CSS-SKINS / ics-base.net

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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 2 - Open Road (17th of February 2010)

On January, i saw too many crappy Left 4 Dead 1 and Left 4 Dead 2 custom campaigns. Some didn't work on the servers, some were awful to play and some were too plain, simple and lacked details and other things, such as medkits. They were pain to play, not fun at all. So i got this idea of building a map for the game. In the past i had some campaign planned for Left 4 Dead but i picked Left 4 Dead 2 over it due to having much more variety and things to use over on my own work. Besides, Left 4 Dead is already old game, i get better audience with Left 4 Dead 2.

So here it is, the campaign is called Open Road and it is currently in the works by me. Those of you know me, i have around 2 years of Hammering experience behind me and i've done pretty good maps for CS Source in the past. So i think i will do a pretty fine L4D2 campaign too with the current skill level that i have. I have opened a site for the campaign, you can take a peak at it http://www.ics-base.net/openroad and i even created Steamgroup for it to keep peeps updated who might be interested in some quality work. I promise, i do my best! You can see the steamgroup here http://steamcommunity.com/groups/openroad

What comes to my other map plans, they are on hold. I'll concentrate for Left 4 Dead 2 mapping now. Sorry.

Light on the tunnel (22nd of January 2010)

A year changed but nothing else did not. However, i've started mapping again. Currently i have 4 projects ongoing, for 4 different games. Which one will be ready first, i cannot tell yet but i'm definitely doing something. The thing that interests me the most of the 4 games depends on the mood. Those of you who are wondering what it will be, yes, they are maps - or campaigns. They are solo projects and perhaps someone will someday give me something for doing them but i do not really do them for money, but for fun. For your information, that paypal donation thing has been showing 0 over 2 years, perhaps even 3 so it's kind of worthless. Pretty much only thanks i hear when i play at public servers my own maps and someone says "nice map" instead of "shitty map".

Now that i have created 6 fairly good (or awesome in my opinion) maps for CS Source, i've been wondering should i just keep updating the maps when i see a reason. The answer is yes. Currently there will be official release of new version of de_hiekka, my most played and downloaded map. It will add improvements ot the current one that will make the gameplay more balanced for both teams. There is no need to do drastic changes to the newer maps but there are some visual bugs that bother me. There is just no way to spot every mistake in them, not even after many months of testing and watching. In my newest map, i've spotted 2 things now which are minor issues but should have been corrected before the map went out from beta stage. Oh well, things happen.

I have also released the de_slummi vmf file for people to see, watch and learn. However, it is only for educational purposes. You are not allowed to make changes, remakes or anything else to that except learn from it. Use it as a guide and see how i did things in it. There is also vmf available from my map de_varasto_v3. You can get these vmf's from the map pages, here and here. In time, when i complete and/or fix the other maps, i will release the vmf's from them too. Note that these are completely working ones. Only thing missing from them, is the custom textures which will appear white. Areaportals are there too, which usually do not decompile, if you happen to decompile a map.

I started mapping in February 2008, 2 years ago. Since then i have developed a level of skill that i try to maintain. This is why it takes so long for me to do something from A to B. Just so you know, these are the times that i used to build a map on my free time, when i had it:

De_varasto took me around 6 months. Next map, de_hiekka took me almost 2 months to do. The vipmod version of it, as_hiekka took me over 3 weeks to finish up with new routes and changed textures. Then i took a over a month break. I kind of ran out of ideas but i started building again after some time and so, the next map was de_tehdas, built in 2 months. Then there was break again, nearly 2 months. Then came cs_isku, 5 weeks of hard work and it was done. Summer came and i didn't map during it but at fall, i started to build de_slummi. That took 1,5 months total to get the beta out. So there you have it, around 13 months of mapping whenever i had time and interest. Now the maps are seen in over 500 servers, from which some use the same maps but atleast 350-400 are different. Maps have spread pretty good so far.

Everything went to hell (18th of November 2009)

I don't know how to say this easily so i'll just start from the beginning. Everything that i had put into my maps is now *GONE*. This means all the custom graphics (signs and decals, the stuff on the walls you don't see in any other maps) is now gone. All gone. I have the hammer source vmf's saved up (i think) but currently i am very sad. So how did this happen? It was not a harddrive failure. It was not my accidental deletion. It was Steam. Left 4 Dead got released, Steam decrypted it, i tried to launch the game, got error "incomplete installation 2".

Friend of mine said that uninstalling steam did the work for him on the demo (which btw worked FINE for me before this crap came up). So i did that. I knew it would un-install all my games but i did not know that the un-install would also delete all custom stuff i had saved on my pc under game directories. This means all the stuff went gone custom maps (css, tf2, l4d), all my hammer related source sdk work, all the files under steam folder. E-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g-!

I mean, wtf. If you un-install some game, it leaves the stuff there that YOU have placed there. It only deletes game files, not everything. So why this concerns you? It may not but i literally would have to redo all the graphics. That's not a huge thing but sucks. I also lost the guide which i was planning to release. There is only intro and part one right there on the right side menu now. I had 26 parts planned but the example vmf's are now *GONE* so that will be never finished.

de_slummi also had 20% FPS increase compared to the beta out there but i would have to redo all the changes again too. Personally, only good thing now is that i got Left 4 dead 2 working. Lost also my unfinished Left 4 dead 2 map and Team Fortress 2 map so whuppi fucking doo.

Keep backups? I had raid 1, which means that data was on 2 disks but Steam screwed over and deleted the stuff. There was no warning. I quit mapping, for now. Partly due to this but for the most part, i've lost my creativity. Mapping used to be fun and interesting, it's not anymore like that. Untill i find the urge i had long ago, i will not map.

Lazy (9th of November 2009)

I have been lazy. Haven't done any mapping really, except some Left 4 Dead campaign for a change. I added video previews to my maps though. Waiting for Left 4 Dead 2 to be released.

Some news (16th of October 2009)

I have been busy and bored, which is why i haven't really updated this thing either. However, i have been tracking the servers where my maps are on again. Around 2 months ago i did the last check and now 2 months later, fresh numbers are here:

1. de_hiekka on 43, 70 106 servers
2. de_tehdas on 30, 53 77 servers
3. de_varasto on 15, 30 60 servers
4. cs_isku on 9, 29 51 servers
5. de_slummi_beta 27 servers *NEW MAP*
6. as_hiekka on 7, 15 26 servers

The most amazing thing is that these maps are now over 330 server servers, from which around 250 are unique! Not too shabby if i can say so myself. It looks like to me that the renewal of de_varasto has brought up some additional spread for it but i cannot explain the numbers of de_hiekka, as_hiekka or cs_isku. Map de_tehdas seems to have just kept the steady line so far. I imagine de_hiekka will be spreading a lot more when i release the fixed version from it.

So far Slummi has gotten pretty good feedback but also some bad. I understand it's hard to learn out for first timers but i don't really mind what you think. If you don't like it, don't play it. Stop the petty whining and do something better yourself, if you think it's so easy. While i do my maps, i like to experiment and do the things that i want. Now that i look at the latest map of mine, it's sort of a mix of cs_isku pace and de_varasto theme.

I'm thinking of going to TF2 mapping next, so no CS Source maps from me for a while.

New map, wee(27th of September 2009)

I wrote the earlier blog posting over a week ago but i forgot to update it to the site. Anyways, i've released BETA version (BETA seems to be so cool these days in every frigging new thing that is released so i have to be cool too since i use it!) of my latest map which is called de_slummi_beta. As before, i've given it a finnish name. Slummi translates as slum or ghetto in english but the map isn't exactly in a slum area. There are few parts that might look like one but it's just a name.

Check the map out at my site or at FPSBANANA where it has received great feedback and ratings already.

Oh and one thing, map doesn't need to be large by it's filesize to look great, big and play nice. 4,5 MB packed and almost 16 megs only unpacked. Hell, the map is biggest of the ones i've yet created. :-)

Stuff (18th of September 2009)

Sorry, i havent had time to add that extra mirror to skins yet but i'm sure i can do that at some point. Meanwhile, i set up new servers for the Pelipurkki.net community. Among those is a Zombie Panic Source server, which has gathered players nicely. However, i received a request to raise infection rate from the original, so the zombie which can infect people would manage to do it at higher rate. Eventually the infected humans would turn into a zombie. But i encountered a problem. The cvar that allows the change, requires cheats on! What the hell, such simple cvar cannot be adjusted? Thats like similiar to bomb timer in cs source! Hell even that can be adjusted. So i asked about it in their IRC-channel.

< ics> uhm, question. infected_chance 10 - many people have requested changing this to a bit higher rate but i cant do that since it requires cheats on.
<@Cheque> You need a plugin to change infection rates
<@OkeiDo> actually you just need sourcemod and change it in some file
<@Cheque> SourceMod that is
<@OkeiDo> doesnt require a plugin
< ics> i am wondering why its flagged as cheats
<@OkeiDo> because its CHEATING!!
< ics> how is it cheating if its only adjusted? its a convar anyway.
<@Cheque> Its just how it is
<@OkeiDo> Yeah thats just the way it is

Yeah, thats just the way it is, Sourcemod to the rescue and sm_cvar infected_chance 30. Problem solved. This attitude that i received is a great way to kill the community that is around the game. Customising servers is one of the things that make the servers special from others where players can join back again and again for new experiences. Everyone who played in the past on Pelipurkki #2 [BAKA] ZombieHorde server, knows how special it was compared to the default ZH mod.

Yet more mirrors (10th of September 2009)

Today i added one more download mirror to my maps and tomorrow i will move the skins to the same mirror too. After that there are 3-4 places where to get the maps and 3 places where to get the skins. The new mirror also works fine with IE so there should be no problems after this for getting the maps or skins.

I hope this solves all the issues that some people had.

Mapping with ICS (8th of September 2009)

At the moment when i am typing this, i am having finishing touches and latest detail additions to my latest CS Source map which i have now been building for 6 weeks period. Almost every day i have built on it or couple of days period that i have made significant progress, i have saved a hammer snapshot from the map. I have decited to construct a 25-30 part tutorial from these snapshots and describe how i did the map. Maybe you can learn something from it and how things are done, my way.

First parts will be most likely just planning, designing and planning the map. Sounds very boring but it's as important as any other thing. If you got the basics wrong, its hard to fix it later on. First part will be the introduction. How to make a map and what to think.

Check out the "Mapping with ICS" from here or click the links on the menu at right side.

More download mirrors for skins (30th of August 2009)

Due to recently discovered issue with skins downloading with IE browser, i now added another mirror for skins downloading. Now the skins download with Internet Explorer too by default. Just click the other download link which says "for IE users" and you should be able to get what you need.

CS Source map that i have been building is coming along nicely. I took a full compile yesterday and it took 35 mins so i need to do some optimizations some more due to too much drawn out at the same time and the compile is too slow. These all are caused by bad map design so i need to do some adjustments to the map itself. I have added more details and roofs to the map so it looks sort of playable already but i still plan to add more stuff into it. However, it is also still missing sounds, 3dskybox, radar and navigation. No release date yet, it will be released when i am happy with it. Highest fps is currently around 300 fpx_max limit on my pc and the lowest spots are 180fps so i need to do some layout changed and add additional hint/skips.

As a side note, de_varasto_v3 has been downloaded already 157 times, i hope that it will become more popular than it was since it's original version was released since its pretty decent map with nice playable layout. Other maps downloads for this month: as_hiekka 180 times, 105 de_hiekka, 96 de_tehdas and 41 cs_isku.

Goddamn Internet Explorer (26th of August 2009)

For some odd reason, every file here on my site which is rar packed (yes, skins and maps) does not seem to be downloading with Internet Explorer. I have no idea how long it has been broken but something must have changed in the host where i store my maps and skins among other things. It also might be that IE is just crap.

So if you want to get my stuff, change your browser to another and download will work fine. I tested that downloading is working with Firefox, Opera, Safari and Chrome. I can recommend Firefox to do the job since i use myself too. Seriously, now its time to get rid of IE for good.

Due to this just found issue, i added extra mirrors for map downloads. You can now download maps from another mirror with IE too so if you still also want to get those skins, change your browser to any other than IE and the download works fine. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

de ? with WIP's (23rd of August 2009)

In addition to the little preview there in the previous post, i decited to release more Work-In-Progress aka WIP images about the new upcoming map of mine. Since these are wip images, there are things missing like details, polishing, light issues, texture issues and roofs missing. Anyways, take a peak if you are interested.

Pic #1
Pic #2
Pic #3
Pic #4
Pic #5
Pic #6

de ? (20th of August 2009)

Just a small preview from the upcoming defuse map. Have a look!

de_varasto_v3 (1st of August 2009)

It seems that i was unable to harvest that crashbug out of the de_varasto with the newly released de_varasto_v2 so i did a deep and further investigation into the matter and spent many hours checking every model and entity so that there is nothing weird in them or in their settings. I was able to find the culprit, fix the crashbug and thus i released yet another new version, de_varasto_v3 which basically is now the final version. Thanks to folks at VIA for running the new map (de_varasto_v2) and making it crash, while i was unable to do that for a week myself. This led to more deep investigation as i just said and now everything in the map is OK.

If you run the previous version de_varasto or de_varasto_v2 at your server, please upgrade to de_varasto_v3 and you shall have no more crashes with your server that are caused by my map. Thanks!

Click here to download de_varasto_v3 immediately

I also did a presentation of how i did the map. You can read that on VIA clan's forums with pictures, alpha version download and more importantly, you can also download the hammer vmf and see how i did the map!

Top 5 maps re-checked (19th of July 2009)

I took another look at the maps which i have created. Last one was around 2 months ago so lets have a look how many servers use them and so on. Here are the results:

1. de_hiekka on 43 70 servers
2. de_tehdas on 30 53 servers
3. de_varasto on 15 30 servers
4. cs_isku on 9 29 servers
5. as_hiekka on 7 15 servers

Let it be noted that i haven't looked everyday nor every 10mins, just randomly. The actual server count that uses these is even higher since i really haven't got every server here listed here. I do not have an automatic checking system, i do this manually.

Updated the maps section + surprise (18th of July 2009)

I reorganized and designed my CS Source maps site and it looks much better now compared to the old. Clear links listing the maps and general overview before going into the deeper information. Have a look if you do not believe me. I also added some other mappers sites into right side links + level designing tutorials and help.

I recently decited that i will release the vmf file of each map after i am done with updating them and fixing all the known bugs. I already updated de_varasto to de_varasto_v2 since it had a critical bug and i have plans to upgrade de_hiekka to version 2 too. Now that i have varasto done, i decited that i will give out the vmf file of it so people can see and learn how i did the things with it. However, you are not allowed to do remakes, edits and so on. This is only for educational and learning purposes. Now, you can grab the vmf from the de_varasto_v2 site. I hope this helps out for some people who are interested of knowing more about mapping.

Another great tip for you people. Once you have the map de_varasto_v2.vmf open in hammer do this:

- From the upper menu, click Map, select Entity Report, then you see list of Entities. Click any of them, for example ambient_generic and then from the right, click Go to and you will have the camera functional. if you clicked the first ambient_generic, you should now see a bush, walls and a speaker which has multiple purple "wires".

- Now if you go fly around, you see that the view is quite confusing so have a look at next step to make it more clear

- Next on the right side of the hammer, there is a thing named VisGroups. There are options User and Auto, click the Auto. Now you see a lot of options which you can play around with. My advice is for you to find Tool Brushes and tick them off (click the v thing in front). Now the view of the map is more clear. You can tick the others on and off to see what disappears and appears. Have fun learning!

PS: Note that some of the materials and decals on the walls might be white or greyish. These are custom materials and decals which you do not have on your pc. You can just ignore them.

Reworking the old (8th of July 2009)

I started fixing the old map of mine, de_varasto while ago. Since then, i have spent around 58 hours with it, correcting the mistakes i had made in the past, over a year ago when i started building it. The reason why i waited for this long is that i knew it had some bugs and i wanted to fix them all at once. After this release, i doubt i will rework it again. Here's sort of a list of changes:

- Updated the map to respond my current level of mapping knowledge as far as i could
- Compile time reduced from 7 hours to less than 15 mins
- Fixed possible map crash with physics collision gone haywire (2 chairs collided with tables = BAD)
- Changed all physics objects to use lighter physics mode instead of the old
- Changed wrongly aligned textures to properly aligned (i hope i didnt miss any)
- Fixed some props having unneeded darkening shadows on sunny-side walls
- Fixed few props hovering in the air
- Fixed some world brushes to match the grid
- Fixed player shadows showing as transparent greenish to normal black
- Fixed displacement errors (removed non displacement textures from normal brush faces and destroyed rest of the unneeded faces)
- Added Areaportals to improve fps and adjusted hint/skip brushes accordingly to also improve fps
- FPS is now about 0-35% better than in the original, depending on the area where you are
- Redid and optimised the sewer section to look more real
- More cubemaps to enhance map look and feel
- Optimized the whole map (a lot of func_detail and other adjustments)
- Map is now more than 1 MB smaller in filesize
- Added clip brushes to all stairs to give more smoother run on them
- Added Fire effects to bombsites which trigger upon bomb explosion
- Re-tuned soundscapes, now more reliable and variety of different sounds

I think i will have it ready this week. Since the new maps do not overwrite the old ones with same name, i will have to rename the map a bit but it will retain it's original name. I will just add something to the end. So if you are a server admin and run my old map de_varasto, i'll give you 3 good reasons why to update into this new version in a couple of days when it's out:

1. No more server crashes with the new version
2. FPS is much better compared to the old version
3. Gameplay is even more smoother

Some asshole seems to have renamed my latest map and named it as cs_isku_css. If you see this map on a server, do not use it! Use the original cs_isku from this website! Big fuck to **[UCOG3]ALBERTA-CANADA.SYTES.NET [FAST DL|100Tick]** 96.52.58.244:27016 server. You have FAILED! While renaming the file, you just broke cubemaps, made performance worse and took the credits off that belongs to me.

Valve, Left 4 Dead 2 part 2 (plot thickens) (15th of June 2009)

As you might be aware and if you have been reading the TF2 Blog by Valve, they likes to show in graphs how they manage the data which they have collected with Steam Cloud and such. Well i drew a graph too and It's about Left 4 Dead. It shows the actual new, playable content updates for the game. Let's have a look at it first!

As you can see from the graph, there has been only ONE (1) actual content update. Granted, while it had "lots" of new things, the only NEW and interesting map was the lighthouse. All the other ones were old and played through multiple times on _actual campaigns_ already. The fact at changing campaign to versus mode is nothing new, it's just a gamemode, even if the maps are different. Same thing with survival. Actual new maps would have been great.

So to summarize this all up: New content: 1 map during 7 months since game was released. 11 Bugfix updates with some new features and adjustments, no other playable content.

--->

Next thing we get is the Authoring Tools BETA SDK to make our own maps and campaigns for the game since Valve obviously is too busy or has forgotten us. Too bad it came many months too late since i already got bored to the game within 2 months after knowing every campaign in and out with every stuff there can be found at any spot.

--->

Left 4 Dead 2 goes public information. L4D2 Boycott group is established due to Valve breaking their promises for support and new content for the original Left 4 Dead. What could have been new content for L4D, was created for L4D2. Note that around ~30000 people signed on to Boycott L4D2. Thats around ~15% of the official Left 4 Dead group members. Pretty huge chunk of people.

--->

Valve responds to critic concerning Left 4 Dead due to extraordinary pressure caused by the players community. They promise actual new content and support but only after the community raised serious questions and boycott over the game.

"In addition to the recently released Survival Pack, we are releasing authoring tools for Mod makers, community matchmaking, 4x4 matchmaking, and more new content during the coming months for L4D1," Newell says. "We also agree with our customers that there needs to be an interoperability plan for players of L4D1 and L4D2, as multiplayer games are driven by the cohesiveness of their community."

Authoring tools, we already have beta. Really nothing much new there. Matchmaking updates, good. Can we pick a server _directly_ now? If not, fail. More content for L4D1? What is this, empty hall that you are talking to? Where's my new campaign and maps? It's the only content i want. Interoperability plan for both games? This means that existing L4D owners get L4D2 for discount and L4D2 buyers get L4D1 for discount and both games work together and they just add more to play instead? We just have to wait how things go. I hate waiting.

So there are lots of promises now on the air but still no solid information about actual new stuff that we can play (yes, campaigns and _new_ maps). Too bad. It sounds to me that L4D was pretty much abandoned when it comes to new campaigns and content since they started working with L4D2 but now they must add atleast 1 campaign and survival maps due to community demand. I keep wondering, without boycott, would we have even gotten anything else than bugfixes after the Authoring tools and Matchmaking 2.0 update? Propably not.

Valve and Left 4 Dead 2 (7th of June 2009)

Microsoft showed gameplay teaser of Left 4 Dead 2 at E3, Electronic Entertainment Expo. Immediately existing Left 4 Dead owners got confused and angry. Is this what we get instead of new content for Left 4 Dead, that EVERYONE was waiting for and we have to pay full price to get it? We we're promised new content for Left 4 Dead. Instead we got only 1 new map, lighthouse and 15 modded ones + 2 modded campaigns for versus that should have been there in the first place.

So people are angry and want to express their feelings. They go to Stemapowered forums to talk about it. Instead, their threads at Steampowered forums are yet again being closed down by moderators which sucks big time. So to fix the issue, threads are closed by moderators. Great PR from Valve.

While releasing news about Left 4 Dead 2, Valve just effectively killed the community which was making maps and campaigns for Left 4 Dead. There are still some people who do not understand that they are being used as tools - to provide content for Left 4 Dead while Valve itself concentrates on Left 4 Dead 2 and can earn more money with it later on. Some of these mappers do not realise that they work for free to provide content that Valve should do theirselves. I lost my interest almost completely, about making campaign for L4D. I had around 15% ready while i heard the news about L4D2. Now i am aiming my campaign towards Left 4 Dead 2 instead.

Don't get me wrong, i'm all in for the community but in this case, nothing that was promised, will not be delivered if we give up to their demands. As a paying customers, we have _right to demand more content_ that was promised to be delivered. They did not talk about different Downloadable Content Model for Left 4 Dead upon our purchase and yet they are making a whole new game instead of the new content that could have been delivered later on to us, for free. They explain that there is so much new so it has to be a new game but thats just marketing talking.

I will not be used as a tool to fix Valve's reputation among the community. Boycott Left 4 Dead, if you are making maps for it untill Valve responds to us and delivers what was promised.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQWylFmqnwM
http://www.videogamer.com/news/valve_details_post_left_4_dead_launch_plans.html
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=885287

Working again (31st of May 2009)

Last day of May and it's damn hot outside. Infact i couldn't sleep so i woke up and decited to do something usefull, or not so much usefull. Like this blog post. So Valve released Beta from Left 4 Dead SDK and i did what i said i would do. I put the TF2 map on hold, even though the latest Sniper & Spy update for the game sorta pulled me in to that game again after many months. I actually enjoyed playing it again.

So, L4D SDK is out and i started creating my own campaign for it. Overall progress of the project is somewhere 10 to 15% ready. I told somewhere earlier that i would show how easy it is to do some mapping but i have to take some of my words back. It is actually harder for Left 4 Dead than for CS Source. There are new things to be learned out and the playable areas are actually bigger, a lot bigger. There isn't so much ready textures like there is with CS Source. There basically is NO walls with windows, at all. There is only some window textures that should be added as overlays to the existing walls. Ok, there is a few buildings with windows on them but thats all. Not nearly enough to do a detailed city scenery.

Source engine isn't so good at open areas so maybe this is cheaper way to save fps instead of having a lot of detailed area, or even windows with walls. I know i will have my share of troubles while doing the optimizations but the biggest problem for me is the details. I want to add some but i'm not sure how much i can do that. Biggest problem for me atm is displacements. I have to use them a lot and they do not always sew into place but i am getting the hang of it. However, to make some natural and believeable scenery, i have to redo some and redo and redo and redo until they look ok to me.

I also plan to do some difference to the normal L4D campaings. Not all crescendo events will work like in Valve campaigns. Oh no no, that would be way too easy so some of them will be starting on-the-fly without waiting for players to push a button or alert the player in advance. I will be bringing the hordes on you at more intence pace than Valve did. Just to make the game have more difficulty than Expert provides. Yes, i am aware that what i do affects all difficulty levels but seriously, who plays this game with easy? Might be fun for some time or on singleplayer only but not with multiplayer.

So there you have it, my very own nightmare in progress. Despite the promise i made long ago, instead of finnish name, this map shall have english name. However, finnish names stay on the map names, just the campaign name is in english. I shall not reveal it yet so no one uses it and takes it from me :-)

InGame.de community seems to have given my map a recognition Map of the month. It comes no suprise to me that dust-style de_hiekka got it. There are lots of people who like dust/dust2 maps so i see no reason why they would not like this one too. Fps is great, runs fine, interesting new concept to play and most of all, it's currently the most spreaded map that i have done.

Suprised, completely (14th of May 2009)

Few days ago i started tracking which servers run my maps. How do i do it? I go to Gametiger.net and throw the names of my maps into the search field time to time. Then i look out for the servers which run my map and add them beneath the maps download links on my maps section. I do this many times a day, keep throwing the names in and add the servers to the list again. I wont get the all servers but i get the most. Looks like i just broke the 100 different servers record that run these maps. I am so amazed how much widespread they are.

Top5 list of my maps today:

1. de_hiekka on 43 servers
2. de_tehdas on 30 servers
3. de_varasto on 15 servers
4. cs_isku on 9 servers
5. as_hiekka on 7 servers

Looks like making dust-style and defuse maps pays off the most. It seems that some people are intrigued by that style the most. I personally do not like that style much but i really wanted to do something completely different that those dust maps and i think i succeeded quite nicely. There is not too many servers that run vip maps so i decited to do a favor for those servers too which is why i created as_hiekka in the first place.

I like to do something for others, thats who i am. This is why i do these things over at my site. like these maps. Something for everyone. But returning to maps, here is how i define my maps:

Map de_varasto was sort of experiment for me. I wanted to do a fast gameplay map that plays out well - and it does. I also learned a lot from Hammer and stuff in it during the creation of varasto. Fast action defuse map.

As i just said, de_hiekka was a "dust" experiment for me and it also taught me more about Hammer and different techniques and as_hiekka was a sequel that turned out to be a vip-map with some gameplay changes. De-version is more common CS-style regarding its layout and vip map is what it is supposed to be - a multiple route to victory.

The map de_tehdas was the most significant thing for me so far. In that, i build everything from the start thinking optimization, layout and playability. It is very much like the idea in my mind was. Tehdas is more for competitive style.

Map cs_isku was ment to be a fast gameplay and new style hostage rescue map - and it is. It's so wonderfull that some people hate it, some people love it. I like it a lot myself. Fast action tactical hostage rescue map.

Also a side note, i have also started building my first Team Fortress 2 map few days ago. I'm not sure if it will be finished anytime soon or is it just long project. If Left 4 Dead SDK will be released soon, i will skip to that and do a 5 map campaign for it. So good that it will get you killed - or rescued. You decide. I also have 1 idea for another CS Source map still on my mind but there is so little time at one day, even if i really try. Making a good map which is good fps-wise, plays ok and is detailed is difficult. Anyone can do a half-assed crap. You see that on FPSBANANA every single day. 99% of the contents of it is pure crap. My maps are not from the top nor they are from the bottom either. As a scale of 1-5, i would rate myself to somewhere between 3 and 4 and i'm levelling up the more i do this stuff. You won't get rid of me that easily ;-)

I'm done (11th of May 2009)

So i finally managed to get my newest map cs_isku done. The last 2 days i spent mostly changing this and tuning that on it. I also started the work for redoing my oldest map, de_varasto due to the bug that i finally found. It seems that 1 chair collision model/physics is sorta attached to the desk and in some rare occasions, it might cause a crash on the server. Infact the more players there is, the bigger chance for de_varasto is to crash. However, the task for redoing and optimizing it turned out to be hard.

In the past months while doing my other maps, i've learned so much since the times i did de_varasto so bringing that level of knowledge and optimization to that map is very time consuming. Some things in it are off the grid and some things are just placed here and there. These days i wouldnt do these solutions as i have done in the past. Did you know that it took over 7 hours to do a ready version of de_varasto? All that time your pc would be stuck and you couldnt do anything with it untill map compile is ready. In the past i left my pc open over night and the map was ready in the morning (maybe).

I have one more idea for CS Source map in my mind, but it also needs some work and inspiration to get done. I started lining up some Team Fortress 2 map also which will be for Payload mode but most of all, i wish Valve would release Source SDK for Left 4 Dead so i could make my own campaign and do the things they didn't do on the official campaigns. I'm not sure what i will do next but i'll try to think at something.

PS: I started tracking the servers which run my maps. You can see those at my maps page beneath the download links. I add more of them there time to time when i spot new servers where my maps are on. Thanks everyone for your interest on them. I know there isn't many more mappers left for CS Source that can do pretty much decent work. I conside myself to be one of them.

Born of cs_isku(_beta) (7th of May 2009)

Originally my idea for it was a scenery of a city near the sea. The same building as you see on the map was in it but pretty much the rest of the current scenery was not. Idea was for CT to spawn from the beach and then T inside that large building but it sort of did not work due to lack of routes and it would have become even smaller which is why i ended up with the current layout which also is little small but still it is larger than for example cs_office. The basic layout has been the same.

I built this map long time before i even compiled it once. I knew from past experience that i had to conceal the map inside the level so there would be no leaks. I sort of saw compiling before sealing the level pointless. However, i did temporarely solution and put square skybox over the level and did few compiles with that to see the outcome. When i was happy with the overall layout, i started sealing the level properly and didnt leave much empty space in it.

So in another version of this, there where 1 long street which sort of did not work either due to low fps with every prop and huge drawing distance so i remember seeing movie Die Hard 2 with the airport and "overpass" bridge where the Terrorists assasinated the Airport SWAT team. I took the idea and added a building to the other side of the street and this hallway with 4 windows and 2 of those windows, the opposite sides i sealed with non-seethrough texture to block line of sight. This also ment more fps and supported the idea i was building. So there is my overpass. However, i also added closed gate and exploded hole in the wall. This greatly disabled the visibility. Overpass on the above and gate on the street level.

My original idea was really intense assault, i tested it with bots alone at first (big mistake). Bots were too stupid. They either moved too fast or too slow. However, they helped me with one thing. The first release candidate showed me that the level sort of was too hard for CT's to win, if Terrorists would rush outside from the window in backalley with the big trash container. With that idea in my mind, i started to add names to the small parking hall. I sort of run out of parking spots so i decited to open 1 more door and do another parking hall there and then it hit me, another staircase and excellent route for CT's to overcome that backalley obstackle alternatively. Btw, the names in the parking hall belong to CS Source admins of my own server. I did not add parking spot myself though. Well ok, there is first letter of my real name and my lastname hidden somewhere in the map.

When i saw thhe map first time on a server with 19vs19 teams, i was stunned how fast it played out with so many people. I've never seen a map like this but i kind of like it now even more. The action is sort of insane but the map plays out fine. After playing the map like 4 times now with so many people along, it's great. Some people like to rush, some like to camp. Thats ok but you will never win with camping forever. Those pesky CT's might come from any direction or the T's can move outside to wait for their prey.

Tight package, if i can say so myself. This map has about same amount of brushes and other stuff than my previous map de_tehdas but the filesize is actually 5 megs less and it compiles in less than 8 mins with normal. Another great addition to my collection. Final release date is not yet here, i have fixed all the known issues and bugs though. I still have those odd shadows on some textures and i have absolutely no idea how to fix them. Smoothing groups or lightmaps adjustment isnt the solution, tried that. Maybe i'll need to add more light? We'll see but today is my birthday, i turn 27. Damn years go past so fast!

cs_isku_beta (5th of May 2009)

Playtest is still on but i released a public beta (cs_isku_beta) already and postponed the final release to sometime to the future. This is because i want to finalize this map with care. Anyways, It's on my site on maps section and i also submitted it into FPSBANANA.

About my maps (4th of May 2009)

When i look back for the maps that i have done, i realise that i have done quite many different maps with different theme and layout in mind. I can do pretty much anything i want now. I have one map that doesnt fit pretty much to any category, 1 dust style map, 1 for the people who like vip maps, 1 that suits best for competitive play and now one that has somewhat night theme and is only hostage map i have created. The rest are defuse maps.

In the earlier posts, i spoke about that i want to keep and experiment with different things and that i have done with the latest one too. I guarantee there is no hostage map like this is. Its very intense and has multiple ways and strategies to keep things moving but it also has a lot of camping spots. Hostages move pretty much flawlessly, i would give 10 for their movement but the AI is too stupid sometimes for me to beat it so i have to give only 9,5 due to their stupidity but that still is a quite nice achievement. Some of the custom maps the hostages move badly or do not move at all when they hit to certain area in the ground.

Tomorrow, i will be playtesting my map on my server at 89.166.50.111:27025 around 18:00 (Thats +2 UK-time and +1 German time). The server has 38 slots and runs with tickrate 100. Feel free to join. The final release of the map will be most likely at this week. If all goes well, i will redo the radar and re-align 1 texture but these things should not matter to tomorrows gameplay at all.

Ready soon (1st of May 2009)

Data (29th of April 2009)

I just broke a record few days ago. In 3 years, people have downloaded the skins, maps and other files for over 2 Terabytes (total upload)! Monthly rate averages about 55 Gigs. As a comparison, let it be noted that our 2 CSS, 2 TF2 and 3 L4D servers upload the same mount of data in just over 1,5 months. However, this is still a remarkable thing as you might know, most of the files are from less than 1 Megabyte to around 7 Megabytes, not more so the dowload count is massive!

Thanks for everyone who is still using my skins and maps on their servers. It's been nice to be able to offer this content for everyone, FREE of charge!

Teaser (25th of April 2009)

Just a little teaser.. click the image for a larger picture!

Working (hard) (13th of April 2009)

I have started to build my 4th map which will be a hostage rescue map instead of defuse for CS Source. I considered doing a vip version of this one but i have ditched the plans for now. I have spotted many bugs in my previous maps while i have played them on my server 89.166.50.111:27025 - Pelipurkki.net #1 Custom maps, skins [TICK 100][FF=ON] . Sadly i cannot fix them without renaming the map a bit for something else. However, for the new cs_ map, i will try to make it as bug free as i can so it will take some time to finish, 2 months minimum, maybe even more.

Could be that i will put this one on hold as soon as Left 4 Dead SDK comes officially out. I have plans to do a campaign for L4D too. Those same old 4 are really bored to play on and on and on. Not as nearly much playthrough value as Valve said in interviews. I have some of my own plans to introduce which will hopefully add some more changes to the game but i think Valve needs to re-think the campaign mode a bit first before i can do what i have planned.

I had an idea of campaign that would be 7 maps long but only 5 would be played per each playtime. I had a plan where there would be first level and in the second level, there would be 2 different saferooms. Each would lead to a new map. I will try to do some ascii art to explain myself better so the map structure would be like this:

However, current code does not allow this. There is definition in each map which shows what is the next level. There cannot be 2 options so i may have to do a 5 map campaign after all instead of 7. So i was thinking something like No Mercy style city for 2 maps, 2 maps for blood harvest style and 1 map for blood harvest and death toll style. Nothing like the existing maps, just the theme (textures, scenery, etc). Map design itself would be totally different. However i will do 2 or even 3 way paths (alternative routes) into the map which players can take. We will see later on but back to my cs_ map.

In my other maps, i have had certain ideas how they should play out. De_varasto is fast paced, pretty balanced for both teams. If you want to win, you need to be fast and know the map layout to win. De_hiekka is somewhat slower paced, Bombsite A easier to go for T's, but also harder to keep if CT-team is wise and goes around to T's backs. As_hiekka is what it is, a VIP map with many routes but de_tehdas also had an idea where A is faster to go so everybody usually goes to A instead of long route to B but then again B guarantees victory for T's most of the times. Not sure why it plays like that on my server.

In this cs_ map, i will do many routes for CT to get into the building where hostages are and CT will spawn all around the map to bring in some variety to the gameplay. Most maps are only chokepoints where other team camps and other team has to camp too because they cannot get through. For this one, i will try to make Terrorists to really try to win the game without camping on certain spots all the time. You will understand the thing when you get to play the map.

Some statistics:

There are 77 different custom maps on my server. It has 38 players and tickrate 100. Mapcycle is pretty much random. Each end of the map players vote the next map from 5 randomly selected maps. Winner map is played next and things go like that. In almost 4,5 months, de_hiekka is most played map on the server. Map de_varasto is 5th played map on the server, as_hiekka is 10th played map and de_tehdas is 31st played map on the server. However, de_tehdas is way behind since it got released only 2,5 months ago while other my maps have been there since the year started and before.

Names that matter (2nd of April 2009)

Been quiet for some time. I have started a work on a new map for CSS and it is coming slowly. Infact i haven't been building it at all for weeks. I even tried some Left 4 Dead mapping before official SDK but ditched the project untill official SDK release. However, i will now reveal some secrets about my existing maps, de_varasto, de_hiekka, as_hiekka and de_tehdas. Those Hiekka maps do not contain much of these, infact, i dont remember adding any special signs in them. One thing which all have in common, is the Pelipurkki logo banner. A community project of mine that has been ongoing for over 3 years now, mostly for Finnish people. That banner is included in every one of these maps. Hidden, but easily found ;-)

Some of you might also have spotted the "company names" and signs in my maps, custom ones which are not seen in other people's maps. I have to admit that all of them are fictional and references to any existing companies i did not know untill i googled the names after map de_varasto was created. For example, there are signs in Varasto such as Kawada Company and Prometal. These names are not connected to those real companies out there in any way. I made them up but i guess its free advertisement for them too. So, lets have a look at the names in de_varasto and de_tehdas.

- Kawada Company refers to japanese singer Kawada Mami (One of her songs on YouTube). I just happen to like her music, took her last name and added the word company myself to the end. (located at de_varasto)

- The name Prometal i got from an idea of a company that creates metallurgic products and is good at it so - Pro Metal. (located at de_varasto)

- Blaze Shipping and Handling i got from a song called Blaze by yet another japanese singer, KOTOKO (and here is a video of the song Blaze). I used to work in shipping and handling so Blaze shipping and Handling. The CD also arrived in a mail for the same day that i was creating the signs. I also used this name in my later map de_tehdas. I considered doing a loop of this song into radio in the large hall at de_tehdas but i ditched the idea due to copyright issues. (located at de_varasto and de_tehdas)

- Timanttiset Rossit Oy is sort of "Pig latin". When it is reversed, it turns to Romanttiset Tissit Oy (romantic tits). PS: You can cry or laugh now. (located in de_tehdas)

- Pee Pee Putkiasennus Oy is also a fictional name. I got the idea to it from my dad who was a plummer. Name refers to a company that does stuff related to pipes and sewers. (located in de_tehdas)

- Odorantstreet - The Odorants is a finnish band, i sort of got the name from them. www.theodorants.org (located in de_tehdas)

- Otherstreet - There is an admin called othername in Pelipurkki community. The name is taken from him. (located in de_tehdas)

- MILF INC, rent-a-wife call 715517 - You propably know what MILF stands for, if not, google. Anyways, there was this band named Milk inc. I sort of renamed their name and put a random female on the picture + added the phone number, 715517 which is 7175 in english and text. (located at de_varasto)

- Urban Frank's shipping - Urban Frank is sort of old nickname for me. (located in de_tehdas)

- Luffy's Banana Oy Ab PP - Luffy is also an admin for Pelipurkki. Sits in a tree and eats bananas. (located at de_varasto)

- Holy Avengers Printing - Holy_Avenger is also admin for Pelipurkki. (located at de_varasto)

- Maken Metalli - Make is my little brother's nickname. (located in de_tehdas)

- Per�l�n Pelti - Yet another fictional name. Per�l� translates like some "backwood" in english. Pelti word for metal. (located in de_tehdas)

- Panzer X, beer & wine - One of the admins of Pelipurkki is called jagdpanzer so it is made for his "honor". The dude works also at bar's :-) (located at de_varasto)

I propably forgot to mention few but anyways, you get the picture.

Dum de dum (27th of February 2009)

I have been monitoring for the past week how my newest map de_tehdas has been spreading over to servers around the world. So far i have spotted it in servers located at Finland, Russia, UK, Brazil, Germany, Lithuania, Hungary, France and the list goes on. Many many servers admins out there that have decided to use it. Thanks for all of you who have shown interest to it. It is not a bad map, infact i think its good! ;-)

So how have i been monitoring? There is this tool called Gametiger.net. You can serch servers with certain map on with it. I have been refreshing it now and then to see if the map is on somewhere. I have also been trying to get some feedback and comments about the map. I have been checking FPSBANANA (even though its horrible to browse), reading certain forums where i have posted the map myself (Matties eventscripts sub forums for CS Source and Steampowered CS Source sub forum maps) + one handy thing is just google the map name and i get many results with it, or even yahoo or msn (gah). There are some pretty interesting results for me to read after that.

Even though i have tried to do all of my maps as bug free as they can be, there is always something left behind. Usually its something only cosmetic but as far as i know, there isnt any game breaking bugs. No free walking on the map, no see through textures and so on. Everything left behind is either hovering prop or something else that looks odd with closer look. However, there is one concern that has come up which is in de_varasto. There is a chance that Source engine handles physics differently in multiplayer and it may be that some props that are set to prop_physics instead of prop_physics_multiplayer, could be crashing a server at certain situations. However, these issues are still unconfirmed. I have been running tests on my own server (40 slot, 100 tick) and folks at VIA (58 slots, 66 tick) are also running de_varasto in their mapcycle to see if it causes any crashes. If anyone else has discovered crashes with de_varasto, please contact me and explain how if you can reproduce the crash.

Keeping these things in mind, i have always had plans to do the "final" version of the maps where all the existing bugs and glitches would be fixed. Only reason why i havent done this already is that there isnt any game breaking bugs and i would have to rename the maps which would cause confusion. We'll see how things will develop.

Free Bee (21st of February 2009)

Just finished my newest map yesterday for CS Source and the map is called de_tehdas. So far i've gotten little feedback from it but in time, i guess i'll get more. Some people say OMFG WHAT A SHITTY MAP because they are new to it and get bullets into their heads. Some people say OMG SO CT SIDED or OMG SO T SIDED because they do not understand that it is all about the teamwork in this game and in other multiplayer games. You can be good alone but only to a certain point. Eventually it comes the team, how good they are and so on. Quite frankly this map is very balanced, like all the other maps. Granted, de_hiekka A bombsite is kind of hard to hold for CT but with correct tactics, its also quite easy to take on for CT.

In any case, some mappers seem to protect their maps from decompiling. Sometimes they do this for reason as some people tend to make remakes from the good maps out there and rip off the stuff and work that has been put into the map. However, I have deliberately left my maps unprotected so others may see how i have done things and achieved the level where fps is good and map runs smooth. However, i despise everyone who decided to do "remake" or extended version of these maps i have created. They are free to use, not free to edit and redistribute.

So, if you want to decompile my maps to see how i have done things, you should start from the latest one. It has all the knowledge i have collected so far. All the latest tricks and techniques i have mastered.

Now it's time to relax, no more maps for a while, if ever. Never say never, time will tell.

Busy Bee (5th of February 2009)

I think i should update this blog more often so i'll do another post now. Been mapping for CS Source again for about 2 months and the map i have been working on is almost complete. Still needs little touching here and there, adding more sounds and fixing few props that are hovering in the air and so on but i would say that it will be out before this month ends or maybe even sooner, depends how i have time and interest to finish it.

The map is called de_tehdas (tehdas translates as factory in english) and it will end the trilogy of maps that i have made. First there was de_varasto, then de_hiekka and now de_tehdas. Oh and there was also as_hiekka, a vip mod map but that was only a modification from de_hiekka. Anyways next project will propably be for Left 4 Dead as previously stated. Check out my maps from here.

One thing bugs me. If i add HDR (High Dynamic Range) support to the map, i get average fps of 85 around the map. If i turn HDR off but map still supports it, average fps is around 170. When i dont add HDR support to the map at all, average fps is around 220. How come fps drops 50 down even if i dont have HDR on but the map has support for it? I am urged to leave HDR completely off because of this reason. I and low end pc users prefer playability over eyecandy.

Here's few pics from the map. Enjoy!

Left 4 Dead part #2 (26th of January 2009)

So going back to Left 4 Dead. Game has since been release and nearly 2 months have passed since. Few patches to the game have been released. There were some pretty nice exploits to skip few zombie fighting scenes and get past the last finale fights easily. Valve has since fixed most of them, but not all. Good example of these still not yet patched exploits are in Death Toll ending. There are 3 rocks where tanks or majority of zombies wont come. Its easy peasy to win and cheat achievement UNTOUCHABLES, for example.

There still are other major problems in the game. You still cannot choose a server through lobby where you want to go play the game with your team. You have to go into random roulette of servers where you first of all get

1) high pinged servers 2) crap servers (perform like shit) 3) modded servers which seem to crash all the time 4) Servers running Normal difficulty even if you set it to Expert in lobby 5) Servers in versus mode, even though campaign was selected 6) NO SERVERS. There is serious issue with this one on 6pm to 12pm (GMT+2 timezone)

You can select a Steamgroup server where you want to go play but it isnt the same thing. You can also type "openserverbrowser" into console, pick a server and go play but that isnt the same thing either. You can also connect ip:port from console but even that is not the same thing. What i want is to be able to add servers to favorites and then perform server search from the favorite servers list. Random search IS NOT the best thing!

Game needs seriously more campaigns. 4 isnt enough. Same thing happened with Team Fortress 2. It was released with only 6 maps and since then the maps count has over doubled. I know Valve justified this with "extra downloadable content" but i feel like they didnt finish the game and tend to finish within this year with these extra content patches which should have been with the game in the first place. Making maps cant be that hard if you do them full-time. For example i have done 2,5 not so half-assed maps with my part time and from my head. Now making 3rd with my free time. If i would have done these with full-time and with a help of concept art and other additional ideas from the team, i would have done 2-4 times more content in this time. Maybe even more but i still dont know all the tricks in hammer and all of its features.

Left 4 Dead also needs better statistics system. There seems to be server ranking and game ranking shown in Steam community while back but it has not been seen since. Coming soon?

In the end, i would just like to say that my new map should be finished within a month and its for CS Source. I havent got a name for it yet but after it is done, i will start mapping for Left 4 Dead. Ill show Valve what kind of maps i can do. Cant be that hard, can it? ;)

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 FPSBANANA

Please 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.

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