Forum posts

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-18 05:43:27 UTC
in easy hl1 - hl2 texturing Post #169279

I tried this and gave up cause the texture scale is different...

How about making the scale be the same?
Select every brush and change the scale from X=1.00 Y=1.00 to X=0.25 Y=0.25 and then start changing textures with the Replace tool. I've done this process several times and it's quite faster than individually changing every face.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-18 04:59:34 UTC
in [HL2DM] Mudanchee - small updates Post #169268

I'm not sure about the canyon idea. The vision of a sunset in the open sea would be nicer. Maybe it's just me (remember the sunset sky I used in my "Map something Unique" compo map)
On the other hand, a system of canyons with other caves and waterfalls pouring into a lake or river below would look very nice.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-17 16:54:31 UTC
in easy hl1 - hl2 texturing Post #169123

Use the "Replace" option in the texture bar. It would be wise to make a list of the HL1 textures the map had, and change them to something in HL2 that looks alike.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-17 16:37:17 UTC
in HL Screenshots Post #169114

That's what vector images are there for, as 7th mentioned. Instead of saving the information as a sequence of pixels, vector images are made of simpler information.
A quick example: a circle in a bmp image is just a sequence of pixels that look like a circle with the appropiate zoom level. If you zoom in, you'll always see squares. In a vector image file of a circle, the information stored in the file is just the coordinates of the center, and the radius of the circle. No matter how much you zoom, it will always be curved (I'm not considering screen pixels here)
Software like AutoCad or CorelXara (and to some degree Hammer too) work with vector files.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-16 16:24:22 UTC
in Source vs Halflife 1 Post #168770

Mapping for both games is fun if you like mapping. But let's get one thing straight:
Making a simple map is easier in Source than it is with HL1, that's a fact.
Making a complicated map is also easier to do in Source.
So, when it comes to doing the exact same thing, the Source engine is superior. I havent seen a rule anywhere that forbids people from doing brush-based-only maps for HL2 and not using props.
The only complaints I have with Source is the need of an internet connection to load the SDK. The maps also take longer to load ingame because of the much greater amount of data. But that's not a valid point for a discussion. We could say that MineSweeper is a better game than HL1 because it takes less to load...

From another point of view, I think a mapper is someone who has imagination and needs to translate his thoughts into gameplay arenas. Source has less restrictions for your imagination. I dont think so much about r_speeds as I did with HL1 maps.

*I've been mapping for HL1 5 years, and mapping for Source for 1 year and a half. I have made 12 HL1 maps since Source came out, and 8 Source maps. I have two other Source maps in progress.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-16 07:50:19 UTC
in Source vs Halflife 1 Post #168617

Even though maps and lightmap grids are more complicated in Source, the optimizing techniques (such as using func_detail, making terrain with displacements etc) enable a much easier compile. Let's imagine for a moment that Ant could port his "de_venetia" map into Hammer 3.5 and compile it. I bet it would take much, much longer.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-15 22:23:25 UTC
in A big feeling of running a map Post #168540

Some people claim that batch-compiling tools give a more accurate account of what process is taking place, but I dont know if this is true.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-15 16:30:27 UTC
in Source vs Halflife 1 Post #168481

"Every HL map can be equally made with the Source engine, but not every Source engine map can be done with HL. "

For example, I started some sort of remake of my map Tinnos in Source. I had to make textures bigger and added bumpmaps, water etc. The Source map looks better, no doubt. It needs an extra effort, but it looks extra nice.

Another one of my maps: Kaufmann House. Two years ago, the possibility of making that map (and looking anything like the real place) was just a wild dream. Does anyone want to remake that for HL1...? I thought so.

And finally, let's not forget about:
-Displacement surfaces! Are you sick of working with triangles that slow down the VIS process? This is for you!!
-Lightmap grid: Do you want shadows to look good without having to lower the texture resolution? Here's your chance!!
-Func_details: How many portal leafs does your map really need?
-Shaders: Water finally looks like... water!!!

The list goes on and on

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-14 19:59:47 UTC
in Quake 4 Mapping Post #168326

Doom3... I've played the demo so this is what I remember: Models with a very high number of polygons, tech-only textures (bump mapped and shiny of course), and repetitive layouts of dark rooms with pipes. I think most of the eye candy is invisible. Interaction with the enviroment was restricted to using computer consoles, which were nicely done though.

Source engine... The Combine citadel getting lost in the clouds above, a hovercraft trip through the canals with a beautiful sunset, a huge bridge stretching out into the ocean fog, a war being fought in the rooftops of a huge city...

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-14 10:19:02 UTC
in New Mod: "Turnstile" Post #168174

I'm probly the only guy here who gets stressed by mapping.

Nope.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-12 14:49:54 UTC
in Competition 19 Post #167957

If anyone wants to know my personal opinion, this competition wasnt totally fair because the theme was too open. People who were already working in a DM map had a huge advantage over the rest. Still, I think it was a good idea overall and the objective was a good one.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-12 10:45:37 UTC
in Competition 19 Post #167919

Captain P posted some general comments on the maps in this same thread.
If you want a particular comment, I think your map had good ambience and it was too small for deathmatch. The width of some walls seemed strange, and there were too many lights (pointlights it seemed) in the inside room. The outside area could use some work, and the glass window in the ceiling was too bright. You probably didnt have enough time to work on it

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-12 07:24:54 UTC
in Bumpmaps are blocky Post #167885

VTF explorer?
I haven't tried it, but I think it will work.
I thought the normal map was compiled exactly like the TGA you get when applying the Photoshop filter...

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-12 05:41:18 UTC
in Deep thoughts..... Post #167857

If the concept of "hell" means eternal punishment, is there anyone capable of commiting an eternal crime worth of such punishment? Wouldnt such punishment always be unfair and make "divine justice" seem totally unjust?
If punishment is suppossed to have a redeeming factor, how would it be possible that going to hell is a one-way trip?
We can conclude that there's no such thing as hell.
If there's no such thing as hell, why the hell did I just write all the above?

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-11 14:00:34 UTC
in Bumpmaps are blocky Post #167743

In this case, the word "normal" refers to the mathematical concept of perpendicularity. A normal map gives data on the texture properties that are perpendicular to the 2d texture itself. In other words, the "bumps" the texture has. I'm not 100% sure though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_map

Edit: in HL2 materials, the method used is not bump maps (greyscale) but normal maps.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-11 13:03:32 UTC
in Bumpmaps are blocky Post #167722

A filter that enables 3d effects in flat 2d textures. A normal map indicates which parts of a texture stick out more than the rest.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-11 06:21:22 UTC
in Competition 19 Post #167640

And this time there's the added interest that you get to modify a RMF file made by Kasperg!

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-10 21:29:04 UTC
in GoldSource Mapping Tips Post #167601

Important mapping tip: the rooms we build in our maps have different purposes. Adding height variation is essential to architecture and consequently to level design. A small office will have a lower ceiling than a conference room. This might sound obvious, but there are countless maps in which all rooms and halls are 128 units high all along. Different room sizes, lighting and ambience are essential if you dont want a repetitive and boring map.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-10 16:04:58 UTC
in Lol, explosion Post #167513

If you really want it to look good, keep in mind that buildings have structure:
1st order: pillars and beams
2nd order:floors
3rd order:walls, windows and roofs.

You might want to make a metallic or concrete structure that stays standing while the rest of the house falls apart. Google for destroyed buildings and stuff.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-10 14:37:46 UTC
in Competition 19 Post #167486

Of course, but my competition is next as far as I know. (@Muzz: 7th changed the rule a bit to make your competition official even though you hadnt won the last compo

)

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-10 14:25:43 UTC
in Competition 19 Post #167478

I think the winner will choose the theme for #21. The mods should decide.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-10 14:20:14 UTC
in Competition 19 Post #167472

I won both "deathmatch from floorplan" and "test chamber" competitions. I had to propose 2 competitions. The source one was "Transport Hub" and the HL1 one is competition#20. Muzzleflash's compo was made official to give me some time to work on the map for compo#20.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-10 14:07:04 UTC
in Competition 19 Post #167460

The world is not over because of that. The next competition will be much easier. (And I'm one of the poor people who will not participate since I decided the theme) I'm going to work a bit more on the base map and hopefully it'll be ready as soon as the results for Competition19 are posted.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-07 20:03:47 UTC
in Good lightmap values Post #166905

Your choice.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-06 18:16:35 UTC
in [CS:S] - de_venetia (WIP) Post #166741

My GF 4200 doesnt support HDR either. Does that mean that I would have an advantage while playing HDR maps? I dont know how that works. If it affects gameplay, it should affect everyone...
I sort of agree with Captain P's comment on the "90?-ness" of the map. I know this is an abstraction of Venice, but the real city has a much more chaotic feeling to it. You dont have to alter the layout, but change some buildings as suggested.
oh, and Venice in Italian is spelled Venezia!

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-05 22:38:18 UTC
in Sky Problem Post #166612

Even if full vis solves the problem, you might want to design an outside wall (visible from the window) covering that part of the map, for the sake of architectural logic. If you see those brushes through the window, some part of a building should be visible.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-05 11:26:06 UTC
in Whole map a func_train? Post #166523

In a still map, the sky has a permanent relative position to the world geometry. If you make the backhground map move, the sky will not move with it. Imagine you are on the mentioned train. The mountains around you are moving, giving a sense of movement, but the clouds you are looking at stay the same.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-04 07:33:52 UTC
in Whole map a func_train? Post #166232

Yes, but would the sky textures move? It would look weird if mountains or whatever you put there is moving and all the clouds and sun stay in the same place.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-03 19:22:19 UTC
in your steam games list Post #166157

I dont need much more to map

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-03 15:56:56 UTC
in Whole map a func_train? Post #166120

If moving the train is too difficult, you could try making the background map move instead. There would be some problems of course, such as the sky not moving at all.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-02 16:58:36 UTC
in Skybox/water issue Post #165991

I think water is not the problem here. Your skybox water might be expensive water, but geometry in the skybox is never reflected and never refracted. If you go underwater, skybox brushes magically dissapear if you look up towards the surface. This is a serious problem and it also affects one of my upcoming maps.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-01 20:11:28 UTC
in Reflective Bump Mapping Post #165847

The checkerboard patter means one of the material files is not properly loaded. I had this error and the problem was that the bumpmap (_normal) texture was not properly compiled.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-03-01 18:59:20 UTC
in Reflective Bump Mapping Post #165833

give some values to the $envmaptint like [0.5 0.5 0.5] instead of [ .x .x .x ]

Edit: give us some idea of what you really want the texture to look like

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-28 20:40:29 UTC
in How many times have you played HL-SP? Post #165641

I didnt notice you could activate the combine thumpers to avoid antlions until I saw my brother playing through that part.
I guess It would be fun to replay HL2 with the physcannon right from the start. I think the airboat levels were fun, but since you go through them at high speed, the number of changelevels (and slow loadings with my CPU) makes it a bit annoying. But nothing nearly as annoying as the rail maze in HL1. Xen should've been skipped alltogether. Aliens are much more menacing if you know little about their origin. I think HL1 should've ended with a battle in the first test chamber where it all started.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-27 20:00:44 UTC
in Competition 19 Post #165420

I'd like to add that lighting could be improved in most of the maps. Yellow point-lights just dont work in my opinion.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-27 19:35:50 UTC
in SP vs MP Post #165414

That map looks nice. The author spent +10 months with it. Some CS mappers take 10 minutes to make their awp maps.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-27 17:53:22 UTC
in GFX card questions Post #165400

I had a CRT monitor in the basement until not so long ago. But it's out of the question. I need a lot of space in my desk to do university homework. CRT monitors also get my eyes tired and watery much sooner than TFT. And as you can guess, I am one of those people who need to be glued to the screen both for fun and for work...

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-26 18:44:00 UTC
in How many times have you played HL-SP? Post #165224

HL1 = Never without cheats. If found the rail levels way too boring.
HL2 = Once. I have replayed most of the levels except the airboat ones.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-26 15:20:20 UTC
in SP vs MP Post #165182

A mod is not just a singleplayer map, it's usually a series of them.
Singleplayer maps can be as crazy as multiplayer. Multiplayer maps can have ambience just like singleplayers maps do.
The main difference is that a multiplayer map must be able to sustain gameplay and entertain for longer periods of time. A singleplayer area can be seen only once and that's it. In multiplayer, there are usually many more paths and situations that you have to keep in mind. Adjusting performance based on predictions of what areas will be "busy areas" also takes some skill. Detail and complexity is not an issue. There are detailed and simple maps for both SP and MP.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-26 15:10:12 UTC
in The rare awards *not mapping!* Post #165179

Pepper hunted me on dm_prison or sumthing , kaspergs map!

Wouldn't that be "Detention" by Captain P?

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-26 12:08:26 UTC
in SP vs MP Post #165147

If you enojy mapping then make SP maps but if you like to make maps that don't take as much thought or effort then try MP.

Err... they do take thought and effort. I can do a thoughtless SP map and then you can compare it with my HL2DM maps

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-26 06:40:36 UTC
in SP vs MP Post #165096

I prefer to map for multiplayer. I dont know how to code or model, so the options for monsters and other NPCs are limited to the HL theme. On the other hand, I can make multiplayer arenas with little connection to the game using ancient or futuristic themes. I dont really like to map real-looking places unless they have some special interest (my high school in Paris, famous buildings etc)
Entity work is also much more intensive in singleplayer.
After working +1 year in a singleplayer mod and about 3 years (not in a row) making multiplayer maps, I'd say both are good. Each mode has its limits and advantages.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-25 23:02:40 UTC
in Hammer compililing old map builds Post #165075

I think the "bounds out of range" is probably the one preventing the bsp from being created.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-25 22:50:46 UTC
in Hammer compililing old map builds Post #165071

there are no problems

really?

Error opening c:program filesvalvesteamsteamappsb1wfdz33sour
cesdk_contentcstrikemapsrcnxs_dungeonm
aster.bsp

Brush 231983: bounds out of range
Brush 231985: bounds out of range
Brush 50933: bounds out of range
Brush 75386: bounds out of range
Brush 169313: bounds out of range
Brush 180870: MAX_MAP_PLANES

Those are a few of the many errors you can see in the log...

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-25 16:53:04 UTC
in physbox missiles Post #165020

The explosive barrel cannot be parented to the cannon, as he explained before

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-25 16:20:14 UTC
in Hammer compililing old map builds Post #165015

I thought bsp files only worked if they were in your
...SteamSteamAppsusernamecounter-strike:Sourcecstrikemaps or something like that, not in the sourcedsdk_content folder...

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-25 15:25:28 UTC
in Hammer compililing old map builds Post #165007

Check the modified date on the bsp file to see if the compiled map is really appearing in the folder you want.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-25 15:13:25 UTC
in GFX card questions Post #165005

Sounds reasonable. But the upgrade will have to wait. Until then, my source maps (like my previous 8) will not have HDR. I hope noone discards them because of that. I've seen 10 years worth of 3D games with no HDR and waiting a bit more wont hurt

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-25 15:04:53 UTC
in Hammer compililing old map builds Post #165004

Re-check that there are no compile errors. Sometimes it looks like the compiling went fine but it didnt. The map you load in-game is the last succesfully compiled version. It's happened to me before.

Kasperg

Posted 18 years ago2006-02-25 09:52:08 UTC
in GFX card questions Post #164960

The big question now is, will I notice increased performance (besides HDR and maybe anti-aliasing) if I'm using a monitor with 25 ms response time (40 frames per second max) and 1024x768?? As HrnyGoat said, my Geforce4 performs quite well even though its more than 4 years old. It only slows down if I'm using AA, or in certain areas of de_inferno source, and some of the city levels of F.E.A.R.
Quake4, Doom3, CoD2... all those games or demos run pretty decently, or at least my monitor doesnt really allow more than that.

Kasperg