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Working on my first map in 3 years. My last few before I stopped were…not the best.

Game Modding | Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 | General Discussion


Chroma:

My end goal is to reimagine the original 4 maps, but with any improvements I've seen talked about over the years, plus emphasising the main component of each level. I'm currently working on nacht, and I want to make it as scary as I can, and make it a map focussed fully on the zombies themselves. Barebopnes, so no perks, or pack a punch.

I've learned how to color corrent maps, so here's a test of making it black and white, except for red.



It works really well when there's isn't much red light. (Note the zombies' eyes).


Hatsune Blake:

This looks really cool! Excited to see where you take this in the future.


[ Edicius ]:

I agree with Hatsune Blake!! Looks like you're off to a pretty good start man 😎 I always thought it would be cool for those older maps to be expanded and opened up a bit so that you could go outside and explore the surrounding areas some. I remember a WaW Nacht reimagining that had a couple outdoor areas and that map was a big hit at the time! I think it would be pretty awesome to see something like that with these too haha. Maybe even totally restylize the maps with a different look but the same layout plus a couple added areas so it adds a refreshing new map feel to them. Jungle, winter, future, part of a city block.... the list of possibilities is almost endless!!

I have this tool that lets you rip maps from old CoD games and turn it into a static model. Once you've done that then you can basically use that static model as a stencil in radiant and draw brushes and patches to fit the static map model then delete it and texture/model the map as you see fit. (I have this companion tool that is supposed to convert the map models into editable .map files, but I could never get it to work sadly :( lol) I could send you the map model exporter if you'd like so you can get a 1:1 scale size on all of the map reimaginings and take out all the guess work on distancing and size. Definitely helps save yourself some time during the mapping!


RaGe-74:

https://github.com/sheilan102/C2M


Chroma:

[QUOTE="[ Edicius ], post: 15982, member: 91"]
I agree with Hatsune Blake!! Looks like you're off to a pretty good start man 😎 I always thought it would be cool for those older maps to be expanded and opened up a bit so that you could go outside and explore the surrounding areas some. I remember a WaW Nacht reimagining that had a couple outdoor areas and that map was a big hit at the time! I think it would be pretty awesome to see something like that with these too haha. Maybe even totally restylize the maps with a different look but the same layout plus a couple added areas so it adds a refreshing new map feel to them. Jungle, winter, future, part of a city block.... the list of possibilities is almost endless!!

I have this tool that lets you rip maps from old CoD games and turn it into a static model. Once you've done that then you can basically use that static model as a stencil in radiant and draw brushes and patches to fit the static map model then delete it and texture/model the map as you see fit. (I have this companion tool that is supposed to convert the map models into editable .map files, but I could never get it to work sadly :( lol) I could send you the map model exporter if you'd like so you can get a 1:1 scale size on all of the map reimaginings and take out all the guess work on distancing and size. Definitely helps save yourself some time during the mapping!
[/QUOTE]
I found the old map model and used it as a prefab to remake this map from the ground up after posting this. None of the original sizes of anything fit to the grid though, 7 wide walls, 117 wide hallways, etc, so I rounded some numbers. I've kind of stopped working on it for now though, because I've had a LOT of messages that I'm just doing another Nacht remake like everyone else, and there are certain things I want to do, that other, bigger modders have told me I won't be able to do at my skill level, such as make the hud black and white, which was pretty demotivating.


RaGe-74:

I'm with the other people here. Re-making old maps is not a way forward. (I've remade so many MP maps..so trust me here). If you're going to remake something, use it as a learning tool for yourself, then make the next map an original. Anyone can copy\modify an original, there's not much skill involved in it.


[ Edicius ]:

I'm with the other people here. Re-making old maps is not a way forward. (I've remade so many MP maps..so trust me here). If you're going to remake something, use it as a learning tool for yourself, then make the next map an original. Anyone can copy\modify an original, there's not much skill involved in it.

I think there is some truth to this, but depends how the map is developed... a straight up copy and paste, with style and look and everything? Yeah, nothing new there and not so exciting as we've all played it the last however many years... But changing the look to it and adding some additional areas sort of refreshes it in people's minds... I remade BO2 Standoff from MP into a jungle/swamped themed zombie map years ago on WaW and people LOVED it!! Just read the comments section on the page lol (Currently bringing it into BO3 too :sneaky: It's called Shinda Numachi in case you want to try the WaW version!!) So there definitely can be some appeal to a map remake/reimagining if done right. You just have to have the creative vision to make it a reality!

I found the old map model and used it as a prefab to remake this map from the ground up after posting this. None of the original sizes of anything fit to the grid though, 7 wide walls, 117 wide hallways, etc, so I rounded some numbers. I've kind of stopped working on it for now though, because I've had a LOT of messages that I'm just doing another Nacht remake like everyone else, and there are certain things I want to do, that other, bigger modders have told me I won't be able to do at my skill level, such as make the hud black and white, which was pretty demotivating.

Sure it's true that you can never truly satisfy everyone with anything you do, but there will always be people who enjoy your take on things, and those who do not. That's just part of life. I look at mapping like this: I get to build a custom zombie map all for myself, exactly the way I want that I get to play on for the rest of my life, and if some people happen to like it when it's released? All the better! If not? Well, I wasn't really making it for them to begin with anyways so their opinions will keep 🤷‍♂️😂 Do what makes you happy man haha.

As for the skill level thing, they might not be wrong... but if you take a look at the files and mess around with them a bit, you'd be surprised of what you can learn and how surprisingly easy it can be! Most people are self taught with some assistance from other's along the way. A lot of the things involved aren't super difficult, but more time consuming and knowledge based than anything. Definitely requires some experimenting, but that's part of the fun 😎👌


RaGe-74:

[QUOTE="[ Edicius ], post: 16006, member: 91"]
I think there is some truth to this, but depends how the map is developed... a straight up copy and paste, with style and look and everything? Yeah, nothing new there and not so exciting as we've all played it the last however many years... But changing the look to it and adding some additional areas sort of refreshes it in people's minds... I remade BO2 Standoff from MP into a jungle/swamped themed zombie map years ago on WaW and people LOVED it!! Just read the comments section on the page lol (Currently bringing it into BO3 too :sneaky: It's called Shinda Numachi in case you want to try the WaW version!!) So there definitely can be some appeal to a map remake/reimagining if done right. You just have to have the creative vision to make it a reality!


Sure it's true that you can never truly satisfy everyone with anything you do, but there will always be people who enjoy your take on things, and those who do not. That's just part of life. I look at mapping like this: I get to build a custom zombie map all for myself, exactly the way I want that I get to play on for the rest of my life, and if some people happen to like it when it's released? All the better! If not? Well, I wasn't really making it for them to begin with anyways so their opinions will keep 🤷‍♂️😂 Do what makes you happy man haha.

As for the skill level thing, they might not be wrong... but if you take a look at the files and mess around with them a bit, you'd be surprised of what you can learn and how surprisingly easy it can be! Most people are self taught with some assistance from other's along the way. A lot of the things involved aren't super difficult, but more time consuming and knowledge based than anything. Definitely requires some experimenting, but that's part of the fun 😎👌
[/QUOTE]

Mapping is mostly self taught. I've been doing it across various games for best part of 15 years now, and I'm still learning.

If you're more interested in level design beyond zombie levels, take a look at some online level design courses..even though some of it is complete bullshit you'd never use, there is alot of gold in there. There is a Udemy course by Daniel Krafft which I can highly recommend, which gives you basics on laying out a level, right down to building a Unity or Unreal Engine map. https://www.udemy.com/course/level-design-complete-level-design-training-beginner-daniel-krafft/
There is also another one "CGMA.Level.Design.for.Games". You'll have to search for that one yourself.

Good luck, and most of all, have fun :)


Chroma:

Mapping is mostly self taught. I've been doing it across various games for best part of 15 years now, and I'm still learning.

If you're more interested in level design beyond zombie levels, take a look at some online level design courses..even though some of it is complete bullshit you'd never use, there is alot of gold in there. There is a Udemy course by Daniel Krafft which I can highly recommend, which gives you basics on laying out a level, right down to building a Unity or Unreal Engine map. https://www.udemy.com/course/level-design-complete-level-design-training-beginner-daniel-krafft/
There is also another one "CGMA.Level.Design.for.Games". You'll have to search for that one yourself.

Good luck, and most of all, have fun :)

I’ve been making levels for games for a few years now, Portal 1, 2, Marble it up and gave Black Ops 3 a shot in 2016. That parts not the issue. There’s no way to “work out on my own” what the names of scripts are, or the names of files I’m looking for to edit to do what I wanted to do. I’m starting to work on a new idea but it’s going to be kept secret for now.