next month, all depends on school).

Below are some more in game pictures, don't mind the lightning and some textures, this was just a quick build at checkerboard quality.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_17.jpg
The red base, two new panels come out of where the teleporters will be.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_18.jpg
A new "thing" I made there to provide some cover from the turrets.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_19.jpg
A closer look on those panels, you will be able to get up here by a graf lift.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_20.jpg
Glass without open edges.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_21.jpg
A more over viewing picture of the outside, very crappy lightning I know.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydro_22.jpg
A closer look on the glowing tech in the pillars.

Still loads of work to be done, but I'm getting there. This will be my last halo 2 vista map. I've canceled temple grounds. I anyone wants the model I have so far, feel free to pm me, take notice that the temple grounds model is rather old, and is not very good modeled.

Feel free to constructively comment.

[OmegaDragon]

Looks great so far. I don't know if its the lighting, but the second ingame pic looks like the ledge has some bad triangles.

[beele]

Looks great so far. I don't know if its the lighting, but the second ingame pic looks like the ledge has some bad triangles.

I was wondering about that as well. I'm running a test at super quality, this is going to take a while (I did some more uv-ing and shader creation first)

I'll post pictures when it's done.

[beele]

Sorry for double post.

There's a small problem here. I'm running it at super quality to check some effects from some shaders I created, but it's taking rather long to compile now. So I would like to ask if someone who has a beast of a desktop pc could do it for me. Normally I should do it, but since I'm leaving for Germany tomorrow for a martial arts seminar (3 days) I do not wish to keep my laptop running without me being there. If you want to help me, please pm me or add me on msn, remember I will chose only someone who I trust (known members, with known reliability)

Thanks in advance.

[Pooky]

Shorten the tunnel with the teleporter at the end. That would be a sniper/rocket camping nightmare. Other than that, looks pretty fucking badass. I'd download it for CE.

[paladin]

Whats the outside setting supposed to be? Looks good, keep working on it.

[beele]

It will be fully surrounded by caves or walls, or a mixture of both.

[paladin]

Gotcha

[beele]

Update:

THE MAP IS FROM THIS MOMENT ALSO A HALO CE PROJECT IF I CAN GET IT IN-GAME.
Yes, you read it right, I've started to port it to CE. I've cleaned up the mesh, removed all open edges. But whenever I export it with the bluestreak JMS exporter 3DSMax Stops responding (I have version 9). Any ideas what I could be doing wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Another thing, are portals for CE also +portal material?

ps: beta is coming soon (H2V and CE), if I can get it (CE) to export.

EDIT: If someone wants to help me to get it exported pm me or add me on msn, I can't get it to work, and I'm not that good with CE.

EDIT2: Here's a H2V version video, of the pre-beta 1 version. Due to a format I did recenty, I lost some of my shaders, but I'm already remaking those. As for the CE version, I'm still trying to get it to export properly, but so far no luck.

dpKrjPdw_7o

[jngrow]

Update:

THE MAP IS FROM THIS MOMENT ALSO A HALO CE PROJECT IF I CAN GET IT IN-GAME.
Yes, you read it right, I've started to port it to CE. I've cleaned up the mesh, removed all open edges. But whenever I export it with the bluestreak JMS exporter 3DSMax Stops responding (I have version 9). Any ideas what I could be doing wrong? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Another thing, are portals for CE also +portal material?

ps: beta is coming soon (H2V and CE), if I can get it (CE) to export.

EDIT: If someone wants to help me to get it exported pm me or add me on msn, I can't get it to work, and I'm not that good with CE.

EDIT2: Here's a H2V version video, of the pre-beta 1 version. Due to a format I did recenty, I lost some of my shaders, but I'm already remaking those. As for the CE version, I'm still trying to get it to export properly, but so far no luck.

dpKrjPdw_7o

That looked pretty cool. Keep up the good work.

[NuggetWarmer]

Reminds me of Narrows for some reason. Would be cool if you decided to make it a bridge or something. :)

[BobtheGreatII]

Needs moar man cannon. :awesome:

tis a joke

[beele]

Update:

CE:
It's finally exporting, but tool keeps crashing on 6 open edges. Importing the wrl file, is of no help, since I can't find the edges. Max STL check comes up with no open edges.

H2V:
Goes in-game without any problems. Expect the first beta next month.

MAP:
Some new additions have been made considering the gameplay. There are now two (still to be scaled down) spawn chambers for several gametypes. Other gametypes (CTF, team slayer,...) will use the actual bases for spawning.

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_front.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_top.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_pers1.png
http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_pers2.png

Corresponding numbers and colors of dots, indicate teleporters.
I'll be starting to texture the map real soon now, just some more adjustments (the walls, and those two extra chambers) to the bsp. Feel free to comment.

[beele]

Problems

After some searching, and correcting erros, I finally got it to compile with tool for halo CE. I made some changes, set everything up in guerilla, ran the radiosity, and tried it in sapien. That's where the problem is, the map loads in sapien, but only shows me the sky, no level, I tried moving the camera around, but I could not find the actual bsp. Is there anyone who knows a lot about halo CE map making, and is willing to help me. Vicky has already been helping me (and is still helping me, which I am very thankfull for).

I really want this map to be in CE (as well in H2V) so if anyone wants to work with me, pm me or add me on msn. If mods find that I should make a seperate thread for this in the CE section, I will gladly do it. :p

As for H2V, the map still goes in game fine , it's CE that's giving me a hard time.

[beele]

Sorry for triple post.

We finally got it to work. After days of trying several things we managed to get it to work (me and Vicky).

http://www.beeles-place.be/halo2mppics/wh/hydrom_ce1.jpg
just a test to see if it works. Expect more soon.

[Vicky]

Well, all i did was ask some things and spot 2 open edges, took no more than 2 hours in total, all credits still go to you beele for the work on this map.

[Hotrod]

The map seems a little too big to me for some reason, though it's probably just the way the map is made, much longer than wide. For some reason, I have some doubts about the gameplay in the map, since it doesn't look like you can really sneak around, and get the enemy from a different angle, or something like that. Though, I can't really judge the gameplay by the pictures. This looks great, and keep up the good work.

[BobtheGreatII]

I like it... I just think the walls could you some more shape.

[SMASH]

I think it looks pretty good, though it'd be nice to see what it looks like with adequate lighting and textures, but yea, it's good you guys got it in the engine. Good job.

[beele]

I'm working pretty hard on the lighting, but it's a lot of work, since I'm used tot the H2V system and not the CE system of shaders.

[Ki11a_FTW]

Many spots of your map well done, but there are a few i can see that need some improvements.