Thank you for the nice words. This map is not meant to replace any other map, but just to give people more choice and to fill a certain niche. Maps with a darker adult-oriented atmosphere is what I always thought has been missing, and these maps are trying to aid in that.

Layout or design wise, the plan was to make a smaller and more run-down city based on The Bronx, Brooklyn or Queens, and a smaller version of Manhattan (due to very cramped engine limits). It took around 3 months of messing around with Photoshop, re-doing certain areas over and over as they just didn't feel interesting enough. Planning something is definitely not my strongest suit and I mostly just winged it on the building exteriors, interiors and outside areas while taking inspiration from Google images.

It was important to have enterable buildings in close proximity to each other to avoid having players stray too far off from each other, which is a problem with big maps (this map included, but I hope that's not the case). Some areas in the map are farther away from the "hot spots", like the warehouse area in "Union City", and it is not an important area that has to be used in some way. The warehouses are there if people want to use them, but are not absolutely necessary. I designed the map with this idea in mind from the very beginning and I hope I did at least an ok job at it.

I haven't been active in Gmod myself for nearly a decade, which may sound weird as I'm still here making maps for it, but it's an old hobby I picked up in 2009 and have enjoyed doing until today.
I can't really say what specific gamemode/roleplay gamemode type this map was built for, but all I know I wanted to make a map with tons of possibilites so it can fit many purposes, be it a zombie survival gamemode, the typical RP gamemode, or something else.

Last but not least, I included a safety measure for smaller servers wanting to use this map. There are 2 buttons hidden in the map that once pressed, will block access to the city you choose, but it's not an ideal feature at the moment as you have to manually go press the button yourself every time on map/server start up, before anybody has had the chance to spawn. I'll include more info on this later in the "Information" topic here in the Discussions section.

Love the design. Thank you for this map!

As for the button(s) I've been working on a script I call "rp_cleanup" that is designed to remove props, and push any button(s) an admin would have to push on startup per-map. I'll find the buttons you mentioned and see if I can execute the button press via script and share it here in a new topic.

Thanks a lot for sharing your perspective! I can tell you put thought into the layout and how players will be distributed. It really is just the simple things: like putting a row of shops outside the subway entrance, or how the fastest way from Times Square to the bank is through the Central Mall. Those decisions are going to help player-to-player interactions so much and are at the core of what makes a good map great, in my opinion. Even the subway teleporting you instead of slowly taking you on the longer routes just makes it so much snappier to play. The rest is really up to the gamemode to bring players together.

The map has so, so many possibilities. I'm mostly in the City RP space, so the open skybox, the distinct districts, and having multiple PDs/Car Dealers are inspiring me to try out and design some very unique experiences for gmod that weren't possible until now. Again, thank you!

<code removed: I didn't even see the admin button room!>

And just a quick thought if you're looking for them: I wish there was a bit more designated curbside parking like the ones in front of the city hall & main car dealer. Maybe chipping away some of the sidewalk by the shops, bank, and such could help with the inevitable pileup of cars that inevitably happen (and its always more cars than we think).

Originally posted by Kat:

Love the design. Thank you for this map!

As for the button(s) I've been working on a script I call "rp_cleanup" that is designed to remove props, and push any button(s) an admin would have to push on startup per-map. I'll find the buttons you mentioned and see if I can execute the button press via script and share it here in a new topic.

Ha, sorry, you ninja'd my reply. Setting up button pushes and removals with an in-game tool via a script is probably the better long-term solution.

My script is basically the same as the one you provided, except mine also removes props, and for DarkRP can automagically disallow ownership for every single door on the map so that an admin can go in and manually configure door ownership (My personal prefrence because some maps provide doors that cannot be disallowed due to placement method?)

For SanRanEvo I did the following; For the Bank Vault & Vault Button.

@Fishke I very much appreciate all the time and effort that went into this map, I can tell a lot of effort has gone into this just to give a pleasant experience to some players on a game. Did you ever think about implementing some of the real-world skyscrapers (twin towers, empire state, chrysler building, etc) in the game during the process? I know maps on Garry's mod are very limited in content and size, but I just wondered if at any time in the process of making this map you thought about trying some of those buildings out.

Words still can't describe the sheer beauty of this map. It's one of my new favorite city maps of all time thanks to the exploration possibilities even with Source Engine's limits.

Originally posted by Kat:

Love the design. Thank you for this map!

As for the button(s) I've been working on a script I call "rp_cleanup" that is designed to remove props, and push any button(s) an admin would have to push on startup per-map. I'll find the buttons you mentioned and see if I can execute the button press via script and share it here in a new topic.

I'm glad you liked it. It wasn't my intention to keep the location a secret so I hope I didn't make you go look into every corner in hopes of finding them. It's something that can somewhat break the map if people use it mid-game, so I wanted to avoid any complaints about it if people decide to press them without having a script to automate it instead, which is the ideal way.
Something to keep in mind though when using a script to remove map props, there are important map props such as all the traffic lights that are prop_physics_multiplayers, and those are something you want to exclude from being removed if the script removes those type of props.

Originally posted by sil:

The rest is really up to the gamemode to bring players together.

I feel like this is 100% true, no map can carry the burden of a badly setup gamemode alone, both have to meet each other halfway

Originally posted by sil:

And just a quick thought if you're looking for them: I wish there was a bit more designated curbside parking like the ones in front of the city hall & main car dealer. Maybe chipping away some of the sidewalk by the shops, bank, and such could help with the inevitable pileup of cars that inevitably happen (and its always more cars than we think).

It's a bit of a tough decision, as having everyone park their car in Times Square could reduce performance a lot due to the open nature of the area, so they'd have to find a parking spot elsewhere (there is a small parking lot behind the corner from Central Mall, though it's mostly meant for players who own one of the apartments), or use the right-most lane of the 4-lane road which can double as parking. It's definitely valid feedback and something I'll keep in mind.

Originally posted by Peter Parker:

@Fishke I very much appreciate all the time and effort that went into this map, I can tell a lot of effort has gone into this just to give a pleasant experience to some players on a game. Did you ever think about implementing some of the real-world skyscrapers (twin towers, empire state, chrysler building, etc) in the game during the process? I know maps on Garry's mod are very limited in content and size, but I just wondered if at any time in the process of making this map you thought about trying some of those buildings out.

Thank you. I did think about making an interior for one of the Twin Towers, but ultimately they would have felt too big and wasn't really sure what purpose they would serve other than being a big office tower, and a smaller office tower building can fill the role just as well.

Originally posted by PootisMayo:

Words still can't describe the sheer beauty of this map. It's one of my new favorite city maps of all time thanks to the exploration possibilities even with Source Engine's limits.

Having limits can make you more creative. Good to hear you think it looks good and you liked it, it's tedious to make attractive looking maps using this engine sometimes.

My friend, Fishke, hello!

I really liked this map, as well as the previous ones, Southside, Union City. It seems that I have spent hundreds of hours on them, and I have been on this map for 4 hours already! It's just gorgeous. But I have a couple of suggestions for improving this wonderful map!

Please, if possible, try to replace some textures whose quality is very low. This is very out of the style of the city and spoils the immersion. I can suggest running the texture through AI upscale, or looking for quality alternatives. Thank you if you consider this idea!

I would also really like to add an admin zone, it would really help a lot.

Thank you for your work once again!

i want to make a completely custom gamemode just for this map to really make it shine but don't have the time/income to do so. i've always worked on custom gamemodes rather than expanding garbage darkrp

Originally posted by Fishke:

Originally posted by Kat:

Love the design. Thank you for this map!

As for the button(s) I've been working on a script I call "rp_cleanup" that is designed to remove props, and push any button(s) an admin would have to push on startup per-map. I'll find the buttons you mentioned and see if I can execute the button press via script and share it here in a new topic.

I'm glad you liked it. It wasn't my intention to keep the location a secret so I hope I didn't make you go look into every corner in hopes of finding them. It's something that can somewhat break the map if people use it mid-game, so I wanted to avoid any complaints about it if people decide to press them without having a script to automate it instead, which is the ideal way.
Something to keep in mind though when using a script to remove map props, there are important map props such as all the traffic lights that are prop_physics_multiplayers, and those are something you want to exclude from being removed if the script removes those type of props.

I didn't spend to long looking for the buttons. The script isn't very friendly and expects a bit of knowledge for fetching models, but it does work. The default public version I released for this map simply removes the buttons and features commented code that can be used to toggle either button functions it also works during map-cleanup as well. (They seem to respawn upon admin map cleanup, so I opted to hook it, and by default just remove them wasn't sure how it would handle mid-session activation)

The readme, and internal warning really needs some work, I threw it together pretty quickly for a public version on github. I'll probably remove the DarkRP_DisableOwnership function, because its very dangerous for people who refuse to read or don't understand my warning.

As promised, here is the link:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Sora012/rp_cleanup/master/autorun/server/cleanup.lua