Map Feedback - Archon, v1801

Archon, v1801

Bug report by Okom1

Date: 11 Jan, 2024

Feedback notes: Feedback made with only 4v4 CTF and Strongholds in mind and extensive hiding spot discovering has been skipped.

Priority 1 = Must fix:
Exploits, gameplay stalling issues and non-standard functionality.

Priority 2 = Should fix:
Recommendations, major visual issues and balance issues.

Priority 3 = Suggestion:
Inconsistencies, minor visual issues and optimization tips.

Positional values are described in the order: X, Y, Z.

Object references are described like so: Object name.

0. Layout

No issues found!

1. Spawning

The Spawn Volumes used to block the opposite team's spawns have unnecessary Weight-values. Having Weight on these volumes can cause unnecessary or unintentional weighting of the Spawn Points inside the volume:

Spawn Volume [Respawn] has a Weight of "8.00"
Spawn Volume [Respawn] has a Weight of "8.00"

Adjust the Weight of the listed Spawn Volumes to "0.00".

Some sections of the Spawn Volumes used to block the opposite team's spawns are overlapping, leading to the Spawn Points inside the overlaping areas being disabled for both teams:

Spawn Point [Respawn] 57

Adjust the positioning of the Spawn Volumes to remove the overlap over the listed Spawn Points.

The symmetrical Respawn Point layout is not being followed in some locations:

Spawn Point [Respawn] missing at: -96, 147, 1004
Spawn Point [Respawn] missing at: 16, 143, 1005

Add Respawn Points to the listed positions to balance out the spawning availability symmetry.

Some Respawn Points are intersecting geometry and are not allowing players to spawn on them or are causing jitters when a player spawns on them:

Spawn Point [Respawn] 9
Spawn Point [Respawn] 28
Spawn Point [Respawn] 44
Spawn Point [Respawn] 69

Adjust the positioning of the listed Respawn Points so they are not intersecting geometry anymore.

Some Spawn Points are positioned in a way where the player will not have enough time to react to something happening shortly after spawning on them:

Spawn Point [Respawn] 25 Player faces launcher
Spawn Point [Respawn] 33 Player faces launcher
Spawn Point [Respawn] 40 Player faces a wall
Spawn Point [Respawn] 48 Player faces a wall
Spawn Point [Respawn] 49 Player falls off a ledge
Spawn Point [Respawn] 62 Player falls off a ledge

Reposition the listed Spawn Points so that they don't lead to actions that a player spawning on them can't react to quickly enough.

2. Sandbox

Some sandbox spawners have non-standard Item Selection Properties:

Weapon Rack 3 Symmetrical Channel set to "None" or is different than the other team's counterpart
Weapon Rack 4 Symmetrical Channel set to "None" or is different than the other team's counterpart
Weapon Rack 5 Symmetrical Channel set to "None" or is different than the other team's counterpart
Weapon Rack 6 Symmetrical Channel set to "None" or is different than the other team's counterpart
Weapon Rack 7 Static Selection set to "Enabled" in non-BTB modes. Symmetrical Channel set to "None" or is different than the other team's counterpart
Weapon Rack 8 Static Selection set to "Enabled" in non-BTB modes. Symmetrical Channel set to "None" or is different than the other team's counterpart

Adjust the Item Selection properties to be inline with set standards.

The Class/Tier should be some other value than "Any" as it doesn't have a functional "343 Default" Spawn Property mapping. The standard is to use the same Class that the Weapon in the Static Item Selection belongs to. The Weapon in the Static Selection can be different from the Class it belongs to if it is intended for that weapon to spawn only in Ranked modes, which force the Static Selection to "Enabled". In a situation where the Static Selection is "Enabled", the Weapon class is determined by the static Weapon set in the spawner.
The Static Selection on Weapon Racks should be "Disabled" in all modes with the exception of BTB where "Enabled" is allowed. Grenade Dispensers, Equipment Dispensers, Vehicle Pads and Classic Vehicle Spawns should be set to "Enabled" in all modes. For spawners only included in Ranked modes, "Enabled" is allowed, but has no difference to "Disabled" as Ranked modes force all spawner Static Selections to "Enabled" via gamemode rule. Fiesta modes will force the Static Selection to "Disabled".
The Symmetrical Channel should be set to Alpha for each sandbox spawner that relies on a Class-based item pool and has a symmetrical counterpart for it. If the same Class of item shows up more than once per side, a different Symmetrical Channel should be used for each of them. For items with Static Selection "Enabled", the Symmetrical Channel should be set to "None" to provide more randomness in Fiesta modes.

Some sandbox spawners do not have a Ranked variant with Ranked-specific properties

Equipment Dispenser 3 Grappleshot
Equipment Dispenser 4 Grappleshot
Equipment Dispenser 5 Repulsor
Equipment Dispenser 6 Shroud Screen
Weapon Pad 7 Rocket Launcher

Add a Ranked variant for each of the listed sandbox spawners. Remember to put the Label "Ranked Exclude" on the non-Ranked variants of the sandbox spawners that require a Ranked variant.

Rocket Launcher = Label: "Ranked Include", Spawn Properties: "Custom", Ammo: "50%", Spawn Logic: Static (Time), Spawn Time: User Defined, default is "120.00", Max Deployed: "0.00"
Drop Wall, Shroud Screen, Threat Seeker = Label: "Ranked Include", Spawn Properties: "Custom", Charge Multiplier: "50%", Spawn Logic: Dynamic (Expired), Spawn Time: "60.00", Max Deployed: "0.00"
Grappleshot, Repair Field, Repulsor, Threat Sensor, Thruster = Label: "Ranked Include", Spawn Properties: "Custom", Charge Multiplier: "100%", Spawn Logic: Dynamic (Expired), Spawn Time: "60.00", Max Deployed: "0.00"

Some Fusion Coils are not excluded in Ranked modes:

Fusion Coil Kinetic
Fusion Coil Kinetic 1

Add the label "Ranked Exclude" to the listed Fusion Coils.

Some sandbox spawners are too high in elevation:

Weapon Rack 3
Weapon Rack 4
Weapon Rack 5
Weapon Rack 6
Weapon Rack 7
Weapon Rack 8

Fix the elevation on the listed objects so they are either correctly on the ground or at a standard height on the wall.

Weapon Racks should be 5.15 units up from the ground level.

Sandbox spawners positioned at a correct height

Some sandbox spawners are too low in elevation:

Weapon Rack
Weapon Pad 2
Weapon Pad 7
Weapon Pad 9
Power Equipment Pad
Equipment Dispenser 3
Equipment Dispenser 4
Grenade Dispenser
Grenade Dispenser 2

Fix the elevation on the listed objects so they are either correctly on the ground or at a standard height on the wall.

Weapon Racks should be 5.15 units up from the ground level.

Some Weapon Racks are sticking out too much from geometry:

Weapon Rack 3

Fix the depth on the listed Weapon Racks so that they don't stick out of the wall and block movement nor look visually distracting.

Weapon Racks should be just far enough out of the wall so the metal back plate inside the object does not intersect the wall.

Close-up shot of a Weapon Rack merged too deep in the wall

Close-up shot of a Weapon Rack at a correct depth in the wall

Some Weapon Racks are merged too deep in geometry:

Weapon Rack 7
Weapon Rack 8

Fix the depth on the listed Weapon Racks so that the back plate of the Weapon Rack doesn't get merged in geometry when a Weapon is taken from it.

Weapon Racks should be just far enough out of the wall so the metal back plate inside the object does not intersect the wall.

3. Gamemodes

Some Zone boundaries are missing Zone Capture Plate objects:

Stronghold Capture Zone 6

Add a Zone Capture Plate inside the boundary of each listed Zone. Add the correct Labels to the Zone Capture Plate.

Strongholds = "Strongholds Include", "Strongholds Plate"
King of the Hill = "KOTH Include", "King of the Hill Plate"
Land Grab = "Land Grab Include", "Land Grab AI Plate"

All Stronghold Capture Zones have the same Group Index value of 1 causing the zones to be labelled in some undefined order.

Set the Group Index values correctly for each Stronghold Capture Zone. Eagle side should be 1 (A), middle/Neutral 2 (B) and Cobra side 3 (C).

Some gamemode objects are too low in elevation:

Flag Delivery Plate
Flag Delivery Plate 1
Flag Spawn 1
Zone Capture Plate 2
Zone Capture Plate 3

Fix the elevation on the listed objects so they are positioned correctly on the ground.

Gamemode objects positioned at the correct height

4. Nav Mesh

The Nav Mesh on the map doesn't reflect the current geometry of the map.

Rebuild Nav Mesh.

No Bot Nav Markers set up for exploration purposes so Bots will just run around in select locations of the map in a janky fashion if there are no ambitions like sandbox item spawns, gamemode objectives or enemy players nearby that interest them.

Add Bot Nav Markers on the map to make Bots traverse between them if nothing else interests them. Place Bot Nav markers in highlight areas of your map, set their Behavior to "Explore" and connect them together by adding other Bot Nav Markers as Neighbors to each Bot Nav Marker. It's a good idea to name each Bot Nav Marker uniquely so it's easier to distinguish them when choosing Neighbors.

Some Nav helper objects aren't generating their hints correctly because some of the four bottom corners of the Nav helper boundary aren't connecting to traversable geometry:

Bot Jump Hint One Way 2
Bot Jump Hint One Way 3
Bot Jump Hint One Way 12
Bot Jump Hint One Way 13
Bot Jump Hint One Way 16
Bot Jump Hint One Way 17
Bot Jump Hint One Way 18
Bot Jump Hint Two Way
Bot Jump Hint Two Way 1

Make sure all four bottom corners of the Nav helper boundary are connecting to traversable geometry. The corners should not be too deep in or too high off the geometry. Rebuild Nav Mesh afterwards.

Image of a Nav helper that is not generating the hint

Some lifts or launchers do not have pathfinding support for Bots to use them:

Kinetic Launcher Forerunner 3
Kinetic Launcher Forerunner 5
Kinetic Launcher Forerunner 6

Add a Bot Movement One Way Nav helper connecting the entry point of the lift/launcher to the intended landing spot. Rebuild Nav Mesh afterwards.

The Length-value of the Nav helper should be set to "1.00" and positioned width-wise in the middle of the lift/launcher path so that Bots will use it accurately from the middle.

A Bot Movement One Way Nav helper setup correctly for Bots to be able to use a launcher

A Bot Movement One Way Nav helper setup correctly for Bots to be able to use a lift

Some Nav helpers are redundant as they do not serve any essential purpose for the Nav Mesh in their current state:

Bot Walk One Way

Remove the excess Nav helpers to gain back object budget.

Some Nav Seed Points are redundant on the map as the Nav data already connects to all required areas without them or the Nav Seed Point is not doing anything in its current position. Spawn Points serve the same purpose as Nav Seed Points in that they spread the Nav Mesh from their origin position:

Nav Seed Point
Nav Seed Point 2
Nav Seed Point 3
Nav Seed Point 4
Nav Seed Point 5
Nav Seed Point 6
Nav Seed Point 7
Nav Seed Point 8
Nav Seed Point 10

Remove the excess Nav Seed Points to gain back object budget.

Read the TSG Forge Wiki article about this topic

Some Nav Cutters are redundant as they do not serve any essential purpose for the Nav Mesh in their current state:

Nav Cutter
Nav Cutter 1
Nav Cutter 2
Nav Cutter 3
Nav Cutter 4
Nav Cutter 5
Nav Cutter 6
Nav Cutter 7
Nav Cutter 8
Nav Cutter 9
Nav Cutter 10
Nav Cutter 11
Nav Cutter 12
Nav Cutter 13
Nav Cutter 14
Nav Cutter 15
Nav Cutter 21
Nav Cutter 22
Nav Cutter 23
Nav Cutter 24
Nav Cutter 25
Nav Cutter 26
Nav Cutter 27
Nav Cutter 28
Nav Cutter 29
Nav Cutter 30
Nav Cutter 31
Nav Cutter 32
Nav Cutter 33

Remove the excess Nav Cutters to gain back object budget.

5. Lighting

No issues found!

6. Misc. setup

The player can Mark outside the playable area to reveal locations with no name.

A good idea is to add a Named Location Volume covering a large portion of the map with some generic name like "Outside" so when a player Marks outside of the playable area, it will still have some generic name instead of showing no name. Smaller volumes will take priority if they are located inside a larger volume so this won't affect the Named Location Volumes inside your playspace.