[SP] [Sp] The Second Exodus (v2.0)

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sicklebrick
876 Posts
Posted Sep 10, 2012
Replied 10 minutes later
Heh, I guess it depends on whether it gets the path from argv[0] or the kernel32.dll function.
I can sorta see what you're getting at now though.. even if you have to alter game configs, portal will still work with the junction and steam won't know anything's changed... I like it.
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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Sep 12, 2012
Replied 1 day later
OK guys, this is what I've found "junctioning", please let me know if this is what you were talking about:

  1. Exit Steam...

  2. Open up a command prompt as the administrator. (Start ? All Programs ? Accessories ? Right click on Command Prompt ? Run As Administrator) (I'm on Win7 x64)

  3. Use the mklink command to create a directory junction link from the old location to the new location, like so:

mklink /J "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2" "C:\SteamApps\portal2"

This way I'll have my /Portal 2 folder without that space, and outside C:\Program Files (x86) which makes other 2 spaces... directly into c:\Steamapps.

I'll try this evening. If it works, I'll run buildmodelforworld command...

EDIT

Nope... I cannot achieve it by the above method. Looks like the spaces are a problem for acceeding into those folders (good memories of MS-DOS...). So I continued searching and found a GUI called Junction Link Magic that works great!

However, I tried to run the buildmodelforworld but everytime the console log displays a lot of errors whether if I do the junction or not... I've checked into the bsp though with pakrat, and there is a new file called simpleworldmodel.vmt which contains this:

"patch"
{
   "include" "materials/engine/simpleworldmodel.vmt"
   "insert"
   {
      "$basetexture" "models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel"
      "$albedo" "models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_albedo"
      "$lightmap" "models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_lightmap"
   }
}

But I don't think only that is what I should have, right? In MEDIUM settings I keep watching the water ugly and flashing...

The only drawback of moving the whole Steam folder to be able to use buildmodelforworld is that anyway I'll have a space into "Portal 2", so I don't think it would be useful... I think re-installing the game (ofc into folders without spaces) would be the best option...

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HMW
806 Posts
Posted Sep 13, 2012
Replied 23 hours later
It sounds like it's still not working. You should get a lot more files besides that one VMT.
I'd just move the folder if I were you.

(The space in "Portal 2" apparently doesn't matter. It's everything in the path before the main "steam" folder (e.g. "Program Files") that is a problem.)

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Sep 14, 2012
Replied 20 hours later

HMW wrote:
(The space in "Portal 2" apparently doesn't matter. It's everything in the path before the main "steam" folder (e.g. "Program Files") that is a problem.)

I moved all steam folder to my root "C:\" but it seems that the space into "Portal 2" does count:

] buildmodelforworld Compilation of "c:\steam\steamapps\common\content\portal2_dlc2\materialsrc\models\maps\sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel.tga" succeeded Compilation of "c:\steam\steamapps\common\content\portal2_dlc2\materialsrc\models\maps\sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_lightmap.tga" succeeded Compilation of "c:\steam\steamapps\common\content\portal2_dlc2\materialsrc\models\maps\sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_albedo.tga" succeeded Compilation of "c:\steam\steamapps\common\content\portal2_dlc2\models\maps\sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_water.qc" succeeded Compilation of "c:\steam\steamapps\common\content\portal2_dlc2\models\maps\sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel.qc" succeeded Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel.mdl! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel.dx90.vtx! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel.vvd! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_water.mdl! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_water.dx90.vtx! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_water.vvd! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/materials/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel.pwl.vtf! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/materials/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel.vtf! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/materials/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_albedo.pwl.vtf! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/materials/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_albedo.vtf! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/materials/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_lightmap.pwl.vtf! (errno 2) Unable to remove c:\steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_dlc2/materials/models/maps/sp_jose_the_second_exodus/simpleworldmodel_lightmap.vtf! (errno 2) *****************It is recommended to quit the game after running buildmodelforworld!  Leaks rendertargets!****************
If you check, only those "simpleworldmodels" which paths involve the folder "Portal 2" fail.

However... looks like the model for the water succeeded... lol... maybe I don't have to reinstall the game . I'll check it later today in medium shader detail settings because I had to go and didn't do... Anyway, I don't really like the idea of letting this "incomplete" so I might reinstall the game in a folder without spaces...

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HMW
806 Posts
Posted Sep 15, 2012
Replied 1 day later
Oh! I just realised something else.

The reason that the space in "Portal 2" is not a problem for me is, that all of my build files are in the SourceMods folder. So the actual path to the game files has no spaces.

I made a small batch script that starts the game with a classic old "8.3" file name as the game directory. Put this into your "portal2_dlc2" folder and run it. Then, load your map (which is also in "portal2_dlc2") and type "buildmodelforworld".

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FelixGriffin
2,680 Posts
Posted Sep 15, 2012
Replied 1 hour later
Awesome! Thanks!
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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Sep 16, 2012
Replied 18 hours later
GREAT!!! It works! Thanks HMW! I'll update my map ASAP.

EDIT

OK, the map is updated to v2.0.2... Basically I changed the player from Bendy to Chell, added some info_particle_systems I forgot, including some water mist, and I've included that "simpleworldmodel" I was able to create with HMW's help ...Wow! it's around 40MB more! looks like it's a whole version of the map with the basic stuff for low settings or whatever... I almost can't upload tio the worshop (92MB). But anyway, those bad flashing reflection on the water have been removed.

Anyway, it keeps being strongly recommendable to run the map at least on HIGH SHADER DETAIL SETTINGS... in order to watch it as originally intended by me .

I have to invest more time yet in this map though, in order to make better that simpleworldmodel (some of my signage textures for example are missing in the reflection on the water's surface, and I bet I know why that is happening...). I may update it once more if I have a better version...

And btw, the following is the OFFICIAL video solution I've recorded for the very last version (to date) of the map (v2.2). It's only the "normal run" (no easter egg playthorugh). As it is shown, it's not perfect but I wanted it not to be it in fact, in order to show that even failing at some steps and having to employ more than just one attempt it can be made with a relative ease ...
I sincerely hope that it can be used only as a consultation video if you're stuck at a certain point, but you try to continue solving it after having sorted out that specific point...

======================================
OFFICIAL SOLUTION VIDEO
(normal run / no easter egg)
======================================

uKAS9f765TU

Pending to solve:

  • The access to the easter egg area and collection of the companion cube.

  • The 3 hidden overlays. Even though they are dedicated to my 3 beta-testers (who I think that already found them all), they can be found by anyone. Just take a picture of all of them and post them if you think this mini-game is funny
    *
    (hint: they're all into the same area......... near the stasis bed* )

I'll be so glad to watch some video showing this pending stuff!

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Sphyrch
10 Posts
Posted Sep 17, 2012
Replied 1 day later
playing maps like crazy over the past few days and this is one of those that i enjoyed the most. custom style is very attractive and puzzle is solid.

i was able to get the complete solution but it took approx one hour no doubt 5/5

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Mr Waterhandle
88 Posts
Posted Sep 18, 2012
Replied 11 hours later
I finished it last week. The thing is about this map is while I had a lot of frustration playing it, it also has a lot of good things going for it that made me keep trying. Getting the cube from the dropper in the third room is where I needed a video, but felt very stupid once I saw the solution, so that's good.

It's a beautiful map, no doubt. Unforunately due to having a sort of bad PC this also means some framedrops and slowdown or whatever you want to call it. It's never a huge deal, but it can become frustrating when trying to do fling puzzles and such. I realised I quick saved a lot and it felt like I really needed them, which is not really a good thing, but it's not really fair to judge it on that, because I never really saw the mapper's savepoints. Except for once, when I made the fling to the central button in the third room, which is probably the worst offender in terms of reflexes required. I slipped off the button and fell in the water, and pretty much raged until I saw I was spawned right on the button again. Thanks for that.

The thing that I think definately needs some improvement, is this: in the second room, there's a portable surface on the pillar up above, directly opposite to this red core thing, along with a portable surface on the floor. I'm pretty sure this was intended, correct me if I'm wrong, but I used that for momentum to get the redirection cube on the bridge in the third room. The problem with that is, for one, that you need to go back over these rail elevator at least twice (granted, it's possible to do it in one go, but that pretty much requires prerequisite knowledge of th emap) to set it up, which isn't exactly exciting to do, but it's very easy to mess it up, which means you'll have to do the funfunfuntime elevator ride all over again, unless you use quicksaves. It's not unlikely that a player with not that amazing reflexes (like me) and a bit of slowdown will screw this up at least 3 to 5 times, which is pretty horrible. It doesn't help that there's some weird small invisible wall thing on the other side, next to the staircase floor portable surface, so you have to approach it from a particular angle.

What I suggest is that you change the geometry such that a player falls down and slides so that you can't fling over the portable floor adjacent to the pillar in the 2nd room. Perhaps, if this is not too much work, even increase the height to allow more time.

I also had the same problem as HMW at the second redirection cube lifting, that it takes quite some attempts to do. This is less frustrating then the above example, because there is less chance of screwing things up due to simply going up and down between floor portals, and this actually felt somewhat exciting to do.. unless you actually screw up and drop the cube into the water, which I did, thank god for quick loads.

Another part, with catching the cube from the dropper in the third room, it takes a few attempts as well. There seems to be a slight delay before the cube drops? I would suggest simply extending that delay for as long as possible, without breaking the puzzle.

Also, it seems you're kind of boned if you don't have momentum between floor portals during the final part? If you placed both portals in the 2nd room, there seems to be no way to get back to the third, as the elevators have stopped, and I think the setup with the pillar changed and such. I could be wrong, though.

Despite all that and more, I would probably still rate this map fairly high, and gave you a thumbs up. It's just that, like Portal Prelude ocasionally, it requires nigh batshit insane moves from the user. But there's some appeal to that as well.

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Sep 18, 2012
Replied 14 minutes later

Sphyrch wrote:
playing maps like crazy over the past few days and this is one of those that i enjoyed the most. custom style is very attractive and puzzle is solid.
i was able to get the complete solution but it took approx one hour no doubt 5/5

Thank you so much for those kind words! You cheered me up! I'm so glad that you finished the map and you found it a good one! If you like it that much I'd suggest you to stay tuned to my upcoming mod, The Enceladus Initiative, you can link to it from my signature.

Also, I expect to release a demo soon, now that I finished up with this map.

Btw, you can actually rate the map by going to the download page (not this topic) and scroll down to where the "Rate" button is (into the "Details" box)

*Did you manage to carry the 2 cubes to the end and enter the easter egg to grab the companion cube? I cheer you up on doing so... it's not too difficult, but it's very funny! *

@Mr Vapour Waterhandle: WOW, man... THNAK YOU so much for such that lot of feedback!! I sincerely appreciate it! Let me reply in detail:

Mr Waterhandle wrote:
I finished it last week. The thing is about this map is while I had a lot of frustration playing it, it also has a lot of good things going for it that made me keep trying.

I thank your perseverance and interest in my map. It's nice to hear that afterall that thrust did finally manage to make you complete it I know that certain steps may cause a bit of frustration, but I also know that, as you said, once achieved they bring more satisfaction amount I've been tweaking each step and movement into each version of the map in order to minimize the risk of failure...

Mr Waterhandle wrote:
Getting the cube from the dropper in the third room is where I needed a video, but felt very stupid once I saw the solution, so that's good.

Yeah! indeed there is also anothe way... an easier one that Sicklebrick performed (if you check some posts above there's a video playthrough) and which I didn't want to avoid: you can stand on that little platform where the prop button is, then place the bridge underneath so it holds the cube, and then simply jump down to the bridge.... And if you are referring to the way of carrying the cube on to the floor button, well I intentionally designed the puzzle in room 3 with regards to the bridges that complex way in order to make your way to the floor button almost impossible if you were thinking of using ninja jumps and reportalling in midair at the time you throw the cube up and regrabbing it once and again...

Mr Waterhandle wrote:
Another part, with catching the cube from the dropper in the third room, it takes a few attempts as well. There seems to be a slight delay before the cube drops? I would suggest simply extending that delay for as long as possible, without breaking the puzzle.

Well, to be frank, I really think that the time there is eough to make the player think of different creative ways to get the cube... otherwise it would have been to straight forward and boring. As mentioned above, and as shown in my video and in Sickle's, there are at least 2 ways of saving the cube in time with not much difficulty.

About the lag you mentioned, I'm sorry to hear. I optimized the map as much as I could (when you're at room 3 only the corridor with the moving platforms and room 3 are rendered)... but anyway I think I still can introduce a couple of skip/hint brushes more there and improve the performance.

Regarding savepoints, I placed a lot of them, overall in room 3 But I understand that you quicksave yourself every once in a while (lol I also do and I know my savepoints ). You wouldn't have felt frustrated regarding that.

And about that second laser beam area and positioning the cube on the bridge, hmmm... I'll look into it again, but I never really have much problem...

*About the moving platforms annoyance... *

ATTEMPTING TO REDUCE THE POST LENGTH... HEHE
It is not the first time I hear about that. I even made that round somposed by 5 of them and increased their speed. If you know the map, as shown in the solution video, only 1 go is needed (from 2 to 3) not any other one more... But it's true that at least 1 go back is required if you don't know the map, and several if you fail I'm not sure of what to do there without remmoving the platforms part, and I don't feel like removing them because I love them (despite of the rest of players!)... I missed them from Portal era... Indeed, in the first chapters of my mod there will be some maps based on them (but I promise they'll be funny as the platforms will be part of the puzzles this time )
I'm sorry about that invisible brush you mention near the stairs... you're right! I moved the floor tiles after an update making them closer to the stairs and I forgot about that little brush which btw is supposed to help the player get on the stairs... thanks for pointing that out, I'll fix that

Mr Waterhandle wrote:
What I suggest is that you change the geometry such that a player falls down and slides so that you can't fling over the portable floor adjacent to the pillar in the 2nd room. Perhaps, if this is not too much work, even increase the height to allow more time.

2nd ATTEMPT
About the white tiles height on the column, it's measured indeed for allowing a perfect momentum ||to place the cube on the first bridge. And also, if the height would be increased it will affect badly to the puzzle of pressing the ceiling button! I want the player to return and use room 1 for that... this step only requies you to enter sloowly into one portal (on the floor at room 3) and then to quickly look down after getting out from the other portal (on the column) and place the portal on the floor... I know maybe of the steps in the map requires certain ability... but ey! what about all the training received? ||

Mr Waterhandle wrote:
Also, it seems you're kind of boned if you don't have momentum between floor portals during the final part? If you placed both portals in the 2nd room, there seems to be no way to get back to the third, as the elevators have stopped, and I think the setup with the pillar changed and such. I could be wrong, though.

Hmmm... good point! At that time the player should know what and how to do though, but I'll look into it and introduce any chace of escape there without compromising the puzzles...

Again Thank you so much for your valuable feedback and support

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Mr Waterhandle
88 Posts
Posted Sep 18, 2012
Replied 6 hours later
About changing the geometry, what I meant was that the biggest reason for messing up coming out the wall portal to place that portal on the floor and gain momentum, is that you don't come out of the wall portal straight down, always with a teensy bit momentum, which might make you fling over the place where you place the floor portal. I figured that if you make the wall stick out a bit on the top, the player will hit that bit, and fall straight down, so that they'd be lined up to fall through that portal. Sorry if I wasn't clear on that. It might look a bit weird, but it's probably preferable over players screwing up a few times what should be a simple action.

Yeah if you were to increase the height there, you'd have to increase the height of the entire map, so I'm not sure if it's worth it.

I remembered something else. Watching your solution video, it's not required, but that's how I did it: in the third room, when using light bridges to get to the floor button up high, I didn't use the sideways jump while placing the bridge trick, I simply placed the bridge on the then straight angled panel on the right. the panel there has reversed portal placement helpers for some reason (probably to prevent exploits with the light bridge later on), so the bridge exits from the top of the portal, which helped me there. However you don't know in advance that portal placement will be upside down, so you may or may not want to make that a bit clearer. I think if the player can figure that out beforehand, that might make them feel somewhat clever doing that.

I don't think catching the cube would be that boring with a longer delay, I think what made me get stuck there was that the delay is so short (along with not realizing that the bridge would go under the glass, but I should've, as I probably saw it before), but it's your call. You could also make that platform with the pedestal button a bit bigger, so it's clearer you can stand on it (this felt slightly ninja to me watching sicklebrick's video).

Also, watching your solution video, when you do catch the cubes, getting over there, the tiny platforms made me mess up jumps into the water repeatedly. They are generally not that bad, but the final jump I messed up a few times. I don't know if it was lag or whatever. I think it'd be better if some more leeway was allowed there, Portal has some platform elements, but it was never really meant for precision jumping with your regular jump.

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Sep 18, 2012
Replied 29 minutes later
Thanks again for your detailed explanations

Mr Waterhandle wrote:
what I meant was that the biggest reason for messing up coming out the wall portal to place that portal on the floor and gain momentum, is that you don't come out of the wall portal straight down, always with a teensy bit momentum,

I understood what you meant... but I was trying to explain to you that there's a "funneling" effect in Portal consisting in this (please try): if you come out from the wall portal and (relatively) quickly look down and place the floor portal, you'll not have any problem with entering into the floor portal correctly... I assure you (it's kind of tricky, but that's how the game is). > Mr Waterhandle wrote:

Watching your solution video, it's not required, but that's how I did it: in the third room, when using light bridges to get to the floor button up high, I didn't use the sideways jump while placing the bridge trick, I simply placed the bridge on the then straight angled panel on the right. the panel there has reversed portal placement helpers for some reason

Ha, I don't like that kind of stuff, believe me, but the reason for that is absolutely justified, that portal placement helper must be upside down because it heps you in the final step when you get out from the flipping panel on the wall and fly to the main button, otherwise, you would get out upside down! This has to do as well with the previous white panel where the paralell briidge ends I know this panel on the wall my help though, but I never cared about that as it doesn't really exploit any main puzzle in there

Mr Waterhandle wrote:
the tiny platforms made me mess up jumps into the water repeatedly. They are generally not that bad, but the final jump I messed up a few times. I don't know if it was lag or whatever. I think it'd be better if some more leeway was allowed there,

Indeed that part was a bit wider before but it allowed a couple of undesired shortcuts, so I removed many blocks and left only those. I thought of adding a few more later, but never did. I may do though thanks for pointing out.

Again, thank you so much for the feedback! it's really helpful

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comoros94
12 Posts
Posted Sep 18, 2012
Replied 4 hours later
after have played more 200 sp_maps, this is the best map ever
here my video with EASTER EGGS
i think i am the first

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CngjZhTnW8k

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Sep 18, 2012
Replied 1 hour later
Congratulations comoros94 !!! Yay! Indeed you are the first posting the solution for the easter egg, good job!

Thank you so much for playing it and for saying all that nice stuff about it!

Regarding your solution I must say only one thing: you were a bit lucky that the reflector cube didn't fall into the goo after pressing the main button! that is not exactly the way it has to be done, but ey! you did it! The way you got the regular cube is totally intended though Anyway, that tiny unintended bit is very easy to fix, I'll do in the next update altogether with some other stuff

I saw you are running the game with the shader detail set to medium, I'd recommend you, ofc if your computer runs smooth, to set it to High at least. The difference (overall wih regards to the water) is very significative.

Thank you so much again dude!

And remember: it's still pending a mini-game consisting in finding the 3 hidden overlays!!! go and take a picture of them! (... HINT: they are near the area were you laid down.....)

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comoros94
12 Posts
Posted Sep 18, 2012
Replied 2 hours later
Your map was very hard and I enjoy to play it. I would rate 12/10 but we can only rating 5/5
I dont know why half of the people thumbs down your map on workshop community.

I notice some things :
||- I notice while I am flinging to put the reflector cube through the laser, the lightbridge appears and disappears because of the cube can continues moving a little after I drop it. If you need a video to understand, say me ^^.
- If you fail your fling in the part3 to take back the regular cube "eatter egg time", you are trapped
. make a "180? wall" to come back up a wall
- If the reflector cube is destroyed in the room2 we have to come back to take it again and for some people that may be annoying ^^.

About the reflector cube , you mean it should be destroyed after pressing the main button ?||

My computer is not good , as you saw my video has not a good quality also i have to play with all medium settings otherwise my computer become very warm. I hope to buy new one.

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Sep 19, 2012
Replied 10 hours later

comoros94 wrote:
Your map was very hard and I enjoy to play it. I would rate 12/10 but we can only rating 5/5
I dont know why half of the people thumbs down your map on workshop community.

Thank you so much for your support! About the community, well, you may prefer hard maps but it looks like maybe hard maps aren't so popular out there... Or maybe ppl prefer other kinds of difficulty. I must admit this map is based in the flinging ability, apart from thinking with portals and logic. I do prefer twisted maps based in tricky usage of the elements or twisted positioning of portals, but this map came out this way... I've got some other ideas I do like much more than those in this map, to be frank

comoros94 wrote:
- I notice while I am flinging to put the reflector cube through the laser, the lightbridge appears and disappears because of the cube can continues moving a little after I drop it. If you need a video to understand, say me ^^.

Well, I know there is something happening in there, I knew it all the time (maybe it is some kind of weird bug in the game that appears when you mix the laser cubes with the bridges... I don't know) and that's why I specifically cared about it a lot. I introduced several tricky hammer resources in order to make sure that the cube will stay at least 1 or 1.5 seconds there on the bridge: I force it to stay I told you as I told HMW: maybe you didn't ungrab the cube quickly right when it made the laser hit the catcher... I'll revise that again though

comoros94 wrote:
- If the reflector cube is destroyed in the room2 we have to come back to take it again and for some people that may be annoying ^^.

True, but that's why I placed several savepoints in room 2 in order to let the player return to a previous status if that happens. However, I could add a ceiling mini room in chamber 2 that spawns the cube if it got fizzled! happier now?

comoros94 wrote:
- If you fail your fling in the part3 to take back the regular cube "eatter egg time", you are trapped

Hmmm.... I don't really know where exactly do you mean. Also my concept of "trapped" is when the player cannnot even kill himself, and that cannot happen anywhere in the map. If you fail that fling yuo'll fall into the goo and die, if you mean trapped in the 2nd laser beam area... you can shoot a portal there in the floating platform to appear somewhere else, or die I could introduce a savepoint though (that currently doesn't exist) in the ledge where you stand before the fling... However, as the easter egg part is supposed to be harder than the normal run and it's optional, I don't feel like making it much more easier than it actually is now...

comoros94 wrote:
About the reflector cube , you mean it should be destroyed after pressing the main button ?

I mean that it should normally end up in the goo by itself (although I never really cared about it, so good find on your side! ) as it falls from a certain height and to me it was very probable that it ends up destroyedinto the goo; and I mean that obviously, I didn't intended the player go get that cube from where you did, but performing a different (and consolidated) maneuver than to simply wait up for the cube laying on that platform...

I kindly urge you to replay the map in the next version and try again the easter egg run, it will like you much more I'll try to update it within a couple of days.

EDIT

====================================================================
MAP UPDATED TO v2.0.3 (check the changelog to see the changes included)
====================================================================

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PCdoc
245 Posts
Posted Oct 11, 2012
Replied 22 days later
This was a terrific map - I loved the unique solution in getting out of room 1 and also salvaging the cube . . . but Room 2 blew me away. So many twists, turns.

At the end of Room 2 there is that ultimate fling and last-second prayer of a shot to actually hit the small, ceiling panel as you are sailing under and past it at a high rate of speed. It took me about 15 attempts, as the shot has to be perfectly timed. It may not have any Ninja Moves . . . but that was Ninja Timing for sure.

Then the grand final when you hit the button and make your way to Room 3.
It was actually a very convoluted method which I did not expect. Initially I did what anyone would do - I went straight to Room 3 !!!!! But noooo . . . then I had to return back and get two cubes that were parked in vary inconvenient locations.
Awesome.

It was such a cool way to discover then ending. First you see the pathway being shown on two Video screens. Then the videos rotate and highlight an apparent useless but cool attic room with a floating, electrified sphere. It was not until the last 2 minutes that it finally dawned on me.
That way cool room with the floating sphere is actually a clue/predecessor of the final way way way cool room with the floating hibernation Pod ! ! Wow that was like some spy novel the way it all intertwined so perfectly and sneakily. FINALLY - I got the damn Companion cube, But what do I do now ? I was not sure what to do with it. I went into the adjoining way way way cool room and tried to throw it up and into the sleep pod - LOL. Then, thank God . . . an incinerator appeared outta nowhere.

Genius, dude - sheer genius.

Avatar
josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Oct 24, 2012
Replied 12 days later
Thank you so much for such a super nice review Doc I'm glad I was not wrong when I recommended you to give it a go to v2.0!

PCdoc wrote:
Then the grand final when you hit the button and make your way to Room 3.
It was actually a very convoluted method which I did not expect. Initially I did what anyone would do - I went straight to Room 3 !!!!! But noooo . . . then I had to return back and get two cubesthat were parked in very inconvenient locations.
Awesome.

Well, I liked the idea of the surprising ending: the player goes straight up to the end thinking he's done with the map... and BAM! he discovers there is a turn on ther left with the companion cube symbol indicating there's a companion cube around I know this forces the player to play the map again... but since now he needs to manage solving the main puzzle and also to get both cubes to the end corridor... the run must be slightly different

I'd like to have more feedback from the players who has tried the map... I'm checking and there have been continuous downloads but no comments at all ... Any feedback is highly appreciated! whether you finish or you don't finish the map And in the case someone needs any kind of hint, please do not hesitate to tell me Thanks in advance!

I may let this month finish before posting the video solution for the run with the easter egg included plus the pictures of the hidden overlays dedicated to my beta-testers.

Avatar
LoneWolf2056
193 Posts
Posted Oct 24, 2012
Replied 16 hours later
Wow, what a map, really like the aesthetics, wonderful skybox. Took me quite a while to figure out the first puzzle but when I did I felt very clever, which is exactly how any good map should make the player feel. I am terrible at flinging puzzles though, definitely got the heartrate going cause one misfire means redoing it xD Got in to the (beautiful) large room in the second puzzle got the laser cube with me and got hopelessly stuck for so long source recorder gave up and so did I, will try fresh tomorrow but very interesting so far. Only minor glitch I noticed is when I go through a portal in the really big room with the water, it plays a splash sound when I enter the portal.

Here is my blind run of the first bit of the puzzle, like I said it randomly cuts off though, can you only record for 22 mins? I had a steam message so went offline if that caused it, you didnt miss anything though besides me running around, throwing the cube in frustration and it bounced perfectly in to the water so I followed

EDIT acutally I think its cause I quickloaded >_< kept messing up a jump so loaded the save back when I was up there. I will know for next time xD

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Oct 25, 2012
Replied 5 hours later
Thank you so much LoneWolf for playing it! And thankl you for the great comments

LoneWolf2056 wrote:
Only minor glitch I noticed is when I go through a portal in the really big room with the water, it plays a splash sound when I enter the portal.

LOL... I know! but I don't know what to do about that I hated that sound since the very first version of the map but looks like it simply happens since the floating platforms are so close to the water level. I tried to lower the water level or raising the platforms up but to no avail... I'll continue checking out there for that though! Thanks for pointing out

I'll watch your demo when I arrive home this evening, thanks for recording!

About the rest of the map... now that you have gone that far, I assure you that you're almost done, what remains is not so difficult so cheer up! Let me give some hints:

  • Use 2nd room (the one with the center column) and find there some bit where you can gain momentum for room 3, where you have to fling with the reflector cube a couple of times to activate the bridges.

  • There are at least 2 ways to get the regular cube, the easiest is to use the button's bottom support.

  • Do not try to carry on the regular cube with you at the time that you get through replacing the bridge... just find out a different way to finally position the cube on the floor_button

I sincerely think the rest is pretty straight forward. Do not hesitate to post any stuck or whatever other issue

Do not give up! thanks again for testing!

*PS: You must know I have your map Dilapidation Part 3 pending to play! I want to continue the series but I'm really busy atm finishing some of my maps and beta-testing some others I'll give you my feedback soon *