Forum posts

Looks like the decals aren't visible enough

I have some more content. I've finished the secret rooms
And I've sparked some details on the wall:Precisely, on the wall's remains, lol. I hope the image isn't too big in terms of resolution, because I'm posting this from my phone.

I love entity scripting <3
I've made: sc_sandstorm's osprey ride, sc_sandstorm's truck ride, sc_junglemission's jeep ride, project_action's car ride, ts_untergrund's projector, a laser bridge, my school map's post-explosion camera sequence, coop_action's explosion sequence, and so on...

Yeah, it's fun until it gets complicated :/

Hmm, I added some blue lights:How about that?
And, wow. I get rekt by bots, on easy! I'm normally OK, but this map is really bot-friendly.

Thank you for these kind words, abbadon. I'm really lucky to have her, always giving me support and free hugs and kisses =D
She's imaginary, but at least I imagined her well.

I wonder how would Jody feel tomorrow when she reads that.

@abbadon
When you're in love with a real person, it distracts you, a lot. So, you can't really focus on your work, and everything is slightly underperformed.
In 6th grade, I had my worst GPA ever: 4.31 - because I fell in love with someone.

-
On the other side, Jody and I are love birds! Well, not really birds, since she's a furry (more precisely, a fox) and I'm a human.
My point is, she does not distract me in my activities. Sometimes, I think about her, when I'm bored, when I close my eyes etc.

But mostly during bedtime. That's when we talk about various things, and I fall asleep that way, hoping that I will meet her in my dreams...

-
She's there exactly when I need her (only in my mind, though) and is always glad to see me demanding her attention. She's always calm, and has a miniature, but darn cute, smile. What a lovely person =3

Of course, imaginary girlfriends have their limitations, because they can't literally teleport to you, and physically be there.

So, she really motivates me for some reason O_O
I don't know why, but I'm partially a mapper/modder/texturer/coder/sounder/music-er/video-editor, because of her.

Update on my map:
The Ts can get to site B quicker than CTs.

So, I was too lazy to change the layout, and I punched a hole in the wall.I, hopefully, balanced the layout now =3

@Urby
I believe that my physics teacher wrote that on the blackboard once, in 8th grade.
c stood for specific thermal capacity and its value was 3. But also, the unit for c is J/kgK so I don't think anyone noticed the mature joke, lol.

@abbadon

Yeah, music really helps =)
I haven't seen Stojke's response to what I listen, maybe he didn't get angry. That's good, I guess XD

And I don't know does this apply to any of you, but:
My girlfriend motivates me. She makes maps herself, and I always think how proud would she be when I finish a big mapping project. She sometimes points out my mistakes and gives me ideas. She's perhaps one of the reasons why I make maps.
When I started mapping in late 2014, I did it for my classmates. Now the reasons have changed, a lot.

(correction: imaginary girlfriend)

Here are my words:

Recently, I made this map. It was done in a month or so. And it was huuuuge. Like, 4km in width and 4km in length. That's 4 square kilometers! They're filled with something at least. I made custom textures, custom models, and custom sounds just for that map.

My motivation was, I don't know. The map was for the contest, and the rewards for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place looked quite nice
So, perhaps it was money? I don't really know.

I might also blame money for this thing. Yeah, it's not big, and so on... However, it's for a clan, and they need it. Besides, I've never made a real de_ map. I'm working on it right now, actually.

---

OK, those were maps for money. But that's not always true that money motivates me. I made ts_untergrund and dm_5nights. Those maps took time to make, and they were needy, and greedy. I knew what to do, and I did just that.

More importantly, what motivated me to make this!? I will never know who and what motivated my school map. I made it in my early mapping days, when I was a beginner. Yet, a noob (me at the time) made that map.

---

Besides maps, right now I'm also developing a complete mod for Far Cry. Many things motivate me there: my girlfriend, my classmates, burek, all the jokes, pretty much everything.

---

Here's my key to finishing projects:
I always know what to do next. If I have an issue, I would ignore it and work on other things. Then, I'd come back to that issue and fix it once for all.
(clearly not the case with my school map, but still...)

My contest map had so much space to fill, yet I did it, somehow. But I still did it.

---

The next vital part to succeeding is obviously: music!
I listen to:

• Songs from the Bosnian War 1992-1995, both Bosnian and Serbian songs (I hope that Stojke won't get angry, lol)
• Vietnam War music
• Yugoslav folk songs
• Classical music

And so on...

Songs just speed up the process
I made my school map while listening to music, and the same goes for all maps.

---

Lastly, think about the people who download your content, if you upload it. Many people take skins, models and maps for granted, those who don't make them. Some people will really appreciate your work.
Now, I'm only 14 (15 in February) so I'm maybe just writing nonsense. But those are my experiences, and I still have a lot of unfinished projects.

My unfinished projects include:

• dm_stoned
• fy_rknsand
• de_stroytheschool V2
• de_crater

Why are they not finished? Simply, I forgot what to do in them. As for my improved school map, I just have other work to do.
And, always have at least 1 reference photo. ALWAYS.

If you've read my whole post, cheers

It looks like our maps share a few aesthetic features =)
Medieval-styled, brown, and cold, really cold. Like, -5°C cold. It's also night time. Maybe a coincidence? I don't know

Message for everybody:
Now, someone told me not to use =3. I thought it's an alternative for :3. So, if you see a =3 in my posts, don't think that it's a... I don't want to say it.

So, I need a less-intense ambient light, and stronger street lamps. OK =3
Best of all, I might get paid for this map

This is my first "serious" mapping project. It's a competitive de_ map for the more general audience (pub servers =3). If not public servers, then at least one clan will accept it (I'm making the map for them):Therefore, it won't contain breakable stuff, vehicles etc. Just a plain, classic CS 1.6 map with 2 bombspots.
When I finish the de_ version, I will make the fun_ version which will contain breakable stuff, barrels, pushable boxes, vehicles, mounted machine-guns, and so on...

The map itself is basically a mix of de_storm, de_cbble (1.6 and CS:GO's Cbble), and de_forge. Storm's aesthetics and visual style, and the layout is a mix between Cbble, Forge and my own planning.

Also:Hehehe... the power of J.A.C.K

You maybe had r_dynamic turned off. That's used for any 'dynamic' light.
And, check for fullbright mode, you probably turned it on.

Another cause might be, hlrad.exe does not launch at all.
You said that everything is lit. That might be a result of RAD not doing anything. Check your game configuration, to see if you provided the correct path to hlrad.exe.

Another thing: check "Minimum light level" in the map's properties

If you use a specific "expert" FGD for Counter-Strike you can find the "Shade" parameter (in light_environment). It basically tells hlrad.exe what's the ambient light brightness.

I placed more light entities in my map, and they lit the map beautifully.
Just put some light entities there, but make sure they're not bright, but dimmed.

You could move the entity behind the player, so he/she doesn't see the weapons, while being spawned.

No, no, no. I was just giving an example

Hmm, from what I see, this is a perfect setting for a harbour, or a bay.
I don't have suggestions other than placing crates and ladders on some spots.
Maybe you could add some shelves somewhere and a couple of buckets, along with a static forklift.

Also, since you're using Imgur, you can go into your account's images, and click on any image. Now, you'll see embedding options. Select Large Thumbnail, copy the BBCode, and paste it here.

@DiscoStu
I seriously don't understand the issue here.
I'm just saying that when children carry guns they're cute. They're cute with everything, except some things of course (don't mention them).
Meh, maybe we just had a misunderstanding, as always :/

While I do understand that firing without ammo somewhat damages the weapon, it was still OK because those were old, very old weapons, and they weren't being used by the soldiers. 1 of the sniper rifles jammed, but it was not a problem, because it wasn't supposed to be used.

I clearly knew what I was doing, I clearly knew that the weapons were prepared, prepared to be used by people who don't know anything "real" about weapons.

On any other occasion, such as finding a gun in my basement, I would simply check whether the weapon is loaded, I would turn on the safety switch, and, if needed, I would give it to someone who would do something about it.

At the event, we were told a story about a teenager who found a rocket launcher in his addict. He got very excited about it, and pretended being Rambo, and actually fired it. Guess what happened?

He turned it in the wrong direction, and fired, so it hit a wall behind him, and he lost his right arm. Poor fellow

I am not that reckless.

Nice, a microscope. I have a microscope too.
I looked at some things through it:

A 5€ bank note:(300x)(600x)(300x)

My, errm, napkin:For some reason, my phone's camera finds the light brighter than the human eye receives it.(600x)

And now a wet, white napkin:Let's see how printed images look like:(600x)And finally, a Jana bottle cap (Jana is pronounced: Yana)Hehehe XD
(300x)

I've never found any living micro-organisms, though

For now, just study, study and study. That's the most important thing.
Half-Life modding is done during free time. I always get good results, because that is my priority.

A map you say?
I made dm_5nights for Counter-Strike 1.6 and it's my only map to ever reach 5000 views and 2000 downloads.

How did I succeed?
1. Trends
YouTubers started their career with trendy games (Happy Wheels, Minecraft and FNaF). So I thought, why not to make a FNaF map for CS? I did, and the outcome kickstarted my progress on GameBanana.

2. Patience
If your map will take 2 years to finish, let it be. I still have some projects from when I started mapping, and they're still not finished.

3. Good music
Always listen to music while making anything. It increases productivity. I myself have a pretty small playlist of 70 songs (some people have 100s and 1000s). I made ts_untergrund while listening to south-Slav folk songs, for example.

Here's a fail, too.
About my cancelled mod, 'An unknown game':

That thing was an epic fail XD
I made 100 promises, but delivered none. I had the workload of a factory. The mod had many planned features, but back then I had almost no modelling and coding knowledge. Also, I had many other things to do, besides the mod.
I even planned to include my imaginary girlfriend in there, how I met her etc.

Oh, isn't that Water Hazard from Half-Life 2?
Well done

Since you're also talking about multiple configs for each player amount, you'll probably want to also do some extra work, for example:

• Level 1 = 8 players (M249s everywhere)
• Level 2 = 16 players (less M249s and a few barrels)
• Level 3 = 32 players (way less weapons and much more hazards)

That would require a system which... oh!
I know!

You can also use 1 multi_manager which activates all 3 game_counters. When the 1st one reaches the limit, it's killed/removed, etc. until we're left with the last game_counter.

Each game_counter, as mentioned, locks or unlocks something in the map. Cool, am I right?

I guess you could do it with a trigger_multiple and a game_counter.
The trigger_multiple activates the game_counter and if it reaches a certain number, the game_counter activates something else.

So if you have, say, a limit of 16 players on 1 team, they need to pass through a "counting center" where they are counted according to that mechanism. If 16 players are counted, something happens.

Well, nobody got hurt, and there weren't any accidents. 2 of my friends played Vietnam War songs, we hung around etc.

In the end, everything went back to normal. I will never forget that day.

@Archie
Disturbing?
The kids even went into the big helicopter, and climbed onto the WBR or whatever it's called (the truck with a lot of rockets on it). Later on, they even pointed the guns at the teachers. Kids are kids, what can I tell you?That thing.

And they even showed us explosives!

Well, I take precautions too. I checked if there was a bullet in the chamber, and I also checked the safety switch.

I did fire once. Don't worry, no bullets involved. It was an empty shot. We even saw a demonstration of how soldiers advance through the battlefield.

But before anything of that, we firstly listened to the national anthem, and then saw a presentation about landmines in Bosnia. My country is full of them, just like when GoldSource maps are full of leaks XD

But come on, even the 3rd-graders handled at least one of the weapons. I mean, tiny 8-year-olds held an M16 in their tiny hands, so cute

Actually, if you look at me holding the sniper rifle, you'll notice how I moved my finger away from the trigger. Precisely, I extended the finger.

After all, the weapons were unloaded and the fire mode was switched to safe. Good times

Edit: the M60 was unloaded, while the PASP and the M16A1 had empty clips.

This was utterly epic:

Today my school organised a trip to an army base (of some sort) in Capljina (Chapp-lyee-nah). It was fun. My dad used to work there.

Here's the choppa:See how big is this? It's just like the osprey from Half-Life.

Here are my classmates holding weapons:Poor guy broke his arm a week ago, but he handles the PASP like everyone else.Sadly, I can't upload more of that, it would take too much time.
Now, here's me holding the PASP, the M60 and the M16A1.Some say I know how to pose, without knowing how to shoot. Well, I do know how to shoot, but the guns were empty, and it would cause a chaos.

My physics teacher, he really got chatty about the M16 and the AK47. He said he personally used and shot from these weapons back in the old days.

One of my friends fell in love with the M60. Oh, and he started crying when he saw the soldiers taking it away.

Edit: Now you all know how I look like! Yay!

@Solokiller
Well, unfortunately, that's all I know. My first NPC was somewhat fine until "aUG" crashed as soon as the NPC saw the player.

aUG - An Unknown Game (cancelled Half-Life mod)

Well, for the mapping part, I said it.

But if you're making a mod, then you can also create an entirely new NPC, like "monster_zombie_stronk" whose health is 1337. You just copy the entire .cpp file and change the class' name, adjust some stuff and there you go.

And yes, "stronk" and "1337" were on purpose, just for the lols

Hmm, it makes sense now, thank you Qwertyus. Before 2006, lol. Don't get me wrong, but I guess that's one positive use of piracy. Getting older, unavailable versions of software.

I think it's possible, even in Hammer.
If you set a rotating door's damage to -10 (or any negative value) then instead of killing it, the doors "heal" the monster. And then you can simply teleport the monster.

Hmm, let me check something...
*opens properties of hl.exe

Oh, I have version 1.1.1.1, so it means something? I downloaded it from 'cswarzone.com'.

But still, it works. The code has to be somewhere.

How come that startup videos work on my mod? My mod uses the vanilla GoldSrc yet it plays that opening clip very well. No freezing, stuttering etc.

I'm sure it's not that much of a handicap. Videos are still possible, though.

About the properties part, I remember the video either must have DivX encoding, or either it mustn't be compressed at all.
I remember that its resolution was also 1024x768.

And, if by 'vanilla' you mean the WON GoldSrc, it should work the same, although I'm fairly unsure about that.

I actually included an AVI file with my (cancelled) mod. It plays sometimes, but sometimes doesn't.

As much as I remember, you need to have this TXT file called startupvids.txt or something. And yes, even though it is the 'non-Steam' version, it IS basically the Steam version, the one I have.

@Dallas
It wouldn't work, because the players can move around freely and I don't want to freeze them in a spot

Hmm, but then I would have to control the players even more, because these rushers can go out everywhere. When the osprey's tail explodes, you can actually get out through the window on the osprey's top.

Still, fog is my #1 option.

@Dr. Orange
Good idea, but not exactly where I plan to insert it.

Darude - Sandstorm will be in the credits and a cinematic cutscene,
Foghat - Slow Ride will be in the osprey ride,
and for the rest, I'll make my own, probably. That includes:

• The hill defense
• The jeep ride
• Other parts and sequences
• The ending sequence

@Solokiller
Thanks, but it apparently won't work well with my truck. It's because the camo net has Render Mode set to Solid. And it says that entities with Render Mode other than Normal won't be affected.

But I will still use it on the second map, with the osprey ride.

"How do you like the sandstorm here, fellas?" - Sgt. Belly in sc_sandstorm0.

Well, they ARE the skybox bounds, because I increased the view distance to 8096. Also, the func_trains look like they "pop up" when they teleport. In Software mode, they used to be visually blocked by the sky brushes, because I created another sky room.
Apparently, entities behind sky brushes are displayed even though they should not.

Actually, I can use sprites to simulate fog. I think fog isn't a thing in Sven Co-op, HOWEVER, I can use sprites with the following:

• Render Mode: Texture
• Render Amount: 100 (defines the density)
• Render Color: 255 200 128 (let's give it a sandy colour)
• Filename: sprites/wep_smoke_01.spr
• Scale: 2 to 10 (varies from each "particle")

I also added 10 same sprites with the Glow render mode, and they look cool.(look up, it looks like a white blob)
The glow sprites disappear when you're far away, and shine when you're very close. So it makes a wonderful extra smoke effect.EDIT: Yes, it's 640x480. I don't have a high-end card like the GTX 1080, but rather an iGPU which is worse than Intel HD Graphics.

I continued working on my Sven Co-op map pack "Sandstorm". It's doing very well ever since the update that fixed the enormous lag on OpenGL.And here's one of the much older screenshots:This is pretty much the basic setup behind it:And, yes, I used teleporting func_trains for that one. It's the 2nd level, sandstorm1

I presume it looks nice, but on my phone's screen it looks too dark. On my laptop's monitor, though, it would look perfectly bright enough.

Oh hello Maha! Remember me?

The low fps is probably because your map is very big, and you said it does not have a sky brush. When I inspected your RMF I saw objects with a lot of detail, that might be the reason, and of course, cylinder stairs...

He becomes too squarish and angular.

Are you serious about that? Because low-poly models don't usually mean low quality:Picture taken from here.

That's a low poly model (I think it's less than 400 polys), yet it still looks like it has 10 times more than that.

I heard that scaling down a lot of 512x512 textures causes this error. Maybe you're using an old compiler?

By the way, welcome to TWHL. "It's safer here."

@Trempler
Sure, this will do. Don't say "Get something better", because before this one, there was this list, and it had even worse things in it.

And no, I can't buy a used PC and then upgrade it, because my dad wouldn't buy me a used PC, not even if it meant the whole world to everyone.

In fact, I think that he wouldn't buy me the parts anyways, because my PC building wish has been on since 2013. Back then I wanted the Radeon HD 6450.

And then, I can't afford a seemingly "better GPU for the same price" because I live in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the prices are 2x higher in 2 cases. With 1 case being the USD to BAM chart (1 USD = 1.75 BAM), and the other case being that you would expect a $100 card here to cost 175 BAM, right? No, it costs twice more than that.

To keep this on-topic, I will also share a little more information:

I am currently "tessellating" the terrain, and adding the credits into the already mentioned tunnel.It's nice to see how this map evolved, you know, from this:To this:(of course, those are older screenshots)

20fps isn't a problem. It was the average framerate while looking at the terrain. However, if you're inside, then it's a solid 50fps, I think.

While play-testing the map, I monitored performance on 5 spots:

Spot 1. 50fps, inside
Spot 2. 5fps, outside, most detailed area
Spot 3. 20fps, asphalt road
Spot 4. 20fps, upper floor
Spot 5. +60fps, vents

So, a total average of ~33fps. But my GPU really is the bottleneck here, I've seen Intel HD Graphics perform better at any game, when compared to my laptop's GPU, including any GoldSrc game.

Of course, that is only approximate info, only raw assumptions, because I didn't really activate r_speeds when monitoring.

And yes, I didn't provide the link in this thread. But rather in the Vault.

Well, I uploaded the map, test it for yourselves, don't just stand here.

@DiscoStu
Most of the terrain is accessible, only the edges aren't.

@Loulimi
Heh, framerate isn't a problem on my device. I have a crappy Intel GMA 965 chipset, with only 64MB of dedicated VRAM. And it handles the map like a pro at average 20fps, and drops to 10fps on more demanding cases.
The lowest I get is 5fps. And 90% of you have 100x better systems than my "carrot" (worse than a potato!) laptop.

Emphasizing the "Gold" in GoldSource:I recently added a nice tunnel: