Forum posts

You can't do it in regular Half-Life, but you can in the mod Sven-Coop and you'll have to make a killer mod to compete... POV is a mod with that theme... the alien's Point Of View.

Is there a reason you used monster_generic instead of a regular monster_xxx? I think the problem is the monster_generic doesn't act like a normal monster, so monsters don't react to it as they should.

And by

area style

I mean the style of area you would normally find in an arena. Yeah, um, that's what I meant.

... next one should be ready tomorrow. Very small, area style instead of free for all.

Using a negative wall thickness in the arch tool seems to create inside-out brushes, don't do it. The <shift> key is your friend; hold while rotating and it snaps 15 degrees; hold it while dragging and you get copy. Save your work frequently and sequentially -- if you screw up badly enough you may need to take a few steps back. And the most important rule,
Never taunt a moderator!

I just read a great article on Common sense vs. level design

You could try google, or wait for someone like me to make a link

That's the problem, everyone's already bored with it because we played those three maps over and over. Ricochet is easy on the resources even 56Kers can play) and it's so easy to map for we could have a fat collection of maps in no time. This one took me a day and I'll have another ready after a bit of reconstruction.

100x on the chalkboard,
I will not rotate or scale complex brush groups.

Don't make me choose between SP and MP! That's like making me choose between lasagna and baked Alaska... both are awesome, but are you looking for supper or dessert (or breakfast, man I love baked alaska!).

SP is great when I feel like thinking and paying attention to details... ever played POV? WOW. But but since I'm a tech-head and have 4 computers I like multiplayer. Online MP is OK but when you can look someone in the eye and laugh "You thought you could snipe!" - that's the best! I'm also heavy into Sven Coop, which is an even blend.

You're not the worst mapper ever, you're just willing to display work that you're not happy with. Eveyone has a few skid marks on their underwear once in a while, you just shouldn't let anyone see them! Make sure you are happy with the map, then ask a friend to check it out, then fix it, then repeat the process. Or you could map for Ricochet, it's dead easy!

Ahhhhh, the good old days... all I had was a Tandy CoCo. No hard drive or floppy, but for $15 you could buy a cable that let you use a tape recorder as storage. No monitor, let's unplug the Atari so we can plug this in. Now that I think about it, I should have asked for an IntelliVision instead of a computer.

When the patch came out I thought Ricochet was the best, but three maps will only take you so far. Guess what? Now there are four maps. Valve gave us the first three to get us started, I came up with number four to bring Ricochet back to life.

I was worried because there is only one tutorial available, but it is that simple to map for. Hit this if you want mapping info, otherwise just head over to the Map Vault to download a copy.

Yup... I'm just hoping someone who can code grabs the idea and runs with it!

Sure thing! I'll knock one out in the morning, too pooped to do it tonight... just finished a map for Ricochet.

I'd like to know how you rigged it h4mst0r, willing to give up your secrets? It looks like I misspoke... there are three ways to fudge gravity but only one in the map, others are both server side. Here's a quick intro to gravity.

Make sure to put a trigger_hurt in there with damage type set to "poo".
I heard HL2 has a "func_log" so you won't need the trigger_hurt
That's not nice

Hollowing a cylinder is ok if you don't have to shape it at all, but the arch tool automatically miters the corners to make VM, scaling, and clipping easier.
...my two cents

You must be doing things the hard way... use the arch tool, # of sides = 32, arc = 360, wall thickness = whatever you want. For a solid circle wall thickness = diameter/2. Hope this helps!

Welcome to the neighborhood!
You're new so we'll let you live... this time. To open a BSP in an editor you will have to decompile it, which is uncool. Search the forums for "decompile" and you'll see the discussion on why some people (like me) think decompiling is bad. If you actually want detailed info or tools I'd suggest hitting google.com.

I'd say skip the decompile and read the tutorial section, many have example maps. There are even more examples in the vault. Mounds of information, just waiting to be absorbed. Go... absorb... map!

You've picked the wrong game for round circles! You can make things "look" round by having many sides and using proper compile techniques, but the only round circles you will find are models or lasers. Search the forum for "circle" or "sphere" and you will see.

And Seventh-Monkey,
What good is authority if you don't abuse it?
I am an idiot.

"Nerd" really isn't the best word to describe mappers, as nerds get good grades. I'm guessing we have a well rounded collection of freaks and geeks. I'm about 75-80% "freak" and 10-15% "geek", with just enough "spaz" to keep me amused.

I have an idea for a mod, unfortunately I don't code. I'd like to see a mod with no "up" or "down, ala MC Escher. Anyone up to the task? I don't see a need for new weapons or graphics, just a way to change which way you fall. I'd suggest creating an entity called "trigger_down"... but then again I know nothing about coding.

Let me know if it can be done and I'll start mapping!

VERC has quite a bit about coding... too bad I hate code!

I'm surprised nobody beat me to it... "Tommy of Escondido" has a great page on errors. Hit this, and then bookmark the main page. Some good info, a few links, worth reading! That's assuming you already finished reading all the tutorials here

No, not the texture tool! That one never gives the option of "Marked objects only". You need to read the tut, then select a brush, then use the other replace button.

Hmmm... you can do teams but not co-op. Hit this for a tutorial posted on VERC.

lol... I almost beat you to it!

I don't know if it can be done with straingt HL, I'd suggest making it for Sven-Coop. I got tired of the silly mods people are adding to TFC so now I play deathmatch or Sven. The FGD is included when you install the mod. I'll even be kind enough to throw in a link to their website!

Oops! env_beam just happens to be the only env not detailed. And for some reason I couldn't find func_beans either!

I understand the obsession... SHE'S HOT!

Fourteen downloads but only two comments... I still need your comments! In the words of the great Johnny5, "Need input!!"

You haven't lived* until you've eaten a fried peanut butter, jelly, and bacon sandwich. If it was good enough for Elvis it's good enough for me! Then again my philosophy on life is "If cholesterol doesn't kill me a taxi will!"

*Disclaimer: If you are allergic to peanuts please change the word "lived" to"had an anaphylactic reaction".

I don't map for CS, but I would try to use the func_breakable to trigger the armoury_entities. That way the weapons won't even exist until the breakable is gone.

I'm a theif! I'll admit it and you should too... if you download copyrighted materials you are stealing! DRM might change things, but I doubt it. There are plenty of hackers with way too much free time... remember that WinXP was on p2p before it was in the stores! If p2p takes a dive I won't worry... I've known how to use FTP servers since before there was a www.

And if the Copyright Cops come knocking on my door? I planned ahead for that... the DSL is in my dog's name so he's the one who will be arrested / sued / beaten with bamboo canes.

Gravity works 3 ways... server settings, map settings, or the player touching a trigger_gravity brush. This could be ugly but...

cover the floor of the map with a trigger_gravity
skip the delay but make sure to name it and set grav level
use a multimanager or trigger_relay set to 59 for timing
use a trigger_auto set to 1 to start multimanager

I can throw together a sample map if you want, just post a message here or email me.

Hit this: http://www.karljones.com/halflife/gravity.asp

"Where the Wild Things Are" is still my favorite book. The pic is from the last page, when he comes home for supper,
"...and it was still hot."

I always have at least two maps working at any given time, usually different mods. When I run into a problem spot on one I switch to the other. Usually they are for different mods (DM and SP or Sven Co-op), so it changes the way I think about mapping. If that doesn't help I make a mini map to test tricks... build a teleporter that switches destinations, see how many snarks it takes to fill a 128 unit cube, make a "punish-the-scientist" map... something to take your mind off of the trouble map. If I'm still stuck I quit mapping and watch a movie. Unfortunately that can give you even more ideas... I just watched "The Time Machine" and now I want to build the river world in the future. Too many curves and open areas for HL, maybe I'll try it when HL2 is released.

Music makes a big difference too... keep your mind moving. Make sure to mix it up; even if you really like techno slip in a few classical songs, maybe some light jazz. Electronic beats stimulate my brain, but switching from "Dj Dymension" to "English Chamber Orchestra" to "Led Zepplin" keeps things moving in my mind.

It doesn't matter how long it takes to "finish" a map. Do not publish it until you are happy with it. I've been mapping for a couple of years and just published my first map... I simply wasn't satisfied with any of the others. If someone bangs out a map in two hours they didn't put any love into it, any soul, and that's what mapping is all about. I can literally create a world and alter almost any aspect of that world, why settle for a so-so world?

At least that's my two cents,
Craash420

Clip brishes are used to stop the player from going somewhere they shouldn't. [shameless plug] In the deathmatch map I just posted, "Mkay", I had to use clip brushes under the catwalks. You can shoot through but will never get stuck. [/shameless plug]

Not sure what happened there... or if this one will post anon. I still don't have an avatar so you're not missing much . I've been lurking for a while and I like what I've seen so far, so I signed up. If you're into deathmatch check it out. I've played with one other person and had sniper wars, we also added a bunch of bots... which lead me to my latest revision. I won't say more about that... there should be a few surprises in the game.

No longer the newest member,
Craash420

I finally made a map that I'm not ashamed to put my name on
Search the map vault for "Mkay", I'm pretty sure it's finished so it's in the "completed maps" section. There's not much of a "theme" to it, just a funky little killing ground. I'm working on bot files for you 56K'ers but it will probably be a while, unless someone wants to do them for me, lol. I don't care about ratings but I would love comments on it!

Thanks,
Craash420

Has anyone here successfully used monsters in a deathmatch map? Snarks are the only monsters I've been able to use and I want a tank full of ichthyosaurs! I didn't try monster_generic because they have to be able to attack. Any suggestions?