When was the last time you opened Hammer Created 16 years ago2008-06-14 13:39:20 UTC by alexb911

I re-installed my Steam games yesterday after a recent format, along with HL, and it reminded me that I hadn't actually installed Hammer and what not since the previous format (probably around January) I put it all on today and had a trawl through some of my rmfs and had a good laugh.

However what this made me realise was that I haven't actually mapped for ages - I logon to here few times a day still, but I've also noticed that I rarely check the HL forum anymore, which I aim to getting into a habit of now. Of course I do have less spare time than I used to, but the free time I do spend on the computer 'gaming' has me purely playing. I just had a bit of a play around in Hammer and forgot how much I loved mapping and the satisfaction it gives me.

With exams over and a long summer ahead before Uni, I'm going to have a lot more time to play with, so i'm hoping to get Arena Room 2 or even a mini-mod out before the end.

I guess I'm just interested as to how much time everyone spends mapping and whether, like me, they are also guilty of this.

Every time I think about mapping I have a huge urge to do it because I remember how awesome it is.
But then when I start doing it, I lose all motivation and get bored within a few hours.

I have a bunch of great ideas for maps but just don't have the patience to get them done. Otherwise, I'd be cranking out TF2 maps like there's no tomorrow.

I think the last time I opened any version of Hammer was about this time last year, maybe a little later. I just got done redoing this role play map for this TSRP community I was part of.
That whole chapter of my life was a wasted one, and I look back on how dumb it really was.

I want to get into mapping but I just cant. Oh well.

lol you've got time, it's summer. I haven't mapped for 2 or 3 months because I've had hard disk problems and now I'm on exams, but this summer I'll work 3 months, so I'll be mapping all summer, hope I can finish 1 or 2 maps

About 2 month ago when I got an OiFH inspiration surge!

It fizzled and died within the hour. I tend to blog a lot more now. Shame though. I like mapping, but, damn do you need the time to do it.

Every time I think about mapping I have a huge urge to do it because I remember how awesome it is.
But then when I start doing it, I lose all motivation and get bored within a few hours.

I have a bunch of great ideas for maps but just don't have the patience to get them done.

I want to get into mapping but I just cant. Oh well.

Heh, you're reading my mind. I got the same thing. The last time, I seriously mapped, was about december/january 2006-2007. After that, I attempted to map a few times, but never got far.

I haven't opened hammer since february early march (zept yesterday, I just tried out the actually working light preview mode)
Got too much stuff going on in RL
I'll pick it up sometime again tho :>

Edit: Fix'd

Yeah I totally agree. Another problem I have is that I get ideas all the time, great ideas, but they're only snippets. I then immediately start work on those ideas with little thought for anything else. Then my enthusiasm kind of fizzles out.

This afternoon the most awesome idea for a map introduction hit me, basically involving a lift, blackout, and similar intro effect to that of HL2. I instantly wanted to make it - opened Hammer raring to go, but then thought, "Then what?" My map folder is full of 5 minute wonders with these ideas, worth nothing.

Put em all together

I opened it today.

I try my best not to map on impulse, but sometimes things get through. Of course they die. For me, at least, maps seems to plan themselves out almost subconsciously if I just keep the idea snippets in the back of my mind for a while, instead of immediately trying to get started.

I last opened Hammer a week or two ago, I think. Been working on a danmaku game recently so mapping is on halt for a little while. Shouldn't take long before I do some stuff again though, it's more or less on-and-off for me these days.

But yeah, lack of time - or rather, presence of higher priorities - is also a strong reason.

Hmm... A few weeks ago... Nearly finnished two maps!

Few weeks ago here too. I have exams, so i don't have that much free time available.

Aye, time's a bitch.

A year or so ago. I have the same problem as others seem to have, I have some cool ideas but as soon as I start up hammer, it just becomes "Meh". Kudos to everyone who can actually finish a map, something I've only managed a few times.

Almost daily, mapping consumes a large portion of my time before and after work and doing 40+ hours a week. Like Luke however, I think of great ideas and then lose patience with them, it's a drag but at least I get practice in.

I try to open Hammer bare minimum once a week. I suppose the benefit of having five (hundred) different unfinished projects is when you lose patience or get bored with one, there's four (hundred and ninety nine) others to play around with.

everyday. and everyday i try something new. i have about a thousand shitty maps that will never see the light of day. i just dont have the imagination and creativity that most of you seem to have. it took me forever and a day to make my dm_templefalls_cz map and i used textures from Sock on the wadfather. i now spend half my time on textures and the other half mapping.

Hmm... It really depends now. I got some ideas for a couple new mods a few weeks ago, so I started toying around with Hammer then, but before that I don't think I had opened it up in quite a few months. I spend most of my time working on cars now, which I find a much more satisfying pursuit. There's always a little part of me that wants to some day complete a large enjoyable mod with all kinds of new content, and I don't think that'll ever die. I don't think I'll ever forget how to map, either, but I can hardly call myself a real mapper anymore now that it's not my number one pastime. These days, it seems like nothing more than an attained skill to me.

I've given up on mapping.

*life

TODAY!

I'm gonna learn source mapping if it kills me for the sake of my portfolio.

Strideh: I hate you.

man i've been trying to map something for the last hour, just nothing. can't really come up with anything.

I think we all need to do something fun.... I'mah mappin' some fun!

EDIT: Bored... Board... Cardbored? CARDBOARD! Im making a map out of Cardbored!

Ant: Where's the love!? LOVE, MAN, LOVE.

A year or so ago. I have the same problem as others seem to have, I have some cool ideas but as soon as I start up hammer, it just becomes "Meh". Kudos to everyone who can actually finish a map, something I've only managed a few times.

I could re-type the same thing and it would be just as true for me. Instead I had some copypasta.

I had this brilliant idea last week... I had a whole vision in my head on how I want it to look. So I open hammer and then I then I realise.....ok, now what? Argh, you have this whole idea, but it gets ruined because you can't sort out which textures match and on what architecture designs they fit. I hate that.

I dunno, I sometimes miss those goldsource days. Hangin' out the nub with Ansith. T'was pretty entertaining. Playing our crappy maps on Muzzez HLDM server.. Now I just get great ideas, open hammer, close it after 5 min and that's that.

I find that seeing all those 5-minute maps in my maps folder demoralizes me. Instead, what I do is delete/not save all my crappy experiment maps so that all I see when I browse for a map file are the real works of art, no matter how few there may be. It's a huge psychological boost for me if I see a single well-built map on my hard drive instead of 25 failures.

I think an other factor to consider is one's ability to get ideas down into the editor with speed. When I get an inspiration to model a gun, I can model quickly enough that even when the love of the gun sputters out, seeing the progress appear in the 3D view keeps me going. If I procrastinate in starting, though, because I can't decide which part to start first or how to shape a particular set of faces, I can get fed up pretty quickly. Seeing progress is just as important as having inspiration to begin with, and that holds true with any form of visual design.

I just converted my dm_detritus to sp_detritus earlier this month.

When I map, I almost get sucked into mapping completely. I get so engrossed taht I usually need to finish it in less than a week. Otherwise, I lose interest.

I am always afraid to start because I know it's going to take up all my time.

And as a full-time pediatrician, a full-time dad, a part-time weight lifter, and a part-time gamer, I already have too many things to do.