Forum posts

Ok - been doing the TF2 thing for a while now but still scratching my head on a couple of items.

Dustbowl map - if you've played it you've seen the mining carts in the tunnels.

Question - Where are they in SDK?? I've gone through all of my model files but can't find them anywhere. I doubt they're brushes but could be wrong. I've found some of the other stuff from the map - ie railway tracks - but not other stuff.

Any idea where they are hiding? Please post model path here if you can -Tx

Hss anyone else had this problem - not finding stuff that should be there?

Ok, here's what I'm doing;

select face - apply texture - texture is at 1 or 2 - bigger than 2= crap - smaller than 1 or 2 gives me a hideous tiling texture effect on the cliffs, floors etc.

The water looks great but the cliffs don't - I don't get it.

Any Idea what's going on?

Yea - I know - Windows sucks!!!!

I don't know how it happened but installing my new HD and formating it SOMEHOW F'd all my drivers on my machine, performance, etc.

So...

I now have two nicely formatted drives machine works great.

Have to reinstall - EVERYTHING!!

sdk working fine - hammer working fine

I install new hd - slave for data storage only

sdk working - hammer crashes at hammer Icon sign

any idea what's going on?

Your leak is being caused in a paralell universe - call the Klingons - they're usually to blame!

nice to see I can improve someones day!! but still 1st map - next will be better

Here's the link to the "finished" map

http://jecphotography.com/gamestuff/Frenchy-DL.htm

You can upload and give it a spin - and give me suggestions.

Currently it has no Vis but looks good in terms of lighting - it's what I want. So Basically I should do my vis and come back next week?

What if vis actually doing? I cancelled vis - rad worked fine - got the result I was looking for - map seems to run fine - why do I need it?

Tks

Hi,

This may have something to do with my texture problem but not sure.

1. Using Valve Textures - the water looks great but walls, floors look crap for some reason. Don't know if it's just my graphics card - it might be.

2. Ok compile time vis goes to 4... and then sits there - just sits there for 8 hours - I terminate it(via task manager) and rad runs super quick and I get the map look I want.

Any idea what's going on - vis does my other maps just fine but sticks on my canyon map.

Hey - thanks to all who commented - I tweaked the map- mixed in some new textures, added in some new props - railway tracks in tunnels etc.

But I'm not sure about the whole texture thing - I'm using valve textures so it might just be my Graphics card - Radeon 9200 - that's causing the problem in the screenshots - do video cards cause an issue when compiling?

For the final version I'll be changing it over to a more displacement type.
Have to learn it first - is that like the polygon terrain mapping? If so, I'm good with that in 1.6, just need to learn it for source.

A few people have played it already and they like the layout and game play - I also forgot to put in a picture of the dark cave - it's only lit with lantern lights - lol watch yer back for spies in there -

Anyways, if any of you want the more complete version to try it out on your system - you can dl it here form my site:

http://jecphotography.com/gamestuff/Frenchy-DL.htm

I'm actually using the valve files - unless I've configured it wrong - should I be using zoners tools still?

Hi All,

1st of all I'd like to thanks everyone for all their help that you have given me in the past - I couldn't have done it without you.

Here's my map - let me know what you think!

http://jecphotography.com/gamestuff/TF2BC-beta.htm

Still having a light issue but I'm going with what I have.

try going to my work around post - load all the files like doing a mod then once done - close and restart steam - then load SDK your TF2 should work just fine.

If it doesn't you can then run it from the mod vesrion you just set up.

sorry for the bump - but I have a TF2 Map 99.9 % done except for this issue and want to get it completed for this weekend so that the masses can play it!

I'm having no problems what-so-ever - maybe becuase I configured TF2 on my machine manually before the release ot it onto SDK.

Hi Everyone,

I configured TF2 to run before the SDK came out so I?ve had a little bit of experience I?d like to share with you.

TF2 Mapping Good News and Bad news

Good news ? It?s just like 1.6 and the rest of Source ? making rooms, brushes, etc.

Good/Bad News ? combined

Props are almost everything in this game = make a room, world etc and fill it with props. With the exception of some common terrain ? I?ve seen some maps made up completely of props.

Bad News

TF2 entities are the most complicated entities that you?ll come across.

1 - To get anything to happen like a cabinet that gives you health, ammo ? you have to get a prop_dynamic then make an entity ? trigger - to make it work ? have posted how to do it somewhere else here. ? Basically the entire game works this way ? triggers run the props. Here?s how to do the cabinet thing:

http://twhl.co.za/forums.php?pgt=1&action=viewthread&id=14582&pg=1

2 ? Entities ? OMG ? I?ve been busting my brain trying to figure out how some of them work even though I have decompiled some other maps to see how they?ve done it. Even if you do this, some of them are clear as mud.

Here?s the jist of how they work ? Since I?m new to source mapping I?m not sure if this is an across the board thing or TF2 specific ? I will just give what I have seen re the TF2 but typing from work so trying to go from memory.

Make an entity ? I don?t care what type and press alt+enter to open properties

This will give you the main properties window ? you can go up and down and make them whatever you like.

Look at the top you will see tabs ? 1 to get you back to the one you?ve just opened, input/out tabs, flags and I think one more.

Flags ? each is specific for that entity ? if you select something here and change the entity type, you will have to come back to this tab and uncheck all the entities that are ??? or it may crash your game.

Input/output tabs ? everything you do in the main window of your entity can be made to be conditional ? you can get into some heavy duty programming here ? and remember when you use these and tie them to other entites ? you may also have to go back to those other entities and change all of them or else your game may crash ? then again you may be able to operate them without changes ? you won?t know until you compile and run.

Lights Entities ? pretty standard however ? I?m getting dramatic light changes as I run around the map ? see my post ? I updated it with some new screenshots and am still trying to figure out what is going on. Good luck with yours.

http://twhl.co.za/forums.php?pgt=1&action=viewthread&id=14627&pg=1

Entity Placement ? these are the ones that control gameplay (what happens when all caps captured, overtime, etc), water effect, etc. These entities need to be placed in an area that no player can touch ? if they get touched TF2 will crash. The best thing you could probably do is to put a clip box around them to guarantee that they can?t be touched ? for example ? you make your map one way but someone puts the map onto a low grav server allowing people to jump way up where they wouldn?t normally go ? no clip box = server crashes as so as someone touches an entity.

If making a TF2 Map make sure you think about the low grav option and make sure players can?t get off the map to parts where they shouldn?t be. Func_Walls may no be strong enough to keep a player from going through it if that player is being launched off of a conveyor whose speed is set at 10000. Make them solid walls to stop the player.

You can also have goldfish swimming around in your maps - look for that post too.

Well, I hope that helps you out a bit ? good luck with the Capture points ? I crashed my TF2 twenty times before I got them working ? I still have 1 that has bad input/output ? but they still work now

guys - the Gman will always carry the briefcase - it's his lunch box!!

You gotta take your luch with ya when you go interdimentional shifting!

Might not have a diner on the otehr side. I mean did any of you see a diner in HL? If yes - what's on the menu?

Ok I've updated the photos showing the errors

http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd208/Kill_the_Bug/New%20Source%20Lights/

1. If you look at the bridge picture - you'll see the breakable board - it's black - no idea what the cause is.

2. the picture with the saw is what's happening - far away or just changing position slightly and you see this happening - there are 1 lights there 1 on each post

3. the picture where you can see the lights at the unnel entrance is the look that I'm trying to get but the lighting near the red cap is also very nice.

Let me know what you think is going on and to comment on how you like the map - I tired a smaller scale on the textures but got a real "tile" effect happening, so iy you have an idea on how to make it look better - I wooule welcome those comments too.

ok results of the skybox thing are so - so - problem still continues -

and hey how do you do the in post picture things? It would be the quickest way of showing everyone.

i.e.

http://twhl.co.za/forums.php?pgt=1&action=viewthread&id=14629&pg=1

and then when I set it up on the server copy that file over to the folder there - right?

speaking of server - how do I get the map I made onto the ds I made to test run the map with other people - I could start but could find where to put the map.

LOL - this sounds hilarious - can anyone get it working?

I tried it out in my TF2 map but instead of getting goldfish swimming around I get all of these error signs acting like fish

OMG I just spent 15-20 mins on a long post here to help out everyone - it didn't take

SDK - is now configured for TF2 mapping - which is a good thing considering that when they updated it they removed all my configurations for TF2 that I already configured for myself already.

ok, I tried it at .25 and I think it looks really bad - not that texture's bad - it looks really good but what's happening now is that I'm getting a tiling effect so you can see the same pattern repeated over and over again.

I'll also be putting up more pics tonight to show you what's happening with my lights but may have also found a reason - I have a low ceiling.

I have increased the height of the skybox - hopefully that will allow the light environment to show around the map more.

"Why they didn't do a public beta of this is beyond my comprehension."

Yep, sounds like valve - however - I do love the new look of the properties window when mapping for TF2 - very nice indeed.

My lighting window doesn't work either - I get a white screen - when using the other it takes a long time to load then I get a black screen - go figure...lol

yes but when you use it or compile do youu light levels change? I'm having an issue with that one - see my other post and let me know if it's happeing I put some screenshots there.

http://twhl.co.za/forums.php?pgt=1&action=viewthread&id=14627&pg=1

nope cause you peeps are the BEST!!!

I saw the HDR but didn't check it. and lower my texture scale to .25? is that right?

http://s223.photobucket.com/albums/dd208/Kill_the_Bug/Source%20lights/

you'll see as you move around the lighting changes

Hi, Still new to source and trying to figure something out. looked at the posts but didn't see a lot of my issue.

Lights -

I have my environment light(one only) set to xxx then I have my other lights around the map.

I'm Trying for a dusk type of look - 1 environment light plus other lights on torch sticks - these other lights are set to yellow and on normal - that's it. I'm trying to get 1 constant look on the outside and one inside the tunnels.

The problem is that when I run around the map - on the outside- the map keeps going light-dark, light-dark, light-dark - you can see everything when dark(it's not actually dark it just appears dimmer sometemes)

What's going on? How do I fix it? All the lights inside the tunnels don't have this problem.

How do I get 1 constant light on the outside? I've tried it with just an environment light on the outside and no other lights - I've also tried it with lights - either way same thing happens.

Thanks!

So has anyone else tried the setup above? - Seems to work pretty good but I'm having other issues - game still crashes.

oh and a believe it or not the only reason I typed it out 1/2life is because I found it faster and easier for the way I type. Would you prefer HL?

Ok - TF entities are hard and you need a good understanding of them (well I do for 1/2 life and DoD) but these are insane!!! Since I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to source - ok total noob - are all the entities this hard??

Here's my TF2 issue:

5 cap points labeled 1-5

each made the exact same way
-same base, rotating entity showing team owner, trigger brush for cap.

None of them work - spcifically:

either team will have to take the cap point closest to them and work across the map - they have to cap all 5 to win - there can be a see-saw effect meaning if you loose it you can cap it back again and vice versa. The hud items don''t show up right, most caps are dead except 1, if you touch the one that's active - the game crashes.

Now I've decompiled other maps to see how it's done and still can't figure it out - the entities also have input/output values that I don't understand at all (is this normal for source mapping?)

I've even gone so far to copy over their caps entities etc to see if it works from map to map but nothing is working - are they referencing outside sources? My map totally done except these cap things - there's no tutorails or help anywhere on the net so I was hoping that you gurus could help a Bug out.

Also, I removed the doors in my map because - sometimes they work sometimes they don't - when they worked - blue team for example - touch one door they all open - change the names - door 1, 2, 3 eg and they stop working.

Any good TF2 mappers here?

Solution to my problem = just rebuilt it and didn't make them breakable this time.

Yep - but if you're impatient like me and want to get going right away....well...

Hi,

Working on a Map conversion into TF2 and the entities are driving me crazy - because it's new and I'm also new to mapping in source but have done 1.6 stuff, etc.

Here's some stuff that may help you out:

Resupply Cabinet Prop- you can find this under dynamic_props -gameplay - useable objects -
Making it Work -
1. Place it into your map - give it a name
2. In front of the cabinet make an Entity Box - Func_Regenerate make it as tall as the cabinet x a little bit wider x 2-3 times thicker than the cabinet in front of the cabinet - ok just make sure that the box can hold a player - then use the name above as the associated object.

When you compile it cabinet will work fine.

I've got some other stuff too but am at work and can't remember from here for some of the other stuff.

Everything is lined up perfectly - has the same texture but when I compile it's Black - really strange.

Hi - have some function breakable objects but they show up as different colour on my map - not to good it you trying to make a trap. Any ideas?

Is it the shadow flag? I currently have it set not to accept them but I don't think it makes a difference - either way they still show differently.

Can I combine the two - push and water in the same place?

Thanks - it works - it even looks good!! not If I can just get it to flow and push people to their doom - muhahahahahahaha!

Thanks for the Node thing - have no clue what you're talking about but it sounded good.

If I put my map into the problem maps folder - how's the best way for me to do it?

Should I just make the entire thing 1 texture and let you guys add in your own? What format you want .map or .rmf?

1st water entity -water in cayon - goes left to right - comes to 90 degree turn and 2nd water entity flows top to bottom at the 90 degree turn I have mitred the 2 entities with a 45 degree angle. When the map is complied will I see the join if I'm swimming in it?

Also does anyone have the texture name for a nice looking bod of water - this is my 1st time working with source water - thanks

Hi - Found this last night - it works great - now working in TF2!!! Sorry don't have the link for the dl's

work.

You will need (2 and 3 apply only if you want the textures):

1) prefabsandfgd.rar TF2 FGD, also includes a few prefabs, and the Portal FGD.

2) fixvtf.zip

3) GCFScape (External link to GCFScape website)

Step 1) Create a new mod via the Source SDK. Name it whatever you want. I just went with the SDK's suggestion, and called it 'MyMod'.

Step 2) Use GCFScape to open ...SteamSteamAppsteam fortress 2 content.gcf and extract the models folder to ...SteamSteamAppsSourceModsmymod. Now open ...SteamSteamAppsteam fortress 2 materials.gcf and extract the materials folder to ...SteamSteamAppsSourceModsmymod.

Step 3) Extract the archive fixvtf.zip anywhere, and then drag and drop the materials folder you've just extracted (...SteamSteamAppsSourceModsmymodmaterials) onto the fixvtf executable. This will convert all textures in this folder and all subfolders to the current texture format. It finishes surprisingly fast.

Step 4) Now all the TF2 content is good to go. Next open prefabsandfgd.rar and extract tf.fgd to ...SteamSteamAppselissakgsourcesdkbin.

Step 5) Launch Hammer with Current Game set to MyMod. Configure it to use tf.fgd, and you're all set.

After building a map, simply put the bsp into your TF2 map directory, and it uses all the materials/models in the official TF2 GCFs. Note that you can't build cubemaps in TF2, so if you wish to do so, you must load the map up in another mod to build the cubemaps.

Have fun!

Why does it always come down to people hating fairies - no wonder your fairy godmother never grants your wishes!

hey I like the last roof - very nice

Ok - this isn't a bump but I've encountered two new issues and maybe someone here knows:

Gun----Line of sight--->player

It seems gun will shoot you in this fashion however if you are below the gun i.e it's on a ledge - it can't see you and won't shoot you - this is even if you walk straight at it but not at the same level as the gun. I don't have the line-of-site flag checked.

Lastly, is there a max distance setting? gun will shoot at 5 - 1500 ftbut beyond that it won't shoot me even if I set it to 50000 ft

Nice site muzzle

Ok - V2 rocket sit's on Ground

Player lauches - it goes put and disappears in sky

rocket contunies to follow path and ends up under the ground where it launched from

doors open - V2 comes up - doors close - rocket ready to be lauched again.

From what I understand I can't make the piont of the V2 point down after launch it can only point up so I have 1 rocket point up and the when it goes by "fire on pass" it triggers my pointing down rocket out of the sky on the other side of the map - when the point of that other rocket hits the ground I fire a trigger hurt to kill every one over there and fire a white screen to blind everyone so that they won't see the rest of the rocket disappear into the ground - this rocket would then do the same and go back to start to sete for next fire.

I got a rocket I want to launch it up so it diappears through the sky.

How do I do it - in terms of the skybox textures? Would I make a tunnel for the train to go around in?

Rocket is func_train. If I made it a track train can I have it rotate? ie piot is up when going up - point is down for when it goes down - so it goes boom when it hits the ground - ok the train doesn't but func_breakable does with a render effect so you can't see the rocket sinking into the ground.

thanks - I also hear that they might be released later this week

Hi,

DOD, CS, 1/2life all have game specific ents - where can I find the TF2 ones so that I can complete my map conversion?

Lastly, I can start Hammer for source but it only seems to give me CS-1/2life for map making - how do I set it up for TF2 - thanks.

thanks tet