Unfortunately, the level is more than slightly sluggish, even when played with an accelerator like the Monster3d. On a voodoo2 it is reasonably fast but on a Voodoo1 it's pretty boggy. Forget completely playing in software mode, you will either have to sit inside the little rooms and pick of people as they respawn or roam the crate room, because going into the main arena lets you see all the 1000's of translucent glass brushes and on my Pentium 2-300, it drops below two frames a second.

A major gameplay flaw in this level is that if the server does not switch "Fatherest spawn" on, someone is going to camp in the restroom and frag people as they respawn. If they decide to do this, they will most likely win, as nobody can respawn and fire quick enough to kill them, and they get several frags in a row.
-Nicholas Lawson
[email protected]

Review:
POOR BOY'S REVIEW #1

This is the first of my Poor Boy's review- where I review maps from the perspective of someone who cant afford/cant get/just doesnt have the latest and greatest of equipment.

My 'puter probably is about as low as you can go, so it makes a nice benchmark for this sort of thing.

Laugh if you want, here are the stats on my system, for reference. P133, running software (no 3d card), 33.6 modem that usually connects at about 21000 baud.

Okay, with that settled, on with the review.

This map is one of the better texture jobs for action quake- varied textures that give a sense of space and volume. Great job on that. A little heavy-handed with the transparencies, but I will get into more on that later.

Unfortunately, anything good abut this map is completely overwhelmed by the unbelievably slow framerate in the open atrium area, that leaves me running for the small room with the crates.

No fear of me sniping in the bathroom, for if/when the bathroom door opens, there goes my framerate as my poor computer is forced to draw each and every poly in the map.

A caveat- the nature of the game Action Quake lends itself to large, open areas. However, the quake engine depises the very same thing, large open areas.

VIS ASIDE: Vising is a process a map developer puts his map through. Vising allows the 'bsp' file (the map) to determine which locations are visible from other locations. Simply put, it checks what you can see from basically everywhere. If the map is undivided, i.e. if you can 'see' everything on the map, there will be many polys for your computer to render. A command to measure how 'efficient' your map is is the command r_speeds 1
(r_speeds 0 turns it off)
The second number is the one to look for- you should optimally never let that number go over 1000. Another warning sign is that the vis program takes 90 hours to run. Bad. I _think_ the vis times of the (much larger) quake2 maps run closer to an hour or two, even on my sad computer. A large vis time indicates that your map will be pretty laggy.

Summary: I really have to say that I get no enjoyment playing a map that i am fighting against the whole way. Granted, my computer is pathetic, (that is the point of this review) but I cant imagine that even a p300 mmx with a voodoo card, will not experience SOME slowdown while running around in the center of the map. The amazing amount of glass cant help much for this either.

This, i think, should be the primary commandment to mapmakers:Dont let you map get in the way of a good time!

Resolving problems: 1)Divide the map areas into sections, a la HOSTAGE3. (How about a security gate or something, complete with x-ray machine making a narrow divide between map sections) 2)Put doors on the doorways, along with areaportals to block vis. (tricky, but doable) That way, when you are running around the atrium, your computer doesnt have to draw, say, the inside of the bathrooms, which it does now. (vis sees right through entities like doors) 3)Less transparencies!

All in all, this map shows some attention to detail (although textures are misaligned here and there) and I think with more revisions and more time it could be a great map.
-Barista

Review:
Okay, I really didn't enjoy this map. I have pretty much the same system as the POOR BOY review, plus a 3dfx card and a better connection, but I felt like I was fighting the map most of the time too. But even when I found a good server, I just hated this map. The layout is too open. There are only four enclosed areas. The two bathrooms are usually unoccupied, no pun intended, and neither is the crate-filled room. The white walled room (wtf is that supposed to be?) usually has a firefight, but there are no obstacles, so it turns into circle-strafe-o-rama, the loser usually being the guy who gets stuck between two others or runs into a wall first. This is the main problem in the rest of the map, too; it's just too open. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the whole point of Action Quake to add a paranoid, dive for cover, all-out gunfight? This map turns it into a spruced-up rocket arena. Weapons are a mixed bag: most kills come from (lucky) pistol hits. The MP5 and shotgun do well, but the open nature of the map mean keeping them is hard. The handcannon is nigh on useless, and I don't know why the sniper rifle was even included. There are absolutely no good sniper spots, and you could do just as well with the pistol. All I can say is thank god the assault rifle wasn't included, it would destroy what little ballance there is. I rabidly avoid this map, and fail to see why others don't do the same. Sure, it is a good looking map, but it's small for it's speed, way too open, and usually just plain boring.
-Deathhead