Sorry about that, it's a qbsp bug (in my tools, at least) - maps where all brushes are func_group/detail cause qbsp to blow up.

Just move one brush from func_group to worldspawn and it should be fine. 

I added now one template brush to default layer, and it compiled fine. Thank you~ 

khreathor
Thanks for the feedback.
I havent set any difficulty, there should be about 60+ enemies at the moment and 3 shambler. i Should probably add the SSG on top of the blue key door so to allow more action.

The castle area has alot less health because its should feel alot more dangerous than the start, and give the player a feeling that if you could only re-enter the start to get health. Im not sure if this just ends up feeling annoying for the player.

In the lighting gun area I now noticed the leak also, you can see the sky box XD and also the damagebrush at the red armour.


Shamblernaut
QUAKE ERROR: Mod_LoadBrushModel: maps/soofa.bsp has wrong version number (1143028768 should be 29)

What does this mean? how do i fix this? 

what bsp version are you compiling for? is trenchbroom set to hexen2, or a quake2 or a quake map

which compile tools are you using?

also, khreathor, what engine did you test it in? 

Naitelveni,

For your first map this is rather impressive. Your brushwork has a very distinct style...I got a mystical/medieval vibe from it. A great detail of filling out the background to make it seem like there is more there is a great thing to have and you do it well.

Lighting is decent enough, nothing overly bright but maybe some more shadow contrast would benefit the nighttime venture! I also like the textures you opted to use.

Gameplay is the weakest point here but that's to be expected as it is a doozy. Like Kreathor said, very vacant early on. Few encounters are fine at the start of the map for the player to get his surroundings but this goes on for a few stretches of rooms. Broken architecture is a great thing, but the broken up floor tiles feel awkward when walking around. Perhaps make them into func_illusionary or lower them by a few units. Additionally, be sure to make your waterfalls not solid brushes as it feels strange as well.

I love the vertically and small interconnection you are introducing and, on a first map that's impressive to attempt! I know on my first handful of maps I did not pay that any mind.

No music, but I am sure you haven't picked a track yet. Even if you don't use the music yourself, just pop a sound track into the worldspawn (2-11)

Another area to work on are the encounters themselves. Lots of times you open a door to a new room and there is a bathtub full of enemies waiting for you. Ambushes are done predictable after grabbing a key or hitting a switch...try to surprise the player. Maybe when you are walking under one of the bridges, a death knight leaps down from a higher level!

Hopefully this helps you fine tune the map. If this is your first offering than I am excited to see what you bring in the future!

I played the map with no issue on the latest QS. 

the download was corrupted, re-downloaded and it worked fine. 

The Pros:

I like the encounters, perhaps a bit busy at times, and may need to ramp up the quantity of monsters a little slower (consider a timer), but for the most part really tight.

Your level geometry is excellent, it is easy to see that a lot of thought has gone into the layout of the map. I really like ledge-jumping and exploration, so the SSG secret was fun.

Thematically the map is really consistent throughout. I really like the ceilings in your buildings and the detail you've put into the crumbling floors, ceilings, windows, etc.


The Cons:

It's pretty hypocritical of me to criticise this considering a recent map of mine used it, but the sloping geometry in the hallways in the starting area isn't a great idea in such narrow hallways, already it is quite squishy, but those slopes restrict movement even more. This isn't a huge issue because there are no mobs there, but it's something to think about.

As others have mentioned, your brushwork interrupts the player at certain points, consider func_illusionary or some clip brushes to may the player experience smoother.

The texturing is quite good, although the one place I feel like it could use a change is the staircase in the first outdoor area you encounter. I'm not sure if the contrasty blue rock / red wood works too well.


Overall really good job man, well done. 

Skill 3 demo, played with QS.
Nice little map overall, especially for a first Quake map. I really dig the aesthetics, the tree/hedges and the ruined scenery. There's a few texture and brush issues (nothing major though) and encounters/monster placement could need a bit of work in places. See comments in my demo: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwnUnvcoU4HFSURQVDRSQXg2Ync 

This is nice.

I'm not of the opinion that every room of every map must necessarily be packed with opposition, so the beginning didn't bother me. A decent lead in.

The visuals are coherent and pleasant, they felt fresh. Maybe one texture error - a patch of green grass in a courtyard of dirt.

Didn't have any problems with gameplay or balance - the difficulty is about up my alley. 

Wow!

I haven't really played the map (don't have much time at the moment); just wandered through it with cheats on to look at the brushwork & texturing, and it's really lovely! A little cramped, perhaps, but very, very nice for a first map, with a really distinctive visual style. Loved the tree!

Broken architecture is a great thing, but the broken up floor tiles feel awkward when walking around. Perhaps make them into func_illusionary or lower them by a few units.

...or cover the recessed parts with a clip brush.

[...] the staircase in the first outdoor area you encounter. I'm not sure if the contrasty blue rock / red wood works too well.

I like it and think it looks good. The texture alignment could be better, though -- specifically, I think the wood texture looks better when it does not follow the slope of the brush, but remains horizontal. Just my opinion, though!

There's some texture alignment weirdness in a few other spots in the map too, but I'm not sure whether that's important...

Are you making this for id1, or for a mod (Quoth/AD)?
If it's for id1, don't forget to include the skybox in your next/final version -- it really adds a lot to the map visually (I saw it when I loaded the map in AD, as I was curious whether some of the brushes were supposed to be breakable).

But again: really lovely work! Sorry for not giving more detailed feedback/no gameplay feedback at all. 

As far as Quake maps go, what value is best suited for which environment? Most maps I see use either 2 or 4.

Looking at ericw's example on his site shows that the shadow blends a bit more the higher you go...I think?

Finally I did a side by side comparison from my own map with 2 and then 4 and I am not entirely sure I see a difference! 

im siing trenchbroom 2 for mapping, for compiling im using EricW's compiler and for the quake client im using quakespasm. 

Thanks everyone for the feedback!

The starting area is still abit ugly, and im changing it as we speak, I added another ogre in the starting area and 2 super knights in the blue key yard.

At the moment of giving you guys this first test version of the map I didnt know about clipping brushes and illusionary. Now i have added it around the diffucult terrain to make the gameplay alot smoother.

total_newbie,
I will run thru the map to see about the texture alignment. Thats the type of feedback that helps me to polish the mep! :)

skacky,
im honored! :)
i will add clipping brushes, illusionary and double check for errors.

Shamblernaut
Thanks for the feedback!!
I know the hallway is tight, and i will make it wider and bigger. At first i made it small because i was afraid of long compiling times. As you may have read about my 10 hour compiling issue with my first map. XD
now that i know about func_detail im no longer afraid of bigger areas. Soofa took me 9-10 minutes to compile.

Bloughsburgh, thank you!
I will balance out the gameplay more!

khreathor,
Once im finished with my map can I get a youtube playthru!? That would be frikin awesome! 

Where do i place the demo file and what do i write into console when i have the client open? 

Type "playdemo [demoname]" in the console. You put the demofile in id1 or in the relevant mod folder. 

-Place the demo file in your id1 directory.

-playdemo xxx 

No need to repeat what the others have said. I liked the architecture in the green armor/silver key room, also your gateways with the larger part at the top. Torches planted on top of pillars and walls look weird, it would be better to just use a flame, possibly rising from a brasero/cauldron type of brush.
Combat isn't very challenging. It would probably be fine for skill 0 or 1 but I need more difficulty. You also should add a final combat in the exit room. 8 monsters never teleported in and stayed in their boxes outside of the map.

Be mindful of your triggers for secret count: it didn't activate when I first picked up the LG, only when I walked over a specific point in this area (same with the red armor secret). Usually, these triggers cover the entire width of secret rooms or are associated with the goodie.

Speaking of secrets, where is the third one? I couldn't find it, even when noclipping through the map - which, incidentally, oddly caused me a few instadeaths 

It's only a detail but you should make your water pipes deeper, or at least texture the deep end with a black texture instead of a wall texture. And check the orientation of the texture on ALL sides of your water brushes: the little bit at the top of the vertical brush moves laterally while it should go in the direction of the current. 

thanks Mugwump! I'll change the flame, you are right, on top of the pillar the torch looks wierd also on top of the wall. The third secret is near the LG. Where the wooden bridge is over the wall. youll have to do some advanced parcoure to get there.

Im working on a area that you are teleported from the gold key teleporter. first you get alot of pickups and then youll enter the final area.It will take me this weekend to finish this map. 

You got this. 

Anyone using J.A.C.K with AD mod? I've recently picked up this editor and it's great but I'm having some issues with placing entities. I don't know how well entities follow the grid in editors, but in Jack it feels especially wonky, am I missing something? For instance, candles placed 1-2 units above the floor still end up inside the floor brush.. help! :) 

Candles are to be placed 16 units above the ground. I think its mentioned in the readme or ad_quake.fgd.

Any other problematic entities? 

But it is supposedly fixed in the latest steam release. Haven't tried it yet. 

I can't remember putting them 16 above in QuArk but it sure worked in J.A.C.K. Entities just look a little off the grid, is that normal? Hogre box is huge compared to hogremac, what was the bug in J.A.C.K? 

Bounding box size and handles match the model. Should instead match the fgd definition.