Have been in contact with a couple of guys from "Spark Crafter Collective" and tonight we trialed a couple of their maps on PCW's.

The maps were:

ns2_fracture http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/129952/ns2-fracture
and
ns2_uplift http://forums.unknownworlds.com/discussion/129897/ns2-uplift

Both maps are run by really active mappers that have the maps to a proper playable level already. I think both are really viable inclusions to the 3rd season and would urge anyone to test these maps.

Please can the admins have a look at these with an eye to including one or both into season 3?

We are going to be playing one of both of these on Wednesday in another pcw (vs Wonga assuming they agree) and I would urge an admin to come along and take a look.

One of the chaps from SCC was spectating the games this evening and will try and get a few clips etc from the games on at some point this week. But I really do think if you're looking to add more maps to the rotation - then you really couldn't go wrong with these. They are well balanced and pretty easy to pick up.

From 1 look I know some people will say that fracture is too big and uplift is too basic - but I can assure you they play really well!

So come on, come on, do it, DO IT NOW!

My god, ns2_uplift brought out the real mechs!

http://i.imgur.com/I8zpFb9h.jpg

Those maps don't have any textures at all, they are far from season ready. I haven't played them, so I can't speak of balance. May be worth considering next season.

They could be textured I'm sure if you asked them. The point being that they have worked hard on balance before texture - which just has to be priority? (give me the choice of anything before having to play the "looks good on the eye" descent)

I'm sure if it was week 3 and you told them to have it textured they could - but please, I beg of you to try it and consider it! I honestly think they are more balanced than the current options. Honestly these guys are working on these maps every day - after yesterdays PCW they changed 3/4 of the vents within an hour after feedback - these guys are a extremely active bunch.

tbh I don't care if there is no texture, if the map is good.

These maps could get textured in 4 days? I can't quite believe that.
Yes, balance is a priority, but not the only priority.

Anyway, it's not like we lack maps to add this season. We are already getting 5 new maps to add to the map pool.
ns2_biodome
ns2_docking
ns2_tanith
ns2_turtle (waiting for upload of new version)
ns2_caged

I've not suggested skinned in 4 days - that's why i said make them week 3-4 maps.

tanith is nice but broken (spawning in east hive doesn't spawn enough eggs etc) and is fundamentally flawed in this version of the game due to cyst line - you only have 1 way to cyst out of the hive on the east and aliens have only 1 way out the hive

That's a problem, I will try to reach Jonacrab and hear him out if he is able to fix that in time. Maybe removing Sattelite as a spawn would be sufficient as a temp fix?

Also, if all the maps above gets included, we have twice the amount of maps compared to season 2. I think this should be the limit to not stress teams too much with learning new maps.

The textured version of ns2_caged is out, thanks alot to Flaterectomy for putting so much effort into this map and on top of that texturing most of the map in a few days, amazing job! The textures are pretty simple as of right now, he will polish the looks as he goes on with it. The current graphics remind me of ns1 :D

While Tanith looks good, it just doesn't play well. The 2 maps that Bonkers has suggested are far more competitive friendly. They are already in the process of texturing them and they are eager to get them to a state where they would be accepted.

Fracture isn't greyboxed now. That video is old. The first pass of basic texturing has been applied to it and Howser is currently adding textured features and landmarks to make areas memorable.

Uplift still has a lot of greyboxing but is good to play.

Caged is very good. :)

biodome has massive fps issues, so we should probably hold up on that until someone makes an NSL version of it =S

I also have issues with Biodome dropping fps in a lot of areas, especially in Main Hall where I get ~50. My CPU is pretty old these days, but for reference I get 100+ on Descent and a solid 120+ on other maps. At a guess it has something to do with all that fancy glass and reflections in them, which are present even though I should have those disabled.

there is also a problem with biodome that some textures dont load and you can see through those walls :/

an NSL version wouldn't really "fix" biodome. Multiple areas of the map load over 4,000 draw calls, which lead to massive FPS drops for people. Even more areas are over 3,000.

For reference, Hub in tram has around max 1800. Descent doesn't really go over 1500 (Good job Jonascrab)

Making an NSL version with reduced lights only decrease draw calls by around 200. Obviously going from 3,000 draw calls to 2800 will not change much.

There are various line of sight issues that cause multiple areas of the map to render. Also, the map is far more detailed than other maps.


TLDR: If you include biodome, you are going to have a bad time.