[Map] Korengal Valley [released]

[CodeRedFox]

Alright, I gotta hit the hay, its 2:30am in Cali and I have a Milsim game tomorrow @ 7am. Make sure your downloading PR_khara_V0896.zip, check the date!

[Jonny]

Tried it, but it wont work at all. Wont even show up on the map list if I try to add, it just wont let it be added.

I might have to upload some more files but the server.zip and info is all that gets uploaded normally AFAIK. It will take hours to upload it all too.

[paco]

0896 works for me. The bigger size makes the map so much better. Once you get over to the cave side, it's like a second map. Great work.

Some things I noticed:

The leaning silo ladder is a death trap. It can be fun, but it won't look good with people climbing outside the ladder.
Flag poles going through things. I think it looks weird if the flag goes through things.
There's a leaning bridge, sunk into the ground, in the middle of the British side. You can see through one end of it. Maybe lower it a tad more.
Anti-air kit hanging above head level in the village on the cave side.
The mountains seem to be rougher on the British starting side. It's like it's not the same terrain anymore when you climb to the cave side.
I didn't see the merlin (although there was anti-air), but I think it should be there to spice things up.

If the map description is final, it needs spell checking. The grammar is weird too and makes little or no sense (taliban anticipate full scale attack on the brits?).

Anyway, this could be a killer map and a nightmare to navigate for both sides.

[Jonny]

Looking around on a local server:

Jeeps are parked the wrong way at the brit main, they should have been reversed in.

You fields look like gardens still, fields are supposed to be big, thats the whole point.

minimap does not show properly - its mostly static for me.

Is there really so much greenery on the mountains there? It looks a little strange to me. After walking around though it gets quite good for cover and to breah it up, so perhaps just as many on the lower parts and leave the top open for easy sniping, and to form routes through the mountains where you can remain relatively well hidden.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen076.jpg
This looks like it should be a walkway, there is no wall it would be useful to the occupants. Instead there are some low bushes.

Your hedge rows dont work, they should stop people from going through them. Perhaps if you added a player and vehicle collision mesh it would be more effective for this? Hedges like that would relly add to the field effect and CQB effect too.

The bridge looks very good, you drive up to it through hedges and then see all the way down the river. Please dont change it at all, its perfect, it makes it feel like a real place. Well, I do have a quick bridge I have made with a low arch and wooden hand rails that you could use if you want to UV/skin/import it, but the current one is quite good.

The bumps in the fields are what is missing from most other maps, could add them to every other map please...

Cannot shoot from SE pillbox at the mountain base

The flag pole does not look quite right going throught the tent, if it was at the top it would look like a support to keep the tent up but at its current position it looks like it is in the way really. hiding the concrete foot of the pole in the ground and having it in the place of one of the poles supporting the tent would be a lot better.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen077.jpg
These trees are a danger to the structures they are next too, they have a habit of cracking walls and collapsing buildings.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen078.jpg
this cliff face needs something to stop the soil slipping, perhaps a rock ststic would fit well, but it is a really unstable thing if it is just soil and is prone to collapsing in heavy rains.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen079.jpg
What are they? they are too small for small holdings and it would be grass if it was a garden.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen080.jpg
Could we have a few planks of wood thrown on here and partially buried to make it look more like an allotment kind of area - where you just mess around with things and store things instead of use it as a garden or a place for growing crops?

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen081.jpg
needs retaining wall, non destructible.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen082.jpg
why no road to the car?
Atleast a dirt path kind of levelled out would make it driveable and look a lot better, a lot more lived in.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen083.jpg
This whole thing is prone to collapse if it rains a lot, it could so easily slip. This road should be closed for a long time to the public for serious safety reasons.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen084.jpg
why not remove the tree and make that into a driveway, it looks the right size and position to me. The tree is another danger to the building.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen085.jpg
does the road stop or go through the trees? If it goes through the trees then perhaps a line of fences along the drop to the river would have been built, or a little bank. If it stops then perhaps a small maound of earth would have been put there.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen086.jpg
perhaps a little greenery would be good on the ground there? It looks like it would go well with the sudden mass of foliage.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen087.jpg
What the? that is a strange road there.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen088.jpg
floating trees are not your friend, and there should be fences there I think, so people and vehilces dont fall off the edge.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen089.jpg
cant get in that corner without crawling, crouching to get in the whole thing would be good though.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen090.jpg
Much better example of a field, but IMO it could do with being a little taller and 4 times the area, it still looks like a garden TBH.

Roads should not stop at the edges of the map, there should still be tree lines and large fields outside too, even though they wont be seen it adds to the effect of an extensive valley IMO. Its like continuing mountain ranges and adding buildings on top in other maps, which is not present on archer currently and thus detracts from the feeling you are there.

Your poppy fields look way too bright some of the time. The ground is shaded but the field then looks like it is glowing.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen091.jpg
Evil low grass and small garden sizes.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen092.jpg
Same field as above, but the grass is too high actually, its the gradient of the terrain that ruins the field effect.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen093.jpg
floating cache.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen094.jpg
very nice field (could be larger though) with well defined edges, but its lacking the bumps in terrain some of the others have. Same with the green one that was behind me when I took that picture.

More random features on the cave walls would be really good, they look far too geometric at the moment, although it is a very very good start which this mod badly needs, so dont worry about adding that before you release it.

Nice cave system, but I help but think that the whole mountain should be a static. Also, when you shot the cave there is not dust effect like on the normal terrain yet.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen095.jpg
floating near the brit main.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen096.jpg
poppies showing through the road.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen097.jpg
Not likely, it should have fallen down the mountain by now.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen098.jpg
The interior of the cave.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen099.jpg
Can spot this from miles away, the wall there is going through the building, or so it seems, I would suggest a smaller wall if possible, or a custom static.

An issue with ALL of the fields, not just on your map but on all of them, is that the more distant LODs are too detailed and you can see through the field. You could add a coloured square you can kind of see through a little to make it less noticeable though. This would really benefit this particular map because of the mountains.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../screen100.jpg
This looks crap when flying, or in the hills. The contiuation of the river and the fields with colour maps would look good, then add a few trees, fields and sparce housing for effect and it will be perfect.

That should keep you busy for a few days!

Thanks for releasing it to us all, too, it really looks like this will be played a lot. It seems to have everything on it, from ambushes, sneaking around th enemy and small seiges in the caves to extremely long range fighting and effective sniping in the mountains.

But please dont go overboard with the small sizes of your fields, it does detract from them if you cant really pin anyone down in there.

[hyraclyon]

I just downloaded your map, and looked through it for a bit. It really is a great map, and i can't wait to play it. There are still some things that need fixing though, such as:


2 bugs in this: floating tree, and the flag is in the tent.


I'm no expert at mapping, but maybe up the view distance a little? It would be cool if you could see what happens on the other side of the valley.


The tree is in the building here.


Main base flag is in the sand wall.


Some crops that grow through the road.


A floating building.


Like you already said, needs a new texture, and for some reason bullet impacts dont show on the cave system.


Tree in house.


Tree in house #2.


The texture has strange lines in it here, it only happens in the insurgent hills though. You can't really see it in this screen but ingame it is noticeable.


Floating AA kit.

Also the edges of the valley, you need to decorate those, it doesn't look good from up the hills. I don't have a screen of it but i think you know what i mean.

For the rest i couldn't really find any flaws, it is a really nice map, it has its own feeling to it and i think you have done this very good.

P.S. Dont add any helicopters, this map is too small for it, it would ruin the experience.

[Jonny]

In the tree one (photo one) there should be a fence, because it is a tight turn.

In photo 5 they are growing through the bank next to the field too, but you cant see it in your photo.

[Tartantyco]

-Seriously, if you touch that tree I will hunt you down! So it's got a few branches sticking into the wall, the aesthetics and atmosphere created by those low branches partially obscuring the top stairs and roof is awesome.

[CodeRedFox]

THOSE DAMN FLAG KEEP COMMING BACK AHHHHHHHH

[[QUOTE=paco]The leaning silo ladder is a death trap. It can be fun, but it won't look good with people climbing outside the ladder.
Flag poles going through things. I think it looks weird if the flag goes through things.
There's a leaning bridge, sunk into the ground, in the middle of the British side. You can see through one end of it. Maybe lower it a tad more.
Anti-air kit hanging above head level in the village on the cave side.
The mountains seem to be rougher on the British starting side. It's like it's not the same terrain anymore when you climb to the cave side.
I didn't see the merlin (although there was anti-air), but I think it should be there to spice things up[quote]

yeah The silos are going to be switched out.Those Damn flag poles are back...grrrr. The hanging weapons is a lame server thing I need to fix, Originally they lean against stuff and it doesn't work right. All choppers are out now.

Originally Posted by Jonny

Jeeps are parked the wrong way at the brit main, they should have been reversed in.

You cant park a jeep the wrong way Plus it stops the guys from flooring it out of the base

Originally Posted by Jonny

You fields look like gardens still, fields are supposed to be big, thats the whole point.

Not much I can do on this sized level

Originally Posted by Jonny

minimap does not show properly - its mostly static for me.

Thats odd...

Originally Posted by Jonny

Is there really so much greenery on the mountains there? It looks a little strange to me. After walking around though it gets quite good for cover and to breah it up, so perhaps just as many on the lower parts and leave the top open for easy sniping, and to form routes through the mountains where you can remain relatively well hidden.

Afghanistan's a weird place, so many different locations and feeling. I will keep the most the tress/bush density only because I dont like snipers

Originally Posted by Jonny

Your hedge rows don't work

Thats a PR thing

Originally Posted by Jonny

The bumps in the fields are what is missing from most other maps

Thanks, glad it works!

I'll look over the rest of your note and comments, thank you very much Jonny and hyraclyon.

Originally Posted by Tartantyco

Seriously, if you touch that tree I will hunt you down! So it's got a few branches sticking into the wall, the aesthetics and atmosphere created by those low branches partially obscuring the top stairs and roof is awesome.

Yeah I'm not a tree Nazi, I like that some trees touch the building. I will fix it to look better though.

Thanks everyone who's try it out, I didn't realize all the floating objects problem. I recently had to rebuild the map after some changes and obliviously some items got over looked. I've had some weird editor issues not saving things some times.

Moral of my story is don't release something at 3am

Cool guys, next big steps are:

Floaters
Surrounding terrain
Finish the cave system
A small rework on the maps land
Finish Poppies crops (textues, UV, lightmaps)
And a whole lot more.

[Waaah_Wah]

Congratz with the promotion to a DEV

[krekc]

Good job on the caves, maybe drop a few rugs on the ground inside them or light a wee fire? make them looked lived in? could only find 2 lots of caves as well are there more?