Mappin help

**Adretheon** · 08-03-10, 11:08 AM

So I'm working on this map idea I have. Hoping it turns out better than it looks now. Anwys, I'm kinda stuck on this one part. Detail is out of my head for now, I'm just going for basic design.

I have this bridge(picture shown) made out of what I'd like to be rock or earth(I'll end up using the same type of texture I'm using for the rest of the map). But I'm having a difficult time making it look natural. I assume Displacements is the way to go, I'm just not gettin it right for some reason when I play with it. any suggestions?

post nuke themes-bridge-jpg

**DOMINATOR** · 08-03-10, 12:28 PM

too big. better to do detailed small areas, even if you repeat them.
make your cliffs and ground seperate displacements. better to sew many smaller displacements together than doing 1 large one.
for rocky/mountain areas do multiple patches of displacements and intersect them. best way is to model rocks/boulders then place them over a basic displacement... but thats a lot of work.

**Adretheon** · 08-03-10, 12:48 PM

Oh yea, I've got smaller areas. It's 512x512 displacements all patched out.(in fact most the the map is laid out in 512x512 displacements) Just can't seem to get the actual bridge part to look right. I'm sure there's a better way to do an arch like bridge, but can seem to find a way that looks right.

Real tired of lookin at this texture, but it's the best\only one they have with a good blend.

**DOMINATOR** · 08-03-10, 01:52 PM

like this? http://www.jonv.flystrip.com/Utah/NaturalBridge.jpg
not a good idea to make it so you can walk under it. dont even think its possible in alien swarm because wouldnt it mess with the camera?
but you can do it... start with a 8 sided cylinder. vertex edit it to make it more square/flat on top. then make it the size you want by copy it etc... to how long you want then go in and displace. (i just did this to test it and it worked but hammer crashed when i was working on the last little part, if you dont know what i mean i could make a quick tut)

these are pretty good
http://www.interlopers.net/tutorials/32664
http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=798

**Adretheon** · 08-03-10, 02:03 PM

Yea something like that. I'll end up havin a large crater like area under the bridge so they won't be going under it. I actually thought about letting them, but it's much easier to just force them across and have a nice swarm while they're up there.

I'm actually gunna need that second tutorial. Come in handy for the second part of the map.

I'll play around with your idea. post up what I come up with.

**Adretheon** · 08-03-10, 02:27 PM

Here's a basic layout of what I'm workin with. (It's a fairly large pic) The blue is the area in which I'll be adding the bridge, yellow is the end. Wish there was a better way to blend different textures together, wouldn't look so...bland...

post nuke themes-layout-jpg

**DOMINATOR** · 08-03-10, 02:58 PM

i suggest more linear routes/choke points. pretty easy to outrun most of the aliens.
you can make your own blend textures. if the base is all the same dirt texture you could add rock/grass/leaves etc just apply them to different displacements.

**Adretheon** · 08-03-10, 03:37 PM

I'm gunna go through and add some canyon like places in the map, and close the border in on some places to force a few choke points. Couple extra mounds and stuff.

Need to make the water area bigger, make it less of a straight shot to the bridge, prbly double the size.

**Blakeman** · 08-03-10, 04:00 PM

My thought was to have maps not require a tech, but if you did you could open up short cuts where he could hack an opening up that would be closed to you if you did not take a tech.

**Adretheon** · 08-03-10, 04:02 PM

Anyone find out what the blend does in the Sculpt menu? I tried playing around with it, but I can't see to get it to do anything at all.

If you put on a texture that isn't blend-able then the texture pops up in one of the four boxes in the window, but other than that I can't get anything to do anything at all. Wonder what its there for.