[WiP] Ghost Town

[ultima]

Hey everybody. After playing MS:C for almost a week I felt inspired and felt the urge to try my hand at mapping in hopes of contributing something original to the mod. Thus my new project was born, a very much still work in progress, a map I call Ghost Town

The Concept:Originally a robust and thriving settlement neighboring Edana, Thornwatch Keep was originally established as a watchtower to protect against the dangerous Orc tribes that occupy the Thornlands which frequently threatened neighboring settlements, such as Helena. Fearing a similar attack, the outpost grew, and eventually became a lustrous merchant town. Times have changed, and the once safe-heaven of Thornwatch Keep has now been converted into a thriving necropolis for the dead. A cult of evil Necromancers have taken over and now occupy the castle from the keep within, conjuring forth an army of the dead using the graveyards for fuel to bolster their numbers. All the townsfolk have either fled the town or died trying, only to return as a new unfortunate citizen of this now Ghost Town..

Here's some sample screenshots from the early design of the map. (Sorry about the screenshot being so dark, lighting will be fixed for the actual release.)


Beneath the City..
http://i.imgur.com/L36hHJ9.jpg

Town Square and Fountain
http://i.imgur.com/lTFUlVk.jpg

Some shots of the map inside the editor:

Town Square and Fountain 2
http://i.imgur.com/WLzTcZw.png

Houses
http://i.imgur.com/sQ9mhpD.png

Houses 2
http://i.imgur.com/x0vUUGs.png

Inside the Tavern
http://i.imgur.com/melOBU7.png


I also plan to use this thread for the eventual (and I'm sure inevitable) entity errors or compiling issues that I have before release, so hopefully I can get somebody with some serious mapper knowledge to lend me a hand if I need it.

edit(1): Hopefully the screenshots show up properly now.

 

[Monika's_BFFEx0256]

Looks very promising! Glad to hear the mod has gotten another person interested. Maybe you can help flesh out the world a bit more.

This could be like a part of Deralia... Old Deralia, or a cordoned part of it or some sort. Not entirely caught up on the lore myself, but the textures/architect could definitely fit in with Deralia.

Only reason I say this is because we already have so many disconnected/unrelated maps that are bloating the game. Your concept could totally fit in though. Still would be nice not to have another dragooncaves, or the_keep, or phobia, etc. Not that anything is inherently wrong with these maps, but it'd still be nice to have actual lore maps.

 

[greatguys1]

It looks real nice so far! Can't wait to see more!

 

[ultima]

Update: Things are coming along fairly well with the map thankfully. Hopefully I can get the lighting issue fixed because I didn't want the map to be fullbright in the screenshots but we'll see about that in the future.

Here's a couple more teaser screens from the project.

Inside the Church
http://i.imgur.com/zvMtcQM.jpg

Church exterior and graveyard
http://i.imgur.com/VecffLK.jpg

 

[MS:C community]

Good to see you're using J.A.C.K. instead of the very old and outdated Hammer editor. I take it you've loaded the Half-Life, MS:C and ZHLT FGDs in there? Are you also using the latest version of vluzacn's compile tools?

Some comments/questions:

It might be best to make the barrels in this screenshot non-solid by turning them into func_detail entities that are passable (non-solid). Then, overlap them with a few simple (as in: cube or beam-shaped) CLIP brushes that approximate their shapes. Those little heaps of sand in the hallway should also be passable func_detail entities, but with no CLIP brushes slapped over them. In general it is good practice to simplify the clipping hulls of the map so as to avoid running into the infamous MAX_MAP_CLIPNODES limit.

These spikes (merlons) you have on the castle walls should be turned into func_detail. Maybe even make them non-solid and cover them with a long rectangular CLIP brush if you don't intend players to get on top of the wall.

What lighting issues do you have? Does the RAD tool refuse to compile the map or are you doing fullbright compiles to test?

Your first slew of screenshots look interesting but the latest two display blocky architecture. Not bad though, just blocky. Good to see people are still using J-M v2.5.5's prefab map, by the way, but don't overdo it; spamming a map with prefabs doesn't make it a good map. Quite the contrary, actually

I see three Kharaztorant Hollow One NPCs in one of your latest screenshots. According to the JAN2010a changelog, only one of these may exist at any given time.

- You cannot have more than one alive at the same time due to the way the client effects are designed. (Use dmgmulti or hpmulti, if ye must)

Also, I'd get rid of all those stained glass church windows; the inhabitants of the continent of Daragoth worship Felewyn, Torkalath, Urdual and Pathos, not the Christian God from our own, real world. Leaving stuff like this in your map really breaks immersion. It's not as jarring as, say, placing an actual car or television inside the map, but it still doesn't fit at all in the fantasy world this mod is trying to establish.

Anyway, keep up the good work. The architecture needs some work and I'm sure some things could be optimized (going by the in-editor screenshots) but you're on the right track.

 

[Thothie]

I see three Kharaztorant Hollow One NPCs in one of your latest screenshots. According to the JAN2010a changelog, only one of these may exist at any given time.

- You cannot have more than one alive at the same time due to the way the client effects are designed. (Use dmgmulti or hpmulti, if ye must)

As these have the gold trimmings and mask, I think these are Burning Ones (monsters/burning_one), which, look and behave a lot like Hollow Ones, but don't have the same scripting limitation.

Still, using a bunch of them like that is either insanely cruel or insanely exploitive, depending on whether the players in question have fire immunity or not.

I should work up some lore-friendly stained glass textures - probably wouldn't be all that hard with the materials we have.

 

[ultima]

Hey guys, quick update on the progress of things so far:

The original map might be scrapped due to poorly designed Skybox brushes and terrain that cause poor frames, unless I can figure out how to properly fix them. I have a question about how to setup a certain particular part of my map:

So I want to have a hallway with 3 blade traps that come out of the wall. These blade traps are divided into two parts, parallel to each other on facing walls. (One blade on each wall, both func_door entities) so a total of 6 func_door bladetrap entitys exist.

However, I've come to a bit of a confusing crossroad as I'm not sure how exactly I should set this up? When the first pair of blades activate then finally close, I want the second sequence of blades to then activate, and upon the 2nd set of blades closing into the wall, the 3rd and final pair of blades will trigger and close. The basic concept as easy as I can describe it as follows:

1st pair of blades opens then closes.

2nd pair of blades opens then closes.

3rd pair of blades opens then closes.

ALL blade pairs then fire at the same time

Sequence loops from the start.

Once the final set of blades have retracted, I then want ALL 3 pairs of blades to simultaneously chain, then it just loops from the beginning sequence of blades again all over again.

Hopefully this makes sense, I was reading THIS article about looping multi_managers with the multithreaded option as a possibility? but I didn't want the map to be prone to crashing, as I read this method is liable to do so, and we all know how much MS:C already likes to crash on its own. . I figured I would ask if there is an easier way to do this? or perhaps this option might be okay to use for MS:C? I'm stumped.

 

[Thothie]

Hey guys, quick update on the progress of things so far:

The original map might be scrapped due to poorly designed Skybox brushes and terrain that cause poor frames, unless I can figure out how to properly fix them.

PM a source and I can see how it might be salvaged. Just hope ya didn't box your map.

Hopefully this makes sense, I was reading THIS article about looping multi_managers with the multithreaded option as a possibility? but I didn't want the map to be prone to crashing, as I read this method is liable to do so, and we all know how much MS:C already likes to crash on its own.

That is indeed what you want to do - shouldn't crash, lest maybe yer setting off a bunch of gib projectors together with your blade traps.

Something along the lines of:
multi_manager:
targetname: mm_blade_loop
blade_1#1 1
blade_2#1 2
blade_3#1 3
blade_1#2 4
blade_2#2 4
blade_3#2 4
mm_blade_loop 5
spawnflags: 1

If yer using func_doors with a delay for blades, ya shouldn't have to worry about closing them again, just set the delay accordingly, and check "unblockable" as well, or they are more apt to get stuck.

 

[Chimz]

Hey man, nice map. I know it's not finished or anything but the pictures you've uploaded show some really nice structures. Really love the house designs.

I was looking forward to this map but I see that the last time you've posted about it here was about 4 months ago.

Are you still working on it, development is slow, you're having trouble, have little time or just stopped or...?
I'd like to know because even the name of your map gets me excited. Not to mention walking in a dark, quiet town with nothing but evil left in it.

 

[ultima]

Hey guys, an update on the progress of things so far as I know I've been on hiatus for almost a year now (IRL stuff, y'know how it goes.) The map is estimated to be beyond 50% in development, the main reason for the delay has been due to a lack of motivational energy for the project, texture design choices (I cannot tell you how many times I have changed the textures around. trying to find something that looks unique.) and lastly, a few pesky leaks due to some very complex terrain.

I wanted to shed some light on things seeing as how the project is still underway, but also, I am willing to note that if I am unable to perhaps fix these issues, I might end up passing the map off to Thothie or someone else who might be willing or gracious enough to pick up on map, as it mostly just needs some entity work and a little detailing at this point.

Another big set back has been caused from the random monster spawner system that I've been trying to setup for the map. Playing a map multiple times can get old enough on its own, but fighting the same monsters literally every time is worse in my opinion. I've tried to develop a dynamic approach where enemies are chosen randomly from a large pre-determined list of special monsters (varying from your run of the mill basic minions, all the way to rare and epic monsters who might spawn with a < than 1% chance, but would be make for a truly unique and difficult battle.)

Here is a somewhat spoiler-ish guide for just some of the concept enemies:

Ogre Skeleton - Pretty self explanatory, the animated skeletal remains of an Ogre. They are big and surprisingly
very fast for their size, plus they hit hard. Ogre Skeletons are unusually dexterious and nimble,
and can jump and climb on ceilings and walls. Beware. Use protection and lances to defeat them.

Troll Skeleton - Self explanatory, big, soaks up dmg, and deals lots of dmg. Should be focused 1st, use lances.

Goblin Skeleton(s) - Self explanatory, just moves fast. Usually not a threat by themselves.

Orc Skeleton(s) - Beware! These sturdy warriors were drinking their milk in a past life, and the
amount of dmg they can take, in addition to deal can be overwhelming in groups.
Use lances and holy magic to get rid of them.

Human Skeleton(s) - Standard Animated Skeleton, nothing fancy. They come in very nasty variants, however..

Flayed Skeleton(s) - This Skeleton is uh.. juicy.. er.. or still wet with blood, like it was stripped of flesh recently. Partial patches of flesh or tendons still hang from its frame. Due to being somewhat new, and having partially intact cartilage in its joints, it is stronger than an old, dried out skeleton.

Vile Skeleton(s) - Corrupted with affliction based necromantic magic that grants poison damage boost.

Frostbone Skeleton(s) - Skeletons woven together with frost magic and dark energy, cold damage boost.

Flying Skull(s) - Just like the name, beware these annoying things in groups, sometimes come in elemental variants.

Balrug Skeleton - Huge, fast demon skeleton that can cast powerful fire magic, and attacks with two powerful claw attacks.
Immune to fire, and poison. However, is partially resistant to lightning and cold.

Sixfirhy Demon - An electrical imp that moves in bursts of blinding speed. Beware the nasty lightning DoT dmg, and should be focused 1st.
(if not quickly enough the Sixfirhy can easily kill 1000+ hp players) Immune to lightning and fast moving.
Resistant to cold, poison, and fire.

Tzitzimitl - A terrifying divinity that can damage both the living and the undead with an assortment of cold and negative energy spells.
Immune to poison, and cold. Resistant to fire and lightning. Technically a Demon.
(holy or dark dmg works best against it) Beware! Has two forms.

Legendary Zealot Torvok - A notoriously ruthless human Necroguard Warrior who strikes fear in the hearts of even the bravest Orcs.
Both abnormally strong and skilled, beware the heft of his fiercesome axe.

Tyr, Servant of Hyperion - Once a king infamous for waging bloodthirsty campaigns, Tyr was exiled to the depths of the dungeon for his crimes. Here he lurks in his tattered finery, dreaming of a new kingdom. In his lust for power, the minotaur king turned to the worship of Hyperion, and Hyperion has rewarded him with horrifying destructive might.

Legendary Bowman Reese - A renowned and skillful bowman from Daragoth who had made his name in an archery competition. They say after he won his gold prize, Reese was never seen again, until a few weeks later by local passers who told tales of him and his gang of 25+ men he hired to hold up innocent merchants and rob them blind. Now here he is, lurking in the dungeon, and probably working with the Necroguards, go figure.

Dowan, Brother of Duvessa - A beautiful but vain elf with an aptitude for magic and little else.
His skills are the perfect complement of his twin sister Duvessa's fighting prowess.

Duvessa, Sister of Dowan - A plain-looking elven fighter who is technically brilliant in many forms of combat, but over-confident because of it.
She is complemented by the magical skills of her twin brother, Dowan.

The Remains of Hulraith the Destroyer - A very powerful Orc Warboss in his former life, until he somehow met his demise and his corpse wandered down here in the Dungeon.
Hulraith isn't quite as fast as he once was, but with his new found Undead resilience, he makes up for it by being able to
deal massive blows and absorb attacks like a sponge.

Necromancer - A guy who brings the dead back to life, who would have guessed? He likes to throw lots of AoE spells at you
but moves really slow and doesn't do much else. Beware, however, some Necromancers have learned to defy death itself, and in a sublimation of blood, the flesh from their corpse will melt away as offering to their master Hyperion for a second chance at life as a reanimated skeleton.

Spectre Skeleton -A Skeleton belonging to a powerful ethereal demon before it became a toy for the necromancers.

Hungry Ghost - The undead form of someone who died of starvation, this creature drains sustenance from the bodies of its victims, hoping to inflict its own miserable fate on others.

Devourer(s) - Some kind of Demon skeleton that has an supernatural ability to absorb the life of a weakened foe.
They are fast, immune to fire, cold, and poison. Use holy magic to kill these dangerous foes.

Smoke Demon - An infernal demon that manifests itself as a writhing cloud of smoke. Having considerable pyrokinetic powers, it can very effectively attack its enemies from afar.

Quasit - A cowardly little demon with a long, viciously pointed tail. Its sharp claws are coated with a venom that stiffens muscles.(drains stamina)

Hellion(s) - A hateful burning Demon from the abyss with unnatural fire attacks. It would love nothing more than to see all life destroyed by its damnation. It is unknown how exactly Hyperion is controlling these Demons, but regardless they are within his servitude.

The Necromancer Nergal - A unique Necromancer who has trained vigorously to assert is position in Hyperion's court. He won't let you or anyone else stand in his way on the path to immortality. Beware, Nergal lacks spells, but is a vicious and dexterious fighter!

Lich - A powerful wizard who has learned to cheat death itself, a lich is a skeletal, desiccated corpse kept intact by a mighty exercise of dark magic. This undead creature is quite powerful and is best avoided by all but the most skilled. Still has all his spells as he did in living, and possibly comes in a Goblin, Human, Orc, Elf, Dwarf, Ogre, or Troll variation. Regardless of the race, they will always pelt you will a nasty variety of elemental spells. (potion of protection advised.)

Ancient Lich - A lich who, having existed for countless centuries, has grown almost unimaginably powerful through the study of dark magic. Unlike regular Liches, this variety is immortal, and will regenerate their desiccated skeletal remains even if completely disintegrated.

Diseased Greater Ghoul - A big, nasty rotting Ghoul. He looks hungry.. Beware his vile poison DOT, he is immune to poison himself, resistant to cold, but weak to fire.

Blight Skeleton(s) - The remains of an otherwise other planar creature (Demon variety, usually) or even human, that have been cast into a state of Ethereal presence.
They glow green with a strong toxic presence, able to afflict powerful poisonous blows.
They are immune to poison, fire, cold, and lightning. Sometimes, they may be fast. Beware.

Necro Guard(s) - They come in many shapes and sizes, from short, to tall, Goblin, to Troll. They are all have one thing in common, they are fiercly loyal to Hyperion.
Goblins are usually the easiest, with Humans, Orcs, Ogres, and Trolls respectfully being the tougher variations. There are some unique and better, well trained Necro Guards, however..



I've got some teasers for you guys,

https://imgur.com/a/BvmHm

^ gallery of some older screens, (lights are a bit funky looking but should be fixed for final release.)

https://imgur.com/a/Ck8J5

Newer, in-editor screens.

Hope this will give you guys an idea of the progress of things and hopefully you should here more soon about the project.

 

[ultima]

GOOD NEWS EVERYONE!

The pesky leak that was giving me some degree of trouble was finally located and sealed thanks to .PTS file generated with the beta compile. This is a huge update mainly because it speeds up the the process of which I can finally get the more complicated stuff done, such as entity work and play-testing.

On the to-do list:

Setup monster spawners and monster placements.

Detail remaining areas. (70-75% complete)

Fix weird lightning on some brush faces. (I fear this may be the most difficult and time consuming thing honestly.) I was also told that due to the fact a lot of these lights are texture faces, or quite literally, texlights, I may not be able to fix this.

Possibly expand existing hallways or chambers to feel less cramped and claustrophobic.


And of course, last but not least, I'll need some people in the near future to help playtest the map before we can get it approved for FN, ensuring it's well balanced and fair for a party of 1000+ hp players.
Just drop a comment here if you're interested, chances are I will need someone to host a non-FN server with the map for everyone to join on the test-crew because I'm too lazy to forward any router ports.


----------------IGNORE THIS PLACEHOLDER SPACE, POST SHALL BE EDITED AND UPDATED APPROPRIATELY AS PROGRESS CONTINUES.-----------------

 

[Myrlance]

I'll test, make it a weekend or something and I may pop in!

I can also host, I have my ports forwarded.