Map layout

I've been working on a map for over a month now. This map is relatively big, PA 800x576 (1024x800).



It's not finished (DIT DEEL MOET NOG:THIS PART ISN'T FINISHED). I wonder what your opinion is about the map so far.























Thanks for looking

I wouldnot make the atmospehere so dark, the units will be barely visible.

In the second pic, i would make that river crossable, and remove those bushes, it could work like a VP.

and there is too much tree at last -2 th and -3 th picture.

Is the water crossable with out bridges? If not this is going to cause some serious choke points. However if the water is crossable this will get reduce of the choke points and allow for some slight flanking. To make water crossable just make the depth really shallow, i.e. <1m
In pic 7 you have a compound with what looks like only 2 enterances and this will be difficult to access if well defended, possibely use the edit state to make parts look like the wall/fence has collased. look at http://www.coh2.org/guides/13449/how-to-destruction
I would also suggest using the pathfinder tool to look at where units can and cant go, as parts of your map looks quite narrow. Take a look at http://www.coh2.org/guides/14175/worldbuilder-totw3-pathfinding-with-the-ruler-tool of more info
I also agree with akosi that its to dark but I like your lights.
Hope thats helpful

Is the water crossable with out bridges? If not this is going to cause some serious choke points. However if the water is crossable this will get reduce of the choke points and allow for some slight flanking. To make water crossable just make the depth really shallow, i.e. <1m
In pic 7 you have a compound with what looks like only 2 enterances and this will be difficult to access if well defended, possibely use the edit state to make parts look like the wall/fence has collased. look at http://www.coh2.org/guides/13449/how-to-destruction
I would also suggest using the pathfinder tool to look at where units can and cant go, as parts of your map looks quite narrow. Take a look at http://www.coh2.org/guides/14175/worldbuilder-totw3-pathfinding-with-the-ruler-tool of more info
I also agree with akosi that its to dark but I like your lights.
Hope thats helpful

Yes, yes, yes.

The compound has 2 entrances and I want to keep it like that. Tanks will be able to breach through the walls, by the way. And you can't see it on the picture, but I actually made a hole in the fence, the draw distance ignores all the splats by the way...

Pathfinder tool, I use it a lot. Units will be able to pass everywhere where I want to let them pass. (1 block right, for inf?)

The water is crossable at some points, and there are a lot of bridges (not good visible on the screenshots, my apologies). But thanks for the help. I will see if I can add some more bridges/shallow water.

Thanks for the links, but I already knew how to do such things, but still thanks for the help, I appreciate it!

I will increase the lightning a bit, it was dark grey, I will set it to grey.

I wouldnot make the atmospehere so dark, the units will be barely visible.

In the second pic, i would make that river crossable, and remove those bushes, it could work like a VP.

and there is too much tree at last -2 th and -3 th picture.

-Atmosphere changed to grey (was dark grey)

-Nope, the 2nd pic is close to a base, it's in the corner of the map :|

-Too much tree? Sorry. I have to deny that. One of the pictures is a forest* and the other one is a graveyard. I made both these places as they are IRL (I live near them, I also used Streetview to see the exact tree locations). I just want to stay it like this. Thanks for you opinion though. Trees can be really annoying when talking about camera angle. I have to say that the graveyard lays at the end of the map, so there won't be much fighting going on.

*I will look if I can remove some trees, but I want to give it a realistic feeling.

I like the direction you're headed with the atmosphere and the lights. But I agree with Akosi, it was originally too dark.

Does the map transition from day to night or is it strictly night the entire time? I'm asking because if you're not using transitions, then you might be able to cheat the lighting FX a bit. I think the way most people do it is to use the stamp tool to place their lamp posts and searchlights from other maps that have them working. This lets the object turn the FX on/off depending on the time of day and to turn off when the object is destroyed. But other than using the stamp tool, as far as I know there's no way to attach FX to an object. This leaves people with a very limited selection of lamp objects.

But if your atmosphere is static then you can just place FX_attach markers of lights onto objects - For example I see you tried putting beams of light coming from the headlights of one of the trucks in the screenshot. It adds a nice effect and I've used the same trick in my maps. The downsides to doing this is that it won't turn on/off with atmosphere transitions (not a problem if you don't use transitions), and that the light will remain there even if the object is destroyed which will look weird on your map with random floating lights everywhere when the objects get destroyed. The only way around that is to make the object invulnerable with SCAR scripting.

So IF you do have an atmosphere with no transitions, I would recommend adding invulnerable lamp posts, cars, with your own fx_attach markers as the light source. Also remember that even if an object is invulnerable, if it's crushable then tanks will drive right through it. So you may need to put movement blocker objects ontop of it.

These aren't the greatest examples, but aside from lamps these are other places lights can go:
- Train light
- Territory light (I only use these on the fuel/muni points so they stand out a bit more)
- Car headlights


Anyway here is a list of light FX I find useful.
- A nice white light that lights up the surroundings: fx_special\lamp_looping_light_combo_01_cool
- A beam of light. Can be used for car headlights: fx_ambient\lens_effects\lighting_fx\headlights\headlight_beam_00
- A yellow flickering light that lights up the surroundings: fx_ambient\lens_effects\lens_flare_ring_lit_01
- A flickering light (no source flash) that lights up the surroundings: fx_ambient\lens_effects\flickering_light_01

Also fire adds a nice lighting effect on dark maps. If there is a building that isn't strategically important you can do the following: set damage to it, make it invulnerable, and make it nonselectable so that units can't garrison it.
- Small fire with smoulder: fx_damage\fire\burn_circular_area_w_smoke_00
- Drifting sparks (set your wind direction to change where they float): fx_ambient\flame_burn\sparks_drifting_00
- Raging fireball: fx_ambient\smoke_dark\dark_black_oily_smoke_with_fire_00
- Ambient flame light(no flame source) incase you want the flames to light up the surrounding area a bit more without actually adding more flames : fx_ambient\lens_effects\lighting_fx\ambient_flashes\aa_ambient_m02_00

There is also a tree on fire that you can copy with the stamp tool from the first mission in the campaign if you can unpack that. It behaves the same way as a lamp post that you would use the stamp tool with - once the object is destroyed the FX disappear.

I hope that all makes sense and is helpful in adding some variety to your light sources.

I like the direction you're headed with the atmosphere and the lights. But I agree with Akosi, it was originally too dark.

Does the map transition from day to night or is it strictly night the entire time? I'm asking because if you're not using transitions, then you might be able to cheat the lighting FX a bit. I think the way most people do it is to use the stamp tool to place their lamp posts and searchlights from other maps that have them working. This lets the object turn the FX on/off depending on the time of day and to turn off when the object is destroyed. But other than using the stamp tool, as far as I know there's no way to attach FX to an object. This leaves people with a very limited selection of lamp objects.

But if your atmosphere is static then you can just place FX_attach markers of lights onto objects - For example I see you tried putting beams of light coming from the headlights of one of the trucks in the screenshot. It adds a nice effect and I've used the same trick in my maps. The downsides to doing this is that it won't turn on/off with atmosphere transitions (not a problem if you don't use transitions), and that the light will remain there even if the object is destroyed which will look weird on your map with random floating lights everywhere when the objects get destroyed. The only way around that is to make the object invulnerable with SCAR scripting.

So IF you do have an atmosphere with no transitions, I would recommend adding invulnerable lamp posts, cars, with your own fx_attach markers as the light source. Also remember that even if an object is invulnerable, if it's crushable then tanks will drive right through it. So you may need to put movement blocker objects ontop of it.

These aren't the greatest examples, but aside from lamps these are other places lights can go:
- Train light
- Territory light (I only use these on the fuel/muni points so they stand out a bit more)
- Car headlights


Anyway here is a list of light FX I find useful.
- A nice white light that lights up the surroundings: fx_special\lamp_looping_light_combo_01_cool
- A beam of light. Can be used for car headlights: fx_ambient\lens_effects\lighting_fx\headlights\headlight_beam_00
- A yellow flickering light that lights up the surroundings: fx_ambient\lens_effects\lens_flare_ring_lit_01
- A flickering light (no source flash) that lights up the surroundings: fx_ambient\lens_effects\flickering_light_01

Also fire adds a nice lighting effect on dark maps. If there is a building that isn't strategically important you can do the following: set damage to it, make it invulnerable, and make it nonselectable so that units can't garrison it.
- Small fire with smoulder: fx_damage\fire\burn_circular_area_w_smoke_00
- Drifting sparks (set your wind direction to change where they float): fx_ambient\flame_burn\sparks_drifting_00
- Raging fireball: fx_ambient\smoke_dark\dark_black_oily_smoke_with_fire_00
- Ambient flame light(no flame source) incase you want the flames to light up the surrounding area a bit more without actually adding more flames : fx_ambient\lens_effects\lighting_fx\ambient_flashes\aa_ambient_m02_00

There is also a tree on fire that you can copy with the stamp tool from the first mission in the campaign if you can unpack that. It behaves the same way as a lamp post that you would use the stamp tool with - once the object is destroyed the FX disappear.

I hope that all makes sense and is helpful in adding some variety to your light sources.

Thanks a lot!