Forum posts

Nefarious

Posted 11 years ago2012-10-29 22:54:35 UTC
in Now Gaming: ... Post #310663

MechWarrior IS BACK! Open Beta Style!

MechWarrior: Online

EDIT: Forgot to mention, its FREE to play.

Some of you might remember back in 2008 or 2009 there was a video posted by IGN featuring scenes from what was referred to as "MechWarrior 5", however there was a "supposed" controversy over licensing rights of some of the 'Mech designs used in the video. As it turns out there was never an issue and that was all a bunch of malarkey, seeing as the video was only a tech-demo for what is now known as MechWarrior: Online, which is now running on CryEngine 3.

For those of you who don't know anything about MechWarrior, you are the pilot of giant, lumbering, walking battlemechs armed to the teeth pumping lasers, missiles, and ballistics into your opponents torsos and limbs.

The game takes place in the BattleTech universe in the year 3049, which is about a year prior to a major event in that timeline known as the Clan Invasion. The game is designed to progress in real-time, where one year in game is one year in real-life.

MechWarrior: Online can be loosely defined as a "first person shooter", but not in the same sense as many know it to be. If you play this game like a typical "run-and-gun" style FPS like Call of Duty, you will die, and most likely your team will die as a result of a loss of firepower.

The game is designed to be heavily team-oriented with communication and coordination being paramount, and as a person who played in closed-beta I can certainly vouch for that. (Kill/Death Win/Loss ratio of .5 before to 2.1 after joining pre-made groups on Teamspeak.)

This tutorial video explains a lot about the game and how to play.

The game has just opened to the general public for BETA today and still requires a bit of tweaking/work but so far I have had a lot of fun whilst playing (more so when in a group that is communicating.)

If anyone wants to join in the carnage hit me up.

Nef

Nefarious

Posted 11 years ago2012-10-24 01:30:38 UTC
in Open Vehicle Sketch Pad Post #310576

The short answer is:

Not directly. You would need to, as Tetsu0 said, save the model into a format that is used by another modeling program. See the end of this post for information on that.

The long answer:

The term "Model" is general and broad; there are many different forms of modeling and very different ways of accomplishing the same task.

This program is a computer aided design (CAD) program which is a way of accomplishing the creation of a 3d model that is very different from the way most "gamers" are accustomed to, and would lack the tools necessary for a standard "game" model.

However, if someone really wanted to create something, in this case something exhibiting a necessity for some form of aerodynamic properties, then this package would help because it has an integrated finite element analysis (FEA) solver for fluid flow [referred to as computational fluid dynamics or CFD]. This would allow the user to check the design of their model for aerodynamic efficiency (Lift/Drag ratios, pressures on surfaces, etc.)

Although, it would be highly unnecessary and difficult to achieve the right scale relative to the game it shall be used in because of the nature of aircraft design. What I mean by that is that the program uses no units of measurement directly, it only uses relative scalars (Essentially ratios of different dimensions; eg: length/width/height/etc).

If after all this you would still wish to use this program you would need to have a few things. You would have to have a program capable of importing the model the model data created by VSP as well as being able to export to the standard used by the game engine for which you are mapping for.

From the user manual of VSP:

"Import

One can import information in different file formats, too. Currently, the program supports two file formats: Sterolith file (.stl) and NASCART file (bodyin.dat).

Export

Files may also be exported as well. Currently, the following formats are supported: Felisa file (.fel), Cross Section (XSec) file (.hrm), Sterolith file (.stl), Rhino3D file (.3dm), NASCART file (bodyin.dat), TecPlot file (.plt), STecPlot file (.plt), and Persistence of Vision Raytracer (.pov)."

- For those of you TL:DR -

This pretty much limits you to using the Stereolithography format, which luckily enough is capable of being imported into many other CAD programs as well as direct modeling programs such as Autodesk Maya, and 3DStudioMax.

So your process would be: Model in VSP, export to .stl, import .stl into modeling program, fix any mesh errors/visual problems, save it into a useable form for whatever engine you are going to use it for.

Though there is no guarantee that this will even directly compile into a model suitable for use in a game such as Half-Life. I would find it to be very interesting to see it done.

Nef

Nefarious

Posted 11 years ago2012-10-20 02:45:55 UTC
in Help with map for online server. Post #310475

When posting that you have a problem with a map, it is immensely useful to provide as much detail and information as possible; also it must be provided in a coherent manner. This will provide the community with the information necessary to understand what it is that you want fixed as well as furnish enough information to allow us to provide you with the steps required to do so.

An example of how not to do this is exactly what you have done so far. Which is exactly why people have been ignoring you.

For future reference and the salvation of this problem thread you must provide the following:

ENGINE: (eg. probably goldsource [HL1])
GAME: (eg. from what I gather its probably counter-strike)

INFORMATION: A brief explanation of the problems you are encountering, ie. is this problem occurring IN GAME, or is it a failed compile. Does it occur in a particular section of the map, or is it immediate on map load. Are there any other errors in your compile log. How long ago was it that you had a working map? Did it ever work? Is there any other information that you believe to be pertinent.

COMPILE LOG: Provide the entire compile log. Snippets don't help because they could only be side effects of prior errors in the build process.

This is all basic information that is needed, this is not to "yell" at you, it is only to allow us to be able to understand what it is that you want.

Also, in reference to your original error posted: READ THIS

This will explain to you why it is that we need more information as the error thrown can be a result of numerous issues.

Nef

Nefarious

Posted 11 years ago2012-09-29 09:15:13 UTC
in The Core Post #310138

How about this?

Considering it shows an actual program used from one of my labs during undergrad engineering - LabVIEW experiment control software with a setup to control and collect data from a pitot probe traversing a supersonic jet of fluid. Included is a still from a Schlieren camera (these things are cool) that lets you actually see the supersonic flow as well as the shock diamonds that form as a result of the nozzle.

Also for completion I added the data from that pass of the probe, as well as a shameless plug for TWHL.

If you'd like the raw files, where you can actually see the entire panel of the program without the extraneous data, just ask.

Nef

Nefarious

Posted 11 years ago2012-09-21 23:00:55 UTC
in TWHL HDD Benchmarks Post #309973

@The_(c)Striker: I got it for about $99 on sale.

Nefarious

Posted 11 years ago2012-09-21 09:26:57 UTC
in TWHL HDD Benchmarks Post #309961

Extremely recent build which explains why I'm back after nearly 3 years. Oh and I have a Windows Experience Rating of 6.5 because I'm using the new i7's HD4000 on-die GPU (Had to cheap out somewhere and it ended up being losing a dedicated GPU). Which isn't that bad, ran Black Mesa just fine.

HDD: Mass Storage and General Use

Western Digital Caviar Black 7200RPM 500GB/32MB cache (WDC WD5002AALX) [2012]

SSD: OS and Read-Intensive Programs

Samsung 830 Series 128GB (MZ-7PC128) [2012]

Nefarious

Posted 11 years ago2012-09-21 08:34:25 UTC
in Post your screenshots! WIP thread Post #309960

Lookin' pretty good there Habboi.

I don't mean to nit-pick, but something caught my eye that doesn't quite look right aesthetically/structurally. It's all those pipes; they all seem to span a large distance without having anything supporting them. You can definitely see it in the last two pictures.

Pipes that run along the ceiling like that typically either have some sort of scaffolding, for larger/heavier diameter pipes, or "simply" supported by a drop-down cross-beam every "x" feet.

Something like this for those red pipes: Link

And maybe something a bit heavier-duty for those large gray ones in the bomb site.

It'll also help to break up the monotony of the ceiling on that bottom-right picture.

Nef

Nefarious

Posted 13 years ago2011-04-13 06:54:47 UTC
in The Tournament of Retro Maps Post #293480

Harr, I was waiting for someone to do that. Looks like we have a winner!

Nefarious

Posted 13 years ago2011-02-06 06:37:58 UTC
in [LIGHTNING] Demonstration Map for Lightn Post #290108

There's a section in the Map Vault for example maps. You should upload it there so that it won't get buried and subsequently lost to the black hole that is the Forums.

Nefarious

Posted 13 years ago2011-02-01 21:19:47 UTC
in The Future of TWHL Post #289926

What makes "The Whole Half-Life" such a good name is the fact that it matches well with the subtle physics puns that were used in Half-Life, such as the chapter headings (e.g. "Surface Tension").

I do like the idea of "MapVault." It does preserve an aspect of TWHL, the only thing about it is that it seems a little too specific, and by default not generic enough.

As of this moment I can only think of a few, and most of them are just variants of each other. They aren't particularly good and probably unappealing in that they include some generic terms. I've annotated the ones that I sort of like and aren't terrible.

[Science/Pun]

Ground-State

Ground-State Game Editing (GSGE)

Ground-State Game Modification (GSGM)

Ground-State Level Design (GSLD) This is O.K.

[Roots lie in HL to preserve history, not indicative of HL]

The Lambda Map Bunker (TLMB)

Lambda Level Design Collective (LLDC)

Lambda Level Design Reactor (LLDR) I kind of like this one.

The Level Design Collective (TLDC)

The Level Design Reactor (TLDR) harr harr, and this one

Nefarious

Posted 13 years ago2010-11-17 18:16:41 UTC
in Skybox Crash Post #287099

Yes It's name is cl_desert

That might be your problem. In the sky name field just put "desert".

Nefarious

Posted 13 years ago2010-06-28 02:03:46 UTC
in CS:S problem Post #282430

I take it you're running a game through a normal listen server (eg creating a game from main menu) and not a dedicated one, correct?

Also, does your computer access internet through a router or is it directly connected to the internet?

If it is behind a router, your router's firewall is blocking communications through the ports necessary for a server to gain access to the outside world. So even though Steam Friends shows you as being in game and in a server, the game server is prohibited from gaining access to the steam server list, and more importantly your brother's computer, ie the "Server is not responding" spiel. The game's address should also read as a subnet address and not a normal IP address.

What you are going to have to do is set up Port Forwarding on your router. In order to do that you are going to have to first gain access to the router. I can only comment on how to do this for a Linksys router, so hopefully you know how to do that. Its typically done through a web browser by typing its address (typically the first address in your subnet, eg 192.168.1.1 for Linksys). Enter the username and password if you are prompted for it.

Right here is where I'm going to stop and confirm what type of router you are using.

In the mean time you can have a look at this page, it will aide you in setting up port forwarding for pretty much any router, and quite a few specific games. Select your specific router, skip the advertisement and when you browse through the applications section you want to find "Half-Life 2 Steam Server". Follow the directions there. It may take some time tinkering but you should be able to get it eventually. If you need further help just reply here.

I should also take time to mention that this is inherently dangerous as it is in fact semi-permanently opening ports on your router that will be open, and stay open so long as you have those ports enabled to be forwarded.

Nefarious

Posted 13 years ago2010-06-06 01:32:19 UTC
in Competition 28 Vote-O-Rama Post #281564

I've had an idea for a while but was unsure of whether to suggest it as a mini competition or community competition or if I should just implement the idea in a map. This pretty much gives me the motivation and the opportunity to propose it so here it is (luckily I had most of it written down):

Map a Dynamic Environment

The theme of the map should fit into the dynamic environment category. Things moving, things able to be moved, things that move when something is triggered, things that move when something is shot, things that move in a unique way. This may seem a bit broad, but that is the point.

Quasi-static elements that have the ability to change either through a pre-set script, or ones that change at the player's whim, eg: shootable objects that attain visible damage/explode, or areas that become disabled/enabled due to damage to the environment.

Using the proper blend of different ways of changing an environment should prove to stretch all the muscles in your mapping body, with quite a bit of strain on the old noggin. Complex entity work combined with appropriate detail and environment mapping is a must, however a clever entity setup may be able to mask mapping weaknesses and visa versa. The key word in that sentence is "may."

The level of difficulty of this type of competition is somewhat high with respect to a coherent finished product, but it should provide an adequate amount of artistic freedom given to offset this. Proper planning and even better execution would benefit participants greatly.

Some things to keep in mind for the entrants: Things that are breakable should look like they can/should be broken, and with the proper force necessary, eg: a thick brick wall shouldn't explode due to a single stray bullet. Also, if an area that is sealed off in multiplayer should have the ability to be unsealed if there is only one way in/out.

Care should be taken into not overdoing things and interfering with the "realism" aspect. Realism is in reference to shooting or touching something and having it instantly break, aka highly improbable events regarding physics. Things that happen due to player interaction should make sense, however if you can pull something off that doesn't quite make sense but looks good, go for it.

In summation, the map you are to create should be chosen with a theme that accompanies lots of stuff that moves/has the potential to change in appearance and/or shape. An environment that can be shaped by the player in some way or a map that changes by itself. The map can be a sequence of events, a seemingly static environment, or a fully dynamic environment that constantly changes. The ideal entry will have a proper combination of the three. Gameplay would also be welcome if pulled off properly.

Further (albeit weak) examples:

Single player: Half-Life 1: Residue Processing - Lots of conveyors, func_rotatings.

Multiplayer: HLDM: Undertow - Lots of flowing water, drowning room, things that move/cause movement in general.

Source games should be quite obvious as to the routes that can be taken in terms of player interaction, but should require just as much thought and execution as the Goldsource games. I have an example for Source but I can't remember where I saw it so it only exists in my mind.

Goldsource entries should probably be judged separately from Source/OB entries. The way in which environments are made interactable in Source differ from that of Goldsource which I feel warrants the separation of the two. This of course is dependent on the amount of entries and ultimately the judge's decision. Also, if this is chosen I wouldn't mind either aiding the judges in what to look for or judging in general.

Hopefully that wasn't confusing to anyone and if you think it needs further clarification I'll try to explain it.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2010-02-18 09:41:19 UTC
in Map ideas for twhl dm server Post #279047

Well, if there was one ridiculous as hell item to fill a warehouse with, what would that item be?

Toll booth barricades and dimes. We're going to need a shitload of dimes.

I'm not so sure about how much vertical wall is showing on the exterior of the building as well as the perimeter wall. It is probably an illusion from the screen shot, however, I'm sure you'll address it anyway as its only a couple of days old. Other than that, looks good zeeba. Good luck.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2010-02-11 23:58:34 UTC
in I see that there are lots o' tutorials f Post #278858

Many of the tutorials for TFC don't exist, or at least don't anymore since TFMapped went down. I've been meaning to upload the basic tutorials that I salvaged but I've been quite busy the past couple months, not to mention too lazy to do so.

The first bit of advice I'm going to offer you is a warning. Although the basic structure of TFC and Half-Life are similar the differences in the way they function are severe, and that severity depends on each game mode. The translation of this is that just because you can make an "awesome" map for Half-Life, does not mean that you can jump straight into TFC and do the same, let alone have the game modes function properly. TFC revolves around the use of the info_tfgoal point entity, which controls everything from spawn points to flags and ammo/armor packs, and the i_t_g brush entity which acts in a similar fasion to the trigger entities (except it adds more conditional options).

The easiest way to counter the change is to "copy" an existing map's setup, eg: Dustbowl's style for Invade/Defend, 2fort's style for CTF, etc. Notice that I wrote copy in quotations as you need to tailor each setup to the needs of your map.

On top of that you need to take into account other factors, such as what Huntey pointed out. The flow of the map is extremely important. If you have a map that consists of a single line from Team 1 to Team 2 the map will undoubtedly fail, and fail miserably for obvious reasons. The corollary, however, is not true. If you have 1,000 different ways to get to each base it makes it impossible to defend and/or it will cause confusion and lead to people getting lost in your map, which is bad.

The right blend of paths depends heavily on the game mode, your plan for the map and the abilities of different classes. After you have the structure and gameplay mechanics finished you still need to conduct a series of playtests to pinpoint where you may have balance problems and address them accordingly.

The easiest style to replicate is a generic CTF map, however, I could give you a walkthrough of how dustbowl works in terms of paths, defensive positions, choke points, and capture point setup. I will instead leave that for you to figure out. Take a look at why certain maps are set up the way they are and provide reasoning for each. When you can do that you should be able to design a map around those aspects.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2010-01-27 19:23:31 UTC
in Why is it.... Post #278484

First off, Striker, I am an American.

I am not, however: Fat, Rich, Play CoD:MW2 or Dirt2.

I do appreciate old games and quite often feel a sense of nostalgia when I happen to come across a game that I played WELL before you were even born.

Half-Life's graphics and gameplay were exceptional, and still can suprise you to this day.

I get an overwhelming sense of joy doing things other than playing games as well.

I don't need to Wikipedia basic terms such as half-life in order to make a proper rebuttle.

If you are disturbed by Encyclopedia Dramatica then that to me proves that you are still a child.

Having said all that, if you persist to live in your delusions and ignorance about people from other countries, such as the U.S., then you will most certainly go nowhere in your professional life, as you have to deal with those people on a daily basis.

Almost forgot, enjoy watching your Tom & Jerry (AMERICAN) cartoon.

Thanks.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2010-01-21 22:31:39 UTC
in Glossy/Shiney models and textures Post #278262

If you haven't added any env_cubemap's to your map yet, then yes. You'll want to add at least one per room/hallway (depending on how large of a room/area it is) at about head-height (approximately 64 units above the floor). Then you'll have to run the 'buildcubemaps' command in game to finish the process.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2010-01-21 22:06:48 UTC
in psiRAVEtest05 Post #278258

Warning: Too many direct light styles on a face(coordinates given)

You have too many different kinds of light shining on a face(patch) of a brush: either differently named switchable lights, or flickering or strobing lights, or lights with a custom appearance. You need to remove some of these lights in the problem area (probably where you have the most such lighting), or combine the lights' properties into the same style. You can have more than one light shine in an area, but 3 styles maximum; but the lights should be the same light type/custom appearance/name(if any) if possible. The new switchable texture lights count as one dynamic style if they are all the same type/custom appearance/name.

http://www.slackiller.com/tommy14/errors.htm

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2010-01-20 19:47:36 UTC
in Simple algebra fraction help Post #278191

1/(x+1) + 5x/(x^2-1) = 4/(x-1)

Start with the left side:

1/(x+1) + 5x/(x^2-1)

Factor the right term's denominator:

5x/(x^2-1) = 5x/[(x+1)(x-1)]

Both terms of the left side share a factor of (x+1) so

Multiply 1/(x+1) by (x-1) and simplify to get:

(6x - 1)/[(x+1)(x-1)] = 4/(x-1)

And I think you can move forward from there.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2010-01-13 03:00:43 UTC
in Respawn an irretrievable prop_physics Post #277839

I'm not really much of a source mapper but through the mighty power of google and intuition from Goldsource mapping I propose this:

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

Place a trigger_teleport at the surface of the "ocean" (in case they float and dont sink to the bottom), set the flag to 8 (Physics objects).

Put the info_teleport_destination or info_target at the spot you have the prop spawn.

This should cause any object dropped into the trigger to spawn back up, I would put the destination up in the air so that things wont try to spawn inside each other.

If it doesn't work you could do something involving an env_entity_maker and a trigger that kills the object and spawns a new one with the entity maker.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2010-01-06 15:56:45 UTC
in Math Problems Post #277407

Either you're missing key information and would benefit from posting the exact problem statement or what you have here is essentially an unsolvable system of equations.

From the information you have provided you wind up having x, y and z related to each other as well as your age (which can be treated as a given, [I hope you know your own age]). The first complication comes from the fact that you only have two equations. This however is a well known complication, 2 equations with 3 unknowns. And this is usually solved using parametric equations.

There is however a third complication, and it comes from the actual question from the problem statement. The original question asks for the age of the hotel owner, and only states that he is older than all of the guests. This only accounts for a lower bound which means you will only be able to determine his minimum age, which is further complicated by the fact that you will not know the specific age of any of the hotel guests because of the parametric equations.

My advice would be to post the problem itself and the section from the book you are using. (As in, what is the title of the chapter and section of the book it is from). If it isn't from a book, what is the problem supposed to correspond to in your notes (Essentially what are you learning at the moment.)

And at what Unbreakable posted, that entire thing is gibberish. That 137 comes from problem 3 which from what I can tell pertains to absolutely nothing.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-10-27 21:14:00 UTC
in Ares. NASA's new rocket Post #274884

Eastern Time United States (examples: New Jersey, Florida)

EST = UTC(GMT)-05:00
EDT = UTC(GMT)-04:00

EST = Eastern Standard Time
EDT = Eastern Daylight Time so Daylight Savings is in effect.

Currently the Eastern Time zone is observing Daylight Savings (Ends on the first Sunday in November [November 1st]).

Amsterdam, Netherlands

UTC(GMT)+01:00

Launch window opens 08:00 EDT Wednesday 28 October 2009
Launch window closes 12:00 EDT Wednesday 28 October 2009

Opens:

08:00:00 (8:00AM) Wednesday 28 October 2009 in EDT
13:00:00 (1:00PM) Wednesday 28 October 2009 in Amsterdam / Netherlands

Closes:

12:00:00 (12:00PM) Wednesday 28 October 2009 in EDT
17:00:00 (5:00PM) Wednesday 28 October 2009 in Amsterdam / Netherlands

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-10-21 08:13:17 UTC
in Odd email devivery failure! Post #274712

You're fine. Those e-mails are just spam messages with a spoofed address and an "eye catching" subject line, I get 3 or 4 daily but Gmail does an excellent job of spam-filtering them. There isn't a way to fix it other than recognizing that you haven't been sending e-mails to yourself/anyone else or using a filter like Gmail does.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-10-19 14:35:56 UTC
in Searchlight Post #274608

I am not entirely sure if it will work properly but perhaps you might want to explore creating a custom sprite and couple it with an env_beam or laser.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-10-18 23:10:14 UTC
in Ares. NASA's new rocket Post #274579

Disco, they stream NasaTV online:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

Unbreakable, I wouldn't say its his interest in astronomy, as astronomy is more of an observational and "study" based science. It is more probably his fascination with anything pertaining to the delivery of and physical exploration of humans in space. The reason I say this as it is very much the same feeling I have toward the program. While astronomy and astrophysics give us a general idea of what the environment of a celestial body is/should be like, physically being there is second to none.

JeffMOD, as far as our manned space exploration is concerned, it was stopped about 30 years ago with the shift of NASA's focus to the Shuttle system and the proposed International Space Station.

The Shuttle was engineered to be a multiple launch vehicle to operate in LEO (Low Earth Orbit), more specifically for use with the satellites/scientific satellites ("telescopes") and later the ISS. So basically the focus went toward microgravity research and development of the ISS, which was at the time more "economic" and indeed technologically feasible than concurrent trips to the moon. It was also argued by some that the human aspect of space exploration added nothing to the overall scientific goals of a mission, and that a robotic probe could do the job just as well without the added expenditures needed for a human occupant/training/sustaining. Naturally the guys in the blue suits saw this and instantaneously nut their pants, which is why all the current exploration missions are done using probes and rovers, among several other reasons.

The shuttle, however, is now aged. So instead of the constant maintenance and potential hazard to the astronauts which we are all too familiar with, we have gone back to a tried and true method for launching cargo and astronauts into space. Unfortunately for the Space Shuttle the rocket stack method can do everything it can, and more.

The more being that you can go from the Ares I / V launching to places of interest in LEO, to reconfiguring the rocket stack of the Ares V for Lunar missions and possible Mars missions, assuming all goes well with the Lunar stage.

I myself haven't had the luxury of witnessing a shuttle launch in person yet, but I plan on making a trek down for one of the final scheduled launches. When/if the day comes that they decide for a manned launch to Mars, I suggest anyone at least living in North America go to witness the launch.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-10-06 21:02:39 UTC
in Rooms (mini co-op project) Post #274142

Mmmm, guess I should have been paying more attention to this. What memory leak? As from what I remember the only thing I had any problems with were the r_speeds spikes.

And yeah, I know. It was made a week before classes resumed so the entire map was left unoptimized aside from a few tweaks done on the fly (nulls, func_walls, etc). Quite frankly, I was also sick of looking at the thing, so sorry about that.

By the way, I haven't checked the updated versions of the rooms (as I don't have the password). I noticed that in one of the original releases the angle of light_environment didn't follow the length of the room (like how I released it to the vault) so it didn't look quite right to me. The glass skylight was there to shine the light into the garden area. I'm just wondering if it has been changed at all.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-09-29 22:42:12 UTC
in Elevator Exit: Need Ideas Post #273886

I'm not sure how well it may or may not fit with what you have but you could use some debris, such as a beam or piece of wall, which prevents the player from reaching any higher than he/she needs to be on the cable in order to jump through the doors.

The debris could very well be the reason why the elevator is disabled, instead of having a random elevator that is disabled for no apparent reason.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-09-17 21:48:48 UTC
in light_enviroment.. a little orange?? Post #273452

Tutorial written ages ago on dark maps.

http://twhl.co.za/tutorial.php?id=43

This should be pretty much what you want, however to make it just a tad bit orange will take a lot of trial and error. In my experience I never got an orange light_environment to look quite right. The in game threshold between red and yellow is very limited in terms of being able to distinguish the difference.

The midground I found is ok-ish, but you'd need to find a cl_skyname that would go with it. You can try this and see how it looks in your map:

map -> map properties -> cl_skyname: night

light_environment setup:

pitch: -60
brightness: 222 46 1 1

This should be all you need. If this is too dark for you, increase the last number ("1") to something higher (like 2 or 3). Any higher and it'll get bright real quick.

If you want something darker there's not much you can do short of using orange colored texture lights only.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-09-13 12:23:52 UTC
in Half Life Prop Error Post #273300

http://www.slackiller.com/tommy14/errors.htm#token

First off, eliminate ANY and all wads where you do not use a single texture.

Examples:

[quote]- Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (22 textures in wad)
Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\cs_bdog.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (132 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\cs_cbble.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (61 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\cs_dust.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (28 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\cs_havana.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (122 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\cs_office.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (102 textures in wad)[/quote]

[quote]Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\ajawad.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (1 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\as_tundra.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (18 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\cached.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (2 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\chateau.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (136 textures in wad)[/quote]

[quote]Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\de_vertigo.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (19 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\deathrun_gamerfun_pooh.
wad

Warning: Larger than expected texture (348972 bytes): 'SP_BALKON11'
Warning: Larger than expected texture (348972 bytes): 'SP_DOM_10'
Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (67 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\decals.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (225 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\iceworldme.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (2 textures in wad) [/quote]

[quote]Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\de_piranesi.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (160 textures in wad[/quote]

[quote]Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\jos.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (24 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\n0th1ng.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (8 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\nd-pukata.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (2 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\prodigy.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (2 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\zaire.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (1 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\tempdeca1l.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (1 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\cstraining.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (24 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\cstrike.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (123 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\de_airstrip.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (69 textures in wad)[/quote]

[quote]Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\tswad.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (29 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\tempdecal.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (1 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\tempdecal2.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (1 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\tempdecal3.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (1 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\tex1.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (21 textures in wad)

Using Wadfile: \program files\valve\cstrike\timecounter.wad

Contains 0 used textures, 0.00 percent of map (17 textures in wad) [/quote]

You have 30 wad files that contribute not even a single texture to your map. Many of which only have 1 texture inside them.

Go to Tools -> Options. Move to the Textures tab and select all the wads that I pointed out and remove them.

Restart Hammer, load you map then compile and see if the error clears up.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-09-08 20:38:04 UTC
in trigger camera transitions help! = ) Post #273124

You can freeze the player with a flag in cutscenes anyway, so this is pointless.

You're not supposed to yes, but you can indeed move. Since this is a special situation where there are gaps between each camera, the cameras therefore have no control over player movement in between. The wall is there mostly for redundancy.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-09-08 20:11:32 UTC
in trigger camera transitions help! = ) Post #273122

By the steps you provided I built what I think you want.

As The Mighty Atom and Mazetar pointed out it really is all in the timing.

I'll try to walk you through it:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Map loads -> trigger_auto fires "mm" (NOTE I didn't use the "Level Fade In" in the map properties, mainly because I wanted to force the timing and didn't know exactly how long its fade's duration was. The side effect of doing what I did is a quick view of the map on map load and then it triggers the fade. This could be fixed by either starting the player in a dark room and teleporting them before the final fade in, or ignored.)

Time t = 0s:

"multi_manager" mm is triggered.

"env_fade" mm is triggered (NOTE The mm isn't a type-o.)
----> Properties: Duration = 5 seconds; Hold Fade = 5 seconds; Flag: Fade From is ticked.

"func_wall_toggle" w1 is triggered (forces no movement throughout)

Time t = 5s:

"env_fade" mm starts to fade in.

"trigger_camera" cam1 is triggered.
----> Properties: Hold Time = 15 seconds

Time t = 10s:

"env_fade" mm is done fading.

Time t = 15s:

"env_fade" fadeout1 starts to fade to black.
----> Properties: Duration: 5 seconds; Hold Fade: 5 seconds

Time t = 20s:

cam1 is finished
fadeout1 has screen completely black and holding for 5s.

Time t = 25s:

fadeout1 is no longer active.

"env_fade" fadein1 is triggered.
----> Properties: Duration = 5 seconds; Hold Fade = 0 seconds; Flag Fade From is ticked.

"trigger_camera" cam2 is triggered.
----> Properties: Hold Time = 15 seconds

Time t = 30s:

fadein1 is done fading.

Time t = 35s:

"env_fade" fadeout2 is triggered.
----> Properties: Duration: 5 seconds; Hold Fade: 5 seconds

Time t = 40s:

fadeout2 is done fading and is now holding.
cam2 has finished.

Time t = 45s:

fadeout2 is no longer active.

"env_fade" fadein2 is triggered.
----> Properties: Duration = 5 seconds; Hold Fade = 0 seconds; Flag Fade From is ticked.

Time t = 50s:

fadein2 is done fading.
w1 is triggered again releasing the player.

End.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The entire cycle takes 50 seconds to complete from map load to finish.

Here are the .bsp and .map files. If it is indeed what you wanted feel free to just rip the entities and utilize them as you wish. Be careful though of changing the timings as each entity's correct timing depends on what's triggered before it.

BSP:

http://sites.google.com/site/nefariousparable/downloads/fade.bsp?attredirects=0

MAP:

http://sites.google.com/site/nefariousparable/downloads/fade.map?attredirects=0

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-08-24 23:02:26 UTC
in TWHL's Classic DM Server Post #272481

How do the control points work? Is it attack/defend or push/pull?

Think warpath from Team Fortress Classic. There's essentially 5 control points, any can be controlled by either team, until all 5 are controlled by only one, at that point the team scores and the round is reset (albeit a bit rudely through killing everyone.) But reset nonetheless

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-08-12 21:18:30 UTC
in TWHL Co-mod Post #271918

I might have, but mind you I had just arrived home after driving for 3 hours, so excuse that please, I meant to mention Battlefield, not Call of Duty.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-08-12 16:46:42 UTC
in TWHL Co-mod Post #271891

Agreed with The Mighty Atom.

And The_(c)Striker, who really gives a crap whether it is similar to something that has been done before? Look at Call of Duty and the 9 million other great WWII games, are you going to call EA crazy for making more when they're just as enjoyable to play? No?

Any reason to make a map/mod is a good enough reason, and if you actually have a grand storyline it makes it quite a bit easier to do to be honest. So honestly Striker, stop saying shit just to say it.

Anyway, I like the idea as well raver. I'd be down for helping out as long as it begins soon as my fall semester starts in early September. After that I wouldn't have much time, if any at all, to devote to it. Maybe on weekends.

Urby: I like it, there coule be a cinematic opening scene that goes into the backstory of the complex and possibly even the truck collision. Perhaps the player could start as one of these mercenaries, then after seeing the effect of the virus on the human population he proceeds to eliminate either the virus itself, or the terroristic entities that wish to control the virus.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-08-02 20:17:17 UTC
in masters, multisource, env_global? Post #271362

all i want to do is i have a button that will be pressed repeatedly. each time it's pressed, i want it to flip-flop from multimanager 1 to multimanager 2.

For that you can try this:

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-26 23:58:09 UTC
in can't find leaks Post #270938

There was only one leak, and was quite minor as it was preexisting brushwork conflicting with the newer brushwork. Found it, sealed it.

Here you go:

http://sites.google.com/site/nefariousparable/downloads/Splak_Race.map?attredirects=0

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-25 15:42:25 UTC
in can't find leaks Post #270851

Okay. After combing through the map I have some good news.

I found every single leak you had, which enabled me to remove the null box entirely. I remade the trigger hurts to extend through the entire map aside from the safe-room at the end. I also fixed one of your vehicles as you accidentally left it as a button_target.

I have to say, if it weren't for how symmetric you built the map it would have taken much, much longer to find the leaks.

Also, about the light textures, its not that you can't do it, its just that with how large the map is and the long corridors, you have hundreds of brushes visible. Adding on top of those brushes is the lighting. Having so many brushes coupled with constantly changing lighting and the overall volume of open space, your r_speeds should end up being pretty bad. Which for a multiplayer map is a death sentence.

Anyway, when you compile it and test it for yourself you should see what I am talking about.

Here it is:

http://sites.google.com/site/nefariousparable/downloads/Splak_Race.map?attredirects=0

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-25 04:00:51 UTC
in can't find leaks Post #270827

Well, I fixed the leaks, but it seems part of the actual map is still not even closed off, which leads him to need the null box in order for it to even compile. I'm attempting to seal it for him, however I do not know how it will end up.

EDIT:

Here's what I'm talking about, I removed one side of his null box to show you what the inside consists of, that AAATRIGGER texture is a trigger_hurt:

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-25 03:43:55 UTC
in can't find leaks Post #270825

Ok, first off, I found all your leaks (there were approximately 5 gaping holes) and sealed them.

Second, when you compile you're going to hit the max_patches, to sidestep this error compile using the -sparse command on rad.

Third, I'm not sure what the map is supposed to be, as I only made sure the compile would reach rad, but I can see a large amount of really bad things in terms of mapping techniques. There must be upwards of 500 separate brushes with different colors of light emitting textures. These and many other brushes are overlapping each other quite often, causing unecessary face splitting.

Fourth, that huge nulled box will have to remain until you clean up all those trigger_hurts. They are excessively large to the point of crossing through the void, and with how many individual brushes there are it is almost impossible to see where they should extend to, so I'll leave that up to you to fix.

On the same note as the brushes overlapping, those trigger_hurts overlap some of the walls as well, and with some of your walls you didn't fully connect each corner leaving some of the triggers exposed to void.

Finally, here's your fixed .map file, there is still more work required of you, such as cleaning up those trigger_hurt entities so you can remove that null box.

http://sites.google.com/site/nefariousparable/downloads/Splak_Race.map?attredirects=0

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-22 22:53:11 UTC
in FPS drop on my own maps Post #270723

Warning: === LEAK in hull 0 ===
Entity info_player_start @ (-192, 384, 48)
Error:
A LEAK is a hole in the map, where the inside of it is exposed to the
(unwanted) outside region. The entity listed in the error is just a helpful
indication of where the beginning of the leak pointfile starts, so the
beginning of the line can be quickly found and traced to until reaching the
outside. Unless this entity is accidentally on the outside of the map, it
probably should not be deleted. Some complex rotating objects entities need
their origins outside the map. To deal with these, just enclose the origin
brush with a solid world brush

Leak pointfile generated

You have a leak, which means some part of your map or entities are exposed to the void. When a leak occurs it skips the rad process, which determines the map's lighting. It also skips the vis process which determines what should be visible to the player at any given time. This is the reason for your high amount of lag, as the game is attempting to render everything in the map.

You need to find the leak and seal it, there are a number of different methods for doing so, just do a search of the forums and you should find a lot of similar problems.

hlife_hotdog's comments are still valid as well.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-21 19:55:30 UTC
in Alternative to trigger_changelevel Post #270663

If you think its a problem with the trigger_camera, try doing this:

Trigger the trigger_camera like you would normally.

Have it run through its sequence.

At the end of the sequence trigger an env_fade to black.

At that time have a trigger_teleport to a black, unlit room facing the direction you want to end up in the next map.

At the teleport desination have a trigger_changelevel in the teleport destination. If that doesn't work right try using a trigger_once to trigger a trigger_changelevel.

The entire sequence could take as little as 1 second and is completely dependent on the env_fade, and of course use a multimanager or two to program the sequence accordingly.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-18 16:14:02 UTC
in The "Official" Competition 27 Post #270450

Hit Ctrl+Shift+G, type 107 for Entity#, and leave 0 for Brush#.

Hit Shift+A and apply a random texture to it, like the AAATRIGGER.

Then apply the scrolling texture to the ENTIRE brush.

You get that error when you use a water or sky texture on all but one or more sides. If you're still getting the error delete the brush and remake it.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-18 00:14:38 UTC
in Events triggered by the player's death. Post #270416

Have a game_playerdie target a trigger_changelevel. Or target a multimanager for some fade effects or so then the trigger_changelevel.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-16 20:39:12 UTC
in C++ Questions ( old thread bump) Post #270323

I am assuming he did not actually read through my code. Had he done so he would have noticed that his code for calculating the prime number is botched, badly, and horribly inefficient.

The comments also walk through the process of calculating whether the number in question is prime. The math in calculating whether or not the number is prime will be the same in any case.

As for it being in another language: Look at what both DiscoStu and potatis_invalid wrote for the code. It is exactly the same as what my code shows, only the syntax is slightly different. If you at least know how to write even basic C++, you can write code and script in MATLAB. Understanding it is even easier than that.

Overall, I provided the code to you, The_(c)Striker, so that you yourself can find what you did wrong. Believe me when I say that if you can't debug your own or even someone else's code (if its legible as potatis was quite blunt with - makes it a million times harder to debug) you will never fully understand it.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-16 18:39:04 UTC
in C++ Questions ( old thread bump) Post #270315

I wrote you a quick MATLAB script that does what you want, I wrote it in matlab so you have to actually go through it so you can understand it instead of just use it. I included comments (Anything preceeded by a % are comments).

Should this not look right in the quote I can send you the M-File, or if you prefer it in .txt form (they are essentially the same)

EDIT: Yep, that looks horrible. Give me a minute to add a link.

EDIT2: http://sites.google.com/site/nefariousparable/downloads/prime.txt

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-14 21:07:16 UTC
in IRC won't work for me Post #270151

Try http://www.mibbit.com/

It supposedly works on iphones, although I don't know exactly how well. You'll have to run it through the browser however (as its browser based), so I guess it'd be a temporary solution until you figure out what's wrong with the app.

Nefarious

Posted 14 years ago2009-07-07 21:26:25 UTC
in Half-Life: Static Friction Post #269635

And I finally emerge from the shadows. I've been lurking for a while, been busy with school and such, but I have come to lend a helping hand in donating some CPU power. Just thought I'd let you know who Client #2 was as to not be completely random.

Anyway, JeffMOD, processing should take a little bit. For me it took somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. I walked away for a bit so I'm not exactly sure how long but it was somewhere in that window for me. I'd imagine its a combination of your connection and CPU load and capabilities. If its still stuck there after an hour or so try restarting the NetVIS session.

As for the total process it seems we've hit the dreaded ~60% mark. My client hasn't read anything different for a good while, on the order of 5+ hours, where it was registering no less than 5 portals every 5 minutes.

If you think more power is needed I could donate one, maybe 2 more CPUs for a bit, although one is from a Dell laptop from 2005 (which has never been reformatted and chokes even when opening IE), and the other one is quite good however I can't guarentee it will run uninterrupted.

[quote]==================================================
Netvis Client #2 statistics [21828 portals total]
System Progress : [13232 portals] (60.62 percent)
Client Progress : [1217 portals] (5.58 percent)
Workload : [71211 seconds] [71184 work] [ 27 idle]

[/quote]

Nefarious

Posted 15 years ago2009-01-14 06:36:27 UTC
in Rooms (mini co-op project) Post #261496

I just added my submission to the unfinished maps section of the map vault:
http://twhl.co.za/vault.php?map=5233

I really haven't done any straight mapping since 2004, on and off since then, but I saw this and I couldn't help myself. I just had to make something.

I had also since lost all my hammer setups and key mapping files in a tragic hard drive formatting accident (just plain stupidity in all actuality).

Anyway, I downloaded and used the currently available version of MuzzleFlash's batch compiler tool, and I must say it worked as expected. However there were some quirky issues with it that made it kind of finicky sometimes, but since you've rewritten the code from the ground up I'm sure those issues may be irrelevent.

Some notes about my .bsp and map in general:

The r_speeds I got to max out at around 3600 wpoly and a constant ~850(ish?) epoly.

With how large my submission is (sorry, I made the fountain first and the scale of the rest of the room followed its original design) I would probably recommend adding the hallways to it but leaving it as its own bsp file (wouldn't want to suck someone elses r_speeds up). In the end its up to you though.

The current .bsp is compiled with the standard settings of Muzz's batch compiler on everything except RAD. I used "-bounce 1" and "-chop 80.0" to allow for rad to finish faster, and to fix some lighting issues. With my eyes and graphics card the light cast looks ok-ish so I left it.

And CaptainTerror:
info_texlights is an added feature to the fgd's discussed in BJ's tutorial for Light.
http://twhl.co.za/tutorial.php?id=51
Scroll down 2/3 of the way or type in a FIND for "Texture Lighting or Texlights" everything in quotes.

It allows you to use an entity to control whether a texture gives off light or not, and what color in Hammer so you don't have to include a specific .rad file for each map.

Nefarious