BG map; it's been too long

[DragonDude]

It's not an ESF map, but atleast it's still on the HL1 engine. I started playing The Battle Grounds (an American Revolutionary War mod) a bit recently and didn't see any "serious" custom maps (all stuff like "spawn and fight in this single-textured cube!"). I figured it had been too long since I've mapped something, so I decided to make one. =)

The village is pretty much finished (American spawn), and the battlefield is roughly finished, I just need to add some detail. I just started the British spawn awhile ago, it's going to be a forested area with a small river and bridge. I've got a lot of optimizing to do after that, but then it's done as far as I've planned it. It looks bright because I haven't compiled with lighting yet. I'll do that when it's all done, I didn't want to let it compile for an hour just to grab some screenshots. XD

Screenshots: &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="http://img331.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bgmap15gd.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img331.imageshack.us/img331/4467/bgmap15gd.th.jpg" border="0" align = "center" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img217.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bgmap24ne.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/8100/bgmap24ne.th.jpg" border="0" align = "center" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img217.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bgmap30bc.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4766/bgmap30bc.th.jpg" border="0" align = "center" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img217.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bgmap42vx.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/3938/bgmap42vx.th.jpg" border="0" align = "center" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>


Comments and criticism appreciated.

 

[Arthos]

Very nice like I remember DD.

 

[Half-Unit]

This map looks great! Of course I don't play BG so I can't really judge the functionality of the map but their are a few things I see that could be a little better.

The forest area to the left in the first pic seems a little redundant; it looks like the same transparency all in a row. If at all possible, find another cross brush of a similar tree to alternate. It could also benefit from some tall grass transparencies.

In the lower right corner of the second pic, there's a pretty bad texture seam on the inside of the stone wall. The stone wall in the middle seems to be a little funky looking due to strange scaling of the texture, perhaps done on intentionally, but still a little funky.

The stone wall in the third pic seems just cut off at the top, but that's just me nitpicking.


All said, this is a fantastic looking map, and I'll look forward to seeing the finished product.

 

[DJ-Ready]

erm .. yeah, what half-unit said ^__^
looks like a good start though. BG is fun

 

[DragonDude]

Thanks for the replies, and for the input, Half-Unit (I didn't even notice that texture seam, good eyes XD). I'm sprucing up the foliage a bit, and mainly trying to lower r_speeds. They get a bit higher than I'd like from certain points in the battlefield area. I should have some updated screenshots soon.

 

[Mr. Satans]

Ah yes, texure seams, like in almost every OFFICIAL ESF map :/

 

[DragonDude]

Well, sometimes they can't be avoided. Especially when you're mapping a natural landscape and not using the "texture map" texturing method.

It took me awhile, but I've heavily optimized the map for better performance, and have now added everything that was in my original design. I just finished the first compile with light (6 hours) and the r_speeds are about where I want them to be. =)

Screenshots:
<a href="http://img341.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bg016dp.jpg" target="_blank"><img align = "center" src="http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9130/bg016dp.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img325.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bg020np.jpg" target="_blank"><img align = "center" src="http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/1259/bg020np.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img325.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bg031yx.jpg" target="_blank"><img align = "center" src="http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/3462/bg031yx.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

<a href="http://img325.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bg046gd.jpg" target="_blank"><img align = "center" src="http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/1866/bg046gd.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img325.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bg063zr.jpg" target="_blank"><img align = "center" src="http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/4134/bg063zr.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> <a href="http://img325.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bg058yz.jpg" target="_blank"><img align = "center" src="http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/7855/bg058yz.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>

One more pass through for optimizations and minor fixes and it'll be ready to go.

 

[Half-Unit]

Wow, excellent job. Not a bad way to jump back into the mapping game at all.

Hmmm, in the first pic, the hill looks a tad boring, but with your w_poly already nearing that magic 800 number, I wouldn't push it too much. The top of the treeline looks really good but strangely the bottom seems to suffer from repetitiveness. Watch out for that seam on the cliff in the far left of the pic, just above the stone wall (it starts from the top of the grass hill). I don't know if that'd be a fixable seam, but I thought I'd point it out.

Big seam on the ridge in the second pic (light or texture, can't tell), but that's probably one of those unavoidable ones. Great treeline.

Heh, I hope your jumping or standing on something in the fifth pic since the buildings seem small! The cliff on the right looks pretty straight but with 900 on the poly count, I wouldn't touch it. Noone's going to be looking at it anyway.

It's really looking great. Keep it up!

 

[Largo]

Nice, although use tree models rather then the brush ones to make wpoly better, how did u make your sky as well?

your wpoly is way to high try get it at least under 800
might like to post it on the battle grounds forums as well

 

[niobe]

nice tree's, better then the model's.
i like that unfinnished house, a bit of sand in it and a broken wall.
nice idea.