Forum posts

Quick update?

I?ve found a fix (i hope)...

For some reason, whenever I point my torch at a decal (or overlay) in HL2 (or mods) the surface behind is lit but the decal itself stays dark. This doesn?t happen in Episode One.
All my Steam stuff is fully updated, as is my graphics card driver.
I had this problem before my prior Steam update (Episode One?s release) and assumed it would be fixed now?but no.

I don?t suppose there?s a nice console command to fix all this?

I just got Steam updated for the first time since Episode One yesterday. To get the SDK to work I had to add ??engine ep1? in launch options.
Now every time I try to browse for props Hammer crashes.
Reinstalling the SDK is not an option due to lack of internet at home.
Any ideas?

If you're worried it's the textures, why not replace them with standard HL ones, recompile and see if it works?

Counter-Strike: Source
Black Mesa: Source (I know it's dropped the 'source' bit now)
Danbix Cube: Source

...it amused me

It's a rotating cube colour puzzle, made in the HL2 Source engine.
Why? I accidentally destroyed mine, and realized that it should be possible to recreate it using Source's Uber-powerful entity I/O system.

I was saving it for my upcoming HL2 single player mod, but since that's ages away and this is really clever I didn't want anyone to beat me to it
There's no point to it - it's just a tech demo.

The arena is a bit rough, but that?s not the point ? it?s all about the cube!

Feel free to decompile this map and learn from it. Credit me if you make anything based on it.

Enjoy!

http://www.twhl.co.za/mapvault_map.php?id=4891

I havent actually bought the game yet - i was just wondering if anyone else had tried it on a 64Mb card. Does Ep2 demand more than, say, Lost Coast? LC runs OK on my system (a little laggy, but easily playable)I've been told "get a second hand 128Mb card for ?20" by a few people and i'll probably end up doing that...

Yes i know 64mb is crap these days
And even yesterdays for that matter.
And i know my comp is ancient but it's not worth upgrading just for one game (or rather, one add-on pack).

Months ago Valve released the specs for the Episode Two bundle. Amongst them was ?DirectX 8 graphics card?. Yay! I can play it! It?ll look like shit and judder like hell but it?ll run!!!
Upon release, I go to the store and pick up the Orange Box?and it says ?128Mb DX8 card?. Mine?s only 64Mb! Quite a let down?
Five years ago I turned down the 128Mb Geforce 4 because the 64Mb one was clocked a lot higher and outperformed it by quite a margin (according to PC mags and the internet at the time).
www.steampowered.com swears any DX8 card will manage it. The box says otherwise.
Anyone playing Episode 2 or Portal on a 64Mb card? Will it work or won?t it?
A tiny part of me holds out hope it?s only TF2 (which I?m not interested in) that needs 128Mb V-ram?

Hunter's right: I want to use npc_citizen (and all it's skins) as well as the new one (which will have a new model, same animations and different sounds).
Can anyone point me to a website that deals with this?

I want to create a new NPC class for a character in my upcoming HL2 mod.
I?m hoping to be able to clone npc_citizen and use a new model and sounds with it.
(many HL1 mods like Azure Sheep did similar stuff in HL1)
However I can?t find any tutorials or websites to help me do this.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
(My only net access is though my library right now so I?ll be a few days getting back to anyone)
Thanks.

I'll give floating line a try when i'm on my home PC.
Best of luck if you're gonna try a displacement corridor. I wouldn't recommend it, but it would be extremely impressive if it worked. Maybe a program along the lines of DispEd or DispGen could do these things automatically?

KingDaniel?s Cool things that DON?T work in HL2/Source #3: Twisting Zelda 64 Corridor

Anyone remember the first Zelda on the N64? Xmas 1998? It was the forest temple (I think) that had a super cool corridor which warped 90-degrees.
Forget the Prey-style gravity trick accompanying this, and concentrate on making a corridor that twists 90-degrees (so the door at the other end is on its side).
Can?t be done in HL2. I used the twisting pillar demos (from the Vault) as a start but found it impossible because the twisting pillars don?t maintain the same size as they twist (thus creating gaps between the walls and floors). I tried the freeware program Revolver but when I put in the right formula the resulting brushes were invalid. The best I could do was to set an offset of 1 on the brushes, but then the walls wouldn?t match up (again). There is a slim chance that someone with far too much time on their hands could do it manually out of terrain, but that?s impractical in the extreme.
It would be fairly easy for anyone with XSI (or other Source-compatible modelling prog) knowledge: Export brushes from Hammer, twist in XSI and send back as a prop. But if it?s not done in Hammer with brushes it?s cheating!

KingDaniel?s Cool Things That DON?T Work on HL2/Source #1: Changing Radio Channels with Live Env_Speakers

I had a set up of: a neat room with a radio in it, some hidden, inaccessible ?side rooms? with the various sound sources in (a Breencast, some looping music, Combine radio chatter) and some speakers relaying the sound to the radio(I?m not going to tell you how to do speakers here, sorry).
A button on the radio switched between radio channels (turned all speakers off, played a tuning noise then re-activated one of them). Using the speakers meant that all sounds could have the tinny radio filters. It also meant the sounds would not re-start from the beginning every time you switched to that channel giving an authentic ?live radio? feel.
It didn?t work. When switched over, the radio would not pick up a sound already in progress, it had to start playing while the radio was ?live?. For example, on the Breencast (a choreo scene made up of several wav files) there would be silence until a new wav (usually the next sentence) started.
While writing this something did just occur to me: The Source-powered game Vampire: Bloodlines had a very similar feature in it. How did they do it? Easily enough: They probably put a few looping ambient_generics by the radio, set the volume of all but one to zero and have a button cycle the volume?s of each up in turn while turning down all the others. Still not the same and not nearly as flexible as my first idea?

KingDaniel?s Cool Things that DON?T work in HL2/Source #2: Burning messages on walls with lasers

Remember that blowtorching-a-hole-in-the-door thing the grunts used to do in HL1? And some used the idea to have lasers burning messages on walls using a similar technique? Well, it doesn?t work in HL2. The decals on the wall come out horribly mangled, giant, non-translucent and grey.
Sorry, can't post a screenshot of what the result looks like....
I should point out that my HL2 hasn?t been updated in months, it may have been fixed by now.
Mod plot device?.ruined!

Prison escape maps have been done a million times so it'll be diffucult to do anything 'new'.
You could have soldiers and barneys as guards, and a scene where a soldier is kicking the crap out of a scientist prisoner, and barney tries to stop him. Barney gets killed starting a Barney Vs. Soldier prison guard riot. Then someone lets the prisoners loose...You could even have the scientists running around sticking syringes in people at random once they're loose.

A soap sequence sounds funny, too

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!
It was ?too many light styles on a face?. The fix is to put 1 unit thick ?Block Light? textures midway between the lights to stop them overlapping. Apparently spacing the lights out isn't enough (i guess they overlap when they 'bounce').
You?d think that after mapping for 5 years I?d notice all the warnings on the compile dialogue
On the plus side, the result is really cool...
Thanks anyway, everyone!

Exos: I tried it that way first. Didn't work so i went for the simpler method i mentioned above. I used a logic_relay becuase that way it's easier to switch between trigger methods (i.e. button, trigger_once, put it after some other event etc. without copy+pasting all the outputs and changing "On Touch" to "On Trigger" etc.)
There were four lights.
I'm not at my home computer right now but i will post it in the problem maps area at some point...

I used a simple trigger_once to a logic_relay turning on light 1, then light 2 2 seconds later, then 3 etc.
No compile errors (avoided the max switchable lights on a face thing -can't remember what it's really called- VRAD does by spacing the lights apart).
All i'm trying to do is the same as is done in the HL1 intro - where all the lights down the train tunnel go on as you pass.
Can anyone else get a similar effect to work in HL2? I want to know if it's my aged comp or a weird engine limitation in HL2...

I've been trying for ages to create a corridor with lights that turn on as you walk past them. The problem is that only the first two lights light up the level. The others will light up the players weapons and (sometimes) npc's but not the world.
Any ideas?
I should point out that i haven't updated HL2 in 6 months and i'm using an old computer (geforce 4 ti4200 64mb gfx card).
Thanks...

Even More Mapping crimes?..

Prop Overload (or Prop Prop Prop Prop?to the tune of the popcorn song)
Mappers trying to disguise a plain box room by covering every surface with props. Then filling it with a hundred or so crates.
Props are great and are essential to a great map, but have decent mapping underneath it, please!

Line It Up!
A lot of people build maps in segments, then put them together. That?s fine. Unless you?re left with ?steps? at the end of every other corridor where the mapper hasn?t lined it up perfectly. This is not as easy to avoid in HL2/Source as you might think ? when dragging large selections that include props things tend to offset by a fraction of a unit. The only fix for this I know of is to select all the brushes, realign them perfectly then re-align the props afterwards. Is there an easier way? Ctrl+B doesn?t quite do the trick when brushes and props are selected.

Leaks
People have said about fullbright maps before, but people that release maps that have leaks happened quite a bit in HL1, and with the ?Load Pointfile? command there?s no excuse.

Subtitles
If you record an important bit of dialogue for your game at home on an ultra cheap microphone please put subtitles in. I?ve played mods (for HL1)where I?ve been told to ?huff huff-ufff uff mmmu-ufff-mmm-mmm, Gordon!? Even after re-loading and cranking up the volume I don?t know exactly what was said. Hard-of-hearing people will also thank you for adding subs even if your recording quality is perfect.

Including the Soundcahe Files in your zip/rar/exe
Totally unnecessary! These files are HUGE (around 20mb per map!) and thus increase download size enormously, for files that are created by HL2/Source anyway when you load a map for the first time (hence the longer load time for a map first time round)

Stealing Other People?s Stuff Without Permission
I?ve played a few HL1 maps that have borrowed textures/props from other mods/games seemingly without permission or credit. Not cool.
I played a pretty bad HL2 mod a while ago and when looking though the files I found many skyboxes with highly suspicious names?.like ?e3_lab? and ?air_exchange?. Me thinks these are from the nicked beta HL2 (they aren?t included in any Source games I?ve seen!).

Using Prop Textures
Some prop textures are fine to use during mapping (just look at Valve?s maps), but many will give you that ?flicker? ? the wall/floor/etc being the same brightness as the bit the player is standing in. This leads to walls turning black when the player goes into the shadows. People still make this mistake?.surely it?s obvious somethings wrong when playtesting?

Impossible Stairs
When people make stairs by mass-copy-pasting a rectangle, so that (from the side view) the top right corner just touches the bottom left of the next one. How do these stairs hold themselves up? If the mapper gives them braces down the sides, or has them overlap a bit that?s fine. Or Vertex-Manipulate the bottom face into a slant so it all fits nicely together.

My Suit Was Where?..?
I played a few HL1 maps where it was easy to miss the essential room containing your power suit and weapons. Then not realize until several maps later. Why wasn?t I blocked from progressing until I had them? In HL2 you can spawn with whatever you need, so this need never happen again! I hope.

Invisible Walls
I have yet to see this in HL2 mods. I?m not talking about acceptable ?sensible? clipping (if you stack tons and tons of stuff to try jumping over the mesh fences just before you get in the buggy in HL2) but the kind where you have 2 or 3 routes, but a mysterious force blocks one or more of them. Probably obsolete with HL2?s Combine Forcefields?.which will probably replace invisible walls as an over-used annoyance pretty soon.

I think that?s about it?..

A few more mapping crimes i thought of??

File Not Found Error!
People not putting all the required files in a mod/map. I was guilty of this myself in the first release of my Life?s End mod (for HL1, fixed version in the Vault if you didn?t know) I missed out some textures. In HL2 if you do this you just get a nice pink checkerboard pattern (type ?map intro? at the HL2 console to see an alternate intro with this).

Stupid Dead Barney/NPC
If you have a bit where you lead an NPC somewhere to open a door, and they die please put a player_loadsaved entity in! Or in HL2 you can make them invincible.

(HL1 specific) Elevator Bug
If you can?t avoid the elevator bug, put an auto-save in just before you hop on. There was a map in the Project Quantum Leap pack where a scientist got stuck, I?d saved thinking he was just behind me?.I know this one belongs in the HL1 section but it really annoyed me!

Unavoidable Pain/death
I?ve come across this in several HL1 maps, not seen it in HL2 yet, but:
Usually this is a big fall or something where the player can?t avoid being hurt. Problem is, if you only have about 3% health left, you?re gonna die. A simple health pack/terminal before the fall would ensure you had enough health to survive.

Every type of baddie/texture on screen at once!
I?ve only seen this once on an HL2 mod, there was a Strider, soldiers (and super soldiers), turrets, antlions, headcrabs and an APC on screen at the same time and my game degenerated into a slideshow before I saw anything else.

Thanks for all your posts on this so far

Big List of Mapping Crimes

A list of those things you hate but keep popping up in maps and mods. I thought it would make a good reference for mappers of what NOT to do. This is mainly focused on single-player and HL2 mapping. Post what you hate in maps. Here?s mine:

Too many baddies
This ruined Coastline to Atmosphere for me, as well as a ton of Russian-developed HL1 and Return to Castle Wolf mods. In games like Serious Sam and Painkiller it works fine, but HL?s baddies aren?t meant to be used that way, and for those who play on Hard it can lead to the premature death of mice/monitors and loud swearing.
Four baddies, well placed can be much more fun to fight than 20 spawning outside a door and pouring in for five minutes. Unless you?ve got the super gravity gun and access to those Combine energy balls?.

The Damn HL2 Helicopter
The HL2 helicopter is great?.it just takes about a million hits to kill with an RPG. So why don?t people do the simple thing and use the Entity I/O to set it to die/retreat after taking a few hits? If not replace it with a gunship or two. Anything that takes more than six RPG rockets to take down becomes boring, fast. Especially if the guy who put it there doesn't even give it a path and it just hovers there....

A total lack of scripted sequences
I miss those incidental moments that made HL and HL2 feel so alive ? npc?s doing and saying things, seeing stuff going on beyond a window. In most HL2 mods, it?s just baddies standing around waiting to be shot, and if you?re lucky they charge in though a door.

Squeaky-Clean War Zones
I was playing an HL2 mod the other day, and there was a street war going on. A pretty unconvincing one. Some buildings were damaged, there were some fires but it was all wrong. A building with it?s front destroyed would leave a huge load of rubble. There was nothing. It was like the cleaners had come in ? no burn decals, no nothing. The fires were messed up too ? they were just flames on the (concrete) floor. Concrete doesn?t burn.

S-S-S-Slowdow-w-w-w-n-n-n
Too many HL2 maps I?ve played have slowed to a crawl on my (admittedly ancient) PC (from 2002). What ever happed to r-speeds (or whatever the HL2 equivalent is)? HL2 has areaportals, occulenders, hint brushes and people need to use them!

That?s all I can think of right now. Anything Else?