Crow’s World Walker for MS:C - Preview Set

[Thothie]

Server populations have been thin lately, so I took some time out to convert these over, with some new thrills.

Screenies:


Download: http://www.thothie.com/ms/ww_preview.zip (18MB)

Three, very hard, very good maps: the first three episodes of Crow's upcoming World Walker series.

Unzip the package to your MSC folder, overwriting as needed (doesn't actually overwrite any source material).

These maps are EXTREMELY DIFFICULT - I'm thinking you'll want a small swarm of three to four level 20 characters. I've yet to get enough characters together to finish all them myself. You might have to send out some e-mails and 'arrange' an MS party to really take it on.

- Most doors require you kill certain creatures before you can proceed, although a few can also be broken by hand.

- Since skeletons get back up now, some of these doors may open before you've gotten them all to stay down.

- None of the creatures in these maps have unlimited lives.

- There are transition-crash warnings for Central Server users at each exit.

- Features new custom music.

- It's easy to get lost in the tombs, bring bread crumbs.

- Unique 'goodie' at end of the series.

The second and third maps are beautifully rendered, and although they are a tad straight forward, they should all be held aloft as the epitome of how an MS map SHOULD be made, in terms of aesthetics and performance (the official MS:C mappers themselves should pay close attention to these three, they may learn something!) Even my crappy server manages to maintain these at 100FPS - largely because monsters don't spawn until you come across them. (As opposed to Daragoth - where it gets 6fps)

I should warn, it's a large download to send to connecting clients who don't have it. You have permission to use my custom content server for it, but even then, it'll take em awhile to connect. (The custom content server is located on some good fast servers in Australia, and is unrelated to my crappy game server.)

sv_downloadurl "http://www.thothie.com/hlserv"

I've removed the custom skys to save on download time, but they were nice skylines, I'd recommend adding them to the next MS:C release. (They can be found in the older package).

 

[wafflecopter]

good...good...

 

[Thothie]

Oh yeah, Storyline:

A monster of untold evil has emerged from the depths of the earth and has spread it's tendrils of evil across the land and has sealed himself in a fortress only acessable by teleportation. The wizard council has given you acess to thier teleporation devices in order to gather 3 scrolls hidden deep in the earth that will allow you to travel to the monster's lair.

 

[Crow]

O.O

Yay!
This makes me want to map agian

Btw... the skeletons trigger thier "death" on thier first death instead of thier last? thats gonna be interesting to deal with

 

[Lanethan]

Absolutely wonderful.

Two thumbs up!

 

[Thothie]

Wow Crow, getting admiration from the devs.

Btw... the skeletons trigger thier "death" on thier first death instead of thier last? thats gonna be interesting to deal with

Yeah, as I was saying in another thread, it can be a bit of an issue - a major issue if your doing a map of undead tied to events, like, for instance, WW2.

In WW2's case it works out, as it kinda discourages you from dieing - cuz you know you'll have to cut through all the undead you left behind. On the other hand, it also makes a lot more undead than the map writer may have intended to have active at once.

What's worse, is that Undead with multiple lives, sometimes multiply. >< When the first one dies, the first time, the monster spawn thinks its time to bring up the next skeleton. This can lead to all sorts of Army of Darkness'esque issues.

Again, I'd be really nice to have a "monster/skeleton" and "monster/skeleton1" for each skeleton type. The second being a 'one shot' skeleton. Seems could just copy the scripts and remove the resurrect function?

I like them getting back up in general - it's too nifty an effect to get rid of entirely - but it has some issues that need to be addressed.

 

[Thothie]

Removed func_monsterclip from spawn platform on ww1 to prevent sploits - you can update your map here without the need to re-download the whole package.

Hoping to make first few skeletons in WW2 less sploitable as well.

 

[Windforce]

Great map.. completed it.... got to the blacksmith solo.. but bluezerosix helped me take him down... died MANY times.. im a lvl 18 warrior so i think i did good.. anyways... good job...

-Loved the key/maze thing
-Smooth monster spawns.. saw no errors.
-LOVE the "unique" item... bluezero got it last time... im going back for mine... oh yea... word to the wise... bring a scyth....

 

[J-M v2.5.5]

Holy crap, I actually missed this topic
/me downloads

 

[Jester]

Best.. maps.. ever .

Great job visually and with gameplay. It would take a lot to top these as far as MS maps go.

 

[LukeW]

Absolutely amazing maps, so much fun

 

[Thothie]

Updated maps, same link.

Also put the updated maps on the custom content server (seems I forgot to do that for ww2b).

Changes:
-ww2b-
Mostly just fixing various sploitable skeletons and sound effects
Fixed some lighting and texture, and made goal completion a little more obvious. (Wouldn't be needed except for the MSC lighting system messes up the map's indicators)

-ww3d-
Replaced sploitable troll with buggy Giant Bat (I'm kinda hoping the giantbat script will be improved - he's just far too much fun to fight, when he works).

After trying 500 different ways to make the BlackSmith non-exploitable, while at the same time, not absolutely invincible (but rather, just nearly so), I came up with this fast moving puzzle-boss solution. In the final room, there a series of teleporters and fire traps - use them to your advantage.

You WILL require at least two people, and a teamwork to slay the BlackSmith, and it will still be very difficult. (Certainly much more difficult than exploiting was.)

Also fixed some textures, door lips, triggers, sounds, etc.

If you already have the MSC WW set and want to save yourself the download time, you can grab just the map updates for 4MB here:
http://www.thothie.com/ms/ww_update.zip
* You cannot, however, use this update on the older MS 1.35 series, you must download the MSC version of WW via the link on the first post.

Oh yeah.. The obligatory clickable screenies of some of da new stuff:


Special thanks to Jester for filling in as sacrificial guinea pig / beta tester.

 

[Jester]

Great job with the update Thothie. Really well done visually and for game play . I'm still going to go through and try to find bugs just to annoy you though .

 

[Jester]

ww2b the two ladders could use a texture touchup but not worth a recompile probably . Great job with everything else in it though. About to play the ww3d all the way through.

 

[Jester]

ww3d only thing I noticed was that there is still no way to get back to ww2b once you win. Everything else is perfect. I like the new ending building btw . I see you got rid of one of the force fields instead of adding another tp also . Allows for sploits if someone sacrifices themselves enough heh.

EDIT: Also, add a push to ww1 start platform?

 

[Thothie]

The forcefeild is still there, it just doesn't activate until the door is nearly closed (about 8 seconds). This gives you PLENTY of time to decide whether or not you want to go in there, so I figured there was no need for a return teleporter as a result. (Also saved some size on the map that way, as you know I'd want another light for the teleporter.)

The push brush on WW3d does make it hard to return to WW2b, but its something I wouldn't want to encourage anyways.

I took the monsterclip off the WW1 platform - didn't think of adding a push brush... I'll do that and see how it goes. Not worth redownloading for though.

How long did it take you to kill the Blacksmith this time?

 

[Jester]

Its not the push brush in ww3d, it's the fact that there's no way out of the pit, other than boosting course. And the forcefield didn't come up when my friend got crushed by the door . Still didn't after we killed him and the door didn't open.

 

[Thothie]

Suicide.

As for the forcefield... Oh... Crap... I'll look into it. Jeeze, must have tested it a bajillion times. The door SHOULD open again after you get the armor, and the forcefeild should lower right after it opens again.

edit: I couldn't reproduce the forcefield not appearing - it maybe one of those 'only happens with multiple player' things I'd have to look into with help... But one issue I noticed that is if you sploit the door, after you touch the scroll, the door closes sealing you inside! >< Only way I can get around it, is have the door removed, instead of opened, when you touch the scroll.

edit2: Okay, all is well: note that the forcefield appears INSIDE the door, so you cant see it unless you actually attempt to sploit the door.

 

[Jester]

But one issue I noticed that is if you sploit the door, after you touch the scroll, the door closes sealing you inside! >< Only way I can get around it, is have the door removed, instead of opened, when you touch the scroll.

Still didn't after we killed him and the door didn't open.

Oh really when did you notice that?

 

[Thothie]

I fixed it in the latest upload - the scroll multi-manager fires trigger relays that kill both the door and the shield. Not really worth a re-download though - odds are you were trying to cheat and deserve to be trapped in there anyways.

 

[Jester]

You mean how windforce walked into the room, who hadn't played the newest update yet, and stood in the doorway to watch the trolls fight and then got crushed? Hardly sounds like cheating to me .

 

[Thothie]

I could remove the damage from the door... But... It's a really big door... It makes a lot of noise... and moves really slowly... and I don't think these guys who build these "Temples of Dewm" really have safety in mind. ...Tis not like they have a union or anything.

It'd be nice if the door didn't spring open when blocked, but there's nothing I can do about that, at least, not that I know of... I'll have to talk to the union.