Back into the swing of things... Created 15 years ago2009-05-15 04:36:55 UTC by Kissker

I have been gone for.. way too long. Most of you probably won't even know who the heck I am, which is ok, I was never here for fame or glory.

Now.. I am back... sorta. It has taken 6+months to get back into the swing of things, and I find myself starting over at square 1 on map/mod making.

I will soon have an updated PC, something that won't.. well you know..cr@p out on me every time I try to test a map, or explode when I am not looking. Took a while to recover from some life stuff as well... you know.. loss of a love one... being dumped, losing your job.... losing your vehicle... yeah.. it's been pretty cruddy all around.

But things are looking up. I finally got myself a new computer (all but graphics card and case) and I really, REALLY need to get back into crafting.

But there's a problem.. which is why I come to you oh Forums, I am.. too rusty at this point to even classify as rusty. I need to start fresh with my "learning" of everything again. I never got far into modding- so lets start with mapping.

Game to map for:
HL2:DM

I have fallen out of the whole FPS craze..they no longer give me happiness like they used to, however, a mod (made by some "PinkFairie") allows a Role Play aspect, earning money, buying food and chairs and things to actually build with - but every map I play on I find.. incredibly horribly made. Missing textures, alignment problems, world rendering problems, reflections are totally wrong, and usually the whole thing is incredibly laggy.

So I figure.. this would be a good start, let's make a map that doesn't suck , has good "housing" with lighting properly done and actually able to interact with the map instead of rely on Admins all the time to spawn things.

Included:
Besides the things needed to Roleplay by PinkFairie's mod (NPC shops and such) I want to include "non admin events" basically a series of secret codes you can press buttons too, to open a door, in which are buttons for scripted type events, like an zombie invasion. This will be a challange, but first I need to get the basics of mapping down, especially since HL2 maps are a little more complicated then 1.6 with the whole physics and reflection issues.

So, while I browse the tutorials and try to get WorldCraft aka Hammer aka what-ever-they-call-it-now up and running properly, read over this and give it some thought, maybe you can come up with some tips to help me out. I have a lot of work to do, and fairly short amount of time to do it.

Edit 1
So hammer isn't displaying properly- the 3D view won't show any objects, makes texturing properly a little difficult.

Edit 2
So a few things I am unclear about

When adding water (say a pond) is it better to just add a block of water - clipping through the ground's "low spots" or to shape the water to fit the basin?

Remember that this map I plan will be played in multiplayer with very few if any Restarts to the server, it will need to be designed to keep running- at all times, so it will have limited breakable objects (Or, if possible, items that Respawn after a time period.)

I hope to make it have Respawn Items - set in Real Time "Every 5 minutes a crowbar spawns in the junk yard - if there isn't one there"

shape the water, only use the water texture on the top, afaik, never really used water in my maps.

and welcome back, good to hear your life is somewhat sorted.

Who the heck are you?

Eh.. welcome back? I don't map Source, but I thought I'd say hi. So hi.