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Mr. Silence edited this page Dec 12, 2019 · 19 revisions

About

The ZPS Map Repository is exclusive for the source files for the Lake, Church, and Cabin maps for ZPS. The version of ZPS currently supported by these maps is ZPS 3.1, which is the currently in public beta as of 12/12/2019, but will eventually be the default build once testing is done.

This wiki will serve as a page for talking about the maps themselves, their history, and other relevant information about their development as well as their gameplay. Below you can also find some information about map downloads (for ZPS 3.0 and ZPS 3.1), links to maps and helpful information, and some tips regarding compiling these maps.

License information and such can be found with the repo. You don't need my explicit permission for anything, so you can do whatever you feel like with the files, just make sure to release the maps as they have been released to you. If you are planning on porting these maps or whatever, please make sure to include the previous authors names in the maps and keep the landmarks textures/signs, etc. in the maps for historic purposes as outlined in the repo's readme file.

Map (.bsp) Files

If you are looking for the actual map files to play on the server and not the map's source files, please see the below links in this section to find the map download pages (all maps come in a .zip bundle and are separated into their respective map collections).

At present, these are the up-to-date versions of the maps which are only compatible with the 3.1 version of ZPS. They are not compatible with older versions of the game (so ZPS 2.4.1 players will not be able to use the latest versions) and should not be played on those versions. Alternatively, links to the ZPS 3.0 version of the maps are also available, though keep in mind that the .vmf files in this repository are updated for ZPS 3.1!

Alternatively, you can go to the Steam page for content I work on for the latest links/files on these maps here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/silencesfuncorner

... or you can download the source files and compile them yourself since that is completely possible to do now.

Lake Maps

ZPS 3.0

ZPS 3.1

Church Maps

ZPS 3.0

ZPS 3.1

Cabin Maps

ZPS 3.0

ZPS 3.1

Map Information

Below is a list of pages containing information about each of these maps. All of the maps maintained are zpo_ (objective) maps. The main/associated authors are also listed/credited here as well as in the article. Finally, some of the maps used textures that TopHatWaffle's website (see links below for the texture pack used) and a few models that were created for ZPS by EArkham.

Lake Maps

Church Maps

Cabin Maps

Other Information

Using/Installing Source Files

This very short guide assumes you know how to use Hammer, know the basics of mapping, and understand certain aspects of content creation for Source-based games. If you do not know, it will be up to you to figure them out, so please look over the links in the Resources section and do some of your own research into this.

Firstly, download the files from this repo. After that, you will need the following to use these files:

  • Install/Run Zombie Panic! Source (Can be found on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/17500/Zombie_Panic_Source/)
  • Install Zombie Panic! Source Mod Tools (this provides the Hammer editor for the game, its in the Tools section of your Library after installing the game)
  • Pakrat (https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Pakrat) or an equivalent file packaging program used for the files that will need to be packaged with the .bsp map file.
  • A place to keep your .vmf files. You'll want to keep them separate from the game (easier to keep track of them).

Once acquired, run the tools/game at least once. Place the contents of "SharedResources" from the downloaded .zip file into the "zps_custom" folder in the main ZPS game directory. This will ensure the files show up in Hammer for the .vmf files as well as in-game, which will be useful when testing the map. However, when packaging the files in "SharedResources" with custom maps, running the auto feature, at least with Pakrat, may not get all of the files. Some files, such as models, model textures, and sound files will need to be manually added to the file by searching for it using the packaging program and then adding it in. To make sure your files were packaged into the map while testing, it may be a good idea to temporarily move all of the files in zps_custom outside of the folder so that you can see which ones you might have missed.

Compiling The Maps

When compiling the maps, I advise the following:

  • Fast Compile - For error checking using the ErrorChecker (link for that is below) it is advised to only use fast compile without generating a .bsp file in the main map directory. This can speed up the mapping process by a bit when you can check for various errors in your map that do not need playtesting to fix (such as leaks, out of date entities, brush/visleaf reduction, etc). This has served me well over the years as I like to compile a lot, especially when I know there is an error that I'm trying to fix in the maps. These fast compile maps are generally never used for playtesting or release.
  • Default Compile - When compiling a map to playtest/release, it is highly advised to only use the default compile options rather than full/final compile options as these maps do not need HDR lighting. While some may like the lighting effects, it does kill framerates and signficantly bloats file sizes, making the maps less portable and harder to play, especially for slower/older computers. While the maps have been optimized as best as possible, they are still maps created in an open area/box style, which makes it harder to optimize in some regards due to open, box-like maps being harder to occlude/cordon off into sections that the player only renders when needed.
  • Full/Final Compile - NEVER use these options for these maps. That may sound heretical given that people (for some reason) love bloom and HDR, but these maps do not perform as well with HDR lighting and it limits player accessibility. Unless you are building a new map with HDR lighting in mind that has the correct optimization techniques/paradigms involved in their general structure (which should be the case for newer maps, if that can be arranged), you are better off using simple LDR lighting for maps like these.

One of the lesser known secrets to these maps success was that they were always easy to download and fairly simple to play for a lot of people who played ZPS because the framerate was always much better than some of the more "artsy" maps (this includes the stock/vanilla maps, fyi). This alone made Lake, Church, and Cabin maps more accessible to players and easy to proliferate amongst servers. This was due to the default compile options which only used LDR, instead of using full/final compile options that render both LDR and HDR lighting. HDR lighting would effectively cause all sorts of issues for most ZPS players, especially those with older/slower machines and removing it gave even these players the opportunity to play the game. That and these maps are made to appeal to gameplay rather than to visuals (though I did get fancy with a few maps back in the day or at least I tried lol).

While this is not a knock on HDR lighting or people that like visuals, it is something that should be known as that was one of the sacrifices made to make the maps more playable/optimized due to their open, box-like nature. With Source, you sometimes have to sacrifices a few things here or there in order to produce a result that is both fun and visually appealing while keeping the map playable, optimized, and easy to download. Its a rather hard balance to strike at times, but it can be worthwhile when you know what people really want from the maps in general.

Resources/Links

The following might be useful to you for mapping-related stuff:

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