Hello! Welcome to my first Halo 5 WIP thread. I have been lurking for months and honing scripting skills in PC-Forge, and doing many experiments to hopefully bring something unique to every single map I create. I have put my big Star Trek map hold to complete this project, which caught my fancy while playing customs. Out of the gates - With all due respect to PRONGEDVERMIN0, while CW may be a very popular map with many bookmarks, it was not very well put together and very very basic, including many gameplay flaws. So, in frustration with the fact that sometimes one of the only Customs matches on PC is CW or a variant, I decided to show these kids what could be done with forge whilst still keeping true to the gameplay that makes CW so much fun. BOOKMARK MAP (If not visible, is under construction) Improvement Goals (over original): better "stitching" of pieces to create a smoother looking, more polished product more pathways from entrance of castles up to flag area (CW has only 1) Safer spawns / eliminate kills inherent in the entrance of the castles Relocate and redesign vehicle garages. less blocky, more interesting interiors, more diverse piece usage slightly larger castles and bridge, within reason Enhance/compliment gameplay with innovative scripting More Skill jumps Key Features: Cannon (1 per team) on top of each Castle, with variable distance settings and wide area of destruction. Helps counter vehicles and large movements of troops. Red/Blue team enforcement. Because this is mainly CTF oriented, multi-team situations break the map in variuos ways. Also, I hate multi team so I am forcing all players to feel the same way, or die trying (I will create a separate thread outlining the details of how this was done) Vehicle staggered release - vehicles no longer dominate small player count matches while waiting for others to join, which usually caused the non-tank having player (speaking of BTB generally, not CW) to quit in frustration. No longer! I will outline how this was done in another thread as well, which I hope will be the new standard for BTB maps! Generators as scripted "furnature" on top of each castle, which breaks up LOS and adds something else cool to look at (and a death trap for those not being careful.) More Pics: This is, of course, a work in progress. There is still some color variation to add, piece consolidation, and more decor/art to add. For the moment, I am keeping exterior detail & bridge area low so that we can be sure it will run okay on xbox. If it seems there is still some headroom, those areas will be further detailed. Spoiler
(post outdated) This post is to request help trying to figure out what could be making this map crash the PC version of Forge whenver a match has been going for a little while. It happens seemingly at random, as in nothing in particular is happening on my screen, spawning etc. Does anyone have a link to a thread somewhere talking about what types of things to look for in crashing maps? we are sitting at a little over 1300 pieces, but I have not seem this problem previously. THough, this is my first time forging on Alpine.
Crashes fixed: I am pleased to report that this map (seems) to not be crashing anymore on PC, or at least very seldom, which may be the application being buggy, not the map. What do I think the cause was all this time? As far as I can tell, the crashing started after adding cameras for intros. But since this is round based, and there was no static cam for round starts, it may have caused a problem. Interestingly enough, adding static cams for subsequent rounds coincides with the vanishing of the crashes... Changes Ongoing: (COMPLETED) The most consistent piece of feedback I've received about this WIP is that it is a little too big. While it probably feels perfect with 16 players, the truth is that often it will not fill up, and then it does feel too spaced out. As a result, the bridge you see in pics above, which has 16 "planks" of the Road Platform which is 56 units wide, will soon have only 14. This keeps the immense feeling of the map, while reducing the empty space on the bridge to a more comfortable, familiar level. This means moving the entire Blue castle! That is a huge task, which will require a lot of small corrections over days. As a result, this map is not shared and is certainly not playable. My plan is to keep the existing copy as the final release later. So you may not see this as visible while it is under construction or while I am actually working on it. If it is shared, you can trust it is in a playable state. Other recent changes/enhancements: Sniper removed - too powerful. Flag navpoints fixed Plasma Caster added - bridge middle (old sniper spot). After adding, realized text "PLAZMA CASTER" obstructs view for blue team of red castle opening. Created lift jump up to cross-beam between bridge pillars where caster now sits. Very exposed, so not too powerful position. Adds more verticality and dymanics to gameplay/movement. DMRs are elevated as the "mini-snipe" but readily available to players. BR to a lesser degree as DMR. Echidna hydra removed. Too easy to stop vehicles. (0 extra clips still gave too much ammo) Suppressor - replaces Hydra in window area Plasma Pistols - increased from 2 to 4, one on floor 1.5 and one on floor 2.5 (.5 refers to landings between floors in castles) Grenades inside all "pods" on bridge. Two plasma and two frag per team. Pods moved inward from edges of bridge - reduces sense of being too open, and gives chance of fooling opponents and surviving battles. Alternate flag routes - floating mancannon/lift for jumping down (carefully) from top of bases. Requires ground pound to execute, providing risk/reward potential. Shoots player to center of bridge, but exposed. (Doesn't avoid using bridge - just a shortcut. Whole point is you MUST cross bridge) Similar to original CW in this regard. Generator kill traps on top bases now have a wider Soft Kill (timed) around the kill area, providing ample warning of stepping onto them. Some visual detail added to bridge/pillars. Spawn points in garages are pointing so that players are aware vehicles are also present when they start the match or respawn. Cannon - reduced impact explosion fuse. Reduced from original 2 seconds, to 1, and finally down to .5 sec. this increases liklihood that a player will be caught offguard and killed by cannon (can't move out of way fast enough). Still to come: Improved asthetics - if an area looks plain, it will eventually be given more decor. Smoothing and finalizing piece usage. Lighting improvements - everything you see for lighting is temporary. Vehicle (player count based release) - revise system so that players know when vehicle is in garage and unlocked. (probably lights or signs) - DONE!
The relocation of the blue castle, as well as the shortening of the bridge, is complete! (now shared) This change will make it more viable for good gameplay when you do not have 16 players, but should still prove spacious enough for 16. This has the pleasant effect of making the Magnum a lot more useful! Now, your initial spawn weapons are not as necessary to discard immediately, and can serve as a handy sidearm!
I am formally asking for help finishing my map in the area of enacting better lighting in areas that look very ugly currently. There is an issue with pictures from photobucket I will resolve asap, but please just load up the map and look around and offer pointers (do not make a new copy, please). Problem areas: Adjacent pieces show a gradient on the line between the two pieces. (see floors inside entrance of castles) light baking - on/off which pieces to use with which setting? Pieces w/ same settings showing vastly different color shading due to how light hits them. I could also use some general help with tips on how best to smoothly merge pieces so there is little to no obvious line - this is especially needed on pieces that have cumbersome detail at the edges. I am aware of the fact that some pieces need consolidation and smoothing, which is something I am working on now. Thanks in advance for any assistance, hands on, or hands off.