I need to know the sins of mapping. - Developers

Thou shall not carve. Thou shall use light entitys. Thou shall not release thy first map. Thou shall optimize thy map. Thou shall use nodraw on hidden surfaces. These are the 5 commandments of basic mapping.

you forgot Thou shall not make build maps.

[QUOTE=madmanmad;17586487]Thou shall not carve. Thou shall use light entitys. Thou shall not release thy first map. Thou shall optimize thy map. Thou shall use nodraw on hidden surfaces. These are the 5 commandments of basic mapping.[/QUOTE] Thou shall learn their commandments. Fifth one is silly. VBSP merges the hidden faces... Nodraw is more used for faces that aren't hidden but won't be seen by the player's view.

[QUOTE=b00ce;17561114][b]Things I can think of:[/b] -snip- [list] [*][b]Do not NOT make lights[/b] [/list] -snip-[/QUOTE] Erm... what?

[QUOTE=Magman77;17591366]Erm... what?[/QUOTE] It's a double negative. The two "not"s cancel each other out, giving it the same meaning as "Do make lights."

[QUOTE=Lord Ned;17586976]Thou shall learn their commandments. Fifth one is silly. VBSP merges the hidden faces... Nodraw is more used for faces that aren't hidden but won't be seen by the player's view.[/QUOTE] Well if it's not seen by the players view then technically it's hidden.

[QUOTE=ASmellyOgre;17591403]It's a double negative. The two "not"s cancel each other out, giving it the same meaning as "Do make lights."[/QUOTE] Ack sorry, my brain canceled out the second not when the other one was bolded >.<

[QUOTE=b00ce;17561538]Perhaps, but it's a good habit to get into.[/QUOTE] God no. I hate when people send me their garbage maps and ask me to fix them and they've nodrawn every single brush face in the level, besides the interior faces. The only purpose it serves is to piss you off because you get lost in a sea of yellow in the 3D view and have no idea where the hell you're going because you can't see where you came from. The only thing worse is the NULL texture in HL1, you essentially see this huge dark blue blob and it's like 1/0. Another mapping no no is when you try to ask someone to func_rotating your env_embers in return for them to trigger_push your ambient_generic.

Do something original. No one wants to see another similar gm_construct like map.

[QUOTE=bohb;17595861]God no. I hate when people send me their garbage maps and ask me to fix them and they've nodrawn every single brush face in the level, besides the interior faces. The only purpose it serves is to piss you off because you get lost in a sea of yellow in the 3D view and have no idea where the hell you're going because you can't see where you came from. The only thing worse is the NULL texture in HL1, you essentially see this huge dark blue blob and it's like 1/0. Another mapping no no is when you try to ask someone to func_rotating your env_embers in return for them to trigger_push your ambient_generic.[/QUOTE] :raise: Are you seriously saying that the looks in hammer are more important than the looks in-game? Dumbass. Also, that last thing makes no sense. Why the hell would you ever combine those? [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Rule #2 / Rule #5" - Terrenteller))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=ASmellyOgre;17597795]:raise: Are you seriously saying that the looks in hammer are more important than the looks in-game? Dumbass. Also, that last thing makes no sense. Why the hell would you ever combine those?[/QUOTE] No, you sir are the idiot here. The faces on the outside of the map are automatically removed by compile by VBSP, as are all faces completely covered by another. When navigating a map entirely nodrawn, due to lack of shading you cannot actually make anything out. Differentiating different areas on the outside is actually quite useful in hammer and has absolutely no impact in game anyway. [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Rule #2 / Rule #5" - Terrenteller))[/highlight]

[QUOTE=Fippe;17563270][img]http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/1346/whynoclip.png[/img] Let's say that you are making an underground map with tunnel leaving to the surface. However, you don't want the player use it and you have blocked it with debris, fence, or whatever. In the image, the blue area is playable area. Green area is maximum the player could see. So, you would make the RED walls nodrawed to prevent your map from leaking and to optimize. You got it? Anyway, interlopers has pretty good tutorials - I suggest on reading lighing and optimization first, as they are important aspects of the gameplay AND atmosphere on the map. [url]http://www.interlopers.net/tutorials[/url] - General tutorials. [url]http://www.interlopers.net/tutorials/17779[/url] - The lighting tutorial. I suggest on reading this and then finding the optimization tuto. EDIT: Damn, ninjaed.[/QUOTE] Why not nodraw the OUTSIDE too? Why should I prefer any other texture for the outside?

[QUOTE=sltungle;17600316]Why not nodraw the OUTSIDE too? Why should I prefer any other texture for the outside?[/QUOTE] It doesn't matter what you use for the outside faces - VBSP automatically nodraws faces that face void or another brush. Edit: Oh, ninjaed by what, three times? Anyway, people don't seem to get this...

[QUOTE=sltungle;17600316]Why not nodraw the OUTSIDE too? Why should I prefer any other texture for the outside?[/QUOTE] You seemed to have missed my post on the previous page. "Nodraw on the exterior of the level just serves to get you lost in a sea of yellow" You can't differentiate different parts of the map, especially on extremely complex levels. There's no purpose in doing it, VBSP strips all exterior faces out of the level (unless there's a leak) without priority on which texture it is.

Well, I stand corrected. Ignore that bit about nodrawing everything. :keke: I blame the portal mapping tutorial map. :v:

[QUOTE=metallics;17599614]No, you sir are the idiot here. The faces on the outside of the map are automatically removed by compile by VBSP, as are all faces completely covered by another. [b]When navigating a map entirely nodrawn, due to lack of shading you cannot actually make anything out. [/b]Differentiating different areas on the outside is actually quite useful in hammer and has absolutely no impact in game anyway.[/QUOTE] *ahem* [img]http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7339/hammershaded.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=bohb;17595861]Another mapping no no is when you try to ask someone to func_rotating your env_embers in return for them to trigger_push your ambient_generic.[/QUOTE] Sounds sexual. Carving is BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD!

Yeah, I have no problem seeing what's going on when it's all nodrawn on the outside.

[QUOTE=Skyhawk;17607983]*ahem* [img]http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/7339/hammershaded.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] All that's going to do is give you different shades of yellow, generally based on the angle of a surface. It's still going to be hard as hell to find your way around.

[QUOTE=HiddenMyst;17612632]All that's going to do is give you different shades of yellow, generally based on the angle of a surface. It's still going to be hard as hell to find your way around.[/QUOTE] And make overlays look like utter shit in hammer.

[QUOTE=b00ce;17607799]I blame the portal mapping tutorial map. :v:[/QUOTE] Valve mapping techniques make baby Jesus cry.

Wait what? why should't you carve? I'm carving like hell when i'm making a underground room.

[QUOTE=crilleX;17614510]Wait what? why should't you carve? I'm carving like hell when i'm making a underground room.[/QUOTE] Carving causes miniature brushes (bad), causes your brushwork to be VERY messy (bad) and causes microleaks (leaks are bad). Use displacemented walls for the underground rooms. Remember to seal the displacements with brushes, though.

Where did this term "microleak" come from? A leak is a leak, no matter how small.

[QUOTE=bohb;17595861]God no. I hate when people send me their garbage maps and ask me to fix them and they've nodrawn every single brush face in the level, besides the interior faces. The only purpose it serves is to piss you off because you get lost in a sea of yellow in the 3D view and have no idea where the hell you're going because you can't see where you came from. [/QUOTE] I really hope you are being sarcastic/ joking around.

Not sure why people have this problem with nodraw in the 3D view, it's easy to tell what's what so long as you have "3D Textured Shaded Polygons" on.

I prefer to nodraw my exterior brushes because i was told that it hints vbsp to make it non-rendered, thus speeding compile time.

In every map you need to subdivide two spheres and them carve them into eachother

[QUOTE=Red Heavy;17622016]In every map you need to subdivide two spheres and them carve them into eachother[/QUOTE] Before: [IMG]http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff100/matty3962/carveohshitbefore.png[/IMG] After: [IMG]http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff100/matty3962/carveohshitafterreal.png[/IMG] Tried with 3 spheres instead of just 2: [img]http://www.remove-virtumonde.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/blue_screen_of_death.gif[/img]