Ambitious Project - Need Help

[MykeGregory]

So i made this BIG map. The biggest map i have made. I'm planning on calling it ac_city.
As the name suggests its a city (More of a town but the map is big) and.. i dunno, the more i add to it the more it doesn't feel right or the more "cheesy" i think it looks.

Need help identifying why i think this. Am i adding too much stuff? Is the stuff i'm adding not in-line with the mise-en-scene?

Help :/




Download

[RKTnoob]

ac_power ftw
power is too visible underneath the map, also the open area lags =(

[Ronald_Reagan]

It looks like things might be a bit too open in that mid screenshot, meaning it could cause some frame drop on some clients. The most serious maps will try to eliminate as much of this as possible.

Good Luck :D

[Robtics]

Also, the more different textures you use, the more messy it starts to look.

[RKTnoob]

If a map follows a style, with style being defined as a way of doing geometry and texturing it, it gives a map a certain consistency. Adding stuff that is based on the chosen style will never look out of place, only more or less cluttered. If you add stuff that is out of style, it will look out of place. It is a contrast of sorts.
The three buildings on the south side are in a same style, and the road is also style-consistent. adding more road wouldn't look out of place for example.

The map has potential, it has a certain charm, but it is not planned and executed well, so you're running into problems. The style is inconsistent, it's obvious that you hadn't settled for a certain style at the start, and now it clashes.

How will you fix it? I suggest you try to bring more order to your geometry, make elements that repeat in a consistent manner (your doors are all over the place with their size), and use certain combination of textures repeatedly for maximum effect. It's really a case by case basis, but that's all for naught if you can't fix the sever fps drop in the middle of the map

[Mr.Floppy]

RKTnoob really nailed it.

Additionally I'd say, judging from those screenshots, that your scales and proportions are quite a mess. It looks like there's a rather huge scene shrinked to halve it's size. Just consider the size of those streets and the depth of the buildings (2nd screenshot, right side, brown bricks).

As far as I've been trying myself, I can tell you'll never get anywhere close to a somewhat realistic city-feeling with the cube engine. Given you want the map to pass the restriction test. Especially creating streets that look like they actually could hold two cars side by side are pretty much impossible to achieve, without creating huge open areas. Have a look at ac_fabrik, which doesn't stress the theme too much, yet creates very high WQD values in certain spots.

You may just set the hole map into a scenario, where cars aren't supposed to drive along and stick to walkways only. You may also start with 2 or 3 rather open places, which are concealed by buildings and connect in a way, so you can't just look from one side of the map to the other and not from one open place directly into the another one.

[Orynge]

Also, call it mg_city or something like that instead, you don't want to overwrite anything.

[Andrez]

You can't make a 'city' with the default AC package textures. At last, you can make a village or a town. If you want to make a massive thing, use custom textures that look like skyscrapers frontsides, supermarket signs, etc...