• Please make sure you are familiar with the forum rules. You can find them here: https://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/index.php?threads/forum-rules.2334636/

Level Design [Preview] RO-Kriegstadt: Der Untergang Berlins

I use a 512x512 terrain using a 128x128 scaling, so yes, scaled up two times. It just reaches from one end of the map to the other, so to cut back on the resolution would result in huge terrain triangles and a lack of flexibility in regard to the creation of rubble piles or craters. I have it set such that the antiportals occlude the terrain in 8x8 blocks as opposed to the standard 16x16. And when every terrain square equates to two triangles, you have the map breaking them up in to groups of 128 triangles as opposed to 512 triangles, and if so much as one of those triangles is visible it will render the entire block. I don't quite know if this increases the CPU load, but I have experienced a drop in the amount of rendered terrain triangles.

I'll see about the cobblestone, I had originally planned to not include it as the streets I saw in my research of the city and the area around the Spree were in asphalt and not cobblestone. Thanks for the tip. On the other hand though, I am a little concerned I have too many textures in play as it is.
 
Upvote 0
One last request, any chance of implementing a way for tanks to dispense smoke (either through shells, generators, or other means?) I have no clue if this was used in Berlin, but the Russians did have this equipment by then?


Oh, and can you have the really depressing music that plays in a lot of RTCW playing in the background? That would be sweet!
 
Upvote 0
The addition of smoke firing tanks would be interesting, but I think I may hold off on that. It would be a nice alternative round for the SU-76 to have one Smoke round for emergency situations. Given that Russian infantry respawn every 5 seconds, a commander with smoke grenades who will be no more than a few meters from the combat zone when he spawns will spam it should he die time and time again; however, the SU with its respawn time of 35 seconds and HE support capabilities will make it more valuable than a single human life :)eek:) and thusly the presence of smoke would be reduced. It will require some thinking, but I am mostly against the inclusion of smoke.

Also, since I gave TW so much flak about the addition of music in-game, it would be hypocritical of me to renege on my points and add music to my map ;)
 
Upvote 0
Looking very nice, and the atomsphere looks spot on. At what point is the street detailing at? As it is they look pretty clear, and I can't see the russians making much progress down some of those streets. This is based only on screenies though, and may not be the case.

The interior room looks realistically lit and furnished, fits in well with the map.

Looks like there is a panzerfaust pickup in the one room, for the pickups it might be cool to have a wheelbarrow on the front line for them to spawn in rather than just propped up against a wall or something. I think the resupplied this way a lot in the actual defense.

I'm not sure if the black smoke in the streets is just an ambient effect to represent dusty smoke filled streets, but if it is, I would try something a bit greyer. For some reason the black doesn't seem to look as good.

Those are just some basic observations, but the map looks like it is coming along very well. And any feedback on performance or texture usage that you might want, I can help:)
 
Upvote 0
Hey gents, just making it back after a few days away. To answer some questions!

A lot of the map has been stripped down to improve performance, so unfortunately in some parts some of the street lamps and rubble are now missing :(. In regard to what is actually out in the streets, you will find that for the most part, yes, they are bare, but my reasoning for this is I want for players to utilize the buildings for cover or to use the tanks as mobile shields (I think I may have discussed this point? I forget). Given that two tanks will probably block the street, they can serve as mobile cover. I didn't want to add too much clutter, lest people get caught on objects they shouldn't, and I also didn't want to add too much that would be unrealistic, i.e. lots of knocked out German tanks when for the battle within the city the Germans could muster only some 60 armored vehicles (from what I know). If there were more civilian vehicles, I would make use of them. Might look in to nagging some modelers, I don't know.

Will look in to the grayer smoke, for certain. I went with black for the most part because it was easy, though in some places it fades between black and gray. However, the smoke is there mainly for the sake of having the remnants of burning buildings left; I did want to have smoke in the street for a "dusty" effect, but there are definite performance concerns there.

With the Panzerfausts, I have them strewn about the map in different places because I wanted to have a situation that would be more along the lines of someone leaving them within a room waiting for a tank to come by. Just about all of the supply points are indoors, with some locations being set up as caches (with 3-4 faust spawns with varying respawn times), generally located on the first or second floors. This is to allow the Russians to overrun these caches and deny the Germans a fair deal of their anti tank abilities, leaving them to 1-2 fausts that respawn in times varying from 45-90 seconds. There are a few places where I could see a wheelbarrow making sense, I suppose I could put fausts in there which spawn only once during the course of the fighting in there.

To answer Trendkill's last question, the Lehrter Bahnhof is within playable bounds but is itself not a major scene of the fighting. A lot of the combat will take place around it, for instance in the nearby Ausstellungspark or Washingtonplatz, where the Germans will be able to take up positions along berms in lieu of Konigsplatz or also try to hide within a handful of craters which mark the area. A lot of the testers really seemed awed when they emerged from the dense urban environment and entered the open area on the approach to the bridge, I just can't wait to see how people handle it with a full server and vicious fighting in progress ;)
 
Upvote 0
After having played around with the new Mg-42 I really truly think it is a great improvement over the official version. Once the map actually gets out we need to make a petition to get it in as the official version of the gun. Also the subdued tracers seem much more lifelike and less "lasery" if you get what I mean.

This is an awesome map that will KILL on 50 player servers.
 
Upvote 0
Will there be camouflage helmet covers or some other type of helmet camouflage for either or any of the German and Sovjet sides ? - the standard helmets is too easily spotted in all RO enviroments so by adding something to the helmets to break their silohuette that would be awesome!

You might see camouflage helmet covers for the Germans, but my only consideration with adding more camo/uniforms is the download the user will need to go through (currently, the map and all assets totals something like 92MB uncompressed). There are definitely plans for camo though.

The helmets should be slightly more difficult to spot now; the German helmets have been desaturated and made more gray with some dirt/dust on them, the Russian helmets are from Kolno (thanks FPH), and the Ushanka fur caps that the Greatcoat infantry sometimes wear are brown in their color.

Should have screenshots up later.

Oh and Sepp, the testers suffered from a handful of friendly fire related incidents. At the ranges that you might engage and given that the uniforms are no longer the simple green and yellow, it becomes more difficult to tell your opponent apart from friendlies. But, such are the risks in warfare.
 
Upvote 0
You might see camouflage helmet covers for the Germans, but my only consideration with adding more camo/uniforms is the download the user will need to go through (currently, the map and all assets totals something like 92MB uncompressed). There are definitely plans for camo though.

The helmets should be slightly more difficult to spot now; the German helmets have been desaturated and made more gray with some dirt/dust on them, the Russian helmets are from Kolno (thanks FPH), and the Ushanka fur caps that the Greatcoat infantry sometimes wear are brown in their color.

Should have screenshots up later.

Oh and Sepp, the testers suffered from a handful of friendly fire related incidents. At the ranges that you might engage and given that the uniforms are no longer the simple green and yellow, it becomes more difficult to tell your opponent apart from friendlies. But, such are the risks in warfare.

Dude cant wait! Hopefully this map will perform well on large servers!
 
Upvote 0
Well you prompted me to get to work on the camo again. I had been working on the pattern a long time ago but was unable to actually make it in to a skin because the blending never quite came out right. But I seem to have gotten it right now ;). Very WIP, need to open up the collar area some more (the smock was tied there) and the pattern needs to match up better on the shoulders. Not bad for about an hour's work...

sscamooakann4.jpg
 
Upvote 0
Having toured this map with the creator and snaggyduck (I am the soldier with the mg42 in the pic) I can say that this map will KILL with 50 players.

The newest version of the modded mg42 is killer and deadly accurate in short bursts. The uniforms are fantastic and the russians even have rank pads on their shoulders and furry hats, and lets not forget the spiffy greatcoats. All machine guns no longer have ridiculous "laser tracers"; these have been replaced by a more subdued and less obvious version. In essence, they look like tracers should look, and not a stream of "HEY LOOK MY MG IS HERE" beams.

Much work has to be done, because this map is HUGE, but even at such an early stage (11 months of hard work!!!) the fixes mostly have to do with furnishing the insides of buildings. I'd say we can expect a playable beta in a relatively short amount of time.
 
Upvote 0