BAD MAPS!!!! Please fix them before i get too frustrated!!!

[divVerent]

There is no way to "fix" the stairs other than to make a playerclip "slide" on them. However, you then can't stand on them anymore, and instead slowly slide down. That's annoying too...

[Urmel]

An important thing the mappers should take care of is to make sure the maps don't eat too much fps. There are maps where my frames go below all playable ranges with my company PC that isn't that weak actually (P4/2.6/GF7600GS). Many of them can be found in the Q3 map pack, and nobody knows wtf is eating the frames so bad.

In addition I noticed some maps who are exordinarily sensitive to actually not-so-bad lag. Minstarena for example, and Monolith.

hay, maybe we should have a new map subforum, a topic for every map to put the reviews and experiences in

[Clueless Newbie]

What makes a good CTF map for me: Having several ways from one base to the other which allows to outsmart eachother: the flagcarrier and the defenders
Having enough guns, health, armor near the flags, inside the bases to be able to defend the flag.
Having armor, health near the bases so attackers can stock up and attack.. or having smart people take them away from the attackers.
Having a quad damage or shield powerup that can help turn the tide
Having to FIGHT for the flag.
Making it worthwhile to be near the center of the map to help your team which means armor, health, some guns and the mentioned powerups

I think my list would be:
• No obstacles that make the players wait (such as slow doors).
• No squiggly mazes.
• Enough ammo and weapons near the spawn points so the players don't have to run around looking for weapons.
• Don't let it take too long to get from one flag to the other when you're alone on the map.
• Try to give the map a unique style and coherence, rather than just be yet another series of box-rooms with weapons and stuff in them.

I already added some voting to my ctf map guide, i'll list some of the IMO worst/really bad maps that i recently played (there are quite a few other bad maps) in alphabetic order and would like to ask you to list what bad maps you think there are so we can try to avoid those maps online or get the mappers to improve them..

I see you've got two of my maps on your list.
Canoplasmaspam: When this map appears on the vote list, there's a 50/50% chance of it being chosen (or so it seems to me). I think players vote for it because they know what it is and they like it - it's very fast and quickly over.
Chasmv2: Players have told me they like this map because of the cramped spaces. In fact, when I announced that I was working on v2, there were players who specifically asked that I did not make the internal corridors wider. IOW there are people who like this map for the same reasons you hate it.

The problem with deciding that a map is "bad" is that it's ultimately a question of taste. You hate those two maps, while others love them. The same applies to Torus, Altars, Falling Down, and Blasted Lands; I've heard players loudly declare their hatred while others apparently love them. There are even players who enjoy RustVents.

As for your list of "bad maps", I agree with some of them but not with others. It's a question of taste. A list of your "perfect maps" would probably include several maps that other players loathe. Instead of trying to have the maps you dislike yanked from the servers (or getting the mappers to make them the way you want them to be), I would suggest you open them in Radiant and fix them, like I did with desertcastles6 (is my mod up on any servers yet, btw?), and then let the players decide which version they like the most.

Feel free to start with Chasmv2 or Canoplasmaspam.

[Clueless Newbie]

Yes, definitely. Thumbnails for map voting would help.

I've been asking / hoping for this ever since I started playing Nex. Instead of having a small text list of map names (which can often be hard to read against some backgrounds), how about tiling the screen with clickable preview thumbs? Much easier to know what you're voting for that way. And maybe put the name of the maps and author beneath the preview thumb just to make sure.

[Blµb]

Other things which ruin gameplay:
The sky:

It just ruins gameplay if I want to laserjump from one point to another and miss my jump because I hit the sky... NOBODY expects the SKY to be as low as a CEILING in a HOUSE!

Invisible Walls

Take a look at maps from you know who... like desertcastles6... with the invisible walls... or that newer castles map where you can even run above weapons because there's an invisible ceiling there... and you have to go there from underground...

MGs:

Putting MGs in a wide open space / on open maps is just an extremely dumb idea sine it's an instant-hit weapon...

Those are reasons why I hardly play nexuiz anymore...
I join a server for having fun, and then I move around, jump, climb, whatever, and hit invisible walls, or I want to fall down a pit, BUT CAN'T because it's blocked by an invisible wall... WHAT'S THE POINT?
Or I run around on a huge map and get constant hits from an MG guy who's lightyears away from me on an open map...

No
Fun

[esteel]

Showing the map images is just NOT POSSIBLE currently.. its a good idea but it needs quite some work to make it happen! Maybe some of Blubs research for his command map can be 'reused' though.

Honestly i think the reason people like Canoplasmaspam is because they should rather play FFA then ctf! They just want to spam around and frag senselessly. Maybe the same is true for why people like Chasm.. its narrow so hitting someone is (too) easy. People that like that style of play are those players that just join and try to frag instead of playing CTF!

It might sound arrogant but you need good experianced players to make ctf fun for everyone and most of those players want to play CTF in a sensible way on sensible maps! Having two flags basicly next to each other with only a quaterhigh-laserjump separating them is NOT sensible nor challenging. I KNOW there is different taste and noone is supposed to dictate stuff for others but the way i see it is: Either please those that favor good gameplay or loose them.. and with them loose the fun and drive in the game.

I do not mean to tell people how to create maps, but rather to keep in mind that you might drive off NEEDED people with all those 'ohhh cute and fun' maps and that new players might get a wrong first impression when joining to see that Nexuiz is about! I admit i also can enjoy some of those maps now and then but please not 5 maps at a row! Maybe its a good idea to have seperate servers for 'real' ctf maps and 'fun' ctf maps???
And i just guess the situation for TDM, KH and DOM is even worse..

[Blµb]

As far as the previews are concerned
Yep it can be done, but it only works for the maps you already have, so if a new map comes up, you don't see the preview...

Still, what about the most basic idea: giving the maps actual NAMES...

[LordHavoc]

One quick comment about bad things in maps... facing worlds has a damage trigger above the middle area of the bridge, which kills me every time I grapple across, or strength-laser jump across the map, it's incredibly annoying and completely non-intuitive (if I could at least see it I'd maybe know how to avoid it, but right now I just die in midair), I'd be okay with the map being altered to PUT SOMETHING IN THE WAY but an invisible kill brush is just stupid.

[Blµb]

Hah, this is what I hated when using grapple too, but on a serious server, that is, a non grapple one (no offense ^^), I think it's even a GOOD idea

Try the following with grapple:
Fall down the back of the tower
grapple its top and use the circular speed you gain to boost yourself to the other tower

reminds me of that old space game where you fly around a gravity point :>

[[-z-]]

There is no way to "fix" the stairs other than to make a playerclip "slide" on them. However, you then can't stand on them anymore, and instead slowly slide down. That's annoying too...

Can this be tested against the players speed?

Code: Select all

if($playerspeed > 50) {
   playerclip.slide
} else {
   playerclip.noslide
}

As far as the previews are concerned
Yep it can be done, but it only works for the maps you already have, so if a new map comes up, you don't see the preview....

Just display a default image that says, "New map!" or "zomg you haven't played this yet!"