in soviet russia! map maps you!

now that I have that out of the way (couldn't resist), some feedback :P

1) I notice the skybox is no different at all to skyboxes/black (cept maybe in resolution), but who's going to notice, so I'm curious to why you used a custom one
2) serious naming issues, all the sounds are .OGG, you're not referencing them properly so the POSIX users can't enjoy the map the way they're meant to out of the box, fix it! (by either referencing them properly or renaming them to bleh.ogg from bleh.OGG)
3) you're including new textures with the package, the russiamap texture, has a .JPG extension, and so does the white texture, more badnews for posix users
4) gamma is a persistant variable so it can't be changed in map script
5) ambient is baked into the lightmaps, so changing it while the map is up should have little to no effect, specially since ambient light is baked into the lightmaps
6) you've almost packaged it correctly, there's just a Thumbs.db you missed ;)

you can use these as quick remedies for the POSIX case sensitivity problems

registersound "viruz\t1.OGG"
registersound "viruz\t2.OGG"
registersound "viruz\t3.OGG"
registersound "viruz\t4.OGG"
registersound "viruz\t5.OGG"
registersound "viruz\t6.OGG"
registersound "viruz\t7.OGG"
registersound "viruz\rain.OGG"

guiimage "packages\viruz\russiamap.JPG" 8 8

the other option is to rename the files, which takes more time :P

now to actually load the map

1) I get a series of "cannot override persistent variable gamma" and the flashes only seem to affect completely omitted from light regions, and random other regions and surfaces, not really a good effect in my opinion
2) the buildings seem a bit monotonous and empty to me, and the light shadows just seem too hard, you might want to perhaps try faking some radiosity, by placing lights to subtly illuminate the area
3) in my opinion, very poor use of the lightning particle, doesn't look very right
4) in my opinion, weapon caches like the ones you're using, should be discouraged

still a goodish map, ctf placements seem good, navigation is easy if buildings are mostly avoided, I think I'll rate you 4/5 :)
despite the big problems with the package...

~Hirato Kirata

Ahh russia my home country.

Well hirato has nailed it here so ill just give my personal rating of 3/5

As I mentioned already, a really big and cool map. Hirato is right with the buildings, though.
Regarding the technical issues he mentioned, I just can say that the gamma change works for me on WinXP.

Mmh, nothing much more to complain about for me. I like it :)
5/5

Looks very nice. But here a few improvements, as well as the Hirato mentioned should be made.

Buildings are a bit bland, mildly depressing (I know you want it to have a certain mood, but it's a bad kind).

Lighting is, well, it needs some work, some places it looks weird. Use some soft lights to fix this up a bit.

The lightning looks fine; it just gives me "persistent variable gamma" errors. Still a nice trick. ;)

Overall: 4/5 for your hard work, and nice little (or should I say big) map.

Wow. you must must have spent quite some time. and the outcome is really awesome. and this i dont just mean for your age, but but absolutely.
a very good job(!).

Hirato mentioned the major flaws which are in my opinion indeed worth looking at them and correcting them. take some time off and then give it a revision.

in my eyes the size unfortunately is also a problem for most purposes. it really takes a packed 32 ppl server to get that map into schmutzy sauerbraten action. but despite that: its relly well done, kind of unique in its way. if you have a creative idea of how to do it, maybe create a version just half the size and optimized for 16 ppl...?

i also hope you turn one of your next ideas into another great map because what i believe this map really proves: you got very good mapping skills and the patience to turn even huge ideas into reality. i hope you stick to it and produce some more (maybe a lil bit smaller ones) :-)

im quite unsure how to rate this map. for me its really a 4.5 - giving you a 4 underrates this map, giving you a 5 gives you the cheers you deserve, but also the impression the work is already perfect as of now. i think i give you a 5 nevertheless and just hope you give it a revision.

Again: good job, viruz.

cool map :D

Straight to ratings 5/5 enjoy

Good work - I like the thunder-n-lighting scripting you've done - very nice!!
There's some file-extension mixups - please repackage with all those .OGGs renamed to .ogg and lose the (unused and confusingly named) light-rain-loop.wav.ogg (which IS encoded in ogg-vorbis).
There was (at least) one image with uppercase extensions too - the "white" skybox IIRC, but redo all uppercase characters for maximum cross-platform interoperability :-)

I find the map is generally too dark, making quite a bit of the details you /have done/ all but invisible - which is what makes all those corridors start to look a little on the un-detailed side.

Your entity placement isn't what I'd go for myself - but seems appropriate and consistent, so I believe it works with /this/ map - in general though I'd go for more open and less "bunched" item drops!

How about adding a mapshot into packages/base/ (russia.jpg) .. that'd be the final tweak to the package to make it rate-A :-)