THE BIG MEGA THREAD OF MAPPING.

[Phobius]

NEED HELP WITH YOUR MAP CONTACT MR. SATAN ​

I have decided to start something, a little "service" or whatever for all the mappers out there.

Send me you're map (In RMF or MAP Format), along with any custom wads used and/or a list of the wads used and I will fix, compile, and tweak/optimize it for better performance (More FPS)

I enjoy tweaking and fixing computers n stuff and after doing the same with a few people's maps I have enjoyed fixing & tweaking maps as well.

NOTE: I will NOT make you a map, nor will I do major editing (involving vertex manipulation).

Thanks Mr. Satan for helping the esf community with maps.
_______________________________________________________

TUTORIALS FOR MAPPING​

​

Frequently Asked Questions

1.) Where can I get a mapping program?

You can get them on Valve Collective's Website:

Valve Hammer Editor 3.4
Valve Hammer Editor 3.5b

Note that everything involved in the rest of this post is related to this program. Also, Valve Hammer Editor 3.5b is not a full installer, it is just a shortcut. What you do is instead of going into Valve Hammer Editor through your 3.4 icon, use this new one. This means you must have version 3.4 installed first.

2.) Where can I find a tutorials on how to begin mapping?

There is a help file that comes with the Valve Hammer Editor or go to one these sites:

James Isador's Configuring Hammer Tutorial (Includes Hammer Compiler Setup)
DJ-Ready's First Room Tutorial
DJ-Ready's Configuring Hammer Tutorial
DJ-Ready's Hammer Tools Explanation Tutorial

I have also made a step by step tutorial to get started using Valve Hammer Editor (follow in order for best results):

Step 1 - Getting The Files
Step 2 - Installing The Files
Step 3 - Configuring Hammer
Step 4 - Valve Hammer Editor Explained (Basics)
Step 5 - Setup Your Compiler (ZHLT GUI v8)

3.) So ESF mappers, can you please tell me which compiler you used? The Valve Hammer Editor compiler sucks!

Well the following compilers are the most popular:

Nem's Batch Compiler
ZHLT GUI
HLCC

4.) Where are mapping websites that teach me advanced things?

RUST Game Design
Snark Pit
Valve Collective
Vlatitude
Egir
The Whole Half-Life
Wavelength
HLEB Mapping Resource
TFMapped
Counter-Server Maps

5.) Where do I get the ESF Beta .fgd and the hullfile?

It is in your ESF folder. It is suggested you take it out and move it into your Valve Hammer Editor folder (or where you keep your maps\FGD's).

6.) Can ESF Alpha 2.0 maps be used on Beta?

They can, but they are going to be way bigger than normal. The maps need to be scaled down by the creator. They can be decompiled but I do not suggest it because it screws up the map. If you do decide to decompile it, make sure you ask the creator first.

7.) Are Zoners Half Life Tools needed?

They are not needed but highly recommended. You can get them here.

8.) How do I make a skybox?

You can find a basic tutorial here.

9.) How do I host my maps?

You can go to the following websites and ask for them to host your map:

ESF-World
ESF Stuff

Troubleshooting

1.) How do I make spheres?

You can find a complete tutorial and an example map of a good sphere here.

2.) How do I make waterfalls?

You can find one here from the Handy Vandals Almanac.

3.) How do I make great terrain?

This is very basic stuff, but you have to get started somewhere:

Triangle Terrain 1: The Basics
Triangle Terrain 2: Optimising Terrain
Triangle Terrain 3: Switching Directions

4.) How do I create and add sprites to my maps?

To add sprites to your map use the cycler_sprite entity. Then click on the Sprite option and then the '...' button to browse for the sprite of your choice.

If you would like to make your own sprite, I have created a basic tutorial here.

5.) How do I create a door?

A very visual tutorial can be found here. You can also make doors with glass, as shown in this tutorial.

6.) How do I create glass and breakable things?

This is all explained in this tutorial.

7.) How can I make my textures look as nice as in some other mods?

These are called detailed textures, you can find a tutorial written on how to make these here.

8.) I need some cool textures, where can I get some?

Well, you could request someone to make you some, but many will respond telling you to go get some from this website.

9.) There are so many entities, what do they all mean?

Well this tutorial explains each entity for Half-Life and I will go over the ones for ESF. Remember that all Earth`s Special Forces player models are 1/4 the size of a Half-Life player model.

info_evil_start - Point Entity
This entity is where the evil team spawns during a Teamplay or Capture The DragonBalls match. It is recommended that you place at least 10 of these entities in order to have your map to prevent telefragging. No need to customize with this entity, but make sure it is not in the ground, or the players will spawn in the ground.

info_good_start - Point Entity
Place this entity within your map to allow the good team to spawn. These entities are used for Teamplay or Capture The DragonBalls matches. There should be at least 10 of these in your map to prevent telefraging. No need to customize with this entity, but make sure it is not in the ground, or the players will spawn in the ground.

info_player_deathmatch - Point Entity
Yet another point based entity, the location of this entity is where a player spawns during a Deathmatch game. You should have at least 15 of these in your map to prevent telefragging. No need to customize with this entity, but make sure it is not in the ground, or the players will spawn in the ground.

item_sensubeanbag - Point Entity
This point entity is the location where a bag of sensu beans will spawn. Sensu beans come in packs of 3. If they do not show up, make sure mp_allowsensubeans is set to "1.0". There isn't really anything you need to customize with this entity.

item_dragonball - Point Entity
This entity is where a DragonBall will spawn. You need at least 7 of these for your map to be compatible in Capture The DragonBall mode. Although not having these will not crash your map. It is recommended that you have more than 7 entities for variation. So that the DragonBalls aren't always in the same spot each time. Again, no need to customize this entity.

10.) How come my players are off the ground?

You must compile it with the hullfile found in the ESF Mapping Pack. The following line is put into your $csg box (if you are compiling through Hammer):

-hullfile c:\Sierra\Half-Life\esf\hulls.txt -nowadtextures -texdata 8192 -high $path\$file

Replace "c:\Sierra\Half-Life\esf\hulls.txt" with the location of the hullfile.

Now, if you use a custom compiler, just go to your CSG tab and then where it says hullfile either hit the Browse button (or in some cases a little check box) and upload the ESF hullfile.

11.) I have a compile error and I don't know what it is!

The Snark-Pit has a nice tutorial explaining what causes each error, and how to fix it. You can find it here.

12.) I want to make additive textures (textures with invisible backgrounds) but when I use them ingame the background is still solid, what do I do?

1. Make the invisible part white on your BMP picture.
2. Go to Wally, load the picture and name that file accordingly.
3. Click on the picture and edit the palette so that the bottom right is now 255 index and 255 blue.
4. Add it to a WAD and change its name to have a "{" preceding the actual texture name (for example: "{example1").

___________________________________________

HOW TO MAP BY KARRDE​

Ok, this is a compilation of all pertinent information that has been collected in all of the stickies about mapping and how to get started. Feel something should be included? PM me and I'll look it over.

First off, you need a copy of Valve's Hammer Editor (formerly World Craft). This can be found at http://www.valve-erc.com . Here you can not only pick up a copy of hammer editor but there is a nice selection of tutorials to help you get started. Also, for you German fans, check out http://www.thewall.de/ for a load of tutorials in German.

Next, a must have for all mappers is Zoner's HL tools. These can be found at http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=mhlt .

From here, you should be all ready to set up Hammer Editor, but before that, you're going to need a few files to make it work properly for ESF. http://www.esforces.com/team/esfmapper.zip This contains the .fgd file which should be in your ESF directory already, and the hull file which is not.

Also, check out http://members.fortunecity.com/1wayout/ This should help you in getting your editor set up properly.

Below is a series of links to other topics that have been of help to people.

On the subject of compiling and compiling tools: http://forum.esforces.com/showthrea...&threadid=10087

More general run downs of mapping: http://forum.esforces.com/showthrea...&threadid=11461

Now, I've left some of the more specific questions stickied, but those are more advanced mapping issues. Anyway, if I've fogotten anything, tell me abour it.

-Karrde-
___________________________________________

 

[Phobius]

HOW TO ADD SKY TO YOUR MAP​

​

O.K., I'm really freaking tired of being asked how to add a friggin' sky around a map. I've been asked it about 7 times this friggin' week!

Step 1:
Make sure you have Half-life.wad in your textures menu. In Valve Hammer Editor/World Craft, go to Tools>Options, once the menu is opened, go to the Textures tab. Click "Add Wad". Half-life.wad should be located in your Sierra>Half-life>Valve folder, if not, I dont know where the F it is! Try searching your computer! (Make sure you have a map loaded or else the next steps won't work.)

Step 2:
On the side menu panel on the right near where it says "Texture Group" and "Current Texture", there is a little button that says "Browse". Click it.

Step 3:
A window will popup. It will show many textures. In type-box at the bottom, type "sky". One solid, baby blue texture will appear. Double click on it.

Step 4:
On the Left-hand menu with many tools that come in many colors from the top, count 5 tools down! You should arrive at a monochrome box shaped tool. This is called the BLOCK TOOL. Click on it.

Step 5:
In the grid areas, click and drag an outline around your map and then hit ENTER or RETURN. Go back to the Left-hand menu with many tools that come in many colors, click on the first tool.

Step 6:
Select the block you previously made; go into different grid views and drag it out or in to have a perfect outline of your map.

Step 7:
With the block still selected, RIGHT-CLICK on the block and drag down to "Hollow". This will bring up a small menu. It will ask for a number. Type "-16".

Step 8:
Congratulations, it was that easy!


You can now compile if you have the proper entites in your map! You should now have a box around your map! And remember, next person to ask me how to put a sky around their map will have their genetalia ripped off and fed to small starving dogs.


Thank you,

Optional
_________________________________________

 

[grOOvy]

COMPILING MAPS VIA BATCH FILES​

For those of you who compile maps via a batch file, here is a VERY good setup for a good compile.

> hulls.txt

Code:

-------------------------------------------------------------- 
hlcsg.exe -hullfile hulls.txt -nowadtextures "C:\Half-Life\MAPPING\ESF_MapName" -wadautodetect -estimate -high %1 
hlbsp.exe -estimate -high %1 "C:\Half-Life\MAPPING\ESF_MapName" 
hlvis.exe -estimate -high -full %1 "C:\Half-Life\MAPPING\ESF_MapName" 
hlrad.exe -lights "C:\Half-Life\MAPPING\lights.rad" -high -extra -smooth -estimate %1 "C:\Half-Life\MAPPING\ESF_MapName" 
COPY "C:\Half-Life\MAPPING\ESF_MapName.bsp" "C:\Half-Life\ESF\maps" 
COPY "C:\Half-Life\MAPPING\ESF_MapName.pts" "C:\Half-Life\ESF\maps" 
--------------------------------------------------------------

Also, check out Nem's Mapping Tools website for some useful tools including a visual batch compiler set-up (I have not used it yet).

Thank you Mr. Satan for this information.

 

[Majin_You]

Valve Hammer Overview - All You Need to Map!


~Introduction - This thread will be a tutorial on how to map! It will cover everything you will need to map! You can go from never mapped before, to a mapper in no time!

~Contents
1. Essential Programs and Options
2. The Valve Hammer Tools Overview
3. Incredible Terrain - 3 Ways
4. Groups
5. Textures and Texture Blending
6. Entities
7. Compiling
8. Testing Your Map the Right Way
9. Mapping Lingo, Baffle Your Friends!

1. Essential Programs and Options
Well, you will need the following programs to map and compile maps. There are many replacements for the items listed below, but I recommend them as they are what I use.

A. Valve Hammer Editor 3.4 -To actually map the maps.

B. Zoner's Half-Life Compiling Tools - This is a custom build. I prefer this one. This is what actually compile your map. I will explain this in the Compiling section.

C. Nem's Batch Compiler -This is the interface you use to compile the map. I shall explain why not to use the one that comes with Hammer later.

Now when you load up Hammer for the first time, it will ask you to set several options. You can use the tutorial that comes with Valve Hammer because I don't feel it is necessary to explain it myself.


2. Valve Hammer Tools' Overview

A. The first tool is the Arrow Tool. You can select Entities and Brushes with it. Select it again to change how you manipulate the Brush. You can keep selecting it to change the way the manipulation of the Brush occours.
B. The zoom tool is self-explainitory.
C. The third tool is the Camera tool. Select it. You can select things in 3D view. You can move the camera around as well. Primary mouse click will rotate the screen. Secondary mouse click will move it around in a strafe. Hold shift and it moves in and out.
D. Fourth is the Entity tool. I will get to this in the Entity section.
E. The Block Tool. Select it. Go to the black griding and drag out a block. Hit enter to create the block. In the bottm right corner, you can change what you drag out. Under the "Objects" Tab, go down to cylinder. You can now only drag out cylinders. You can change the amout of sides it has in the little catagory under it. You can then change it back to Block.
F. The 6th tool is the Texture Application Tool. Each side of a block is called a face. Blocks are called brushes. Click on the Texture Application Tool. In 3D view, click side a face. Then, a little menu appears. You can edit the texture. You can edit the size, the shift, and what texture is on that face. A larger texture size will increase FPS. In ESF, I recommend a constant texture size of 2.0. But, do not raise the size too high or the quality will go down in ashes. You can also rotate texture.
G. Next is Texture Replacement Tool. Go up to top right corner and go to browse. Select any different texture. Then, select a block and hit the 7th tool down. It will replace the current textures on the currently selected block. If you edited the texture with the previous tool, it will have the same changed made to it.
H. The next tool is the Decal Tool. Go up and select another texture again. Then in 3d mode, select the Decal Tool. Click on a side of the block. It will put a small copy of the texture on it. If the side is big enough, it will not cover the whole side. This is useful for adding name textures.
I. Next is the clip tool. Select your block. Select the clip tool. Click on your block in 2D mode. A white dot will appear. Click on another part of the block. A thick white line will connect the two dots, and one side of the block will become outlined in red and one in white. The red part will be deleted when you hit Enter. Now, do a different drag over your block, starting over. This time do not hit enter when you have a white part and a red part. Instead, hit the Clip Tool again. It changes sides of which is deleted and which is saved. Now, click the Clip Tool again and both sides become white. This will slice block in half without deleting any part.
J. Next is the Vertex Manipulation Tool. This is for more advanced users because it tends to cause many errors. You must learn to properly do this without causing errors. A useful trick to find errors in your map, not all but many, is to hit CTRL+P to bring up a little menu with errors. Sometime the Fix button doesn't work. Be careful. I will show you to use the Vertex Manipulation Tool in the Incredible Terrain section.
K. The last tool is the Path Tool. This is for scripting monster sequences paths. You really don't need to know it unless you are going to make single player map. If you want to learn to use it, go find a tutorial at The SnarkPit.


3. Incredible Terrain!

There are a few ways to make great looking terrain.

A. The "Triangle Technique"

I. Vertex Manipulation
II. Select, Click, and Drag

B. The "Block Technique"

I. Select, Click, and Drag with Rows


A. The "Triangle Technique"

I. To make good looking terrain with Vertex Manipulation (from now on, I will to refer to it as "VM"), you use the VM Tool. Select the VM Tool and go into 3D view. Click on a brush and the brush will go clear and points will appear. You can click and drag points to change the shape of the Brush. But, be warned. There are many limitations of VM. Hit CTRL+P to check problems. Usually, you can only drag the point up and down and not a milimeter to the side or else it will cause an error. Now, to start making good terrain, make a cube and clip it into two triangles like I showed you before. Once you have two triangles that form a cube. Then, select the two triangles and hold shift and drag them up right next to the previous one. This will create a copy. Keep doing this until you have a the clipped cubes in a 6 by 6 fashion. Go into 3D mode, go to VM Tool. Raise and lower the points to create valleys, hills, and lakes!

II. This method will require you to make a clipped cube section that is 6 by 6 fashion once again. Select a triangle. Go into a 2D view where the triangle is laying flat on its back. Click on the triangle and you will notice the white handle bars change. It will be a little circular dot that when you click and drag it, it will rotate the brush. This is not what you want so click the triangle once again. You will notice that now the white handle bars change. Clicking and dragging, you will notice it lifts one side up and leaves the other where it was. This is what you want. Keep working it and you can make hills, lakes, and sharp rocks! This method is just as effective as VM and has the same short comings as VM. This means stetched textures if a triangle to really steap. The difference is that this method is a little slower but will definatly not give you any errors.

B. The "Block Technique"

I. This method will be extremely faster than the previous two techniques. The downsides are as follows: possibilty of stetched textures, repeatitive patterns, limited terrains variations. The good side is that it can be made incredibly faster than the previous two techniques, and it tends to not reduce FPS as much as the previous techniques. Make a block and duplicate it until you have another 6 by 6 grid. Do not clip this into triangles. Go into a side view. Select the first row, click it twice more to change the way it is manipulated. Raise it up some. Go to the next row and repeat. Make the random yet smooth. Go into a different 2D view and repeat. Now you will have some nice bumpy terrain. It can get repeatitive.

4. Groups

There are 3 different types of grouping that you must know to map effectively. When you group brushes, they will all be linked. How they are linked is the difference between them.

Regular Grouping: Select mutliple brushes, then right click on them. Go down to "Group". Now, when you select anyone of the brushes in the group, the whole group will be selected. To ungroup them select the group, right click and go down to "Ungroup".

VIS Grouping: Select multiple blushes again. Right click on selected group and go to properties. Go to "VIS Group". Hit the "Edit Group" button. Then, in the new menu that came up, hit "New Group". Choose a name and color for that group. Then hit "Close". A new group will appear in the VIS Group tab. Select that new group and close the menu. Now, a menu on the right side of Valve Hammer says "Vis Groups:". Under there, your new group you created will appear. Deselect your current brushes. Go to the menu, select your group name, and go to "Mark". This will highlight the brushes in the group.

Auto-Entity Grouping: When you tie multiple brushes to one entity (if you do not know how to do this, I will get to it in the Entity section), the brushes will all be grouped like it was grouped regularly. To ungroup, you must select the ground and right click and go down to "Move to World". This will delete the entity that was tied to it as well.


5. Textures and Texture Blending

Say you have some terrain, you have a cliffe texture next to a grass texture. It doesn't look too good when they are right next to each other. If you remember in some maps, the mapper has a nice shift from rock to grass. This is how it is done. Make a 6 by 6 section of blocks again. Use the Texture Application Tool to make the center block a grass texture. The outter blocks should be a rock. Make sure these are ESF textures. The ESF textures are located in the ESF.wad in your ESF directory. Find the texture that has grass and rock on it. Apply it to the outside blocks. You will need to allign it using the Texture Edit Tool. On the corners, rotate the texture by 45 degrees each turn. Once you finish aligning it, you will notice that some extra part appeared on the top areas, looking very nasty (if not, make your blocks a bit bigger). To fix this, select the blocks, and use the clip tool. Do not delete the blocks, just slice them. Now, change textures to the rock. Apply the rock texture to the outside clipped blocks. Now, you will have some nice grass with texture blended rock on the outside.


6. Entities

You cannot compile your map until you have added the proper entities! There are two types of entities.

Point Based: Point based entities are required to start your game! This take up a single point and can just be added anywhere inside your map.

Brush Based: This is when you tie an entity to a brush. For a detailed explaination of these entities, go to The SnarkPit. To tie an entity to a brush, select the brush and right click on it. Go down to "Tie to Entity".

Note: All Info_Player_Start, Info_Good_Start, and Info_Evil_Start entities must not be inside any brush. If they are when the player spawns, he will be stuck in the map!

Info_Player_Start: Not essential for ESF. If you add one of these to your map, it won't matter which team a player belongs to. Any player can spawn here. This shouldn't really be used for ESF though. It is essential for most other modifications and default Half-Life.

Info_Player_Deathmatch: Now, this is essential for ESF. Well, you can compile without it, but you will not see your map in the "Create Game" menu when you make a server.

Info_Good_Start: This is essential as well. This is where the good team will spawn.

Info_Evil_Start: Ditto.

Item_SensuBeanBag: Not essential. This is where sensu beans will spawn.

Item_Dragonball: Not essential. This is where Dragonballs will spawn. If you add these, you MUST have atleast 7 for the balls to spawn. More than 7 is recommended, so the balls don't spawn in the same place all the time.

Fog: This is an ESF entity which is non-essential as well. It will place a fog in your map. Play with the options for best results.

ENV_Model: Using this entity, you can add ESF Pine/Palm trees. For the name of the model use either, "Palm.mdl" or "Pine.mdl".

Light: This will put in a light as if it was from a flashlight or streetlight.

Light_Enviroment: This will entity is like light from the Sun. First, select the entity. Go into 3D view. Add it into the skybox (to add a skybox, check the MEGA-THREAD OF MAPPING). The entity will be half in the box and half out of the box. THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT.

NOTE: All light entities MUST be activated by going into its properties. You do not need to change a thing.



7. Compiling

Using Nem's Batch Compiler (refered to as NBC from now on ) is much better than the one that comes with Valve Hammer.

1) Since Hammer doesn't need to be open, you can have more memory for the compile or use your computer for other things.

2) You won't need to know any parameters.

3) You won't accidently mispell it causing a whole important function to not run (like VIS, VIS is what lights your map).

Opening NBC for your first time, you must set the options. Go to "Options" and then to "Setup". Click on the "Paths" tab. Select each one and set them to the corresponding Zoner's Tools that you downloaded. Set the destination and then exit out of the menu.

On the NBC's main screen on the right hand side, it says "Stages". Check "CSG", "VIS", "RAD", and "BSP". I do not recommend checking HL.

Now, go to the "CSG" tab. This is where you must set the proper Hull files. There is a sticky in the Mapping section, so you can download it. Set the location and check the little box next to "Hull File". If you used a WAD that was not included in ESF, check the "WAD Include" box (anyone of them) and then hit the "..." button and set the location of the WAD. This will take the textures you used in that WAD and automaticly put them into the .BSP so you will not have to give the person the WAD you used.

From now, I shall separate it into a good compile (takes longer and higher FPS) and a bad compiler (much faster but bad FPS and poor lighting).

Good compile:

In VIS: Check Full.

In RAD: Check Extra, Sparse, Dump Light Patches, Bounce (set to 8 ), Smooth (set to 50), Coring.


NOTE:You can save this setting by going to "File" and save preset as. You can load this preset later on, so you will not have to change it everytime.


Bad compile:

In VIS: Check Fast

In RAD: Check Sparse, Incremental, Bounce (set to 4 or so)


8. Testing Your Map The Right Way

Load up your map. In console, type the following:


developer 1
r_speeds 1


Close the console now. You will be shown several numbers at the top of your screen. First is your FPS (frames per second). Next is MS (Miliseconds), this is your lag. Next is WPoly (World Polygons). This is what matters most. This is how many faces you are seeing currently.

WPoly:
Under 400 - Too low, go and add more detail

400-800 - That is a bit low and good.

800-1200 - This is what you should shoot for. You will have good detail without causing FPS loss.

1200-1600 - Getting a bit high, but it is still okay. You won't get much FPS loss, if any.

Above 1600 - Too much. You will get a lot of FPS loss and can cause regular lag.

Next is EPoly (Entity Polygons). This is cause by entities and models. It will not matter how much you have as long as you do not go too much higher than maybe 4000.


9. Mapping Lingo

Brush: Any block of any shape.
Entity: Not seen. Rendered invisible ingame.
WPoly: World Polygons
EPoly: Entity Polygons
FPS: Frames Per Second
RMF: A map format used for storing maps.
MAP: A map format used for storing maps and compiling them.
VIS: Visibilty Index Set. Lights your map.
BSP: Binary Space Partition. How your final maps are stored.
CSG: Constructive Solid Geometry. Builds your map.
NetVIS: Network Visibilty Index Set. Used for multiple computers to compile.
RAD: Radiosity. Fixes up the lighting.

The rest you have already learned.

If you have anything to add or if I have made some mistake, please Private Message me, and I will be happy to fix or add it. For great tutorials, go to The SnarkPit! Now get mapping!


Thank you,
Optional


Finding And Fixing Errors with Your Log File


When you compile a map in the source directory, it will leave several text files. In one of them, you will have a log of all the text that was put in the compile. This is how you can fix errors.

Example errors:

MAX_MAP_CLIPNODES
Max_leaf_faces
Leaf portal saw into leaf
=== LEAK in hull 1 ===
Entity 10, Brush 0: outside world(+/-4096): (-9000, -64, 216)-(9000,23,283)
Exceeded MAX_PATCHES
MAX_PORTALS_ON_LEAF

This are some of the most common ones. There are many, many more.

Usually, there are some text files that show you just what the error was. If you do not get one, you can find the error by using these methods:

1) Look for the words "Warning" or "Error"

2) Errors are usually followed by coordinates of the error.

Ex. (192.000 704.000 512.000)
(256.000 768.000 512.000)
(256.000 1024.000 256.000)
(256.000 1024.000 256.000)
(0.000 768.000 256.000)

If you see this, it is most likely error coordinates.

3) Look at a sucessful compile's records. Once you know how a good compile looks like, it will be much easier to find errors because you will know what belongs and what doesn't.


If you have found the error but you do not know how to fix it, go to Tommy's Error List. This has a list of probably every error HL has to offer you. If you do not understand what the fix for the error is or if the fix did not work, then you should post here or other mapping forums for help.



Thank you,
Optional


Texture Application Tool - Align To Option (Intermediate)

If you read the Valve Hammer Overview, then you should know a bit about it. But, I did not mention the Align To World and Align To Face options. Read this if you already read the Hammer Overview tutorial in which I showed you how to blend textures or already know how to use the Texture Application Tool.

This is what the texture is aligned to on the face. The direction in which the texture considers to be up. Most of the time when you make a brush, it will be randomly picked. This is not what you want! You should have all brushes aligned to Face or World in the Texture Application Tool's menu!

Example:

Make an 8-sided cylinder. Notice the texture on the cylinder. On each face, the texture doesn't travel smooth from one to the other. This is because they are aligned differently. Select it, hit the Texture Application Tool, then hit "align to world" (making sure that the X and Y are 1, and the shifts and rotations are set to 0). This will make it flow smoothly from face to face!

NOTE: You can select the Texture Application Tool then go into 3D view and select an individual face. You can then edit that face alone.

Thank you,
Optional

 

[KarrdeKNR]

Regarding Teleporters (taken from DragonDude)

You make a brush the player would step into to teleport, and tie it to the entity trigger_teleport.
When you compile, this brush is invisible, and when the player steps into it they get teleported to the point-based entity you place next, called info_teleport_destination.
Give the info_teleport_destination entity a Name, and set the trigger_teleport's Target to the name you gave it.
Now when they step into the trigger_teleport, they get teleported to the info_teleport_destination.
You can change the direction they face when they get teleported with the Angle of the teleport destination.

-Karrde-

 

[Damaera]

New esf .fgd

I updated the esf fgd file, now it should have all entities as supported in the beta 1.1 code. I'll add support for func_tracktrain, etc in beta 1.2.

Changelog:
- made the fgd halflife based instead of cs-based
- added ambient_generic
- added button_target
- removed sprite_cycler
- added env_fade
- added env_funnel
- added func_guntarget
- added func_ladder
- added game_counter
- added game_counter_set
- added trigger_gravity

Download:
http://home.student.utwente.nl/h.vanwelbergen/esf/halflife-esf.fgd

 

[Damaera]

Article - What is Level Design?

I thought this would be worth posting here for, even though there's no life in this part of the forum. Basically, it's an article that explains the basics of level design, things you need to look for, details to pay attention to, etcetera. I recommend this article to any mapper or mapper-to-be for any game:

http://www.interlopers.net/index.php?page=what-is-level-design

Edit

I updated the link.

 

[Damaera]

Short Posts (read me)

Ok, people, read this ok? Just something I'd like to make a quick note of. When replying to a thread in this forum, when giving crits on a map, try not to make your posts like 3 words long simply saying "nice job" or "it's good." Say what it is that you like, or what could use some work.

-Karrde-

 

[Damaera]

Compiling Maps with Hullfile

Go download the HLCC.. compile tool its at www.valve-erc.com

 

[sub]

I'm reuploading the hullfile because it's nearly impossible to find nowadays

http://www.filefront.com/15987033/hulls.hull