DarkSniper's "Back to School" RELEASED

[browndl]

EDIT: 10/17/2023
Play testers gave the go ahead. Here is this map.

https://www.ut99maps.net/maps/sniper/DM ... School.zip


I hope everyone enjoys going back to school!

[browndl]

Just waiting on the play testers to give the go ahead for release.
Look at how these silly bots behave once the teacher leaves the room.

 
Auto merged new post submitted 4 hours 53 minutes later

---

Re: DarkSniper's "Back to School" RELEASED
Map released.

[OjitroC]

Great to see a modern take on the school-room - as always, well designed with good use of textures, nice and clean and bright - very contemporary - good environmental sounds (but see below) and atmosphere - so creates a well-thoughtout and unique space. Plenty of scope for different styles of gameplay and easy to get around with the translocator. All in all, another welcome addition to the 'play list' of maps

A few comments from a quick play and wander round the map and then having a look in the Editor (having noticed a distorted sound) :

On the sounds, the following are stereo sounds and are, unfortunately, distorted in-game (at least with Galaxy) :
clock-ticking.wav
KidsLaughing2.wav
KidsLaughing3.wav
PencilSharpener.wav
[It's OK for music to be stereo but not Sounds - my experience suggests that stereo sounds may also affect certain in-game sounds like those from weapons or voices].

In the LevelInfo, the DefaultGameType is 'Class'Botpack.TeamGamePlus' - if played from the Editor, the map starts as a Team Game. It's probably best if the DefaultGameType is left blank - since the map prefix is DM, the map will play as a DeathMatch map.

A personal thing perhaps but there is a PlayerStart in a drawer and I'm not sure this is a 'good idea' - the player spawning there will not be able to see anything outside the drawer and, without jumpboots, will have to translocate into the 'unknown' - possibly not the best way to start off?

Hope this does not come over as too negative as the map is certainly enjoyable and fun to play

[browndl]

Great to see a modern take on the school-room - as always, well designed with good use of textures, nice and clean and bright - very contemporary - good environmental sounds (but see below) and atmosphere - so creates a well-thoughtout and unique space. Plenty of scope for different styles of gameplay and easy to get around with the translocator. All in all, another welcome addition to the 'play list' of maps

A few comments from a quick play and wander round the map and then having a look in the Editor (having noticed a distorted sound) :

On the sounds, the following are stereo sounds and are, unfortunately, distorted in-game (at least with Galaxy) :
clock-ticking.wav
KidsLaughing2.wav
KidsLaughing3.wav
PencilSharpener.wav
[It's OK for music to be stereo but not Sounds - my experience suggests that stereo sounds may also affect certain in-game sounds like those from weapons or voices].

In the LevelInfo, the DefaultGameType is 'Class'Botpack.TeamGamePlus' - if played from the Editor, the map starts as a Team Game. It's probably best if the DefaultGameType is left blank - since the map prefix is DM, the map will play as a DeathMatch map.

A personal thing perhaps but there is a PlayerStart in a drawer and I'm not sure this is a 'good idea' - the player spawning there will not be able to see anything outside the drawer and, without jumpboots, will have to translocate into the 'unknown' - possibly not the best way to start off?

Hope this does not come over as too negative as the map is certainly enjoyable and fun to play

Appreciate the comments.
I thought for certain that the sounds were mono as I made them myself. They came across fine for myself and my testers.
I can't believe I put the wrong game type. Ugh.

Appreciate your taking the time to play it. And the honest review!

[OjitroC]

I normally play in 469 but played 436 today and got this crash in the map

Code: Select all

Critical: appError called:
Critical: Assertion failed: Playing.Channel [File:C:\UTDev\Galaxy\Src\UnGalaxy.cpp] [Line: 1250]
Critical: Windows GetLastError: Success. (0)
Exit: Executing UObject::StaticShutdownAfterError
Exit: Executing UWindowsClient::ShutdownAfterError
Exit: UGalaxyAudioSubsystem::ShutdownAfterError
Log: DirectDraw End Mode
Exit: UOpenGLRenderDevice::ShutdownAfterError
Critical: StartSample
Critical: UpdateSounds
Critical: UGalaxyAudioSubsystem::Update
Critical: UGameEngine::Draw
Critical: UWindowsViewport::Repaint
Critical: UWindowsClient::Tick
Critical: ClientTick
Critical: UGameEngine::Tick
Critical: UpdateWorld
Critical: MainLoop
Exit: Exiting.

The crash happened when I was near SpecialEvent4 which plays the sound 'DSSchoolSD.OneShot.KidsLaughing2'. Looks like Galaxy was unable to handle that sound?

[browndl]

I normally play in 469 but played 436 today and got this crash in the map

Code: Select all

Critical: appError called:
Critical: Assertion failed: Playing.Channel [File:C:\UTDev\Galaxy\Src\UnGalaxy.cpp] [Line: 1250]
Critical: Windows GetLastError: Success. (0)
Exit: Executing UObject::StaticShutdownAfterError
Exit: Executing UWindowsClient::ShutdownAfterError
Exit: UGalaxyAudioSubsystem::ShutdownAfterError
Log: DirectDraw End Mode
Exit: UOpenGLRenderDevice::ShutdownAfterError
Critical: StartSample
Critical: UpdateSounds
Critical: UGalaxyAudioSubsystem::Update
Critical: UGameEngine::Draw
Critical: UWindowsViewport::Repaint
Critical: UWindowsClient::Tick
Critical: ClientTick
Critical: UGameEngine::Tick
Critical: UpdateWorld
Critical: MainLoop
Exit: Exiting.

The crash happened when I was near SpecialEvent4 which plays the sound 'DSSchoolSD.OneShot.KidsLaughing2'. Looks like Galaxy was unable to handle that sound?

I appreciate your checking the map out. I don't really know what to do about other versions as I only run the latest one. Also that music file problem is odd. I produced 3 separate KidsLaughing files from a single file so I have no idea why one would be causing an issue. It has been played on several servers in various matches and I have not received any reports from anyone. Hopefully these are just random anomalies.

[OjitroC]

Back playing in 469d, I noticed that my footstep sounds were distorted (as I noted above, a side-effect of a problematic wav sound in a map) so I've converted those four stereo wav files to mono and imported them into DSSchoolSD.uax to replace the stereo sounds - the sounds are now fine, no distortion.

Perhaps it's down to the version of Galaxy I am using - I have a feeling I kept a slightly older version than the one that came with 469d but not sure about that (certainly pre 469 versions of Galaxy don't support stereo wav sounds). People who use other audio drivers that support stereo wouldn't notice any issues with the sounds (I think ALAudio supports stereo - I can't use that though).

[jmartin]

Nice work, exceptional map, as always.

Killer sound track.

Everything checks out 5 by 5 on my 432.

No problems with the audio at the pencil sharpener, overhead projector, sink, alarm, clock, etc.

Ronald Reagan is the last president, so I assume this classroom is set somewhere back in the late 80's?

I love the pencils in the ceiling.

What, no weird animal in the terrarium?

I noticed you use a lot of semi-solid brushes. Does that make a difference?

Please tell me there is a VHS copy of "Back to School" in there somewhere.

And a water zone, where, to enter, you have to execute a perfect "Triple Lindy" grin, just kidding.

Good job. I wouldn't change a thing.

A+

[browndl]

Nice work, exceptional map, as always.

Killer sound track.

Everything checks out 5 by 5 on my 432.

No problems with the audio at the pencil sharpener, overhead projector, sink, alarm, clock, etc.

Ronald Reagan is the last president, so I assume this classroom is set somewhere back in the late 80's?

I love the pencils in the ceiling.

What, no weird animal in the terrarium?

I noticed you use a lot of semi-solid brushes. Does that make a difference?

Please tell me there is a VHS copy of "Back to School" in there somewhere.

And a water zone, where, to enter, you have to execute a perfect "Triple Lindy" grin, just kidding.

Good job. I wouldn't change a thing.

A+

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah the map is supposed to be in the eighties, I was wondering if anyone would catch that. There are creatures in the terrarium. For some reason they did not show up for my beta testers when they played offline, but they did show up on the server. Great idea about the VHS lol, I wish I had thought of that. I do have the Ferris Buller roll call on the desk and the 6 Million Dollar Man show opener. And if you find the walk-man it has a surprise playing.

The semi-solids can make for less BSP cuts but they can also cause issues if allowed to sink into other geometry, if there is much bad brush work, if off the grid, etc. Everything thing seemed to hold together though.

I appreciate your encouraging words, it means a lot. I hope you get many hours of enjoyment from the map.

[UTPe]

Yeah the map is supposed to be in the eighties

great ! the map deserves a higher rating just for this
long live the 80s !

I was wondering if anyone would catch that

sorry, I didn't get that but this is due to my personal experiences. I've always been studying in old schools, almost all of them built at the beginning of the twentieth century. the first bell in my old highschool played in 1923, even though the building is even older, it was built around 1850, before American Civil War.

[EvilGrins]

The map plays very well. Bots go everywhere and the only problem I encountered most probably wouldn't have an issue with.

Normal sized players have no issues on the map, but as I've got bots that're Sktroopers it turns out being a little larger than normal causes them difficulty in some spots. They can't get out of them.

There's a lot of usage of the transloc on this map, bots use them great but (and I've no idea why) Sktroopers have a harder time using them. Not sure how being larger than standard makes teleporting difficult.

Map is default set to Team Deathmatch, which is ideal for this environment.

What, no weird animal in the terrarium?

Pupae are weird, and it has 2.

Great to see a modern take on the school-room

Not that modern, the US presidents lined up along the ceiling only go up to Ronald Reagan.

[OjitroC]

Great to see a modern take on the school-room

Not that modern, the US presidents lined up along the ceiling only go up to Ronald Reagan.

I meant modern in terms of when the map was made rather than the Reagan era date of the school-room itself - compare the brightness and sharpness of the design and of the contents of the room (the desks/chairs/books/bookcases etc, etc) and the overall richness of detail with many of the other school maps out there which date from the early or mid 2000s (often clunky with darkish textures for example). This map sits with interiors from Lunic/Nix and Kylie, for example, in reflecting a more subtle and contemporary approach to map design than characterised many of the early/mid period interior sniper maps (which is not to say that there aren't other mappers who have produced and/or are producing good quality interior designs of course). It's just something I've noticed and come to appreciate over the last six months or so playing (and messing around with) a hell of a lot of sniper maps.

I did notice that the Presidents ended at Reagan on my second play of the map when taking time to fully explore the map - which suprised me a bit but then I have no idea of what an American (or indeed any other) class room would look like today.

... There are creatures in the terrarium. For some reason they did not show up for my beta testers when they played offline ...

Perhaps they have bNoMonsters set to True in their UnrealTournament.ini?

[browndl]

Wow. I am stoked by the comments, thanks for the feedback it is very helpful. That .ini bit is great, that is probably exactly what is going on. The presidents ending at Reagan was entirely intentional. The lunch boxes, the presidents, the props, the music, all were intended to point to the 80's. I graduated in the 80's so I have no idea what a classroom looks like now.

@EvilGrins, sorry about the issues with the custom player model.

[EvilGrins]

@EvilGrins, sorry about the issues with the custom player model.

No big deal, don't worry about.

Plus, makes it easier for me to kill them!

[Hitman]

Good map, thx