Half-Life 2's Maximum Map Size

[$niper]

According to the FAQ posted @ The Collective / Valve-ERC... Half-Life 2's maximum map size will be 32768 (+/- 16384) units in length.

Half-Life 1's maximum map size is 8192 (+/- 4096) units in length.

Here's an image comparison which should give you an idea of the actual difference.

 

[ShinRa]

So in walking, how long would it take to get from the top of the map to the bottom? Do you Svencoop ppl plan to take the map size to your full advantages?

 

[ROD]

So, its like 16 awp_map levels put together? Thats sweet. Wait, what is the biggest HL level?

 

[Apos]

What I'd like to know is not the max size, but the average size in each "section" between loads. Valve's choices of when to load a new map have been a really good rule of thumb in the past: they don't just mac out the map size, but pick something manageable so the load times are small. Of course, seeing as they haven't finalized this it's probably not something we'll know until very close to the release.

 

[Tequila]

Saucy.

 

[Bilko]

Let's compare it with other game maps, I know the scale is slightly different but we can imagine size pretty well.

Is that as big as a maximum BF1942 map?

 

[Ender]

doubt it.. but then again.. BF 1942 didnt have the graphics of HL2.. if they where that big you would get.. ALOT of lag.. making the map not playable

 

[Guest]

Yeah, but Valve's Source engine is much more stable, and much more efficient, alowing maps of the same size to have noticably less lag on the Source engine.

 

[Ender]

True.. but I still think its too much to handle if you think about it..

 

[jhero]

Nope, Source can handle it if VALVe doesnt screw up.

 

[Axyon]

Originally posted by guinny
So in walking, how long would it take to get from the top of the map to the bottom? Do you Svencoop ppl plan to take the map size to your full advantages?

They say it takes a few minutes to cross a map that big in a vehicle, so imagine how long it would take walking!

 

[jhero]

I wonder who is going to be the poor soul to have to walk that much. I heard somewhere it would be like 15 km or something..not sure, could be 10 km.

 

[Epsi]

Well, the official conversion ratio is 1 unit : 1 inch, so each map is at maximum 910 yards, or 800 and something metres across. Not quite as big as i was hoping but.... ah well, each map can be that high too, so maybe something interesting can be done with all that height.

 

[jhero]

So it would be around 1 KM.

 

[Anthraxxx]

Originally posted by Bilko
Let's compare it with other game maps, I know the scale is slightly different but we can imagine size pretty well.

Is that as big as a maximum BF1942 map?

I'm friends with Barake(once of the Desert combat devs), we actually go to school together. He said that Map size is dependent on the amount of RAM in the computer hosting. He and one of the other DC dev's made a map that's 128 Km in either direction on a computer with 3 gigs of ram, though the largest you can safely make a map without major problems is 8.192 Km....

 

[Lifthz]

Originally posted by Ender
doubt it.. but then again.. BF 1942 didnt have the graphics of HL2.. if they where that big you would get.. ALOT of lag.. making the map not playable

Well Halo had better graphics than Battlefield... and some of the maps were really huge.

It all depends on how good the engine is and you just have to have a decent enough connection and host.

 

[jhero]

Thats what is boil downs to. Good engine, and good internet with good computer.

 

[Ender]

Yet you dont remember that Microsoft is funding halo..

 

[jhero]

Hehe,

 

[Ender]

So true.. so true..

 

[CoolFunkMan]

LOL, funny 'cos it's true.

It'll be sweeet making massive maps with HL2, but the size is 15x more than HL1's!? Mad, I can't wait!

 

[GOoch]

Jesus christ they are going to be some bloody size then..

 

[Domokun]

it's almost as big as planetside continents
that is big enough for me

 

[jhero]

Eh, Domo, love the name And yes the maps will be huge!

 

[Ender]

Bah.. its gonna be sniper heaven

 

[jhero]

I wonder if shots will take long to travel?

 

[Ender]

not with the AWP >.<

 

[jhero]

Ill certainly hope so when cs 2 comes out.

 

[simmo]

The only downside with HUGE maps, is players are scatterd around so much its gonna be hard to find em

 

[Ender]

True.. just about every round is gonna need a timer of 30 minutes per round or so

 

[FISKER_Q]

HL size maps would be fine, well all depending on purpose, but at the moment i couldnt see any reason to make it bigger than the max HL map size.

 

[$niper]

Vehicles.

 

[FISKER_Q]

I think that current size for hl1 maps would be big enough for vehicles. Though if were gonna talk flying vehicles then it might change.

 

[Sat]

Originally posted by simmo2k3
The only downside with HUGE maps, is players are scatterd around so much its gonna be hard to find em

And God created the Radar :cheers:

 

[Epsi]

Well, the maps don't need to be the maximum size, so if it suits the gameplay to have a smaller map then that's fine, so we won't necessarily (sp?) have to spend ages looking for people.

 

[Slash]

Gabe said that its possible to have bullets travel at certain speeds and tragetory and whatever else, but it didnt really fit in with HL2's design, but I imagine some mods will definatly make use of stuff like that

 

[$niper]

Originally posted by FISKER_Q
I think that current size for hl1 maps would be big enough for vehicles. Though if were gonna talk flying vehicles then it might change.

Nope, way too small.

 

[Xtasy0]

Originally posted by Slash
Gabe said that its possible to have bullets travel at certain speeds and tragetory and whatever else, but it didnt really fit in with HL2's design, but I imagine some mods will definatly make use of stuff like that

did he?

 

[bonanzaguy]

$niper: not really. The overall map size would probably be big enough, however most people map small areas and close quarters. If someone were to make a map that was just one giant area vehicles would become possible.

 

[$niper]

I have to disagree with you there, completely.

Half-Life 1's maximum map size can't accommodate land/air/water vehicles. You have to also account for world geometry. Maps aren't just going to be flat planes. You need to create a believable world, and that takes space.