News posts
The Left 4 Dead tools have entered beta. We've got an updated Hammer, updated Particle Editor, Faceposer, example maps, models and compiling tools all at our disposal now. You can grab some handy design documents from here.
All that and a double Team Fortress 2 class update. I don't know what happened to Valve, but I like it.
All that and a double Team Fortress 2 class update. I don't know what happened to Valve, but I like it.
I decided to make forum searching faster, so I used my newly required query optimisation knowledge and made it about 1000 times faster. What used to take 10 seconds (or more) now takes about 0.2 seconds, max. Uni is good for something after all, eh?
Anyway, forum search should work much faster, and give more accurate results. Note that it no longer searches thread titles because that was one of the things slowing it down (which is why it's now called "Forum Posts" search.)
I'd add more search options, but that brings us to the second point of the news: I'm recoding TWHL. Again. It's not going to be done fast, but it'll be done better. I'm not taking suggestions, because functionality will be mostly the same (or, in some cases, exactly how they should have functioned if they were implemented in the first place.) Obviously there'll be improvements, but that's for another time.
Anyway, forum search should work much faster, and give more accurate results. Note that it no longer searches thread titles because that was one of the things slowing it down (which is why it's now called "Forum Posts" search.)
I'd add more search options, but that brings us to the second point of the news: I'm recoding TWHL. Again. It's not going to be done fast, but it'll be done better. I'm not taking suggestions, because functionality will be mostly the same (or, in some cases, exactly how they should have functioned if they were implemented in the first place.) Obviously there'll be improvements, but that's for another time.
Dear TWHL members,
It appears that a hax0r took over TWHL with some crazy script kiddie crap! He replaced the backgrounds and posted news and changed the poll before I was able to use my matrix abilities to stop him from doing more damage. Looks like the hacker also got into Ant's account and renamed it to "Bangs".
It's taken me a few days, but I've finally managed to delete all the hacker's hackity hax from the site, and now you can enjoy the background in its greyest colour ever - grey!
Have fun!
(TWHL wasn't hacked, it was a joke for Ant's birthday)
It appears that a hax0r took over TWHL with some crazy script kiddie crap! He replaced the backgrounds and posted news and changed the poll before I was able to use my matrix abilities to stop him from doing more damage. Looks like the hacker also got into Ant's account and renamed it to "Bangs".
It's taken me a few days, but I've finally managed to delete all the hacker's hackity hax from the site, and now you can enjoy the background in its greyest colour ever - grey!
Have fun!
(TWHL wasn't hacked, it was a joke for Ant's birthday)
First up, slow news is better than no news:
If you haven't seen it yet, here is Escape From City 17 for your viewing pleasure.
In the more recent portion of the news, Valve just unveiled the release date for the new Scout class update and started teasing us with first snippets of info. We can only hope the incoming Left 4 Dead update gets the same treatment soon.
In the meantime you can look forward to the flood of bonks arriving February 24th.
If you haven't seen it yet, here is Escape From City 17 for your viewing pleasure.
In the more recent portion of the news, Valve just unveiled the release date for the new Scout class update and started teasing us with first snippets of info. We can only hope the incoming Left 4 Dead update gets the same treatment soon.
In the meantime you can look forward to the flood of bonks arriving February 24th.
As most of you might have noticed, due to past spam-ratings, the Top Maps section is currently filled with poor quality submissions.
To fix that, we are disabling ratings for such maps or mods. To speed up our little cleansing operation, visit this thread and help out!
--Stop the crap single picture journals :/
To fix that, we are disabling ratings for such maps or mods. To speed up our little cleansing operation, visit this thread and help out!
--Stop the crap single picture journals :/
We from TWHL wish you all a happy new year!
Rooms and Rooms: Source might be what you're looking for while you wait for the new competition.
In other news, Valve are hinting at new Left 4 Dead content just around the corner, including Death Toll and Dead Air in versus, and possibly a new campaign. Win.
In other news, Valve are hinting at new Left 4 Dead content just around the corner, including Death Toll and Dead Air in versus, and possibly a new campaign. Win.
Me and Grim have finally gotten bored of pointlessly torturing the entrants, went all "meh.. why not.", rolled over a bit and posted the results. *
An unexpectedly great turnout this time with eight entrants, so to celebrate, each entry received separate reviews from both judges. A big thanks to everyone who took part. Congratulations to hlife_hotdog, zeeba-G and IMUS!
New compo coming soon too, stay tuned.
*Paragraph may contain sarcasm..
HIJACK! Wouldn't be a typical TWHL news post without a hijack!
Ant has submitted his animation to the iiNet 'Get Animated' competition. You remember Ant, don't you? Well, he's promised he'll pop in more if you guys help him win! Simply visit this link, click "Complete List", scroll down to "Come Alive" and get voting! Good things will happen! You can even win a PS3 and LittleBigPlanet, just for voting!
-Strider
An unexpectedly great turnout this time with eight entrants, so to celebrate, each entry received separate reviews from both judges. A big thanks to everyone who took part. Congratulations to hlife_hotdog, zeeba-G and IMUS!
New compo coming soon too, stay tuned.
*Paragraph may contain sarcasm..
HIJACK! Wouldn't be a typical TWHL news post without a hijack!
Ant has submitted his animation to the iiNet 'Get Animated' competition. You remember Ant, don't you? Well, he's promised he'll pop in more if you guys help him win! Simply visit this link, click "Complete List", scroll down to "Come Alive" and get voting! Good things will happen! You can even win a PS3 and LittleBigPlanet, just for voting!
-Strider
Half-Life is 10 today! What better way to celebrate than by checking out Black Mesa's incredible new media update?
And look, a short news post. Lovely.
EDIT:
Oh my god, Black Mesa trailer. Black Mesa trailer, oh my god.
And look, a short news post. Lovely.
EDIT:
Oh my god, Black Mesa trailer. Black Mesa trailer, oh my god.
Left 4 Dead, Valve's latest game, has very recently been released, and take it from me, this game is awesome. The demo's got nothing on the full game, by the way.
Playing through a campaign with some friends is probably one of the most intense gaming experiences around. Personally I just played through 'Dead Air' with Trapt and a few random guys, and it was a lot more fun than I could have imagined. The last level is intense, and the credits bit at the end is great.
If you have the game, or plan to, a good way to organise games is through the TWHL Steam Community Group. Oh, and watch out for Hunters!
[hijack]
Also, in case you're actually mapping and not playing L4D right now, here's a bunch of tutorials we've just (or not) received for you outcasts covering things that may have been pretty useful back in the day..
Adding Effects to Source Textures by the_best_flash is an amazingly detailed and thorough tutorial with anything you'll ever need to know about Source textures. Possibly the longest article in TWHL to date, a must-read for any Source mapper.
Explaining a similar subject, only in GoldSource, Detailed Textures in Half-Life by hlife_hotdog gives you all the steps needed to make your textures sharper and far more vivid.
And finally, Making a working plug and combine generator by 38_98 with a name speaking for itself, explains the implementation of the aforementioned objects you've seen many times in Half-Life 2 and its mods.
Kudos to the authors!
-Daub
Playing through a campaign with some friends is probably one of the most intense gaming experiences around. Personally I just played through 'Dead Air' with Trapt and a few random guys, and it was a lot more fun than I could have imagined. The last level is intense, and the credits bit at the end is great.
If you have the game, or plan to, a good way to organise games is through the TWHL Steam Community Group. Oh, and watch out for Hunters!
[hijack]
Also, in case you're actually mapping and not playing L4D right now, here's a bunch of tutorials we've just (or not) received for you outcasts covering things that may have been pretty useful back in the day..
Adding Effects to Source Textures by the_best_flash is an amazingly detailed and thorough tutorial with anything you'll ever need to know about Source textures. Possibly the longest article in TWHL to date, a must-read for any Source mapper.
Explaining a similar subject, only in GoldSource, Detailed Textures in Half-Life by hlife_hotdog gives you all the steps needed to make your textures sharper and far more vivid.
And finally, Making a working plug and combine generator by 38_98 with a name speaking for itself, explains the implementation of the aforementioned objects you've seen many times in Half-Life 2 and its mods.
Kudos to the authors!
-Daub
So the demo is out for all those who preordered Left 4 Dead. Apparently it's awesome, as those who aren't currently stuck at work would know. :<
Early impressions are good, though there's been some complaints about the matchmaking system. Never fear though, Valve have fixed it.
Speaking of zombies and death, here's a note from someone beyond the grave: take a look at this! - Ant
Early impressions are good, though there's been some complaints about the matchmaking system. Never fear though, Valve have fixed it.
Speaking of zombies and death, here's a note from someone beyond the grave: take a look at this! - Ant
The compo is finally done :>
We finished out with a total of 8 entries, which is a pretty nice turnout compared to some of the past few competitions.
We'll be giving little mini-reviews to all the entries, and also remember that the winner gets to decide the next compo (With approval, of course).
Daubster and myself will begin to judge over them.. soon *
May the best man win **
*"Soon" meaning until 2010 or the release of DNF.
**.. or anyone showing the biggest generosity towards judges.
We finished out with a total of 8 entries, which is a pretty nice turnout compared to some of the past few competitions.
We'll be giving little mini-reviews to all the entries, and also remember that the winner gets to decide the next compo (With approval, of course).
Daubster and myself will begin to judge over them.. soon *
May the best man win **
*"Soon" meaning until 2010 or the release of DNF.
**.. or anyone showing the biggest generosity towards judges.
.. well actually, it's a whole new tutorial on a subject never properly covered before - a real TWHL exclusive. Just for you.
Radar locations in Counter-Strike: Source by The Hunter is a detailed guide to giving specific areas in the map names usually seen under the radar and on the HUD next to recent radio commands. Being quite a helpful feature ingame, its definitely something you should include in any CS:S map of yours.
Give it a try!
Also, if Daubsterino doesn't mind me hijacking his news post, it seems that Portal: Prelude is out! What's that you say? It was sorta already out yesterday? WELL I'M SORRY.
-Strider
Alright, here's a slight extension on the compo, just because I think you all deserve at least a little weekend cram time.
You now have until Monday. (November the 3rd)
Compo done. :>
-Grim
Radar locations in Counter-Strike: Source by The Hunter is a detailed guide to giving specific areas in the map names usually seen under the radar and on the HUD next to recent radio commands. Being quite a helpful feature ingame, its definitely something you should include in any CS:S map of yours.
Give it a try!
Also, if Daubsterino doesn't mind me hijacking his news post, it seems that Portal: Prelude is out! What's that you say? It was sorta already out yesterday? WELL I'M SORRY.
-Strider
Alright, here's a slight extension on the compo, just because I think you all deserve at least a little weekend cram time.
You now have until Monday. (November the 3rd)
Compo done. :>
-Grim
Reviews for February's MotM winner (yep, we're THAT fast) cp_goldfinger posted.
Up next is March winner Flat-Life, a GoldSource mod developed by our very own ChickenFist! Since it's our very first mod of the month with new multiplayer gameplay features, something rather special is being arranged. Stay tuned for that.
In not-so-other news, vote for this month's candidates if you haven't already. We're counting on you.
Also, if you feel like fragging for cash on CS:S, check out this thread for more info.
Up next is March winner Flat-Life, a GoldSource mod developed by our very own ChickenFist! Since it's our very first mod of the month with new multiplayer gameplay features, something rather special is being arranged. Stay tuned for that.
In not-so-other news, vote for this month's candidates if you haven't already. We're counting on you.
Also, if you feel like fragging for cash on CS:S, check out this thread for more info.
As promised plus a week of delay, a new compo is here!
Compo brief is here.
Official compo thread is here.
Also be sure to check out our newest tutorial, the Coding Fog Addendum tutorial by darkphoenix_68. He's done a fine job re-writing the old tutorial, which now has much more clarity and is easier to read.
On another note, the behavior of the forums needs an uplift. We're contemplating the idea of temp-bans to all those who might degrade the forum on a daily basis. Dont derail off-topic without relevance. Dont argue a thread into a flame-fest. No posting links that lead to anything porn related (I'm definitely serious about this one). Lastly, dont make useless spam journal threads that aren't either mentioning something serious or showing off work. It's common sense. If I need to write a guide on forum etiquitte, I will. You know who you are.
Edit: Because of concern in the shoutbox, my definition of "serious" journal posts extend to the light hearted ones too. Habboi's pirate journal is just fine. We really just want to avoid the completely mindless ones like the "Andrew J. Morris's" and the failcat pictures. No memes of any kind unless they're in conjunction with something else.
Edit2: Rephrased: Dont make your journal posts one sentence that says "I did something!". Also if you have a journal post of good length, dont edit it back to one sentence.
Compo brief is here.
Official compo thread is here.
Also be sure to check out our newest tutorial, the Coding Fog Addendum tutorial by darkphoenix_68. He's done a fine job re-writing the old tutorial, which now has much more clarity and is easier to read.
On another note, the behavior of the forums needs an uplift. We're contemplating the idea of temp-bans to all those who might degrade the forum on a daily basis. Dont derail off-topic without relevance. Dont argue a thread into a flame-fest. No posting links that lead to anything porn related (I'm definitely serious about this one). Lastly, dont make useless spam journal threads that aren't either mentioning something serious or showing off work. It's common sense. If I need to write a guide on forum etiquitte, I will. You know who you are.
Edit: Because of concern in the shoutbox, my definition of "serious" journal posts extend to the light hearted ones too. Habboi's pirate journal is just fine. We really just want to avoid the completely mindless ones like the "Andrew J. Morris's" and the failcat pictures. No memes of any kind unless they're in conjunction with something else.
Edit2: Rephrased: Dont make your journal posts one sentence that says "I did something!". Also if you have a journal post of good length, dont edit it back to one sentence.