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Greetings - IM BACK!
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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by G4MER on Wed Aug 13th at 4:59am 2008

LOVE THE NEW LOOK!

I am back after a 3-4 year break from Counter Strike, and Mapping. I am working a map right now, but I learned a valued lesson.. SCALE. Yeah what looks right in hammer, can be huge in game. So I am having to relearn scale, and how to do everything all over. the new tools are pretty nice.. I hear there are better ones than what comes with the Orange Box and Hammer? Anyone have a link or advice on these better cs:s tools for hammer?

I look forward to hearing from all you master mappers I used to hang with.. anyone heard from DR. Glass in recent times? I hope hanging with you all, will help bring my skills back up to snuff, or at least improve... see ya around!

P.S. Hey do we still have rep points and all that like before?

[ Edited by Muhnay on Wed Aug 13th 2008 at 5:27pm - total edits: 3]




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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by ReNo on Wed Aug 13th at 7:22pm 2008

Hey, welcome back, glad you're liking the new site! I've not fully explored things myself yet, but I don't think that the "snarkmarks" have made the switch. Gwil/Larchy will be better able to tell you if that's coming/scrapped or what not.

To be honest I've not heard of there being any better tools than what ships with Orange Box - the SDK all gets updated through Steam these days, and I've not really seen anybody discussing alternatives. Doesn't mean they don't exist, but I've not come across em smiley

Best thing to do for judging scale is just work off the info_player_spawn/deathmatch/start entities. You'll soon get back into the swing of things with scale once you get a few standard sizes down. Standard rooms being 128 tall, doors being 96 or 112 units tall by 64 wide, handrails being about 40 tall, steps either 8x12 or 8x16 depending on desired gradient, etc etc...



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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by G4MER on Thu Aug 14th at 12:11am 2008

Thanks RENO, I missed you guys.. your banter and wit was always sure to amuse. And the advice was always sure to please.

Yeah I am starting to figure stuff out the ORANGE textures are helping.. been mapping with them right now and setting scale, then going back and texturing.. talk about a pain in the butt way to do it though. I am now starting to just do door and stairs that way because all that re-texturing is too much work. Even though sometimes orange levels can be kinda cool.

I have a small problem though, wonder if any of you know how to fix it. When I start a new map project I don't have the center red green blue thing on screen on my 3d view. and I can never locate my work on the big black blank space. So what I have done is loaded up the sdk_water example and deleted everything but the floor and 1 wall, and started from there, saved that as map_start, and that way I get around the big blank start with no red, green, blue thing. But it would be nice to just start with out having to do that. Any ideas why Hammer is doing that?

[ Edited by Muhnay on Wed Aug 13th 2008 at 5:31pm - total edits: 1]




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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by Riven on Thu Aug 14th at 1:22am 2008

Yea, that's always been an annoyance for me too, but fortunately, I found two easy fixes to help you out.

For maps that you're opening for the first time, select the 3D view and press: Ctrl+Shift+E This is supposed to center the view on a selected entity or brush, but if none are selected, it will 95% of the time center it on some brush or entity, so it's an easy way to find things in the 3D view without having to select anything.

Now for the second method: If you've already opened your map, and want to ensure that it will keep the same 3D view as you left it when you last closed Hammer, All you need to do is select the camera tool (3rd button down on the left) and it will automatically appear in the 2D views as a cyan colored circle with a red line pointing in the direction you're facing. Then just select the selection tool and save you're map. Keep working, and close, and the next time you open that map, it will automatically load up your 3D view exactly where you last left it when you closed the map.

It works for me all the time!

[ Edited by riven on Wed Aug 13th 2008 at 7:25pm - total edits: 1]



Blog: www.playingarchitecture.net
LinkedIn: Eric Lancon
Twitter:@Riven202



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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by G4MER on Thu Aug 14th at 1:39am 2008

Thank You Riven! I will give that a try. I am glad to hear it happens to others.. so I know its not just me..



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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by Le Chief on Thu Aug 14th at 5:32am 2008

Yeah, it happens to me to, I just simply click the camera tool and drag a line over my map in the top view and all done.

Quoting Muhnay
Yeah I am starting to figure stuff out the ORANGE textures are helping..


Personally, I don't use the orange textures, it just doesn't help me what so ever. Before I build a space/map, I do some pre-production work which includes looking at concept photos and drawing up a rough design for the map.

Straight away, I build basic geometry which is textured with rough textures so I can instantly decide on what textures to use, often, some of those rough textures are left as they where in the final version of a map.

Here is a space I am working on, its basically painted with rough textures and it really helps me as I wonder through the level to decide on what props and such to use.





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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by G4MER on Thu Aug 14th at 11:24am 2008

Well I understand what your doing.. and how it works for you. I like the Orange textures.. keeps me honest. Wish I could make a texture wad that just used the textures I picked for the map I am building and that way i would not have to look though the billions in there.

Another quick question.. I place models in my maps, and some of them don't show up? Like Computer monitors and keyboards and a couple other things.. what gives?

I'll post some images of my current project for you all to check out.. so far I like it.



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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by ReNo on Thu Aug 14th at 8:43pm 2008

I build with dev textures all the time and find them really useful. I work alongside a couple of env artists at work who create all the content for each level, but as I get to work on a level before they do I kind of have to use them. If there's something particularly suited to a location within the assets we already have then I sometimes chuck it in, but to be honest I really quite enjoy the simplicity of standardised orange boxed levels. I feel it makes you focus on the larger forms and structures of the level while leaving the small detailing to the side, which is tyipcally a good thing. I also find it encourages good clean brushwork that stays on decent sized grids as far as possible, but then I'm a sucker for clean BSP work smiley



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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by fishy on Thu Aug 14th at 8:44pm 2008

some of the props are compiled with the $staticprop parameter, which allows them to be used as a prop_static entity. If the model wasn't compiled with this, then it can't be used as a prop_static, and would need to be used as one of the other prop types, like maybe prop_physics or prop_dynamic. By the same token, if the model was compiled with the parameter, then it can only be used as a static, or one of the override types, ie, prop_physics_override.
It should tell you in either the compile log or the loading screen why the prop has been dropped.



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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by G4MER on Fri Aug 15th at 2:30am 2008

Thanks Fishy.... that fixed my prop/model problem! Your the bomb diggity dude.

Hey Reno, do you have a really basic example map I can take a look at, to see how a pro does it.. something real small and simple to give me an idea? Would really help me get better.. maybe make it a dev download here for beginners or people getting back into mapping. Just so I can see how you build a more complex map than just a simple box. You always give such great advice, it would be nice to see it in practice.





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 Re: Greetings - IM BACK!
Posted by mazemaster on Fri Aug 15th at 1:58pm 2008

For getting the scale right - if you have the info_player_start selected, you can just click-place it on surfaces in the 3D view as you are flying around your map. I used to place them all the time while I'm mapping - after a couple hours of mapping when I zoom out there's a bunch of little green boxes on the ground and the walls. Usually I leave them for a while, then when theres a break in what I'm making I'll go around and delete them.




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