Forum posts

Thanks

Prefabs would be cool, but there are at least two enormous prefab sites out there already. No chance of catching up

yes. A good idea, and I've never got round to it myself... check your e-mail

lol. I actually started out with phpBB, but felt it was too bulky for the site. But in those days you could count the members on one hand.

I know, this forum system is out of its depth with the increasing rate of posting, so we may well switch over to a proper forum system soon.

good point yeah, not sure why i haven't done it already... will do.

Is there anything in your valvemodels folder. I don't have the HD pack, so I'm guessing, but it might have written the HD models into your valvemodels folder, but when you unpacked the old PAK, they were overwritten.

Or whatever. Anyway, try deleting everything in your valvemodels folder (except the 'player' folder, I suppose). If it's still not working, reinstall HL, then the HD pack.

func_pendulum for swivelling? It'd look a bit silly though

Soon. I've spent the last few days working non-stop on other stuff, so I clean forgot

kol said:
avataravatar, there: thave avatar the words lost all avatarmeaning?

Err.. okay

Nope, hehe, that's all there is. Okay, I promise: when I have some free time, I'll make a custom avatar thing!

i know, that's the normal way of doing it.

if i have time sometime i'll code something like that in, but if you really want your own avatar, i can add it to the pool if you email it to me.

Cool idea. I can do it with a page for the '10 most popular' or something. Noted. Thanks.

Aha. Nice idea... I'll see what I can do, although I can't guarantee I'll come up with it quickly because the forum code is a bit messed

Do you have decals.wad in your texture list in the Config options?

Good ideas. Yeah, definately worth implementing. Totals and little NEW icons...

Okay, so the Map Vault is up and running, but does anyone have any suggestions about anything that should be changed / added?

There's a short todo list at the bottom of the info page (http://cariad.co.za/twhl/mapvault_info.php), but if anyone has any ideas to add to it, please post to this thread!

Thanks!

Yeah, and it's not perfect, but it does come in handy...

This reply's a bit late, but anyway.

Good idea there, but if you check out the newly-launched Map Vault, you'll see it pretty much fills the gap... I'm still working on integrating the Vault with the Competitions section, but when that's done, it should be pretty much what you're suggesting.

Thanks for the input!

In orig. HL, an object can only be one entity.

The door following the train in HL is a trick - it's actually fixed while the train is moving.

You could use the 'render' trick: a fake door on the train that does nothing but is a func_wall_toggle.
The 'real' door, sitting on the platform, is rendered invisible (env_render) until the train arrives.
Then the real door is made visible and the fake one is turned off at the same time. Obviously this isn't a perfect solution.

The perfect solution is to get Spirit, a 'base' mod that allows, amongst other things... combined entities! http://spirit.valve-erc.com

Bullet-time, eh? That'll be a fistful of C++ then

Have two lights next to each other, with two different names and different 'style' settings. One must be set to be initially off (flags). Trigger a multisource and set it so that it turns one light off and the other on.

Hehe
They were just a last minute thing so I didn't plan on having millions... and I want them all the same size. Yep, I'm a 'consistent-style' freak

But if you can point me in the direction of some avatars / pics that are or look like they could be made 45 x 45, then you might get Cid.

Yeah, trying to make natural-looking scenery and stuff is about as hard as it gets. There are a few popular methods but they're all usually the same thing in essence: make a grid of blocks, then manipulate them as simply as possible. The thing is, VM only works to a certain point with ONE solid. But you can do anything if you create lots of little solids that you VM separately.

I suggest you simply break up the place you want to put the cave into several cubes (use carve to slice a big block up into a grid - make your carve selection, then click the button again and again until its all white - that way you cut the thing up but don't lose any bits).

Then delete the cube that you want to be the actual hole, and manipulate the blocks around the gap. Here's a drawing:

----------------------------------
|            --------            |
|            |_|__|_|            |
|            | |**| |            |
|            |?|??|?|            |
|            --------            |
----------------------------------

Delete the cube with the asterisks in it, and then grab the corners of the cubes around that one, and pull them around to round off the hole. It'll look more natural if you use different sizes of cube.

Rocks... again, use more than one block, and manipulate them as simply as possible.

A tut... yeah, it would make a good one Sometime...

err, the second screenshot worries me a bit

Try applying those white textures as decals. Select one of them, then press Shift+D and click in the 3D view. That should work for simple (but dried-up) blood spatters.

The map will only appear in the maps list if it has an info_player_deathmatch entity in it, which defines it as multiplayer... unless they changed something while I wasn't looking.
<P>
The manual method is to go into the console (~) after starting HL with hl.exe -dev -console and then type map mapname.

Thought you were nuts when I saw your drawings. Only realised what was going on when I replied and saw them as a quote

As Andy said, non-visible surfaces are ignored, so I don't think the top one would be any more efficient (maybe quicker to compile). BTW, the top one is concave and therefore invalid as one brush anyway.

More lights definately slow down compile, but I don't think they matter in-game. Models... well, they are lit 'more dynamically' than the rest of the map, but whether lighting them is significantly more work for the computer is doubtful. Their lighting will be simplified.

For the hole:
1) Make the hole in a block that it just the right size, then build the rest of the wall around that.
2) Vertex manip. is best
3) You could divide the block into smaller blocks, and then VM the verticies in the middle. Pull them outwards.

So here's a drawing from the front. You'll need to click reply to this message, then click the quote button to see it correctly.

---

| -------- |

| |__/ __| |

| |_| |_| |

| |____/__| |

---

The VM tuts here at TWHL might help.

Getting more points can be done by splitting faces. In VM mode, select two vertices or two edges and press Ctrl+F. I think its mensioned in the first VM tut. BUT, doing this is perhaps the easiest way to get invalid solids. Rather just use more blocks.

Hmmm... I suppose we could have a downloads section, or at least links to the 'essentials'... I'll see about compiling a list. Nice idea, thanks.

Funny you should mension a place to put BSPs - we have secret plans for a new section for something like that

Stay tuned.

For the full effect you'll need to use a bunch of entities - env_sprite for the main explosion thing, and some env_lasers and info_targets for the sparky bits. And then a ambient_generic for the sound. I think that's about it. Tie all these together with a multi_manager.

That usually means there's been a problem with compiling the map (or moving it), and that's usually because of the configuration. I can't remember how I set up expert mode, but I noticed now that it's possible the setup can get 'stuck' when you change configurations.

So.... presuming the problem is with the config...

in Expert mode, the first FOUR commands might look like paths (e.g. 'c:program filesworldcraftzhlthlbsp.exe'). Click each one in turn, then click the Cmds button to the right, and select one of the 'program' commands based on the filename in the path. For example, 'hlbsp.exe' (or 'qbsp.exe') is the 'BSP Program'. The only one that isn't obvious is 'hlrad.exe' (or 'qrad.exe'), which is the 'LIGHT Program'.

Replace the LAST command with 'Game program' from the Cmds list.

That might work. If not, post a copy of your compile log.