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Title             : Hydro 64 LE 
Version           : LE 1.00 (For UT2004)
File Name         : CTF-Hydro64-LE.ut2 
Author            : Cory 'SpoonDog' Spooner 
Email Address     : thespoondog@beyondunreal.com 
Web Page          : http://spoondog.beyondunreal.com

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Files  	: CTF-Hydro64.ut2 



Credits	: Huge credit to Mithra Pattison, AI coder from Perception, for diving into the code to help me find a way around a major bot problem - wouldn't be fixed if not for the help!  Thanks to everyone at Perception for helping test, especially Alex/Lord_hades for giving me some feedback on the initial layout and doing the trick jumps for the video!  Thanks to John from Mapraider, Neoduck & Fordy for beta testing!  Thanks to Freeseus, Iniquitious, Hazel & the Atari community for the LE edition feedback, and thanks to Lord_Hades for actually starting the LE edition for me :)



Other maps	: Too many to be bothered putting 'em in here 
     		: (Just visit my website - see above)



--- Construction --- 

Editor(s) used       : UnrealEd, Photoshop, 3DS Max. 



--- Installation ---

To install the map, unzip the files to the following directories:

.ut2 files to UT2004\Maps



--- Description ---

Hydro-power dams have proven to be a favoured battle place in the tournaments.  Now here's the ultimate one - a previously undiscovered piece of antiquity, nestled in the middle of a beautiful, rolling valley.

Now revived, no longer is it the harmless creator of power... but the perfect CTF killing ground.



--- Notes/Stuff You Dont Need To Know But Should Read Anyway ---

I did a write-up on the map - basically how I went about constructing the level from start to finish.  You can see it here:

http://spoondog.beyondunreal.com/WayOfHydro_01.html


First of all, as there's often some confusion - this is NOT a remake of Hydro 16 - some UT1 players might vaguely recognise the layout - it was based on a UT1 map I did, CTF-Hydro32 (which was intended to be a "sequel" to Clawfist's awesome Hydro16).  I took the feedback from that and improved upon the original layout, and put up a BSP layout version for testing.  Thanks to some guys at UP, I got enough feedback to let me make a few tweaks and get started on the real map.  Quite a way into the actual development, I realized it's actually quite a behemoth of a level - quite a few unique rooms and such... but with a few late nights and a few *cough* sick days *cough*, I was able to chisel my way through it in a few weeks.  To be honest, unlike a lot of my other 2k3/2k4 maps, I'm very happy with how this one turned out.  It looks decent, plays decent, and I was also able to get the bots to use the map almost exactly how I wanted them to!  I was going for a more "realistic" than usual look - it still looks "Unreal" to an extent but the lighting was meant to simulate real lighting a bit more, kinda like HL2 with it's radiosity and such.  Hopefully the map should cater for the both the casual and the competitive players.  Have fun! :)


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LE CHANGELIST!

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In the bases, above the flag, the pipes lead all the way up to a section where there are some health viles (similar to the UT99 Hydro16). IMHO, that needs to go for league play, because when both teams have flags, they'll camp up there if they can and it slows down the game speed to have to search for someone hidden in the rafters that can sit there.

Done. Blocked access on the top pipes.

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In the middle of the map (the open area), around the high edges... make sure no one has access to the top of the map. I was checking this a little yesterday, and I didn't find one. But, there is one corner where there is an edge and you actually fall through some of the map and land hard (I'm at work or I'd be posting screenshots)

Checked. Couldn't find any holes but added a blocking volume at the very top of the middle as someone may have been able to translocate out if they saw where the volumes were in the editor.

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In the middle of the map, as you exit the bases, there are some boxes with a ramp leading up one. This leads to a ledge around a corner. In the video, this is the ledge where the guy dodge-boosts off to land on the lower middle platform. That ledge needs to be a little wider to be effective in competitive play because there's no way you can walk around it quickly without falling off. Unless your intention is that you should hammer up in the first place. And in that case, the ramp is useless.

Done. Made it wider.

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Not sure about the waterway with the keg of health... The waterway doesn't really transport you any distance (like Mc$hitty... McSwartzly for anyone that doesn't recognize that) which is a good thing in my opinion because your fast map flow doesn't need it. I'm just wondering if your map even needs that.

Done. The passage is gone.

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I don't know how many people noticed this, but the lifts leading up to the sniper bunker are lethal. When you dodge over onto them... if you don't land in the middle of the platform, you will often be crushed (killed) by the overhanging wall. You have 1/6 of a second to be in the middle of the lift before this happens. Happens more frequently than you would imagine... and is quite annoying. A simple solution to this is to make a larger distance between that overhanging wall and the lift itself. This also makes it easier for people to throw their translocator down the lift shaft without touching the lift, thus allowing an FC (flag carrier) to not have to wait for the lift.

Done. Made lift hole wider.

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side note: the blue base's purple lift may need a color change

Done. No more gay!

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The rafters above the lift (lift-jumping). If you stand on the lift, 1/3 the way from the left, you can lift jump to the support beams above the sniper bunker (without hitting your head on the beam). This is all good and well. However, you can throw your translocator out of a small opening in the far corner, resulting in being able to walk around on the roof. Someone has mentioned this above though.

Done. Removed access to the roof (it was a last minute change I did that introduced that... pissed me off!).


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Ceiling pipes running above sewer system behind the flag base area. They are too close to the ceiling. Well, actually, the ceiling is too close to them because the ceiling pipes are the perfect distance for hammering off the pipes on the side of the sewer. The reason they are too close is because dodge jumping doesn't do much... you keep hitting your head.

Done. Lowered pipes.

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As you turn right, to face the sewer, on your far right hand side, just around the wall are some barrels. Right next to the barrels are some pipes that run horizontal along the wall. Those barrels need to be just slightly further from the pipes so someone can use them to double-jump-wall-dodge up on to get onto the pipes. You can do it right now, but because the barrels are so close to the pipes, you often hit your head doing the double jump, resulting in falling off the barrels before you even have a chance to do the wall-dodge onto the pipes.

Done. Moved barrels slightly and used blocking volumes to make it less of a chore.

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Polygons on the sewer pipes near the ceiling (as described in ___a.). You hammer jump from the side pipes on the wall to reach the ceiling pipes. When you get up there, you immediately get caught on some polygons (I think from the brace that holds up the pipes) which just results in a couple milliseconds of pressing jump furiously in order to continue running. A small annoyance that slows the flag carrier.

Done I think. The braces don't have collision - I guess you were just getting snagged on the extra layer of pipes. There's only one layer of pipes going along the tunnel now, shouldn't snag.

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Those two pillarish-looking things that are on both sides of the flag. If you make a grab and dodge onto the lift..., you often bounce off the pillar resulting in a 1/8 second delay of you actually getting on the lift, but which might determine whether a shock combo gets you in the ass or not. Small issue. If you could make the them a little less wide, that would prevent this.

Done. Made them thinner.

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Bare with me here on this description. I have a video of me doing this but no place to upload... give me a place to put it up and you can watch what I'm describing to you below here: The boiler room...err... the place with those two big (and 2 smaller) cylinders. If you choose to dodge from one cylinder to the other (which is all the way across the room), you can do it. It's the perfect distance and it's just challenging enough to make people happy. However, if you're the FC (flag carrier) and you've just made a grab, you get onto the lift, walked off to scafold to your right, dodged onto the pipes just slightly to the left and in front of you, walked some more... right dodged to a weird looking thing (just above the link gun & ammo) dodged again to put you in line with the hallway going down. Dodged again to land on the small near-vertical board lying on the wall, dodged to your right to land on a cylinder, gone into the short duct (even if you've taken out the duct... you should leave some sort of walkway there), and come out in the boiler room. Now you can dodge from one of the large cylinders all the way across to the other one. You've just did a nice little run. And since you haven't fallen off, there should be some reward for doing so. A very small one. But one that you can only get recieve by staying up high and avoiding the floor. What I'm getting at is that you have to jump down here. Why? because that's where the exit to that room is... which leads out into the open. So what I suggest is that you make the exit to that room taller... so a person who has just done all that stuff above can dodge off or dodge-boost off of from the top of that last cylinder, giving him a small tactical reward. It's a small touch, but a noticeable one.

Done. Made exit door taller so you should be able to dodge out of it now.

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In the very center of the map. There is a tiny fence surrounding the super armor area. League edition maps won't have a fence that might hinder someone dodging onto that platform. Obviously you could remove it, or you could leave it there and instead make it something you could walk through.

Done. Removed rails.

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No redeemers in league play. So you can remove that piece where it's located.

Done. Removed redeemer and the area it was in.

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The Flak, Rocket Launcher, and Shock Rifle ammo located next to the weapons needs to be spread out. It's too easy to pick up both ammo clips on accident(when you play in a match, you leave ammo so your team can pick it up).

Done. Made them further apart.

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Place 1 shock rifle and 1 rocket launcher ammo in both corners of the flag room behind the flag.

Done.

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In the middle of the map, place 2 health packs on either side of the cylinder tower, just below the super armor.

Done.

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Keg of health. Since there are two kegs and they are located close to the flag... they are considered "Flag D" pickups. Ie... it's the flag D's job to make sure the enemy doesn't pick it up. I like how close that was to the flag. Since the water duct is gone now, make sure you keep it near the flag.

Done. It's on one of the large pipes on the way out of the flag room (towards the boiler room route).

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Dual amps. Wow, this is fun. Okay, in this case, they are too far out of the reach of the flag defender (2 defense, 1 mid, 2 offense). Plus, the base flag defense already has access to the keg of health (I assume, I don't know what your new location of it is). These amps need to go somewhere else inside the bases. Somewhere that's not too difficult to get to, and something that the defence can pick up without leaving their routes too much. Maybe the "Boiler room" is a good place for it... somewhere up high. You may even be able to tie this in as a benefit to the flag carrier if it happens to spawn while he's around there. If you go that way. I would recommend it be something you could dodge to, while exiting and going into the open.

Done. It's now in the boiler room on one of the "boilers".


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That's enough... This level and it's meshes/textures are copyright Cory 'SpoonDog' Spooner, July 2005.