Fish Ladder Theory, still nameless but in alias, made some fantastic signs for Freight.

In the earlier version of Freight, they bloated up the map by about 28 megabytes. Now, however, they take up a mear 6 megabytes in total. Expect a near final version very soon!

While Steel has been demoted on the list of ‘things to finish’, most of the time that I get in Hammer is spent on Freight. Even though most of the level has been rather straight forward, I decided to spend some extra time on the main landmark of the map.

The trains.

It was an easier said than done to import the trains from cp_well, however, when I inspected their entity colection that makes the trains do their thing (i.e move), I was surprised to see that all of the input and output work involves knock-on activations. Where after one sequence is completed, it activates the next one (e.g. an output using an OnCap or OnOpen/Close or OnPass to name a few) and the next one until it completes the whole train system loop. As a train activates, using an array of random generators and logic gates, the skybox model of one of trains (1 or 3 and 2 or 4, one for each direction on the two tracks) makes it’s way along it’s path, when it gets to the point of trainsition from skybox to map, it activates the train inside the map on a pass. Where this all seems logical and efficient for maps using a skybox train system, it is by no means easy to implement it in other levels which do not.

Like mine!

So I had to carefully whittle away entities that dealt with the skybox trains and then terminated or re-wire their associated inputs and outputs, which was a drag, but at least it was still quicker than implementing it from scratch. Plus, again, I got to understand how Valve does it in their situation, which in most opinions, is the best way.

After dealing with the business of the trains, I realised I also had to make 12 sets of gates, instead of cp_well’s 4. Even though I could copy them, the gates open after a certain time when the trains pass the point of entering the main map. I could have either added in more train paths before and after the gates to open and close them instantly on each passing, or do it the second way: calculate the time it takes for a train to get to each gate - from the entrance train path point - and how long it takes for one of the big trains to lumber through, so the gates don’t close into them. (This does nothing except make the gates clip through the train, it doesn’t break the trains or stop them, it just looks really odd. And stupid.)

I did it the second way, and yes, I think it was a much better and somewhat nerdier way to do it, simply because I got to mess around with a calculator, draw some tables - just like those early physics lessons - and put my high school knowledge to some actual use in a practical application (which has been a few years, I admit). It was strangely fun, because, while I could have gone for the ‘guess some values and see if it works in game’, It was way more satisfying to watch everything open and close perfectly to the time of the trains passing by. I had to say it was the first time I have enjoyed doing maths in a long time.

Oh yeah, the task of compiling and starting Team Fortress 2 (takes about 20 minutes for each attempt) for every guess was another reason I chose to go and geek out and calculate everything before hand.

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been responding to the nice bloke, Chris, who runs the 1fort blog (that’s stuff to do with TF2 mostly). Where he interviewed me about cp_steel and making maps. I am happy with how I answered, but I am not so happy with how I worded some sentences. There are some pretty bad spelling errors. But that teaches me for answering questions at 3 in the morning with a blatant disregard of using a spell checker!

Check it out.

So, for the last month, since I stopped doing major changes to Steel, I have been creating a quick and easy new map. You might have guessed that it’s called cp_freight and to give a simple comparision, it’s very similar to cp_well.

I can show you a few things at the moment, firstly, I can show you the plans:

Rather than do the most simplistic design of making a large, rectangular map much like cp_well and cp_granary, I’m doing an almost cp_badlands approach and using an ‘S’ shaped structure. The main reason is because I want the train in cp_freight to go through more than one control point.

While the train in cp_well consists of 1 fast moving engine, cp_freight will plan on using a 7 car train moving at a slightly slower pace. Quite obviously, this is where I got the name from.

Since making cp_steel, I have attracted the interest of a fellow modeller, Fish Ladder Theory. Who will provide his services of creating models for me with the payment simply being to have his damn fine work displayed in a map. He has told me he can create maps, but as most people will know, dedicating yourself to 2 or more skills can be very hard work and becoming an expert in either field becomes less likely.

My first task for him is a set of large supported signs that sit at the front of each base.

Even if it’s just a few simple models I am provided with, I really am looking forward to some unique custom models that I can request. I have some understanding of modelling and plan on making it as easy as possible for him. I’m sure our collaboration will pay dividends for both of us, in the present and in any future maps.

I thought I would get back into blogging, but not to provide the internet with the generic ramblings like every other half-witted dork out there, but to express my thoughts and ideas on Team Fortress 2 and creating maps for it.

The future for the SDC blog will consist of a few changes. First of all, I will be revamping the links. Secondly Mapping will be brought back into the limelight with everything catagorized properly. Dead links will be removed and some tutorials and other things will be thrown about in the site.

With cp_steel ploughing forward in the TF2 map community (not necessarily for popularity - but for the interesting gameplay ideas that it brought), interest has grown towards the mapper, Fishbus (me), simply because I never surfaced in many forums. Other people spread the word of Steel, with no site providing information about the map designer or perhaps a website of origin. Bringing this ‘blog’ in a new direction to coincide with my 8 year+ hobby of making maps for games, to explain the thoughts and feelings that I had accumulated over the years, seems like the sort of thing I should have maybe considered doing sooner.

But here I am.

It’s Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe!

Transport Tycoon is a very old game, with that time, however, the game is now free to download! Usually games this old would be a bitch to run on modern systems due to compatiability issues, but thanks to some fellers that like to tinker around with games got the source code (which is also free) and fixed all the problems up, as well as adding new features. Hurrah!

Q: What is this OpenTTD nonsense anyways?

OpenTTD stands for Open Transport Tycoon Deluxe - and it’s a transport simulator game. You can use planes, trains, trucks, or even helicopters to transport different raw materials, cargo and people around the map.

Q: Is it fun?

Hell yes it is! Especially when there’s a bunch of companies made - you can see some very complex road and rail configurations, and the competition gets to be pretty heated.

Q: How are the graphics?

Pretty dated, as evidenced by the below screenshots. Remember, it’s gameplay that counts! And it’s fun as hell, so everyone wins! Plus because the graphics are dated, that means that pretty much any computer can run the damn game!

Q: So how much does this game cost?

It’s completely free! I’ve posted links below to the needed files to play.

Q: What platforms are supported by OpenTTD?

Many different platforms - including Linux, OS X (Universal), Windows, and many other OSes.

Q: Ok, Now I want to play on my windows electronic calculation machine… What do I do?!

1: Download the data files here.
2: Extract them somewhere safe.
3: Then install this.
4: Tell the installation it to point to your earlier extracted data files.
5: PLAY!

Read the OpenTTD Wiki for more information about how to play the game here!