Forum posts

LMFAO. love the image name soup.

I started the portal accomplishments. Man some of those transmissions are creepy.

Of course it counts. This is the development stage. Any and all ideas are accepted until a main storyline is concluded. Even the wacky ones may fit in.

I just need to get in touch with strider, and between the two of us (we birthed this whole idea in the first place) we shall decide on a direction.

its been done striker, check the old thread:
Halfway down

all of twhl? i think that'll just turn into a mess. I'm not even sure who is on the team right now. I know it's strider and myself. But once the initial coding is finished i'm not even sure where we can go at this point. But we do need a storyline, that is for sure.

My opinion too strider, which at the moment i'm trying to stay focused on coding this experience system. But i still can't figure it out.

I'm taking a few steps back and jumping into the valvewiki beginner coding tutorials.

i agree completely Jeff, but AI in games don't see darkness or bushes (if you're hidden) they see ones and zeros.. It's hard to mimic actual human behavior and right now, i wouldn't know where to start with that.

the deus ex inventory system could be sweet. and we could implement a bag of holding that takes up like 2x3 but has another half grid inside it.

it happens the first time i run a map and then minimize after a map.
After a reboot only.

I like all those ideas. But lemme get the exp code done first. I still cant get it and i dont want to frustrate myself too much with this.

Maybe i should seek out a HL2 coding forum.

wicked. Thanks atom!

No i found it.
I traced the error to a clipped-to-hell 'boulder' that i was using for some rubble. Alt+p reported no errors and the brush itself was a func_illusionary. It didnt look suspect til i remembered when i loaded the map, a clone of that brush couldnt load due to errors in the file.. stupid stupid stupid..
once i deleted that, everything was peachy.

The brush 156 error could've spawned from everything in that area being assigned to a visgroup?

I have no idea, all i know is that it's working and my mod can progress.

And Atom, i was not using the beta, just the good-ol compilator, so HLFIX was not included in the compile.

But the compilator does crash for me like every time i run my first map with the compilator still open. It's only after i disconnect from the map and minimize half life, i get the .net error. after that though it's completely fine and stable running in the background.

Plane with no normal - Tommy14 says

This error is always caused by vertex manipulation. A plane is defined by 3 unique coordinates. If any of the three coordinates are the same, then you don't really have a plane (its either a line or a point). There is no way to fix this error other than to delete the brush and recreate it completely.

Well ok so i did that to one brush, brush 156; entity 0, side 9.

exported to .map, compiled.. same error. same brush, same side.
Went back to hammer searched for the brush, and a different brush popped up. So i said.. wtf.. deleted, re-created, and recompiled.

same thing. same brush number, side, entity.. everything.
did that again like 6 times. and the thing is all the brushes that the log file is reporting have been made with the brush tool. I havent touched any of them with the VM tool, or even the clip tool.

Alt+P isn't reporting anything either.

This is bugging the CRAP outta me. Any suggestions?

Stu, i need something big. Think the mario castle scale, but i don't want to copy it. It needs rooms for each level, and the ability for certain areas to be completely locked off. Each individual door will be locked at one point so that's no big deal really.

Tha's all i ask right now jeffmod.

For now, it'll have to stay Orange box. As we need models and textures to work with.
Going for source mod alone, we'd need to create EVERYTHING from scratch - that's too large and undertaking to commit to at the moment.

And as for the singleplayer implementation, i've been following that, but i cant find the .cpp files that are the equivalents to the hl2MP .cpp files.

I have the server side mods down, but for client side, I just dont know which files to modify.

Sounds good. Atom's string of maps is complete and working. I need to overhaul the original castle design and switch out the pictures to teleporters behind doors. More half life ish, easier to control the level flow.

Or you guys can help out as well. If anyone wants to, they can post up a floor plan or layout for a castle. My creative juices are in a bind - College - final semester - muchos reportos.

It'd certainly be easier to implement a 'danger radiu's for conversation (if enemy is within like 256 units conversation cant start, or defaults to - "i hear something" or, "Stop talking, and kill that thing!"), and if the player or npc takes damage (if the npc CAN be damaged) Then the conversation is broken.
Bag of holding... As an inventory system? Details plz, stu

I'm having trouble finding all the code i need to modify. These tutorials are rubbish. It's not that i'm new to code, i'm new to seeing a structure of code that interacts with eachother... Plus its a HL2MP tutorial, and the names and line locations are COMPLETELY different.

All in all - Calling out for coder to help me out!

I/m not sure, buttttt

I FINALLY got the code to compile and run in the game!
So the first test was changing the RPG speed to 200, so you can steer it around FOREVER!
Anyway now i can move on to bigger and better things! For example, the Experience system

Yeah. I think its because i'm not running the SDK base. So that's installing right now, and i'm taking a second crack at running the initial debug.

Alt+ right click, stu, learn the magic

That'll come, Alpha coding needs to come first.

Anyone know how to code? I'm having trouble with compiling the base code.. there's like 53 errors.

half life 2, anyway.
And you know what i mean, stu
I REALLY have to find the time to sit down and study this code.
We need to take this one step at a time, i think we can do this. I'm excited.

Well it's coded into half life where you lower your weapon when you have a friendly unit targeted. We dont need to modify that at all.
We could do the conversation LOZ style (legend of zelda.) Imagine ocarina of time. Like you start a conversation, and everything freezes outside of the conversation....
although that may be harder than just having the

If combat,
Then
Don't talk
end

Yeah stu, most of this stuff is going to be implemented with code. We're going to have to make our own entities.

From what i hear it's not hard. the entities just modify variables in the code that's already running. So essentially we'd just need an entity, like jeffmod said;

logic_conversation
-Name
-Message
-Response 1
-Response 2
|
|
|
-Response 9

We can have a 'repeatable' flag as well, as to not make everything redundant.

right. didnt mean to double post, sorry

you need trebuchets and stuff.

what's wrong with teleporters? They'll work, no?

A futurama-like tube-network

You're throwing around +2's and +1's...
I'm not leaning towards a DnD RPG style; i was thinking to make it simpler than that.

Although i do like the money system. Using vending machines and all that good stuff.
Should go up in the HUD with the Experience display...

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Well i'm going to look into a free C++ program and compiler.

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Currently installing Visual Studio C++ trial edition. Sweet. It's 100% free.

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Okay i have the source files all setup, i'm looking into the adding experience tutorial in the valve wiki.
lol. wtf. the source code straight from valve doesnt even compile. 55 errors found. wonderful. i'll look at this tomorrow, got class.

Jeffmod, i love it.
I think the 'wear' percentage is a bit out of our league at the moment. I think we should focus on getting the basic groundwork laid out.
So we're gonna need code, that's just a fact. The random monster spawning is map based, so no code is needed for that.
But we're gonna need the following code:

Experience / level system
Custom HUD displaying experience and level/ objective GPS system
Choice-based conversation system
Inventory system

Once all that is laid out, we can start work... I need to look into nabbing a free C++ dev kit and compiler, until then.... well any volunteers?

There's already coding examples of experience systems on the valve wiki.
And there's a bunch of info on HUD extras too.
I didnt even think about the conversation system, that's a good point to bring up.
I've dabbled in C but i'm nowhere near good enough to write code on my own, just modify what's already there.

I dont even have a compiler.

you can still contribute! And i'd say you're right. We need an objective, a main storyline, a backbone, if you will... My original concept was this:

My basic idea for the RPG (Title unkown so far) is that this story takes place in an alternate universe. A universe when the combine came and helped us, not faught us. They advanced our technology parallel to their own, and the world is now a utopia.
Citizens of city 17 (a beach-side utopian-paradise) willingly and prodly stand up to join the metropolice and combine militia. And live comfortably knowing that they will stop any crimes that go on.

This is where gordon comes in...

In a teleporting accident gone wrong, a dimensional rift opens up and a clone of gordon appears in the alternate-reality paradise of city 17... Something's wrong though. When gordon appears, a stir is created within the socioty.
Who is this gordon character? Why doesnt he say anything? Why does he make me uneasy?...

That comes straight from the old thread. So i guess we now need to vote on a storyline? or collectively come up with one?

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We're going to need an Experience / Level-up HUD
I'm looking into that now.

Well funny you say that... I was starting work on a quest light night for it.
I figure, if we just make a good amount of separate quests that span across a few maps, the 'world' will come together quite nicely.

For example; say we have a town called "Breenia".
In the beginning, that town has a few entrances/exits, a shop, and a hospital. Quest #1 would require you to, idk, get supplies from the hospital and deliver it to little johnny who is sick and his mother can't leave his side.. Johnny and his mother would live in a house, and they'd certainly have neighbors. Essentially what i'm saying is, so long as there's a purpose for 'most everything' the towns and cities should come together quite nicely, because we would build what we need as we go.

But i agree we should start brainstorming and get a bare-bones pre-alpha working map(s)

Strider and myself have already shown proof of concept in 2 stages
-Random spawning monsters based on area: Think the pokemon RPG system, only real-time
-hammer-coded experience system; modifying weapon damage based on experience gained.

I'm going to work on this map a little longer, polish it up, and see if i can include 3 things within it:
1- Multiple objective quest that when completed, 'levels up' the character, and allows for the use of a new weapon
2- random spawning monsters with some sort of alert / effect on spawn
3- see if i can get some NPC scripts working the way i want them to.

Seeing as how i've never done ANY of those before, this is going to be a challenge, but i'll work on it anyhow.

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I'm starting a mod folder now, and upon reading the old thread, i'll see if i can do SOMETHING with an inventory system. Not quite sure how i'm going to pull it off, but i'll try.

Thinking maybe like the ouija one. Hit the "I" button and it goes to a camera showing your current items / weapons.

It's good for really complicated stuff that you don't want to turn into an entity.. or something.

It reads nodraw textures so you CAN optimize it somewhat. And basically i just wanted to try it, and it worked after a while so i'm happy with the outcome.

Yeah. I was bored today and school's canceled tomorrow due to an incoming snowstorm, so i figure i'd try out propper and see if i can model. Well it's not working.

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Propper

According to the wiki, all you gotta do is install to your sourcesdk folder, add the fgd and open a new map with some geometry in it.
Well it's not that simple and i'm getting massive errors, plus i think i just screwed up my normal configurations. (nothing a reinstall couldnt fix, or if i took the time to manually fix it)

Anyway.... I'm getting an error when loading up Hammer with the propper.fgd chosen. The status window down bottom that loads when hammer does is giving the following messages: " Undefined base class 'Targetname "
I took a look at the fgd myself, and i can't see anything wrong with it.
So for all you coders out there, here's the fgd; could you tell me what's wrong with it? Or if there's anything wrong with it in the first place?

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EDIT

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Turns out someone had a youtube tutorial on how to set it up. I would not have ever figured out how to do this with just the walve wiki documentation.

Not only do you need the FGD, you need to place an entity called info_prop_options, name the prop, set the name of the materials, and in expert compile mode, compile using 'propper.exe' as your only command.

Pain in the ass, but it works and i'm happy and i can now sleep knowing i can make my own models easily. Now i wonder if propper will export a model if the grid-snap is disabled?

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EDIT AGAIN

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There's an option in the entity that snaps the vertices to grid or not. EXTREMELY handy, therefore, the 1-unit minimum has no effect on models! Thank you, magical Alt key

OMFG i love this mod!
I've always wanted to map for it too.

cubemaps are the shit, they render all the world reflections and stuff. plop one in each room, or LONG connecting hallway, about player eye height (64 units off ground, or around there) and thats it. There's no settings you need to mess with, just put the cubemap in and you're done.
well not quite
when you're in game, bring up the console, and type in: "build_cubemaps"
You'll see the screen go black, and textures should flash in the top left corner, and it'll pop you back into the game. Sometimes you need to restart the level, sometimes you dont, but anyway it should create all the reflections and stuff.

I like the citadel wall textures when they reflect stuff.. it's win.

lawl in general

took this pic leaning out of a car at a gas station on my way to a snowboarding trip.

Yes it's nowhere near complete and i dont think it's going to be any problem if we add another map. Just find a map that you put a lot of work into but never quite got around to finishing. Post it to the unfinished vault and link it here. I'll toss it into the mix!

I haven't tried compatibility mode, idk why.I'll have to see about that, and i need to see if my drivers have anything to do with it. I have every intention of finishing Muzz, but this semester in School is a killer. My Final project is taking up 80% of my time outside of work and school. The other is devoted to G/F and family time. I'll put up a giant sticky note on the wall behind my monitor so when i DO find some down-time i'll remember to work on it.

Your string of maps is next to be worked on.

I think i have to re-design the castle though, either that or just add floors and basement levels... or seperate rooms with locked doors like mario 64...

Right now there's just 'energy' barriers in front of the pictures of the levels preventing you from accessing them.

I have 4 stages all in and linked NOT-including a training map i found lying around that i will actually set to be the training course in the mod.

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Should I ModDB this?

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Working on Atom's Submissions as we speak. I moved my slave HD to my Slave computer and will resume working on C.D. From this machine.

The slave machine runs atom's first map at 4.3FPS. This is a P4 @ 2.45 GHZ with a radeon 9550 video card. Brand new winXP SP3 installation... the machine is on its knees

My computer runs it at 50 fps... therefore the map needs optimization. I spent an hour placing some hint brushes here and there and i got the map to run at 64fps on the P4 machine... I hope i dont have this much trouble with the rest of the 11 map mod =] But it just goes to show you how much optimization is muy importanto.

do you have a suit?

If anything just func_wall the central column. That should look fine.

You do know i'm overhauling that right?
But you are correct!
I'm throwing aside fashion for function at the time being. once i get all the level changes and stuff down i'll work on aesthetics of the main building.

nice work! I'm loving it

Shoot Rimrook a PM. He's the one who wrote the tutorial; should be able to help you out.

And does the model work in-game or just not in Jed's?

no i have not disposed it, life walls me off from anything constructive....., plus i need to move all the files to my XP slave computer..., WIN 7 doesnt like Hammer 3.4 =[

No i mean using the 'CIRCUS' compilation setting WITH the compilator.

makes your lights look all funky. i'm not exactly sure what it does, or how it does it, but it's sweet.

have you tried compiling with circus? look it up.