WIP

So I was scrolling Scratch (please don't ask why I do this, I'm pretty sure it's self-esteem related) and I came across a project on Explore called "The Mast." Turns out it's a full-3D first-person game with a fantastic story and great gameplay. Its art style is consistent throughout, and the graphics were frankly unreal for something rendered in Scratch. The experience I had while playing this game was only surpassed by the experience when I teleported to Xen in Black Mesa. Yeah. It almost rivals Black Mesa Xen in terms of how it made me feel. The areas in the game were somehow beautifully detailed and charmingly minimalistic at the same time, and it really just took my breath away. But most of all, it was a calming experience. Unlike Quake and other games I've been playing recently (so, basically just Quake), it felt like a break itself, instead of something to take a break from. I would highly recommend this game to literally any member of the human race, it's that good. You can play it here.

So the moving went great!

Slowly getting set up at the new place now. I'm exhausted, but it feels great here. Even with boxes and bags and disassembled furniture all over the place, it's still so much more spacious than the old place! The neighbours here say hi back when you greet them unlike back at the old street where they'd just look at you weird for trying to be friendly. The stove and oven are working perfectly and no cabinet doors insisting on staying open! Finally, a home!

– Erty

So here I'm sitting surrounded by moving boxes. Even using a couple as a makeshift desk.

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Moving is stressful. Even if I've moved a few times before, it feels a bit extra stressful this time around. Part of it is that I have a job this time, and at that job there was suddenly a lot of extra stuff happening that coincides with the moving (at least I get Friday off so I get to spend that day moving most of the stuff to the new apartment).

I also have some issues with anxiety, and it gets excarberated by cramped spaces. It's not outright claustrophobia, but a persistent discomfort. The bad air ventilation in this tiny underground basement apartment probably isn't helping either. It has been very draining and there was also that whole pandemic business going on too, causing us to spend more time in this tiny basement than what's good for us. Now that we're two days away from the big moving day, that tiny space we had available is now filled with moving boxes and disassembled furniture pieces and bags. In other words, my anxiety is all over the place. 🙃

At the same time I know things will be so much better once this is over with. Just a few more days.

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That's also part of why I'm writing these journals. Writing things kinda helps me with stress, as do drawing or painting (though all my drawing/painting things are packed away so writing it is, for now). Apparently writing code is calming too, which I hadn't noticed before.
This is my third journal entry in just a week, after not writing any at all, ever, on this site, and just last night I did my fourth alpha (pre-) release of the Obj2GoldSmd converter and sent it out to the testers today (I sure hope they don't feel like I'm spamming or pestering them at this rate 😅).

Now I don't believe us moving will magically solve everything, but it will make a lot of things better.

Just to be able to stand and stretch without my arms hitting a ceiling, to be able to walk around, and to feel like I have the space to breath, in my own home, I've missed those things so much.

– Erty

Hi again!

I thought that now that I've broken the ice with making journals, I could talk a bit about the obj-to-smd converter I've been working on.

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I mentioned it in my previous journal entry and I've talked about it in the Discord server. The project basically began as a test to see how easy it'd be to convert an .obj exported from J.A.C.K into a .smd file that could be compiled into a studio model for goldsrc. Apparently it wasn't that hard and it didn't take too long until I had something basic working.

Other people had shown interest in the project, and I could see the potential it could offer to other mappers, so I decided to build on the project to make it into something others could use. I added a logger to display info in the console and save warnings and errors to a file. I added the functionality for it to write a .qc file for a basic static prop along with the .smd to make compilation easier and faster. I set up a condition to make it skip any faces with NULL texture. I made it collect all textures with {-prefix and write a $texrendermode-entry for each one to make them use the masked mode.

Then I sent out this alpha version of the program to a few select individuals that had agreed to test it.
I've already gotten some very valuable feedback from two of them. The first helped me track down a coordinate system related error I had missed. The other brought to my attention some errors with the logging and input prompt which I hadn't noticed earlier either, and gave me an idea for how to make the program a bit more convenient to use.

During my own testing I had mostly just focused on whether all the polygons seemed right, whether the UV maps were correct, that weird geometry didn't throw exceptions here and there, and that sort of stuff. These two testers were able to notice things I wasn't paying attention to. This is why this sort of testing is very valuable and I appreciate the help a lot! Their names are already included in a special thanks section in the readme that will be included in a full release of the program.

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Currently I'm working on a class for reading Wad3 files. This feature was inspired by the second tester.
The problem with the .obj file from J.A.C.K and the assosciated .mtl file is that they only include a reference to the texture used, but not the texture file itself. So in order to compile the model one would need to manually extract the textures from the assosciated .wad package and place it in the work directory. A solution we came up with was to let the program look for .wad packages in the work directory and search them for the textures by name, and automatically extract them. One would still need to place the .wad into the work directory, but that's definitely a whole lot less work than manual extraction. Especially when the model contains many different textures.

Before I started on the above feature I was working on a smooth shading functionality. I'm not completely sure how an user would turn on the feature, but so far I've thought of just looking up a _smooth[x] keyword in the end of the filename where x is the angle threshold and not using x (or using 0) would smooth all edges. I think the Wad3 support is far more useful and should be prioritized, so I switched to working on that instead.

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After I finish the two features mentioned above I want to add some commandline support to the program. Currently it works by just drag-and-dropping the .obj file onto the executable which is plenty good enough for the typical use but one might want to be able to mess with various options, such as whether to not skip NULL-textured faces, not automatically set masked rendermode on {-textures, and setting a different output folder. Possibly also the ability to set various .qc options as well, such as $scale, $origin and $gamma.

I also want to add in support for reading .rmf/.jmf as well instead of just .obj (many thanks to Captain P for showing me the MESS code for parsing those!) This will make the program useful to even more mappers and break down the paywall due to the .obj export only being supported by J.A.C.K.

– Erty

Hi!

So apparently I've been on this site for over 17 years and not even once written a journal entry. I decided it's time to change that.
I don't know if I should introduce myself or if that's a bit too late. Perhaps I should. I've spoken to many here but I doubt any actually know much about me.

I'm Erty. What is there to say about me? I love swimming. Back when I was in high school and uni people called me a "crazy scientist" because I built a lot of cool tech and high voltage stuff, like tesla coils and ion thrusters, and owned a piece of fluorescent uranium ore sample. I'm bisexual and a mess. I'm 30 years old as of writing. I used to draw and paint a lot but haven't done much of that the last years (unless you count making textures). I think bananas are pretty cool. I started my goldsrc mapping adventure about 20 years ago, messing around with an early version of HLSDK and finding Worldcraft.

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I guess part of why I haven't written any journal entries, or contributed more than a handful of things for most of that time comes from having been afraid of getting too invested in mapping, or any creative process at all. I've been pretty good at starting projects, but terrible at finishing them. I've only published a handful of vault items, and later removed them. So why bother trying being a part of a community I won't contribute to? I'm just here with nothing to share. I had many such thoughts back then.

Well, a lot of shit happened during those years, the first two decades of the new millenium, an entire third of my entire life just full of chaos.
Looking back I understand better than to blame myself for not being as "productive as I could have been". Maybe participating more in the community could have helped encourage me to finish more projects instead of giving up when I felt like nothing mattered. Hell, perhaps the community here or elsewhere could have helped reminding me that some things do matter.

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But all of that is in the past. My life is better now. I have a great partner. We've bought our first apartment together and moving in a week. We're packing like hell for that. There's also much to do at work. While a lot of things are happening right now, it's in a good way. I still have depression and PTSD, and it still gets in the way sometimes, but it's a lot less than it used to and things are stable enough for me to actually finish my projects. I participated in a SC mapping collab (Ragemap) two years in a row and currently participating in this year's collab as well. I've become more active on this site and various other communities. You might even have seen me around in the TWHL or SC discord servers.

Apart from Ragemap I have some other projects I'm working on. There's another unannounced mapping collab, and a pirate-themed map series I've been working on (perhaps I will tell more about it later on, after I finish moving). This week I began working on a program for converting .obj files exported from Jack to .smd files along with a .qc, all ready for compiling. Today I sent out an alpha version of it to a select few members of the mapping communities to help me test it. I hope it works well enough to fully release it soon and hope that at least some people find it useful. I'm planning on adding rmf/jmf support to it after the release of the first full version (thanks to Captain P for showing me the parser from MESS!)

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Well there we go. My first journal entry. A bit about myself, a bit about the past, and a bit about the now.
Maybe the "bit" is an understatement. Heh.

First off, sorry for the journal spamming. The last two journals on this site (three, counting this one) have all been by me. Sorry.
Okay, so I am a bisexual man, and I have a crush on this guy (we'll call him Clyde here). He's hot, he's funny, he's nice, I'm pretty sure he's gay, he has everything going for him. He and I are friends of course, and I think he knows I like him, but I just don't know where to go with this. At this point in writing this, I am starting to cry and I don't know why. What do I do? I don't want to be single anymore but I don't know how to ask him out and despite my extrovert tendencies I'm super nervous around him and I just... Help. Please.

In my last journal, I mentioned that I had played Quake for the first time. Well, I now have a registered copy (still using the same source port though), and I was going to record some gameplay for my youtube channel. So I set up some software for recording, got everything arranged just right, and played the game for about an hour and a half straight. Once I hit the end of the first chapter, I went to stop recording. However, for some reason (possibly user error), when I told it to stop recording, it didn't save my recording and instead started a new one. So all I have to show for a painful hour and a half of hard gaming is a 17-second clip of me wondering why it hasn't proceeded to the next screen for the video recording software.

I have so many regrets.

Today I played Quake for the first time. It was the Shareware build, as I wasn't about to buy it before knowing if I enjoyed it or not, but I did play it. It was fun. I found the old low-poly graphics strangely amusing, and I was honestly impressed by some of the lighting. I mean, it obviously wasn't any better than Half-Life's lighting, but I was expecting it to be worse.
As far as gameplay goes, it was new. I definitely didn't find it too challenging. I played through the entire demo on Easy, only dying once in the final boss fight. There were plenty of "oh shit" moments, though. For some reason (and I'm pretty sure it was just a quirk of the source port I was using), I didn't have a crosshair, so I ended up having to guess where my shots would land. Thankfully, I was relatively good at this. I enjoyed the music (thanks, Trent Rezzner?) and I found the NINs on the nailgun ammo hilarious. Some of the gameplay seemed a little half-baked, but that's from the perspective of someone who is about 10 years younger than the game. It was probably fine for when it came out.
Overall, I enjoyed it and plan to purchase the full version on Steam, and I would probably give my experience a 4/5.

what was just a test map progressively wanted it to be a one shot map and i'm really proud on what i've done so far

i haven't named it yet but i'll only show for now the beginning section i got inspiration from questionable ethics that i put my brain on very hard to make:my only problem with it would be retriggering it after all of the killing/checking is done for some reason hitting the button again just won't seem to trigger it again if anyone could help me with it would be really helpful also to consider i made it with like four invsible func_doors and some multi managers

Zinc - This thing that powers our remotes and keeps us away from the flu

In 1746, an inquisitive alchemist called Andreas Marggraf found an elusive metal deep in the heart of the German highlands. He was looking for the famous Philosopher's Stone when he discovered a silvery-blue element he christened "Zinc." Andreas, enchanted by its malleability and corrosion resistance, rapidly understood that zinc has its own distinct magical characteristics. People from all around the world began to harness the potential of zinc as word of his discovery spread. They used it to galvanize iron and steel, preserving their ships and towns from rust, and farmers utilized it to provide crucial nutrients to crops.

The alchemists of the modern age, known as chemists, experimented with Zinc to create innovative batteries that powered the dreams of a new generation. And so, Zinc, the marvelous discovery born of a quest for the Philosopher's Stone, continued to weave its enchanting tale of transformation throughout the world.

From a metallurgical perspective, as a moderately reactive metal, Zinc prefers to avoid solitude, seeking companionship with other elements in compounds and alloys

I think that about describes how I feel after this milestone. Although I always preferred my solitude for reading and satisfying my curiosities, I'm starting to understand better and better the importance of spending time with others. As with anything else in life, it's a balance.

If I am observing enough, there are quite some distinct changes between me from 10 years ago and today. For one, I don't have that lust I used to have - this is a bit ridiculous but it's a notable change. Or perhaps it's a consequence of unrequited love, idk. And on that note, most of my anxiety and panic attacks are gone, probably restored to a more healthy level (I've had serious issues with anxiety during my college years) Maybe this is what growing old means. Less reactivity. There's also some understanding of the world I'm living in and long term plans.

I am more fascinated than ever with the progress of AI, and disturbed equally by how small progress has been in other areas of humanity (political, peace etc.). We are living in interesting times.

Otherwise I'm in good shape and probably healthy for my age. I noted a decrease in the performance of my eyesight, but that was triggered during the pandemic. I really should make an appointment to the optometrist/ophthalmologist for a complete eye exam as this worries me.

In other ways I feel about life in general, I've replayed some Talos Principle recently and had a pleasant surprise. This message sums it up:Onwards, dear friends!

Back when I'm was a teenager, I watch many people playing a Half-Life Mods. Some are either pure garbage or good, some are well made that It make me inspired to make a mod. During the years of Covid-19, I dedicated my time watching a video about the basics of Valve Hammer Editor. The first one being on setting up a mod into placing a brush to the worldmap. It took me a while to set up Valve Hammer Editor, because it's complicated back then with little to no information about this. (Even though there is a video that mentions TWHL, I was kind of lazy to check it out) Back then, I only have a WON version of Half-Life, that i found on the internet... Since my parents does not allow me to spend some few moneys into buying a games (I weren't lucky enough to get Half-Life for free when Half-Life: Alxy is announce, I kind of ignored it. Don't know why.) It wasn't until that one of my friend who's nicknamed "Groovy" decided to gifted me some Quake Games, and Half-Life. I was thankful for that, It actually does motivated me more to work on Mapping and keep the "My mod" dream alive. After everything is set to work, I decided to start making my own map (With the help of TWHL and the Internet), blindly without any sketch or concept art, Just purely based on my mind when I was thinking of a level. I managed to made many levels, most of them are just a test to my abilities of making a map, some we're an actual map made for my mod, This maps we're eventually never used in the final mod due to how "cubic", unpolished and confusing to traverse trough the level. I decided that I should work on a random mod that I was passionate to work on, while working on my mod at the same time.

The first one being Black Mesa Classic. Before I could join in, I had to remake the Black Mesa Inbound. (I was asked to make a map as a proof that I will work on the mod) Only the first level of that chapter was done. After I joined it, I realize that the team in here we're some-what dead. After what I've seen inside there, I lost the motivation to work on BMC.

The second one being Half-Life Extended, A recently new mod that have been developed for some 2 years or so. I still remember that I asked one of the developers if they have a on working progress of the Hazard Course level. They don't have any. So I decided to silently remaking the Hazard Course for sometimes, until I decided to join in myself on the team. And to this day, I'm still working on the mod, polishing a finished map and making a concept map for the mod.

For my mod? Well, I kept it on hiatus ever since I joined the HLE Team until I had the right time to work on it again. At the moment the mod only have two map that is considered to be "OK" for the mod.

And that is the whole Journal. There is a lot of things that I intentionally put out due to how long the Journal would be, I've been trying to publish The Journal for straight three or four days. Apologize heavily if there is a "broken English". And thanks to my friend for giving me free Half-Life, that helped me a lot during that time, And to all of those who dedicated their time making an About page for an entity and a tutorial so that everyone (Including myself) could understand more about the functions.

And yeah, that's pretty much it.

I'm also looking forward to make another Journal but don't know what to write about it.
And I don't know how to end a Journal. So... Peace out, I guess?

I have revisioned this project in a huge way. I will make a video post soon

It's true and I can't stop with it. I'm always wondering when I'm going to break down when I work on anything game related.