My new mod Created 19 years ago2004-06-10 12:43:16 UTC by danboy

Hi everyone sorry i haven't been around in ages my computer broke :'( anyway i have stopped work on all my multiplayer maps now and am starting my own mod, true i am going to need help. I can map some of it but i need moddelers, and a co-director that needs to have some experience in one of the major fields, and a understanding of how half lifes' directories are organised.

The mod will use mostly custom sounds and definately new textures, ok the story: You are a scientist on an island research center off the coast of America, one morning a group of people (identity revealed later) get past security to steal the virus the team has been working on, but to get past security they shut off the main power this turns off the coolant to the reactor and it blows causing the alien samples to break free causing general chaos. The final levels are set in an American town where you fight the equivalent to Nihilianth. Any more ideas would be good and any people intrested please email Daniel_Thomas_785@hotmail.com. I am still thinking of a name but something like Half life: The sabotage or somehting. Thanks

and a understanding of how half lifes' directories are organised

If you don't even understand how HL looks for stuff, you probably shouldn't be running a mod I'm afraid. You should really have a little understanding of every aspect (mebbe 'cept coding - that's hard ).

Have a try with Milkshape. It comes with tutorials. Have a look at the directory structures of some mods.

http://cariad.co.za/twhl/mapvault_map.php?id=131

Read the readme. Mini-tutorial. Have a look at the example map if you're still stuck.

I know what you mean.

Here's an example line from sentences.txt:

BA_OK1 barney/dobettertogether

Now, when you set a scripted_sequence to play "!BA_OK1", the sentences.txt tells Half-Life to look in the directory "barney" (barney/) and then the file "dobettertogether". The file itself has a .WAV extension, but HL doesn't need to know that because five years ago, everyone used WAVs.

Hope that helps.

ok thanks a lot i think i am understanding now so all the .Wav files in the Pak file match up with sentence names, it's just that if my mod ever gets enough members we will be using mostly new voices and sounds.
Dan
"Do or not there is no try"

thank you rabid i think i will see if I can get any help from anyone to help map model or anything, do u know anywhere where i can either A. Join a mod team or B. find some ppl to help make it? Please don't say Moddb because my comp has problems with it for no apparent reason.

Also to prove my mapping ability i may release a demo of the modon.
Dan
"Do or do not there is no try"

Also to prove my mapping ability i may release a demo of the modon.

Now that's a clever thing to do. Generally helps to attract good people (if your work is good, off course).

heh don't worrry i'm going to put a lot of effort into it, anyway... i was intrested how do you make it so the player has NO control what so ever they can only see what i let them see? I know there is a way but i cannot remember the name and how to use it, I am looking for tutorials but personal opinions are useful as well.

Additional: Is it possible to make G-Man have attacks and not be invincible? because one of the final fights of the game is a one on one crowbar (or hand to hand) battle with G-Man.
Dan
"Do or do not there is no try"

I think you've put your goals a bit too high for now when I see your questions on cameras... but that's up to you off-course.

Anyway, you can use cameras to show the player things while removing control from the player:
http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?ent=trigger_camera

As for the G-man in combat, that's gonna take coding...

Erm anyway i think it has been too long for my mod to carry on without a website, does anyone know good free hosting websites and would anyone be a great help and design the website because i can't do html.
We need
*An about page listing the mods story (look at top of post)
*a team page listing team members (post here for info)
*A forum if possible
*A home page that has latest news on it
*A files page
And that's it any help would be greatly appreciated and you will have your name in the credits of the mod.
Dan
"Do or do not there is no try"

Webhosting:
www.websamba.com

For making websites, search Google for 'html', or search for programs like Frontpage. Simple to use, not that powerfull but nice for a first website.

Upload it to your ftp. You'll get the ftp-url e-mailed, plus your username and password, once you've signed up at websamba. After you're in the ftp, you only have to copy your website files onto the ftp-server. That's all.

I have 2.5 years of mapping experience with some modeling, texturing, sound work and coding done too. I'm just very interested in game-design. Engine-coding is high on my to-do list nowadays so I might well move on even deeper into game-design...

Anyways, succes with your project!

tyty i am designing the webpage OK i have limited my choices to 3 colour schemes... voting please
1) Dark blue background, red text
2) Black background, red text
3) light blue background black text

Thoughts are welcome
Dan
"Do or do not there is no try"

2) if you feel like it

But there are better colour combinations than blue/red

The first two get pretty annoying to the eye, especially bleu/red is bad readable. The last one seems best so far but well... I'm not so sure of it.

Try something with not-so-contrasting colors, might be better. Test out some stuff if it's readable and pretty to the eye, that's very important.

As for text, red and other 'flashy' colors aren't my favorites. Rather something black or dirty white, an easy-on-the eye color. Best is, not to overdo it. Subtle tints can be much better.

Thou shall not speak ill of thy forums

ok thanks i'll look into it anyway i'm not sure what sort of demo to do a demo using trigger_camera. Or one where the player can move around in any ideas?
Dan
"Do or do not there is no try"

erm Captain P do you think you could do some textures for me? Post if you wouldn't mind if you have any spare time i'm mostly after new signs. And once my site is up i'll give you admin access and your name in the creds.
Dan
"Do or do not there is no coffee left in the pot nooooooooooooooooo!"

I get 404s on the website...are all your pages up and linked properly?

erm Captain P do you think you could do some textures for me?

Maybe, depends on whether I have the time for it or not. Coming month I won't be available as I have some projects to finish and a vacation to go...

We'll see. Anyway, your website still has a lot of work to do. Most pages were unaccessible. Maybe another webhost? http://www.websamba.com is quite a reliable one...
As for the layout and colors, it's clean and easy to the eye. Could use some more stylish layout maybe but I like it this way already.

why dont oyu first skin that fighter

I get a welcome to your new page page, a dog, and index of /forums pages....

yeah im sorry about that people i have constantly run into problems with it, i have got someone to make it for me (keep eyes open) anyway so far i have got 1 map on the demo. Heres how it goes. (as i said before we missed the first levels where u do the experiment because we thought u may get very bored of a long train ride in a demo so we cut straight to the action).

Anyway so your in the train/monorail thing and it sort of starts shaking and falls off you then crawl through a small vent (sorry for using vents)
So you get your crowbar. Then you go to the lift shaft but unfortunately the doors open but the lift is still at the bottom. If you climb down and try to access the lower level the button doesn't work.

You then have to climb up the cables to the power room and restore the power allowing you to use the lift to access the lobby (watch this space)
Dan
"Do or do not there is no try"

hey can i help with like mapping the island and the labs and stuff oh yeah i suck so badly at like loading maps becuase you cant make a map to big i crash my pc trying to learn and figure out the loading thing

The better mappers will care about how you represent yourself. When you don't use punctuation, it's a signal to them that says you either don't take the time to punctuate (bad impression) or you're another young kid with great mod idea's (one of the many, and probably one of the many that fails). It just looks... unprofessional.

A good first impression is cared about and will end you up in better positions.

So, I'm not so sure about the texture work anymore. First I want to see some results before jumping in. Right?

Spelling and punctuation are extremly important nevertheless.

its only acceptable to screw up your spelling if english aint your first language.

OK, OK i'll mind my punctuation, it is my summer holidays soon so i will be able to get some good mapping done hopefully. I have been really busy at the moment so the demo has'nt had much work done on it. Sorry. Doesn't help that my level designer keeps changing his mind every couple of days, and does not seem to have read the email i sent him regarding the limits.
Dan

Ok i have a website! it's www.freewebs.com/danshalflife. i know its a n00b template but take a look, i hope to get some screenies on soon. I have a new mapper So hopefully i can get started, but we really urgently need a modeller ask around people and see if you can get anyone intrested!
Dan

You need to specify and setup a #channel in order for people to get onto the IRC network.

May I suggest getting an IRCbear account and setting up an IRC channel on the same network as TWHL? It's rather easy and can be done in a matter of minutes.

Ok,
So I haven't read every single word of every post... Shoot me.
What I wanted to say is that I monitor all HL SP/MP Mods on ModDb and I would like to share some stuff.

Most Mod's take more than a year to complete.
Most Mod's never get released because it is hard to stay focused for such a long time.

Everyone has a good story, some even have a few good maps....
But the only Mod's that get released are the one's that have a Team that is really focused on the final product.

The people that put the Mod together are the single most important asset of any Mod. They require a good leader and realistic direction.

We tried and failed with the Project, but we all learnt a lot (I did :-))
I am not saying "Don't do it"...
What I am trying to say is get ready!
Read all the articles about Game design you can find.
Read everything written by anyone that has actually produced something that has been released.
Read reviews on other Mod's.... (If they have not been released.. don't bother.)

Be sure you have everything ready to go before you assemble your team.
Lead it yourself and if all else fails.... go it alone.
That way you only have one person to Blame.

hey look i read up there somewhere you would appretiate joining a mod team or something. im trying to get into this Trigun mod (Escape form Pain) as a level designer, and if ur interested............... I will check into this post again later to tell you that i may (or may not especialy not if i cant find the time to post here again) be able to help you with your web site crap if u are interested also in that (i know html, javascipt, php,started learning cgi/perl, and am soon going into C++).

You could use some of my textures....

http://dhost.info/RabidMonkey777