Differences between source and gs Created 12 years ago2012-02-10 16:23:11 UTC by Skals

Okay, so I'm thinking of starting to map for Source now, I have barely any experience in Source so I'd like to know what the differences between mapping for GS and Source are. Can I have some helpful mapping tips maybe?

...also, can those brand new entities and models from HL EP 2 be used when mapping for Counter-Strike: Source?

Func_detail everything that isn't sealing the world from the void.
Displacements don't seal the world from the void.
Water doesn't need to be tied to an entity, just texture every face except the surface in Nodraw.
Triggers no longer have targets. They have outputs.
Almost any entity can be a trigger.
All Source2009 engine content works in every Source2009 game (to answer your last question).
Subdivide is the best button ever.
Cubemaps should not be used sparingly. Go nuts.
3D skyboxes should be 0.0625 x lifesize scale.
Soundscapes kick ambient_generics butt.
func_brush kicks func_wall's butt.
func_brush kicks func_illusionary's butt.
light_spot kicks textlight's butt.
light_spot kicks light's butt.
env_sun is really counter-intuitive but when you realise that where you place it in your map makes no difference it's like discovering the meaning of life.

That should be enough to get you started.

That's excellent Arch, i wish you'd posted that 6 months ago! =)

+Start playing around with 3dskyboxes. they are amazingly powerful and easy to use.
+Browse through the tool textures. There is basically one for anything you want to do, including some cool ones like block_light and block_bullets. Almost all tool textures can be made part of a brush-based entity.
+Valve Developer Community should be bookmarked, it's usually my one-stop-shop for information on source mapping and entities.
+the input/output system in source is amazing, and fairly easy to learn. Every entity is basicallly like it's own multimanager and can interact with every other entity in your map.
+Instead of using render properties and amount for transparency, you instead use a texture with an alpha channel. You can still use render properties if you need to on certain brush-based entities if you really need too, like func_brush, but i don't know how a widespread use of these affects performance opposed to just using the proper texture.

Yeah, alpha channels are far better for transparency because you can define specific parts of the texture which are more opaque than others.

I only use func_brush as either a solid parent between two physics-enabled entities or as a replacement for a func_illusionary, i.e not solid.

I still use func_illusionaries.. should i not?

it makes very little difference. func_brushes have more inputs.

i got performance bugs and/or crashes sometimes using func_illusionary. like my double rainbow from the nuketown will crash the map as func illusionary, but not as func_brush fsr.

If they work for you without error for you i can't see a reason not to use them.

After you put cubemaps in your map, you also have to run the console command buildcubemaps to get reflective/shiny things such as water, glass and many metal props rendering properly. You also need to do this separately for both LDR and HDR.

The new VM tool sucks, but you do need to use it, as you can't forget brush-based detailing just because you have props now.

Overlays are more configurable than decals, as you can spread them over multiple specific brushes and resize/rotate them, but they're also much more expensive to use. Any texture from the decals/ or overlays/ folder can safely be used as an overlay.

Thinking of that, get used to typing things based on their materials. if you type metal/, you get almost every metal texture in the game (there are a few in props/, which contrary to its name, is for brushwork textures) wood/ gets you wood, etc. There are exceptions, such as 'door', 'window' etc, but the folder system lets you find things much more easily than Goldsource's map-based naming system.

wood/ gets you wood

I lol'd because I have the mental capacity of an 11 year old.

I didn't realize it was also a cheap joke until I finished typing it.

Ok cool. Steam has tools called Source SDK, Source SDK Base 2006 & 2007, I should only use Source SDK right? ...and from what I understood all my brush based entities are func_detail and func_brush? ok... and what about the compiling process, do I just compile through hammer 4 or is there a seperate program like batch compiler for 3.5?

Use source sdk, counter-strkike source with source mp engine.

All your brush-based, static brushes should be func_detail. Archie is saying every brush not sealing the world should be func_details. (you won't use func_brush for many things at least i don't)

Skals i use Valve Hammer Editor 4.1 to compile source maps.
But i just searched and found this :
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=742995
I must try this program

The Source SDK Base programs are just content distribution packages for making mods. If you base a mod off of one of them, it will only require the content from it to run (but the player would still have to have a commercial source game to download it)