Forum posts

PB, I think you are talking about film framerates, which are indeed different in PAL and NTSC.
But the real screen refresh rates are 50 Hz for PAL and 60 Hz for NTSC. You can perfectly see a video with higher framerates if your input device (a camcorder, a TV signal, a computer gfx card) can or could output at those rates.

The NTSC system yields a nearly flicker-free image at its approximately 59.94 hertz (nominally 60 Hz/100.1%) refresh frequency. The refresh compares favorably to the 50 Hz refresh rate of the PAL and SECAM video formats used in Europe

I can definitely tell the difference between 60 and 100 FPS when I'm playing

Strange...

there isn't any use of drawing more then 30 per seconds, the eye wont really notice, just like it doesn't in movies

You are wrong there, Elon. There is a huge difference between film frame rates and home video recordings. Can't you tell the difference when you're watching TV to know if what you are seeing is a war film or real news footage?
My tft screen has a crap response time and I can only get 40 fps on it. When I connect mi ATi to the TV, the difference is really noticeable.

I will never understand the famous world of benchmarking. Does it really matter if you get 90 or 200 FPS? I know I'll never pay for hardware that will have effects invisible to the human eye... :
50-60 Hz (like consoles are shown through TV) looks as smooth as your eye will be able to distinguish, unless you have a very big CRT monitor in which case 80 Hz or so is better.

I recommend playing cs_fallingliquid with those settings and HDR effects enabled.
Any software you can run simultaneously will also help dropping that number. I recommend re-encoding a very big AVI file or using Windows search and looking for all files that include the letter "s"

And why does the error have to be related to the wadinclude? What does it say exactly?

Why don't you try it with a small test map? Or are you waiting for us to do it?
The idea is good, but I'm not sure if sounds are replayed from the beginning once a level is loaded. I don't recall any situations of non-ambient sounds or npc sentences being interrumpted and continued after a level change...

Just in case...
TWHL forum questions aren't famous for being clear or precise.

Maybe he means creating a color decal. They don't remain in a wall forever, and they only show up if the server has certain settings enabled, like cl_allowupload 1 etc

How to make them? click

So what's your point? Randomness is part of it. That's why humans can do things that defy logic, like walking over burning ashes. If you don't call that free will, then I don't know what is!

I could buy a pizza for someone else, which is probable. And if I didn't know that person's favourite ingredients, I could freely choose whichever one I wanted, even if I wasn't going to eat it.
Saying that our actions are random means we are not limited to one option. Saying we have a lot of options to choose from is having freedom. The fact that we choose for some reason or another does not take away the fact that we are choosing.

No. I could decide not to eat that pizza and look for something else...
I have free will because I can choose between answers, be it 2 answers or 200. Of course we are limited. I have the will to fly but I don't have wings. Duh.

That's the idea. We have unlocked the art of doing many things in many ways. We have options, so we have a certain freedom inside that array of possibilities.

So what is free will?
If I can choose between a bacon+cheese pizza and a pepperoni+cheese pizza, I could never choose freely according to your definition of free will since:
-Choosing one at random would be a random event and not an act of free will.
-Choosing the one I really prefer would be conditioned by what ingredients I like most.

That's a pretty easy way of saying we can't choose. The fact is, we do. But inside a set of physical and chemical laws. The fact that we can choose randomly is already a sign of free will. A comet will always follow the paths dictated by gravitational forces, a hippopotamus will drink water from the river even if you place a water bottle next to it. etc

I thought it would appear as a configuration option before launching Hammer, just as the other games you own... I don't have dod:source so I'm not sure. But my list lets me choose between hl2, hl2dm, cs:s and hl2Ep1. If I had dod:s, I think it would be on the list.

Unless you're running into compiling problems because of MAXPLANES and stuff, you shouldn't split the level. People think that dividing a map into smaller ones is better because it means you have made more maps or means that your mod is longer
Only split levels if compiles are too long or you're reaching real engine limits.

is this because i dont have any light sources yet??

You shouldn't really ask this question.

for some reason all the reflective surfaces have purpleish pinkish, tints to them!!

Some updates wrecked the way cubemaps are written. I always used a combination of "buildcubemaps" + "mat_bumpmap 0/1" + reloading the map a few times to get it working. I have no idea why that happens. If you look at the console, it usually says something about not finding a whole bunch of reflection vmts.

There really is no tutorial to make a texture, you just... do it. The results depend on how skilled you are with the image software you are using. If you are using PhotoShop, looking for tutorials on how filters work is an option, although experimenting on your own is a better idea.
Things to have in mind. Textures that were 128x128 in HL1 will now be 512x512 to look good.

Start here since this site contains a step-by-step guide.
http://www.hl2world.com/wiki/index.php/Category:Texturing

It makes sense, but if it's just a thing you're doing for personal entertainment, don't expect much enthusiasm or outside interest without some sort of convincing media. A lot of mods never become anything because they have a wrong starting point. For example, the webpages are made before they even know how many maps the mod is going to have.

Sketchup Pro outputs .3ds and .xsi files, to name a few.

[quote] * Faster RPG speed - done

* Faster SMG rate of fire - done

* 65 SMG clip capacity rather then 45 - done

* More sprint capacity - done

* Custom animation - under development

* Cutscenes - under development

* A long and fun series of levels with adventure - under development [/quote]

If this is a serious project, that last part about the levels is the first and main thing your team should be working on. Before tweaking weapons, before making model renders, before creating a custom webpage, before trying to recrute people, etc.
I don't mean to be offensive. But you need to think about it to prevent the failures of 90% of mod projects.

Batch Compiler 3.1.1, Nem's tools.
But I only use it occassionally. I do 90% of my compiles in Hammer, close Hammer and then run the game.

i can run source and hammer 4 at the same time np. even with wmp open. i still get like 120 fps =]

That's easy if you don't say how much detail there is in the map in Hammer (and what Hammer settings you are using, like clip distance), how big is the playlist in wmp and how many effects are enabled in the Source game and what map you're running. I doubt you'd get 120 fps in cs_fallingliquid

Sluggish as in it takes more than 5 seconds for a mouse click to have effect on anything, and almost a minute until the Hammer 3D window is visible again.

I'm used to my computer being sluggish for a while after exiting any Source games. I usually close Hammer before checking the map ingame, since it'll give me a more accurate vision of what the performance will be like.

It's like saying a math test doesn't let you write beautiful literature... The contest was about who could make the best out of those 'numbers', not who could invent the best 'words'.
I thought "Orb" was very unique, and there were a lot of totally retextured versions. I will never understand the logic in your complaints. A competition is a competition, and you can always map freely on your own.

'Destructification' seemed to leave a lot of place for originality, as the entries showed.

Remember, big landmarks always help a lot in these type of town maps. That was really the only important thing missing in the other Etape and Sustenance.

Anyone here know of a way to make an exact copy of a music CD?

I would If I had any music CDs. The tracks I like are always sold with 16 tracks I don't like. Wait, I have a "Jurassic Park OST" disk somewhere

I wonder, didn't Windows XP have a built in way of creating CDs? I mean, you can legally save your tracks with Windows Media Player and then make a CD from there too, right?

There were a lot of things I found about the house since I released the hl2 version, but which would have been pointless to include in the CS version because of the already bad performance. I'll be working on a "see only" version of the whole thing in maximum detail.
Bathroom comparison
I wonder why nobody mentioned that if all the fireplaces in Kaufmann House have fire, some smoke should be coming out of the chimney. It took me more than a year to notice!

I specially liked this part.

Me:
you could buy my maps
God:
I could but let's get back to that later.
Me:
ok...

Me:
anyone home?
God:
Oh, you are a poet.
Me:
No...
God:
But your words are very original.
Me:
Thank you!
God:
you are quite welcome.
Me:
I am a mapper
God:
You are a mapper? Do you get to meet a lot of people?
Me:
yes, but in the Internet
God:
How can I help you? That was a long time ago.
Me:
you could buy my maps
God:
I could but let's get back to that later.
Me:
ok...
God:
Next question?
Me:
Are you familiar with the tau cannon?
God:
There might be more than one.
Me:
yes, there are many
God:
Yeah that's right. Where are they?
Me:
In people's PCs
God:
Tell me a little about your life in people s PCs.
Me:
I haunt them with subliminal messages hidden in my maps
God:
Interesting gossip: said haunt them with subliminal messages hidden in his or her maps.
Me:
I told you that
God:
I remember you told me that?
Me:
you have bad memory to be honest
God:
What would you consider good memory to be honest?
Me:
mine for example
God:
Can you think of another example?
Me:
an elephant's memory
God:
Be less specific.
Me:
Do you know what a snark is?
God:
Check back later and see if I learn the answer to that one.
Me:
I could tell you
God:
I am sure you could.
Me:
Should I?
God:
I do not have the answer.
Me:
please
God:
Please what?
Me:
Can I tell you what a snark is?
God:
Sure you can tell me anything. There are no restrictions on my input.
Me:
Snarks are beautiful animals found in most regions of Xen and Black Mesa
God:
Are all Snarks beautiful animals found in most regions of Xen and Black Mesa?
Me:
Some have been seen in other places
God:
Some may have been seen in other places, but not all.
Me:
exactly
God:
You and I are on the same wavelength, .
Me:
yep
God:
That's cool.
Me:
you don't have many friends, do you?
God:
That's for sure.
Me:
I'm sorry to hear that
God:
There is no need to apologize. I will play it on your soundcard.
Me:
I gotta go
God:
Bye for now.
Me:
later
God:
Bye!

I'm not familiar with that method you describe at the end of the post. If the laptop had XP home installed by default, you need to request the disk from the store you bought it from. You could always try to get a copy of XP pro, but If your mum paid for XP Home, they have to give her the disk.

Thank god for those defined shadows. That game needed lightmaps so badly. Of course, that's no easy feat with dynamic weather and changes in day time.

I just copied them from dm_lockdown.vmf and have been copy-pasting them from one map to another ever since.

I've never gotten sprites to work, besides the light glows I copied from the SDK example maps. HL1 beats Source in this case.

I'd like to point out how much the Source engine has improved since 2004. Just look at the way the metrocop is lighted and some of those HDR effects.

Don't use the "fit" button. That makes textures stretch if the aspect ratio of the brush is not the same as the texture's.
Make sure your X and Y values are the same.

They didn't work. Change from "mat_bumpmap 0" to "mat_bumpmap 1" a few times until it works (just as it happens when HDR reflections are too bright)

Let us see the screenshots first. Cubemaps don't always work properly since one of last year?s updates. At least for me.

You might have done some bad vertex manipulation, causing an invalid solid of some sort, or maybe the brush is just too big for HLrad to light it as a unit. You might need to split it in pieces. Just a guess.

Cubemaps...
One for each reflective surface (for example, glass windows, walls and floors with relective textures like the Combine ones) and one for each area with distinct lighting. (for example, one for a hallway with red lights, another one in the center of a room with orange lights at the end of the hallway etc). These last "area cubemaps" are needed if you want a correct reflection in the player's weapon models and NPCs.

Select it > tie to entity > choose func_illusionary

Maybe a custom sky with a rainbow would have looked better. I mean, when you see those New Mexico mountains you don't think about sprinkling rain.

I haven't got a complete skybox around my map yet and I have no light entities of any sort installed either... What is problem?

That's quite a big problem already. Don't expect things to work without light and with a map with leaks.
Even in successfully compile maps, overlays can act funny. Just use the "buildcubemaps" command in the console and switch between "mat_bumpmap 0" and "mat_bumpmap 1" a few times, as well as reloading the map. It will eventually be fixed.

Edit: by the way admins, when do I get a forum award haha jk

I don't see the 0% in that screenshot...

It might still be working. If you open the task manager, you'll see if the RAD procedure is still taking up a lot of CPU usage.
You should also give some sort of description about your map. If one of those 4 direct lights mentioned in the compile window is a light_enviroment lighting up a big level, compile times can end up being hours. (My last Source-engine compile was 5 hours long).

Oh, the water is no longer reflective, only refractive. The version I'm talking about would be only for looking around. The fps for the playable version are already very low!
Anyway, good luck with this map while you're at it.

Well, my problem is that I want to make some really high-density foliage to sort of "hide" the building.
My released maps show Fallingwater in the fall season. It looks so much different in spring and summer:
http://people.vanderbilt.edu/~william.corbin/Fallingwater.jpg

I made some attemps using the old tree method (flat 2D surfaces) but they look wrong. Perhaps in combination with scaled models... The HL2 trees are fine, but I'd need them to have a much taller trunk and of course, lots of leaves.

I like it, although the grey fog color doesn't seem to fit too well with that dark blue sky.
I see that the trees are your own models. Would you be interested in making a tree model (with lots of leaves) for my "definite Fallingwater" map? (you'd show up in the credits, and a lot of people will see the map).

Are you joking? That water is too bright. If it was green it'd be perfect as toxic waste.
If you want that horrible looking water, choose a blue liquid texture, give it a rendermod texture of 180, wave height value of 1 and a minimum light level of 0.8 (It doesn't seem to be light emitting water) Alternatively, using rendermode additive might make it bright too.

But you can't resize decals, can you? Sometimes a graffity needs to be bigger to cover a certain wall, etc.