Sector E Series

[CryoKeen]

Sectore_1 - Sectore_2 - Sectore_3



I made a map called Sector E about 10 years ago in 2000. It was just an elevator shaft, some vents, some monsters, and some very basic architecture. Play through maybe 5 minutes. The map has grown considerably since then. I worked on lots of different half-life and svencoop maps over the years, so I got a lot of my unfinished "blackmesa/lab" parts together and made the begging of a map series .


Sectore_1, Sectore_2 and Sectore3 are included with Sven Co-op 4.5


Please, post any bugs you have seen, comments about the maps good or bad, or any suggestions you have for future maps in the series!
















A lot of people helped make it, Sven putting up with my complete noobishness and annoying pestering Mad Jonsey was cool.. Ah Malek.. Memory lane :'(

Some important people and friends that inspired me earlier in my mapping carrier to continue mapping: Sven Viking, Xirex, Turrican, Kain, ICU, crashman, Sci, kune, Slidje, CKDead and all the rest of the gang. They all helped sectore throughout it's development and incarnations over the years. I am very grateful for the times we had playing maps and all having fun. Since those early day's time's have changed, graphics engines are super-epic now, and people change.

I've put a lot of work into this and thought a lot about how it's important to me. I sometimes wish I could go back to those naive days, I was not always mature and I realize that I've not always been nice to everybody, I'm trying to take more responsibility now for my own actions and how I react to other people. I think everyone should learn some skills (mapping music kodiskat baseball golftuba)and then you gain confidence!


See sectore_credits.txt for full credits for models and songs used in the map

[WAR_Nuker]

really enjoyed these maps. three maps, not too drawn out, a good amount of content and pretty damn fun.

[AdamR]

Prime BOMS material here

[Nih]

Great architecture, great gameplay. Somehow there's always something to grab your interest in this map series. You really seem to have taken a perfectionist's approach to this map series

If I had to point out some flaws:
- The r_speeds are enourmous. This seems to be a common trend among new maps, and I'm guilty of it myself. I'd personally take extra detail over low w_poly, but it still ruins the map for the unlucky group of people who are still playing Sven mainly because of the low system requirements.
- The funky 8-bit music doesn't fit at all. It's kind of jarring to listen to while you're playing. I'm of the opinion that if you're going to use music in your map, it better fit the theme of the map as well. In this case, the theme is Half-Life/Black Mesa, and it already has a style of music associated with it that is so far removed from what you're using. You wouldn't put avant-garde freestyle jazz in a Black Mesa map either.

8/10.
(I would have given it 10/10 but I'm reserving 2 points for maps that incentivise playing well.)

[CryoKeen]

Thank you Nih for that review!

I kind of like the music myself but I can definitely see where you think it doesn't quite fit. I do use 2 half-life tracks in the third map, one the op4 xen music then a hl1 hgrunt fight music.

I am not sure what is causing all the r_speed and lag issues, unfortunately. Or how to properly curb them, I would like any hands-on assistance from some experienced people to try to reduce it, maybe with massive use of hint brush and such.

[AdamR]

Hint brushes will help a lot only if you use them correctly. Simply putting cube/cuboid hint brushes around irregularly shaped objects doesn't help at all. They should be diagonal according to corridor corners. Bare in mind that hint brushes have a fairly noticeable impact on the HLVIS compile time, the end result is worth it though.

JPolito wrote rather accurate guide at SCMDB on how hint brushes should be deployed.

[Nih]

The high w_poly is simply caused by the large amount of details in each room. Compare the average room in your map with the average room in HLSP and you'll notice the difference.

[CryoKeen]

The high w_poly is simply caused by the large amount of details in each room. Compare the average room in your map with the average room in HLSP and you'll notice the difference.

So your saying it's because my map is so awesome, basically

Lul



Yes I will certainly talk to JP about proper hint usage, thanks Adam!

[Nih]

Depends on whether you want better graphics or more people able to play your map.

[CryoKeen]

I would prefer more people to play the map overall, but most people should have computers that have been upgraded at least 5 years ago.

[Scotsman]

I have an alright PC for most games nowadays but even I notice the frame rate drop in the very first room at the start. It's not much of a drop but it's still noticable.

[CryoKeen]

Yeah, I hope to fix that, I also experience the drop on my moderate gaming pc.

[Silencer]

No framerate drops here. PC only 3 years old, though. Excellent map. I was like "Keen made this? Really!?" because of the massive detail and huge lack of random odd multi-colored textures that usually make up your levels that look like nightmare-trips through a madman's brain. (<- That is a compliment)

Unfortunately, I only got to play this with a so freaking huge player amount I probably missed a great deal of what this superb series has to offer. Definitely starting this up again soon.

[LemonSoda]

Only felt a bit of lags at the first maps spawn area and nowhere else. To be honest, I've been playing this a few times with a huge rushing group of players as well, so I have probably missed some of the greatness of this series. Well, each time I play it I get to see something new atleast.

I didn't mind the music, it's Keens style after all. You can always bind the cl_stopsound command.

However, somehow I felt like there could have been some pauses for the walkthrough styled gameplay, like a puzzle or 2 that would have taken a bit longer to finish even for a mega-hyper-rushing-goup-of-kids, a longer silent pause in between the action.

Anyways, the series is very entertaining, feels new and looks nice! You had seen a lot of trouble in setting the monster ambushes (different tele spots at different times), which made the whole series feel even more polished. I also liked the low brightness of the lights overall. Awesome job Keen, very good that you bravely got it finished regardless of any problems!

[AdamR]

@Game server ops: I've submitted new Sector E res files with include everything required here. Fixes players being unable to hear certain things like the Panther (pit drone) replacement sounds, and the cool music throughout, especially at the end of part 3.