DOM-Contained2
Map Info
	File Name dom-contained2.zip Author nm Gametype UT2k4 Double Domination Date Added 04-03-2004 File Version 1.00 File Size 2.04 mb Player Count 0-12 Map Description None Review Rating 5.5 User Rating 6.5 Overall Rating 6.5
Review
Reviewer Ironblayde Awe Score:  2.0/3 Date 05-10-2004 Build Score:  1.5/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  2.0/3 User Point:  +1 Overall Score:  6.5/10 AWE: 2.0 Here we have an update of the author's DOM-Contained for UT2003, given a new build for the new game. Architecturally speaking, the map is not too different. Quite a few meshes have been replaced, to be sure, but the overall layout and general construction of the map will be instantly recognizable to anyone who played the original. It's not anything particularly interesting, just a series of rectangular rooms, but they're filled out nicely. There are two big architectural differences that struck me immediately. First, the large doomsday-device-looking things that were suspended from the ceilings of the control point rooms in DOM-Contained are gone now, and have been replaced with some nice light fixtures, improving visibility for players defending the control points. The other major change is the use of a series of very large pipes as corridors to the right of each control point room. The original map had those passages built using the same high-tech theme as the rest of the map, and I preferred it that way. Those large pipes are too boring, and don't quite fit the look of the rest of the place. The map's static meshes are largely from the ShiptechHardware set –- there isn't any custom content included –- so they will look familiar to anyone who's been playing UT2004 for a while. However, quite a few of the meshes have been retextured to mix things up a bit. Much of the retexturing work is aimed at replacing unnecessarily busy textures with more basic ones, and changing the dominant hue of the map from the pale green of the original to a nicer-looking silvery blue. All of the meshes are well chosen, and most are well placed. There are some minor errors lurking here and there. Some of the ceiling tube lights are placed too high, so the fixture that fastens them to the ceiling can't be seen, and instead it looks like the light bulbs themselves are stuck to the ceiling. The tube lights above the Domination points aren't centered in their cages either, but that's a very minor thing. More obviously, the author does seem to have some problems getting the meshes used for walkways to segue nicely into BSP-based geometry. In some places, the map's many grated walkways give way to more solid flooring in such a manner that it looks like the walkway is fastened to the side of the BSP surface it's meeting, which seems like the way that such a structure would be made. But in many other places, the grated walkway is placed such that it lies partially on top of a solid floor and then terminates abruptly. The other point worth mentioning here is that the BSP geometry does need a little work. Many of the smaller brushes look a little awkward, there are a lot of texture alignment misses, and the wall textures rub me the wrong way in some places. A lot of the BSP surfaces lack appropriate trim as well. Anyone who played the original version of this map probably remembers that it had some pretty serious lighting problems, so fortunately the author opted to redo the lighting scheme completely, and it's certainly an improvement, although not without its flaws. Some light fixtures are lit rather unevenly (like the blue column lights on one side of the central platform), and some are lit completely incorrectly. In particular I'm thinking of the ceiling lights above Domination point B, where the light bulbs that should be glowing white actually appear a rough dark gray. The rest of the ceiling lights that use the same mesh are set to be completely unlit, which looks a little off for its own reasons, but that's better than having light bulbs that look like rocks. Finally, most of the colored lights in the map are oversaturated. Some are even fully saturated, and it's not pretty. BUILD: 1.5 Quite a bit of BSP work is used to construct the general shape of the map. Although the author doesn't seem to take especial care to keep to the grid, almost all of the brushes line up perfectly and there aren't any holes that I saw. There are four brushes -– two in each control point room -– with unmerged polygons. The brushes are made so oddly that I almost wonder if the author did this intentionally, but in any case, the result looks strange. The map has enough doorways and corridors that proper zoning is all that's required to prevent much overdraw, and it certainly has that. I might have created separate zones for the large pipes to the right of each Domination point, and indeed, it looked like the author may have intended to do so since there's a superfluous ZoneInfo actor labeled "Blue Spawn Room," but that's not a big problem. I didn't have any performance issues in any part of the map. The author redid the bot pathing completely for this version of the map, and while the node network has become more efficient -– he cut the number of PathNodes by more than half -– the pathing seems to have actually gotten worse in all other respects. There are several breaks in the network, places where there obviously should be paths but there aren't any. These occur on the upper level of the pipes near Domination point A, on the lower level of the pipes at point B, and on the ramp directly in front of point B. The bots won't go for the Double Damage, which can be reached via lift jump (or hammer jump if you're feeling masochistic). I also couldn't get them to go for some groups of adrenaline pickups and health vials that require double-jumps to reach. Finally, there are no defense points set up, which is disappointing considering that there are a few decent places for them. Bots seem to like attacking the Domination points from above, so it would be beneficial if the defenders knew enough to get themselves up there too. A few final details: The map's numerous teleporters and lifts all work well, except that the lifts stay open for four seconds each (the default), which is much too long. Plenty of ambient sounds are present, sometimes placed inconsistently but otherwise good. CAST: 2.0 DOM-Contained2 makes for a pretty fun game of Double Domination. The symmetric layout is easy to learn, and with the addition of a few more teleporters, it's a little more well-connected than its predecessor. About two-thirds of the map's PlayerStarts are located in two spawn rooms, one for each team, and each of those rooms has three one-way teleporters: one that leads to the central room, and two that take you closer to either Domination point. The other third of the spawn points are placed such that the blue team will always start closer to point B, and the red team to point A. The walk to the nearest Domination point is slightly longer in those cases, but you're compensated by starting right near a Rocket Launcher or Lightning Gun. Generally speaking, it'll take just over ten seconds to reach a control point after spawning, and there's a lot of open ground to cover where you can be hit from great distances, so you'll probably want at least eight players. The weapon and item placement works nicely. It's very similar to the placement in the original version of this map, but with a number of changes made for the better. The Link Gun, Minigun, and Flak Cannon have exchanged places so that the more powerful weapons are farther away from the Domination points, giving players a little incentive to utilize more of the map (if they have the time). Those strangely-placed Health Vials in the center room of the original are much more convenient now. The center of the map holds a Double Damage and a Redeemer, and the map's rooms and corridors are big enough that it's easy to fly the Redeemer anywhere. While the simplicity of the layout makes the map very easy to learn and get into, there's a downside as well, which is that the control points are, in my opinion, too easy to hold. The control point rooms are quite large with very little occlusion, and all of the main entrances to each all occur on the far wall. The rooms can be entered from one side, but it's through a series of pipes that leads directly to one team's spawn room, so you'll only have to worry about enemies emerging from the pipes at one of the two control points. The ease of defense is especially apparent in single-player games, since the advantages conferred by the layout are compounded by sub-par bot pathing. I had to play on Godlike to get some good competition out of it. If I try that in most of the retail Domination maps, I tend to wind up with a disappointing score and a few new orifices. FINAL SCORE: 5.5 It certainly isn't the best Double Domination map I've played, but DOM-Contained2 is worth a look, and probably worth holding on to, especially since there isn't exactly a glut of user-made Domination maps out there. In most respects, it's a definite improvement over the original... except when it comes to bot pathing, which is unfortunate. I hope to see more Domination maps from this author in the future; if his future layouts and pathing lend themselves to more challenging games, I'm sure NM could come up with a real winner.
Map Comments
sandorski 04-05-2004 08:13 PM MDT Rating: 7   Good map, but a little too big for DD. Draco 10-28-2004 03:52 PM MDT Rating: 8   Nice map. T0mbr41d3r 01-27-2005 01:05 PM MST Rating: 5   Seems a bit......unoriginal