The Official Facepunch Mapping WiP Thread v18: Source Engine and Friends - Developers

I just- last night- came back from a two week trip to Japan. You got the tiny house feeling down. Well done! I think one of the big 'tells' you are in a Tokyo neighbourhood is for sure the tangle of cords and cables above. You rarely have an unobstructed view of open sky. I thought it'd be somewhat claustrophobic, but Its almost cozy. Its a strange feeling to be so encased within streets. A big take away I got from this trip was that not everything makes sense. Sometimes, you do have a window that just leads to the side of another home a foot away. Sometimes a utility pole is creeping out into the street. Sometimes you do just lock your car away behind chained billiards and garbage cans? Its chaotic. Here are two screenshots from some video I took. Please, feel free to use them. https://i.imgur.com/tA3ipMC.jpg https://i.imgur.com/DKCsaCl.jpg Just thinking about all those move_rope's and keyframe_rope's... Good god. Keep up the good dang work!

My newest favourite building I've ever made. Dunno why that garage door is so dark. Maybe I'll add a lamp or something if vrad is being dumb. https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/285360/b5083189-887a-4afd-a25d-777c0c520c0b/20190421060104_1.jpg

this looks great this one building is better than all of mine combined

hmm i kinda want to put a freeway interchange on my map but at the same time that may murder source https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/256233/29dee507-e06b-4a56-bb11-8126e1b7c6c4/rp_springyard_city_ut_23j0000.jpg https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/256233/e692c764-9d4f-4b17-84ba-3d6b37f5a578/rp_springyard_city_ut_23j0004.jpg

resuming something I started a few years ago. trying to get it good and pretty https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/337630/4dc052de-843e-454a-aa20-5645943c86cd/image.png https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/337630/d569948a-5240-42f3-a164-d23b8d8a64c9/image.png https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/337630/636e330f-5985-4c8d-9318-971e0d056114/image.png https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/337630/ed10cfcb-1de7-4f4c-99d9-d178a419cacf/image.png https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/337630/c2ab1419-19f3-43c1-b24e-b14b3b067b67/image.png

Could use some sharper shadows. I volunteer for doing the lightmap work if you want, I love doing it and I'm good at it, without increasing the filesize much. This offer stands for everyone in this thread too, I'll do your lightmaps in no time at all!

Ah thanks for the offer but I will get to that later as part of my workflow. These are my default 'alpha' lightmaps. Or something like that.

Anything useful you‘ve picked on lightmap editing that you would be willing to share here? I‘m pretty much only ever using 16 for the first 80% of map creation and the looking for interesting lighting situation and lowering there, and upping lightmaps on facets without much surface detail or off in the distance, but without real planning or foresight, more by eye and intuition

It would be easier for me to just do it. However I'll try to explain. I've been observing the way shadows work in real life very closely, and basically, the simple part is that a shadow becomes sharper when the distance between the surface it's applied on and the object projecting the shadow decreases and also when the the contrast between ambient/unlit areas and lit areas (light intensity thus) increases. Some examples: http://lamaisonhomes.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/home-office.jpg This picture has some average-level outside light due to the overcast weather outside (if it was sunny, then the light would be more intense, and therefore the shadows sharper). What you're looking at here is an average of 3 or 4 units lightmaps. If it was sunny, then it should be 1. Clear sunny weather regularly asks for 1, but it would not be wise to put it everywhere since you'd be wasting filesize space doing that. A key part of doing proper lightmaps is to only use where necessary, but you also have to think broad. Note how the shadows of the frames are sharper since the distance between them and the walls is very small. Source can replicate that using light_environment's SunSpreadAngle but it's tricky to get the exact right value, more on that later. Another example: http://corbtrans.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/creative-office-new-1-1.jpg The first thing that strikes you in a picture like this is the high ambient light, which will dilute shadows. This always makes things simpler, these are lightmaps of 6 to 8 units on the ground alone. Notice how there are objects attached to the ceiling, but their shadows are very blurry because of the strong ambient lighting and the fact that the objects help further with the ambient lighting by being white. The ceiling would be like the default 16. Last real-life example: https://shop.alvaraalto.fi/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/alvar-aallon-kotitalo-sisaankaynti-aalto-house-entrance-riihitie-helsinki.jpg This is a bright, sunny setting, and therefore where the shadows are relatively close to the object they emanate from, you should have a lightmap level of 1 or 2 units. However you'll notice that shadows close by one another have different levels of sharpness, because the distances are different. That's where you have to use SunSpreadAngle. For a setting like this, a normal sunny weather, I recommend using 0.5. Don't use SunSpreadAngle 0 like many people do. That means sharp shadows everywhere (in other words, the distance doesn't matter), but it doesn't make a difference if you don't set your lightmaps to something low. SunSpreadAngle 0 is basically how CSGO looks, and it's bad. It's not realistic most of the time. CSGO usually does it the wrong way around: overly sharp shadows outdoors and very blurry shadows indoors. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/cswikia/images/9/93/Csgo_office_big.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/640?cb=20130608143922 Ugh. 100% sharp shadows (even sharper than lightmaps of 1) outside on a snowy day? This couldn't be real, ever. Unless it stopped snowing and the sun would rise from behind the clouds, but that's not the case here. The sky is completely overcast. This is what it should actually be like. If you make a map like this, please turn off global illumination. And now for some pictures of my own work, from my CSGO ports: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/949597721083257909/D382870C5D6477949D8C84AF55C2BA949A06CB96/ https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/981107421970741389/6269B7F186CB07ACC3156AA7E7ED70E8D5C31780/ https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/981107421970745105/A644B553A507A22090094D4F5E17275742CB251A/ https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/924799832433447255/FDCDD62965599E33424CD78FC2593541FB2701BB/ https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/929299704287891186/DD7330ECB8FE0AB38053B5AA8ABE7C94E68E54C2/ Picture 1: With the sky being overcast, notice how the shadows on the orange walls quickly dilute. This is SunSpreadAngle 5, I think, the default value, with lightmaps 2 or 4 probably. Picture 2: the SunSpreadAngle is 0.5, the ideal sunny value. Notice how the tree's shadow starts off sharp, then goes blurrier at the leafs' shadows. Also the perfectly sharp shadows of 1-unit lightmaps of the tables against the wall in the background, only if you can afford to lose the filesize space (those table shadows alone could cost 1 or 2 MBs in size, less if you use Slammin' Tools). Picture 3: since SunSpreadAngle doesn't work for ambient lighting indoors, you sometimes have to do the average, or use the lightmap scale that is the most distinctive. This is a lightmap level of 2 units. Picture 4: a perfect example of shadows going blurrier with the distance. Note that CSGO can hardly achieve this look, since the global illumination shadows disappear after a distance. Therefore in CSGO you wouldn't be able to see these sharp shadows in the distance, and the ones in proximity would be too sharp. Nice job Valve. Picture 5: the first map where I applied these principles. Note the shadows on the floor, and how I've taken the ambient lighting in consideration. The floor uses a lightmap level of 2, the portion of wall behind the bench and the bin is 4 (lower ambient light due to darker surface color). tl;dr: I explained all this just to make a point that if you want to avoid a headache, please let me do your lightmaps. Don't worry about the filesize, I'll stay within whatever limits you set. Even just using 4-unit lightmaps makes a huge difference, and it'll add next to nothing to your filesize.

No external scripting engaged ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P00rUZZNyA

Hello everyone, I found this and decided to join this forum and show what I've been up to lately. Over the past week I have been working on re-creating the Wario Stadium track from Mario Kart 64 for GMod. I once built this track for HL2:DM about 11 years ago but it sucked balls to be honest (it had 4 buggy's, didn't have any custom textures and the scale was very off) so (because I'm extremely bored atm and I have gained much more Source experience over the years) I decided to build the track again but this time for GMod and with more effort. So far the map features the following: - The track - An animated Lakitu for the race countdown - Original MK64 music - A room in which the image of the stadium's big screen gets recorded - A control bunker for players that don't want to race and instead want to give the racers a hard time > It has 3 different guns to chose from (a very accurate but not very powerful hitscan laser gun, a more powerful but inaccurate high-spread needle gun and a heavy hitting rocket launcher that takes 4 seconds to reload) > A proximity alert goes off as soon as racers approach the big field > As well as teleporters that lead to different trap toggle rooms that are located in 3 of the 4 stadium corners - Trap Rooms: Players can activate traps when they see the racers approaching > Trap 1: Spawns a bunch of helicopter bombs (not done) > Trap 2: Spawns a bunch of rollermines that explode after 10 seconds > Trap 3: Makes a bunch of static obstacles appear (not done) - A pit stop that can heal any racer that has suffered damage in a round - An observation lounge overlooking the entire track TODO: Finishing the track Fixing typos on textures Music volume toggle Building the remaining corner traps Make the lounge look awesome Here's a video that shows the maps with all the stuff I mentioned above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDN8vOPP1s4

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/427232/1f561406-e5ac-4484-b7e7-a8533d5b3394/20190426222645_1.jpg Thanks to @Stiffy360 for sharing his assets.

Now this looks epic. Are you gonna make the rest of the castle?

[img]https://i.imgur.com/rFPUyqS.jpg[/img]

That's my plan, but I never usually finish maps due to lack of motivation or I either lose interest. I have a good feeling about this one though.

Looks nice, but I'd appreciate if you read what I said about using the assets. They're still a work in progress and I don't want them being used until they're at an acceptable quality.

Apologies, I didn't read your previous post properly. Sorry about that.

This took too long and too many nerves to set up but now that it's finally done I'm quite happy with it. I have a new-found respect and hate for func_tracktrain's. https://i.imgur.com/R8VOAJX.mp4

Lol, so cute

can decals have envmaps?

so trying to buildcubemaps in x86 gmod made it very upset so pardon the lackluster cubemaps Expansion on the boiler room inspired by the shining https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/132374/1b5eb477-7489-480a-8ab9-a8f2bfaa409a/image.png https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/132374/4b5b7e84-231c-41f6-bd29-e322ae054e70/image.png

How does everyone here deal with getting sick of looking at what they're working on and getting fatigued?

I ditch hammer for 2 months, get sad that I can't develop for Unity because people all tell me C++ sucks and I have no coding knowledge, go to work, forget about it, get bored, and one day open hammer again and the sick cycle continues.

Unity actually uses C# which is significantly easier to code in than C++ I think! Unity also makes and released example projects that you can poke around to learn how things are done, and there's tons of tutorials and free assets to get you started. I've been using Unity for years but I still am always looking up how to code stuff and copy-pasting bits of code. You could also check out Godot which is gaining quite a bit of popularity, it even has a visual scripting system. I've never used it but I've heard good things about it.

I need..to do some learning on this whole thing again. It's a really nice engine, I'd love to be able to utilize it.

As someone who's staring at at a dev textured basic set of rectangles as cubes trying to coax the muse out, I'd say take a break. If in that time you get those little snippets of what it should be, take notes. Then once you're feeling the mapping demon upon ye, try to refine them into something you can do. Also try not to be stuck on one point, refining it over and over again, because that'll just get you stuck in a rut.

Start doing something else for months at a time. It's not the ideal method for getting stuff released though...

Thank you all for the suggestions! also does anyone have any tips on how to create a top down layout for a map that doenst have a physical objective? like ttt or murder? i promise i’ll post actual content soon

I personally skip the 2d layout and go straight to hammer. What I like to do is make a layout from a setpiece. First figure out where my map is, then decide what unique elements it'll have. For example, if it's on a farm, a cornfield, or a barn could be unique setpieces. If it's in a forest, a waterfall with a cave behind it could be fun. Then I sketch out the element, and that gives me ideas for other places. Like waterfalls usually have cliffs, so a winding cliff path might be useful. There might also be a mill taking advantage of the waterfall.

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/224464/a6ca42b9-00d4-4495-a1b9-27a74573f3d1/20190430191646_1.jpg https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/224464/4211c739-ae61-47b5-a10b-0c0294c2b2bc/20190430191516_1.jpg Just a little bit of an exercise.