.:New Map:. EvoRTS Division

[Forboding Angel]

http://springfiles.com/spring/spring-ma ... division-0

Edit: There is no longer any need for the game to call spring features as a dependency! Now the map does it!

1v1 map (12x12) that should work well in just about any game. Made specifically for Evolution RTS. Features will only show up when playing with Evolution RTS or mods/games who have Spring Features ( http://springfiles.com/spring/tools/spring-features ) listed as a dependency (so if the features don't show up in your favorite game, yell at the creator to add Spring Features as a dependency!).

Give it a try and lemmie know whatcha think I spent a little over 2 weeks working on it off and on. The ssmf stuff could be better (my distribution map is ok, but could be better imo), and the specular probably could have been done better, but the result was nice.

[Wombat]

ohai, u still alive :'

cool shiat, last pic was instafap, but i think u need new rocks

these look like rotten raisins on the cake

[Licho]

Looks nice, I agree about the rocks though

[Forboding Angel]

Sadly, I agree as well. Problem is, as far as rocks go, there aren't a lot of choices really.

[Wombat]

ill try creating something, but since it will be my first time, cant guarantee anything special :D

[Forboding Angel]

Problem is, rock textures rarely look genuine, and jagged shapes are actually pretty appropriate for rocks.

Thing is for rocks you need a lot (like 10 - 15ish). For example, I'm using a random spawner in featureplacer for them with a large clustering. Basically the idea is that you get a bunch of rocks randomly placed in an area. It's about the only way to make them look semi natural.

[Wombat]

since i know shit about featureplacer or anything like that, question - what texture size ? was thinking about 32x32. also, can all these rocks share one texture ?

[Johannes]

The question is if it looks better with these rocks than without any rocks? When they are one and the same with any feature of same size in Evo if I remember right...

It looks good of course but I don't like how you cannot properly deduct passability without f2.

[Forboding Angel]

Silly wombat

Feature placer is a mapping tool that smoth made. If you would like to see it in action, update evo and fire up springlobby (or tasc), change game mode to "Featureplacer" and game end condition to "Infinite" load up dsd or some map with no features on it, turn on cheat and nocost, select sparkly tree build features on map (you will need to turn off chilli integral menu widget, as it was not designed to handle so many build items).

Notice that on the options for the tree you can turn on clustering, rotation and all sorts of nifty stuff.

Congrats, you've just had a crash course in featureplacer.

32x32 should be plenty ideally (might wanna go 64x64 tho as some stretching will prolly occur), and yes all can share the same texture (use png texture for proper tex1 + tex2). Likewise, polycount can actually be reasonably decent I would imagine.

@johan, in evo it doesn't really matter (passability). In BA or something like that I imagine those rocks would get sucked up pretty fast.

[Wombat]

PFFFFFFFFF too much doing stuffff... me not want.

also why would i use tex2 ?

[Forboding Angel]

Specular glow and reflectivity.

In games other than evo specular and reflectivity are shared on the green channel. In evo they are separated into blue specular, green reflect, red glow.

Even features need tex2, otherwise they look very bland.

[Wombat]

Specular glow and reflectivity.

In games other than evo specular and reflectivity are shared on the green channel. In evo they are separated into blue specular, green reflect, red glow.

hrm, I KNOW...

i mean

rocks



glossy rocks which are basicly not rocks



also i hate specular. tho, i agree stuff without specular text might look odd with evo. ok ill see what i can create

[Forboding Angel]

I think you might have specular and reflectivity mixed up womb

Also, rocks whould always have jsut a tiny bit of reflectivity (think about rocks in nature, the minerals in them tend to reflect a tiny bit of light generally, plus, it jsut makes them look better in general). Not the kind of reflectivity where it';s like omgIcanseemyself!, just a tiny bit.

[SirArtturi]

Good looking map!

Couple remarks about making rocks look better in general.

-Large rocks are rarely entirely above ground but rather sunken at least half-way to the gound (trying to say they aint lying around on the ground like just dropped poop). Change the features Y-position to negative in upspring.

-In theory, the shape of the rocks can be basically anything, but in reality they rarely are like bananas or polished in nice round shape(except pebbles) In reality they are angular and jagged.

-One very essential fact is to make them blend in the landscape, in their natural environment. Rocks that lay around are bulk pieces from bedrock and the bedrock therefore works as a guideline of how they should look like. In your case forb, your rocks should be more brown instead of gray, because your mountains and bedrock are brown. To make them match is very easy: Take a screen from your mountain. Go photoshop and use match color tool with your rock texture. Also changing the texture ain't bad idea.

I'd like to promote seths ravine as an example how rocks are trying to match with the bedrock. I also use, imo, pretty good texture for the bulk rocks, check it out. There are lot of good, free rock textures around in the web just waiting for someone to use them.

[Pxtl]

It's beautiful, but I'm not sure how well these hyper-realistic maps suit the slightly stylized look of EvoRTS units.

[Johannes]

@johan, in evo it doesn't really matter (passability).

What? You've got labs which are basically defined by their slope tolerances but you're telling me those are irrelevant? Oo

Just to be clear I mean this

And how compared to the texture, it's impossible to locate the passable patches on the northern cliffs by just looking at that.

[smoth]

is that ba or evo in your shot johan

[Wombat]

i think he meant that all terrain can be made fast in evo.

but ye, make ramps forb ! like dsd one

[smoth]

I like that the map looks mostly natural. I hate maps which force cliff textures based on slope tolerance.

the rocks look dark because forb posted shots of them from the shadow side and IMO his shadowing is too strong but meh. He could have included a brighter rock texture with the map and overrode the originals..

my only real gripe would be the green shallow water, looks very algae saturated.
*edits* ALSO THE ROCKS should probably be sandstone or at least tan. There is no grey stone nearby so I am asking myself who dropped rocks everywhere..

[Forboding Angel]

I don't know whether to be proud or irritated that every time I release a map great controversy ensues...

@Johan, in evo, the slopes really don't matter, what matters in the land types. You don't have mobility issues in evo. In particular, hovers are probably the worst choice on this map.

This is where unit balance comes into play. Hovers will rape all-terrain units if they are on equal footing. That's why AT's have a shield tank, cloaking and the ability to use terrain to their advantage. AT's are also slow. So, while AT's are the best choice for this map, it doesn't come without some caveats.

What I would use on this map would be hovers + transports. Transports are lightning fast and cheap, and are an excellent choice for mobility.

My second choice would be amphibs because they can lurk under the water and you can use them to harass the underwater metal spots. Amphibs are the fastest and most powerful (damagewise) units in the game. Their armor is lol, but on a map like this, they can hit and run your main base before you can do a whole hell of a lot about it, forcing you to porc up the shoreline when you could be using those resources on powerplants or more tanks.

My last choice would be all terrain probably (mainly because I like the out of the box solutions). That and the fact that some turrets on the ridgeline will shred AT's without shielding, which forces you to spend even more resources on a tank that you probably wouldn't normally produce in that quantity, not to mention the energy drain (-2 per recharging shield... that means 1 fusion is effectively eaten by 5 shield bots).

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@Smoth's gripe: Well yeah, those pools are stagnating, hence the hardcore green (a little more brown would prolly have been nice but meh).

@Wombat, ramps in evo are lolsilly. If you can't get up there, spend a little cash on elevators (airtrans).

@pxtl: it's mroe surrealistic than realistic imo. My l3dt textured maps were far more realistic looking imo. Carrara tends to look similar to bryce texturing.

About the rocks... these are generic rocks plucked from spring's lollack of proper rock features.