Forum posts

If your using ZHLT 253, make sure you upgrade to ZHLT 253 custom build 1.7 as the Null texture is included, look in the ZHLT folder. the zhlt.wad is there and it has Null....

And yeah, I know it's actually MHLT, but let's not confuse things.

Let us know what

something something bad node number

actually says.
Is it a recursive error?

Glad to see you have decided to get organised.
Official comps will kick off again in the New Year.

Hate to spoil the party, but check Here

BB has done an excellent series on Modeling at 69th Vlatitude....
Try that.

Yeah, that is what I would have suggested, It is also a way to present a picture. Freeze the player and trigger a camera somewhere else looking at what you want the player to see.

Worked fine when I player it. I got a present to follow me to the rescue point, and then a snowman....
So what was the problem again?

I really do suggest that you let someone have a look at it. I will if you want. No need to throw it away.

No,
Don't use skip unless you are making Hint Brushes.
Some people use NULL to texture all the non visible parts of brushes, but I have not proven that it actually reduces the wpoly count.
And as Kol mentioned, it can very easily turn into a Hall of Mirrors problem.

You really need to look at the map again, but this time from the engines perspective. What textured brushes does it think it can see. I know this is a damn site harder than it sounds, but it get's easier the more you do it.

If you want a full blown Mod with Coding and new models and new textures and cool sound.......... Then you might have to figure out how you are going to do it
If you want to map (and yes... you will have a theme, storyline and production task) then stay tuned.
You might have already realised that getting a Mod off the ground isn't easy, because everyone wants to do something differently. If you don't believe me, just check out how long the forum posts for stuff about getting a Mod going have been, urm.. well, going.

So, once again for those of you who missed it the first time.
A members mapping compilation based on HL v48 1.1.1.0 will be set up in the New Year.
Those who want to participate will be given a code number to call their map and the entities in it, they will also get a topic/theme/idea about where their map fit's in the Project.
And that folks is the Key word.... Project.
Notice how I didn't say Mod....

You don't have to play if you don't want to, so if your pissed off that it isn't what you expected, you can always start your own Mod

I have ministeves Spirit Setup guide, all I need now is time to actually read it.

While your waiting, try Spirit Stuff at VERC.

I am assuming you have read R_speeds the tutorial?
I haven't replied because Kol is doing really well answering the questions
But for what it's worth, large caverns with lot's of textured brushes and lot's of space will increase compile times. Null anything the player can not see, but is actually in the visible part of the map. (Like if you noclipped around inside.... I am talking about the brushes you would see then, not the external brushes)
Also, when running r_speeds 1, you will only get a true representation when you do a full CSG,BSP,VIS and RAD compile. Failure to use all the compile tools will NOT give you a true indication of the speeds.
As for Hint Brushes... I tried to write a tutorial, but kept getting results that were not consistant and didn't follow any pattern. So rather than write about something that I couldn't figure out but have had a little success with, I decided not to do it at all. Hint brushes can increase the wpoly count if you are not careful.

I have found that the best way to manage speed is to build the map with them in mind in the first place. The addition of a few enlarged textures, a few func_walls and a few solid brushes to block the visible line of sight works wonders. Plan before you map ! Don't forget that the engine will think you can see over walls, so walls to block visibility in caverns are not always good.

Also, for those who tell you that a 13 Hour compile time is acceptable... they are full of it. There is no reason that a map should take more than an hour on a PII 400Mhz with 256Mb of RAM...... Actually that isn't quite true as there are some designer specific maps, but it is a good general rule. Case in point was an RMF that I tried to compile recently, 5 hours later it was still going. A little fixing reduce the compile to 15Min's....
Moral of the story.... If it is taking a long time, have a look at the rmf from the engines point of view and try to see why.

And are their any info_nodes in the map for him to follow?
Prisoner Flag might cause this also...
As Seventh already mentioned, check the flags.

It depends on how much time I have. If I can I like to download stuff and look at it, but I have a lousy connection these days. So I just check the file and post the "File Ok" screenie.

Atom has discussed the compulsory screenie, and the bit that should check the zip.... but I think he has already mentioned that they are difficult to do.

If the people who post the map don't want to use a screenie, you can't really force them... but unless they are new here, they should know how to make one.

If they do know how to make a screenie and don't post it.... well it says a lot about the amount of effort they have put into the map

Mild panic over then...
So I wonder what happened to Marlborometal's post?

Ummm,
I am Andy.
Or at least I was last time I looked?

Argh,
Now there is a thought....

Atom, If we as moderators add an icon to an already posted map and resubmit the info....... Does it remember the original address to the link?

Yeah..
I just went through most of the tut posts and apart from some of the stuff we fixed at the time, the rest of it is covered else where....
I wouldn't bother coming up with a move system. I would just trash them.

Ummm,
What thread was this...
Oh Yeah,
Congrats Noldar.

Don't....

As you can all see there is no 1 answer for this error and all the info suggested might just help.
It is a dynamic light error.
It is a Named Light error.
It is a saturated light face error.
It is a number of light's either dynamic or named error....
Actually come to think of it, did you have your tongue sticking out the left or right side of your mouth when you compiled?

Ok Seventh.... you can delete me for being irrelevant !

Also....
G drive to C Drive ?
Compiling across drives can cause problems.

To help us sort this out, can you post the whole compile log? Because all I can tell from this is that it is trying to copy one of the tools final part files to your map folder.
More input.... please

Lot's of hard work carving and using VM, and even then it isn't all that realistic. Come to think of it... I haven't seen a really good Hole blown in a wall ?
The trick is not to make it too jaggerd or too smooth.

Good luck

Any MS program is compatible with word, and I think that Works used a base version anyway, so send away.... as long as it isn't bigger than a few Mb then it will be ok.

Good Point.
You might notice that at the end of the recent tutorials I placed a message "Please post all questions in the General Mapping Forum", but some people just don't take to direction well. I think that atom left it in, until he could come up with a way to move the posts to another tut specific area.... It just hasn't happened yet, and now that most of the tut specific posts are very old, I wonder if the information is still worth keeping.... I 'spose it is, because it is specific to the tutorial.

Spirit already has a site dedicated to it, so I can't really see any point in diversifing futher on current content. You will have to convince atom that it is in the best interests of all the members to go in that direction.

However,
I am always ready to have a look at tutorial stuff ministeve, especially setup guides. If you don't have word... do you have Notepad? That will do. Actually any wordprocessing type program, but a simple non formated text type is best.

That had to be ministeve....

Only problem with that is we would have to change the site name to TWCS

Who said we don't celebrate Christmas in December?

Check the scale on the textured surface?
The player_start entities shouldn't effect it... but you never know. Raise them a few more units off the ground brush.
Are you using HL.wad and a CS.wad ?
Sometimes there are similar .wad names used by HL and CS, if you have selected cstrike.wad and halflife.wad in your texture settings, you will think you are applying a CS texture but the HL one will override it. Sometimes they are very different.

Sorry no AIM...

I am away from my copy of Hammer or I would write a detailed Carve instruction.... Anyone else want to describe which buttons to push?

Try to catch some of the members on IRC if you can.
And please don't let anyone hear you say that I know what I am talking about... They might actually believe it, and then I might start believing it

Ok, Spirit does make life easier, but it really only effects the entities.... Getting HL to do what you want has always been difficult, but you have to remember that HL wasn't built for you to modify, it was built to be a single player game and grew from there.
Having a compo based on Spirit is a good idea, I will keep it in mind.

I think there are a couple of tutorials on Verc that deal with putting a full Mod together, and there might also be something on 69th, but Yeah... it would take years.
A Mod is pretty much anything that uses the original HL/CS and modifies it... So if you make a single map, then it is actually a mod.

Stay tuned for our own home grown one.

Sorry guy's, you are going to have to Beg atom for this to be included... it's not within my meager magical powers.

Mmm, I am sure we covered Ambient Generics somewhere, but I can't seem to find it.
Do you want to do a Sound Tut...
Covering ambients, env-sound, custom sounds and getting models to speak (SlayerA's HLwood is a great example of this) and that sort of stuff.
FireBinder has a great little tut on Sound, but it could do with some more stuff. Wavelength have a few on there old site and I think 69th have some stuff also. But maybe it is tme we had a generic one, and I would love to see a joint effort with you and Kol....sure it would be great stuff.

I wish you guy's wouldn't post stuff like that, people in the I-net Cafe are looking at me because I am laughing very loudly...

Ok, to ease the pain....
The Mod, TWHL will be announced soon.
I have read most of the stuff that has been posted and there really are some great ideas.. But ideas don't get off the ground unless they are organised and kicked off.
I will post the Basic theme and requirements next week, I am just waiting on a few people to get back to me.
Once that is done, you can either participate (if you want to) or you can give it a miss (becasue you think the theme sucks)...

I kinda like the Bucket idea.... but that comes from people telling me I am an Idiot all the time.

Max Players is normally selected when you run the game as multiplayer and set up the "number" of players in the server stats.
I am sure there is a CVAR that will allow you to increase/decrease the number from the console, but I am not sure what it is.
If you are loading a map from the console, then there is no need to add a Max Player value, as that sort of defeats itself because you have to load it as a game for it to be accessible by other players.
What we need here is someone familiar with setting up CS for MP.

Chateau is part of upgrade patch.
Personally I would not include the wad unless you have only used a few textures.
Just let people know that it requires the wad, and those that don't have it can download it seperately, or you could upload it to a site and link it for them. (It has to be available somewhere like the Wadfather?)

Steffen Hendrick's first version of RealBot was pure brillance... It didn't need waypoints and relied on entities to give the guidance. Problem was that the Bot's tended to crawl the wall's rather than run around in the open. It worked as far as I can tell, but was limited and not all that much fun once you got used to it. POD on the other hand, can catch even the most experienced player off guard. The Bot's do learn, try playing Bot's that have been on a server for a while... creepy stuff.

Good Point... Maybe one of our sound type dudes wants to write a tutorial?

That sounds as though bottom.spr doesn't exist in the 0pak that your using. If you have made/borrowed this sprite from somewhere else, it needs to be placed in the folder you have selected it from in the env_sprite.
And as Kol said above... but isn't there something screwy with steam and cached pak files...???

The format the sound is in is really important. Is this sound, something you have made, or is it from the Original HL.

[Seventh: clicky; hope that's the thread you meant, Andy. If not, use the forum search, query "mono".]

If you manage to get a hang of complex Vertex Manipulation, then you can just about Carve with anything and sort out the results as Kol mentions...
I just advise against indescriminate carving till you have a better understanding of the consequences.

Carving... Arghhhh....
What you need to do is form a brush the size you want the hole to be, put it in the position you need the hole, and use the Carve tool.
This can lead to problems, especially if you are:
Carving entity brushes.
Carving brushes that are complex (cones, cylinders etc.)
Carving across more than one brush.

Test this out in a simple single room map with a block to work on till you get the hang of it.

After testing the "bullets through wall" thing in CS extensively, I can assure you that there is no real way to stop all weapon types from shooting through walls. A lot of it depends on the orientation of the wall in relation to the grid, the thickness and what type of projectile is hitting it. Doubling the wall (two wall's) will not always work, adding a seperate filler brush between the walls as a baffel will not always work and texture types may or may not work.
At the end of the day, if you are behind an office wall and the guy on the other side has an AK47... then you might as well start praying. Eventually, he will get you and that is real life!
A 7.62mm weapon on sustained and direct fire will eat through log's, sand bags and concrete as though they don't exist.
A .44 magnum round is designed to punch through engine blocks and kill the guy on the other side of the vehicle.
Either way you look at it, there is no real solution. You have to make do with the projectile physics that the HL people coded into the weapons and build accordingly.
It isn't a problem, just slightly annoying at times, but then again... so is life.

Spectator mode shouldn't effect the speed or percieved Lag of the map for the players because the Spectator position is not reported to the other players... Essentially the spectator is not in the map. Any Lag you experience as a spectator is due to the connection, and will be felt by all the players equally.
I doubt that the spectator is contributing too it. (But I can't say for certain)

POD Bot is my choice, because it is really similar to Sturmbot for DoD. I gave RealBot a go, but had difficulty getting the WIP1600 version to work. So I went back to POD...
I find I can successfully waypoint a map in about 10 minuites, even if it is complicated. And POD has support wpt's for most of the CS maps already out there.... Don't forget to dumb them down a bit to start with because they are Good.

Make sure you read all it say's on the Alloc Block error... This one is a real pain as it could be so many things, and doesn't always conform to the things that are suggested at Tommy's.
Try all the stuff he recommends, then give us a yell if it still occurs.

As Zombie said, there is a good CS setup guide in the Intermediate Tutorials... Mmmm, I should move that to beginner.

Actually,
I think the decision to make Seventh a moderator was based on the idea that it would serve him right...

So there see it serves you right....

Ummm, has anyone seen my guide dog fluffy?

No need to make it smaller, I deleted it, because it disrupted the integrity of the page.
If you read the forum help you will notice that there are suggested sizes for images. Yours was a little big.

To All,
Check your links and images before you post them, I have done some constructive editing with apoligies to Zombieloffe but hey, it was getting out of hand and this might be a good time to suggest to atom that a trial area is started so you can test things before you post them.