@Diceman0925 thanks for your kind words. Glad you enjoyed the feverdream!
@Skummeh
I am about to publish a new project that I've been working on for the last 2 years or so. Stay tuned! Hoping to publish the first week of March!

@Diceman Agreed! The unique aesthetic in this map was a breath of fresh air for sure.

I've played about 100 of the top rated mods and this one is probably the most beautiful, rewarding map to look at! Well done and the firefights are awesome with good AI. Very unique maps and love that you can pretty much go where you want, so not a lot of barriers. Very cool! Lighting is excellent. 10/10!

The game is a loop, if you make it back to the hackable door and open it. It essentially restarts the experience again as a nightmarish unending cycle. Glad you enjoyed the mayhem @VapeInVR

You're like a god of uneven terrain maps. Between Red Dust and this one... love your work. So imaginatively done. The fire was so sweet. Haven't yet found the branching paths - I went through twice and then exited to the game main screen. Did the game drop me, or is that how it can end? (ie. suddenly, right at the 2nd door after using the multitool.)

There’s a post processing blur effect that’s meant to enhance the weird fever dream vibe temporarily . I thought it fit the whole trippy experience . It’s triggered by a few specific kills in that area. - this map was an experiment with some new systems I’ve been learning for my current project - perhaps that’s what you’re finding distracting ?

Smooth. There is definitely something going on with the vision; it gets really bad at the bottom of the stairs under where you can see g-man's form getting swept around.

Thanks for the bug report . Sorry to hear about your performance issues ! There are no eye/ character mods present in this experience. Are you a teleport or smooth locomotion dominant player ? @Menachem

Playing in Vulkan causes purple textures. Playing in DX11 means I have to turn everything down to the absolute lowest and I still got some nasty stuttering when there were too many enemies, especially towards the end. Some parts of the level felt way too dark, and combined with enemies shooting you from a mile away, the custom models to remove their glowing eyes, and certain sections where you blurred my vision even further, I got very frustrated. Also the headcrabs at the very end spawned in my line of sight.

@philip99ga , thanks glad you had fun!

Wow - excellent -- so unique

@I_Monarch_I

At the begining in the pit it runs fine, but after I get up from there it's get a bit laggy here and there. Still playable though. Lags more when enemies are encountered.
I think it started to lag really bad after the big explosion you set off, not during the explosion but after that with the next wave of enemies.

I actually got it fixed for a while. Was reading about lag issues with the Reverb G2 and USB problems came up quite a bit. So i tried changing the USB port my head set is connected to. After that it ran flawlessly for like 5 min. Then it just froze and crashed Steam VR.

I don't really get how the USB is causing this though. With maps that aren't so graphically demanding, it works fine. As far as I know, the USB isn't used for anything graphical, just tracking and possibly for sound.

@AZiZ - The Combat Fighter , a small selection of people have reported performance issues but I've only been able to replicate bad performance by avoiding killing numerous enemies and continuing to progress through the map. Can you be more specific with where the performance drops for you? Is it right away on first contact with the first officer?

Looks really good and would like to play it through but once the fights start it's really laggy and then just crashes. Running a 3080 and Reverb G2.
If you're running a 3070 and it runs fine, would be nice to know where to bottleneck is.

Yeah, I only play vr. my vive pro 2 is dual 2448×2448 LCD panels That’s the highest resolution available in the consumer VR space, for a 5k 120Hz LCD experience. turned full up. still smooth as silk.

I changed my vote. Seems like it's probably just me pushing things too hard. So, !!!

@VeRsiTiLitY , you're lucky to have access to such a high performance set up! I envy your access to that fidelity.

Sorry to hear this map didn't run well on your rig, but as I said, it has been smooth for most people.

As a one man team, no level I make can match the quality and optimisation bar created by the dozens of professionals at Valve who built source 2 and its tools over the decades, but I'm doing my best to optimise with each new project. This one was an experiment for me to learn some new systems that will inform future projects I make.

Have fun in 4k while the rest of us lowly peasants limp around in 1080p :P

Yeah, well, I play on 4K, with my settings as high as possible without the vanilla game crashing. So, maybe it has something to do with that?

I haven't played anything less than 4K in years now. I can't stand having 4K resolution technology available and using 1440P or even the lowly 1080P (shiver).

That said, I don't think the 4090 is ready for 8K, and I don't have, nor want an 8K monitor yet; so I'll be 4K for the foreseeable future. I'm sort of on the fence about the 4090, 13900k setup. I think my 3090FE - 12900k is good enough for now.

@Evil , thanks for your feedback. Glad you enjoyed the weird and spooky ride!
I've had quite a few players with lower end systems play this map and its run more or less fine across the board. Glad your experience was smooth and mostly filled with jarring explosions and lightning.

I have a 3080 and using vive pro 2. This mod runs smooth as silk, even the gman and explosions all going on never a issue.Super great job!

Sorry to hear about your performance issues @VeRsiTiLitY. I have a 3070 and similar specs, and things run fairly stably in both conservative and aggressive play styles. I'm happy to hear you enjoyed my other project RED DUST.

I was using this map as a " benchmark" for particle count as I learned the systems, and I was definitely going for abstract weirdness and hitting the limits of what could be rendered with my current skills. Future projects will be more reasonable, performance wise.

There are a few ways you can trigger " a little too much all at once" if you circle through the level just right and avoid taking down the enemies as you progress. I'd be happy to look at your specific performance issues if you record a play through so I can see your play path and look at trigger sequences :)

Sure, okay. There's a place where Gman is being violently torn apart and put back together repeatedly, and if I remember there are more than one of these. At some point, stuff is exploding; and the 2nd time this happens the game becomes a 0.5 FPS slideshow.

I have a i-9900K & a 3090, NVME drive, 64 G of ram, and a Reverb G2v2. So that shouldn't happen. When it does, it means that the game exceeded particle limits. Valve's vanilla never does this because they never get near the particle limits.

At any rate, I tried it twice just to be sure; and then I unsubscribed from a broken mod. I kind of liked it up to that point, but I don't have any patience for broken mods when there is such a huge selection to enjoy.

The very best mods I have played so far are Silver Hill & Red Dust.

Thanks for asking.

Sorry to hear about your performance problems @VeRsiTiLitY . The combat is insanely tough by design in this one. Could you specify where the performance issues began in your play experience?

It's pretty tough. Enemies are accurate and in strange, distant locations with cover. Then it got really laggy from too much stuff on the screen & I couldn't play it any more.

@I_Monarch_I, I'm happy to hear you're already working on the next map. I think my favorite aspect of Fire Flight is the cinematic feel of the play through. The vibrant lighting, massive explosions, detailed environments, etc. make it feel like a post-apocalyptic action movie. I'm looking forward to seeing the type of environment and sequences you create for the next one.

@mizzack, thanks for the supportive be feedback! Please share your thoughts on things you’d like to see evolve . I’m working on an ambitious new project and have a lot of freedom to integrate community feedback.

Great mod! Visually striking and a ton of fun to play through. I'm looking forward to replaying this one in the future.

@Pako Moreno , I’m really glad to hear you enjoyed the ride !

Uno de los mejores a los que he jugado y he jugado a más de 200. (One of the best I've ever played and I've played over 200)

@λrokh , thanks for your kind words! I’m glad you enjoyed the fever dream fight.

I’ll be publishing an update with a few refinements in the next few days. If you re play, feel free to share any feedback.

@SavageJoe , the fever dream loop was the goal with this experience , so I’m glad it made you feel a bit unsettled !

Very cool! Absolute joy to play with high replayability
My playthrough: https://youtu.be/5jZ4rhGSEBQ

Ew, under handing the handgun grip.

Great map. The open areas and longer range combat sequences make for some fun and unique combat. Visuals are just as good, with funky colour combinations and particle effects. All this combined with the music made it play like an intense fever dream.

HI. I made a video for this here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SpB7bIorsVk

@Foox, thanks for your kind words I’m glad you enjoyed the experience !

My next project will be a much more varried experience with exploration in balance with combat. FIRE FLIGHT is a pure fight , with very little breathing room ! 😅

Please , share your thoughts and feedback if you try RED DUST :)

Loved it. Visually very stylish, demanding gameplay.. The 3d geometry is excellent I played it on hard, and it was. I would perhaps have appreciated a little more time to reflect occasionally, but I guess that's life in the quarry ! I shall be checking out your previous maps and certainly looking out for the next. Keep up the good work !

@stager , if you enjoyed the fresh feeling locale, you should definitely give my previous map RED DUST a try. I think the dusty desert Boulder fields will be right up your alley!

@hypernukeleosis ,

I love your suggestion . Hackable lockers on the return run would add a ton of pressure to the ammo search. I’ll give this some thought for the first update I publish to the map. The reason I have so much ammo scattered about is to ensure that players have to scavenge, but no matter which path in and what path out you take , you should always be somewhere close to health and ammo for at least 2 of your weapons. I built DMT as an over the top action sequence against unreasonable odds, FIRE FLIGHT is a more refined action experience where I wanted the player to be able to pressure the combat experience forward according to their play style . My next project will have a much greater focus on tight resources , so stay tuned for what’s next !

Your sense of déjà-vu is absolutely correct . As listed in the workshop page details, FIRE FLIGHT is a massively souped up, re imagined rebuild of one of my first maps called DMT.

Really nice work 🏆 Creative use of assets and lighting to make a space that feels very new and distinct from anything in the main game

Hey, really enjoyed the level, the neon lights around parts were a cool effect, but the level felt very familiar. Was this map repurposed from another level where the purpose was a super hard run through enemies? I swear I've played through this map before.
I liked the split paths and the unnecessary explosion you do to the building, of course, I went down all of them to get the items. My one critique would be that you do give a lot of ammo and healing, it would be kind of cool to cut that down, and put the rest in hackable containers to only be used once you get the multitool.

@collindrennen ,

I do the exact same thing you do whenever I play. I’m always thirsty for a little more depth.

I will tell you the electricity showcase and the nature of the loop itself was definitely a small call back to HL1 / interdimensional travel . I think you’ll enjoy my next project ;) I’m hoping to add custom voice 😎👍

@collindrennen That way of thinking elevates your experience and that's an awesome thing!

@Skummeh A most excellent reference. I won't say I was writing a story in my head while playing this, but the following was jumping into my head:
- Did I_Monarch_I have a bad experience with watching Ratatouille as a youngster, because there were sure a lot of dead rats hanging around those barrels.
- Those awesome effects to where it looked like a G-Man hologram was taking shape made me wonder what was going on behind the scenes.
- When racing back to the original door, and all of those green electrical bolts going off all over the place made me wonder if we might be transported back to the alien world in Hal-Life 1.
- At the beginning of the level, and seeing those 'cave writings' on the walls,was making me wonder if playing this level was some sort of prophecy.

As usual, I'm way overthinking a level, but I do enjoy a level that gets me into a 'fan-fiction' mode.

@collindrennen When you beat the level: "Not bad for a h-human" - Bishop

@I_Monarch_I, the one NPC I better recalled was on the way back to the door I needed to get the hand tool for (which was a nice touch for a slightly different objective than usual). It would have been around the the 2nd health station starting from the beginning of the level; I'm sorry i cannot recall better.

If this level could have had Rutger Hauer voice-overs through the fog/moke, like "Time to Die', or 'Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it?', that would have been awesome, or maybe Russell trying to pull a Bishop (Aliens) by stating 'In nineteen minutes, this area's gonna be a cloud of vapor the size of Nebraska.'

@collindrennen , thanks for your colorful commentary and feedback ! So glad you enjoyed the atmosphere and bizarre experience this became. I found it was increasingly fun to speed run and press the enemies with new tactics the bette I knew the space .

I think I know the back facing NPC you’re referring to . I will look into fixing that I’m an update soins . Was it just before the mid way health station section beside the big dumpster / beginning of catwalk ?

Any other feedback welcome as you play and replay!

- This level could have easily been a James Bond action scene, a re-imagining of trying to leave LV-426 before the reactor went critical, a branching level in either Resident Evil 2 or 3 (remakes), an adaptation of hunting down Replicants in a depressed and joyless city, and a walking simulator through Gotham City.

A spectacular level that I cannot thank you enough for unleashing onto an unsuspecting public.

There were a couple of instances where the enemies were facing away from me (which made them easy to kill), but that was by far the exception, and not the rule.
There was a couple of situations to where I literally up in the Combine's face, and emptying an entire (full) clip, seemed to do nothing until I backed away from them.
- At first I thought the ammo/health was generous to the point of insulting, but I cannot complain for how it turned out in the end. A rationing of ammo/health would have definitely amped up the tension a number of times, but also may have resulted in a lot more restarts than I already had (leading me to perhaps 'Hulk Out'). It's almost like if you cut down on ammo/health, there should also be less encounters. As I'm rambling at this point, I'll shut up.

- On normal difficulty, the was quite the challenge. I died a number of times, but rarely ever felt like the game was cheating, the AI was cheap, or miraculous re-spawning was taking place with the sole intent of torquing me off. Very few workshop levels have balanced action, suspense, and the ability to look around and admire what you are seeing in front of you (before the next event gets triggered).
- The combat, whether near or far, had good suspense, and the relatively tight quarters in moving around the city made the near encounters 'tight and personal', while the far away encounters promoted a good scanning of the area to nail down the precise location.