Forum posts

I would have, but I couldnt use my PC, because the RAM was screwed "IF" my computer made it to my desktop, (which was usually about 1/3 times) it would crash as soon as I tried to do anything. Trying to copy / move the maps would have resulted in a systems crash and probably of corrupted the maps.

Oh belive me I tried everything before formatting my HDD, but at the time the HDD appeared to be the problem. Of course no sooner had I formatted then I realised the HDD was not the problem, I walked away from my computer for about 3 days because of that mistake.

"About your 'star wars' idea by starting in the middle... you seem to be forgetting just how fucking appauling episodes 1,2 & 3 were presumably because George Lucas was too rich to care. the same might happen to you and your 1,2 & might never be released becasue you get bored of the idea after 6."

Yes, this is a point I had not considered. Taking this into consideration I have decided to start from 1 and work my way to 7, releasing each episode as I go. - Just sorting out my Hammer tools and setups now, expect to see screen shots before too long.

About 2 weeks ago one of my RAM chips corrupted (dont ask me how) of course, I didnt know this, and went about trying to repair my computer. I could not make it to the desktop three times out of four, and when I did, the moment I clicked / loaded / opened anything (including the start menu) my computer crashed. Thinking my problem to be a HDD failure I went about (regretably) formatting my hard-drive (ergo, losing years, litteraly, of mapping work).

So here I am, even as I type this Half-Life 1 isnt even installed on my computer, I only got it really working today (there were other issues after I replaced the RAM chip that slowed my computers recovery). My older maps I am not really too worried about, my collection of high definition and detail prefabs that I made all by myself (aproximatly 30-50 in total) I am annoyed about, but the thing that pissed me off the most was losing my latest map(s) that I was currently working on.

A multiplayer map for a HL1 based mod for a friend (which was the best MP map I had ever made, as I dont make many and I had learnt much since that last time) and my single player mod map which had extremely high detail, low R_speeds and fantastic eye candy, I was very proud of my creation, even though it was only the actual map itself done (no monsters or items as of yet).

This is a blow I cannot withstand. In total there were 3 maps for the mod that I had made so far, 1 of wich was barely 3 rooms (had just started it), ignoring all of the planning; storyline work (which is also now gone) coding planning (gone) and even custom models with custom skins (yep, gone) ignoring all of that and just basing this on the mapping, I have lost at least 2-3 months of hard work.

I was very tempted to scrap the whole project, but then I had an idea; Star-Wars. The original plan was always to make the mod in "episodes" and release them one at a time to reduce work load and get feedback sooner rather than later, so what if I start in the middle? Starting with episode 4 and then working my way through right up to the punultimate (one before last) episode, then going back to the beggining. Well this is the plan, and once I have my mapping tools all back online (which wont be today, tommorrow perhaps after work) I will start toying with the idea and begin mapping episode 4.

However if it doesnt work out (if I dont pull of a lucas) its all being suspended indefinatly. Sorry guys, but losing 4 months of work (just counting the mapping) at this critical stage is a heavy blow and I dont know if I can muster the will to start all over again. We shall see soon.

A few little tips to making the map look better:

1: Give Doors Frames! Doors and entranceways dont just magically appear out of the wall, they have a frame that they fit into, add a frame around those doors in the screeny with the barney lying infront of it.

2: Making Textures Smaller: This is a pretty simple and very effective way of making a texture look better, compress it in the texture apply tool, somwhere around .75 or .5 will greatly increase eye pleasure in game.

3: Not So Many Light Textures / Sources: You will never find a coridoor with light fittings on the wall every 2 foot, lights are spread out, they have to show people where they are going, not eluminate (sp) every nook and cranny.

Follow those three simple rules on that first screen shot and repost it, I garentee (unless your a moron with no taste or skill, which you arnt) that it will look better.

As for the splash, the reason it doesnt look good is because nothing is center stage, examine it from a critical eye, what fills the picture most? Yep, sky texture and Xen rock. Make the space ship center stage, have it so its up so close the tip of it is off the screen, then actually make the grunt models, and put them in an enviroment more detailed that a flat lump of xen roid, and your in business. I seem to have a nack for doing things like that, and as I said before, I would be happy to help.

Anyway, hope that helps you out.

Looking good saco!

Dont be discouraged by people saying "its too blocky" I know what you mean when you are talking about real life examples (when was the last time any of you say a room with support beams?).

But still a little more detail couldnt hurt, I like the light beams, I think they look great - Remember also this is a game so you can afford to drop some bits of realism for cool effects. Heart of Darkness did it (and also HOD is cube city and its successful).

I look foward to playing this.

No, there is a backup created every time you compile, check the DIR where you save the map (not where it compiles to, EG the Maps folder of Valve).

This isnt just a problem you get with fast vis, I have had this problem on a full compiled map, its just a bug in HL, there is no easy way to fix it, I tried making another sky brush to get in the way (in my case) and a large black cube but nothing seemed to work out, though I do think I can fix the problem now. It isnt easy, but try the full compile thing to see if it works (if you get your map back).

Err no I dont think you did. And unless you were mapping for somthing before HL1 then you havnt been mapping longer than me.

Anyway, the offers there if you want me to take a look at it and give it a little TLC.

I am working on the "outline" of the map now, screens soon.

The plan is I make the basic layout and the access points from room to room, then somone picks a room and mapps it out, when all this is done they all send the maps back and I put them together, and then compile.

Sven-Coop it is.

Yea, this idea isnt exactly original.

An original idea would be to have 2 seater vehicles, one driver, one gunner. The driver has to go over various powerups to give the gunner better weapons and ammo etc.

If you like, send it to me and I can decrease the Brush usage and make the compile faster with a few tricks. If you want me too.

I ment the pointy part, when was the last time you saw any kind of large vessel that's front part goes down into a fine point? If you make it flat (more like this |= rather than like < that if you see what I am saying) it would be more realistic and look better.

Yea, that big window makes it look like a fighter craft at the moment, perhaps using a texture to make it appear as if there are multiple floors and many decks and rooms.

I still say the front of the ship needs work but this is good stuff so far

Heres my idea;

Some evil doctor / scientist, Mr Evildude or whatever, has shrunk the player(s)! And has now turned the top floor of his house into a death level for his twisted evil experiments. The whole floor has been modified by him to accomidate the little men and monsters. For example fine Chicken wire has been put up in chock points of the coridoor, creating a liniar path through all the rooms that the player(s) must follow to escape.

Starting from the master bedroom they will fight their way through this modified suburban house as mini men, my idea is to make the players about the size of a coke can (yes, its not original, I know) but I figure with the proper planning one person could make each room and the network of traps and routes that each room will have been fitted with to make a long lasting and fun map.

Do you think this map would be best on;

Sven Coop
HL-DM
Single Player

If your room looks anything like that I feel very sorry for you, the green is making me feel sick just thinking about it. Do some more work, compile it, and then try again.

My adivse is, DONT WORRY ABOUT R-SPEEDS.

Anything below and including 1500 is usually fine.

I would still say make the front of the ship a little flatter rather than going into a spike point.

The concrete textures dont fit (concrete ship?) but the engine textures look good, with a little brush editing and a few sprites you could make them look more engine like.

Also, putting multiple texture types on the main body would be good. Which of course would mean adding more brush faces. Perhaps a ring like construct around the middle? As for the actual textures of the ship, try some Opposing force metal textures or some Half-life "Generic" textures.

Well, you've definatly got the basics down, your scale needs work though, big time. Look at the size of the first room, you could fit a house in there, and I have never seen a shack so big. On the up hand you show some good skills with textureing and entity setup.

If you want to make somthing with this map I sugges a mini game. Perhaps shrinking the player and putting him in the box with the robots, and putting enemy grunts ontop of the robots? I dont know. I honestly cant think of what you could use this map for.

If its your first map, its a damn good start, keep going.

Hmmm... perhaps somone needs to write a more user friendly "Idiots guide to Hammer."

Well, its deffinatly Black Mesa, a few things I noticed;

Some textures around some signs and posters are corrupt / missing (turning into purple and black checks).

The stairs in the map touch the wall on one side but not the other, a good way to make stairs look good is to make them fit the hole and then adjust them so they are 1 unit smaller on each side, this will cut compile times.

The texturing could use some love. I noticed on some control panles and the large doors (all of them) that the textures are stretched or squashed, try to make the brush so that the texture you are using has equal values in the Texture Apply Tool, Eg 1.00 1.00 or 0.50 0.50. this will make everything look better.

You can talk to the barney behind the glass, if you want the player to talk to him thats fine but if you dont I suggest you move him back as the player can "use" him through the glass.

Looks good, your deffinatly comming allong, keep it up.

Looks sweet, keep it up.

The Concept image doesnt show up for me >:

One really simple way you could try, is by putting all the teleport brushes overlaying each other, that might work. Though I have a sneaky feeling one trigger teleport will take dominance.

Another way you could do this, is by putting a litteral "randomiser" type thing in, like a large spinning disk which players can jump into, and different trigger teleports around at the bottom, so as it spins it exposes different trigger teleports.

Looks good, the movie is a little too dark though.

No idea, working on my HL1: Opposing Force Puzzle / Horror mappack at the moment, not sure when it will be done TBH.

Very interesting. Cant wait to see this come together, infact I might actually sign up for the mapping part once I finish my current project.

Please dont make a grunt fest as FresheD suggested, stick with your idea, I dont think falling down a hole is appropriate, perhaps having a crate fall on you in a storage area and bury you?

The atmosphere idea is pretty good, with the distant screams and such. You dont need a team to do this, unless you plan to make this very long, all you need is a mapper, all the other resources are there for you. And the name doesnt really fit, when I opened the thread I was expecting some sort of stealthy way of killing enemies.

Good luck with this.

Small wings with 360 engines, perhaps, but not big plane like wings, if this thing relied on wings to fly firstly the wings would have to be titanic and secondly it would have to move bloody fast, contstantly.

very small wing like constructs with rotary engines on them might be good. Unless your are determined to put wings on it, I would say No, they will make it look unrealistic and silly. Small areofoils is a different matter but then, if its not having wings it doesnt really need them. So no, no wings.

Looks awesome, much better.

Needs: Sensors array, Airlocks, stabaliser engines (all around so the ship can turn, this isnt a fighter jet), Some form of weapondry, perhaps a shuttle bay?, engine vents (perhaps), Landing gears or stilts, a name and a flag (HMS/USS Scout or somthing like that), Escape pods (maybe, or hatches for them to launch from), End needs to be squarer, no point having the end going into a fine point (also leaves somwhere to have some weapons), perhaps if you just cut the square bit off, and extended the cylinder like part in the middel and then added a ramming pannel or somthing (so it looked a bit more like this; http://paizo.com/image/product/catalog/GAW/GAW10-08_360.jpeg ).

Errm, thats all I can think off, other than the obvious "texture it"

Good work, keep it going.

Did you miss the big machine gun in the screen shots?

Looks nice, good Displacement work (and lots of it ;)).

Looks really nice, try putting a little more detail into the cliffs if you can, but otherwise it looks amazing, look foward to playing it.

Cant really see much in just the one dark screen shot, not really a lot to comment on, seems a little bit square to me and blocky.

Its completly legal to use any texture from any Half-Life based game so long as you dont make people pay for the product (map). Yes even NS textures, even though they dont like people using them you still can.

Those are Gunman Chronicle textures arnt they?

Very nice so far, its a little open and bare at the moment but keep going, I like the outside arcitexture. Nice stuff, it deffinatly has the HL spirit.

Update: Still trying to think of a name for this mappack but I have got an update full of screenies, and a new host (courtesy of a friend) that mean I can [ img ] link

Your thoughts so far? (this is all still 1 map BTW.)

Nico of you to post these, but I think most people can come up with there own stories and such, I do like the humourus side to your storys though

Or you could just use the backup .map created every time you compile like I did.

Getting better, slowly, keep at it

I question the shape of your ship, how big is it? Estimated crew count etc. It looks ok but its not like any type of vessle I have seen before. If it were a space ship I could understand but Xen has atmosphere and therefore wouldnt it be better if the ship was streamlined? Plus it just looks cooler that way.

Nice to see work is progressing.

Thanks Seventh

Crisis aborted.

ZOMG I am so happy there is a backup created every time you compile.

Ah, but this is a game, top secret research base, you know, fantasy.

Which is a good excuse to include a large rocket, as seen in screen shots

How do I recover it?!

This is set in the 50's, no comfy chairs here. Also, see "JESUS NO" thread for update on the map.

You may all of seen the pictures from my map I am working on, well I just pressed Ctrl+S to save the level and my computer crashed, ah no problem, I though. restarted and now 75% of the map has dissapeared and has turned into hundreds of "invalid solid object".

This is nearly a weeks work here, has anyone got any idea on how I can fix this?!

I had this happen before on another large map, and I didnt find how to fix it then, please please please someone tell me they know a way to fix this!

Yea I have Wavpad too ;D

Ah thanks, I see now

BL: where are those scripts

Also, ALL of my radios have run their battiers down to nothing I think I must of left them all on last time I used them or somthing, I'll buy some more batteries today hopefully

No codered required

I intend to do all this through mapping. Those some models might be nice

Thanks for the good review.