@2muchvideogames
Stories like that always frustrate me, especially when the person falsely claiming that a certain program is the cause of the problem is a supposed "computer expert." I was bored one night a year or so ago and stumbled upon this Reddit topic and wanted to smack so many people I've never met in my life in the face.
@Rimrock
In my case, the outlook for Snowfort's concept has more hope, because I lacked the ability to ever find that "magic" in the concept I had in mind, whereas, I now have the mapping skill and knowledge to revisit it and give it a new lease on life.
Forum posts
A while back I released a map called fy_span. It's not a particularly special map. It's a simple fy map for CS 1.6 that a cooked up in about 2-3 days. It is, however, an example of what I'm talking about. Have you ever "saved" a decent concept that was turned into a terrible map?
A while ago I was giving someone advice on their first ever map (it was for CS:GO). Not on Source specific things, I've only made one map for Source myself, but on CS mapping theory type things and more basic brushwork detail kind of stuff. His map was an fy map featuring a bridge in the center of the map. However, that's all it was, a bland bridge with only a tiny bit of cover on the sides with the way up consisting of a ladder on either team's end of the bridge. The only other cover was a bunch of big crates; all of them the same size, spread equally apart from each other. The ground was a flat grass texture and it was surrounded on all sides by really tall, flat, brick wall textures.
I was honest with him, I told him the map needed some massive improvements, though it was actually better than other 1st maps I've seen (including my own first map) since at least this wasn't fullbright and players didn't spawn with their head in a ceiling and die. I made some suggestions about detailing the walls a bit and making the cover more varied because he had basically created "suicide lanes" for the first player bored enough to peek. I suggested not making all of the ground one big flat plane and that it didn't have to have extreme height differences but a few dips and bumps could go a long way. I also told him to nix the ladders going up onto the bridge ends for some ramps or stairs or something along with a bit more to make climbing on the bridge and crossing it less suicidal.
To my dismay, he released Version 2 a day later, so I knew he did almost nothing. Sure enough, he did the bare minimum of work based on what I told him, and the "varied" cover was just changing some crates and things to brick walls or other random objects. The "suicide lanes" were still a thing. It was better than version 1 but better in the sense that getting kicked in the butt is better than getting kicked in the nuts.
But I really liked the bridge idea. I play CS 1.6 on a custom map server with over 400 custom maps, but early in the night before the server fills up there aren't a ton of good map options for a small number of players. There are a bunch of fy maps on the server but most of them are the same or similar and are either a glorified aim map or have sort of a "4-square" design like Snow and Iceworld. The bridge was something I haven't seen, so, I "saved" the concept.
I created my own fy map with the bridge, and fy_span is what I produced. It's not perfect, it's not groundbreaking, but it's something different. I did also use it as an example map to try to give that new CSGO mapper a better idea of what I was talking about. I told him about the thought I put in to certain bits of cover, why the stairs going up to the bridge were perpendicular to the bridge so firefights across the bridge would be better, etc. I hope maybe he learned a couple of things.
I'm bringing this up because I thought of a recent terrible map I made years ago. It's not even available online anywhere anymore. I called it de_snowfort. It was terrible on so many levels. Bad brushwork, bad layout (Ts could get to one site before the CTs), bad spawn points, horribly timed chokepoints, and just not enough room for players to move around easily. I didn't even understand how decals worked and I made signs using brushes with the site A and site B decal textures on them. But I liked the concept I had in mind.
Basically, the theme of the map was a big snowdrift up against a house with a snow fort in it that actually extended underground into this network of snow tunnels and stuff. You could enter through an opening in the snow pile or go through the house into the basement and out the bulkhead under the snow. It's a ridiculous but fun theme and I've decided to "save" the concept. I plan on making a new map with this idea (though it's currently behind a few other ideas I have), but with a proper layout, proper brushwork, and without all the horrible noobery that my original de_snowfort was plagued with.
Has anyone else ever done anything like this? Re-visited a concept that they had a long time ago that was ruined by your noob days of mapping? Drew inspiration from the concept of an otherwise terrible map that a bad mapper couldn't be bothered to put more effort into?
A while ago I was giving someone advice on their first ever map (it was for CS:GO). Not on Source specific things, I've only made one map for Source myself, but on CS mapping theory type things and more basic brushwork detail kind of stuff. His map was an fy map featuring a bridge in the center of the map. However, that's all it was, a bland bridge with only a tiny bit of cover on the sides with the way up consisting of a ladder on either team's end of the bridge. The only other cover was a bunch of big crates; all of them the same size, spread equally apart from each other. The ground was a flat grass texture and it was surrounded on all sides by really tall, flat, brick wall textures.
I was honest with him, I told him the map needed some massive improvements, though it was actually better than other 1st maps I've seen (including my own first map) since at least this wasn't fullbright and players didn't spawn with their head in a ceiling and die. I made some suggestions about detailing the walls a bit and making the cover more varied because he had basically created "suicide lanes" for the first player bored enough to peek. I suggested not making all of the ground one big flat plane and that it didn't have to have extreme height differences but a few dips and bumps could go a long way. I also told him to nix the ladders going up onto the bridge ends for some ramps or stairs or something along with a bit more to make climbing on the bridge and crossing it less suicidal.
To my dismay, he released Version 2 a day later, so I knew he did almost nothing. Sure enough, he did the bare minimum of work based on what I told him, and the "varied" cover was just changing some crates and things to brick walls or other random objects. The "suicide lanes" were still a thing. It was better than version 1 but better in the sense that getting kicked in the butt is better than getting kicked in the nuts.
But I really liked the bridge idea. I play CS 1.6 on a custom map server with over 400 custom maps, but early in the night before the server fills up there aren't a ton of good map options for a small number of players. There are a bunch of fy maps on the server but most of them are the same or similar and are either a glorified aim map or have sort of a "4-square" design like Snow and Iceworld. The bridge was something I haven't seen, so, I "saved" the concept.
I created my own fy map with the bridge, and fy_span is what I produced. It's not perfect, it's not groundbreaking, but it's something different. I did also use it as an example map to try to give that new CSGO mapper a better idea of what I was talking about. I told him about the thought I put in to certain bits of cover, why the stairs going up to the bridge were perpendicular to the bridge so firefights across the bridge would be better, etc. I hope maybe he learned a couple of things.
I'm bringing this up because I thought of a recent terrible map I made years ago. It's not even available online anywhere anymore. I called it de_snowfort. It was terrible on so many levels. Bad brushwork, bad layout (Ts could get to one site before the CTs), bad spawn points, horribly timed chokepoints, and just not enough room for players to move around easily. I didn't even understand how decals worked and I made signs using brushes with the site A and site B decal textures on them. But I liked the concept I had in mind.
Basically, the theme of the map was a big snowdrift up against a house with a snow fort in it that actually extended underground into this network of snow tunnels and stuff. You could enter through an opening in the snow pile or go through the house into the basement and out the bulkhead under the snow. It's a ridiculous but fun theme and I've decided to "save" the concept. I plan on making a new map with this idea (though it's currently behind a few other ideas I have), but with a proper layout, proper brushwork, and without all the horrible noobery that my original de_snowfort was plagued with.
Has anyone else ever done anything like this? Re-visited a concept that they had a long time ago that was ruined by your noob days of mapping? Drew inspiration from the concept of an otherwise terrible map that a bad mapper couldn't be bothered to put more effort into?
Not a requirement as far as I'm aware. It was something we discussed briefly earlier in the topic and Urby had shown how his airlock was busting out of a bathroom wall. I had already been bouncing around a similar idea. One of my airlocks is busting out of a wall like Urby's but you can also see a bit of the outside of it through a crack in another wall.
My other airlock is filling up a hallway. You can see the whole front face of the airlock around the door with cracks on the hallway walls and floor. On the floor below it, you can see the bottom of the airlock, with the floor/ceiling it displaced in pieces on the ground and on fire (which is just outside of the 1024 cube so the fire makes a nice punishment to the player for leaving).
My other airlock is filling up a hallway. You can see the whole front face of the airlock around the door with cracks on the hallway walls and floor. On the floor below it, you can see the bottom of the airlock, with the floor/ceiling it displaced in pieces on the ground and on fire (which is just outside of the 1024 cube so the fire makes a nice punishment to the player for leaving).
The only time I've seen monochrome colored brushes in VHE is when I loaded up an older map and forgot to add the appropriate WADs back in first so it replaced all the missing textures with white.
I don't know if it was mentioned previously in this topic (it's a long topic to sift through) but clip brushes are not automatically added to a visgroup like the other tool brushes. It's not the biggest deal for me because I am still used to having to manually add anything I needed in a visgroup to a visgroup in VHE but it would definitely be nice to have, especially for clipping railings that use transparent textures in CS.
I don't know if it was mentioned previously in this topic (it's a long topic to sift through) but clip brushes are not automatically added to a visgroup like the other tool brushes. It's not the biggest deal for me because I am still used to having to manually add anything I needed in a visgroup to a visgroup in VHE but it would definitely be nice to have, especially for clipping railings that use transparent textures in CS.
The leaf you are in probably extends out past that stairway. Doing what Kachito does with another hint brush might not fix that because the leaf you are in could still be sticking out into the open. Try doing a hint brush in the same direction Kachito showed in that screenshot but pull it back up to that corner near the stairway. Remember that it renders what is "potentially visible" and it doesn't actually care exactly where you are, but just what leaf you are in. So if the leaf you are in extends beyond that corner than you can see into the hallway from that leaf.
Also, that hint brush in the doorway is probably superfluous because I'm pretty sure the default behavior of the compiler would put a vis portal there.
Also, that hint brush in the doorway is probably superfluous because I'm pretty sure the default behavior of the compiler would put a vis portal there.
func_detail doesn't add to the model count, I'm not sure if it's added to the total entity count.
Vluzacn mentioned in one of his posts in the long VHLT topic that func_detail worked in a similar way to the Source func_detail but a little bit different. I don't know if that includes the fact that func_detail in Source is a working entity that is removed on compile or not. If that is the case, then it means that it's not compiled as an entity in the map, but simply a tool for the compiler.
Vluzacn mentioned in one of his posts in the long VHLT topic that func_detail worked in a similar way to the Source func_detail but a little bit different. I don't know if that includes the fact that func_detail in Source is a working entity that is removed on compile or not. If that is the case, then it means that it's not compiled as an entity in the map, but simply a tool for the compiler.
You can see the bottom of one of my airlocks (with the ceiling/floor it displaced in pieces and on fire under it). You can also see one side of both the start and end airlocks. You can also see most of the front of the start airlock around the door because it was supposed to have popped in within an existing hallway.
Does that actually take control of the camera for a second too? I like it.
I just took a look on my own map. The start airlock door is textured underneath but the end airlock isn't. I just fixed it on my map now so when we make edits later after playtesting it'll already be done. I didn't notice it before because of the way the lighting works it's usually pitched black.
Haha, I just figured it was worth mentioning. Plus it was an excuse to go off on a tangent about some of the thought process I went through making my map. 
I also forgot to comment on the glow effect. It doesn't look too out of place based on the impression I'm getting about your map so far but without seeing the whole picture I'm not sure.
The impression I'm getting based on the screens are that the map consists of mysterious, desolate ruins with hints of possible magic/fantasy tech in it's past. But I could be waaaaay off base.
I also forgot to comment on the glow effect. It doesn't look too out of place based on the impression I'm getting about your map so far but without seeing the whole picture I'm not sure.
The impression I'm getting based on the screens are that the map consists of mysterious, desolate ruins with hints of possible magic/fantasy tech in it's past. But I could be waaaaay off base.
I should add though that there should be some kind of indication to the player that whatever happened or whatever they did in the map is what caused the door to open. Like, if they just have to go through the level and they cross through some trigger_once in a random doorway that opens the airlock then that would be kinda lame. But if that trigger once was actually linked to some audible and/or visible event that led to the door opening it would look a lot better.
Though this is my first single player map just doing mapping in general has made me notice and analyze things in games that I play; like how events or lighting are used to attract the player's attention to certain things or how certain things are used to let the player know that their actions may have effected something off screen. These things can be obvious or a bit more subtle. For example, once all the chaos begins on my map you have two directions you can go, but you have to go up one way first. I specifically set the grunts that come running out to first stop in specific places to entice the player to move away from them, thus, towards the side of the map they should go to first. I also have one of my blue func_breakable brushes underneath a ladder on the ground where it would stand out and catch the players eye, making it just a bit easier to spot the ladder they need to climb when they start getting shot at.
Though this is my first single player map just doing mapping in general has made me notice and analyze things in games that I play; like how events or lighting are used to attract the player's attention to certain things or how certain things are used to let the player know that their actions may have effected something off screen. These things can be obvious or a bit more subtle. For example, once all the chaos begins on my map you have two directions you can go, but you have to go up one way first. I specifically set the grunts that come running out to first stop in specific places to entice the player to move away from them, thus, towards the side of the map they should go to first. I also have one of my blue func_breakable brushes underneath a ladder on the ground where it would stand out and catch the players eye, making it just a bit easier to spot the ladder they need to climb when they start getting shot at.
I replaced mine with a different button (the same keypad used inside the starting airlock). I also had it trigger a multi_manager first so it not only opens the door but starts up a few events. I'm pretty sure you can do whatever you want as long as it works and opens up the airlock.
@Urby
Glad you liked it.
@Victor-933
I just made a folder called "sound" like in stock HL1 and then a sub folder called "mistax88" where I put my sounds (which is also what I do with my CS maps in case I accidentally give a sound the same name as a sound distributed with another map).
BTW, love those screens from your map.
Glad you liked it.
@Victor-933
I just made a folder called "sound" like in stock HL1 and then a sub folder called "mistax88" where I put my sounds (which is also what I do with my CS maps in case I accidentally give a sound the same name as a sound distributed with another map).
BTW, love those screens from your map.
@Windawz
Much nicer brushwork than mine usually is, that's for sure.
Edit:
@Urby
I know health will be replenished on each map change but will the suit also be charged back up or is that left up to the mapper?
Much nicer brushwork than mine usually is, that's for sure.
Edit:
@Urby
I know health will be replenished on each map change but will the suit also be charged back up or is that left up to the mapper?
@JeffMOD
That did it... well, mostly. I split them all up so they are 3 separate squads. They do start dropping nades once you start killing off their squad leaders but at the very least they don't start TKing each other until you've already got weapons and have started fighting. The difficulty level of the map has increased a lot overall though and it's right around where I intended it to be.
That did it... well, mostly. I split them all up so they are 3 separate squads. They do start dropping nades once you start killing off their squad leaders but at the very least they don't start TKing each other until you've already got weapons and have started fighting. The difficulty level of the map has increased a lot overall though and it's right around where I intended it to be.
I actually have them all set to be in a squad but they have no squad leader. Maybe they also need the squad leader to stop throwing nades? I never noticed the first time if they threw nades with a leader because one guy was stuck where he spawned in and the squad leader yelled, "Squad, get Freeman!" which is not ideal for TWHL Pockets where you aren't supposed to be Freeman and I promptly quit and recompiled without the leader. Perhaps I'll add in a squad leader again and wall him off in some out of reach room and see if the rest of the grunts stop dropping nades.
As for the code, I'm not a coder and even if I was I couldn't fix the code for this since it's for TWHL Pockets and it would have to be done on Urby's end and it would affect everyone else making a map for it.
EDIT:
So I've added in a squad leader that is trapped in a hidden room. The first 4 grunts that are already on the floor don't blow each other up with grenades, but once the other 6 teleport in off screen they start blowing each other up. The problem is reduced significantly compared to before but it's still noticeable. I don't know what else I can do at this point though so I think I'm stuck with what I've got.
As for the code, I'm not a coder and even if I was I couldn't fix the code for this since it's for TWHL Pockets and it would have to be done on Urby's end and it would affect everyone else making a map for it.
EDIT:
So I've added in a squad leader that is trapped in a hidden room. The first 4 grunts that are already on the floor don't blow each other up with grenades, but once the other 6 teleport in off screen they start blowing each other up. The problem is reduced significantly compared to before but it's still noticeable. I don't know what else I can do at this point though so I think I'm stuck with what I've got.
Do you happen to know what the values are with smart edit turned off? I was checking each weapon selection on the drop down menu and noticed with smart edit off it skipped numbers.
It went:
1 9mmar
3 9mmar + HG
5 9mmar + GL
8 Shotgun
10 Shotgun + HG
EDIT:
I compared my newer FGD to the old 2002 one that came packaged with Hammer 3.5 and the values are the same. I don't know why they have nades. Though I have noticed that they aren't actually throwing them, they plop them on the ground. When I switch it to "9mmar + HG" they actually throw them at me, but the result isn't much better. I still find half of them in little meaty chunks all over the floor before I fire a single shot.
It went:
1 9mmar
3 9mmar + HG
5 9mmar + GL
8 Shotgun
10 Shotgun + HG
EDIT:
I compared my newer FGD to the old 2002 one that came packaged with Hammer 3.5 and the values are the same. I don't know why they have nades. Though I have noticed that they aren't actually throwing them, they plop them on the ground. When I switch it to "9mmar + HG" they actually throw them at me, but the result isn't much better. I still find half of them in little meaty chunks all over the floor before I fire a single shot.
@2muchvideogames
I made a separate topic about the problem, but I didn't give them nades, yet they somehow have them anyway.
I made a separate topic about the problem, but I didn't give them nades, yet they somehow have them anyway.
Mine is basically finished now, but I'm trying to figure out if I can stop all the grunts from blowing themselves and each other up with grenades.
So I'm working with monster entities for the first time. I'm simply adding in some monster_human_grunts to attack the player. I plan to have more teleport in after a certain point but right now I have four that are scripted to run out to a certain point around where the player will end up. All that works just fine (aside from one grunt stuck where he spawns but I know what the issue is there).
The issue I don't know how to fix is the fact that all the grunts have grenades and in the relatively small area they are fighting combined with the fact that the player can climb up vertically where they can't go it ends up with them lobbing grenades all willy nilly and blowing each other up. This is not a desired effect. The thing is, I have the grunts all set to either shotgun or 9mmar and I do not have the guns +HG or +GL selected, which I assumed stood for Hand Grenade and Grenade Launcher.
Yet here they are, lobbing nades in a futile manner in the air, and occasionally killing each other (a problem which can only get worse when I more than double the number of grunts in the battle).
The issue I don't know how to fix is the fact that all the grunts have grenades and in the relatively small area they are fighting combined with the fact that the player can climb up vertically where they can't go it ends up with them lobbing grenades all willy nilly and blowing each other up. This is not a desired effect. The thing is, I have the grunts all set to either shotgun or 9mmar and I do not have the guns +HG or +GL selected, which I assumed stood for Hand Grenade and Grenade Launcher.
Yet here they are, lobbing nades in a futile manner in the air, and occasionally killing each other (a problem which can only get worse when I more than double the number of grunts in the battle).
You mind if I borrow your 'red-light' or 'blue breakable' concepts in my map? Though I'd prolly have to play your map to have an idea what the concept is.Basically the world is supposed to look like it's "falling apart" with pieces of the world that have started to decay turning into that red glowing texture. The red glowing texture is still very solid and safe to walk on. The blue textured things are supposed to be much closer to falling apart and are partially transparent. They don't give off light. They are all func_breakable but are set for different things. Some things can just be destroyed by the player (in my map, this includes two doors that have "decayed" into the blue stuff so you have to smash through them with a crowbar) but other things are either triggered by player actions/button presses or triggered on a timed basis just for a nice effect of the world "falling apart" in real time.
On a personal level I wouldn't care if you used that idea on your map as well. On the other hand I'm torn about it though because I think the cool thing about this kind of project is the uniqueness each mapper brings to the table.
@Windawz
Is that supposed to be a little elevator? I think what affects that decision should be whether or not it fits in with the theme/aesthetic of the level. My impression from all your screenshots so far are "stone ruins" so maybe if that is an elevator it would fit in more (and look cooler) with a stone "counter-weight" that moves in the opposite direction of the elevator next to the elevator.
I kept having that issue in Sledge with an angled roof on one of my maps (compiling with VHLT). Cutting the brush in half would usually fix it although unless you're just doing that for a quick fix on one or two brushes I wouldn't recommend it. Turning brushes into func_detail also worked.
I have yet to run into that issue on my current map but there are also significantly less angled brushes on it.
I have yet to run into that issue on my current map but there are also significantly less angled brushes on it.
How is everyone's map coming along? I'm really close to finishing mine at this point. The only thing I have left to do now other than alter one of my textures a bit is to add in all the monster entities and get them to do what I want them to do; which is new to me since I've only ever mapped for CS prior to this.
@Solokiller
Thanks!
@2muchvideogames
I'm making it a generous time limit, and it doesn't begin until a button is pressed and the action actually begins. It's currently a little over 4 minutes and I can complete it in less than half of that without enemies. Once I do some testing with enemies I'll add more time depending on how close to the limit I get so it doesn't become a hard limitation for those with a lower skill level. There will also be pieces of the world breaking about every 30 seconds which will help players keep tabs on the passing of time. I'm thinking of adding a game_text entity that will give a hint to the player that a time limit has started as well (so they will think twice about spamming quicksave).
Thanks!
@2muchvideogames
I'm making it a generous time limit, and it doesn't begin until a button is pressed and the action actually begins. It's currently a little over 4 minutes and I can complete it in less than half of that without enemies. Once I do some testing with enemies I'll add more time depending on how close to the limit I get so it doesn't become a hard limitation for those with a lower skill level. There will also be pieces of the world breaking about every 30 seconds which will help players keep tabs on the passing of time. I'm thinking of adding a game_text entity that will give a hint to the player that a time limit has started as well (so they will think twice about spamming quicksave).
@Windawz
Basically, the premise of the map is that the TWHL portaling has inadvertently set off a chain reaction causing this particular universe to decay and collapse into nothing. All the red textured stuff is "decaying" parts of the universe and you are on the edge next to the void. The red material gives off red light.
The blue bits are basically decaying material that's about to collapse into nothing. They no longer give off light and are partially transparent. Most of the blue pieces you see are func_breakable to simulate them "collapsing" into nothing.
Basically, the premise of the map is that the TWHL portaling has inadvertently set off a chain reaction causing this particular universe to decay and collapse into nothing. All the red textured stuff is "decaying" parts of the universe and you are on the edge next to the void. The red material gives off red light.
The blue bits are basically decaying material that's about to collapse into nothing. They no longer give off light and are partially transparent. Most of the blue pieces you see are func_breakable to simulate them "collapsing" into nothing.
@SSB It's not completed though.
Some screens from after my most recent compile. I think this'll be the last of the screens I show for now, then people can see it when the whole mod gets tested.
Made some good progress.
I've never dealt with change level entities before (and it's gonna be Urby stitching them all together so I don't want to make a huge mess for him). Should I keep the changelevel brush in the same place or can I move it over and place the trigger_multiple in it's place (so long as I don't move the landmark entity)?
EDIT:
Awesome, I've got this working perfectly now. Thank you! The only thing I need to know now is if it's ok to move the trigger_changelevel brush.
EDIT:
Awesome, I've got this working perfectly now. Thank you! The only thing I need to know now is if it's ok to move the trigger_changelevel brush.
Basically, my Pockets map is going to have a hidden time limit, at which the end of the limit, the exit portal is disabled and then it'll fade to black w/text telling you why you've failed and then loadsaved.
Initially I was just gonna have it fade to black w/text and be done. But then I realized that one could be heading towards the portal and walk into it even as the screen is fading to black. So I would like to be able to disable the portal. I figure I can use env_render to make the sprite and beams invisible but I'm not sure what I can do about the actual trigger_changelevel brush.
Initially I was just gonna have it fade to black w/text and be done. But then I realized that one could be heading towards the portal and walk into it even as the screen is fading to black. So I would like to be able to disable the portal. I figure I can use env_render to make the sprite and beams invisible but I'm not sure what I can do about the actual trigger_changelevel brush.
I made the light more red and lowered the brightness a bit and it looks a bit better. I think the issue is that the gray texture really does just have more blue or something in it than I think it does. I might be able to tweak the brightness a bit more to fine tune it, but at least right now it doesn't look like the fire is emitting straight up green light.
That ceiling is more of a gray texture. I guess it just has more of an average green or blue than it appears? The texture is lab1_c4003 in vanilla Half-Life; the same texture that Urby is using for the TWHL Pockets airlock (that ceiling is actually the bottom of the airlock, I made it look like it popped in inside a hallway and took out the floor/lower hallway ceiling with it).
I know that the average color of a texture effects the lighting in VHLT and it's made some of my CS maps look much better. I just didn't consider the texture in question to make it that pronounced seeing as it's a pretty gray looking texture. Perhaps I can just make the light much more red and it will look more orange when the walls add into it.
I know that the average color of a texture effects the lighting in VHLT and it's made some of my CS maps look much better. I just didn't consider the texture in question to make it that pronounced seeing as it's a pretty gray looking texture. Perhaps I can just make the light much more red and it will look more orange when the walls add into it.
I'm using Sledge with VHLT. I haven't had this problem before but then again this is only my second map with sledge and I think the only point light entity I used on my last map I left the colors untouched and only adjusted the brightness values a tiny bit.
As you can see, the light it set to be a very dark orange, yet the light in game is green. Definitely not the color I want to make it look like light coming from that fire.
Got some more stuff done today. Plus I hashed out some more ideas on how I want to set certain things up within the map that I was stuck on before.
I definitely took advantage of the allowance to walk on the topmost brush of the "cube".
Once I finish the rest of the major geometry I need to rapidly learn some Half-Life entities that I could never use in Counter-Strike.
I definitely took advantage of the allowance to walk on the topmost brush of the "cube".
It's safe to look at the eclipse at 100% totality (and ONLY 100%). Any other point during the eclipse when any little part of the face of the sun is visible it is NOT safe to look at directly.
I unfortunately do not have the money to head south towards the path of totality, so I will have to settle for seeing the 69% peak coverage at work in New Hampshire. I bought eclipse glasses a month ago and avoided the ridiculous crazyness going on now to try and obtain properly rated glasses.
I'm really interested in seeing videos from mountains. I know of at least 1 Youtuber who wants to try and capture video from atop a mountain of the moons shadow racing across the landscape towards him and then racing away again.
I unfortunately do not have the money to head south towards the path of totality, so I will have to settle for seeing the 69% peak coverage at work in New Hampshire. I bought eclipse glasses a month ago and avoided the ridiculous crazyness going on now to try and obtain properly rated glasses.
I'm really interested in seeing videos from mountains. I know of at least 1 Youtuber who wants to try and capture video from atop a mountain of the moons shadow racing across the landscape towards him and then racing away again.
Doesn't really affect on me since I can't model. Ha!
Had to make some volume adjustments on my sounds (volume # in ambient generic barely seems to have an effect on a sound, so only helps if the sound in question is already close to where you want it). Hopefully they are better now (background sound much quieter and less overpowering and one little voice bit is now a bit easier to hear).
I've started getting some more brush work and texturing done but it's still rather slow going.
That being said, the final "confines" of the playable area are almost done. There's just a bunch more things to do within those confines!
Had to make some volume adjustments on my sounds (volume # in ambient generic barely seems to have an effect on a sound, so only helps if the sound in question is already close to where you want it). Hopefully they are better now (background sound much quieter and less overpowering and one little voice bit is now a bit easier to hear).
I've started getting some more brush work and texturing done but it's still rather slow going.
That being said, the final "confines" of the playable area are almost done. There's just a bunch more things to do within those confines!
I've made very little progress since the screenshots I've uploaded (and those were with a level so incomplete I had surrounded it in a big lazy skybox just to test a few things). That being said, I tend to get mapping inspiration in spurts so I could suddenly bang out a bunch of stuff in a few hours. I am definitely behind on where I've wanted to be at this point though.
I have just finished editing two sound files for use in the level though. I've also already finished creating the custom textures I needed for the map (most of the textures are stock HL textures).
I have just finished editing two sound files for use in the level though. I've also already finished creating the custom textures I needed for the map (most of the textures are stock HL textures).
Still no where near completion but I finally have some very early screens.
I plan on using the stock Track 10, file name Half-Life02.mp3
In my case, burned into the wall of a bathroom.I've been brainstorming ideas for my map and I had a similar idea in mind, that the airlock chambers just sort of obliterate whatever is in the way when it materializes.
I've only ever mapped for CS but I'd like to give this a go. Put me down as a maybe for now, because I don't want to make any promises since Half-Life has a lot of entities I couldn't use or didn't have a use for with CS so I have no experience with them, plus I have had a lot more time to practice multiplayer level design and not so much single player. I don't want to submit a map for this if it's complete and utter garbage.
That being said, I have tried some ambitious things in a CS map that were really complicated to do in a multiplayer setup but would be trivial to do in a single player setup, so it might not be as daunting as I think (I can actually use trigger_once, yay!).
That being said, I have tried some ambitious things in a CS map that were really complicated to do in a multiplayer setup but would be trivial to do in a single player setup, so it might not be as daunting as I think (I can actually use trigger_once, yay!).
I might be down for something like this if I have the time when the project is going on. I've never mapped for Half-Life before (only CS 1.6) so there would be a bit of a learning curve for me depending on what the map criteria was.
I never bothered switching to a new editor. I said, "I'm already used to Hammer, it doesn't matter."
Then I tried making a house like this:
When I finally got to a point where I needed to compile, huge gaps in the roof everywhere! Parts of the roof were distorted. It was a huge mess. All those off grid vertices killed it and since I don't usually make geometry that complicated I never had any major issues like that until now. So it lit the fire under my butt to download Sledge.
After setting up Sledge I recompiled, and it's now much better! Though, unfortunately, since I created the geometry in Hammer 3.5, it didn't fix it entirely, there are still two thin gaps in the ceiling including this one:
But I'll deal with that. Not enough people will play this map to be worth the time rebuilding the entire top of the house, the roof is not touching the void so it won't create leaks, and considering what an unsightly wreck it was before, that seam is nothing (that same seam looked wide enough to chuck a nade through when compiled in Hammer and every other brush seam was just as wide).
So all I can say is, thanks for your work on Sledge. I regret not listening to everyone on here and ditching Hammer sooner (only thing I miss are my 2D scrollbars but auto visgroups and a much improved texture browser more than make up for that).
Then I tried making a house like this:
After setting up Sledge I recompiled, and it's now much better! Though, unfortunately, since I created the geometry in Hammer 3.5, it didn't fix it entirely, there are still two thin gaps in the ceiling including this one:
So all I can say is, thanks for your work on Sledge. I regret not listening to everyone on here and ditching Hammer sooner (only thing I miss are my 2D scrollbars but auto visgroups and a much improved texture browser more than make up for that).
I've found that there is some slight latency with entities when on a server. I was working on a fairly ambitious map with a lot of stuff that required well timed trigger/entity setups and I found I had to make some adjustments to them to get them working properly on my clan's server vs when I was testing out the map by myself on my own machine. I don't think there's any way around it.
If you're going to retexture map later then I wouldn't suggest you to do that.Those are the final textures (outside of a few that may or may not get replaced with some other textures with the same style). I've made a few maps with that simple cartoon look. It gets mixed reactions but I think it's a nice change of pace in CS, especially with how many maps there are that either use drab looking stock textures or drab looking custom textures.
It looks very nice with those simple textures.
And how could I not mention those Doom door textures =)
I'd like to see de_dust remade in this style.
I was pretty happy with my "Toon Doom" door texture.
CS 1.6
Each team has to run through a deadly obstacle course before joining the battle. The course takes about 30 seconds and the actual combat area involves hostages inside their own rescue zones so they only need to be "tagged out."
But my favorite bit is the cage match. One player from each team can skip most of the obstacle course by going into the AWP Door. They are teleported into the cage and with some sounds and timing the glass in the middle breaks (which should be just in time for the rest of the team to start making it into the "viewing area"). They have a knife fight to the death and the winner has to break open a hole in the floor (which is there to make it hard for someone to get in without winning the knife fight). They jump in the whole and teleport to a sniper area where they are awarded an AWP and get to cover the hostage area.
Each team has to run through a deadly obstacle course before joining the battle. The course takes about 30 seconds and the actual combat area involves hostages inside their own rescue zones so they only need to be "tagged out."
You're absolutely sure you placed zhlt.wad here?
Because if it's there then there is no reason why it shouldn't appear unless you haven't restarted Hammer after adding it.
Here is an .rmf with the trigger system. Feel free to use it for your own map (you might even be able to make it more efficient than I have).
Map vault page includes a long-winded and not very good rundown on the system. I'm not very eloquent when it comes to this kind of explanation. Perhaps when I have more time I'll fix it up with some better writing and actual entity names and make a tutorial out of it.
http://twhl.info/vault.php?map=6147
Map vault page includes a long-winded and not very good rundown on the system. I'm not very eloquent when it comes to this kind of explanation. Perhaps when I have more time I'll fix it up with some better writing and actual entity names and make a tutorial out of it.
http://twhl.info/vault.php?map=6147
Upload the .rmf to the problem map vaults and one of us might be able to help find it for you.