MML Helmsdeep (first playable) download here.

(G0-Gerbil) #1

Using Sock’s or djbob’s (can’t remember which!) suggestion - this first release of Helmsdeep is classified under First playable - IE pre-alpha.
Download it here:

http://www.pcgamemods.com/3510/ <- 7.3 megs

I have decided to release this because I want to see if an early release will provide decent enough feedback to shape the map.
Not to mention I’m flitting around South America for the next month so won’t be able to work on it. Rather than do nothing, I thought it’d be fun to come back to a month’s worth of bug reports and criticisms :smiley:

If you have feedback, post it here or better still, here:

http://theburrow.fragland.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=101

Hope you all enjoy it for what it is. It’s set up to be able to handle 64 players, although god knows how much carnage that would be :slight_smile:

(MuffinMan) #2

just downloaded and will have a look soon gerbil! congrats on the “pre-release”!

(hhhmmmmm) #3

Yeh nice one gerbil, i watched ROTK last night , so yer timing is perfect …
:clap: :banana: :clap: :banana: :beer: :drink: :banana:

(fattakin) #4

Nice One Gerbil, been waiting for this since you announced it!

(S.S.Heirpie) #5

Thats One big map!!!, thats the first time Ive seen where you can dodge panzer shots…, 3 shots fired off the wall and they could not hit me…:slight_smile: 45 player server and have plenty of room to boot…:), I love the tower jumpers…:slight_smile:

PIE

(Fenris) #6

I love the graphics and the details like having to plant to dynamite barrells before blowing up the culvert etc.

I noted that there are some missing icons on the command map (you prolly already know this since it seems a bit sketchy, if that’s the correct english translation).

Otherwise I have yet no idea on gameplay, but it seems to be a bit open for camping from allies in the fortress, as a few axis will have to run across a vast open field, and unlike the movie they will prolly not be a horde of 10.000 :banana: , what do you think about a tunnel leading to the fwd spawn or some trenches or something or would that make it too easy for axis attacking ?

(Ice-Colder) #7

Played it last nite with my clan members, they loved keep up the good work gerbil

(Fusen) #8

ummm is the map suppose to finish as soon as you hit the throne as it seemed quite a quick finish… also the music when match finishes is awful lol please change it, I like the culvet idea and yah i shot panzer from axis spawn to back of map and it took ages to actually hit the side lol

SEXY GIRLS

(gerby) #9

Ullo this be my new Xmas temporary account after forgetting my proper password :slight_smile:

OK comments.

Firstly I´m glad most people have been positive and born in mind this is so far off completion that there´ll be tons of minor and major issues with it!
But now, to cover some points raised here:

  • Axis winning. Yup, just touching the radio parts is enough to win for now. I have the whole cave system to do for the next release, but it just wasn´t going to get done in time for Xmas. No caves, no proper final objective. So I had to knock something crap up really quickly. This was it. Hardly satisfactory, but I didn´t even have the time to stick in some dynamitable objective. Was just too rushed so sorry :frowning:

  • Sorry about the command map icons I know they are rubbish. Again, all I had time to do!

  • Indeed panzer dodging is fun :slight_smile:

  • Biasedness. Possibly, I really cant tell, although obviously it should indeed be damn tough for axis to get in to start with. I´m thinking of possibly giving axis a much shorter respawn time until they´ve blown either the wall or the main gate with the tank, so it really would seem like an endless stream of axis! One idea against this of course is on servers with no charge bar locking, an endless stream of field ops and panzer shots followed by console kills :frowning:
    I really think once people get to know the map more it won´t be so biased to Allies at start. Axis have plenty of spread out camping spots (getting to them is another matter of course), and mortaring should be quite effective (since allies will be in obvious places). Allies have to defend against potentially 3 directions of attack - 2 objective carriers and the tank. Also, dunno if anyone has noticed yet, but there are 2 spots on the west of the valley where axis can actually get higher than the main wall, and one where they can get higher than the fort wall. Meaning, of course, they can shoot down on them. The spot up right of the main gate ramp should prove to be a particularly nice spot to get to to mow down the allies :slight_smile:

Now, given how the map currently is, what teams win the most, how, and after how long roughly?
I can´t play the darned thing, so feedback is essential to me!

(gerby) #10

While I´m here if anyone fancies giving me a christmas present Id be grateful.

Because I cant play it, Im rather desperate to see what it looks like with lots of people in the map - if anyone fancied posting a few chaotic screenshots of the map in-play here, I´d be ever so grateful.

This is torture - just release a map and cant play it myself AARRGGHH!!!

(seven_dc) #11

Hi gerbil!

Played last night with about 40 people :slight_smile: lots of fun. The spawn are quite odd because when you spawn in different locations you do not know where you are and where to go, but that is because I am not so familiar with the map.

The last hall is almost impossible for the axis if there is around 15 allied in the hall defending.

Bmw m78 history

(Theisy) #12

Not a gameplay issue but a texturing one. Just thought I’d let you know you missed a bit near the back which is still caulked. If you run up to the fort as the axis from the wall spawn then you can see a tall thin brush which hasn’t been textured on the fort.

Other than that it is looking beautiful :clap:

(Loffy) #13

Played it yesterday on Shit-Storm-Chaos, and loved it. Keep it up!
// Loffy

(gerby) #14

Yeah it´s like that on most custom maps. Hopefully it´s not toooooo bad (he said) because the outside is so open. Once you are above ground I hope it´s reasonably clear which direction to head for!

The last hall is almost impossible for the axis if there is around 15 allied in the hall defending.
Yeah thaty was a big concern for me I must admit, and I´m sorry I didn´t have any more time to come up with a better temporary ending to the level, but there you go :frowning: I assume people have noticed you can go in through the side via the stables (badly lit though they are!) I think in future I´ll add some safe quick way of getting from the top inner ring down to the stable entrance, cos now you have to run all down the ramp.

Mind you of course - some people say the end is too easy cos you only have to touch it to win. Maybe a level 4 medic with adrenaline could simply leg it in :slight_smile:

BTW finally saw Return of the King (twice!). As a film it´s pretty good (some bits are amazing - needless to say I´m already trying to work out how to do Minas Tirith which would be god knows how many times larger than Helms Deep!). As an adaptation of the book, it´s one of the biggest piles of rubbish there is. Oh well!

So where´s my screenies of a 40 player server? pleads :smiley:

(gerby) #15

Oh was going to add - I think there may be a bug in the map regarding spawns - If I recall sometimes I´ve got my spawn location set to East Valley but I´ve still appeared in the West Valley Spawn. Bummer :confused:

(FireFly) #16

Played it last night on the nd80-server. Although I had a a crappy ping (over 200) I really enjoyed playing this map.

(Irrelevant) #17

Got any screens? I’d just like to know what I’ll be getting for my bandwidth (although, by G0-Gerbil’s past record, that’s not really a worry). :chef:

(DaRkFiRe) #18

Hi!

Great map!! Though I did notice it was a bit in favor of allied snipers, but my team seemed to overcome that. Also, there are various parts on the map (like the deeping wall) that have bits floating in the air. Also, there are visible caulk lines in various places.

Latez

(gerby) #19

For screenies: http://theburrow.fragland.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=100
Ive already put too many pics on this forum so wont spam for other people!

Caulk - yup, annoying but I didn´t catch all of ´em. Other annoying things like the secret side door going through the ground. Doh!

Floating bits - heh yeah. The bit near the deeping wall is actually the start of my lamp prefab. Forgot to delete all of it when I pasted it into a new map!

Allied sniper bias. Interesting - first time I´ve heard this. From what I gather, Axis generally wins, but obviously in new maps the bias is rarely what it ends up with - eg many (including me!) think that for an organised defence, it should be mostly unbeatable. But then again, we all say that about battery too :slight_smile: For every defence there should be a counter-offensive. Firstly I´d say given the distance snipers are firing over, it´d take a damn good team of ém to halt the attack entirely, and if just a lone axis or 2 make it on top of the hill to the right of the ramp, they´ll have all those lovely allied snipers waiting to be headshot´ed in a line :slight_smile:
Most íssues´ are allied field ops spamming the tank, but that alone won´t win on defence, you need to split your defence to fort and tank, and wall and breach (later side wall and ramp).

Anyway, interesting to see how people feel the map is! Can´t believe I can´t play it!

(TosspoT) #20

Make the tank much much faster, it takes far to long imo, but really nice map