Company of Heroes: Eastern Front

Eastern Front Mod (Read-Only) => Mapping => Topic started by: $ TEXAS $ on February 08, 2009, 05:10:38 PM

Title: Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on February 08, 2009, 05:10:38 PM
Halbe (6)

Inspired by this impressive mod I started work on an Eastern Front map. The map is based on the Battle of Halbe a conflict that took place in the forest regions to the south east of Berlin during the final days of the war. In this battle German forces were trying to break through the Red Army's lines so that they could surrender to the Western Allies rather than face the wrath of the Red Army.

The map is currently about halfway finished, most of what is left is repetitive construction of the surrounding forests. This map will be released to the general public but I will focus on advice for your mod.

Most recent version: updated (7/28/09); Link Fixed (9/21/09)
http://www.filefront.com/14733965/6p_Halbe.sga (http://www.filefront.com/14733965/6p_Halbe.sga)

(http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/2702/cohbohtunnelug0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
(http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/1397/cohbohvillagepk0.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: BurroDiablo on February 08, 2009, 06:17:46 PM
Wow, very nice work. I love that tunnel, but I don't think Infantry can go under bridges (it looks like that's how you've made it). There's probably a way you can get the same effect without using the bridge.
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on February 08, 2009, 08:49:08 PM
The tunnel IS passable, I have already tested it in game! I have a lot of little tricks up my sleeve  ;D .
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: TheAllMihtyOne on February 08, 2009, 08:59:18 PM
you mean there will be fighting in a tunnel? cool  ;)
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: BurroDiablo on February 08, 2009, 09:11:44 PM
Thats good... I can already envisage the Germans using it to cower from Katyusha's. ;D
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: TheAllMihtyOne on February 08, 2009, 09:13:59 PM
well some sandbags and a mg42 an dnot much will get through the tunnel...
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: 221 on February 08, 2009, 09:59:54 PM
Except IS-2  ;D
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: vengefulnoob on February 08, 2009, 10:06:22 PM
Or a soviet armoured train!

No seriously! Someone skin one please!!!!
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: 221 on February 08, 2009, 11:10:03 PM
That would be awesome O.o
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: vengefulnoob on February 08, 2009, 11:18:58 PM
Sure would!
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: BurroDiablo on February 09, 2009, 01:28:43 AM
Driven by the ghost of Trotsky? :P
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: vengefulnoob on February 09, 2009, 08:57:41 AM
Hell yes! And using lenins mummified corpse to power a soviet death ray!
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: TheAllMihtyOne on February 09, 2009, 02:53:58 PM
that would be an awsome campaing unit, the train i mean not Lenin. If meybe not the russians get one there culd be a missian when you are supposed to take out a german one.
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: Regis91 on February 09, 2009, 03:20:20 PM
Nice map but you should build a railway embankment out of gravel. That looks better than only using a splat ;)
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on February 09, 2009, 05:53:46 PM
I may add banking to the rail line, the only problem currently is that there are some areas around the tracks that are so build up that adding the embankment may mess some things up (or just take a lot of time install banking). I should point out that the pictures (esspecially the tunnel) are a bit out of date, the current tunnel and the area around it look a lot better. I will definetly look in to adding some banking, but it may be one of the last things I do, probably after the map's first beta release.

I am getting close to the point were I will add in the control points, at that point the map should be ready for testing.
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: Apex on February 09, 2009, 05:57:56 PM
excellent
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: Regis91 on February 10, 2009, 03:11:26 PM
You can add the enbankment via spline tool i think thats the easiest way ;) But do it on your way :D
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on February 11, 2009, 01:55:31 AM
I found an effective way of adding the embankment, both splines and light elevation change. The vast majority of the rail line now has a bit of banking, and the areas that don't have the embanking don't look bad.

Good suggestion!

Take a look:
(http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8799/relic00034vg3.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: TheAllMihtyOne on February 11, 2009, 07:23:03 AM
it looks realy good :)
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: Regis91 on February 11, 2009, 02:57:33 PM
Yeah thats a nice way ;)
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: Brewsky on February 11, 2009, 05:25:04 PM
Man. I cannot WAIT to play this. It'll be some eyecandy AND a good map to play on. Great job!
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: vengefulnoob on February 11, 2009, 11:19:58 PM
Nice map!!!

Shame were not getting an armoured train for it....

Old soviet joke:
Stalin, Krushev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev are all on a train (symbolizes USSR)

The train stops:
Stalin shouts: WHY HAS THE TRAIN STOPPED? SHOOT THE DRIVER!!!
krushev says: no! We must rehabilitate the driver!
Brezhnev says: I have an idea: let's draw the curtains and pretend the train is still moving!
But Gorbachev interrupts: Comrades! We must get out and push!
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: TheAllMihtyOne on February 12, 2009, 07:40:53 AM
lol that was exelent  ;D
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: BurroDiablo on February 12, 2009, 11:26:36 PM
The continuation could be that, the Train De-rails, Yeltsin comes along and sells all the parts, Putin siphons the Diesel from the Engine and Medvedev forcefully stops the disgruntled passengers from getting on another train.
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: vengefulnoob on February 12, 2009, 11:44:10 PM
Lol ... It's funny because it's true...
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: TheAllMihtyOne on February 13, 2009, 03:59:14 PM
fun fun fun :)
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: Brewsky on February 13, 2009, 05:09:38 PM
Indeed. This sounds attractive and "fun fun fun"
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on February 15, 2009, 08:12:45 PM
I have the first beta ready, the map is still unfinished (mostly missing menu items) but this should be enough to find any significant bugs and check the balance.

OUT OF DATE
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: BurroDiablo on February 16, 2009, 12:07:00 AM
I had a quick test and the map is very well made, very aesthetically pleasing. Its quite large and takes a while for the infantry to reach their destination, and its a shame that tunnel just seems to be a random feature with no real strategic value (same goes with the bridge), but other than my little complaints, I didn't find any bugs or have any problems getting it to work.

When I started it up and saw my HQ in a field of tree-stumps I thought "Oh, here we go, i'm not going to be able to build anything because of obstacles", but that proved to be untrue :P

Also, i've never seen a tree burn in this game before (i've seen them simply crumble because of fire, but never burn)... I noticed the exact same tree in your picture with the Rail track (the largest on to the right). I got in a fire-fight with some Volks and my conscripts threw a cocktail over, but it missed. I was too busy watching the tree catch fire instead and overlooked an MG42 being set up not too far away, which destroyed my squad ;D
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on February 16, 2009, 02:23:01 AM
Well the bridge (the original design) and the tunnel were mostly experiments to see if they could be done, because of that I tried to keep them out of the center of the fighting in case something went wrong. The majority of the map was designed to look natural and pleasing (I personally hate symmetric "Multiplayer" style maps). The map is the same sizes as one of the standard CoH 6p maps, although it is a little more open.

I like using a lot of single item pine trees (non groves) because they can catch fire. In the final version I will probably add in an .options file to have multiple weather options, large forest fires look great at night, best way to cause them are the incendiary mortars and flame throwers.

I will probably wait a week or two to gather responces form all the sources I posted on before I finalize the map, all that really remains is the loadscreen, menu images, and maybe a few last minute touchups!
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: Porta on February 17, 2009, 01:11:12 PM
looking good :)
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: Apex on March 02, 2009, 09:50:41 PM
Very good map, it was the first one I see with such huge hill formations, but it looks awesome. If the quality stays like this, we will put it in.

Here are the formal things you still have to do.

1. File Name: "6p_Halbe".

2. Maplist name: "Halbe (6)".

3. Add preview screen (random and fixed).

4. Add loading screen.

Good stuff, keep it up.
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on March 03, 2009, 04:23:03 AM
I will make the required changes once I get the map finalized, I am currently running some balance tests online with some people and making some small adjustments to improve balance. Should hopefully be done in about a week or two, unless it needs to be quicker ;) .
Title: Re: [WIP] Battle of Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on March 10, 2009, 03:08:58 PM
I have the finalized, Eastern Front version of the map ready here:
OUT OF DATE

It should have all the required fixes for the mod, as well as:
1) adjustments to some resource values.
2) some territories have been redrawn slightly, with a couple of control points shifted.
3) some buildings moved/added for balance (most are minor).
4) shot blocking added to the groves and certain cliffs.
5) shot blocking barriers added around the tunnel to add more realistic protection from enemy fire.
Title: Re: Halbe (6p)
Post by: WartyX on April 02, 2009, 06:31:48 PM
$ TEXAS $, please change your Map Name to $18010105 and your Map Description to $18010106 and also post a menu description of the map around 50-100 words long on this thread.
Title: Re: Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on April 07, 2009, 02:35:17 AM
Sorry for the late reply but here is the updated version of the map with the title and description fixed with the numbers you requested:
OUT OF DATE
And here is the new description for the map:
Quote
During the Battle of Berlin, Three German divisions of the 9th Army were trapped in the Spree forest region southeast of Berlin near the town of Halbe. Their plan was to push eastward through the Russian lines to locate and surrender to the Western Allies. However Soviet Red army had different plans, three divisions of Russian troops were stationed in the area, seeking revenge for German attack on Stalingrad, and they would not let any German troops through without a fight.

If there are any problems please let me know!
Title: Re: Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on July 28, 2009, 10:04:47 PM
I had to update this map to fix issues with the map not ending and VP points not working (same problem as Kiev). The only major change is the rail bridge, rather than replace it with a standard one I just permanently destroyed it (bridge type can't be rebuilt and impass was drawn through the bridge); since the river bed is easy enough to pass and the bridge was rarely used in SP and MP matches I played the map in this shouldn't be a problem. This update should also fix a small issue with the impass zones disappearing since ToV.

If there are any problems with this version let me know.

http://www.filefront.com/14733965/6p_Halbe.sga (http://www.filefront.com/14733965/6p_Halbe.sga)
Title: Re: Halbe (6p)
Post by: Mystic-Car on July 29, 2009, 01:18:14 AM
Thanks for "update".
Not realy nice to hear that the bridge gets now broken and the lights doesn´t rotate in Kiev, but it´s the only solution.

Maybe i´m going to ask Hartkeks when he returns from his holiday.





Mystic
Title: Re: Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on July 29, 2009, 01:53:43 AM
The sad thing is I have everything I need to fix the problem except a way to detect what game type was selected on the menu (unless I made the VP ticker amount the way to select). The underlying problem is that the g_VPConditionsLoaded and g_CheckAnnihilate flags are being set to nil when a scar file is detected (which only happened since ToV).

I will of course keep the older versions around in case the problem is fixed in the future, or if another solution is found, and if there is I can always update the 2 maps again.

It is annoying considering all the thing you can do with some simple scar code.
Title: Re: Halbe (6p)
Post by: captainspoon on October 16, 2009, 11:25:43 AM
The link doesn't work no more  :-[
and i really wanna try it out
all because of the tunnel :P
grtz
Title: Re: Halbe (6p)
Post by: $ TEXAS $ on October 16, 2009, 05:09:34 PM
I fixed the link:
http://www.filefront.com/14733965/6p_Halbe.sga (http://www.filefront.com/14733965/6p_Halbe.sga)