TF2 I got a map

sniperstyx

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2018
90
11
63
United Kingdom
Ok so, after all of this time, i have finally decided to make a map similar to minecraftworld_a7 called "mcworld_b<version number>". (I think you can tell what that <> stands for.)
It might be a bit weird and i did take a structure and modified it on my new map, but that's about it. At the moment it might be small, but i still wanna share it with some players. Is it ok if i just make a server and invite some of you to join to rate it so far? It was made under 24 hours (in total, excluding the fact that i did this across 3 days). If you don't want me to invite people to my server, i will either way leave the map file here. I hope it's good so far.
 

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  • mcworld_b3.bsp
    3.7 MB · Views: 17

sniperstyx

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2018
90
11
63
United Kingdom

Well, i did mess up the lighting a bit in the spawns. Also, i only took pics of the red spawn since it's exactly the same as the blu spawn. Some of my friends already told me to put lots of decorations and stuff, yet it is made in actually under 10 hours. It basically takes me almost an hour for each thing that i add in the map or even less than 10 mins.
 

Coronarena

Mapper
Sep 3, 2018
256
217
123
I'll just go ahead and continue on from that last statement, although it is rather empty, the map extension is b3 so I can understand why it may look a bit empty. As for why minecraftworld a7 isn't as empty, I can't explain. We all have our own mapping styles.

I loaded your map up in the editor and I have a few questions.
1. Why do your stairs always not clip the first step up?

1.5. I think it's better to use blockbullets rather than playerclip for stairs, because of how explosions work in source. Here's a basic image of what I mean. The red ball is the source of an explosion (so maybe a grenade), the orange lines are the lines fired off by the engine to determine if anything has been damaged, and the green line is where a solid object is meaning the orange line can't pass through. If that doesn't make sense, what I'm trying to say is that say a soldier shoots at someone's feet and it hits the stair below them, they won't get damaged because the damaging orange line won't reach them.

2. You have these clip vphysics brushes with unused keyvalues in them, no names, and no inputs or outputs. There are 4 of them, all near spawn doors. Now I say unused, that may just be my fgd (ficools fgd) editing it, but I get the feeling it isn't really that. In-game they also did nothing. I could still walk through them, shoot through them, etc etc.

3. There's something up with your textures, as when I shoot them, I get pink gibs. This makes me believe something is missing, since when there are missing textures for example, you get the infamous pink and black checkerboard.

4. I get that this map is still under development, but there's no optimisation. This is something I suggest you keep on top of when your map is in beta, as it makes it a lot nicer down the road, so you don't have to deal with that sort of mess all at once near release.

5. The map isn't repacked. Don't confuse repacking with packing. You've packed the map just fine, but repacking is a sort of compression for .bsp files, so you don't have to shove them in a .zip if they get massive. In a small map like yours right now, it isn't really a pressing issue, but here's an example of how useful something like this is. When your map becomes even larger, you'll be very thankful for repacking since it can turn a map that is 400MB into something that is around only 130MB (e.g. dr_stardust). To repack a map, have everything packed in like cubemaps, custom textures, sounds, basically everything, and then in the TF2 console, type the following: bsp_repack maps/[map name] maps/[map name after repacking] (of course, remove the [ ] and the maps/ part is the file path from tf/ so if a map is not in tf/maps/, use the correct path for that map.

5.5. A tool to make all of this much quicker and easier is CompilePal. It can compile your map, pack it, repack it, build cubemaps for it, anything you need, all by itself, saving you the hassle of going around 50 different programs to get the map ready. Find it here.

Aside from all of this, it's a good start. :katpog:
 

sniperstyx

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2018
90
11
63
United Kingdom
I'll just go ahead and continue on from that last statement, although it is rather empty, the map extension is b3 so I can understand why it may look a bit empty. As for why minecraftworld a7 isn't as empty, I can't explain. We all have our own mapping styles.

I loaded your map up in the editor and I have a few questions.
1. Why do your stairs always not clip the first step up?

1.5. I think it's better to use blockbullets rather than playerclip for stairs, because of how explosions work in source. Here's a basic image of what I mean. The red ball is the source of an explosion (so maybe a grenade), the orange lines are the lines fired off by the engine to determine if anything has been damaged, and the green line is where a solid object is meaning the orange line can't pass through. If that doesn't make sense, what I'm trying to say is that say a soldier shoots at someone's feet and it hits the stair below them, they won't get damaged because the damaging orange line won't reach them.

2. You have these clip vphysics brushes with unused keyvalues in them, no names, and no inputs or outputs. There are 4 of them, all near spawn doors. Now I say unused, that may just be my fgd (ficools fgd) editing it, but I get the feeling it isn't really that. In-game they also did nothing. I could still walk through them, shoot through them, etc etc.

3. There's something up with your textures, as when I shoot them, I get pink gibs. This makes me believe something is missing, since when there are missing textures for example, you get the infamous pink and black checkerboard.

4. I get that this map is still under development, but there's no optimisation. This is something I suggest you keep on top of when your map is in beta, as it makes it a lot nicer down the road, so you don't have to deal with that sort of mess all at once near release.

5. The map isn't repacked. Don't confuse repacking with packing. You've packed the map just fine, but repacking is a sort of compression for .bsp files, so you don't have to shove them in a .zip if they get massive. In a small map like yours right now, it isn't really a pressing issue, but here's an example of how useful something like this is. When your map becomes even larger, you'll be very thankful for repacking since it can turn a map that is 400MB into something that is around only 130MB (e.g. dr_stardust). To repack a map, have everything packed in like cubemaps, custom textures, sounds, basically everything, and then in the TF2 console, type the following: bsp_repack maps/[map name] maps/[map name after repacking] (of course, remove the [ ] and the maps/ part is the file path from tf/ so if a map is not in tf/maps/, use the correct path for that map.

5.5. A tool to make all of this much quicker and easier is CompilePal. It can compile your map, pack it, repack it, build cubemaps for it, anything you need, all by itself, saving you the hassle of going around 50 different programs to get the map ready. Find it here.

Aside from all of this, it's a good start. :katpog:

I gotta say, you got lots of valid points, but i can explain only one of them which is "2." I used vphysics brushes since i didn't want people like demomen, scouts and snipers to throw random projectiles (stickies, grenades, jarate, milk, cleavers, etc.). I understand that milk and jarate can still affect people, but at least in front of the door only. About "5.", i did that once but forgot about it until you reminded me. I will take "5.5." into consideration since it seems simpler and easier, as you mention it. Thanks for the heads up about the textures though, i am not sure what to do with those. Maybe there's something i can do to make them into a certain material? I know there's like breakable entities and such, but i don't exactly know if that'll work. I will try my best to fix its current stuff and make it look better and less empty.
 

sniperstyx

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2018
90
11
63
United Kingdom
Alright, i have fixed a lot of stuff, but sadly i forgot about "1." and "1.5." that Coronarena mentioned, but i added more stuff. Here are some screenshots:

1599498542592
(replaced lights with minecraft torches)

1599498605644
(added some detail in these caves next to each spawn, they're sadly the exact same things, but at least there's something now)

1599498683559
(and last but not least, added some platforms to reach the higher grass areas, also added vines for a bit of decoration on the tower, the sad part is that the texture is only on one side since i forgot to change that, i will post the final version as soon as i am done with everything that i need to do)
 

sniperstyx

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2018
90
11
63
United Kingdom
It has been a while since I've kept this map aside for other things that kept me busy (like making/editing other maps in other Source Engine games, being accepted as a level designer in the dev team called "Concussion Studios" and playing other games).

Anyways, it's time for "mcworld_b4"!

So, first things first, here's an overview of the entire map:
Mcworld b4 overview

If you can probably tell, I've added some sort of skinny towers that lead to the top of the middle tower, I've updated all of the Minecraft textures to some renewed ones (from 1.14), and I've added 2 caves that are identical on each side of the map, being awfully similar to what you'd see on the original "minecraftworld_a7" map. Here are some screenshots of the inside of those two caves:
Mcworld b4 red caveMcworld b4 blu cave

I didn't really change anything else since (except for the updated textures), so this is about it with version "b4".
If you have any thoughts, please reply to this message with your feedback. Any feedback is welcome!
(Also sorry for the delay on this map, I nearly forgot about it until recently.)

EDIT 1: I forgot to mention that I've added some grass on the main grass area, at the bottom of the spawns/caves/towers.
 

Stelle

BIG WINS 🤑🤑🤑
Banned
★ Donor ★
Sep 25, 2021
491
59
123
h
It has been a while since I've kept this map aside for other things that kept me busy (like making/editing other maps in other Source Engine games, being accepted as a level designer in the dev team called "Concussion Studios" and playing other games).

Anyways, it's time for "mcworld_b4"!

So, first things first, here's an overview of the entire map:
View attachment 14445

If you can probably tell, I've added some sort of skinny towers that lead to the top of the middle tower, I've updated all of the Minecraft textures to some renewed ones (from 1.14), and I've added 2 caves that are identical on each side of the map, being awfully similar to what you'd see on the original "minecraftworld_a7" map. Here are some screenshots of the inside of those two caves:
View attachment 14446View attachment 14447

I didn't really change anything else since (except for the updated textures), so this is about it with version "b4".
If you have any thoughts, please reply to this message with your feedback. Any feedback is welcome!
(Also sorry for the delay on this map, I nearly forgot about it until recently.)

EDIT 1: I forgot to mention that I've added some grass on the main grass area, at the bottom of the spawns/caves/towers.
wheres the download link.....
 

sniperstyx

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2018
90
11
63
United Kingdom
So basically, for a little bit of context, I've converted a lot of brushes into func_detail since Hammer is old and can't compile a lot of portals. Now I understand why the original creator of minecraftworld_a7 did the same thing before.

Oh yeah, I remade the stairs, added fences, grouped them together as func_detail entities and forgot to replace a texture. I'll fix that and I'll probably throw in some more details later after I come back from Croatia (2 days left, at the time of writing this). Hopefully.
 

Stelle

BIG WINS 🤑🤑🤑
Banned
★ Donor ★
Sep 25, 2021
491
59
123
h
So basically, for a little bit of context, I've converted a lot of brushes into func_detail since Hammer is old and can't compile a lot of portals. Now I understand why the original creator of minecraftworld_a7 did the same thing before.

Oh yeah, I remade the stairs, added fences, grouped them together as func_detail entities and forgot to replace a texture. I'll fix that and I'll probably throw in some more details later after I come back from Croatia (2 days left, at the time of writing this). Hopefully.
honestly i really like the map, its really good for sniper duels because of the clear sightlines and you can even build a sentry nest in the other teams roof if you want and it doesnt really affect the gameplay, its good for soldier 1v1s since the terrain is generally flat with the pillar in the middle


overall i like it a lot
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i'm gonna try to host a server with that map
 
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sniperstyx

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2018
90
11
63
United Kingdom
honestly i really like the map, its really good for sniper duels because of the clear sightlines and you can even build a sentry nest in the other teams roof if you want and it doesnt really affect the gameplay, its good for soldier 1v1s since the terrain is generally flat with the pillar in the middle


overall i like it a lot

i'm gonna try to host a server with that map
Oh, thank you for the feedback. Also yeah, feel free to host a server with that map. Of course, there are some issues that I might have to fix like out-of-place textures, as I mentioned earlier. It shouldn't take me too long.
 
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