DM-Reservoir - Released

[Ôblivion]

At last, I have finally released a major update (and overhaul) of my map DM-Reservoir. A long time coming, I'm sorry, I've been busy with other things
General feedback has pointed to the map being too large, with awkward collision/volume placements and overstretched meshes, so that was my focus when doing maintenance on this map.
Updates include:
*The level has been shredded down approximately 1/5th of its original size, but is still in the "big" zone when it comes to map size.
*There is less open ground on the level, with more obstacles and terrain to increase the interactivity of CQC, as well as re-routed meshes and general level polishing.
*Weapon/ammo placements have been altered, and the Redeemer has been removed and replaced with a U-Damage for technical reasons.
*Numerous meshes have been sized down and duplicated to increase texture quality.
*Less mesh collisions, while all blocking volumes have been updated and the walls around the compound increased to help enclose the map. Players may now jump off into the water and die at their leisure
*Lighting build quality has been increased.

Following this update I'm hoping to move forward from this map and pursue new UT Mapping projects, although I will check back and keep this map updated should bugs arise and whatnot.
I hope people play and like the new updated version, it should certainly feel and look better than the previous one.
Here are some new screenshots, with the download link on the MPF site below them:



Here are some screenshots:









There's more info on the download page.
Enjoy! Let me know what you think and thanks in advance.


Download link here: https://multiplayerforums.com/files/...-dm-reservoir/
MapRotation=/Game/RestrictedAssets/Maps/DM-Reservoir-V2
RedirectReferences=(PackageName="DM-Reservoir-V2-WindowsNoEditor.pak", PackageURLProtocol="http", PackageURL="redirect.mpforums.com/ut4/users/Harkomas110c/DM-Reservoir-V2-WindowsNoEditor.pak", PackageChecksum="d3d40ddf53ec7361f9259979b47455ed")

[zunnie]

I've pre-uploaded this to our HUBs and Servers in EU and US, will place them in there effectively around Friday/Saturday 29/30th.
You could consider submitting your map to the Mappers Night we are having. You can submit 2 maps if you like?
Would be cool to see you there too

PS: Thanks for using the MPF Database

[Ôblivion]

I've pre-uploaded this to our HUBs and Servers in EU and US, will place them in there effectively around Friday/Saturday 29/30th.
You could consider submitting your map to the Mappers Night we are having. You can submit 2 maps if you like?
Would be cool to see you there too

PS: Thanks for using the MPF Database

Thank you zunnie, and I'm all for it. Go ahead and add DM-Reservoir and CTF-Summit if you like, it would be awesome to watch some people play it and even get some feedback afterward. Although I work on both Friday/Saturday, I might be able to make it at about 4:00 PM PST (which I think is 16:00:00 EDT UTC, New York USA, not sure though).
Also, do you know how I can get the Package URL information for my maps? ("ut.rushbase.net/payback/CTF-MAPNAME.pak" for example) I read some people wanted this info after you publish your map, yet I've never figured out how to "know" what this is after I upload it, and additionally I've noticed the URL link for my CTF-Summit map on my other thread post is broken for some reason.

[zunnie]

Yea, go sign up for a free account on our mapper storage space.
That will allow you to upload your map pak and get a redirect link directly to the file.

Edit, unless you mean the URL for the map in the pak?
You can find that by opening it in for example Notepad++ and searching for .umap like so:


UnrealTournament/Content/RestrictedAssets/Maps/DM-Reservoir-V1.umap
becomes:
Game/RestrictedAssets/Maps/DM-Reservoir-V1

[Ôblivion]

Yea, go sign up for a free account on our mapper storage space.
That will allow you to upload your map pak and get a redirect link directly to the file.

Excellent, that did the trick. I'm starting to wrap my head around this whole level distribution process now
Thanks again zunnie, I'll see ya around (hopefully on Mappers Night).

[SymphonyheLL]

awersome looking ..remeber of gears of war universe

[Metalfist]

Tried the map out and here is some feedback:
- The map is HUGE, big lines of sight (makes hitscan overpowered). Reduce the size, try to break the line of sigh some more.
- There are collision issues on the map. I noticed you used the collision already on the meshes, but this isn't smooth. I got stuck for sec while running over a walkway (snaggy edges) and each time it was when the meshes were connecting. Try using Blocking Volumes and set the collision of the meshes to "ignore only pawn". This makes the collision more smooth for players. This was also the case in the little tunnel where you had to crouch, walking over pipes and when I tried to rocket jump to the top of a roof near the redeemer (fell through the mesh).
- Redeemer exploded when I flew through the mesh with the two big holes on top of the ceiling.
- Meshes looked stretched out. Personally wouldn't go further than 1.5 on scaling when the rest is 1.
- The water outside moved too fast
- There was an invisible wall when trying to go to the water, which is not logical. Either place something logical or allow me to go there and die in the water. Same with the redeemer area.
- The lift to the top of the roof should have some beams to show how it actually works logically (now it is a floating lift)
- Beams on top of the roof were too low so players can't crouch under it. (the building on the left in this picture: https://www.epicgames.com/unrealtour...chmentid=30393)
- It was not clear that the round lift was a lift.

[Laambo]

Tried the map out and here is some feedback:
- The map is HUGE, big lines of sight (makes hitscan overpowered). Reduce the size, try to break the line of sigh some more.

... probably best suited for TDM!? ... and 16 player mayhem! woohoo! lol ... sorry got carried away there!

[PayBack]

Gave this map a quick run around. Here are my thoughts.

Positive
-I really liked the environment, sold me on industrial complex some crazy planet.
-All the moving parts and dynamic aspects really made the map feel alive.
-Nice use of ambient sounds.
-Good job combining terrain with the meshes.

Negative
-Meshes are way over stretched. It will always look better if you combine 10 smaller meshes to make one big mesh instead of stretching one mesh.
-Collision issues.
-Size is really big, far too big. Id scale down the whole map by like 25%.
-Mesh alignment, found a noticeable amount of meshes where pipes didnt connect and other placement issues.

Otherwise not a bad map, definitely an improvement over your last map. Keep it up!

[Ôblivion]

Tried the map out and here is some feedback:
- The map is HUGE, big lines of sight (makes hitscan overpowered). Reduce the size, try to break the line of sigh some more.

Yes my main intention for this map was for it to be played in 5 vs 5 Elimination where I generally prefer more maneuverability, but you bring up a great point on the Hitscan weapons issues, as I myself prefer CQC with Rocket Launcher and Flak Cannon duels, and Link Gun/Minigun shootouts over Sniper contests. I do need to put up some more obstacles to reduce LoS more. I'm also going to try and scale it down a bit, however it may require a lot of reconstruction with how I've set up the map (I guess this is why people do BSP Shells first), and the only way I think it can be done without shriveling the map down is just enclosing the walls more, probably by "bringing" one side of the map closer to the opposite side. I'll see what I can do.

- There are collision issues on the map. I noticed you used the collision already on the meshes, but this isn't smooth. I got stuck for sec while running over a walkway (snaggy edges) and each time it was when the meshes were connecting. Try using Blocking Volumes and set the collision of the meshes to "ignore only pawn". This makes the collision more smooth for players. This was also the case in the little tunnel where you had to crouch, walking over pipes and when I tried to rocket jump to the top of a roof near the redeemer (fell through the mesh).

This is something I've been a little lost with. I've been trying to find sneaky ways to reduce my level's file size, and I initially thought adding a bunch of Blocking Volumes as opposed to Mesh Collisions would make it larger. Also, sometimes it doesn't matter what I do, a few meshes (usually circular ones like pipes and rings) maintain their default in-editor collision preset regardless of my changes. I kinda' switched back in forth with my approach, removing collision on some meshes and supplementing them with BVs, and sometimes just leaving them as they were. But I understand clearly now why BVs are the way to go, as the player movement and map flow is very pivotal to a level's gameplay experience, and BVs help guide players more easily than complex mesh collisions, so I'll get to work on that as well.

- Meshes looked stretched out. Personally wouldn't go further than 1.5 on scaling when the rest is 1.

Yup I got cheap with this, 'won't abuse it on my next map. Once again though I figured more meshes meant bigger file size (still don't know if that's the case), so that's one of the reasons I oversized them. I'll work on this too, unfortunately though I may have to leave some as is (probably the oversized pipes) due to how the level is "molded" now.

- There was an invisible wall when trying to go to the water, which is not logical. Either place something logical or allow me to go there and die in the water. Same with the redeemer area.

I just used a giant "River" mesh for the water, so I guess I wanted players to stay away at all costs to avoid getting a close look at how cheap it was lol. But that's a good idea as well, I personally don't like restricting players, but I wanted to have a good surrounding environment while not giving players free reign to exploit it and jump outside of the level's boundries. I plan now to remove the bordering BVs, but bring the surrounding water in so that if you jump outside the walls, you ain't coming back up.

- The lift to the top of the roof should have some beams to show how it actually works logically (now it is a floating lift)

This cracked me up, because I never realized just how silly that lift was. I just thought I was clever for "bending" the Lift in such a way that it serves as a sort of vertical escalator, but of course it doesn't make much sense. I'll be replacing it with a Jump Pad instead.

And hey if possible, I'd also like it if you could leave some brief feedback on the elements you liked as well (atmosphere, lighting, visuals, weapon placement etc) so I know where some of my strength lie and where to enforce them (unless of course there was nothing you liked about it, which that's fine too).
All in all, thank you very much for the feedback Metalfist, it's very much appreciated and it helped me to validate my concerns on some of the design choices.

Gave this map a quick run around. Here are my thoughts.

Positive
-I really liked the environment, sold me on industrial complex some crazy planet.
-All the moving parts and dynamic aspects really made the map feel alive.
-Nice use of ambient sounds.
-Good job combining terrain with the meshes.

Negative
-Meshes are way over stretched. It will always look better if you combine 10 smaller meshes to make one big mesh instead of stretching one mesh.
-Collision issues.
-Size is really big, far too big. Id scale down the whole map by like 25%.
-Mesh alignment, found a noticeable amount of meshes where pipes didnt connect and other placement issues.

Otherwise not a bad map, definitely an improvement over your last map. Keep it up!

Thank you very much for the feedback PayBack
I'm going to be working on the alignment and overstretched meshes, as well as double-checking all those collisions a lot on this next update. Scaling down map-size will be tricky, as I intended it to be roughly the same scale as Cheops or Maelstrom, however the lack of LoS is an issue, so I'll try and enclose things a bit so there isn't as much open area on the ground with the walkways and ramps, and connect the facilities more closely.

And also, that advice you gave a while back on adding more depth to the level (filling in the blanks and stuff) and having less empty spots really helped me out, I think I understood exactly what you meant, and feel like I executed that aspect much better here than on Summit, so thanks once more

[Ôblivion]

Alrighty, DM-Reservoir has undergone a moderate overhaul with a variety of changes. I edited the OP with the updates, as well as the main download site at MPF. Download links, Checksnum, etc have been updated as well with new verison. Sorry it took so long folks, I hope it's not redundant at this point.

[MΛuL]

Alrighty, DM-Reservoir has undergone a moderate overhaul with a variety of changes. I edited the OP with the updates, as well as the main download site at MPF. Download links, Checksnum, etc have been updated as well with new verison. Sorry it took so long folks, I hope it's not redundant at this point.

Any maps that work in the current build are always welcomed. Thanks for the update.

[ÐutchSmºke]

Thank you for the update Harkomas!