DM-1on1-EternalSands
Map Info
	File Name dm-1on1-eternalsandsv2.zip Author Revelation Gametype UT Deathmatch Date Added 02-23-2006 File Version 2.00 File Size 1.05 mb Player Count 2 - 3 Map Description A long forgotten tomb under the sands of Egypt, reopened as a Tournament arena... That's all to say about this map. The only requirement is Unreal Tournament v436. BUT: A pretty fast computer is also required because of the high polycounts in this Map! I would suggest to set your Color-Depth to 32Bit, otherwise some Textures might look a bit ugly. Before anyone starts complaining about, I need to explain the following: There is no CloudZone. I didn't forget it, but you might know how big zone-portals, like CloudZones need, kill the performance. So in that case, I decided for a better playability instead of pure realism. UPDATE (02-23-2006): Here we go, this is the announced version 2.0. I've completely redone the item-placement and balancing, kicked three weapons (Sniper, Ripper, Bio), kicked the Amplifier, and changed positions and amount of health and armor. After a little testing, I also decided to set the player count to "2 - 3" (four are REALLY too many in my opinion), I think this works quite well here. But of course, I didn't remove the "1on1" in the map-name, so I could just update the version and not had to completely remove the old map (including the review). Have fun playing! Revelation Review Rating 8 User Rating 8 Overall Rating 8
Review
Reviewer Gnome and Sapper Awe Score:  3.0/3 Date 02-23-2006 Build Score:  3.0/3 Review Schema Cast Score:  2.0/3 User Point:  0 Overall Score:  8/10 DM-1on1-EternalSands by Revelation AWE: 3.0 BUILD: 3.0 CAST: 2.0 ADRENALINE RATING: 5/5 RECOMMENDED NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 ------------------------------------------------------ REVEIW UPDATE FOR VERSION 2.0 ------------------------------------------------------ For previous review, please read below. GNOME: I'm pleased to see that some mappers do see their reviews and do take steps to improve on them. When last we checked, Revelation had gone back into the map to repair the cast which was the only thing lacking in score. Although improvements were made...it was not enough to earn the 9.0. SAPPER: It was so close too. GNOME: Now I know that we had suggested that some powerups and a few weapons be pulled from the map and perhaps a little rearranging was in order. Although this was done...it was done in the wrong order. SAPPER: just looking at this map should have told you that the ripper belonged in it. The dazzling z-axis and all the places for it to bounce off made it perfect. After heavy testing between both versions, It could be wished that the ripper be put back in. Probably right where the ASMD is right now. Pull the shockrifle. GNOME: I love the new positioning of the kneepads and the armor. I also like the new location of the plasmagun. But for a sense of balance, the combat centered alot around the flak being so close to the armor. I would switch the flak with the minigun. You might get more map use that way. SAPPER: We're not going to change the score. GNOME: I wanted to up the CAST to 2.5. SAPPER: But we decided that changing the score by 0.5 might show a bias. GNOME: As if you were ever afraid of that Sapper... SAPPER: So the score stands. GNOME: If you want to release a v2.1 or a v3.0 or whatever, by all means. We want you to go for and get that 9.0! Good job and good luck! ------------------------------------------------------ SAPPER: We're back! Finally! GNOME: We apologize for our absence...but it was just one thing after another that kept us away. First our computer broke, had to get it replaced (with a top of the line system that can run Doom 3 at full acceleration I might add!), then our UT cd broke so we had to find another copy of that which took forever, then we had to move, then Christmas came along, then we started playing the crap out of World of WarCraft. Let me tell you it's been a long journey but we're definately glad to be back! SAPPER: Right! I can't wait to start making fun of everyone's maps again... THE STORY GNOME: A long forgotten tomb under the sands of Egypt...that apparently was hit by a big dust storm that unearthed it allowing the Tournament to move in. Shortly after, archeologists around the world rose up in protest because they didn't even bother to remove any of the artifacts inside before they let their contestants start blowing things up. A shame really, the architects of this particular tomb had a fine sense of art. I was almost expecting to find Indiana Jones buried here. SAPPER: No comment. THE AWE FACTOR GNOME: I'm in awe! When I stepped into that tomb for the first time, I was like, "Whoa!" You're instantly surrounded by a very Egyptian atmosphere. The various fallen pillars and stone tablets and markings fill the arena very nicely. Solid texturing and fully sourced lighting that is dark enough to give you a very tomb-like feeling without being too dark that you can't see rounds out the map with a magician's flourish. SAPPER: The sky was oddly colored for an Egyptian night...but then who know what the sky will look like 300 years from now. THE BUILD SAPPER: What the hell is going on here? I'm not used to reviewing a good map. What am I supposed to say. GNOME: Say what's on your mind. SAPPER: Well I'd like to say that there's something wrong with the build of this map but I can't truthfully say that. I'd like to say that the sound doesn't fit or doesn't exist but I can't truthfully do that either. Everything works...brushwork is great...this guy is trying to put me out of a job! GNOME: Look on the bright side Sapper...for every good map...there's ten bad ones...I'm sure you'll get a chance to flew your muscles again. THE CAST SAPPER: Ah ha! I knew the map couldn't be perfect! GNOME: Of course not! It wouldn't be any fun to review a perfect map now would it? SAPPER: Although the flow of the map is pretty good...it's offset by the fact that there is simply way too much stuff to pick up. Too many guns, too much ammo, too many health vials and one too many quad damage buffs. GNOME: There's only one quad damage though. SAPPER: Which is exactly the problem. If you've got a one-on-one in a map where every weapon but the redeemer is available, quad damage loses something. Bottomline here...sniper rifle is not very appropriate to the map. Neither are the ammo dumps. At least one or two weapons needs to be removed as well as some ammo and a powerup. GNOME: When all is said and done though, it a nicely balanced map. We had our butts handed to us on a platter after playing our friend Kabraxis. SAPPER: We killed him the second time around though so I figure we were just out of practice. OVERALL GNOME: It's nice to play a good map for a change! SAPPER: I agree...it's nice playing it but not so great reviewing it. Can we review some garbage now? I'm itching to say something unpleasant.
Map Comments
GenMoKai 12-12-2005 08:46 AM MST   look like something i like :) downloading... Ve//DeTTa 12-12-2005 08:12 PM MST Rating: 9   very impressive. a little much for my aging system, but not as bad as Croon][. madscientist327 12-12-2005 09:05 PM MST   Looks nice! I'm going to download this one! :) Mellburn 12-14-2005 12:57 AM MST Rating: 10   W00t, W000t L33t, LeeT !!! THIS is NOripOFFoffAripOFF ohno! kurtloeffler 12-14-2005 09:58 PM MST Rating: 8   Good Cyrss's Female Dog 12-15-2005 03:05 PM MST Rating: 5.5   Nice flow here,reminded me a bit of DM-Anubus z0rr0 12-17-2005 02:37 PM MST Rating: 10   damn good!! [C:o:F]-54rum4n 12-18-2005 07:43 AM MST Rating: 10   Yeah, great map! I love the egypt theme! milb 12-19-2005 10:26 AM MST Rating: 8.5   Better then your last one! Like the theme, but it reminds me a bit of Swankys Rajan. Good GP btw. It's 8.5! Agent X 12-20-2005 06:05 AM MST Rating: 8   Excellent map, the Egypt theme is hard to pull off well, but it's done here. The map has the usual Z-Axis and has rock solid visuals. Revelation 03-04-2006 01:27 AM MST   @all: THX for your comments! @milb: lol, it also reminds ME of Rajan, I got the idea to this map when I browsed my UT-folder and found Rajan :D @Swanky: Oh damn, I never thought item placement would count so much... Ok, you are right, Minigun, Shock and Amp are too close together, but I always thought as follows: In a 1on1, the Flak is the most powerful weapon, so seperate it from the rest, I simply didn't think about the others. What I want to say, generally I agree, but I would never have rated placement so hard (not because it's my map, in general!). But I don't want to complain, just one thing: Next time I see you on ICQ, you will HAVE TO beta-test DM-1on1-Erebus. Haha! ;) @Gnome & Sapper: Nice review (and nice score, of course), thx guys ;) Well, now that two (well, three^^) people told me there are to many pickups in there, I finally might think about it... Ok, it would be quite stupid to release an updated version now after it's been reviewed, but I'll keep it in mind for further 1on1-maps. @ Gnome & Sapper (2.): Yeah, sounds good! Ok, I'll update it, I let you know when I'm done :) UPDATE: Version 2.0 is now online, for details, see the map description. @Gnome & Sapper (3.): No, not a third version. This is done now. First, this is a review, not a betatest, it would simply be unfair to other mappers if I posted tons of updates until "version 27.04b" finally reaches the 9.0. And second, I can agree with your complains on version 2, but not with your suggestions how to improve: "...switch the flak with the minigun..." No, because then we have the same situation as before, about what Swanky complained (and he was right): Minigun, Shock Rifle and Armor too close together, if you spawn there, you are nearly invincible. "...pull the shock rifle..." NO!!! Never! In my (and I'm sure, also in many other players') opinion, the Shock Rifle is simply THE best weapon in game. If I kick the favourite weapon of half the community, they will lynch me! And I'm not willing to risk this just for 1 point in the review.^^ By the way, I'm glad with the 8.0! There have only been nine (!) UT-maps reaching this score within the last two years, and not a single one was above this score during that time. So I see no reason why I should try to be God :D @cooloola: Thx, I thought you might like it better than Pollux. Well, "knulla" is a funnel-map-lover, who obviously likes you rate down anything else... Don't even mind him... EvilSwanky 02-23-2006 03:07 PM MST   Too bad actually. You really worked out the layout, the architecture and lighting, but it all falls together because of one small point: Item Placement. It is terrible, nuff said. Let's get a bit more into detail: The first spawn offers an impressive work of architecture into a collapsed egyptian tomb with pillars fallen into the ground, collapsed walls and bricks lying here and there. Together with the slightly washed out but realistic lighting, it looks awesome, yet the whole thing somehow runs smooth on most rigs as I had only small hips and hacks here and there. The layout integrates itself into the scenery well, it goes up and down connected with multiple lifts that open various possibilities for strategists. Generally you would now assume that the game flows well, but it does not. Items are mostly spread in one half of the map while the other side gets nearly nothing. This means in detail: Imagine a Shockrifle, a Minigun and a Damage Amp in one Corner of the map, with a rocket launcher, a 100 armor and 40 health of which are 20 spread in vials. The other half of the map gets a Sniper Rifle and a Flak Cannon along with a 50 armor and a few healthpackages. If you play Hardcore gameplay, you can grab everything from the Shock Rifle to the 100 Armor in less than 15 seconds, which will make you own the map way too easily. If you spawn there and the opposition does not, this won't be an exciting game. At least Bots do work well here, so I'll still give it 65/100. Next time have some betatesting, Rev. ;) EDIT: I did rate it so hard because the Itemplacement kills all the flow and layout in this map. You can actually just sit there and wait for the opposition to come, maybe make one or two switches to the 100 armor and back. A flak is NEVER as strong as a Shock rifle, except the map is very, very cramped. Plus, you have two good counter weapons against a Flak: a Rocket Launcher and a Minigun. With the Amp again... Redfist: I do rescale those floor textures already. :P EDIT: Ah an update. Finally. :D I haven't tested the map yet but I think you really did something. Therefore I'll leave the rating open (not 6.5 anymore). redfist 03-17-2006 02:57 PM MST Rating: 7   YES, a good map for DM, the looks coulda been a few more texture variation.1 to 4 players is also good. Map is not cramped, and weapon placement is good. ADD Bagh, the weapon and placement is screwed now.Hell just take out all the weapons, WTF ""...pull the shock rifle..." NO!!! Never! In my (and I'm sure, also in many other players') opinion, the Shock Rifle is simply THE best weapon in game" ADD Any map I make from now on will never have the shock, it is the weapon of whimps,BOOO HISS.!! HaHA ADD The only reason I don't use the shock is it's to easy to kill,the combo ball also will kill if the other guy is hidden behind a pillar wich means LESS aiming ability,and it takes no consideration if the oponent has 200 health or max shields,wich means LESS aiming ability.It's the worst part of the code from UT and that gun should be ommited. If that gun had a chargetime things would be a little fair and downsize that combo ball end projectile damage circumfrence.The way it is now, if you like the shock,ya can't frickin play for crap. "." Manticore 02-21-2006 03:39 AM MST Rating: 7   A good DM layout........ Gnome and Sapper 02-24-2006 11:27 AM MST Rating: 9   @Revelation: It was a very enjoyable map to play. In response to the idea if fixing it up however...by all means. I'm not sure if you're able to reupload you map here and then update the map's information. If so, do that and give me a shout. All you need to do is fix up the Cast...you scored perfect everywhere else. If not, repost your map once you've updated it and then let me know. I'll rereview it as such and we'll see if I finally get the chance to review a truly perfect map. Go for the 9.0 my friend. You've got nothing to lose. @ Redfist: I think you're overreacting. I think v2 is better but the cast still isn't perfect. I do like many of the changes made. However the ripper is needed if 3 are to play this map. Otherwise it is still just a 1on1. @Revelation: Fair enough. Charon 02-23-2006 06:51 AM MST Rating: 7.5   Lovely 1on1 map. My one complainment is about often situation when enemy is quite difficult to see, but coronas off should help to avoid this. As I said, lovely:) knullansikte 03-01-2006 12:36 PM MST Rating: 3   Good map but not THAT good Rakiayn 03-01-2006 03:55 PM MST Rating: 9.5   great map, well done Speaker 03-02-2006 05:06 AM MST Rating: 6   Hi, The map is very nice looking & competently built. Lighting could be a little more varied. My main problem with the map is low FPS. I have an Athlon XP3000 with Nvidia GeForce 6600GT and still at many points FPS falls below 45. This is practically unplayable (at least for serious games). Also, it is too big for 1on1. So I think that a score of 6 is appropriate. cooloola 03-03-2006 05:17 PM MST Rating: 8   Leet map I love it. It looks great and plays great the lighting is very good and Z-axis is awesome @Speaker I've got a P4 1.7Ghz with a ATI Radeon9200 and this map run at all times at 40-45 FPS so there's something wrong with your PC. And by the way unplayable is when it's at 15 FPS or lower not 45. @knullansikte Can you please show me how this is a 3 map? Because according to what you said a good map is a 3 so that would make a great map about a 4 or 5? a_z 03-17-2006 01:40 PM MST Rating: 9   just played latest version. i didnt bother to use statistic, i couldnt see any shudder. unplayable is nearing 25 fps, wich i never get to online, its mainly lag anywayzers, map is very cool, but u shouldnt have kicked the sniper. why does people think u can only use it long range? decapitating from mid-distance is awesome ^^ niner *update: *agrees with revelation* never in a 100 billion years or longer kick the asmd from a map. its the best weapon in the game, every1 who disagrees says either sniper or is to noobish to use it in the right way. to people picking sniper, excelent choice to :) @ redfist: the asmd shock rifle is the only gun with technique. u needa place the combos right, if u cant use it right, take sniper, if u cant aim the sniper, well, ur stuck with technique/aimless minigun or pulse or flak. ow if im creating the illusion i hate those, im not, but theyre just not as cool to use as asmd btw, have you ever noticed that every1 who thinks asmd is lame or noobish can't use the asmd in the right way?