10-17-17, 10:33 PM
Introduction
Welcome to the discussion on the addition of new detailed maps and the reduction of lag within the Lenny Face Gaming Sandbox Server! First and foremost I would like to make one thing absolutely clear for everyone so as few inconsiderate-to-the-quality-of-the-server posts are made as possible. Discussion on the issues of lag regarding the maps in the first part of the thread should not started until people have at least thought about the ideas I present in the second part for some simple consideration. I would also like to point out that in no way I am a professional in the field optimization and ask that you not judge what I have to say too harshly. There will be two polls at the end that you can use to vote on the future of the sandbox server, so do think it over carefully. Oh and lastly I ask that you give an honest rating on what you think about this thread, I put a lot of effort into it and I don't want it to just be ignored, thanks!
New Maps Discussion
First and foremost I will be explaining exactly why I think new maps should be added and why there is a general theme behind the maps that I will suggest, following the explanation. Now that we have that out of the way we can truly begin. So I am suggesting that we add these new maps for primarily 5 reasons:
- With that addition of the new maps I am suggesting, and possibly more within the comments there would be far more variety and inspiration for builders and fighters alike, allowing for much more enjoyable gameplay!
- With the maps that I will be suggesting personally, the idea behind them will be to provide a better looking, darker, and more diverse experience to the sandbox server than the usual, bland templates thrust upon us. I'm sure many of us have looked at a map and wished we could have an awesome server to go with it, which LFG provides of course.
- As has been proven in the past, more complex maps will often work out rather well when it comes to latency and frame rate as long as there isn't a large amount of people in the server, which will of course segway into the second part of the thread later on!
- As of late, or rather for quite a few years, the sandbox server has been a bit of a bland slog through all the monotonous, more-of-the-same maps that provide no unique environment or potential for roleplaying. While I understanding that a sandbox server is a not a roleplay server, I also understand that giving people so much freedom to express themselves in sandbox encourages roleplay greatly, which makes it an important part of the sandbox experience in the first place.
- Simply put, my fifth reason is for artistic expression. While they are rare on Garry's Mod, there are those few of us who will genuinely try their best to build something beautiful, but in order to accomplish it we need more than a blank canvas. We aren't working with paint here after all, we're working with three dimensional objects with many different configurable properties and boundless freedom. It would do that particular type of a valuable person a great deed if we gave them more to work with. I for one am aspiring to be rather good at building in games and GMod is great for that if provided the right map.
(Right click and click, "View Image" to see photos if you're on PC)
- gm_Shambles: This maps is pretty simple and easy to understand to be honest. Most people already know this map as it is so popular but I'll still describe it. So essentially the map consists of an entire neighborhood of English architecture styled modern homes, 10 of which are open and can be built in. It has a decent sewer system with tunnels to access various areas of interest as well as a pretty large, blank part of the map with a nearby semi-farm to build things on. It also has just barely enough room to fly helicopters!
- GM_Marsh: GM_MARSH is probably the creepiest and most militaristic map of all of the maps here. It consists of, as the name entails, a marsh. The marsh has very thick fog and is filled with rusted and beat down structures. Such as an old fort, railroad, and much more. It would work pretty well for any sort of zombie business you want to get into!
- gm_fork_night: Now gm_fork_night is an awesome map on all accounts. Of course it is the same map as gm_fork but with a few added bonuses. It seems to be of a higher quality than the original map in itself and that would make it quite the decent sized map! Of all the maps I hope that this one is added the most! You can find more details on the workshop page, as is the same with all these maps. Oh, and it has enough room to fly helicopters and the slower planes, you'll probably run into a barrier after a bit with a jet though so be careful there. I know how people obsess over there WACs.
- rp_isolation: This map is pretty similar to gm_Shambles and gm_fork_night, however what separates it is it's very old, compact feel. It is also a very snowy map which will help to add a little variety to the choice of maps we have, and of course as I made sure it has enough blank building space to accommodate the more eh... creative type. (They're going to build dicks, we all know it)
- rp_betaworkshl2: 5 starts with 582 ratings on the workshop. Anything I say can't give this map enough praise so just check out the link. This is about the highest quality map on the list. Of course it's also the most massive but it could still work just fine.
- zs_castle_defense: A great map for two-sided wars using the party system. The map is simple yet detailed, being well optimized so that there is minimal lag. I mostly like this map simply because of what I imagine a war on it would be like. Also aquatic vehicles are viable here, so naturally flying yachts are going to be everywhere which is a double-edged blade to be honest.
So that concludes my list of all the maps that I believe deserve to be added to the sandbox server. Now to get some solid feedback on what others might think about it I will place a poll down for people to vote on! Before we get to that however we will need to touch on lag reduction, which will be done in the very obvious second part right below this text, right now, as soon as you stop reading this text. Shiba-dooba-dipa-loop, okay you're allowed to stop reading this now.
Lag Reduction Discussion
Now I'm going to be honest here when I said I was going to be doing a second part of this thread I though I would be going deep into detail about it but I really only have two points to make here. The first one is that the amount of lag that is caused is partially due to the complexity of the map, which influenced the choices of the maps I listed greatly when I was going through them, still keeping quality in mind. The second part is the players in general! Whenever there is typically over 20 players in the sandbox server at any given time some very stupid things start to take place. Like for instance people breaking the rules or throwing around rag dolls,as well as all other sorts of the things that absolutely ruin the frame rate and latency! So I have proposed a second poll to combat the issue of having too many players, and while I know it won't stop people from breaking the rules or doing stupid things, the reduction of the player limit will allow for a smoother experience. Controversial but ultimately needed if we want to be using actually good maps. I apologize if this second part doesn't exactly live up to the quality of the first part but I really didn't know as much as I needed to do that sort of thing. I would however greatly appreciate the advice of any readers here educated enough in the matter. However do keep in mind that your comments should be mainly directed towards experienced L.F.G. staff first, I can wait.
Conclusion
That concludes the two topics I felt were important enough to discuss! I know it's an awful lot to think about but it's necessary for the improvement of the sandbox server. I fully expect plenty of criticism from the comments whenever this thread goes up and I simply ask you to think about what would make the game more fun, rather than more of the same! Thank you for reading through all the way through my thread, I really appreciate it!
☽CorrosiveSpiral/Alex/Deemo☾