Forum posts

I have been gone for.. way too long. Most of you probably won't even know who the heck I am, which is ok, I was never here for fame or glory.

Now.. I am back... sorta. It has taken 6+months to get back into the swing of things, and I find myself starting over at square 1 on map/mod making.

I will soon have an updated PC, something that won't.. well you know..cr@p out on me every time I try to test a map, or explode when I am not looking. Took a while to recover from some life stuff as well... you know.. loss of a love one... being dumped, losing your job.... losing your vehicle... yeah.. it's been pretty cruddy all around.

But things are looking up. I finally got myself a new computer (all but graphics card and case) and I really, REALLY need to get back into crafting.

But there's a problem.. which is why I come to you oh Forums, I am.. too rusty at this point to even classify as rusty. I need to start fresh with my "learning" of everything again. I never got far into modding- so lets start with mapping.

Game to map for:
HL2:DM

I have fallen out of the whole FPS craze..they no longer give me happiness like they used to, however, a mod (made by some "PinkFairie") allows a Role Play aspect, earning money, buying food and chairs and things to actually build with - but every map I play on I find.. incredibly horribly made. Missing textures, alignment problems, world rendering problems, reflections are totally wrong, and usually the whole thing is incredibly laggy.

So I figure.. this would be a good start, let's make a map that doesn't suck , has good "housing" with lighting properly done and actually able to interact with the map instead of rely on Admins all the time to spawn things.

Included:
Besides the things needed to Roleplay by PinkFairie's mod (NPC shops and such) I want to include "non admin events" basically a series of secret codes you can press buttons too, to open a door, in which are buttons for scripted type events, like an zombie invasion. This will be a challange, but first I need to get the basics of mapping down, especially since HL2 maps are a little more complicated then 1.6 with the whole physics and reflection issues.

So, while I browse the tutorials and try to get WorldCraft aka Hammer aka what-ever-they-call-it-now up and running properly, read over this and give it some thought, maybe you can come up with some tips to help me out. I have a lot of work to do, and fairly short amount of time to do it.

Edit 1
So hammer isn't displaying properly- the 3D view won't show any objects, makes texturing properly a little difficult.

Edit 2
So a few things I am unclear about

When adding water (say a pond) is it better to just add a block of water - clipping through the ground's "low spots" or to shape the water to fit the basin?

Remember that this map I plan will be played in multiplayer with very few if any Restarts to the server, it will need to be designed to keep running- at all times, so it will have limited breakable objects (Or, if possible, items that Respawn after a time period.)

I hope to make it have Respawn Items - set in Real Time "Every 5 minutes a crowbar spawns in the junk yard - if there isn't one there"

Yea its a tad 'choppy' just wish I knew another way to do it.

As for the light to point at the func_rotating they don't seem to follow it as it rotates... don't know if you have ever done it, but I don't think that works.

So in source I decided to get too involved lol.

I never did anything like this in previous, so I have NO clue if there is an easier way, and please, for the love of god, if there is, tell me!

On the fallout 2 opening that I showed, showing the vault door movement you may or may not notice the cage light that turns on, rotates, and gives the general alarm noises as it opens. (Its a yellow light on the left side :P) Much like a siren.

So... can it be replicated?

Answer- Sort of.

By using 2 groups of 6 light_spot, cleverly named 1_1, 2_1, 1_2, 2_2 and so forth , I have found a way to simulate the movement.

First off make a light_spot, give it a name and a number, 1_1 in my case, then mess with its colour and brightness, mine is a faint yellow. Set flag to 'initially off' Then, copy this and paste it, rotating so it shines in the opposite direction as the first, then rename it to 2_1.

MAKE SURE THEY ARE NOT TOUCHING this causes them to seem 'too close' once done.

Now the fun part, select both lights, and copy them, paste - not on top of the others! and rotate them (I highly recommend having hammer set to 15 degree intervals for this!) 2 'clicks' and my next position is set, rename them 1_2 and 2_2 and those are done- for now. Repeat 4 more times, renaming as you go, and making sure you move them OFF of one another. The goal here is a very even pattern, meaning if you move 30 degrees for one side, move 30degrees for the other.

Once you have your "string of lights" make yourself a func_button someplace close by.
Once you have done this, save a backup, just in case. Picking the lights out after you make them on the same plane (So it looks like a light is rotating and not spiraling accross a room- unless you want it to spiral :p)
Then select 2_1, 2_2 and move them on top of 1_1, and 2_1, in my case on the top view plane (so the light doesn't shine into the players eyes, but around its point of view), then repeat with the other lights, until all of them are a big circle of lights on your view from the side. (again screen shots would help here...)

This is where the crazy amount of hard work comes in, yes, that up above was the "easy" part.

In the button, on output, you will need to type, a lot, of stuff. Namely like this:

OnPress
1_1
TurnOn
0.00

OnPress
2_1
TurnOn
0.00

OnPress
1_2
TurnOn
0.10

OnPress
2_2
TurnOn
0.10

OnPress
1_1
TurnOff
0.10

OnPress
2_1
TurnOff
0.10

If you just left it at that, and compiled the map, this would happen when you pressed the button.

Instantly the first 2 lights would shine on, then 0.1 seconds later they would turn off, as the next set turns on, giving the illusion that the lights rotated your set degrees (30 degrees in my case). You have to complete all the way to 1_6 and 2_6 to get a FULL rotation.

It's a lot of work, but it has some wonderful eye appeal afterward, as long as you take the time to position it well, and set the spotlights angles to fit your area and all that. The space 'in the middle' of the lights should be at least 2 units, back of light to back of light, so that no odd overlaps occur.

I will try to submit screenshots and perhaps a link to a working movie of it to show it off, but as it is, I am only at 0.8 of my combo, when I want about 3.0 seconds worth. Lol. 4 lines of output per tenth of a second, lots of work, so again, if anyone has a better/faster/easier way to do this, I am all ears.

With this idea in mind, you could create Moving lights- in game they would appear to move, but in reality one is turning off instantly as another turns on.

Remember the flashing lights of the old movie theater highlight board? where 1 would turn on, then the one next to it, then the one after it would turn on, and the first one would turn off, giving the illusion that the 'line of lights' were moving? That's where I got the idea.

New problem has arisen with the Cog Vault Door. I have it working at 110% (Its gorgeous and has basic sounds to be tweaked later, opens/closes/reverses direction only when it's supposed to, etc) but... something has occured.

When a physics object blocks the path, in the first known problem, my gun when I died (testing out damage when blocked) it stops the func_rotating from rotating, sometimes even the train from moving... this is a HUGE problem.

Makes the door look UGLY when it doesn't line back up with its door frame... a tag for 'startpos' seems to just crash my HL2DM soooooo.... yea.. Could use some help here on this, I don't want this multiplayer map to have one of its major doors off-rotation just cuz people get silly with stuff lol.

*EDIT*
No comments? I played with solid BSP, it seems to give the desired result, at the cost that the teeth of the cog are no longer solids... (they are part of a func_rotating that can no longer be unbound together) I guess that will have to do.

Emmy calm down.

Lol- no need to hide my name- I am "Name Omitted" Lol. I am really rusty on this mapping thingy and really have no experience with source, so this is quite a project for me. Progress is very slow, but I am getting almost giddy with the amount I have done, yes the map is very 'sharp edge' and 'basic detail' right now, but I hope to smooth that stuff over with proper lighting, good texturing, and lots of work on sounds, and the 'outside'.

As for Grim.. you really shouldn't think about if a map will be used by 1 player or used by 1 million people, a map is a map, they are projects we put so much of ourselves in them (when we really care) and sometimes it really shows, also the amount of time a person is on this forum is rather irrelevant, I mean, I joined a few years back, but I didn't even KNOW this site existed when I started mapping.

Besides, someone who has been on 1 year, dedicating 10 hours a day to their maps, vs someone that has been on for 10 years, giving 1 hour a day for mapping, what's the difference? Chances are, the 10 year mapper knows some tricks the other doesn't but overall progress can't be judged at all, the 1 year mapper might have 10x better maps, or maybe 1 super great map that 'everyone loves and uses', doesn't make either one of them better then the other.

Really awards only say so much as well, I don't really get on the forum for events and award/contests and such, so I will probably never have an award, unless they have a 'old member without awards-award' or something.. which would just be funny if anything, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy mapping as much as you 'hard core' mappers that win awards on here.

I still enjoy my mapping. Isn't that what really matters?

PS FTL

Yeah but I was hopin to have another way. If something errors and I have to replace my tracks and stuff I'd hate to have to go back in and replace the FGD every time just to get func_train

Why the heck Hammer/HL2 got rid of them in the first place I'll never know. OH well.

Keep this post in mind, eventually I'll have a few Screens and maybe a map download to show ya all. lol.

So the door has been made, remade, and played with... however a problem has happened.

the only way I could get the thing to move like I wanted was to was to set the door to func_rotating, inside it add a func_tracktrain and then set it up to where the door is parent to the smaller train, this way it can move out, then rotate (targeting the door instead of the train) to accomplish this. (Muzzle worked with me on this but...)

Problem is... I would like the 'train' to start when a button is pressed... (and able to close) not when the map starts....

Any ideas?

Lol, computers giving me trouble, but thanks to Muzzle and a few hours of Re-working and Re-sizing my door (and subsequent rooms) aren't lookin half bad.

Still need to you know.. turn it into a door.. and junk.. lol but I am using it as a leak-less wall right now.

Thanks again Muzzle, you surely did it in record time, I even knew what I wanted and took longer then you lol.

heres a link to youtube showing the intro movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3PXiV95kwA

Skip to the 2 minute mark to see the 'inner' door open (not pictured) then it goes to the hall- inside view of the door- then you see the outside and it open up.

FRAPs wouldn't record for me or I'd of cut a movie down to just it myself, sorry bout that, and the Youtube linked is NOT mine, so thanks to them for the movie.

I think its rather funny that Muzzle pretty much got the whole thing done exactly how it is in the real game, on his first shot none the less, and never played or seen the game before! lol. That's some talent right there.

Muzzle- Very nicely done man, bravo.

As for myself I get to start over LOL I forgot to save progress and I just crashed. Loller. Oh well, least I LIKE mapping.

Oh muzzle, looks a little distorted on the 'right' side, what happened there? render issue? also on the bottom left tooth.(not picking, just noticed it)

*Edit*
I think i might be having computer problems... I get started then have memory dumps... hmmmm blast.

i figure the door itself will be 3 layers and 15 parts, solid parts, 12 teeth parts, the cyl for the middle, and 2 smaller/shaved cyls for the detail 'outer edge' of the middle parts (note they 'curve')

The frame will be made a similar fashion, multiple parts, 1 layer for the 'far side' wall, then an opening for the door, then teeth grooves and the armature groove (behind the door, what slides it into the wall) the teeth track on the floor will be a solid piece made to look like it has teeth grooves (or if it doesn't lag to horribly bad, actual grooves) the only issue I am having is the teeth- however I think I may have found a solution.

Making a Cyl the same size as the door, I cut it into 'pie pieces' then moved each pie slice to its opposite side, so it looks very much like a Sun. Now I have proper lined up teeth started and just have to 'trim' the pie piece down so its not so pointy. No VM needed, and no fussing to align the edge of teeth to the edge of the Cyl, since the cyl i made the pie pieces from are the same size and same sided.

If i get the teeth working well enough Ill screenshot it and some progress work (i am sure there are shortcuts I didn't utilize but I find trying something complicated like this, shortcuts can curfuzzle things)

The idea came to me literally in my sleep... 'why do they have to be made seperate... and why try for as few parts as possible... group them...'

dunno if i can manage a picture, the idea is from an older game, Fallou2 , I hope to have a functioning Vault/City map done before the Return of the game, in fallout 3 to help bide my time.

The door is the vault door, a large cog like device that moves forward (when looking at it from the 'outside) and then rolls on a track (so the teeth fit in it) into a side wall. the rail for the teeth can be superficial to cut down on Faces, but the teeth still need to align properly.

got a screenshot in game of fallout2 , figured it was the best shot available, this shows the vault door open, the track it runs on etc....
The shot turned out great for what I want, only pay attention tothe 'dark metal' and rusted parts, the major door/frame to it, I kept me around to show size to help scale it better in your head. there are 12 teeth on the 'cog'

dont have EP2 lol. so much for that idea.

i thought about making 'roots' to go into the cog and align to the center, as a temp way, then moving or removing the roots as it were once they were in place.

Iam not sure I fully understand your method there.... I mean the main part of the cog shouldn't matter if you use a pre-fab cyl or block carve (block carving would take so much longer and be a pain in the butt.) The teeth are the main problem, I can make a tooth, size/shape i want, however rotating and VMing it to the main cyl is the problem, after its done, it doesn't look quite right, kinda wobbly, but each block was the same size to start, so the VM must have made things off.....

actually this particular cog will be a Sliding door. it will be pulled out of its 'frame' then roll to the side. but the same principles are there.

Trying to design a large 'contraption' for a map, need some cogs, but every time I try to shape I get odd errors, so, anyone got any ideas?

Tried reshaping a cylinder - no luck there
Tried adding small blocks and shaping with vertex manipulation- but size/shape and placement was a mess...

Lets just start with a big 16 sided cyl on its side (so its looks like a big circle against the wall) trying to add the 'prongs' so they are same size/shape and will line up with the sides...

The cog will need to rotate on its axis (dead center) and actually move sliding 'against the wall' when activated... but that junk comes later Lol.

Too complicated? I would hope not.. but Iam out of ideas, least for 'easy don't make it 1 prong at a time' methods.

As you wanted Ember, I logged in after my absence and followed your link to post.

You shouldn't really target "Bud" though, I mean, yeah he stole stuff and that's bad and all, but if you have your copy and such you can prove it's yours and not his, so he's pretty screwed on that. Relax I'll help ya, but you know my availability so if you need it done faster, go head and look for more people, but try to get to know them and read up on them some before you link or send them anything, hate to see this happen again, especially if you get closer to 'finished' on the map.

As for everyone, hey I am.. sorta back.. been rather busy with life and some personal map stuff. Hope to see more of ya again soon.

is the blue invisiable in cz? I have this image of a metroid, beautiful quality, toned it down to use as a spray, shrunk to fit on the maps right and all, its got a bright blue background, but when I try to load it, it comes out as purple and black checkerboard... I cant figure out whats wrong.

Is it possible to make a monster in CS/CZ for multiplayer (aka deathmatch) I want to make a Metroid fly around and if you run into it it hurts you.. but it wont outright "attack" anyone.

cant find the object selected and errors... i dunno if its what i use to test though.. i havnt gotten steam to test my maps yet.. cant get it to work. so i use an old CS disk

well if it wont have monster_furniture and such, then I need to know how to take my "dead bodies" models from the tutorial that was on here (trying to find it to post) and make them appear in my map for steam CS. ((is there a way to make monsters in CS 1.6 steam maps?))

http://twhl.co.za/tutorial.php?id=90

Ok. It seems my complications may not be from my map. Let me explain. Iam making a horror map for haloween. its a Deathmatch map. I want to incorperate dead bodies (hostages and such) and monster things inside.. but.. I have a problem. People are talking about using entities Ive never heard of. my FGD doesnt have them. I want this map to be set up so it can be put on a steam server and people just come in, download some files they dont have (like custom wad and such) and then to play smoothly. Can someone take the time and walk me through this set up? my fgd doesnt have monster entities (only monster_scientist) or anything to spawn them, or anything like that. I did the dead body tutorial, but the cycler_sprite entity cant seem to load the deadbody.mdl i made with the tutorial. Although haloween is quite a ways off, I wanna get this map done asap (as Iam getting paid for it) Thanks.

(sarcastically) Coding eh? Ill get RIGHT on that. lol Ill save that for my "extra credit" score, I dont wanna get into the coding, long and painful path there. Ill uh... let the head crab not be in the map for now. anyone know the approximate unit size of a standard map, like Dust or somethin? (total size it cover, 30000 by 39000 or whatever)?

I know there has to be a way to incorperate say a Head Crab into a CS map. I dont want it to attack or anything, just be in a tube, like in HL when the resonance cascade actually occured and one was sitting in the glass tubing very calmy (not the one that spawns in and jumps at you) ideas?

i have no clue what i did, i really need to stop workin on maps when iam dead tired... and i dont have that compile log from it.. cuz i wasnt thinking... but hey i can remake my map to what ihave in 5 hours! lol I just started over again, made sure everythings updated, and iam going to take it REAL slow now wall by wall and not move until that room is finished. Course i need to crank about 13 hours a day to get this thing done by my deadline, so I cant screw up again. I'd appreciate it if when I posted a problem, someone (if at all possible) could respond quickly, as this is for a hefty chunk of my grade as well as for fun. OK back to work. I have to at least set up complex lights and something else "complex" (was hopin for the sprinkler system thing if anyone figured out how yet) and if anyone has a metallic gray or chrome texture, and a good toilet texture, itd help, plain white is horrid.

odd error I recieved, sorta... it compiled with errors, and i look into it and it says something about pretty much every "wall" brush i have.. I go into the errored map and i can see through a lot of the walls ... terribly bad.. its like... wall hacks i guess... i go back and all my walls and floors and ceilings are assigned to func_wall .... wich is the problem here?

notice the hours difference? ive been mappin in between. I got rid of all my Lights (ent) but iam gettin the same "too many light" error on the surfaces.... wtf? i thought textlights dont do that?

to add to this, the problem is now, in my situation i have created, getting the actual Light from a text light to turn off WITHOUT the ligh entity it was bound to being there any more. maybe theres another way around it, but Iam fried for ideas. Ive submitted a map, have fun, try it on your own etc etc. Iama work on another section of my map.

I have it.. finally.. the conclusion is not what i wanted.. but.. well here it is. This func... is availble for light entites, but not textlights, when they are destroyed, offed, whatever, they had to be grouped to be turned off, while in the process of destroying the glass, you destroy the non visable light entity, and that is were the problem is, although the target textlight is also destroyed, the game is designed to read its light still, and with the light ent. destroyed, it can no longer be toggled, so my GUESS is that ill have to only set this break light with a few lights on my map, and textlight the rest of em. Prove me wrong and earn a cookie.

i can get them to turn on off IF i bind them to a normal light entitty, will this still work or create the same error? (the lights are set at .01 lumi. so that they give off no visable light)

new input found, making the trigger_relay "Killtarget" and target the textlight, breaks the textlights brush, but... the light remains. otherwise id of had it perfectly.

simplified:
button1 targets multi_manager
multi_manager is set to turn light1 and light2 on/off
glass1 is around light1, desired effect is to disable light1 when broken
glass2 is around light2, desired effect is to disable light2 when broken
trigger_relay, trigger1, is under light1 (settings are wrong)
trigger_relay, trigger2, is under light2 (settings are wrong)

Help make this work!

desired effect, lights turn on/off, but, only if glass1 or glass2 is not broken. if glass1 is broken, light1 doesnt work BUT light2 DOES. I had something similar happen, but you could turn the lights back on with the button... even with glass broken (NOT DESIRED)

ive got a very dumb map set up, 2 textlights, and 2 light ents, names, light1 and light2, grouped accordingly, a button to turn them on/off (including the textlight) no problems, now the complication. the glass... settting glass1 to break and target light1 works fine, but, if you go to the light switch its still toggleable, so... there needs to be something in there to do a "if broken, light1 is disabled" thing. i thought about multisource and multi managers.. so ive got them in the map, and trigger relays.. but.. iam having difficult time binding them all to do what i need.. the biggest room will have 12 lights i think, so ive started simple (maybe enough to make it NOT blow out 12...) if i can get the button to turn on/off the textlight, the light not seen, and have the glass break and only target the light it was next to, and PERMANENTLY set it to off... thats the goal.. but...errr

makes the button disapear and not function, wich brings a problem up, if you shot out light 1, and wanted to go and turn on/off light 2 it wouldnt be there to switch.

lights... ah.. ok... how extactly to set this up... Light switch A is a button to trigger lights L1 L2 L3 and L4 to turn on/off now, each light has glass at func breakable to target that light to turn it off permanently if broken. How exactly am I to set this up, I have a clue that i need textlights, lights to group them with set at lum. .01 and of course a multisource, but how to add the "if shot switch A does not function" type thing? readin more and more is jumbling the knowledge

are you saying that if i use textured lights, i wont have this problem?

reading it again..

sadly, twice.

well i will eventually, but iam on a very strict time limit for this project..then i just have to move on.. maybe never to return to it, I dont want my first map concept to just be scrapped.

aha! i forgot about multi sources! damn my lack of sleep! ill get on that right now get back to you prolly tomarrow with results.

lol ive read i think everyone that pertains to my needs, i dont need an elevator , or land mines etc, or ropes water/waterfalls all that, but i read almost if not all the other ones, textlighting has me baffled, i cant get my textures to light up the room.... and id like them to be turn on/off too. sprinkler system.. i cant get the normal Rain function to work.. so... iama re re re read the "rain" one... i understand MMs now! lol and env_shooters and such (made my own pop machine, and i must say iam rather proud of my non hollow box like the tut said to do)

not sure what the hell to do about this.. i have many rooms.. and each room needs at least 1 light. couple rooms are HUGE and need several lights... making all the rooms have there own floors and cielings didnt work... what other lighting options are there? (textlights elude me.. so go in details)

ah but see practicin only what i know never gets me any better. must think outside the inpenetratable rubber box of goo.

AND the light switch still turns off/on...i want it to not function when the "light" is broken.. maybe textlights the way? ...

hmm.. complications... i made a light and fixture, looks decent, made the lightswitch, wich works! but.. theres a problem... and i didnt realize it before but i see it now... when th lights are Off, and you shoot them, it breaks and becomes ON.... LOL

good.

lol.. by that definition my map has 0 null spots.. everything can be gotten to in game.. by some means.. guess ill just have to Hint off hidden rooms and stuff.. is that bad? to have no Null areas?

yea.. i know I (should) but uh.. this map is a project and I gotta have so many things "work" on it.. and its gettin close to due date.. lol

and the problems increase, i dont have a Null texture.. iama look around maybe ill find one in another wad

Heres a link to the screen shot : http://kissker.250free.com/COUNTERSTRIKE/uneven.JPG