I jabber just about anything but i try to keep in subjects related to games, mainly Valve games like CS Source and Team Fortress 2 but i will also talk about the things i plan to do or i am doing. No commenting ability yet, i wish to explore appropriate system for it. Know a good one? Contact me and share your info! I am not looking a whole software like Wordpress. I only require something that i can easily integrate into a website.
Left 4 Dead (8th of November 2008)
Valves new game Left 4 Dead aka L4D is not yet out but the demo is. There are numerous things wrong in the server browser compared to the old way. Seems like the game online capabilities are made for consoles and then ported to PC. The matchmaking is a good idea but it doesnt work. People keep ending up on high ping servers and crappy ones that are shutdown in the middle of the gameplay or they havent got enough juice to run a server (so the server is laggy shit).Ive been talking about these issues at hlds_linux mailing list and at the Steampowered L4D forums but every time people who havent even ran a server before are talking how good things go and they dont see what all the rant is about. They say they got no problems. Fact is that they dont see the problems due to lack of experience or knowledge how games and servers in internet work. Its all about latency, server capability and pings. If even one fails, they all fail.
The most serious issue in this game is that you have no control over the server where you will end up playing. Its completely random. It might be that you and your friends from Finland (Europe) end up playing on American server with 130ms+ ping which makes the game unplayable. I cant even stand a 100ms. I need less than 50ms and i have a right to have one.
Solution is not to set up your own server. Sure you can always connect to it by using console and password it so no one else can join but you cant select your character, settings or maps in advance. Also traditional server browser is available but the same problem is still there.
There is lots of talk about these issues over the Steampowered forums but the Valve defending moderators are on the issue again. You cant talk about problems. They lock the threads quickly and that is the end of discussion. Happened to this thread right here just a moment ago. Goddamn i hate those people who are chosen as moderators who know nothing about the REAL issues that are there and dont even let us reply to their comments. Their word is NOT the final word. People want to talk and defend their opinions so why the hell threads get closed? Real nice PR if you ask me.
There are less than 1000 servers for the demo. Most full and its hard to find a server where to go play though matchmaking. Its even harder to find a good one where ping is less than 100 and server performs fine. Its impossible to find a server with 50ms and one that runs fine. Only solution is to setup own server and play on it. Thats it. Demo will be released to public in few days (11.11.2008) and its going to be hell on the loose. There is no way that you can find ANY server to play at this rate.
For example this moderator here promises that there will be more servers. Kind of funny to say so and i suspect that he has never ran a server before. Where do the servers come from? From the internet? No, someone creates them. Someone pays the bills for hardware, bandwidth, electricity, work and so on. In previous Valve games, there has been a catch for players to buy own server for them or their clan or simply for public play to have certain maps on etc. Now you cant even join your own server through matchmaking system. Why would anyone buy their own server if its so hard to join on one?
I understand that the game is still in development but some public announce would make things more clear. The current system is pathetic and i demand PROPER SERVER with LOW PING where i can frag the shit out of the zombies. 1 server here please where i can go with my friends through matchmaking whenever i want. Infact got the server, i got the friends but i got some wire and gum patch on joining it. Some people just piss me off.
PS: My map as_hiekka is done and it can be found from maps section
Another project (23rd of October 2008)
I really wanted to start a Team Fortress 2 map project but empty editor is so hard to start over with so i got another idea. Currently i am working on with a VIP map which will be named as_hiekka. It is a remake of the previous defuse map of mine almost completely reworked and compatible with VIP mod with new added routes and some minor changes to existing routes to support VIP gameplay better than the original would have. There are also 2 escape zones and it also has a completely new theme and textures have been reworked ~90% to new ones.While the previous defuse map was desert/dust based, this one is more like a wrecked city or something similiar. Here's a Work In Progress (WIP) screen from the map. I also included a shot of de_hiekka for comparison. I expect as_hiekka to be ready within a week but as before, i am not in a hurry. There are so little VIP maps so i wanted to create one to fill that empty hole in CS Source. There are still servers that run these and some of the old ones are unplayable with bigger servers or buggy gameplay wise.
de_hiekka and as_hiekka
Tips for making maps (19th of October 2008)
Just to give few hints about mappers out there that are doing maps for fun like me, please do take care of these things before you release your map:- Create original maps. Do not decompile someone elses map and start editing. You CAN see how things are done but DO NOT DO REMAKES! There are already enough dust clones which is the reason i did original map based on dust scenery.
- Try to create something that makes your map special. Add touch of your hand. Dont do just plain wall and be done with it. Add props that would suit to your scenery nicely. Paint ground with alpha if possible, like a path in green grass. Add decals and overlays. A plain wall can be tuned up with a few window models, some graffiti and perhaps even a car in front of the wall.
- Make sure that bombsite names and arrows match those in the radar! This is very important and a common error! Ive seen few maps where the bombsites are reversed. There are markings on the walls about A -> and <- B but in the radar, they are reversed. This is BAD! If bombdude says "hey im going to A", people will never know which A is the correct site unless they see the guy running there with the bomb. Few maps that fail in this: de_3rdstreet, de villa and de_pyramid_css.
- Errors. You obviously will find more flaws and things from your maps later on that you might want to fix but thats too late in the point when your map goes out of beta and you release it to the world. You can just fix them and distribute your map with a same name! There will be issues such as "your map differs from servers". This happens when there are 2 different versions of a map out there and server used another that is different from the one in players PC. They do not redownload nor write over the old one. If you do changes, ALWAYS RENAME YOUR MAP!
- Take care of the FPS! If you get 100 fps on your pc at your map while playing alone, remember that its somewhat 2,5 times lower than on actual game with multiple players! This would mean that your map has fps of 30 in actual game or even lower. This is bad and your map plays badly because in Source, crosshair is dynamicly linked to your fps. The bigger fps, the faster it decreases and expands. Players cant aim properly. To fix your fps, you might need to change your layout rapidly and add areaportals + additional hint/skip brushes. Learn to use these properly. Also remember that quick compiles do not show the real fps level. Do a full compile and you will see your real fps. If it takes long time to do (more than 5 hours), you need to do optimizations to your map. here is an excellent page to teach you map optimizations. It also explains how to use areaportals and those hint/skip brushes. It also would be nice idea to look out some maps that are made to see how they have been optimized by using these methods. To decompile a map, you need a tool called VMEX. You can get that from here. Note that some maps are "protected" from decompiling. Some people just are so arrogant that they do not want to teach their methods to others but how one can learn if there isnt any known tutorials available? Only real way is to see how its done in the editor after that. Just remember, looking is ok, taking is NOT OK. I left my maps "open" for decompiling for this reason. They are not "from the teaching book" but work ok.
- Make up a map name that is not already in use. This is why i named mine in finnish so i can be 100% sure there isnt maps with same names around.
- Dont rush with your map. Show it to friends and people who you can trust before releasing it. Even if you check it out yourself, another pair of eyes can always find something out of place or different that looks odd. Even if you try to get every bug out of it before you make a release, it is impossible. As a side note, ive found lots of things that i'd like to fix on my both latest maps but what is done, is done. I consider redoing both maps with minor fixes later on but i might also ditch the whole idea and just do more new maps when i get fresh ideas.
- At some point you just have to release your map. There is no point of delaying too long as it wont make itself better by just laying on your PC. If your map plays fine, is no too much CT-sided and has all the things you planned to have, then go ahead and release.
This concludes my senseless jabber. As a side note, i was planning to get on TF2 mapping and create a Payload map next but the empty editor and new things in it are sort of bringing me down so i just wait for a feeling when i am ready to start building.
Some critic (4th of October 2008)
Concerning my latest map, i have received comments such as shitty map, good map, unbalanced and so on. Everyone has right to opinion, even if they would play the map for the first time or even if they say their opinion after 1st round but to be taken seriously, the critic has to be constructive and based on facts. I have my reasons why i design my maps like they are. I simply dislike maps that are not balanced equally for the both teams. Map de_dust is fine example of this flaw. It is just too hard for Terrorists to win. I am trying to make maps that are equal to both teams. Main idea is that they reach for the both bombsites at the same time or CT gets there just little before T's. My latest map de_hiekka is designed this way and so is the previous de_varasto too. To understand what i am about to say, you have to know the map layout or follow this "simple" overview image which i did:
A-bombsite
In hiekka, there are 2 basic routes to A bombsite, long and short. There is also another route that doesnt lead directly to A or B but in the middle area of the map instead. I designed it this way (short and long route) to show new tactical element to maps which i have not seen yet in any of them, unless you go around whole map. If all CT's should pick the long route, they will most likely fail the mission. If some or all of them pick the shorter route, they will have a greater chance to beat T's than T's to plant the bomb. However, if all of them do pick the shorter route, they will have less chances to actually hold A and prevent T's from planting the bomb. This is why some of them, if they are smart, should pick the longer route as it brings them right next to the bombsite area. Idea is that CT team must be divided to use both routes, not just one of them.
B-bombsite
The other bombsite is designed in same way. CT's have long route and short one. The short one leads to sniper windows where a camping CT can stop T's from rushing through another window at the other side of the bombsite. CT's can stay at the camping area but if they do, T's can advance next to the window over the crates. From the CT window, this area is covered and cannot be seen. T's can also approach the window through another route from left (middle area) or far right. If CT's pick the short route and just stay at the window area without advancing, they are pinned down easily by T's, especially if T's pick the middle area route. This is why some of the CT team should pick the longer route to B. This leads to another side of bombsite and the crates area + the T window can be both seen and T's may be stopped. There are still 2 routes into the bombsite (middle area and far right) but if it comes to that, T's will have to fight their way in.
Bomb has been planted
Since B-site is somewhat easier for CT to hold, T's usually are heading for A-site. If they manage to plant the bomb and resistance at B is low, CT's can quickly go to A-site through jailhouse area (middle route) and then head through middle way of the map into A-area and attack T's from the side and flank T thus helping the CT's at the other side of bombsite A to deal with the planted bomb. If T's head over B-site instead and manage to plant the bomb, game is not lost either. Just as quick as CT can head from B to A, they can rush from A to B too. They can even go to T's backside through another route (through LONG B or LONG A T-route). CT do not have to go around far T-base at all.
Final summary
In any case, if everyone rushes, the chokepoints will be the bombsites as i intended. Next points will be the purple lines where teams can meet at the earliest. This map is planned to be enjoyable with many options and routes, just like i like it. I cannot make everyone happy but thats ok. Some people like this style of maps, some dont. Its just the way things are.
Final version of de_hiekka is out! (3rd of October 2008)
I finished the map off faster than i thought so i release it 1 week early. Should be bug free and run nicely. Here's some screenies and more info at maps page
And beta is out! (28th of September 2008)
The compile turned out to be just fine so i released the beta version of the map officially. It can be found from my website maps-section and from FPSBANANAPlease contact me with any bugs and issues that you might find! Instructions are inside the map package.
The final release should be out within 2 weeks. That will be submitted into other websites and map archives too. Have fun!
Slight delay (28th of September 2008)
Playtests with my new upcoming map de_hiekka(_beta) went fine. We tested this with 18-34 players and map was what i hoped it would be - balanced for the most parts. Minor tweaks here and there are needed to improve gameplay, visuals and fps but otherwise it is fine. I have isolated the cause of low fps on few parts of the map and i had to change layout slighly (Long drawing distances are bad). Hopefully those problems have now been dealth with. I need to do a full compile first to see the end result. Quick compiles looked promising, though.I will not release final version of this map tomorrow despite what i said before. However, i will most likely release a public beta of this map (de_hiekka_beta2) which is suitable for gaming on any server out there. I need additional feedback and playtesting to iron out last issues and problems in it. I will release this tomorrow but only if the compile turns out fine. If not, release will be delayed again. Like i have previously said, i am in no hurry. It's the end result that counts.
New map coming soon! (23rd of September 2008)
As some of you might now if you have been reading my previous postings, i have been working with new map for CS Source called de_hiekka. Now i am near completion and just made a beta release that we will be testing tomorrow on our public server. If all goes well, you will see the final version of this map within a week! I plan to release this on sunday if all goes well. Meanwhile, here's some screenshots from it. Enjoy!
PS: Incase you are wondering about the name, hiekka is a finnish word and translates as sand. I made a decicion of using finnish names for my maps, just like in my previous map de_varasto, varasto translates as warehouse.
Why Valve lies? (12th of September 2008)
On the official gameplay stats on Steampowered site, Counter-Strike has less players than Counter-Strike Source. The numbers are at the moment 75,254 players for Counter-Strike: Source and 64,631 for Counter-Strike. How can this be? In the past regular Counter-Strike has had as much as 4:1 more players than CS Source.So lets look at alternative statistics - on Game-Monitor. For CS Source, total players say 60,059 and for Counter-Strike 1.6, only 143,185. Why does Valve lie about player statisticks on their website when regular Counter-Strike clearly has more players than CS Source?
PS: I got a warning on Steampowered forums for Trolling / Flamebating. Reason was that i posted a comment
Move along, nothing to see here. Just another fragvideo. Waste of time.
into a fragging video which really was waste of my time. I was clearly stating my opinion and NOT trolling. Valve should train their moderators better.
New map WIPs (6th of September 2008)
I am currently working with my next map project. The map working title is de_hiekka (hiekka translates as sand in english) and its currently about 30-40% done. Lots of things to do but i'm not in a hurry so i will take my own time before i will even consider releasing it. The previous map took me around 6 months but i am familiar with most parts of the editor now so this one propably takes less time. After all, i have been working with this only about 3 weeks now. Here's few pictures about it and i will add more time to time. You can see how the map has been developing but remember that pictures do not tell the whole truth. Everything in these pictures is still a subject to change.23rd of August -08
25th of August -08
31st of August -08
5th of September -08
Creation of de_varasto (11th of August 2008)
It all started at summer 07 when i took my first steps with hammer. I spent a lot of time watching video tutorials, reading guides and doing my first map. Those of you who have not tried Hammer, dont (you risk wasting a lot of time for something that takes time to learn and makes you start over and over and over again). It was hard. I had never used such software before. Closest thing for Hammer was propably AutoCad back in school but thats really far fetched example. But i was determined to do a map with it. Then i became ill and was diagnosed with cancer.After i got well, I did some practicing with hammer and did few maps for ZombieHorde mod but in February i started building something for real. This map that i started working for, became de_varasto at the end. Many people may wonder why such an odd name. That is, if you are not from Finland. Varasto translates as Warehouse in english and there are so little finnish mappers that use finnish names for their maps so i wanted to be one. The name is something that finnish people will instantly recognize.
At the end of March i had somewhat alpha-version of the map done. It wasn't pretty or detailed but it was playable with bad fps. Those of you who like to take a deeper look into that, you can actually download it and compare to the current, finished version. Thats a BIG difference in the end. Missing lots of details and several places have been changed. Here's a few screenshots to compare some places in the alpha and finished version.
As you can see, a lot more details and scenery have been added since the early version. Some of the buildings and areas have changed too. Here is also an overview of the 2 maps. Perhaps it will lighten some more. You should download that early version and have a look at that. I'm sure you will see the difference.
So thats the case at the end of March. Between that and current release, over 4 months passed. Most of my problems was the FPS. It was low and i had to do some layout changes before the final release. Infact, i recreated a rather large chunk of the map itself. Especially those sewers and scenery. So there you go. You can do a map which is rather easy but to do a finished map, you need lots of patience and time. That map could have been like the alpha version, plain and crappy but now its way something else.
Seeing how things go (7th of August 2008)
Around 4 days ago i released my map for CS Source and i have been closely watching how wide it might have been spread, if at all. I posted it into 5 websites. My own, Fpsbanana, cs-maps.org, Steampowered forums under CS Source maps subforum and maps.counter-strike.com. However, despite the 24 hour promise and after i contacted counter-strike.com customer service, the map still isnt appeared at their site to the newest maps list. I also tried to submit it into csm2.net mapsite but all i get is internal server error.Anyway, so far i've seen it at ~13 servers in several countries. Atleast 5 servers here in Finland, and atleast 1 server on the following countries: Russia, USA, Poland, France, Germany, Hungary and Japan. There propably are some more servers too where this has been on. I'd say that its a pretty good result since it was my "first" map that was worth of having released and getting a bit attention. The previous maps that someone might have seen have been only practise, nothing more. De_varasto is the real achievement where i put a lot of work and i try to keep that level of detail, planning and playability on the future too. Thanks for everyone who has had interest for my map! I have another in planning stages already and that is going to be for CS Source too.
Completely out (4th of August 2008)
Yesterday i released the map de_varasto that i had been working on for a long time. I updated the screenshots in the last post to match the new map. You can download my map from here or from FPSBANANA. More details in the same place (fpsbanana) here.It's out now (30th of July 2008)
The map that i have been working on has now been released to the public. It is not yet finished but its playable and performs nicely. There are few bugs that already came up but those will be fixed in the final release. For the sake of having wider audience, i submitted it also to FPSBANANA. Here's few screenshots too, more in fpsbanana. If you plan to try it out and find a bug, please contanct me. Have fun!
Idiots in internet (19th of July 2008)
Sometimes i come up with sites over internet that have taken for something i personally have done. Screenshots, material, texts, guides or anything similiar. I agree, i haven't always done the right thing either but i have always credited or removed the content if the original creator has contacted me. I do not do this on purpose. I just have liked some of the things there has been and used them. As i do everything upon free will and i do not benefit (ie earn or ask money) with any of the things i do over the internet, i dont see a problem. Hell, would anyone believe me that since i quitted doing skins for servers, i havent even started going back even if the people that asked would have given me cash for it. Just for doing something custom to them. I said no.What leads me here is a reminder for an old case where a site that seems to be now de-funced, had taken some screenshots from my skins site and used the images. That thing was settled and both parties where happy afterwards. Another case i remember was that someone took old version of the skins install guide to their site, translated it as german in the mean time and showed it off. Ok, i havent got a problem if its being translated but atleast he could have mentioned about where it is in english as someone might be looking for non-german version. The reason why i talk about this now is that i wrote a "rate guide for CS Source" long ago in finnish. Recently i came up with a site that had used almost word to word that same guide, except changed only few words here and there and even linked in an image that was shown in my guide and thats the reason how i come up to see these sites. I see external referer links from website stats and they clearly say who linked what and to which site. I know countless of sites that link to css and other skins hosted at my sites which is perfectly fine but this finnish site was very arrogant. I naturally changed the image that this finnish site had hotlinked along ripping that guide. The image had a proper screenshot of good rates shown with net_graph 3 so i changed the image to a one with text "this guide had been ripped off from website-url-here". At some point, they noticed that and changed that image back to the original net_graph one that i had renamed and changed in the original guide earlier. I find that very amusing so i renamed and changed the images (again) and here we go. "this guide had been ripped off from website-url-here". What am i supposed to do next if they dont get the hint? How about adding some Goatse next time? That would be a thrill. Atleast they would learn the lesson?
TF2 liars and idiots (22nd of June 2008)
That famous pyro update is out and free weekend is almost over. 16 pyros vs 16 pyros is pretty fun but one thing bothers me along with jackass server admins who limit classes and ruin the teams on big servers but the most i dislike the fact that some people had already all the weapons within hours from the release. Well, i know this is possible but only with two tricks.1. Player used a certain googleable software that can unlock any achievements within second and they do not get resetted.
2. Player whored all the achievements on a map that was created only for this purpose.
I despise any player who uses these methods but even more i despise the ones that used one of these methods and brags about having all the guns on a public server. It is possible to gather all of these weapons within the free weekend (which means doing 22 achievements at minimum) but not within 1 hour. If you cheated the weapons and achievements, atleast have balls to admit it.
So many unplayable servers in Team Fortress 2 (19th of June 2008)
I've played Team Fortress 2 since the public beta release. During this time, i have tried to find playable servers and have been playing atleast on 70 different servers in europe. I like big servers where the action is so this means 20 or more players. After 371 hours of play on them, i can say that most servers are total crap. Most common problem is the tickrate drop which happens when CPU usage is near maximum. When this happens, a 66 tick server goes to under 30 tick lagparty. If you have played on server like this and tried to successfully play as sniper trying to drop the other snipers or dodging incoming rockets, you know what i am talking about. Some of these lagparty servers are even full all the time. You get like 15 updates per second and hitting the enemy with anything else than a projectile weapon is impossible due to that lag. Why the hell are people playing on a server like these? I consider good server giving me atleast 40 updates per second at all times. Servers like this, i can count with fingers in one hand which is a shame. Funny thing is that some servers even claim that they have tickrate 100 but this is not true. Tickrate is locked at 66 in all servers at Team Fortress 2. There is no way you can get tickrate 100 in TF2!I am always looking for the optimal gaming performance. This means that in TF2, i change my rate from 10000(default) to 25000, cl_cmdrate 30(default) to 66 and cl_updaterate 20(default) to 66. This means that i want server to give me 66 updates per second which is the maximum so i get the most accurate data where the players are right at that moment. You cant get this with default rates as roughly every second position data is dropped and not sent to you. You wont notice this as Valve uses method called interpolation that predicts the players movement and smoothens the moving so you dont get jumpy players like they would be with high ping. This method also masks the crappy rate prediction with default rates. In the past, you could turn this interpolation off with cl_interpolation 0 but this method has been prevented by Valve without even announcing it. It is now defaulted always as 1. You can only guess their motives for this. I found that while turning that off, i actually got better hits to the enemy while burning enemy as pyro and better hit prediction among other classes. You could actually see when the player jumped from place to place. Even with interpolation on, it wont smoothen the hit. If player jumps from spot A to spot B due to lag and you trying to hit him in the middle of those 2 points, your hit wont register as there is no player in that spot. Now you cant see this from the reason i previously mentioned. Some people say that you get even more off data if interpolation settings are turned off. I find this not to be true. Luckily there are still some more settings which can be changed and to be honest, I hit better with some of them turned off compared to default settings.
So how do you detect crappy servers? While playing, if the server is performing bad, you can notice that while playing a while on it. Another helpfull tool is console command (cvar) net_graph 1. Put that on your console and you get a statistics tool on your screen. If you have changed the default rates to better ones like i have, you should see the server giving you somewhat 66.0/s updates. Its the value on in-section at the right side column under that 100/s. The out value is the one you are giving back to the server and this is attached to your own fps. If you get only 40 fps, the value can only be 40. This means that your cl_cmdrate is also only 40 since fps and cl_cmdrate are linked together. Now, if this in-value goes under 30, this means that the server where you are playing is lagging. CPU running out.
In my opinion, TF2 is designed in the way that everything depends from everything. If you start stabbing enemy from behind as spy and you get that long animation hit from above, if YOU or the enemy moves before the animation finishes, that hit wont register. Sometimes you get even reversed backwards before the hit strikes and you have to make another hit but that is caused by laggy server. But these issues are something that masses propably accept or dont even notice. Right now everyone who already doesn't own TF2 is looking forward for the free weekend. Have fun while almost whole team is made of pyros.