[WIP] Precipice

[chrisk123999]

I think there is a checkbox somewhere in the shader tag or the scenery tag that fixes the fog problem.

[Siliconmaster]

I think there is a checkbox somewhere in the shader tag or the scenery tag that fixes the fog problem.

Hmm- there must be, because the trees are scenery, and they don't have that issue. If you add other custom scenery down in the real fog, it does turn white. Interesting.

Edit:

Just hosted an hour-long playtest with Klange, ShadowSpartan, Reaper, myself, and a local friend. We started with two FFA slayer games, which went pretty darn well. The banshees are what they always are, but were significantly less whoreable this time due to increased banshee user damage, the base turrets, and a wider selection of rocket launchers and other weapons. Could still be balanced a little, but a lot better than last time. Then we played a 2v2 game of CTF, which should have been obscenely retarded on a map this large, but actually played quite well. It reminded me a lot of the H3 action sack gametype "Shotty CTF" due to the H1 rule of "must have flag at base to score". There was a lot of hiding with the flag while the other teammate went to try to get our own flag back. There was even one memorable instance where Adam was hiding in our base with the flag, and Reaper tossed grenades down the well and killed him. That was how I had planned that feature years ago, but to have it work before my eyes was hilarious and rewarding.

List of tester suggestions and changes:
-Use the CMT spartan laser to balance the banshees. I'm thinking replace the sniper in the control room with the Splaser. This would make that room a lot more important, and it would help control the banshee whoring.

-Make the base turrets movable, like the SP versions, so they can be knocked off the platforms.

-Make labels or logos so players know which teleporter goes where. This only really matters for the two teleporters near the front of the bases- they're symmeterical, so depending on which base you're in you go to different places on the right or the left. Got really confusing in this playtest for me at least, and I made the dang thing.

-Fix the bizarre flag-vehicle glitch. For some reason, if you have the flag, and you get in a vehicle, instead of disappearing so you can fire a weapon, etc. it sticks out of your body at odd angles, and if you so much as tap the trigger, you drop it. ShadowSpartan became quite frustrated with this one, and I agree it's really weird. Anyone know why this might be happening?

Overall, I'm extremely happy with how this test went, and I can now move on to fixing little things- the large play area has been broadly finished. That being said, stuff will definitely change- more cover, better terrain, etc.

[Reaper Man]

The portals made the map so confusing, random sections of geometry would disappear. Otherwise the map played fairly well, save my banshee whoring.

[Siliconmaster]

The portals made the map so confusing, random sections of geometry would disappear. Otherwise the map played fairly well, save my banshee whoring.

Yeah, as I mentioned in game, blame blue base. Halo seems to flip a coin when it comes to registering exact portals. Last build, red base wasn't portalled and blue base was fine. This time, red base worked, but blue base didn't. As a result, if you looked in the direction of blue base at any time, in all likelihood half the map would disappear. This was extremely noticeable when topside red base. I'll make sure to at the very least get those two exact portal sections working for next time.


Edit:

Hey look, some WIP wall pics. I already like this one far better than the old lolmassive one. Plus this one looks cooler.

Overview


The energy port (more info on this at some point)


Middle Detail


Topside

[ghk]

nice.....i like all the detail on that center section,but now it makes the big grey walls on either side look really bland

[Siliconmaster]

Heh- yeah, well, I suppose that was unavoidable. But better to have at least one wall look nice than to have all of them looking shitty. Wish I had more polies to work with- damn Halo 1's engine.

[BobtheGreatII]

I guess my question is why do you have the big gray walls? Why not make them cliffs. Would look much better.

[Siliconmaster]

I guess my question is why do you have the big gray walls? Why not make them cliffs. Would look much better.

Because the idea was that the whole thing is artificial. Also, at the moment I barely have enough poly structure space to fix up the areas that need it for gameplay, let alone completely redesigning an area that spans 3/4 of the map. I do agree it looks plain, but that's one of the last things I'm going to address. Maybe some pipes or similar tech objects to break up the surface. Not sure yet. It's a frustrating dilemma.

[Dwood]

Use bump maps and texshurs to make it look purty.

[Siliconmaster]

The idea of using shaders to make larger flat areas look nicer is definitely appealing. I'll look into it once the bsp itself is finished. I've thrown some new stuff into the map, and I have some debug-lightmapped screenshots to prove it:

The new wall in action:


From the control room window...


...and from the land bridge. I personally love this pic.


New teleporter labels, matching Bungie's death island banshee and turret icons:


And the new control room banshee pit, which actually lives up to its name now. Don't fall.


And thus progress.