Forum posts

Phew!

Been away for quite some time. I finished my final exams and have a one week holiday for chilling now.

Let's quickly check whether I'm still up to date with this:

• no coding (HL 1.1.1.0)
• custom grafics + sounds allowed
• nobody needs the tentacle monster (very important)
• I may start a BSP to use my own custom sky
• I still have several months, since I'm last in the list
• George W. Bush's rampage hasn't ended yet
• Coil is still in the making

Well. Happy mapping!

Urm?
Did I say something like 'Don't modify original Half-Life stuff.'?
I hope I didn't, because i'd like to preoccupy the use of the monster_tentacle for me. Plus: I need to change the model.

Would you agree with that? If not, I'll find another solution.

Also I'll probably need to start a new BSP, since I also use a custom sky. I could make it without the sky, but it would lower the ingame performance.

To what CP said: I do support his oppinion. We should work together, up to certain level. Nothing too big, no master-plan or anything like that. But we should collaborate more than on TWHLmix1. Talk to the people that build the parts before/after yours, maybe you can make the transition less obvious that way. Also a few 'quests', or task for the player, rather then just shooting might be good.

I have more to say, but I have very little time at the moment.

Later.

IEMC - my very own personal echo.

Oh, and no Gman? :

I don't think it a good idea to start throwing splash screens all over the thread already.
Firstly: I think, it should refer to the actual maps, so we should build them and then make the splash image.
Secondly: It should look professional. I don't want to belittle you, but do really want one of those 5 minute experiments as a splash screen?
It's okay that more than one person wants to make one, that way we can choose from a couple versions, but you should not treat this lightly.

What kol was trying to say: "You have a playable mod? Than freaking upload it, so people can play it".
I hope that the selected words fitted your mind, kol.

Those nasty extra compasses!
Makes the properties dialogue consume 70% more of my work-space and don't even have a use for me in return.

I just had to say that.

(Oh how I love my reshacker.)

Get the SDK!
I contains the entire HL1 source-code.
It's been pretty helpfull with some mapping problems for me so far.

:/
I see things getting too far.
Don't change too much.
We're still doing a collaborate map.
Having custom gfx is ok, as long as nobody wants to change original HL stuff.
A splash screen and maybe other colors for main-menu are also no big deal.
But please leave the rest alone. We are doing a HL map, so changing more is not at all necessary and would not add any value to the result.
Changing the HUD is easy, that's probably the reason why you want to that, but please don't do that.

Also I see some people planning big things that they might not be able to accomplish. Don't go over your abilities. Do your best, do the stuff you can do the best - everybody does that. (Man, that was a cheap sentence.)
Otherwise we end up with half the people saying "I'd have participated too, but I didn't finish my part."

Please don't forget the troubles we had with TWHLmix1.

So you want to burden them even more?
We would certainly needs a larger staff for such a feature.
Disabling rating for anonymous people and limitng ratings to once per member per map should produce some relief.
For a show case we could also pick a few willing experienced mappers, who can express theirselves and who judge very objectively.
Andy can do that pretty well, but it would be too much for one, even for two people.

Reskinning sucks.
Do you own models.

To reduce the uselessness of my post a bit, here's two pics of a sink. They're old and the model was still WIP.
From above.
From below.

Making it a mini-mod will make it seem more profesional...

Mini mod = very yes
It wouldnt be professional without it...

I also vote 'yes', but it doesn't take the work off of you. Every noob can build a mod, you still have to produce good maps.

Also I think we shouldn't modify all the GUI. The menu splash can be changed, but leave the HUD alone.
If we make a mod out of it, what do think about custom models? Everybody was complaining about a missing boss fight, so decided to have one in my part, which requires models.

Back to getting suggestions from others. Some of you might want their part to contain a few surprises, which nobody is supposed to know before we go final. I think it's enough, when everybody adds they basic layout to the map - no detail, no plot, maybe enemies/weapons. The important things are entrance and exit, so the next people in the list can build on. The only person who will see the final version, before it we release, would be BL then.
What do you think about this?

BTW: I started writing my plot, in my free school time. It will be sexy - literally!

If you move the landmark with the corridor, the player won't start in the void.

The problem seems to be quite complicated - I advise you to upload the .map to the problems vault.

THe landmark defines the same spot in both maps, so need as many landmark entities as you have maps connected to the current, or less.
You should have two landmarks in your map2, one for map1 and one for map3, and one each in map1 and map3.

I've been thinking about something I read on the net...does the player in the map that I try to spawn to, actually appear according to the position of the landmark in the FIRST map? (the one I spawn from)?

Right. When you've been (4;8;16) units away from it in map1, you'll be (4;8;16) units away from it in the next map too.

You say the transition doesn't work. What happens? Does HL crash, do you get stuck...?

Another point that should be mentioned, is that when I noclip into the map, and take it off to walk around, the player falls through the floor.

How far does he fall? If he just falls infinitely, you don't have a clipping hull. Check your compile log for BSP errors. Otherwise there might be a bug in your compile tools, or you have compiled with -onlyents, although changing the geometry.

1: I agree to the intelligent transitions - we can do more than teleports. But I strongly recommend easing the theme restrictions.

2: A welcome letter? I want one too!
Textures: If we allow custom stuff, we should give everybody the right to build his own stuff - after all your part mirrors your abilities and experience.
Sounds: Good.
The alternative would still be HL stuff only.
Messages: I need them. I have another story with diary entries this time.

3: I think everybody should collect comments on their parts before they send them in. We want to achieve a higher quality this, don't we?

4: Right. But it's better to talk about this early, otherwise we end up with "What the heck happened to my lighting, who did the final compile?".

I must say that its a great idea ... New textures are allowed, and that's good. Once i get all my stuff together - i'll post it so that everyone can use it.

I don't think it a good idea to allow custom gfx,...

I'm afraid you've misread this.
It is true, HL-textures are old, but I find it more of a challenge to use those old textures and still mkae it look different from HL.
Custom textures are good for those who can create their own, the others still have a restricted texture set.
But I will yield to the will of the majority. If you agree with custom textures - let's use them.

-bounce 9

I hope my part is on another .bsp than yours.
I need low bounce values fo dark places.

The -smooth parm is one thing I also use, usually 90, I just forgot it up there.

Once the map is finished, we can adjust the lights, monsters /ammo and stuff like that...

Right - don't get used to your monster-/weapon-placement everybody, it is likely that it will be changed in the end. We don't want another 5 HEV chargers for ~20 monsters, do we?

I liked 7th best so far.
You look perfectly normal - no gold chains, no hair gel, no hippies on your side.

Parallels to other people, all of which I fully deny, are 100% coincidental.

It's good to see that things are running smooth here.
But I'm not fully satisfied with the situation.

1: Did I get it right, that all parts have to be in this lab/concrete/military style?
That would be really boring and not much fun for teh mappers. I think, as long as the mapper can build a convincing transition from the former style to his own setting, he may do so. I wouldn't be too unhappy if we could try to do some more out of the HL textures than just copying the old Blackmesa.

2: What about custom stuff.
I don't think it a good idea to allow custom gfx, including textures, sprites and models, but I think everybody is able to record a few senteces with his microphone, if he can use them. So we should allow adding new sounds - no change in the old ones though. Like before, people may use the titles.txt for on-screen text messages.

3: More collaboration this time!
On the last TWHLmix, almost everybody did his part, sent it in and then it was said to be 'finished'. We should'nt be so quick this time. People should let other participants have a look at their maps and get suggestions and bug-reports, to raise the final quality of this whole project. We have an IRC channel to do this and a list of participants. Don't show your stuff to non-TWHLmixers, as the result is supposed to be a surprise.

4: Compiling?
Compiling is one of the things that needs a lot of experience and usually everybody has his own basic settings, so we should agree upon the setting that everybody must use, here. I am using XP-Cagey's p15 compilers with the p13 HLRAD version, as I found no newer version to be without bugs. Then we should use -cliptype legacy in combination with the BEVEL texture, as -cliptype precise can completely scramble your clipping hulls. I have a few other basic settings, which can be dicussed about:
HLVIS: -full (compulsory)
HLRAD: -dscale 1 (due to a bug in older version, the default value is '2') -extra (also compulsory) -bounce 2 (usually gives the least ugly edges in the lighting and still doesn't light dark areas up too much
Also we need a master-.rad file, containing all the used texlights. I'd say Vassy just builds an empty one and adds only the textures he uses. If a texture is already in use, its values must not be changed. Also don't use normal textures. All those containing a '~' can be used for lights - maybe a few others.
Then there's HINTs, if you don't know how to use them, don't use them. If you think you know how to use them, use them on your stuff only. If you know you know how to use them, you may use them on other people's parts, but do not screw their lighting with them.
The errors 'leaf portal saw into leaf' and 'too many light styles' should all be eliminated, if you need help on those --> IRC.

That's it so far.

Happy TWHLmixing!

Still, even the best mapper can be an arse.

But it's true, great abilities are more important than nice behaviour.

Just give both trains the same name.
You don't any extra entities for this.

So, now that I know that kol also participates, I will contribute something, too.

What'd you think of a sequel in the doc's lab? Many people said that they would've wanted to fight the intruders. So, you shall get your chance!

I hope I can keep my part (certainly containing of more than one room) within the restrictions.

I wouldn't restrict people to rooms.
Instead we can just say "Don't use more than 10% of the map max limits."
That'd be better, so we'd have 9-10 people per .bsp.

I hope for a great enhancement on TWHLmix2.
Give your very best and start mapping now, so we don't need a year again.

Kol, do you plan to take part this time? If yes, I might reconsider participating too.

Thanks 7th.
Now m_gargantua is totally left out. :
He also deserves credit, since he made his sister do some voice acting for him, which was quite cool. I hope you use something like this in TWHLmix2.

I just read Andy's readme - it is great. He probably is the one who played most attentively and didn't just run through it, cheating whenever weaponstripped, like some others did. He noticed the fine details in the other's parts, unlike some other players again who only commented with "haz part = good - rest = meh". I like it alot, as he paid attention to the abilities and the efforts that went into this thing. As he also said, we learned alot from this - I hope.

I'm not sure if I will participate in TWHLmix2, as my work might raise the scale up very high again. I don't want the others to get worse comment because of me. I have other plans, and a final exams to do.

We'll see.

Thanks for the opportunity of a showcase.

Yeeeees! We must be precise!
Well, I don't want to hurt his credit, but slept only 2.5 hours because I compiled that monster last night and now I'm all tired 'n stuff and then it sucks if you read that someone else did suffer for it.
Din't kill me if you think that this is inappropriate.

Thanks! It was pretty late when I uploaded it this morning, so I didn't post any screenshots.
Also thanks for the MOTD - We're famous!
But there's one little thing: I did the compile, that's why I had to stay awake for so long. No-one ever reads the readme.txt.

I'm glad you liked my part, but I must defend the other's.
This thing was supposed to be a quick mapping project, where everybody could submit something. It was not really planned to have that much as I took for my part.
The other parts aren't so bad, are they.

The most important thing is that we learned something for the next time.
Two more questions:

I liked the usage of titles.txt...

What's so cool about that. It's just an alterantive for game_text. I used it because my texts were longer than the game_text limit.

Who's Kay?

Well, now help use getting a three digit download count and many comments for this. Tell everybody you know of this thing.

Thanks!

TWHLmix is done!
Go to the mapvault and download it!

Thanks for holding the fort, Rileymo.
I'm off for my bed now.
See y'all later.

Why are you all so crazy for playing TWHLmix?
You've not even seen it.
Maybe it's total crap and will fully disappoint you.
Story, who said a word of a story?

playsfortime

M_gargantua, please send me the .rmf files. And could you also give me a text version of the .wav files? It's a bit hard to undestand because the sound quality isn't the best.
Hurry! They're starting to get impatient.

runsforcover

T_T
We're so close to the end, but we're not done yet.

M_gargantua, you didn't include the .rmf file. I need it to compile again. Firstly to get rid of the city.wad link and secondly, because I wanted to fix the very ugly lighting in some places of the map. I really need the .rmf, please upload it again. I wasn't able to listen to the sounds yet, so I can't tell whether they're really necessary.

Please hurry!

But it would be real hacker style.
Coding with brainfuck, mapping/textures with notepad and sounds with a stupid synthesizer.
T3h h4ck0r-m0d!

I'm afraid it won'z be released 2004, but anyway. We got a nice happy-new-year-gift now.

Yay!

Btw: How long is it till noon in 'tomaroh eastern american standard time'?
Oh and the thing with the .wav file is not good. :
Everybody used only HL stuff and the titles.txt. So if you can use text messages, or original HL sounds insted of custom .wavs, please do so.

Later.

Slow!
There's nothing ready.
M_gargantua took over the building-the-end-job.
We will release when he's done.

Scripted stuff? Hmmmm! Maybe can eliminate these problems, if not ... well. Would be ok too.
Make your adjustments and then send it in, I'll check the mail account every day.

Nonono!
Just post it now!
I told everyone that we will release 2004.
We can still make it.

Yup. First map is compiled and fully functional.
When you've finished, just send it to the TWHLmix @ yahoo . com account.
I'll check back later.

Bye

Why do you want to compile it?
You don't have the final version and I already compiled the first map.
But you may build the end of the map, if you like.
It's a shame that you are getting busy just now, BL. Well, I wish you best luck and merry christmas.
Same to all the others here, one more day then it's gift's, christmas tree and unhealthy, but yummy food again.
M_gargantua, do you think you can build an ending before newyear?

Ok, it's me again.
BL, I just wanted to remind you that you may build the final part for the map now. Ministeve has sent me the original version of his room, he thought that JB has changed it.
We must hurry, less than 96 hours till x-mas.

CONGRATULATIONS!

I just found it boring that many entries were put into the MV, before the compo-results were official. Don't do that the next time, it kills the suspense.

It's time for the next compo then. pokesanthony

Do they have to be ;(?

They don't.

Two less ... good progress.

Still to come:
ministeve, JB, Es Major, rileymo

You may start screaming now.

So ... I guess ... that another 'comment'.

Leaves us with:
ministeve, JB, Es Major, RabidMonkey, M_gargantua, rileymo

I'm off to map kiddies...

That's what I'm talking about.

What the ... ?
Why was that post marked as anonymous?
The post directly below kol's was written by me (hazardous!, in case this one will be anonymous again).

If your mapping abilities were as good as your boasting is totally blown over proportions, you'd know that the compile time hardly depends on how 'detailed' your map is.
When you make use of brush-entities, place hint brushes well, keep your map clean and know how to control the compile tools, your compiles usually run very quickly.
Your map may have some detail here and there (I haven't seen it with textures either), but they all are completely misplaced. No-one will walk through your map, 'Wow nice detail on that ceiling.' as this is a waste of r_speeds.
It is no problem to kill Half-Life with super highly detailed maps, but, as you probably found out yourself, it is totally stupid. Half-Life is several years old and the map format is not built to display thousands of polygons.
If you want detail, place it thoughtfully and use models rather than worldbrushes.

Er, ok trapt.

Still to go:
BrattyLord, ministeve, JB, Es Major, RabidMonkey, M_gargantua, gman, rileymo

Well...

I am composing the readme that will come with the maps.
It will also contain a comment from each mapper.
So the people that participated may post it here, or send it to me. (Please put a 'TWHLmix' into the subject)

The following people contributed:
BrattyLord, ministeve, JB, Es Major, RabidMonkey, M_gargantua, (me), trapt, gman, rileymo

Ministeve has received the map and is building his his second part. After BL has finished it, I'll compile and compose the .zip file. Then it will be put in the MV with the TWHLmix account.

BL, I've asked 7th for a MOTD when we release the map. So tell him when it's on the MV and he will take care of it.

Join the eels now, so we can listen to music!

kleskisafuckingbastardashekeepshittingmewiththerailgunevenwhenheseesmeforonlyoneframe

limbal-eye-penetration

I feel a bit SKINNED.

M0p: of course you can play HL? on a 1400mhz CPU, but it'll bring about as much fun as with a gf3 and 256mb of ram.
With a 2800+ you should have no problems playing on maximum detail, with the other required hardware, of course.