MP_TheSpire

[Hourences]

The Spire is a medium sized Gears Of War multiplayer level. On top of a huge spire surrounded by a sea of immulsion, both teams spawn in the gardens surrounding the estate, and meet each other in the central hallway.

Download: http://download.beyondunreal.com/fileworks.php/mods/mp_the_spire.zip (Thanks beyondunreal.com!)
Map Name: MP_TheSpire
Gametypes: All multiplayer gametypes, I guess...
Size: Medium
Credits: Epic for the GOW art assets.
Size: 15.3MB

There are a couple of small bugs left. Screenshots taken in the editor viewport...

I've also released new tutorials and some screenshots of an upcoming UT3 DM level on my site: http://www.hourences.com/book/authornews.htm

http://phalanx.planetunreal.gamespy.com/hourences/work/gowspire1.jpg
http://phalanx.planetunreal.gamespy.com/hourences/work/gowspire10.jpg
http://phalanx.planetunreal.gamespy.com/hourences/work/gowspire12.jpg
http://phalanx.planetunreal.gamespy.com/hourences/work/gowspire8.jpg

[Kronos]

Hourences I love your work and your tutorials, I'll be sure to check out your books some day:)

This map is pure gorgious, it has extremely striking visuals, and a really unique atmosphere. I have yet to play it to test out the gameplay, but knowing most of your maps from the Unreal series, its most likely that it'll do well on that to.

This is a must download for anyone who has Gears PC!

[Mysticaly]

WOW!
That map must be one of the best custom maps I've ever seen, GJ!
I'm downloading it right now. Thank you!

[Kronos]

As you've said in the readme and your post there are some flaws, most of which seem to be cover issues for me. Many objects that look like you could lean up against, you cant. I understand your reason for not completing the map entirely, if only UnrealED for GoW was more stable:(.

Despite the cover issues, the map ran extremly well on highest graphics, and I think the gameplay could have some potential if many of the current bugs were fixed.

[Marth]

Well, this is a surprise. Definately the FIRST good map for GoW PC.

*applauds*

-Marth

[CrysAk]

nice work ^^

[far]

nice work indeed :)

[VoltronisyourDaddy]

I love this map. This thing is freaking amazing.

[coolcat12]

When I try and run it via console it opens the map in game but immediately crashes...why? anyone with this issue? Looks nice btw.

[KILLTHEIF]

Makes me wish i had this game for pc:confused:

[AngeLiK12]

This is like no other map on the Gears of War MP list. It's absolutely amazing just by looking at it.. Great idea too complete abyss surrounding it.
Bravo!

[Wannabe Cheney]

Tip of the hat to you sir. Great job.

[Hourences]

Glad you all like it :)

Yeah Kronos, couple of cover issues. The most important and obvious elements do support cover tho, it are usually the lesser obvious things that arent fully supported. My bad, but I just wonder how many people will be playing GOW PC online anyhow... The game would really benefit from bots in MP games, so you can play it offline.
Might try to add some kind of Kismet script to the level later on so there are locust spawning on one side, so the level might be playable on your own. I dont know if that would be possible...
If anyone feels like trying, be my guest. The level is uncooked so it's pretty open to modifications.

Dont know why it crashes Coolcat, no one else having this issue?

[ZxTWO]

Jesus......I'm speechless. WOW-AH.

[Totalboy]

Do everyone who wants to play on my server download this map from here, or can people download it from me via the server`?

[NYPOPS]

Very good map, i love the style, design, colours, everything !
A must have !

[coolcat12]

I really want to test it out but I cant open it ingame without crashing nor the unreal editor. Also When I add custom maps and want to search ranked games it doesn't find and nor does it say it didn't find any server, it just keeps saying "searching" But when I delete the custom maps it works fine. Idk why...

[Darth Axel 007]

Well, this is a surprise. Definately the FIRST good map for GoW PC.

*applauds*

-Marth

I thought you didn't have gears for PC, how would you know if it was better than all the other maps being released? Don't be an idiot.

@ Hourences,

you put a lot of effort in lighting making it look amazing, the helicopter was unneeded completely and it was just slowing people's computers, as mentioned before you had cover issues. Many things you couldn't take cover on and some of the transitions were awkward. The door before the boomer is glitched due to a messed up cover link. The map was sort of confusing, but that was just me [both sides seemed too similar]. Good map though. Your upcoming UT map looks nice as well.

[Flak]

Absolutely beautiful Hourences, thank you so much.

[Marth]

I thought you didn't have gears for PC, how would you know if it was better than all the other maps being released? Don't be an idiot.


Don't get too offensive just because I made a 'bad' remark about your own map. Just look at it. The design is better than most maps, and it looks professionally made, you'd think Epic themselves created it.

-Marth

[coolcat12]

Could anyone get a video walk through of the map, I cant play it...

[Flak]

Keep the crap out of the release threads. Thanks.

[brdolan]

Great map. I am putting in some AI so I can play it solo.

[Darth Axel 007]

I thought you didn't have gears for PC, how would you know if it was better than all the other maps being released? Don't be an idiot.


Don't get too offensive just because I made a 'bad' remark about your own map. Just look at it. The design is better than most maps, and it looks professionally made, you'd think Epic themselves created it.

-Marth

You didn't say anything about my map, and fyi, Hourences has made maps that shipped with Unreal Tournament before such as Rankin.

[John_NZ]

Whoa, awesome map ... thumbs up to you, dude

[Calvin Hobbes]

Can someone post in game screens of this map?

[NU NRG 187]

yeh this map makes my pc crash also......

[eulbombs]

wow. EPIC, make sure you put this in the next map pack for the 360.

[Apathy]

C:\Documents and Settings\YOURNAME\My Documents\My Games\Gears of War for Windows\WarGame\Published\CookedPC\Maps\CustomMaps

I stuck it in there.. I had to creat a Maps and CustomMaps directory, but I still put it in.. I can't load it from the console and it doesn't show up in the map config for MP :(

EDIT- Ok, I just had to add .war at the end of it.. Now, problem being.. It loads, but runs like crap than crashes :(

EDIT #2 - I tried turning all settings to completely low (was completely maxed out before). Instead of taking a good 10 seconds to crash to my desktop, it only took about 1.5 seconds to crash heh.

Is anyone able to run this map?

[Hourences]

Do the people for who it crashes, have the editor installed? Or do you not?

[Apathy]

I do .

[coolcat12]

I have the editor installed and it crashes.

[Hourences]

That's rather strange and random then. Does it load in the editor though?

It seems to run for some, works fine for myself too of course. I don't really have an idea as of why it's doing this for some...

[coolcat12]

I cant load it in the editor either. It gives me errors

[Apathy]

I loaded it in the editor just fine.. I then tried to load it in the game again.. It seemed to almost work, than it froze and crashed :( Another thing to note. I don't know if it's because my computer is rendering all 4 view ports plus the in-editor game testing window thingy, but my fps was like 30-40 (It's usually more than twice that much) when I had it loaded.

BTW, the map is ****ing awesome looking.. I really wish I could get it to work in the game itself. Fantastic work on it :)

[theron]

Awesome map man. Thank you! :D

[Mausan]

very cool map, but there's some cover links missing, good job.

[BrendanL]

Great map! Too bad my PC can't handle Gears of War...

[Dannydeman]

Well I don't play GOW, but this map looks amazing. Your UT3 maps looks awesome too. Amazing stuff!

[The_Big_TickeTT]

That looks f*cking amazing. Map Editor is the only reason I wish I had the PC version of Gears.

[MozI]

That's bad ass for five days of work... you got skills mate.

[The_Big_TickeTT]

By the way, can somebody who has downloaded this map and already played on it record a walk-through or an actual multi player match on this map? I would love to see this map in action. Thanks in advance and I hope somebody can do this. Great map once again Hourences, damn good map.

[arcadeperfect]

cannot run it without crashing. anyone had this problem then fixed it? every other custom map runs ok apart from this one. screenshots look awesome, still working my way through the vtm's on the ut3 ltd edition b4 i have a go at making maps.

[DeMiZe28]

cannot run it without crashing. anyone had this problem then fixed it? every other custom map runs ok apart from this one. screenshots look awesome, still working my way through the vtm's on the ut3 ltd edition b4 i have a go at making maps.

It keeps crashing on me also, not sure whats wrong. Really choppy at start and then my game crashes. Any ideas?

[Fatality1963]

I have two pc's at home. This map runs fine on my WinXP pc but crashes after loading on my Vista pc. I'm not sure if it's because the map doesn't like vista or not?

I hope this map gets the bugs worked out because I'd love to play it. I have my friends over every couple of weeks and we play 4 player lan play using the multplayer maps. This would be an excellent one to add to the rotation list if it can be fixed to stop crashing.

Thanks

[Hourences]

Can anyone verify that? Having vista makes it crash, having XP does not?

I've got XP, works fine for me.

I am really clueless about the whole crashing thing so just trying to find some kind of pattern in the crashing..

[Darth Axel 007]

I have Windows Vista 32-bit and it runs fine.

[Kronos]

I have vista 32 aswell and it runs fine.

[Ragoroo]

Seems to crash, just not for the host. Its not an xp/vista prob as my mate has xp and it crashes for him when he joins a game.

[The_Big_TickeTT]

Somebody please make a vid of the map!!

[Fatality1963]

I can verify that it also crashes when I host. I run Windows Vista 32 and when I host the game it crashes within seconds after it loads the level. I cannot get it to last more than 2 or 3 seconds after the level is loaded. In fact it will not go past the "Pick your team" menu unless I manually load the level from the console and then while it doesn't load with a menu it still crashes after a few seconds.

[AnarchysKing]

when u(hourences) say to use the console to open the map, does that mean console commands? if so what command do i use to open it

[coolcat12]

open mp_thespire

[DocBrownsCrazyHair]

Thought this map was cool. My brother can't run the thing in Vista 32 bit. It crashes his Gears everytime he tries. When connecting to my game, or trying to host his. I have Vista 64 bit, and it opens for me no problem.

[AnarchysKing]

k, i'll try it out

[Slaz]

I haven't tried it in multiplayer yet but it surely looks enjoyable. Keep up with the good work! :)

[MozI]

This is odd indeed, just for kicks I got this map and I can't play it via menu or console, it instantly crashes my game. What's stranger I am getting the same comments on my map too... :(

Seems kind of lame, but does cooking or not cooking the map has something to do with it by chance?

[Hourences]

Did you cook yours Mozi?

I got your PM btw, will look at your map tomorrow or when I got time.

[MozI]

No, just a normal build all.

[Dark Sim]

Great map but I can't run it. The game crashes like a split second after loading up. :(

Vista 32 bit
3 GB Ram
AMD Athlon Dual Core 5600
8800 GTS 320 MB (latest beta drivers, and I also clean out the previous ones also)

I defrag the pc numerous times, so I'm not sure why I can't play this map. Perhaps I should try another map and see if the samething happens.

[coolcat12]

No, just a normal build all.

Your map runs fine now. Just the first time it crashed for me then it works. This map not so great. Crashes every time I try and open it.

[ConsoleMan]

Nice Map !!!

[Welis]

I think i've found a way to ignore the crash. I've got crash recently on W.Xp by loading the map from the Console, but to ignore it...Try loading a map from the SP, after that go back to the menu and open the console and write Open MP_Thespire again... It should work then ;) Great map however, amazing i must say.

[coolcat12]

It still crashes for me. I wen into SP loaded act 1 went to menu and opened map in console, still crash.

[Hourences]

Big bump.

For all that had trouble running it, could you give http://files.filefront.com/MP+TheSpire+Cookedzip/;9658448;/fileinfo.html a go? Might be fixed now, might be not... Worth a try anyhow.

[coolcat12]

It works perfectly now, no crashes. :) Awesome map.

[MozI]

I'll give the new file a shot tonight. Really wanted to play this map.

EDIT:

Just walked around the map for a while and damn does it look good!
Great work man, as usual.

However there were quite a few spots where I thought I could take cover but could not. Also not sure if you know about this but the door way to the boomshot you can take cover in thin air... my guess a cover node got bumped to wrong spot or something.

Other than cover glitches this top notch work.

[Thaur]

With the new cooked release I can open the level! No more instant crashing good job fixing it. Curious that the file size doubled though.

well since someone started on this thread again, I have always wanted to complain about the third screenshot. The trees in the boxes. They look very poor without grass around the bottom to hide the stone floors. Quite fake looking. Of course you probably can't tell when actually playing the game. On my maps the editor can tend to crash very often when doing rebuilds, I wonder if that is a problem he had that caused him to quit. A round table and palette indoors have no collision. The helicopter's sound is inconsistent or has too small of a radius. The lighting of the sky, surrounding area and play area is not cohesive. The entire room with the boltok has no cover. There aren't enough ambient sounds. One of the sides of the house is extremely bright for no apparent reason. The grass has collision. The rails upstairs should be shorter so that you can shoot down on enemies better. He mentioned the map is only 95% complete so he probably knows most of this though.

The lighting, texturing and mesh work inside is beautiful though. Fantastic. Love those colors.

[Elkhawg]

looks great

[nELsOn]

another bump. does anyone know where to get the updated version?
that filefront link seems to be dead for me.

[Core2TOM]

use the download mirror from fiefront, it works... or use this:

http://gearsofwar-pc.net/Downloads/details/id=8.html