Valve Hammer 2?

Hey I was wondering if you guys know anything about a Half-Life 2 editor. And if so, where can I get it? :biggrin:

WOW.....

Its just VHE with a few new features.

And if you somehow go it, how would you use it with no Hl2?

Well if it has real-time previews of lighting and effects then you wouldn't even need HL2...at all, you could just marvel at your piece of art, but then you realize you could do so much more with a modeling program so you move on to that.  Then you've gone from mapper to computer animation artist.  But that won't satisfy you because you'll have realistic things but you can't interact with them.  So you start focusing on holograms and invent the holodeck.  So that's what you could do if the HL2 editor was out...or not.

Yeah thats all I needed to know. I know it was a dumb question but Ive been away from mapping for 3 months. I also didnt know anything about it. Is there a new version of VHE?

Im sorri to be so harsh :biggrin:

 

Well, theres Hammer 3.5 for REGULAR half-life, but recently myrk discoverd it was erasing maps so ya know...does exorcist s*t*

 

As for the HL2 editor, its Hammer With new features and slight more power. Only 2 pictures have been released of the editor thus far...

Where can I see these pictures?

 

http://www.planethalflife.com/half-life2/screenshots/

there ya go.. down at the bottom.. enjoy!

($)

Myrk must be doing something funky, I've been using 3.5 for months now with no issues. But sad to say, it teaches you a little thing about backing your stuff up, I always have a few CDs that contain my maps and sources. Or I keep an undated copy on my friend's computer. I suggest you have a plan such as mine unless you want to run into a big problem and have no recovery plan.

i just thought id point this out, with all the wondering about how easy HL maps are going to be portable into HL2 maps...i noticed that the file types are different, and i wonder...does this mean no back compatibility?

rmf vs. vmf

http://www.planethalflife.com/screenshot.asp?src=/half-life2/screenshots/11.jpg

Vash said:
Its just VHE with a few new features.

I've said it a million times, I'll say it again- you guys are hopelessly naive thinking that mapping for HL2 is going to be just like mapping for HL1. I'm sure the HL2 editor will be far from 'just VHE' with a 'few' new features. The interface may be similar, but HL2 is (one hopes) a totally new engine and that means the editor will have a ton of new tools to take advantage of its advanced features.

The best thing you could probably do to prepare is learn modeling, actually, since you'll probably need to learn to do that anyway. What program are they recommending for HL2 'props' or 'smeshes'?

As for compatibility, why would you want to move a HL1 map to HL2? HL1 has a painfully outdated and limited engine, HL2 will (one hopes) utterly blow it away.

edit: ug, I just noticed things labeled 'hint' brushes in that pic.

What program are they recommending for HL2 'props' or 'smeshes'?

XSI or lightwave or somesuch

Ooooh LightWave :smile:   I can use that!

/me strokes LW6

Perhaps soon I shall be renewing my old aquaintance

why do I have a feeling someone is modeling a giant boulder about now?

Ahem

Er.....look!  A monkey!  --->

/runs

/ignorant question

What exactly does Lightwave do?

It's a 3d modeling / animation program, just like 3DsMax, Maya, XSI.

LightWave is a professional modelling and animation package (the same sort of product as 3D Studio).

It's pretty intuitive, and stuffed with features....I mean, any product that has an option to anti-alias gridlines in the editor has got to be good :heee:

There was some talk a while back about Valve trying to get a deal where there'd be a sort of "Educational Edition" of XSI(SoftImage) packaged with HL2.  There's no learning edition of the software as far as I can tell.  I believe anything that can export to an .ase file should work for modeling tools.  And if your software doesn't directly port and there's no plugins to do so, there's always Milkshape3D to use as a go-between.

Does anyone know what the type of wad's used will be? Will making a wad be the same for HL2?

Does anyone know what the type of wad's used will be? Will making a wad be the same for HL2?

Ack! Zee thread! She eez alive!

There was some talk a while back about Valve trying to get a deal where
there'd be a sort of "Educational Edition" of XSI(SoftImage) packaged
with HL2. There's no learning edition of the software as far as I can
tell. I believe anything that can export to an .ase file should work
for modeling tools. And if your software doesn't directly port and
there's no plugins to do so, there's always Milkshape3D to use as a
go-between.

There is a free version of XSi specifically for HL2 already out mate, I
downloaded it quite some time ago but never got around to using it. I'm
sure you can probably download it from fileplant or some other such
file host. It appears to come with loads of tutorials and things to
help newbies learn to model for HL2.

There is a free version of XSi specifically for HL2 already out mate, Idownloaded it quite some time ago but never got around to using it. I'm sure you can probably download it from fileplant or some other such file host. It appears to come with loads of tutorials and things to help newbies learn to model for HL2.

/me points ReNo towards the topic date

LOL, oops :biggrin:

thanks KP, i guess ill just have to convert all my jpgs into tga's :sad:

There is a free version of XSI out already it was on last months
edition of PCFormat fso it should be somewhere on there site cos they
usually put them on there after they've put them on there disks.

Lol gimp, I just said that, and not only that, but this is an ancient topic and I'm sure everyone knows by now :biggrin:

This is why we don't revive ancient topics $loth. :razz:

I heard there is a free version of XS....thwacks ensue

/runs

How many webspace do we get for the Snarkpit, Lep ? ... maybe we could
host XSI Imagesoft for downloading ... along with the new Hammer &
SDK coming out soon (well, that's what we all hope ;-) )

Nobody likes waiting 3 hours in line at fileplanet ... and it would be good for the site traffic/community too ...

Just an idea.

Forceflow said:
How many webspace do we get for the Snarkpit, Lep ? ... maybe we could host XSI Imagesoft for downloading ... along with the new Hammer & SDK coming out soon (well, that's what we all hope ;-) )

Nobody likes waiting 3 hours in line at fileplanet ... and it would be good for the site traffic/community too ...

Just an idea.

the taboo version of hammer is in excess of 300 megs.. it cannot be separated from the game without seriously degrading it..

i took the 1.4 gig file and with the bare minimum (textures and models) it was still more than 300.. that was with only 4 or 5 textures only..

i doubt lep will host it even when its permitted, unless the real editor seriously revamps the file method.

Well, we could still host the SDK and XSI Imagesoft, no ?

I never said anything about it erasing maps, where'd you get that crazy idea?

As for VHE for HL2 it doesn't have light previews, that was what they wanted but never got working, some guy from Bloodlines told me.

Well, XSI is only 168mb or so, so when I'm back at uni in October I can upload it, but until then don't think my 56k modem will agree with you :razz: We'll see if people use it too, I tried but I can't tell if I'm dense or if it's a really really annoying program to use.

I could upload it to the pit for ya, if you want. I'm on cable, and my
Upload limit is capped at 5 gb/month ... so it's no big deal.

I tried XSI myself, but I prefer Gmax, although the presets for models
in XSI come in handy. (select type of skin, select height, select hair,
select that and that ... whii, I made a fully skinned model :razz: )

Forceflow said:
I tried XSI myself, but I prefer Gmax, although the presets for models in XSI come in handy. (select type of skin, select height, select hair, select that and that ... whii, I made a fully skinned model :razz: )

There is an art forums you know :rolleyes: why not post it there?