Does Source really... Created 18 years ago2006-04-02 14:55:14 UTC by Soup Miner

...support world brushes that the Half Life engine would consider invalid? I just used the displacement -> paint geometry tool for the first time. I have yet to compile this test map but is it really THAT easy to make terrain in Source?

it really is THAT easy

Yep, it's really that easy.

Displacement maps aren't brushes in the traditional sense. Below the surface, brushes aren't that solid either. They just exist of several surfaces, and since convex surfaces and volumes are much easier to work with, it's natural to choose some restrictions for brushes.
And rendering surfaces in a batch means less overhead for the program so dismaps are a blessing for both level-designers and programmers.

yeah, but be warned. they're like an enitity. They wont block leaks, so make sure there is something covering the displacement from the void

Righto.

Very handy tool! I can make mountains and caves with ease...A tip:

When using displacements...In the texture apply tool select the top side of a brush only and the create the displacement...Thus deleting the sides and bottom of the brush leaving you with a handy flat top brush to displace.

Another tip, do not put nodraw in a displacement surface

Expanding on what Habboi said, I've always found it annoying that the other non-dismap sides of that brush become invisible. You'd have to delete the dismap to get the brush visible again to put more faces into dismaps then.

Luckily, there's a few dismap related buttons in the top button panel, and one toggles the visibility of these faces. Made me happy when I found out.

Another tip, do not put nodraw in a displacement surface

Any visible surface anyway. Unused dispmap surfaces can have NODRAW on them. (The ones that disappear.)

Displacement maps are like Source's version of the Doom 3 engine's patch meshes. It's too bad they dont have a vertex editing control and can only be used on square surfaces.

Yeah, the square surfaces thing is a bitch.

Yeh, Patches are more flexible :[

A 3DS Max-like movement handler would be pretty cool for dismaps too.

I assume Doom 3's patch mesh creation is more like modelling than the traditional brush approach?

Also never make a displacement surface into a func_detail. It stops your map compiling at all. BSP won't even finish. Thankfully the compile log points out the problem, but it can be annoying to find the cause because it tells you what the problem is but not where it is.

I've done it by mistake before, when grouping large numbers of things into one.