Forum posts

@Windawz
I don't know, really. It would be nice, though.
It solely depends on Trempler's decision, since the playtesting is completely voluntary - and I've got good feedback which led to me fixing 50 or so bugs and issues in the map.
If Trempler wants to see the map before the release, may his mapping highness inform me.

Thank you, Trempler, it would be my honour.

I dug through the source files, and apparently, I started working on it in the 1st of January, 2017. It truly meant something, lol. I stopped developement in the 22nd of January and picked it up again somewhen before the end of May.
So, that's around 2 months of work time on it. For a map like this, this would be my new record.

Also:If you're wondering what this is, well, the wall is 240 units long, and I managed to fit 3 256x256 textures with no seams. XD
The side trims have a scaling of X=1.000 and Y=1.000, while the middle one with bricks has X=0.904 and Y=1.000. Cool, eh? I downscaled the middle one so it fits between the normal ones.Also, I think the street lamp situation is better.

Looping the multi_manangers with a train, I assume? Sure, use it.

Adding up to the resurrection:I've added a nice ambient sounds system. It basically consists of a train which goes around 4 path_corners. When it passes each, each one triggers different multi_managers which, in return, trigger different sound combinations (e.g. gunshots in the background + wind).Basically, this screenshot shows that I halved the walls' thickness wherever needed. They used to be pretty thick and now I halved that.
I also fixed the texture scaling on those wooden windows. :3Oh mah gawd, look at them barrlz! Those are 16-sided barrels:They're almost seamless. There's only 1 micro-seam to be found on the sides, and the seam between the sides and the top is, well... unavoidable. But at least I prevented the seams from the sides (and yes, I used Alt+Left-clicking, so that I can avoid that stretching...)The trash cans probably have a more noticeable micro-seam, but I guess that won't be a huge gameplay issue.At the balcony, I sort of skewed the wall here. Try to surf that if you're a daredevil, and you might fall to your death! >:DI also added some sort of a dumpster.Now I have an excuse for not having a door at that entrance. I clipped the bricks! YAAAAAAAAAAAAYI converted the RUSH B CYKA into a sprite and it's far better-looking compared to the func_illusionary with a transparent texture on it.This thing... this is my mechanism for locking and unlocking the secret doors which lead to the Easter egg rooms.
Basically, what I've added is a small, invisible func_door.

The door is triggered by the C4 explosion (be it site A, or B, or whatever). After triggering, the door closes. And when it closes, it triggers a multisource entity, which is both the door's master and the master of all the secret doors. If the multisource is OFF, the door won't trigger it, because it's its master, so it won't unlock the doors after the C4 blast.

However, if the multisource is ON, the secret doors are unlocked, but so is the invisible door. The invisible door will then close, disabling the multisource and locking the secret doors.

In theory, it should work, but I'm yet to test it in practice.I've also made this neat entity setup for fun_kobbl. Basically, this is a mortar bomb. I'll add a secret basement into fun_kobbl where I'll place a monitor which will display the map, and you'll have buttons on it (but no, it won't be like the Half-Life mortar where you can bomb any place). You will have a few options to choose from: site A, site B and the T spawn, respectively.

What will I do next?
I'll move that stupid street lamp 16 units away so it stops blocking me every time I try to walk between it and the wall corner. I'm just so mad at it that I'll even knock it down, literally.

Lastly, remember Vodka95's thread about multiple mapping questions?
Well, here's that map, too:xD

It should work. In my map, ambient gunshots which have the Not Toggled flag don't repeat, but they just wait to be triggered again.
Hmm... yeah.

And it's easier than CryEngine. One thing is certain, though, if you learn any of those up to a specific level, you'll be able to do wonders with them. :3

But if one decides to put this into a mod, one could easily code some timer entities etc. (trigger_timer, I'm looking at you xD)
But then, there are people who don't know how to code (like me, although I have the potential of learning it), so it's a nice thing that it's a universal timer.

I wonder, though, why 100fps? I know that physics in Quake-engine derivatives are framerate-dependent, but this (probably) doesn't use that. I'm confused. (my laptop can't even get to 70fps on standard HL maps. Of course, speedrunning isn't something I'll ever do, so I'm not worried xD)

Edit:
*facepalm
I didn't read it slowly enough, but I could've assumed that the timer desyncs.

@Vodka95
Looks hard? Well... what else can you expect from an engine which is pretty superior compared to GoldSRC?

Don't worry. If you want to learn this stuff, you can always start off with the basics and then do more complex things. Just don't be lazy, that's one of the worse things that can happen to you. :3
See, I was lazy and I still haven't learnt any C# yet. I'm still fighting that. Organise yourself some time to learn making textures for Source, then practice audio editing, and finally, you can do all of this stuff!

Look at me, I actually didn't know exactly how to do animated textures, Source sounds, sprites and packing stuff into BSPs before. I learned it all in one day because I've already had experience in making regular textures, working with audio and simple file management.

Alright, that's it.

Any more questions? >:)

Edit: Really? No more questions? That makes me legitimately sad.

And now, custom sounds and packing your stuff into the BSP file.

Custom sounds:

1. Open GoldWave or your preferred audio-editing software
2. Open the sound file you want to convert.In my case it's Mile Kitić i Južni Vetar - Ja neću ljepšu ("I don't want a prettier one", wow, in south-Slavic it's just 3 words)

3. Save it as a WAV file:It should be PCM signed, 16-bit, mono. Not stereo!
Now, after you've done that:

4. Resample the sound to 44.1KHz:I'm not sure whether you can use 48KHz, though. xd

5. Save it again and copy it to your "sound" directory:I just put "radio_456" because... well, that's some sort of a signature by me. :3

6. Create an ambient_generic in Hammer and find your sound.
Also, untick "Start Silent" in the properties and set Start Volume to 10.

Hmm, let's bring all of this into the BSP file:

Download Pakrat. It's a nice little tool. :]

After you've downloaded it, extract it somewhere and run the .jar file.
When you open Pakrat, it will ask you to find the BSP you want to open. Find it and then open it.As you can see, I've already added some things there, and it's looking good so far. Basically, there's the Add button at the bottom of the window.

When you want to pack files into the BSP, Pakrat will also ask you if you want Pakrat to fix the paths (like C:/Program Files/blah blah blah). Just say Yes.

Edit:
And I've just realised - I have Source games on Steam, why did I even do this on a... uh, screw it. Now I'm going to get rekt. x)

Alright, I prepared the animated textures and sprites.

In order to make an animated texture:

1. Open VTFEdit
2. Go to File -> Import

3. Select the first texture:And then hold Shift on your keyboard, and click on the last one.

4. Press Enter.

Now you'll get this:Normal Format: DXT1
Alpha Format: DXT5
Texture Type: Animated Texture

5. Save the file, like this:NOTE: It doesn't necessarily have to have "animated" in the name.
And yes, save it in the VTF format.

6. Go back to VTFEdit, and go to tab Tools and press Create VMT File:animated_blin/animated_blin is the path to the texture.
Basically, you put the textures into the materials folder.
A VMT tells Source where the VTF files are. It also tells some characteristics about the texture.

So, if the VMT has "blahblah/texture" referenced there, then you'll have to put "texture.vtf" in "materials/blahblah/".Aaaand, there's more.

The shader will be LightmappedGeneric if you're planning to use it as a texture for maps. Surface1 should be Default, unless you want different sounds and decals for it. If you have a wood texture, then it's more likely that Surface1 will be Wood_Plank or something like that.

And then create that VMT file.

However! However, however.
You need to make it animated.

Open that VMT which was created by VTFEdit, and it should look like this:There's something left to add there.Everything with // are comments.
For example, "x = 1 //This makes x have a value of 1".
Only x = 1 is taken into consideration. Everything after // is pretty much ignored.

And after you're done with that, save the VMT and make sure they're in the same folder:Oh, by the way, the animated_blin2.vmt is the one I used while writing this thread. I used the first one just to make sure if it works, so I can write this later. xd

I think that we're done with this rough overview of animated textures.

Now onto sprites:It is possible! I think they can be animated in the same way, lol. XD

Anyway, the process is roughly the same.

In VTFEdit, while creating a VMT, just do it like this:The shader should be Sprite, and if you want it to be additive, well... just tick the Additive flag.
The VMT should look like this:Easy peasy. xd

Although, I don't quite know how to solve this:The sprite's centre, for some reason, is wrong. xd

Music + embedding stuff into BSPs coming right up in a matter of hours.

"Source Engine Discussion"
Oh, epic fail for me. xD

Ah well, as I've said, tomorrow-today. Technically today, just not now.

Before I leave, I think you can include the textures into the BSP with PakRat, there are some nice tools at Nemesis' website.

The animated textures are pretty easy to do with VTFEdit, you basically imporr multiple pictures into 1 texture file and it's automatically animated. Of course, my memory doesn't serve me the best, so I'll have to go through all of that stuff again.

As for sprites, I wonder how to make them, too. Maybe it's easier than I thought.

And sounds? Well... it's a little bit different, but it can still be done with GoldWave and the format is WAV.

Eggcellent idea! >:D
I'm not sure why you're recommending me to switch it to Belarussian, but I guess it's funnier. xD

@Windawz
Absolutely necessary.
Russian is the only language where I'll ever say bad words, lol.
I was just making a joke out of it because I actually set J.A.C.K. to display it in Russian language, because I wanted to see how many words I'd recognise.

Anyway, I'll be back tomorrow to extend my original answer. Well, it's 0:30 here, so I guess tomorrow is today. So, I'll do it today.

For sprites, I advise you to use HL Texture Tools.
https://github.com/yuraj11/HL-Texture-Tools
It's so easy that you don't need explanations.
You can choose the sprite orientation (parallel oriented, oriented, and many more), and the sprite type (indexaplha, alpha-testing, normal and additive).

In order to create a custom sound, you need GoldWave.
It's seriously the best in its category.
Basically, make a sound, then resample it to maximally 22025Hz (22KHz for short). Then save the sound as a WAV file, with attributes like "mono, 8-bit PCM, unsigned".

How to make an animated texture? Hmm...
I can't remember that one, actually. I think it's like each individual texture for each frame:

+1COMP1B
+2COMP1B
+3COMP1B
+4COMP1B

COMP1B being the base, and +1, +2, +3 etc. being the frames. GoldSRC can handle up to 10 frames and their framerate is always 10fps. I mean... their rate is 10Hz.

You can include textures into the BSP file like this:(РУССКИЙ! Иди на А, иди на Б. Раш Б, раш б! СУКА БЛЬЯТ!!! Lol)

In short, go to the CSG process (in the Expert mode) and add this:

-wadinclude [name].wad
You can include as many as you want. If you just want to pack EVERY texture you used in the map, then I think there's this command "-nowadtextures".

There we go. Thank me later. I think I got it wrong about animated textures, though. Check.

For some reason, I think that Source's displacement are Valve's version of patches, but then that's just not the case...
I tried playing around with displacements in Hammer 4, and VM-ing displacements has the same limits as VM-ing normal brushes. >:O

But it's OK, I guess... we can still do nice things with displacements, minus the ability to modify them directly with the VM tool instead of using the Displacement tools.

J.A.C.K. has a built-in command shortcut list. I'm not sure if Radiant has a shortcut list too.

Maybe you can right-click a brush and find "Delete". And there should be a key combination next to it.

So, I took the screenshots in 1280x768 just so some of you can stop complaining how low-res my screenshots are. Please stop complaining on my low-res screenshots. :3

OK, time for the comparison:

1.16fps31fps

2.26fps32fps

3.18fps24fps

Wow, that's a significant improvement. Of course, 99.9% of gamers on this whole world would say that this improvement is too small to be noticed. I'm annoyed by those...

J.A.C.K. has a shader editor for Q3. :3
Just saying. I have no idea about the others. xd

Mmm, Radiant's interface looks hot... :]
I might try it as well, although I'm not sure how it differs from Worldcraft's derivatives, and whether it can be used for GoldSRC games. (I think it can)

Anyway, I believe I finished 4 versions of de_kobbl. Those include the normal version (day + night) and the GSU version (also day + night). I'm only left with the fun version, but that will come later on...

I'll hopefully put up a pre-release release on TWHL as well as for my test team on GameBanana, although they get all 4 versions, while TWHL gets only 1, the normal version.

I'm also very, but very surprised that hlvis.exe (in full mode) processes the map very quickly.
If we compare it to my school map, VIS would take days or even weeks if I'd leave my laptop running the whole time (which would probably kill it, too).

Edit:
Darn. I've accidentally pressed the Post button before I even took some screenshots for comparison. Ah well, coming soon...

Slaw or Slav? I'm confused. Though, a Slavic version of Gordon Freeman (imagine his HEV suit in Adidas style - black with white stripes, lol) would be cool.

Or wait, instead, a better colour combo would be orange on metallic grey. >:D

So, that thing disappears?
Alright, I need you to stand at that place which makes it disappear and then open the console. If you see something like "Too many entities in visible packet list" then you're screwed.
I also noticed that your framerate drops from 100 to 88fps. Hmm...

:/

Maybe you should try separating each brush on that fence? Because the entire fence, as a whole, disappears. Just convert them back to world and then tie each brush individually.

Sadly, not even I know much about VIS, though, @Windawz it could be useful if you'd link me that documentation.

Also, there are no problems about a map having a lot of areas which need a rework. My example is my old school map. Before the event at the school (I played CS 1.6 in school, lol), I totally had to fix the school map. I dealt with many intersecting world brushes, wrong texturing, and so on... and I managed to fix it all in a few days. Of course, I still didn't have the courage to run full VIS. x(

@abbadon
Wow, that's so cool. I might try disabling the grid someday, it might be an awesome challenge.

@Windawz
Depends on how you look at it. I've never bought food for myself since 2nd grade and I've never cooked anything in my life. Is that smart or stupid? I think it's the second one.

Ah, then I guess it's a good thing that I have at least some coding experience in GoldSRC.

I am in the process of making my own FGD file. Well... to be exact, modifying an FGD file. It's cool stuff, you know. =)

Sure, you could rework every area which is broken. xd

And in order to run the level in wireframe mode:

1. Open the game
2. Open the console
3. Type "map [your map name]" (without the quotation marks "")
4. In the map, type sv_cheats 1
5. Then type restart
6. After the restart, open the console and type gl_wireframe 1

Yeah, create a new map and get a better map editor. J.A.C.K. or Sledge. xd
(cough cough J.A.C.K. is better cough cough)
They're very similar to Hammer, and far more capable compared to it.

Windawz, abbadon uses it differently.

He doesn't use a grid (those grey lines in the 2D views) in QuArK, and probably doesn't even use the snap-to-grid function, to align things. He uses a ruler and the info_player_start to get the lengths/dimensions of what he's making.

I once used a pencil on the monitor once to actually pinpoint where those light rays end in de_kobbl (since the light source was a single point, not an environmental, uni-directional light). But that's different. xd

And info_player_start is just his measure for everything. I think that abbadon mentioned this somewhere, but I'm not sure in which thread. Either the WiP screenshots thread or Solokiller's PowerSource thread.

Going back on topic, The303's tutorials helped me make those graffiti sprites in de_kobbl.

After hours of compiling? Man, you seriously need to get VHLT. Also, just set VIS to fast if it's taking too long and you just want to see small changes.

https://forums.svencoop.com/showthread.php/42174-Vluzacn-s-ZHLT-v34-Update

Their forums are back online, hooray. Anyway, I think that you should put zhlt.wad into the same folder where CSG, BSP, VIS & RAD are located. I've never moved them out and it has worked.

And yes, your map seems too messy. Practice first, and then proceed making a map. (even though, hahahah, that wasn't my case)

Oh, lol.

Which Admer method? You mean that thing in the Control Panel?

Mmm... now I want to play TFC again... :]
Just to make a map for it, lol.

Says the man who doesn't use a grid and uses info_player_start as a measure, while using QuArK for the editor.
Not saying it's a bad thing, just... it's way different. xd (it's pretty cool, i.m.o.)

It somehow reminds me of that map with an arena with 4 towers, probably because of that fence. The map would have triggered lights. Basically, if the player goes on a specific place, he gets lit by a spotlight on one of the towers. :3

That's great.
Now the noobs at TWHL won't need to make a new thread every time they try to make some sprites and/or textures.

And welcome to TWHL, by the way.

No, I wasn't mocking you. You remember how you once didn't cut out the taskbar from the screenshot, right? Well, I was just mentioning the Snipping Tool right now so you could use it next time and skip the cropping. xd

Don't get ZHLT. Get VHLT.
Zhlt.fgd and zhlt.wad are simply legacy from the previous-gen ZHLT compilers.

Just make sure to include zhlt.wad in your texture list, as well as including zhlt.fgd in your Game Data File list. Also, don't forget to actually use the VHLT compilers you downloaded.

Next, please fix the intersecting brushes, as Windawz said, and make sure to use the grid. Always keep Snap to Grid on. And avoid using the Carve tool, except in some special situations.

@Windawz
Just so you know, there's this Snipping Tool in Windows 7. It's handy for screenshots. :3

OK, first of all, get VHLT tools and also use the zhlt.fgd which comes with them.
func_detail isn't strictly an entity, since it only marks a world brush to be ignored by VIS. But it comes part of zhlt.fgd, so you must have it.

Though, the Sven Co-op forums seem to be under maintenance right now, at least on my end. Hmm...

First of all, thanks.

Second of all:
Well... facts are facts, and I'm still "sliding on the ice". You've pushed me pretty far to the middle:Actually, I'm a little bit on the green side now. gg wp

And, if all what you're saying is true (and I believe it's true), then I guess paying extra 50KM (25€) for the 1050 (non-Ti) will be worth it, right?Oh, and don't get me started on the 1050 Ti...It's 100KM (50€) more. xd
Ah well, I'll decide. Maybe I should also get another processor, since the i3-6100 isn't available any more.
(and I don't want the 7000 series because... well, I'm a Windows 7 user, I heard Kaby Lake only supports Windows 10)

Hmm...Edit:

So, this is how it would approximately look like:R.I.P. my wallet, my dad's and my aunt's wallet altogether. But it will be worth it, I guess. =]

The day version has arrived!

Oh, cool, so you're already compiling in Expert mode.
Hmm, well, Hint and Skip brushes are a pretty weird topic for beginners, since you need to understand how portals and VIS stuff works in general.

I.m.o. you don't need to use them right now, since there are definitely some problems somewhere. Can you upload the RMF file into the vault so we can see what's wrong?

Interesting, you could try putting your username in the search. Maybe that's how you'll get your posts. Hmm, maybe there are your posts somewhere in the Control Panel? (not the Windows Control Panel, I mean the TWHL Control Panel)

@Alberto309
Hmm... I don't have a 1080p monitor, just a 1440x900 monitor. And I will absolutely not go through the financial hassle of buying a 1080p one. That would be way over my budget. After all, I'm not a YouTuber or something. xd
1080p isn't my goal, and I don't care what people think about 720p, or 480p for that matter.

And umm, I don't use lightstyles. I just don't. I am aware that there are people with worse PCs than my laptop, so I just don't want them to suffer like I do when I encounter a blinking light with my GMA 965.
If by "performance issues" you mean lag spikes under 30fps, then I'll buy an Nvidia card the year after.

Also, AMD has their own solution for video recording and streaming (though I'll never stream in my life).

Lastly, my most-played games are somewhere along the lines of Source games, CryEngine 1 games (well, only 1 CE game - Far Cry 1), and that's pretty much it. You know, I only play GoldSRC games because I test my maps there. I don't play it for fun or anything like that. Just for business.

It's definitely a VIS error, be it a leak or not. xd

Also, don't use Hammer. Use Sledge Editor or J.A.C.K. Those 2 are currently the best alternatives.

Hmm, you know what you could try?
When you enter the compile dialogue (F9), turn on Full VIS.

While I cannot directly help about the VIS error, I'd just like to demonstrate how to properly embed pictures into forum posts on TWHL:

Step 1.
Type [your account name].imgur.com/all/ into the URL bar:Step 2.
Click the image you want to embed:Step 3.
In TWHL's case, just copy the BBCode:Step 4.
Go back to the TWHL post and press Ctrl+V to paste it.

Thank you for listening.

Could you try "How to reset animation"?

It's 00:41 here. I'll post some screens of the day version tomorrow.

Aaand, I've just flooded the ShoutBOX.

the mouse I have given him*

Anyway, I'll post some pictures in my next journal. It's about my personal history and some analysis.