So, as some of you might know I’ve been working on recreating the Sub Pen map from Nightfire 007. It won’t be a complete 100% classic reconstruction of the level as some of the props or textures might be different for instance and because I’m extending the map with some new parts. Note that the original map is symmetric (both sides of the map are basically the same).
Either way, I’ve been pretty bad at dedicating time to work on the map but I want to finally finish it. Therefore one of New Year’s resolutions this year is to finish Sub Pen. And so to keep me motivated and hopefully also receive some help from you guys I’m making a post on this forum. I will first begin by showing the current state of the map and then I will talk about things that need to be done (and where you can help if you want to (mainly with props)).
I think the best way to show the current state of the map is to show screenshots and to compare to the original so that’s what I will do (note that some parts of the map are somewhat messy).
Here’s are two views from the catwalk:
In the original:
As you can see in my version there are new parts added (note the door and the window in the first screenshot). There’s a func_areaportalwindow at the window you can see, but for it doesn’t work to use a func_breakable as the brush and if I tie the func_areaportalwindow to a func_brush it just lets through all bullets (ideally either only shots from penetrating weapons should be possible or you shouldn’t be able to shoot through it at all).
Inside the sub:
Compare to the original:
Obviously there are several props missing and the texture for the pipes need to be changed (otherwise they look a bit like roman columns).
Corridor:
For some reason the reflections are off (these are cubemap reflections so I suppose I need to assign the cube map brush faces in such a way that avoids the issue, not sure how exactly):
And in original:
The main difference here is that I’ve used a simple prop in order to obtain the light emission effect. I think the texture is too bright though. I’m not sure if the same effect can be obtained using a texture or if that would be better. Also notice the weird artifact on the left side in the first screenshot of the corridor. This artifact even appears on some flat surfaces and is related to the cubemaps it seems.
I’ve also added another corridor part which connects to the new parts of the map:
Elevator room:
Original:
As you can see there’s another connection to the new parts in the map (you can jump across to get to the other side or jump across from the other side, although it can be tricky at times).
Views of the sub and most of the main room:
In the original:
And yes, you can swim (unlike in the original):
Obviously a proper submarine texture is still missing among other things.
So what are the things that remain to be done? I will begin by listing some of the things that are missing compared to the original:
- There are several textures that are missing, including a better texture for the corridor part, a texture for the submarine, a texture for the columns on the walls, various textures for props and so on. I’m pretty sure I will be able to create the missing textures.
- There are missing props, including: A few railing props, ceiling details, hanging lamps, computer panels, office chairs, periscope (I started working with the periscope as you can see here: but I’m not sure how the middle part can be created ) and banners (the banners technically seem easy to create but ideally there would be some kind of animations when shooting a banner). I’m not good at creating props so if anyone is interested in creating a couple of the props it would be awesome, but if that’s not possible I can try using existing GE:S props instead.
- Clearly the lighting can be improved significantly. There are also other aspects that can be improved such as cubemap placement, adding sounds, adding music (I could theoretically compose something but I’m a bit rusty atm so I would prefer if someone either makes a remix of the original Sub Pen music, but it would be fine to re-use one of the existing GE:S tracks) and so on. These things are more like end touches so it’s not my priority to fix them right now.
- Of course there are other aspects such as ammo, weapon and armor placements that will need to be refined through the course of testing.
- Optimization.
I would also like to add some new parts to the map. Currently there’s one new segment in the map and I’m not entirely sure of the layout so it’s subject to change if needed. But other than that it would be interesting to add:
- Be able to swim from one side of the map to the other (the original map is symmetric). I’m thinking a pipe or something like that.
- An underwater tunnel where you can see water above (maybe in semicircular shape) and that gets you from one side of the map to the other.
- Possibly an outside part consisting of a harbor. It would be nighttime rather than daytime. Several parts of the map would connect to it.
Before I end this post I want to thank Kraid for his help with some parts of the map and also his advice. I also want to thank Graslu for helping me with some of the decals and textures. Finally I want to thank Spydow, Uufje and many others for playtesting earlier versions of the map.
Author
Topic: [W.I.P] Sub Pen from Nightfire (Read 30172 times)