Breaking Down TF2's Most Unique Map

Out of all the maps Valve has accepted into TF2, Helltrain is by far the most unique one. In this video, I explain how the map works by showcasing some of its assets and logic in the Hammer Editor.
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[@Batton]

I'm the 3D artist behind the animation of the rollercoaster... Thanks for triggering my ptsd again, it was a tedious process 😅

[@LEDs]

It all paid off in the end!

[@spongygames]

Great, now put highertower on the train tracks!

[@pinnacleofcomedy6306]

i can imagine lol, must have been hell

[@TinyDeskEngineer]

​@@spongygames and call it ctf_highertrain

[@typeracer2096]

your super talented bro!!

[@TinyEngi]

Its really interesting how mappers make cool maps with old tools.

[@C.A._Old]

Vintage Tools Lazy.

[@Duck9K]

correction for 6:36: trigger_catapult was actually added to the game around the same time as passtime, and those maps are officially available under alternate gamemodes, sooooo helltrain isn't the only one with them.

[@kevkevplays5662]

Instead of moving the map, HE MOVES THE WORLD

[@rojapokemona]

This is the best map. It's Halloween, has trains, has that liminal space feeling and I would love to live in the understairs room if it was real. Also one time I was just standing at the front of the train, admiring how big the world feels, and a guy from the other team just joined me. We spent next hour or so exploring each room and trying to fly around invisible walls. Never said a word in chat to each other. May this game never die

[@maxis_scott_engie_maximov_jr]

The rollercoaster section is hands down the *_best_* part of all the TF2 maps ever created, I've never been to rollercoasters in real life but man this one is just as breathtaking and when it happens, sorry, I'm stopping the fight to experience it, way too cool to pass up on

[@LEDs]

I hope you get to ride one one day. It's something you don't want to miss out on!

[@neondead2.0.15]

And the best part is this map like Convoy from UT2004. We nee more maps like this.

[@GenuinelyUniqueGents]

CTF_Convoy, is a community map that exists but is barely played anymore... It was popular around the 2010s to 2015s maybe. At least thats when I played it. Very cool to see a Halloween version of it.

[@neondead2.0.15]

@@GenuinelyUniqueGents Yes but it had flaves that makes CTF version of it imposible to play. For my tastes it needs to be CP (Attack/defence) style of map like in UT2004 so we can relive this old and fun mission. A lot of UT2004 mision maps would be perfect as CP (A/D) maps. Even Zombie Escape verison is good since you still have reasons to move forward. (I still remember how Convoy and Maco Reactor was my Favourite ZE maps in CSS and even in other games except CSGO because of spawn mechanic wich spawns you instead of changing your team)

[@uis246]

I think there was similar map back in UT99

[@MeatwadMeatwad]

6:37 You forgot about the passtime maps. They have jump boosts all over them

[@crossbo5345]

Is that really even a gamemode?

[@Coolyo420]

this and Crasher were SO GOOD!

[@theunchosendude5446]

I love this map purely because it reminds me of ctf_convoy. Back in the day I would actually see convoy servers with people on them, but nowadays it just seems any server running the map is completely dead. Damn shame.

[@Techhunter_Talon]

The skybox rotating reminds me of koth_wubwubwub. When the control point is capped for the first time, a sequence is triggered where the skybox gets rotated 90 degrees and then moves away from the map to create the illusion that the map is launching off into space.

[@munchkin_mania]

The coolest part of the map has to be the skybox

[@orangy57]

the first time i played this map last year everyone stopped fighting at the rollercoaster part just to watch it go. I knew it was all a 3d skybox but looking at the insane amount of tedious map logic that went into making everything work and look convincing makes me appreciate it so much more

[@coachacola3755]

What kind of exposed me to the skybox trick with hammer was definitely the ctf_convoy map. It’s kind of an illusion breaker as when your mind breaks down the logistics of the map, all the immersion is completely broken and you start maps differently. I hugely recommend people to learn the basics of Hammer, it’ll destroy your reality.

[@LEDs]

And sanity :)

[@coachacola3755]

@@LEDs carve tool

[@dkskcjfjswwwwwws413]

this was probably inspired by convoy

[@zerro3172]

this should be a series

[@LEDs]

What else do you wanna see?

[@zerro3172]

@@LEDs I dunno crasher feels like a no brainer , pd maps , pass time or maybe probed here's a title for vid ''The most forgottten map in tf2 '' or something idk . honestly I don't think it matters in the end as people would like any map

[@xaver2251]

Maybe also Snowplow? Certainly another candidate for most forgotten map in TF2. The technical breakdown done in this video was very cool and I'd love to see more like it.

[@zerro3172]

@@xaver2251 all of maps from that section would work well for a vid

[@ruzgar1372]

@@LEDs Cauldron could be great.

[@Iron_Soil]

0:04 i hate that we cant have nice looking open maps becuse of sniper If you saw shounic experiment you can easly see we dont need sniper in the game and he activelly makes map making worse

[@zeniththetoaster9712]

But sniper fun

[@EvilMcSheep]

@@zeniththetoaster9712 no, kick sniper

[@LEDs]

I agree. In my events, whenever I disabled Sniper, I had so much more fun.

[@dkskcjfjswwwwwws413]

medic becomes even more op

[@Iron_Soil]

@@dkskcjfjswwwwwws413 scout and spy:

[@slightlyistorical1776]

I genuinely love the concepts of these sorts of dual train racing maps. One just like this was made years way back for community servers and can be played on still today

[@LuigIan2000]

Man… Im glad this map finally made it into the game, but this shit is so cool an expertly put together, I almost get the feeling that Valve doesn’t deserve it. Like after the way we’ve been treated, this map feels too good for them.

[@C.A._Old]

*That Train design is insade. Thats why i loved like this style creators.*

[@Pyromaniax]

6:36 PASS time maps also have jump pads

[@LEDs]

I forgot about passtime lol. I was just thinking about the main game modes modes, not the specialty ones

[@MajorKlods]

Koth_bagel/cauldron has technically also a jumppad in the houses between the point and spawn if you want to be nitpicky 😅 But yeah, I'm fairly certain func_catapult was ported from Portal 2 to TF2 because of Passtime.

[@Thornskade]

What's funny is that this is essentially the Halloween version of ctf_convoy, which was a redesign of an Unreal Tournament map already

[@Peastable]

Randomly found this vid while just searching for hammer videos. Didn’t realize it was so new. This is an excellent breakdown and really makes this map even more impressive.

[@LEDs]

:D

[@TwiliPaladin]

There's a reason this has been my favorite TF2 map since it was put into rotation in Samwiz1's server.

[@LiamMoffitt]

Very very epic video that explains a ton of stuff for others! Small correction tho cuz I’m an asshole: trigger_catapult is used in every pastime map, and also koth_bagel_event for the air vents!

[@LEDs]

Good observation, I didn't think about those vents

[@KimFareseed]

7:04 Did not know about this one. Don't think I have ever seen the map go to a tie outsude of Casual's stalemate.

[@maazmasood5305]

Doesn't PASS Time also have launch pads? Aren't they also considered Official maps? Loved the focus on this map tho.

[@LEDs]

I guess so

[@pokseri9322]

Welcome to 1400. Earth is the middle of universe

[@Jarethenator]

I'd never actually experienced a draw before, so I didn't even know about that minigame. Very cool detail!

[@us3r158]

The passtime map brickyard has jump pads but thats about it, speaking of which could we see one on brickyard

[@LEDs]

who plays passtime?

[@AmaroqStarwind]

Now there needs to be a non-euclidean map with 90's arena shooter music.

[@asteroidrules]

The movement tricks to create a map which appears to be a giant vehicle is heavily reminiscent of Convoy. That was an old custom CTF map which used similar tricks to create the same illusion, although it was quite a bit more simple.

[@Kerluck]

Thanks for the breakdown. Always love learning further about the hammer editor.

[@nickbrick20]

This feels like a test map for new features that they put together for an amazing map

[@pinnacleofcomedy6306]

honestly i didn't even know there was a separate area for when a draw happens because i've never had a draw happen before

[@Awesomeness-iz3dh]

6:38 PASS Time maps all have boost ramps like these.

[@BLACKout_TF2]

i loved this map so much. 2022 was my first time playing during Halloween and i loved sitting in the front of the train and just seeing the beautiful show many miss when just playing on helltrain c:

[@Jennacide.]

I was hoping to get a map that utilizes the sky box swapper this recent update, like a random weather effect or time of day per map load

[@LEDs]

I’m sure we’ll see something down the road

[@chuck_muckle]

Weapon reskins in TF2 have always been a strange case to me

[@AcidTehObjectThingyIsBack]

Helltrain is underrated af

[@LEDs]

It took a very long time to get accepted into the game, too

[@dkskcjfjswwwwwws413]

6:36 You forgot that passtime maps have jump pads, and technically bagel/couldron has it too

[@SpaghettiScanner]

It’s not an LED video without the appearance of rock_005

[@LEDs]

🪨

[@user-lj9dy2he4i]

6:36 Well, akshuauly, every official PASS time map has them, and they've been in the game for a while now ...but, yeah, I **can** understand why you'd forget/not know about it

[@LEDs]

Yeah I’m sorry for leaving out passtime

[@doomstuck1241]

I had gotten a bit into hammer editing but was, and still am kind of a noob to it. I remember on Halloween when I first played this map and was absolutely blown away, Id just gather at the front of the train with some of the enemy team and just watch the skybox go by while rancho relaxing.

[@nogusek5836]

"its the only map to have jumppads Passtime:

[@jecksfoxofficial]

My favorite halloween map EVER

[@tyronus4]

Such a shame I couldn't play this map, my game kept crashing every time I tried to load it last Halloween. Hoping it works this year!

[@heavenandhello6629]

I always WONDERED what this map would look like in hammer. Thanks for showing the hammer footage of the map!

[@DaRealBruner]

Would've been cool if BLU's train was some sort of diesel or electric locomotive, to better signify the industrial atmosphere of BLU.

[@Spartykins]

I just want the sky_camera to be movable aaaa

[@chasesully-mz3sg]

These videos are awesome, maybe could u do a video on yukon its my favourite cp map

[@TheAmazingHerosquad]

Helltrain was LONG overdue to be added

[@fedethegreat88]

1:01 Please tell me it's irony I watched too many Twitter videos

[@LEDs]

Sorry, I forgot to add that the earth is also flat

[@ethosaur]

Wow, this is seriously an impressive map

[@BudderPigGaming]

Hey boost pads are in passtime which is very official

[@dkskcjfjswwwwwws413]

imagine how much playtesting that took

[@bbbeanman]

helltrain was amazing

[@un1d]

6:35 Except Pass time maps, of course.

[@TinyDeskEngineer]

"The only official map to contain jump pads" pass_brickyard, pass_district, and pass_timbertown all have some.

[@LEDs]

I don't consider passtime maps as part of the main map pool

[@56ulu78]

Once i was A-posing on this map as pyro. Then the random curse appeared and all people become really tall and 3rd person camera was on. It looked so cursed and funny on A-posing pyro 😭😭😭

[@dominikkorbely5809]

how did they accept something this cool

[@bliponthe]

Finally some recognition for cp_cloak

[@ScoutButAwesome]

That’s so awesome

[@Ben_diez]

this map is crazy, blew my mind every time i play it

[@LEDs]

Same

[@robertarvidsson04]

First map I bought a stamp for, love it

[@dancingtriangle2814]

6:35 Kid named pass time

[@cellophanezebra4663]

Hands down my favorite map in the game, spent hours on it

[@cogtheprotogen6671]

This reminds me of ctf_convoy, which is one of my favourite maps

[@Gelgoog]

This is just CTF_Convoy with a fancy skybox

[@evantgse]

This is my favorite map

[@CoyoteMao]

It's, frankly, a crime that this map can only be played one month of the year.

[@taintedazazel7238]

Wait! Helltrain also had a draw minigame?

[@BrightPage174]

Closer and closer we inch towards having an official version of Convoy. Honestly though this is so much cooler I had no idea this was in the game

[@CAMSLAYER13]

Everyone stops fighting to watch the trains do the loop de loop bit. Its a good time.

[@MrCatTheII]

I was thinking that this video will be about Hydro. Helltrain is just skial map

[@Ian-nl9yd]

I'd love to see cp_convoy make it into casual!

[@caljukes]

but there are jump pads in passtime?

[@LEDs]

I completely forgot passtime even existed lol

[@ruzgar1372]

how did you get a hold of the custom models and textures from the decompiled version of the map? When I decompile it and log into hammer there's a bunch of missing textures and props.

[@LEDs]

When decompiling with bspsrc, check "extract embedded files" and then drag those into your tf/custom folder under another folder named "helltrain_assets" or whatever else

[@ruzgar1372]

@@LEDs works for me, thanks 👍

[@BlueCollaredK9]

I mostly just like helltrain cus i like trains. But all this other stuff is cool too i guess

[@minneelyyyy8923]

this wouldve been so much easier if the mappers had vscript at the time

[@OctoMaxBR]

one minute, wow

[@coachacola3755]

Convoy walked so Hell Train could run

[@phaseshift943]

My fav. Halloween map in 2022!! ♥ reminds me of ctf_convoy which I played halfa decade ago

[@greenlemon9155]

Its just ctf_convoy but spooky

[@mysteriousjess.]

these people really push the source engine to the limit, it's incredible

[@ouroya]

are the bounce pads in passtime maps different than the boosts in boostwater or helltrain?

[@LEDs]

I haven’t looked at them. I wasn’t thinking about pass time when I made this video

[@theghosttm8245]

Is it wrong if I hope the normal version is eventually added to Casual ?

[@Steamuch]

Convoy is canon

[@sourcedasher]

6:35 Doesn't Pass Time have those too?

[@ZaccoOfficial]

I'm sad that I never got to play on this map

[@Dr_Dan_]

6:35 isnt brick yard has those?

[@Ban-zx9se]

This map is amazing visually, which is what makes it so disappointing that it's obviously so designed for simple goofy fuckery. It can very easily become a slog to try and actually play seriously and win to complete contracte given how its so large and convoluted, the fact that the only connector can be held down by a single sniper, and how extremely easy it is to spawncamp. :\

[@gaminggladiator06]

I just can’t believe valve has these really cool maps made by the community, and yet they don’t have a mode to play them year-round, outside of community servers, which’ll still be pretty picky and not play the one map you do wanna play. They have cool maps and unique modes, and only let them play for 1 seasonal event of the whole year. Course, that would also mean that those low quality season maps will return too, and i don’t think people would want whatville back any time soon.

[@LEDs]

This point really worries me about the summer maps. What if Valve adds a bunch of bad maps that we're stuck with year-round?

[@maatoangeleri2913]

Doesn't Brickyard also have jump/booster pads?

[@CatBucket1234]

best map ever

[@0Blueaura]

ghost train :)

[@anonymousaccordionist3326]

Your complaint with Frostwatch is that it's too ugly? Not that it's a total piece of hot garbage throughout, but that it's too ugly?

[@LEDs]

I didn't want to spend more than a couple of seconds on each of those maps since that's not what this video is about, but I agree

[@Pomodorosan]

5:00 which is 5:02 which is 5:05 which is 😵

[@cFrogjar]

this is in the game??? ive never seen this and i played last halloween?? do we just hate fun in OCE

[@liamsandersonmusic]

You should examine crasher

[@LEDs]

Unfortunately I don't know if I will due to the way the creators of that map have treated me in the past

[@ChesterManfred]

This map is definitely the one with the most effort on Halloween, and perhaps even community. Sadly, I didn't really like it for some reason. Perhaps it's just because it reminds me a little of Junction.

[@LEDs]

I experienced the same thing right when it came out. But I think I can appreciate a little more now that I understand all of the different things behind it

[@DrHundTF2]

It’s a really wonderful map, and I think it’s a shame it’s wasted on CTF. There’s not enough time to appreciate it or just the ambiance. I get that the maker wanted timed CTF so probably wouldn’t care, but I’d prefer it as a slow map, to enjoy eternal damnation in peace because as it stands, if I didn’t go engi and beelined to our intel, no one would and that’s not an exaggeration. If I didn’t defend, a single scout can just so easily waltz right in, and cap 3 time with barely any trouble. And since there’s only one true viable engi spot… they get used to your presence

[@LEDs]

The only other thing I could see this map be is a 3-point control point map. Maybe we'll see another map in the future that follows a sort of "campaign" where the map transitions as you progress through it.

[@DrHundTF2]

@@LEDs maybe Player Destruction? You’re not forced to be somewhere specific