LINK:Urban Simulator V2 View the original map here (note that it can no longer be downloaded, however). Following the Furious Review, I thought I'd return to this map (which is probably my favourite, alongside Jax Basement) to see if I could sort out the issues that were raised. In short, these issues were the spawns (several of which along the outside were wall-facing), the interior being too cramped, and the uneven floor from the ring to the middle. An initial redraft of the transition from outer to middle involved using the tops of bridges to make a ramp. However, I didn't like that and thought it was still a little messly. I deleted the ramp, then I deleted the bridges and then I deleted the fence boxes and the walls along one side of the ring. Then I deleted everything else in the middle and was left with only the outer ring. Basically, I ended up making Urban Simulator again from scratch! Version History: Some key differences between V1 and V2: - The floors of the outer ring are now upside down boxes instead of on their sides so they are much smoother to run around on. - The sniper roosts are gone (The circle of boxes is now merged with the annoying crane to make a continuous upper ring). - Another level of walls and fences competely encloses the map up to Foundry's invisible ceiling so you can no longer get out of the playing area, even with crafty grenade jumps (Insane54, that one's for you ). - The complete closing off of the map means I can now safely add a grav-lift to allow easy access to the 'rooftops'. - The fence boxes that formed the 'rooftops' are now moved into a new position, and some crafty interlocking has created an actual sloped rooftop which can offer some cover. - Two whole lengths of wall have been removed and lowered, merged double walls have been used instead to create balconies (these walls also allow a jump up onto the rooftops without the aid of the grav-lift; tricky, but possible). - The open single boxes are now in the corners opposite the ramps. They have been turned upside down and merged with Foundry's foor and set back into the corner to create a small room and also an easy jump into the outer ring. - Above these boxes there are interlocked and angled walls to create more cover. - The central area is much more open to encourage accurate fire and team shooting, but is still very tight in the very centre. - Respawn points have been individually checked and repositioned, several times. Overview: Urban Simulator is a small 1v1 arena style map designed around the concept of an urban training environment. Within the map are many areas which simulate situations that might be found in tight, close quarter city fighting. These are: long, narrow hallways (possibly apartment complexes or alleyways), balconies, tight blind corners, and ambushes from rooftops. Strong teams should learn to control these areas and their respective weapons (and break setups when another team is already doing so) as they are a key to dominating this map. The initial concept was a small-scale 1v1 map and it works very well for this, but it is also great for 2v2. It starts to feel very crowded at the 5 players point, so I don't recommend FFA games of greater than 4 players, not least because of the small size and the way H3 prioritises spawn points. Differences: Although a grav-lift is included to reach the top level (or whatever other uses you want to put it to!), it isn't required for reaching the rooftops. In the previous version, the only way to reach the roof was through grenade or partner jumping. Some people liked it some didn't, but over time it became clear that it slowed down the game's pace so this feature was cut. Getting to the top is still risky, though. Points of interest: USv2 is rotationally symmetrical arena built with an outer ring (which has long, narrow hallways and balconies) and a central area that contains the blind corners and the elevations that lead to the rooftops. Click on the image for a high-resolution panoramic view of the middle area. The view from the other corner is the same. Click on the image for a high resolution panoramic view of the balcony and hallways. The environments that each section is supposed to simulate: Upper level: Rooftops, top-down ambushes. Middle level, centre: transition area, open lines of sight. Middle level, outer ring: narrow hallways, tight alleyways, balconies. Lower level, bases: open lines of sight, negotiating obstacles. Lower level, centre: blind corners, situation awareness, close quarters combat. Differences: The lower level has changed the most, which is very clear when you first load the map. The single open boxes have been moved to the corners and merged with the ground to make a step into the outer ring. One corner partition has also been removed to open up the courtyard a little more. The fence boxes have also been completely repositioned. A light cosmetic detail I quite like are the interlocked doors at the Team spawn points where the teams enter the arena before doing battle. Weapons and equipment: Human: 4x Battle Rifle 3x SMG 2x Magnum 1x Rocket Launcher (no spare clips, 90 second respawn) 5x Frag Grenade Covenant: 3x Plasma Rifle 2x Carbine 2x Plasma Pistol 2x Mauler (no spare clips, 90 second respawn) 5x Plasma Grenade 1x Grav-lift Differences: For those who played the original Urban Simulator, the Sword and sniper rifles are gone and there are no longer any weapons out of normal jumping reach. As noted above, this feature ultimately slowed the pace of games down and in larger team games meant that power weapons would often never be used at all (not necessarily a bad thing, but the weapons are there for a reason). A grav-lift was included in this version (omitted previously) to facilitate getting to the rooftops. This was previously not included on purpose because, while USv1 generally scored high on durability, it was actually possible to grenade jump out of the arena completely. Now that this is no longer possible I considered it safer to include a grav-lift. Game types: This map works, as far as I know, with all default game types for both FFA and Team, however it is designed primarily with Slayer (and tested mostly with MLG settings) in mind. The game type I have used most for test this map is on my fileshare but is by no means official, so isn't included as an actual part of this release. For team games I recommend BR starts but, as much as it pains me to say it, for FFA games I recommend SMG starts. This is because the ability to land headshots right after you have spawned allows you to immediately kill an opponent who has been weakened by combat and you end up trading kills all the way until the end. Not very competitive, I hope you'll agree! Random Screenshots: And finally, lulz... what a comeback.
Looks pretty neat. I think all these panaromanic screenshots and stuff are gettin outa hand. But the map looks good. I dont see how that could support an organised team slayer match (with bases) because it looks like it would be unbalanced on 1 team. Also that bridge on the first pic, turn it upside down and maybe interlock it, just to make it look a lil tidier.
Cheers for the comments. It does support teams and doesn't end up being unbalanced, but 3v3 is when it starts to feel crowded. I'm not sure what you mean by being unbalanced for one team, though... I've never come across that so far. I won't be touching the ramps into the 'bases' any time soon, though... it took me ages to get it smooth when you run over it, lol. For me, the aesthetic gain for messing with it doesn't outweigh the benefits of being able to run transition smoothly. Lol Insane, you had me 11 to 3 down... what happened there, dude? What happened?
I just realised that the map is pretty much symmetrical, i apologise for my lack of proper eyesight. Yes, the map would support team play fine. I agree totally, my initial idea was to turn the bridge upside down, just because it looks better and the colours are nicer. Bit its only a bridge. As you said its much better having something smooth to run on than something nice to look at in a competative map.
Ah, no wonder I was confused! Edit: For some reason the description of the map didn't update. It should read that it's suitable for 2-6 players not 2-8...
yea, i noticed that too, but i figured you meant to do that. why the lower case in the file name tho?
how do you do that panarama thing btw? might be kinda cool for a map i might be releasing soon... :squirrel_wink:
The panoramics are done by taking a bucketload of screenshots from the same position and then stitching them together with Photoshop's Photomerge feature. That's how I did it anyway; there's freeware tools out there that do the same thing if you don't have Photoshop. As for the filename... it's kind of an old habit from the days of limited characters and lower case only filenames. I was working on two versions (v2a and v2b, which might still see release in the next week or so) and I couldn't fit the whole name into the filename so I shorthanded it, then forgot to change it when it was ready to release. In other news, 23 downloads already! Just one rating, though, so don't forget to comment and rate on b.net if you liked it.
Woohoo, an updated version! I liked this map a lot despite the problems of version 1, so you get a definite DL from me. The new version looks pretty sweet!
yea uh gamer...rate your own map dude :squirrel_wtf: i think i was the only one who rated it and posted lol
Oh my god, I can't believe I didn't know I can rate my own map. LOL, thanks Insane In other news, in the coming week or so I'll be releasing the v2b versionof Urban Simulator, which is the other variant that I've been testing on and off. It's the same map but with a different weapon/equipment mix and with the emphasis on a very different style of play. It won't be a full release but just a variant I'll comment as being available on my fileshare. Also, as ego-centric as it may sound... because this version came about as a direct result of the Furious Review, I'd be very interested in hearing what the people who played the original think of the update.
At the risk of bumping (but at least I'm not double-posting) have any of the 40ish people who downloaded this got any comments? 39 downloads and just two ratings (one of which is me!) Cheers!