Wirehead Studios

Hey, pals! :slippy_thumb:

i wanna show u an old map of mine,
that i decided to re-new for "Generations Arena".-
i changed some textures, added some things and
made it brighter! (The file includes music.)

Hell-Arch
>>>
http://www.filefront.com/14783543/Hell-Arch-Test.pk3

Some comments:

• The textures directory in your pk3 is overly complicated. Why not just shove all the textures that you need into one directory "hellarch" and do a couple of find+replace's in radiant? It would look cleaner, there would be less chance of interfering with other maps/pk3s (which would be bad) and make more sense, too. Especially seeing how you're using directories that have the names of maps by other authors!
  
• That goes for shaders too, doubly so. You simply cannot use shaders that still use the original author's directories/textures -- If I'd catch you using mine that way, I'd get pretty damned angry myself. :] It's bad.
  
• Your lvlshot is very oddly shaped. Better make it a neat 256x256 or 512x512.
• There's a missing texture for the big tentacles that come from the floor.
• The barking dogs are a little over the top. More time between the sounds would help.
• I like the way the wood creaks, though. Good use of sounds there (had already noticed it in your q1dm5).
• The door-teleport is a nice idea, but definately unexpected. A hint that it's a teleporter would help (like having it glow ominously or something).
• The rounded patch-pillars are very nicely sculpted. They do have texture-seams that could be fixed on them though.
• The outdoor light is a bit too orange, even for a hell-sky. Makes it look more like indoorsy-light than coming from a sky.
• You're probably using relatively low quality settings to render your light, because some shadows are blotchy (most visible on shadows of the sunlight). If that's the case, read up on q3map2 parameters and just let the map render a bit longer (than just the ridiculously short 5 minutes it takes to compile now? tabq1dm5 takes over 45 minutes :)).
• A lot of the arched doors have texture misalignments.
• There are some (presumably intentionally) floating huge chunks of stone in sky at one point. Doesn't make much sense to me.

Overall, your map is very atmospheric, moody. What seems to detract from this, is the fact that a lot of details and ornaments are oddly shaped, unrealistic or low-quality. Better bloodstains would help, but also better looking grates, or using brushwork instead of shaders/single-surfaces for fences etc. The light flare could be a lot more subtle -- and then it'd just fit the mood of the place. The chains look really unconvincing this way, too. Consider using modeled chains (there are some up for download if you google for Q3 mapmodels). It's also a little odd that one jumppad sends you flying right through a chain!

Another thing that detracts from the look and feel of the map is the inconsistency of texture quality. Some textures are crips and high-resolution, while others (like the yellow symbol on the wall, or the big lion) are pixellated and low quality.

Just my 2cts.

I agree with the teleporting doors. At first, I thought they were walls.. then I randomly decided to walk through one because it seemed door-like, and I saw a few that were already opened on the map. I was surprised when it teleported me. There's also an area where there are walls that look very similar to them.. I was surprised there as well when they didn't teleport me. :)

I know Tab mentioned that already, but I felt like describing my own experience with them. Other than that, I agree with mostly everything else mentioned already too. The floating stones, though, I dunno.. I kind of like them. Makes the place feel a bit 'otherworldly'.. not sure if that's hellish or not though.

Anyway, I liked the mood that the map is going for. Dunno if it was intentional or not, but it almost felt oldschool Doomy in its style to me (aside from the Q1 dogs barking :D ). :doom_thumb:

Sounds like Oneiros from Undying -- I bet not a one of you knows what that is.

the map has the same style as "Hellplay" from Doom3,
that i also made for quake3 (as some other maps).-
And because im almost workin at the texture-directory-limit
i always use the same textures again;
and if i need a new one ...i use a new shader! <<< that saves textures and Drive-space! <:

I don't think that having too much stuff in your directory structure is a good reason to make such huge errors as potentially interfering with other people's maps. There's no good reason not to set up a separate, clean, development environment and create clean pk3s and shader files from there.

***UPDATED***

I reduced parts, textures and added new shaders.

(cant edit the 1st post)
new link
>>>
http://www.filefront.com/14795615/Hell-Arch-Test.pk3

Definitely improved, but the biggest problem is still unchanged!

I'll just name some examples from your shader file:


These shaders don't exist in Quake 3, so you're not necessarily overwriting anything, but that doesn't make it right. The names suggest that they are id's shaders and they are confusing to say the least. The proper way to write these shaders is as follows:



As you see, you don't have to do any copying of textures or anything like that. You can still use id's textures. The big difference is in the shader title itself. I've used "ik_hell_arch" as a good example of a directory that you can safely use. All your shaders that currently use such directories as "custom", "hell", "gothic_trim", et cetera are too generic and run serious risk of either overwriting or being overwritting by others (especially if they don't clean up their pk3s).

Worse are such shaders like "textures/marsbase/blood1", "textures/rjldm2/metalchain1n" and "textures/rjldm2/metalchain1n". The directories referred to in these shaders are other maps, and that is even worse, since it is all the more likely that they do conflict with those maps. In all those cases, simply rewrite your shaders to all use "textures/<your_unique_map's_directory_here>/(..etc..)".

Additionally All the custom textures added in your map should go in such a directory. That way, the actual files will not run the risk of conflicting with other people's or id software's files either.