The test server is in the process of being moved to NYC. ETA is 2-3 days until it will be back up and running.

(We'll see if Silver goes into withdrawal...)

- Cleaned up the German Spawn area

- Cleaned up the mortar position SW of Russian #1 and moved around a lot of trees in the Russian #1 area

- The path that Silver was able to get a tank into (near the Southwest Bridge) has been cleaned up. It is now more obvious that this path is traversable by both vehicles and infantry. (I decided to go with the flow and turn it into a working vehicle passage.)

- Working on the G3 hilltop.

WTF! already there!

The pak position at G3 is now dug-in and protected by walls.

More trees, rocks and twigs (foliage) at the G3 hilltop.

There is a tank scrape on the G3 hilltop with a long view down the North road (serves as backup position to the G3 pak gunner).

Still have a few more spots that need patched up (missing terrain) on the German side.

Definitely spent a lot of my "detail budget" on the area around G3. Which is good because it's a focal point during CNQ play (North V2 Site to G3 Base to West V2 Site).

I definitely do not recommend attacking G3 head-on if there's a tank up in that tank scrape. Get your infantry scouting ahead. They can flank along the south wall (slipping through the trees around the North V2 Launch Site) and neutralize any tanks up in that tank scrape.

Also changed the layout at the North Bridge. You can now get vehicles down along the east side of the River and into the East Farm Field. Some of the trees moved around as well.

Changes in v079

- Cleaned up as many broken models as I know about. Hopefully there are no more models that you can hide in or shoot through (mostly ruined tank models).

- Changed the way the portals are done. This may impact framerates (for good or ill).

- Still need to close up a few more terrain holes.

...

Trying to decide whether we have a clean enough version to start more open testing... We might be close to that point. I don't think I'm ready for a public beta yet, but I may remove the password from the test server sometime in the next week. Before that, I need to (at a minimum):

- Make sure all those terrain holes are patched
- Fix all of the broken pieces of road.
- Detail the interior of the Farm house
- Detail the interior of the four buildings in the Russian spawn and the tunnel under the spawn

The PK3 now weighs in at 6.4MB (the DDS in-game maps are 500KB each and I have 3 of them at the moment).

There are a few performance trouble spots. They'll be more noticable during rounds where the visibility is extra clear. Most of the fixes to those trouble spots will involve getting rid of detail.

Problems that are blockers for a public beta:
- Terrain holes (I think there's only one hole left)
- Map edges not quite finished
- Broken road mesh (the pothole syndrome)
- Buildings that are not detailed inside
- Fence lines that have not been connected
- Alpha blends that have broken and display in weird ways
- Treelines that are missing the interior trees (which is most of them)
- Misc cleanup work in numerous places (smoothing out any angular terrain)

That's about 2-3 weeks worth of work to get all of that done

...

I've been debating all night as I've mucked with the map some more. Assuming that v079 compiles properly overnight and that I don't find any major flaws, I'll be setting up the Test server in open mode (no password) on Wed/Thu. I'm just waiting for EscapedTurkey to finish moving my server from Chicago to NYC (ETA is sometime Wednesday).

At that point, we'll have entered the second phase of alpha testing.

...

The planned rotation is as follows for gametypes during the second phase of alpha testing:

BEL - 30 minutes
BAS - 35 minute rounds, best of 3, 60 min limit (ends after 2 stalemate rounds)
HQ - 30 minutes
BAS - (same)
CNQ - 30 minute rounds, best of 3, 50 min limit
BAS - (same)

If/when I add CTF, it will interleave between BAS rounds similar to the above pattern. Same thing goes for DOM, which I think will work well with this map.

I want to heavily test BAS since that gametype requires the most balancing and it's the most important gametype for this map. I may also lay CNQ in more frequently as that gametype is another one that takes a lot of work to balance properly.

...

Comments on game server settings

BAS - standard rank / arty settings, tank respawn of 60 sec

BEL - arty after 20 points, game over at 40 points (someone who stays alive for 20 minutes), arty 30 sec after spawn with 30-60 sec waves (aggressive arty). Tank respawn of 10 seconds.

CNQ - arty at 40 points (maybe 60 for arty rank), standard timing on arty, the 13 objectives are 10 points each, bonus objectives are 100 points, round ends at 300 points or 30 minutes. Tank respawn of 3 minutes.

HQ - arty at 60 points, 60 sec after spawn with 60-90 sec waves, game over at 900 points (15 minutes of "held" time), no tanks allowed in HQ (or respawn on tanks of 5 minutes with only light tanks available)

...

Other notes:

- The area around G1 really isn't finished. I'm waiting to see how it plays out.

- R3 is a bit bare as well, especially the location of the pak45.

DRAFT of the player README file (this file will be located inside the PK3 as well as inside the release ZIP)

------------------------------------------------------------
Tuchola Forest 1945 - Multiplayer map for CoD:UO

ALPHA TESTING VERSION 000 - APR 6 2006
(scrapyardbob@mobclan.com)
------------------------------------------------------------

NO PART OF THIS PROJECT FILE, MAP .BSP, CUSTOM TEXTURES,
LOADING SCREENS, IN-GAME MAPS OR ANY OTHER CONTENT MAY BE
ALTERED IN ANY WAY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT MY EXPRESS
CONSENT. ANY SUCH ACTION WILL CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF
INTELLECTUAL COPYRIGHT.

------------------------------------------------------------

ALPHA TESTING NOTES:

Since this is an alpha test version, please do not host this on public clan servers. Revisions will be happening on a daily basis and you will be constantly chasing your tail trying to keep up with the latest alpha version. It is best for everyone if you come to the Tuchola Forest Alpha Test server to play with other alpha testers.

Please leave any and all feedback / bug reports in the {MOB} forums. You can find the latest feedback thread at:

http://www.mobclan.com/forums/upload/index.php?showforum=73

If you have screenshots or demo files of problem areas, please e-mail them to scrapyardbob@mobclan.com. Please be sure to include enough contextual information in your screenshot (rather then focusing tightly in on the problem area) so that I can locate these spots in the map. Locational information (using the console, type /viewpos) is also extremely helpful. Bugs that might warrant a screenshot:

- Messed up textures
- An abnormally high vert/tri count (/cg_drawFPS 2)
- Terrain holes
- Exploitable glitches (get in behind the treelines, inside of models, or other exploits)
- Other things that are too complicated to describe in the forums

If you need help recording demos, see:

http://www.mobclan.com/forums/upload/index...?showtopic=7047

The latest information about test changes can be found at:

http://www.mobclan.com/forums/upload/index.php?showforum=73

------------------------------------------------------------

CLIENT REQUIREMENTS AND NOTES:

1) THE AFTER-HOURZ VEHICLE PACK IS REQUIRED ON YOUR MACHINE

This map requires that the server and any players have the After-Hourz vehicle pack on their machines. You can find the AHz vehicle pack at:

http://www.after-hourz.com/cod/BarbVehicles.php

If you have played maps like Ardennes 1944, Barbarossa or Smolensk then you will already have the necessary PK3 installed on your machine (z_ahz_vehicles.pk3).

2) If you encounter the "hunkmegs" error, use the following to increase your hunkmegs setting:

(press the tilde key "~")
Type this into the console: /seta com_hunkmegs "256"

------------------------------------------------------------

CREDITS:

The After-Hourz vehicles and the Conquest gametype were developed by the After-Hourz crew (and known associates). They are a great resource to the CoD:UO mapping community.

Slyk has been invaluable at answering technical questions that I've had for my first public mapping project. In addition, I've learned a lot about mapping and portalling by closely examining how Slyk constructed his Barbarossa and Smolensk maps.

A big thanks to everyone at {MOB} who were willing to help test the map when it was still in an unfinished state. Even though gametypes like HQ / BEL are not their favorite gametypes, they never complained but slogged through and helped me to find bugs, errors and gameplay issues. Without alpha testers, the map would never have been as balanced or fine-tuned as it is today.

------------------------------------------------------------

DRAFT of the ADMIN README

------------------------------------------------------------
Tuchola Forest 1945 - Multiplayer map for CoD:UO

ALPHA TESTING VERSION 000 - APR 6 2006
(scrapyardbob@mobclan.com)
------------------------------------------------------------

NO PART OF THIS PROJECT FILE, MAP .BSP, CUSTOM TEXTURES,
LOADING SCREENS, IN-GAME MAPS OR ANY OTHER CONTENT MAY BE
ALTERED IN ANY WAY FOR ANY PURPOSE WITHOUT MY EXPRESS
CONSENT. ANY SUCH ACTION WILL CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF
INTELLECTUAL COPYRIGHT.

------------------------------------------------------------

ALPHA TESTING NOTES:

Since this is an alpha test version, please do not host this on public clan servers. Revisions will be happening on a daily basis and you will be constantly chasing your tail trying to keep up with the latest alpha version. It is best for everyone if you come to the Tuchola Forest Alpha Test server to play with other alpha testers.

Please leave any and all feedback / bug reports in the {MOB} forums. You can find the latest feedback thread at:

http://www.mobclan.com/forums/upload/index.php?showforum=73

If you have screenshots or demo files of problem areas, please e-mail them to scrapyardbob@mobclan.com. Please be sure to include enough contextual information in your screenshot (rather then focusing tightly in on the problem area) so that I can locate these spots in the map. Locational information (using the console, type /viewpos) is also extremely helpful. Bugs that might warrant a screenshot:

- Messed up textures
- An abnormally high vert/tri count (/cg_drawFPS 2)
- Terrain holes
- Exploitable glitches (get in behind the treelines, inside of models, or other exploits)
- Other things that are too complicated to describe in the forums

If you need help recording demos, see:

http://www.mobclan.com/forums/upload/index...?showtopic=7047

The latest information about test changes can be found at:

http://www.mobclan.com/forums/upload/index.php?showforum=73

------------------------------------------------------------

SERVER REQUIREMENTS AND NOTES:

1) THE AFTER-HOURZ VEHICLE PACK IS REQUIRED TO BE ON THE SERVER

This map requires that the server (and any players) have the After-Hourz vehicle pack on their machines. You can find the AHz vehicle pack at:

http://www.after-hourz.com/cod/BarbVehicles.php

If your players have ever played any of the AHz maps like Ardennes 1944, Barbarossa or Smolensk then they will probably already have the vehicle pack PK3 installed on their machines (z_ahz_vehicles.pk3). The vehicle pack provides a wide variety of tanks (making more interesting battles) as well as a working mortar.

I will NOT be releasing a version of Tuchola Forest that uses ONLY stock vehicles. (Thanks for asking, but it would require weeks of game testing to ensure that play is still balanced. Plus, the stock Russian/German heavy tanks are *SLOW* and do not perform well on a map of this size.)

2) In order to reduce gamestate issues, I recommend that you remove any unneeded PK3s from the server. Each unused PK3 adds to the gamestate and can lead to gamestate crashes during heavy player loads. If you encounter a gamestate crash, I will want a copy of your server console log showing the crash error as well as information on what PK3s you have installed and how many players were connected.

3) I'd strongly recommend that you download and install the Conquest gametype server-side mod. Conquest is a linear version of DOM that requires that teams seize and hold objectives as they progress across the map. Spawn points will change depending on which objective is currently being fought over. It works well as a replacement for standard TDM as it funnels players into smaller sections of the map. Gameplay tends to be very intense and fluid.

4) Players may need to increase their "hunkmegs" settings if they get that error. This can be done by:

(press the tilde key "~")
Type this into the console: /seta com_hunkmegs "256"

5) Please do NOT modify the contents of the PK3. There are some unscrupulous server admins out there who remove the splash image from the PK3 and replace it with one emblazoned with their clan tags. Please alert us if you find server admins who resort to low down tricks like this so that we can make fun of them.

------------------------------------------------------------

GAMETYPES: BAS, BEL, CNQ, HQ, TDM
(Future revisions will probably add support for CTF and DOM.)

------------------------------------------------------------

FEATURES:

1) Random weather engine

The Tuchola Forest GSC file has a random fog / weather engine. This will result in a randomly picked ambient sound, fog distance and optional rain effect at the start of each round. Some rounds will be crystal clear visibility (around 10000u max distance) while others will be foggy and rainy with very poor visibility. We believe this will add another dimension to the gameplay on Tuchola Forest.

The downside is that it will make no-fog hacks slightly more difficult to detect in the Punkbuster screenshots.

The current settings for the weather engine are as follows:

5% chance of super-clear weather. Little / no background noise. Fog distance of 9000u-10000u. Framerates will drop a bit as you can see farther then normal.

65% chance of moderate weather. A slight more noisy background with fog distance of 6000u-9000u.

20% chance of rain. Ambient sound will be a light drizzle (making it easier to sneak through bushes without being heard). Fog distance will be between 4000u and 6000u.

10% chance of snow. Ambient sound will be blowing wind and fog distance is 4000u to 6000u. Note: I do not have a working snow effect yet.

------------------------------------------------------------

COMMENTS ON GAMETYPES (AND SUGGESTED SETTINGS):

1) BASE ASSAULT (BAS)

Tuchola Forest was envisioned as a Base Assault map during planning stages (with secondary support for CNQ). It is the primary reason that the map was created and should be well suited for Base Assault. Due to the size of the map, you may wish to change the bomb plant time to 30 seconds instead of the default 15 seconds.

Base Assault runs very well using stock settings. I'd suggest a round time of 30-45 minutes to give each time multiple chances to mount an offensive.

2) BEHIND ENEMY LINES (BEL)

BEL has been a great way to encourage testers to explore the map and look into nooks and crannies that would otherwise be overlooked in other gametypes. I know that it's not a popular gametype, but we found that it works rather well. The best players are those who use jeeps to chase down and corner the allied players even if they don't personally get the kill.

We use the following to load the BEL gametype in our sv_maprotation string:

exec bel_large.cfg gametype bel map mp_uo_tucholaforest_077f

In our bel_large.cfg file, we have the following settings:

scr_rank_ppr "5"

scr_artillery_first_interval "30"
scr_artillery_interval "30"
scr_artillery_interval_range "30"

set scr_bel_alivepointtime "30" // One point every 30 seconds, default 10
set scr_bel_scorelimit "40" // Scorelimit, default 50
set scr_bel_timelimit "30" // Time limit, default 30
set scr_bel_positiontime "6" // Position update frequency, default 6 sec
set scr_bel_respawndelay "0" // Respawn delay, default 0
set scr_bel_showoncompass "1" // Show allied positions on the compass

Rounds will end after 20-30 minutes. The aggressive points-per-rank means that players get artillery strikes at 20 points instead of the standard 40 points. The short interval on artillery drops ensures that allied players cannot simply hide somewhere (as axis players will have plenty of artillery to flush them out with).

Tanks work fine in BEL. They are more of a liability then a help against fast-moving allied players who are running away in jeeps. The 10-second default respawn has no real impact on gameplay. Most tanks will end up sprinkled around the map as allied/axis players kill each other and change places.

3) CONQUEST (CNQ): http://www.after-hourz.com/cod/

This map makes a very good CNQ map. If your players have not played CNQ, but they enjoy games like TDM / DOM then you should give CNQ a trial run for a week. Due to the fluid and ever-changing objectives in CNQ, campers will earn fewer points then players who are actively trying to take and defend objectives.

One note is that you will find CNQ gameplay to be a very intense TDM. Everyone is fighting over two spots on the map (the current objective and the previous objective) so there is a lot of combat. Long round times are probably not a good idea, especially if you are doing a "best of 3" configuration.

Our sv_maprotation line (adjust as needed):

exec cnq_large.cfg allow_tanks 1 gametype cnq map mp_uo_tucholaforest_077f

Contents of the cnq_large.cfg file:

scr_rank_ppr "20"

set scr_tank_respawn_wait "90"

scr_artillery_first_interval "60"
scr_artillery_interval "90"
scr_artillery_interval_range "30"

// CNQ (v3)
// http://www.after-hourz.com/cod/cnq.php
// http://www.after-hourz.com/cod/cnqadmin.php
set scr_cnq_scorelimit "300" // scorelimit, default is 500
set scr_cnq_timelimit "50" // timelimit, in minutes
set scr_cnq_roundlength "30" // round length, in minutes (CNQ 3.0 only)
set scr_cnq_winlimit "2" // limit of number of rounds won (CNQ 3.0 only)
set scr_cnq_roundlimit "3" // set the maximum number of rounds per game (CNQ 3.0 only)
set scr_cnq_startrounddelay "20" // time before a round begins, in seconds (CNQ 3.0 only)
set scr_cnq_respawn_wave_time "10" // time interval between wave spawns, in seconds (CNQ 3.0 only)
set scr_cnq_captime "30" // default capture time, if not specified by the mapper, in seconds (CNQ 3.0 only)
set scr_cnq_clearscoreeachround "0" // whether to clear player scores between rounds (CNQ 3.0 only)
// set sv_log_damage "0" // turn off logging of damage (keeps log file size reasonable)
set scr_cnq_player_objective_points "2" // Points to award player for achieving objective
set scr_cnq_team_objective_points "10" // Points to award team for achieving objective
set scr_cnq_player_bonus_points "5" // Points to award player for achieving bonus objective
set scr_cnq_team_bonus_points "100" // Points to award team for achieving bonus objective
set scr_cnq_defend_score "1" // Points to player for defending an objective from capture (CNQ 3.0 only)
set scr_cnq_campaign "0" // Set Conquest to run in "campaign mode". Winners of current CNQ map will be attackers on the next map.
set scr_debug_cnq "0" // whether to run Conquest is debug mode, allowing a single player to play on their own

4) HEADQUARTERS (HQ)

Headquarters works moderately well on a map of this size. We have attempted to make sure that all of the radio spawns are in the middle third of the map area with spawn points in the middle half of the map. This keeps players closer to the new radio locations but you are still at the mercy of the HQ spawn algorithm. (In HQ, players will spawn near teamates, but if all teammates are dead then everyone will spawn at the opposite side of the map.)

I recommend installing the server-side mod (user_svr_hq151a.zip - Mar 31 2006) that allows you to configure additional CVars for HQ. See the following URLs for details on that server-side mod:

http://www.iwnation.com/Forums/index.php?showtopic=21158
http://www.modsonline.com/Forums-top-18862.html

Tanks should probably not be used during HQ. The HQ gametype has a bug that allows tanks to respawn as soon as they tank respawn timer runs out (default of 10 sec) before the tank that was at that position is destroyed. If you do use tanks on an HQ map, you should make sure to set the tank respawn value to a large value (120 or even 300 seconds). Heavy tanks are not recommended

We call for HQ using the following sv_maprotation string:

exec hq_large.cfg allow_tanks 0 gametype hq map mp_uo_tucholaforest_077f

The contents of hq_large.cfg are as follows:

scr_rank_ppr "15"

scr_artillery_first_interval "45"
scr_artillery_interval "90"
scr_artillery_interval_range "30"

set scr_tank_respawn_wait "240"

//HeadQuarters Default Description
set scr_hq_timelimit "30"
set scr_hq_scorelimit "900"

set scr_hq_zradioradius 50 // default 50u, max Z distance for capture/neutralize
set scr_hq_radioradius 120 // default 120u, max X-Y distance for capture/neutralize
set scr_hq_wavetime 30 // default 45 sec per respawn wave
set scr_hq_radiomaxhold 8 // default 6 "waves", max waves held before radio blows up, should be around 3-5 minutes
set scr_hq_radioneutraltime 8 // default 8 sec
set scr_hq_radiocapturetime 20 // default 10 sec
set scr_hq_radiospawndelay 60 // default 30 sec, time before next radio appears

5) TEAM DEATHMATCH (TDM)

I do not recommend running Tuchola Forest in TDM mode. The map is rather large and players will have trouble finding other players to kill. Instead, you should consider using the HQ / BEL / CNQ gametypes which are all objective-based TDM. Objective-based games will automatically funnel players into smaller areas of the map leading to more kills and more action.

We did not test the map in TDM mode, use at your own risk (although there's not much that could go wrong since BEL worked).

------------------------------------------------------------

CREDITS: Please see the other README file.

------------------------------------------------------------
THIS MATERIAL IS NOT MADE OR SUPPORTED BY ACTIVISION.

END FILE

<---- (climbing the wall waiting for the servers to show up in NYC)

(climbs the wall and starts pacing on the ceiling)

They did say the servers would be back up and running today...

No more posting in this thread. I'll be posting any additional information in the public alpha test thread (the 2nd phase of alpha testing).

Unless Druid wants to comment on the clarity of the ADMIN readme file?