Level Details

Title:

Canyon: Redux

Version:

1.0

Release Date:

April 13th, 2009

Get It At:

Canyon: Redux

Readme:

canyon_redux.html -- the file you are reading now.

Author:

Peter Jones
From an original concept by Ben Davies

Contact:

Contact Pete

Website:

Pete's Place :: Mapping

Play Information

Game:

Half-Life

Game Mode:

DeathMatch

Level Name:

Canyon: Redux

Players:

2-10

Known Bugs:

None. Having said that, however, there are several things which don't work entirely as they should under standard Half-Life:

• The two rolling doors which actually open do not reverse direction when they close. Despite certain attributes in the Hammer FGD file which suggest otherwise, it does not seem to be supported by the HL engine. I fixed this (via the SDK code) in my HLDM mini-mod; watch my Coding page for details of this tweak, they'll be published there shortly.
• A couple of spoken sentences which should be heard, aren't. They're not critical, although they do change the way you approach certain parts of the level. If you're really keen you can add the following lines to your sound/sentences.txt file:
  • CR_UED user entry detected
  • CR_WDNW buzwarn buzwarn warning, unauthorized weapon detected in north west sector
  • CR_WDSE buzwarn buzwarn warning, unauthorized weapon detected in south east sector
  The "weapon detected" warnings are triggered by the white sensor fields at each end of the level.
• The haze which you might see in one of the screenshots is generated by an env_fog entity which is part of my own HLDM mod (but again, see my Coding page for details!) Standard HLDM simply ignores the presence of the entity.
• Please let me know if you find anything more!

If I receive enough (ie, any) requests, I'll make my petesdm mod available -- but apart from the minor details listed above, this level should run fine without it.

Base:

New level from scratch, although the concept was originally developed as Canyon by my gaming buddy Ben Davies. Hence the "Redux".

New Graphics:

Several, not created by me; see Other Credits for full details.

Installation:

• Place the .bsp files in your valve\maps directory.
• Copy the .tga and .bmp files into your valve\gfx\env directory (create it if you don't already have one)
• If you extract the zip file, with subdirectories enabled, into your Half-Life\valve directory, everything should go to the right place.

Build and Compile Information (Reference)

Build Time:

Started Mid January, 2009. At a total creation time of around two months, including play-testing and revising, this is the fastest level I've ever built. Of course, being essentially a copy of Ben's Canyon level I didn't have to think much about layout...

Editor:

Valve Hammer Editor 3.4

Additional:

Wally 1.51B [to assemble the WAD file]

Final compile was with ZHLT v3.4 Final.

Final Compile Parameters

• hlcsg.exe -cliptype precise -wadautodetect -wadinclude canyon_redux.wad -low -chart canyon_redux
• hlbsp.exe -low -chart canyon_redux
• hlvis.exe -full -low -chart canyon_chart
• hlrad.exe -extra -dscale 1 -sparse -bounce 2 -chop 72 -low -chart canyon_redux

Compile Time (on 3.2GHz Xeon with 3Gb RAM)

• canyon_redux: Around 16 hours

Other

Canyon

A long time ago, in a cubicle close to my own -- spurred on by my own LavaLab and LavaLab: Erupt -- my friend Ben Davies decided to make an HLDM level of his own. Thus was Canyon -- notable chiefly for its entirely un-canyon-like attributes -- born.

Over the years, as we played Canyon, and as I churned out my four Lab17 levels, Ben spotted more and more things which, if he had the time, he would like to "fix" in his level. However, he soon discovered that he had misplaced the source file required to make the desired changes. Early attempts at decompiling his canyon.bsp were not particularly successful, and he abandoned the idea.

Time passed.

I built (and we played) Necropolis: Mausoleum. After a couple of false starts on my next possible project -- one of which, in fact, was a reimagining of the Canyon concept, set on (and in) an asteroid in deep space -- I decided instead to remake my first level, driven by its perceived flaws, and I spent the next eighteen months working on Lab11: LavaLab. When it was finally released it was, I have to say, visually stunning (for an HLDM level, anyway!) I proceeded to enhance the visual polish of the level by getting fog working in my DM mod and adding a wicked-looking heat haze to Lab11. And in the weeks preceding the release of the finished product, we started playing Canyon again. Needless to say, Ben started speaking, once more, about fixing it up.

I downloaded a couple of level decompilers and managed to get a canyon.map file which, with minimal work, would be useable. I offered it to Ben so he could jump in and fix what he wanted to fix, and when he hesitated -- strong with the force, is Ben, but many are the demands on his time -- I tossed out an alternative: I would fix it for him.

He agreed.

Canyon: Redux

I quickly realised that the only way I could properly tackle the project was if I rebuilt it from scratch. I took a few measurements from the retrieved map file, then promptly tossed it away and commenced my own level. Using the measurements as a rough guide -- and with a texture set I've wanted to use for some time driving any variations to the size of the level -- I proceeded to build a rough duplication of Ben's Canyon layout; doors, rooms, platforms, all roughly in the same place. It is essentially the same level, only the details are changed.

Since I already had a predetermined layout to follow, I didn't have to spend any time thinking about gameplay; all I had to do was build. As a consequence, this level -- despite being one of the most complicated I've ever built (even more so than Lab11: LavaLab) and despite the problems I ran into along the way -- has been finished far quicker than any other level I've built. Even the original LavaLab took a little longer than this did!

I just went over the top with it! I have learned a lot about what is possible under the HLDM engine since the good ol' days, and I have long since abandoned the rather archaic ideal of limiting r_speeds (on the possibly mistaken belief that most machines these days should be able to happily run any level that the HLDM engine can handle.) Unconstrained by such petty concerns, focussed only on building the "prettiest" possible upgrade of Canyon, I flung caution to the winds, took the bit between my teeth, and did my worst. And, yeah, my best! As a consequence, r_speeds do tend to max out in places at around 7000 -- and I really don't care!

Of course, I do tend to think it's time I switched to another engine; I think I've pushed HLDM as far as I can! :-)

For an alternate view of how this level came to be -- for anybody who has actually made it this far and is still interested -- check out my LiveJournal Post on the subject.

Gameplay

Usual story. It's DeathMatch: just kill anything with a pulse, and have fun!

Features

It's a long way to the bottom ... watch your step! Of course, long before you reach the debris at the bottom of this garbage disposal facility, you will be vaporised by the energy field...

This level has all the standard HLDM weapons available -- and is one of my few levels to include the Gauss Cannon (aka the "Jump Gun"!) although its usefulness in that capacity is limited.

I'm particularly happy with the recharge booth design, and how they affect gameplay...

Feedback

I would appreciate feedback from anybody who likes (or dislikes) this level. If you have something to say about this level, or an error to report, please contact me. Without feedback, how can I hope to improve? :-)

Playtesting

This level has been extensively playtested by myself and Ben, and several redesigns came out of our experiences therein.

Comments

Revision History

Version 1.0 -- April 13, 2009

I am releasing this after extensive testing and numerous recompiles. It is, I believe, as good as it's going to get! (I do have a couple of additional ideas I want to include, but they will need to be implemented in my PetesDM mod first...)

Other Credits

Thanks go to the following:

• Valve Software, for producing this great game, and giving us the means of creating our own levels.
• Ben Davies, who is very much the co-designer of this level -- even more so than usual! His input along the way has helped me to improve the design enormously!
• I made extensive use of third party textures (all of which I found on The Wadfather.) A (hopefully) complete list follows:
  • Sock, the person who created the Egyptian texture set that I used throughout my Necropolis: Mausoleum level, also created the sister set of textures called "Techno" that formed the basis of the "Canyon" itself, the inner exterior.
    • I have actually wanted to use this Techno set ever since I first found it while looking for Egyptian textures -- and, in fact, the first time I attempted to use them in a level, it was to be my re-imagining of Ben's Canyon. That level never saw the light of day -- it may yet; it was substantially different from this one -- so it seemed appropriate to use the Techno textures here!
    • (The only drawback with the Techno textures, IMHO, is that they are great for exteriors but not as useful for interiors. I'd already learned that the first time I tried to use them so this time I was already prepared to look for alternatives -- that had to also look reasonably consistent with Techno...)
  • The graffiti in the level ("Welcome to the CANYON Have a nice day" & "BGD & PRJ" -- the latter being the initials of the two people responsible for the level) I created myself (on top of one of Sock's Techno textures!) and while texture editing is not my strong suit, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out!
  • Most of the textures used for the outer interior (you think you're confused?!) are from Iikka 'Fingers' Keränen's "IK Base" collection.
  • The warehouse room -- yeah, more crates -- is primarily textured with Speedy's "SpeedTech" texture set, although a couple of his textures were used elsewhere.
  • The crates themselves -- the few textures I could afford to squeeze in by this stage in the level's creation -- were mostly from the "MapCenter Texture Challenge 1: Crates" collection:
    • The Titan Shipping Container by Matthew "bushboy" Trow.
    • The red and blue metal crates by Karloff.
    • The large grungy crates by Jesse "raYGunn" McCree.
    • The large rusty/shiny crates by TechX.
  • I used a few textures (most notably the floor-level corridor lights) from Evillair's "Texture Pack 4" and "Texture Pack 6" -- and I've added his texture sets to my list for potential future use, because the few of his I used barely scratched the surface...
  • The rain texture used to make the water dripping from the pipes (not to mention the tutorial which showed me how to do it) was courtesy of TWHL's Seventh Monkey!
  • The environment map (ie, the 'sky' graphics) I've used is "Fallhaven" by Lance S. Winkel. The first time I saw it, several years ago, I thought it would be ideal for Ben's Canyon; it only seemed fair that I use it for mine! The environment map was downloaded from The Wadfather.
• If I have missed anyone, let me know and I'll add you to the list! :-)

Other Levels

Half Life: Deathmatch

• LavaLab
• LavaLab: Erupt (variant of LavaLab)
• Lab17: Storage
• Lab17: Flood (variant of Lab17: Storage)
• Lab17: Slimelab
• Lab17: Quake (variant of Lab17: Slimelab)
• Necropolis: Mausoleum
• Lab11: LavaLab

Copyright and Permissions

This level is copyrighted 2009 by Peter Jones.

You MAY distribute this level through any electronic network (internet, FIDO, local BBS, etc) provided you include this HTML file, and keep the ZIP archive intact.

You MAY include this level in the map rotation of a "free" internet HLDM server, but if you do so I'd really appreciate an email to let me know you're using it! You MAY NOT include it on your server if you are charging for access to play on the server!

This level MAY NOT be included with any compilation packs UNLESS you ask me first and I grant permission.

You MAY NOT make a profit from this level without direct signed permission from me.

You MAY NOT modify this level (or any of the files in this distribution) in any way, nor may you use it as a base or template for your own level.

In other words: give it to your buddies, play it as much as you like, but give credit where credit is due, and if you are going to make money from this level, I want some too!