Forum posts

So, from now on it's up to TWHL to keep updating the projects, right? Do they have plans to implement the fixes to the updated SDK that Valve is supposed to release some day?

Will you contribute further, or have you become tired of developing this project? (I guess I would, it's a lot of work what you did).

Could I use the SDK to make my maps? or would that be unnecesarry

You don't need the SDK to map for HL. Only if you want to develop new functionality that goes beyond the current HL code. Some mods do this, but not all, most stuff I can think of can be done in Hammer with proper use of entities.

Well, of course the first thing I did was to read that, but I still couldn't understand it, that's why I asked...

So essentially the USDK bundles the fixes of the base game plus the expansions in one solution in case someone wants to make a mod that uses e.g. stuff from vanilla HL and Opposing Force at the same time, right? Plus CMake support.

I guess I just couldn't think of a use case example for it.

Anyway thanks for your work, I'm using HL:U currently, at least until Valve release their updated SDK.

I don't fully understand the unified SDK, is it just a compilation of the fixes of all other 3 repos (HL, OF, BS) in one, or is it something entirely different?

Which one should we be using for modding?

Thank you all. Using the model key did not work, but zhlt_usemodel did when pointing to a env_sprite. As you said, I could still move it with "use" but not by running into it. Funny, I didn't know that.

@Erty, I meant to say that I hadn't found the code for func_pushable in the SDK, but I've located it now, it's inside func_break.cpp as it inherits from func_breakable. I think it will be easier to modify it so the entity uses a .mdl than to keep using nasty hacks to achieve the same.

Hi all, I know that func_pushable is a brush-based entity, but I'd like to know if there's a trick to use a .mdl instead, so the movable object would have more detail than anything made out of brushes in Hammer.

If the answer is no, could this be done in code? (Probably not, I don't recall seeing this in the SDK)

Thanks! Will look into it.

Well, nevermind, the map is fixed now and it works perfectly. I finally replaced the prefabs one by one

4918 solids, 29515 faces. About 50 brush entities, I grouped as many as I could if they looked like a solid block.

The 2D views still struggle when too many elements are rendeded, though. Have to zoom in to prevent that.

Thank you very much for your answers and the in-depth explanations. I already knew the reason behind using brush entities is to exclude them from visibility calculations, speeding up the process, but I wrongly thought they didn't count against the brush limit, too. Now that I understand it, the maps I already liked (in other mods) seem even more impressive, having been done under those limits (I'm talking about vanilla HL engine that is). Still, that 32768 limit is not that hard to reach if you start adding detail, what a pity.

I will edit the bookcase prefab so remove all unneeded detail and leave it bare bones, then replace the existing ones. Is there a quick way of doing it? Instead of going one by one.

By the way, while investigating this issue I did a test and found out that func_wall entities do not cast shadows on the world, while func_detail did. Is this behavior expected? I thought they were mostly the same.

Hello everyone, I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but it's been a LONG time since I mapped for HL and perhaps I am missing something.

I'm laying out a place that is not intended to be released or playable, I'm basically using Hammer instead of Sketchup, 3ds Max or whatever else. After creating the basic rooms (very simple place) I began populating it with prefabs, the place is a library so I used a lot of bookcases (you know which one).

Eventually Hammer slowed to a crawl and it got harder to edit the map with it. Then, when compiling I got the following:

Error: Exceeded MAX_MAP_VERTS
Description: The maximum number of vertices for a map has been reached
Howto Fix: The map is too complex for the game engine/compile tools to handle. Simplify

I realized then that prefabs are added as world brushes and thought that was the problem. So I began converting the bookcases to func_wall entities. But the problem persists. I even tried making them func_detail and func_illusionary, no luck. I was under the impression that entities do not count against the brush limit (right now map information window shows 8734 solids, 51139 faces).

I deleted a bunch of prefabs and finally got it to compile with ~6000 solids or so. Now I'm thinking about making my own bookcase by removing unnecessary detail, but I'm still curious. Am I missing something?