Preston's Basic Mappack

[BookofDobson]

Welp I'm making a map pack. This is mostly for Unholy but it's a map pack so anyone can run it.


and remember critique is cool since I'm a total greenhorn to mapping

I'm done here is 2 brand new and 1 semi-new map. They have very basic layouts because mostly I really didn't know what to do in some places but I hope they are not too boring

Oh yea have a tutorial on how to get maps not in BE
1. find the wad in your forums
2. In doomseeker find where all those wads are going Configure>Wadseeker>general
3. copy paste that link you see to your explorer
4. put the new wad in there
5.done

update of new pack now here:  https://www.dropbox.com/s/s1013rlp8v8fg ... 3.pk3?dl=0

[Russel]

You had a topic in this subforum you donk.
Seriously you can change topic titles and bump them, you know. You don't make a separate topic for a single skin then make another separate topic for a skin pack, do you?
Yeah. Please be more mindful of topic creation.

[BookofDobson]

Sorry but I thought that meant "not done yet" and this sub mean done and released only ,sorry

[Korby]

Nah, you should just stick to one topic for all your stuff that fits in a specific category. I'll lock the other topic.

[BookofDobson]

thank you

[fortegigasgospel]

For the next release, remove the spaces and add _
Servers can't run files with spaces in the name.

[Russel]

Incorrect.
You can't run Best-Ever servers with spaces in wad names.

[BookofDobson]

Bump: Name is corrected and can now run on BE servers

[Thunderono]

I wanted to get around to doing this yesterday but I didn't

There's some notable issues with the pack that I feel I should point out.  Normal people call this a "Criticism," I think?  If I get something mixed up at any point, please let me know!

As a starting point, some general errors:

(click to show/hide)

-Why are the map codes GUMxx?  It doesn't seem to relate to much.
-The rotation of the maps goes to GUM04 before GUM03.  I doubt this was intentional, but if it was, whoops!
-While a file size of 22.3 MB won't exactly kill anyone's family, it's a little large for just four maps.  It's not horrible, though.  I'd check the compression on the music files.
-Most maps have a massive overabundance of weapons.  I'll get into it more in-depth as I go along, but just keep in mind that this is a problem that persists throughout the maps.

Now then.  Let's address GUM01.

(click to show/hide)

Sheesh, this is rather off-putting.  The skybox isn't animated when I assume it should be, the textures stacked on top of each other look awkward, and there's that green.  More on the green later.  There's also that weird bend in the skybox?  I'd recommend fixing that.

This room is, and I say this as respectfully as I can, pure eyebleed.  The garbage textures and the fire textures manage to clash in amazing ways, and that green is back.  I suspect that green is there because you used a texture meant for rails on a non-rail surface.  It's a bit like using a picket fence texture on a wall.  I'd recommend replacing the fire on the floor with a lava texture, but if you want to stick with the dustman texture set, then you may be hard pressed to find a suitable texture.

There sure is a lot of Thunder Bolt here.  While I strongly recommend against replacing the Thunder Bolts with other weapons, keep in mind that having more than one of the same weapon in a given room, especially used like this, is usually unnecessary.  There are exceptions, but just keep that in mind.

This hallway really isn't necessary.  Neither is the teleporter, now that I think about it.  But yeah, you have a hallway leading back into the room you came from.  It's not really needed, and the teleporter isn't really warranted on a relatively flat map of this size.

(For those curious, the past four screenshots had their resolutions edited manually.  I changed the in-game resolution just before this screenshot.)  This hallway would honestly be really cool, if not for the fact that it's so claustrophobic.  I'd recommend expanding this hall.

-There's other miscellaneous texture issues that can be seen in a few of these.  Mostly, the blue and red texture is used inappropriately most of the time, and looks fairly jarring.
-The boss music starts when one frag is remaining, and there is no victory music.  The boss music should start with five frags remaining.
-There's a metric assload of weapons.  You've got stuff like Crash Bomber, Atomic Fire, Homing Sniper, and a whole slew of other things.  Props for adding electric weapons to counteract Junk Shield, but I don't think Lightning Bolt was a good choice for such a confined map.  Or it's a fantastic choice, either/or.  It's a notable choice, though.

It's all uphill from GUM01.  Let's see what GUM02 has to offer.

(click to show/hide)

There's a lot of issues with this skybox.  For starters, you can see that the texture is cut off in places.  In addition, some of the sides of the skybox are darker than the others.  Another notable issue is that the sky on the "wall" part of the skybox is inconsistent with the "sky" part of the skybox, making the hilly background look more like a wall.  Lastly, that skybox wall is reeaaaaaaaaaaally far away from the map itself.

This ledge is not impassable...

...Which I use to get behind the invisible wall on the fence here.  Also, why is there a fence just before a wall?  Seems odd, but that's just an aesthetic qualm.

These trees are incredibly blocky.  I'm not exactly amazing in aesthetics, myself, but I would recommend trying to make these look more like trees.

While initially annoying due to its relative secrecy, I have to admit that this teleporter's location is pretty cool.

Holy crap, this room has a lot of weapons.  It's also a bad idea to make the only entrances and exits to a room teleporters.

And to top it all off, you get a free ring boomerang upon leaving the room.  That's odd.

-No victory music, again.  The boss music plays at the correct time, though.
-I never counted the exact amount, but I think this map has the most weapons out of the four.  It's either this one, or GUM03.  Regardless, it's excessive and unnecessary.

That map was a notable step up from GUM01, so let's see if you improved even further in GUM03!

(click to show/hide)

I presume this is the "Main room," as it's the center one.  This map is structured pretty much like a giant W (or an M, depending on how you view it.)  This creates the obvious issue of three separate dead ends, with the center room itself being one.  An easy solution is to add a hallway connecting the three rooms on the side where none exists, but this would probably cause problems with the map's detail.  Perhaps you could play with height and make tunnels or overpasses?  Regardless, there's also a lot of tokens in this main room.  Also, those conveyor belts don't move.  Is that intentional?

What's this thing in the center?  Its textures are oddly mix-matched, and it obstructs most of the gameplay in the room.  There's also a bunch of tokens in here.

This is a really narrow hallway.  I like that you made the effort to have SOMETHING linking the two points of the W together, but a teleporter isn't usually the best way to create flow in a map.

For minimal effort, somebody gets all this stuff.  I'd recommend just removing this back section.

The other side's dead end.  Like the other two rooms, this one has a lot of weapons.  The two charge kicks and two quick boomerangs (the latter of which are not visible in this screenshot) being so close to each other is entirely unnecessary.

This skybox just looks weird.  It shares the same inconsistency between wall and sky as GUM02.  In addition, what is this thing directly outside the window?  I'm honestly having a tough time telling.

-Like the other two maps, this one has a TON of weapons.  I can't tell if this one has more tokens than GUM02, but the addition of Eddie increases the scope tenfold.
-The music doesn't quite loop properly.
-There's no victory music again.

And last, but not least, GUM04.

(click to show/hide)

This is... odd????  Is this intentional?

There's a lot of things to go over here.  For one, this green filter is weird and off-putting.  On that note, the filter does not exist under the 3D floors.  Also, I chose this angle for two reasons.  The first reason is to show off that discolored wall in the back there.  The second is to show that Arrow Buster, Laser Buster, and Duo Fist are all in the same room.  Hell, that's three different buster upgrades visible in the same screenshot!  The problem should be evident.  Aside from the filter, though, this room actually looks really cool!

I might be stupid, but I legitimately thought you could walk through those windows.

-This map is significantly better about its weapons than the other three, but there's still quite a bit here.  There's also a fair deal of redundancy.  For example, Rush Coil and Tornado Hold are both here.
-There's no victory music here, either.

So, yeah.  I'm no professional critic, so I likely missed a few things.  I also didn't mention a fair deal of odd texture choices due to my relative ineptitude in aesthetics, myself.  I hope this helps, though!

[BookofDobson]

I wanted to get around to doing this yesterday but I didn't

There's some notable issues with the pack that I feel I should point out.  Normal people call this a "Criticism," I think?  If I get something mixed up at any point, please let me know!

As a starting point, some general errors:

(click to show/hide)

-Why are the map codes GUMxx?  It doesn't seem to relate to much.
I ran out of ideas at the time  
-The rotation of the maps goes to GUM04 before GUM03.  I doubt this was intentional, but if it was, whoops!
I didn't think that mattered but ok will change
-While a file size of 22.3 MB won't exactly kill anyone's family, it's a little large for just four maps.  It's not horrible, though.  I'd check the compression on the music files.
That is GUM01 you are looking at. It was up here for criticism and I didn't change a thing (shame on me)
-Most maps have a massive overabundance of weapons.  I'll get into it more in-depth as I go along, but just keep in mind that this is a problem that persists throughout the maps.

Now then.  Let's address GUM01.

(click to show/hide)

Sheesh, this is rather off-putting.  The skybox isn't animated when I assume it should be, the textures stacked on top of each other look awkward, and there's that green.  More on the green later.  There's also that weird bend in the skybox?  I'd recommend fixing that.

This room is, and I say this as respectfully as I can, pure eyebleed.  The garbage textures and the fire textures manage to clash in amazing ways, and that green is back.  I suspect that green is there because you used a texture meant for rails on a non-rail surface.  It's a bit like using a picket fence texture on a wall.  I'd recommend replacing the fire on the floor with a lava texture, but if you want to stick with the dustman texture set, then you may be hard pressed to find a suitable texture.

There sure is a lot of Thunder Bolt here.  While I strongly recommend against replacing the Thunder Bolts with other weapons, keep in mind that having more than one of the same weapon in a given room, especially used like this, is usually unnecessary.  There are exceptions, but just keep that in mind.

This hallway really isn't necessary.  Neither is the teleporter, now that I think about it.  But yeah, you have a hallway leading back into the room you came from.  It's not really needed, and the teleporter isn't really warranted on a relatively flat map of this size.

(For those curious, the past four screenshots had their resolutions edited manually.  I changed the in-game resolution just before this screenshot.)  This hallway would honestly be really cool, if not for the fact that it's so claustrophobic.  I'd recommend expanding this hall.

-There's other miscellaneous texture issues that can be seen in a few of these.  Mostly, the blue and red texture is used inappropriately most of the time, and looks fairly jarring.
-The boss music starts when one frag is remaining, and there is no victory music.  The boss music should start with five frags remaining.
-There's a metric assload of weapons.  You've got stuff like Crash Bomber, Atomic Fire, Homing Sniper, and a whole slew of other things.  Props for adding electric weapons to counteract Junk Shield, but I don't think Lightning Bolt was a good choice for such a confined map.  Or it's a fantastic choice, either/or.  It's a notable choice, though.
No victory music because I didn't know how at the time even though it was most likely changing the frag remaining limit to zero

It's all uphill from GUM01.  Let's see what GUM02 has to offer.

(click to show/hide)

There's a lot of issues with this skybox.  For starters, you can see that the texture is cut off in places.  In addition, some of the sides of the skybox are darker than the others.  Another notable issue is that the sky on the "wall" part of the skybox is inconsistent  with the "sky" part of the skybox, making the hilly background look more like a wall.  Lastly, that skybox wall is reeaaaaaaaaaaally far away from the map itself.
I saw that and I JUST NOW realized that one would use more or fewer linedefs. Me stupid like that.

This ledge is not impassable...

...Which I use to get behind the invisible wall on the fence here.  Also, why is there a fence just before a wall?  Seems odd, but that's just an aesthetic qualm.
I saw that and I thought I fixed that...oops. Now that you mention it, yea fence before the wall is strange but it actually looked good. I hope you don't mind but I'll keep that.

These trees are incredibly blocky.  I'm not exactly amazing in aesthetics, myself, but I would recommend trying to make these look more like trees.
So make em round? Ok then.

While initially annoying due to its relative secrecy, I have to admit that this teleporter's location is pretty cool.

Holy crap, this room has a lot of weapons.  It's also a bad idea to make the only entrances and exits to a room teleporters.
The note of alot of weapons is that with out them the room would look way too empty. Which is mostly my fear as you noticed

And to top it all off, you get a free ring boomerang upon leaving the room.  That's odd.

-No victory music, again.  The boss music plays at the correct time, though.
-I never counted the exact amount, but I think this map has the most weapons out of the four.  It's either this one, or GUM03.  Regardless, it's excessive and unnecessary.

That map was a notable step up from GUM01, so let's see if you improved even further in GUM03!

(click to show/hide)

I presume this is the "Main room," as it's the center one.  This map is structured pretty much like a giant W (or an M, depending on how you view it.)  This creates the obvious issue of three separate dead ends, with the center room itself being one.  An easy solution is to add a hallway connecting the three rooms on the side where none exists, but this would probably cause problems with the map's detail.  Perhaps you could play with height and make tunnels or overpasses?  Regardless, there's also a lot of tokens in this main room.  Also, those conveyor belts don't move.  Is that intentional?
Until I learn how to conveyor on 3D floors, it is intentional lol. and yes I will make more passings in place of teleporters

What's this thing in the center?  Its textures are oddly mix-matched, and it obstructs most of the gameplay in the room.  There's also a bunch of tokens in here.

This is a really narrow hallway.  I like that you made the effort to have SOMETHING linking the two points of the W together, but a teleporter isn't usually the best way to create flow in a map.
K. will change.

For minimal effort, somebody gets all this stuff.  I'd recommend just removing this back section.
This was with the idea in mind that people will get awarded for paying attention. Anyone can jump in the teleport and miss those things and not realize for some time. Will remove since thats a golden camping spot

The other side's dead end.  Like the other two rooms, this one has a lot of weapons.  The two charge kicks and two quick boomerangs (the latter of which are not visible in this screenshot) being so close to each other is entirely unnecessary.

This skybox just looks weird.  It shares the same inconsistency between wall and sky as GUM02.  In addition, what is this thing directly outside the window?  I'm honestly having a tough time telling.
Yea the floor does look weird. You recommend anything? because I still have no idea what would look good there. That thing is the very VERY lazy engine I'll fix that.

-Like the other two maps, this one has a TON of weapons.  I can't tell if this one has more tokens than GUM02, but the addition of Eddie increases the scope tenfold.
-The music doesn't quite loop properly.
-There's no victory music again.

And last, but not least, GUM04.

(click to show/hide)

This is... odd????  Is this intentional?
Thats... scary. I thought if I put the textures in the map pack wad (not the ACTUAL map wad) It would have the same effect as if I did so. Clearly it doesn't

There's a lot of things to go over here.  For one, this green filter is weird and off-putting.  On that note, the filter does not exist under the 3D floors.  Also, I chose this angle for two reasons.  The first reason is to show off that discolored wall in the back there.  The second is to show that Arrow Buster, Laser Buster, and Duo Fist are all in the same room.  Hell, that's three different buster upgrades visible in the same screenshot!  The problem should be evident.  Aside from the filter, though, this room actually looks really cool!
Lazyiness again, but for good reason. You see in the actual rom hack exhaust, Crash man's indoor walls had a green tint to them so I thought I could get away with it. I would have too if it wasn't for you meddling kids. and I will take out Duo and fix colors

I might be stupid, but I legitimately thought you could walk through those windows.

-This map is significantly better about its weapons than the other three, but there's still quite a bit here.  There's also a fair deal of redundancy.  For example, Rush Coil and Tornado Hold are both here.
Different and faster ways to get on top but ok will fix.
-There's no victory music here, either.

So, yeah.  I'm no professional critic, so I likely missed a few things.  I also didn't mention a fair deal of odd texture choices due to my relative ineptitude in aesthetics, myself.  I hope this helps, though!

I thank you kindly for taking the time

[BookofDobson]

MAP PACK IS HERE AND READY!

[BookofDobson]

Hi this is your incompentant mapper speaking http://www.filedropper.com/prestonpackv2ab here the correct link

[King Dumb]

I don't know if it's just me, but that links leads only to the main page of file dropper, not to any file download.

[BookofDobson]

OK I am complete ditching this and doing a brand new mappack because this was such a flop

[Russel]

Ok. Ok. Ok.

Stop.

Just. Stop.

I understand you're trying to experiment with stuff but you need to start small. Make a map that feels like it flows well through all points in the map, even the more obscure locations that you can hide like a large weapon or something, but make the map small.
To help design a map that flows well, I recommend drawing a race track or something on paper and building a map's geometry around that. Just draw a circuit, add a couple overlaps maybe and just put rooms in places.
Don't make the map just hallways, though.

Afterwards, look at how other maps handle textures and work on your texture choices.
To be completely blunt in the most painful way possible, the above screenshot you posted looks like ass and that's what prompted this post.
Not only does it look bad visually, but it also doesn't look like a very good map based on the fact that it is a large, empty hallway. If you wish to make a long hallway like that, break it up with things, but try to avoid making things too claustrophobic, which is a problem some of my maps suffer.

I hope you were insulted by the above statement because that means you actually care.