SDK single player map source
Post Reply
Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by satchmo on Thu Jan 20th at 5:50am 2005


Do I understand the Steam News correctly? Are there suppose to be six new single player map sources uploaded with the last SDK update? I looked all over the directories, but I cannot find them.

Any idea where they are? Or did I misunderstand the meaning of the update completely?
[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Joe-Bob on Thu Jan 20th at 6:45am 2005


sourcesdk_contenthl2mapsrc

I've looked at one of those maps.
VALVe sure does like its triggers and hints...




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Rof on Thu Jan 20th at 4:21pm 2005


You have to start the SDK Menu at least once before you can see the new maps (until then, they are hidden in the .gcf files).
[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Atrocity on Thu Jan 20th at 4:26pm 2005


Hints, area portals, occluders, are what makes the world go round. [addsig]



Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Dark|Killer on Thu Jan 20th at 4:27pm 2005


? quoting Joe-Bob
sourcesdk_contenthl2mapsrc

I've looked at one of those maps.
VALVe sure does like its triggers and hints...

Yeh man, i cant believe it, i cant see through nothing in C17, check it out, all filled with triggers and and areportals and clips and alot of stuff, i didnt know how do they do that. Man, now i know why it had been delayed , i dont think becuase it got "hacked" i think because they figured out the some of their maps suck, and need repairing. And the thing i really wonder about is, why did they remove the machine gun that had a scope, its all in their trailers before they launch it, its really wierd, because i really liked that gun

[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by haikeebah on Thu Jan 20th at 4:56pm 2005


Dangit, I coulda used these as reference on how to optimize and use portals/hints/occluders a long time back. I did just the most basic optimizing on my last project (and it shows) because I obviously wasnt using hints/etc properly, because adding hints often actually slowed my map down and specifically window_areaportals were behaving unpredictably :/

ah well.






Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Vash on Thu Jan 20th at 6:46pm 2005


Listen to me all you f**king idiots who keep saying 'Valve made up the hacking incident to gain time'. THEY DIDN'T. Shut your god damn mouths.

And yes, the maps roxorz.
[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by DrGlass on Thu Jan 20th at 8:07pm 2005


? quote:
Listen to me all you f**king idiots who keep saying 'Valve made up the hacking incident to gain time'. THEY DIDN'T. Shut your god damn mouths.

And yes, the maps roxorz.


simmer down.

its true that valve didn't make it up, unless they were really able to get some 19 year old in germany to take the fall and go to prison for them. The maps didn't suck becuase they have alot of triggers. The maps are good becuase there is a huge level of detail. Most of the hint/occ/clip brushes are there to prevent problems that play testers ran into. Like getting stuck on objects, etc.




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Nickelplate on Thu Jan 20th at 8:15pm 2005


? quoting Vash
Listen to me all you f**king idiots who keep saying 'Valve made up the hacking incident to gain time'. THEY DIDN'T. Shut your god damn mouths.

And yes, the maps roxorz.

You're not being very nice again.

[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by ReNo on Thu Jan 20th at 8:16pm 2005


Awfully confusing if you ask me. In places there seemed to be some hugely unnecessary uses of clip brushes obviously to simplify the clipping calculations or lower clipnodes, but it really wasn't worth the added confusion it adds to the maps. I even found a few brushes that seemed to be 100% covered in skip - what purpose does that serve?!
[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Dred_furst on Thu Jan 20th at 8:49pm 2005


you reckon they'll mind if someone rips the HL1 test chamber?
[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by satchmo on Thu Jan 20th at 9:38pm 2005


? quoting ReNo
Awfully confusing if you ask me. In places there seemed to be some hugely unnecessary uses of clip brushes obviously to simplify the clipping calculations or lower clipnodes, but it really wasn't worth the added confusion it adds to the maps. I even found a few brushes that seemed to be 100% covered in skip - what purpose does that serve?!

I was wondering about the same thing. Why would Valve put player clip brushes virtually everywhere, even in places that simply cannot trap a player's movement? And just for simplifying clip calculation? How much of a difference would that really make? Is it even noticeable in gameplay?

In addition, I noticed that they've got the skybox texture wrapping the entire map. Did they do that as part of the 3D skybox or were they actually lazy?

But I am impressed by the amount of detail they put in, even for the smallest things (like triggering a wind gust). I guess that's why they're professional game designers and I am just an amateur.

[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by omegaslayer on Thu Jan 20th at 9:45pm 2005


? quote:
I even found a few brushes that seemed to be 100% covered in skip - what purpose does that serve?!


The material inside the skip brush fade away at a certain distance (Its how they got those combine shields to fade as you moved away). As for the clips....I have no idea why there are soo many, probalby to cut down on the clip nodes like you said
[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Leperous on Thu Jan 20th at 10:13pm 2005


Clip data is contributing up to 1mb of my map's data, and it's fairly blocky, so I'm guessing it won't hurt at all to do whack in a few brushes when you're done with everything!



Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Campaignjunkie on Thu Jan 20th at 10:29pm 2005


Maybe it's for physics purposes? Who knows.
[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by DrGlass on Fri Jan 21st at 12:15am 2005


I dont understnad the skip brush thing, can you set the model to fade away? I didn't know skip was used for anything other than hint




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by ReNo on Fri Jan 21st at 12:20am 2005


Likewise - where did you find info on this, and what did you mean by "the material inside"?
[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Agent Smith on Fri Jan 21st at 12:32am 2005


Has anyone checked out the Ravenholm level yet. I though my maps were shodily constructed, but this one is a joke. It doesn't even use a 3D skybox, which I thought was necessary for all maps, as well as boxing the entire level in sky. It also uses a hell of a lot of decals instead of overlays. And I can see what everyone is talking about. There are so many clip brushes around the place it doesn't make any sense, as well as trigger in places the player cannot even reach. Pretty crazy.




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by Campaignjunkie on Fri Jan 21st at 1:31am 2005


The triggers and clips are probably moreso for NPC's rather than the player. And I really don't see how you can call these VMF's shoddily constructed: It didn't use a 3d skybox because it wasn't neccesary, and there's nothing wrong with using decals. Some of the hint brush placement seems a little excessive, but I guess you can never be too careful with VIS blocking!
[addsig]




Quote
Re: SDK single player map source
Posted by omegaslayer on Fri Jan 21st at 2:13am 2005


? quote:
Likewise - where did you find info on this, and what did you mean by "the material inside"?


I didnt find info on this anywhere, its more of a guess really, and by material I meant the brush inside (arent we suppost to be using the term material now?)
[addsig]





Post Reply