Forum posts

Uhh, I guess it depends on your definition on "certain". In a general case, I imagine trigger a multi_manager controlling teleporting the monster in (trigger_teleport, not monstermaker) and then a scripted_sequence.

Going off of my last attempt to decompile anything, isn't it more a problem with brush entities? I think they get moved to the origin of the map or something.

I usually play with keyboard+mouse, but I had an opportunity to play a few games with a controller at one stage (in the interim between buying my brother a controller for his computer and actually giving it to him; gotta make sure it works, right?).
I'd say that playing with a controller feels a little more natural, a little more precise. But keyboard+mouse is an entirely playable option.

I think you may have to look closer than just "a soccer-esque game wit' vehicles in". 'Cause that general theme is about the only real similarity between the two.

While I would be goddamn hyped for such a thing, from what I've experienced, ping seems to hit the game kinda hard. Given TWHL's spread out nature, it might not work so well.

That said, if it happens, I am so in.

I would kick off some projects in the interim, but I'm not much of a project leader. Y'know, unless absolutely no-one else around here is either.

It would also help if I could remember what my idea was...

How to TWHL:

Step 1: Suggest cool compo ideas
Step 2: Wait a few months
Rinse and repeat.

EDIT: Incidentally, will TWHL4 have more structured support for unofficial/mini competitions? Because that would be neat.

By the way, is the link to the Alpha not working anymore, or is that just me?

I've already started making mine. And it's already started hurting my brain. I don't even care how premature this is.

Can func_monsterclips be triggered, presumably on/off? They have a name parameter.
If so, seems like that may work.

What kind of dimensions are we looking at? Presumably this Garg should be easily able to fit through?

Is that a euphemism?

I can't remember if scripted_sentences have any sort of movement parameters. If not, just use a scripted_sequence to get him to move to a spot. To get him to do things afterwards, just link it up the same way as other things: get the sequence to trigger the next scripted_sentence, line it up in your multi_managers, etc.

tl;dr: scripted_sequence

As for anything else you need help with, dot points would be nice

I know we've done Top 5 Expansion Packs/etc., not sure about mods though.

Bridge Point is certainly one of the most impressive and memorable Half-Life 2 levels. It's a shame it didn't do a little more for the way back, really.
Gotta love Life of the Party. Man, I gots to finish playing through Thief 2 again.
Speaking of Thief, I can't say I really liked The Sword much. It was alright, but I preferred the likes of Assassins. (I think that's what it was called, anyway.)

I'd be happy to do more. A new prompt, perhaps? (I'm not doing another one.)

I know what I would do for that (roughly) already. Probably not quite as cool though.

I can't help, I never did bother getting the hang of level changes

I've just had a thought for a community project of m' own. I'll not do it now if you've got one on the run already though, so it'd be nice to know if/how many people are actually going to participate in this one. So far the take-up rate seems... low. No pressure, mine can wait.

Yours faithfully,
Brigadier Sir Charles Arthur Strong (Mrs.)

I'm trying desperately to think of a new map I can make that would make better use of this kind of spatial-trickery.

since u broke the rule of the limited space.

I feel like a goddamn magician

Yeah, you did, Orange, sort of. Found some quotes from said thread that I'm curious as to the relevance nowadays. Because, y'know, they were said only a few months ago.

Penguinboy: If it was Source, you wouldn't get very many participants.

Captain Terror: Yeah Doc-O, also Source projects have a notoriously-high mortality rate here...

Archie: All the really good Source mappers are in a kinda weird place right now. Interlopers, notably, where there were once 10 map showcases a day is now lucky to have one map posted a week.

The current tools are so broken and everyone has kinda put their attention towards the Source2 beta tools released with Dota. It will make a resurgence when Valve release a game on it.

In terms of Source in its current state, pretty much only CSGO is being mapped for on a large scale, mostly due to the very successful Steam Workshop - but that'd be useless for a collab like this.

For the moment, and I say this with gritted teeth, Source simply isn't the best option.

Strider: What Archie says. Plus Source is a weird engine half stuck between semi-modern features and old methodology. It's not enjoyable to work with at all.

Anyway, I probably won't be joining this, because unlike Goldsource, I don't know how to be tricky with Source. And if my floor said anything about me, I would like to hope it was that I like to do things differently.

Scale seems to be tricky for most newer mappers to get the hang of, yeah. If you're using the stock Half-Life textures, I suggest keeping walls in particular around the same height of the textures themselves. It's a good starting point of reference for sizes, I reckon.

You stirrer, you.

Being irritated by a puzzle makes it a nice puzzle

I take issue with this. Firstly, it's not relevant, because the last two sections of your floor (which is what is getting most of the complaints) are not "puzzles". That would be like calling Super Meat Boy a puzzle game. The jumping part is 1 minute of figuring out what you have to do (or more, for reasons Pengy mentioned) and then vastly more than that just trying to get it right because it's overly sensitive. The crusher part might qualify as a puzzle if there was any way to get through it without dying the first time (short of pure luck, of course). Pure trial and error a puzzle does not make.
Secondly, no, being irritated by a puzzle does not necessarily make it a nice puzzle. Sometimes you're irritated by a puzzle because it's a bad puzzle.

The floor is entirely redeemable. It just needs tweaking.

EDIT:

Oh, and I forgot, what's up with those buckets on Atom's floor?

You're absolutely right, Dr. Orange. I imagine it would be.

If you move as far away from the doors as possible and shift left and right, you can see the doors spawning in and out.

I thought I made sure that didn't happen Well, except in one of the later rooms, where I did notice that you could see it and... I guess I never got around to fixing it.
EDIT: Yeah, I meant to plonk some sort of blocker there so you couldn't move out far enough to see it. Don't recall why I never did.

I wouldn't have figured out the gauss jump if I didn't read other people talking about it.

I didn't want it to be a typical pick-key-up or press-a-button solution, but it looks like this trouble is a common theme. Maybe I should rework that last bit somehow...

Ground Floor: Lobby/Logistics - Urby
Somewhat unfinished, I know. Nice to look at nonetheless. I was stuck for a while unaware of the significance of the security card until I picked it up by accident; I think highlighting that a little more could help. Otherwise straightforward and a nice introduction gameplaywise.

Floor 1: Recreational - 2muchvideogames
This floor is a little strange, but not unenjoyable. The odd banter of the NPCs is pleasant and you know exactly what you'll get from the massive speakers. That odd turret was a nice touch, I thought. The crowbar may benefit from a little highlighting. People are saying a lot about not being able to hit the security override. It wasn't 'til I played it again that I found I never pressed it the first time either. You don't seem to need to. Thus, I have no idea what that button does.

Floor 2: Lab Complex - Dr. Orange
Considering he "broke [his] knee pretty bad", that scientist can walk just fine. Anyway. Pretty simple, a nice little level. I can't think of a whole lot to say about it. No real flaws, simple design throughout. Quite Half-Life-y. Can't think of a plausible explanation for all that shit piled up in the hallway though. (Not that I can talk about plausible explanations.)

Floor 3: Rebellatrix Media Group - JeffMOD
There's a lot of files A-Z 7355608! Found that hidden (?) thing, even if I have no idea what the heck it was playing. (N.B. That parkoury shit? I can get way behind that.) I noticed my FPS dropping a touch in this floor. Didn't think much of that until Stu said it was much worse for him. Some optimsation may be needed. Otherwise, a lovely looking map!

Floor 4: Crystalline Energy Dept. - Urby
A nicely-crafted little level you have here, Urbles. The room with the grunts was very nice in particular. I don't have a whole lot else to say; it's very pretty, and where you need to go is never confusing (a nice change). It's just... y'know... grood. I mean, good. And great. Great and good.

Floor 5: Status Reporting / Admin - NineTnine
Have you submitted your status report to the administrator today? Those silly scientists. I chuckled at this one =)

Floor 6: Riddler's Complex - Malle
I'm sorry to say I have some issues with this one. Firstly, that button in the corridor. Why do you have to hit that? When every other button in the whole mod, including on this level, is use'd rather than shot/hit, it's just a touch confusing. Secondly, the beams seemed to kill me only some of the time, which was also confusing. And then there's those same beams along the conveyor, which don't kill you at all (as far as I can tell). The tile-jumping thing is not fun by any stretch of the imagination. And that last crouched room... hell, I have no idea what you're supposed to do there. It seems like an invisible maze with no actual way through it. I used noclip through those last two parts.

Floor 7: Bernier & Co - Tetsu0
A pretty little map, part eye-candy, part find-the-stuff. The "Bossman's key" isn't all that obvious that it IS a key, only really implied that it's of interest because it's concealed. Otherwise, not bad at all. Oh, except that if you walk into that room with the alien grunt, the door can close behind you and it seems like that locks you in there forever. I couldn't get out. EDIT: Apparently the wall blows open when you pick up the card. Something that didn't happen the first time.

Floor 8: Time Labs - Jessie
Obviously I'm not the most qualified to judge this level, given that I know exactly how it all works and such. I hope it was at least interesting for y'all =) My first impression in this mod was how spacious it was compared to all the others, and was frankly a nice change from the otherwise kinda claustrophobic atmosphere of a lot of the others. For those of you who can't figure out the last bit... what special thing can you do with the Gauss Gun? Oh, and to Urby, the same way that gets you past my obstacle gets you past your SecuriScan barriers =P You should probably fix that. Or I can, though I'll need the RMF or whatever you've got. Also should probably slap an autosave in for when people pick up the Gauss. Don't want them too stranded if they waste all their ammo.

Floor 9: Aerodynamics - TJB
Eye candy! Not a bad little display here. Some of the map, particularly around the entrance, is a little blocky, but for the most part, not bad at all. I don't know if you're supposed to be able to climb into that big thing, but you can. No biggy.

Floor 10: Upper Management - The Mighty Atom
As much as I appreciate find-the-stuff gameplay, I couldn't find the last one and that halted the progress! Just a bit of a bugger, really. I called in noclip. Otherwise, a pretty map, and flows quite nicely. It's hard to stuff gameplay into such a small area, but you've pulled it off well. EDIT: And after a second time, I got it before I'd started to look for it. shrug

Floor 11: Chairman - Strider
I mean, what can you say? Sexy. That's what you can say. This map is sexy. Not only is it sexy, but the stealth is a nice touch! A few times I blundered right into the cameras, and that's what should happen if you're not careful! I also found your easter egg, which I can't remark on that much, the reference isn't really my thing.

As for the roof, well, it's not bad. A nice little grunt-helicopter playground. Will be interested to see what you do with it.

Awards time!
Eye Candy Award - Strider
Fun Award - The Mighty Atom
Humorous Award - NineTnine
Entity Award - My own dang self ^^

Just finished playing through it. One or two sections of some floors slow things down (possibly including mine, it's hard to judge when I made it), but overall, quite fun to see everyone's contributions!

My only two real problems I had are some parts of Malle's floor being unclear/annoying, and the fact I couldn't find Atom's last card (though that's probably my shortcoming ><), so I had to call on my friend noclip to progress those parts.

I'll go through it again and give a micro-review of each floor soon =)

Hot damn! Looking forward to seeing everyone's floors

EDIT: So far the only real stumbling block I've had is that the latter half of Malle's is kind of confusing and painful (unless I'm missing something obvious that makes it easier here).

To clarify, brush entities do not count as the "floor" in this context, thus why lighting the elevator itself may not work. Do as 2muchvideogames suggests and light up the bottom of the elevator shaft (or whatever is beneath the elevator), see if that works.

You add parameters to the multi_manager which define what to trigger when. E.G. If you add the Key-Value pair "door":"7", then 7 seconds after the multimanager is triggered, it will trigger the entity/entities with the name "door". (Parameters are added to entities with the "Add" button in the entity properties, if you weren't aware. I think you have to have SmartEdit off if you're using Hammer rather than Sledge.)

So, what you would be doing is setting up the multimanager to have a parameter for each different scripted_sentence/ambient_generic you have in the conversation. The values of those parameters are the timing. Note that it works in seconds after the multimanager is triggered, not seconds after the last item in the list.

EDIT: This was in the tutorials, will probably make more sense if mine didn't. http://twhl.info/tutorial.php?id=37

The word "global" springs to mind, but it's been so long since I've even tried to work with level changes... I have no idea.

... not to mention the site search has always been very imprecise in the first place.

I'm curious, Pengwynboy, will the Search be getting a revamp when the site gets its overhaul? It does seem like it could use one.

That's very incredibly unlikely, unless you do it

FTFY (what with this being open source and all).

The Xen island-hopping wasn't great, no, but I reckon Blue Shift's whole Xen section was worse. I can't name any aspects of it that I like over the original's.

I can't think of anything to add myself just yet. I shall return later.

I bought System Shock 2 during the sale for, like, a buck or so. I should get around to playing it sometime. Wasn't it made by Looking Glass? I have faith in them ^^

Alrighty... A trigger_once in the "corner of the room". It triggers a multi_manager which times whatever scripted_sentences or ambient_generics you require for the dialogue.
The trigger_once has a master — namely, a multisource. This multisource is triggered solely by a game_counter, which is, in turn, triggered by each monster that is killed.

... Does that sound right?

Google Translate isn't helping here.

how can I edit my wn posts?

When your post is the most recent one, the edit button is next to your name on the far right, above one's avatar.

No, no, that's a red powernode. He's making an ONS- map!

Oh, I see, fair enough. Then, as far as I know, there's no automatic way to rename clones. I could be wrong, though.

Hmm. Try the breakable targeting a trigger_relay that in turn triggers the pair. Maybe utilising the Trigger State parameter of the relay (set to Off, perhaps) can get it to work properly.

No promises, but seems worth a shot.

These men do not lie. Arches are the shit.

Merci, Urby!

A wild yet another thang appeared!I'm hoping when I've got light coming only from the thingy, it'll balance the room more accurately.

The scroll direction is mostly defined by the how the textures are applied in the map, not the texture itself. The texture will always scroll from the... right, I think? Make your brush with the scrolling texture a func_conveyor and use the texture tool to rotate (or whatever) the texture to make it go in the correct direction in the map.

... a lot of that is because so many HL1 modding sites are dead and their content has been lost or forgotten.

I remember 69th Vlatitude. That place got me started shortly before I found this place, IIRC. It had some quality tutorials.

Yeah, loading the wads shouldn't require any more than having the wad in the right folder. I suppose, in theory, a broken wad might put that up, but I've not heard of that ever happening.

Now you've got the new tools in, another copy of the compile log would probably help.

Well, the perspective is tricky to get right, which is one thing, but I have certain size constraints imposed by the body of the map which I have not shown. Seems ol' Westwood didn't expect anyone to notice these rooms being too big for where they are! (N.B. Not a serious complaint, the game's great and is the sort of thing you'd only ever notice if you were, say, making a HL map of it.) And yes, the whole map will be a little... slender. I started this map quite a long time ago, and returned to it after I saw how much effort I'd put into some of this. I suppose I settled on a scale back then. I'm sure I had my reasons.

A recreation, my friend. That is all I shall share for now. Besides WIPs.

This one's almost as finished as I'll bother with, except that window needs changing and I'll make the scrolls for that there basket. I may make a more fitting texture for the table, too. Maybe.I am aware the room is about four times too small. It really can't be helped.