Mapping Question Megathread v3

[The Jack]

How do i create a MVM map for team fortress... But wait.. it get's Saucier...

How Do i make Red bots and blue players? Two way map.

[Fulcrum]

[QUOTE=HighdefGE;38481546][b]Edit:[/b] Nevermind! Phonebooth helped me to fix it, so you can just ignore the below!

Ok, I'm pretty stumped on detail sprites. I have a sheet I made that's 4098 x 2048 (same ratio as Valve's sprite sheet), and I'm pretty sure nothing is wrong with my own vbsp file I made. But everytime I look at a custom blend texture in game, the "sprites" always render the entire sprite sheet in black, like so:

[t]http://cloud-2.steampowered.com/ugc/542944284420024655/809607449F0747790FD5F792A0FF62842A931B3F/[/t]

Here's my vbsp file:

detail
{
	Dirt_Grass
	{
		"density" "1000"
		
		Group1
		{
			"alpha" "1"
			
			Dirt1 //Row 4 Col 1
			{
				"sprite" "0 1536 512 512 512"
				"spritesize" ".5 1 64 64"
				"spriterandomscale" ".1"
				"detailOrientation" "1"
				"amount" ".5"
				"sway" ".1"
				"maxangle" "95"
			}
			
			Dirt2 //Row 4 Col 2
			{
				"sprite" "512 1536 512 512 512"
				"spritesize" ".5 1 64 64"
				"spriterandomscale" ".1"
				"detailOrientation" "1"
				"amount" ".5"
				"sway" ".1"
				"maxangle" "95"
			}
		}
		
		Group2
		{
			"alpha" "0"
		}
	}
}

And here's my .vmt of the sprite sheet:

"UnlitGeneric"
{
	"$basetexture" "detail/detailsprites"
	"%keywords" "skyrim"
	"$nocull" 1
	"$translucent" 1
	"$receiveflashlight" 1
	"$singlepassflashlight" 1
	"$vertexcolor" 1
	"$vertexalpha" 1
}

I have my .vbsp file saved as a custom name file (that's not detail.vbsp) and the sprite sheet I named the same as valve's (detail/detailsprites) for debugging purposes, but I don't think they matter whether they're custom or not.

Can anyone provide some help on what I'm doing wrong?[/QUOTE]

I think css and gmod use square detail sheets.

and replace
"sprite" "0 1536 512 512 512"
with
"sprite" "0 1536 512 512 *your resolution*"

ahh shit didn't read it. I'll leave this here for anyone else with the same issue. In future if somebody helps you consider posting the fix to help out people similar to yourself.

[LosttoLauren]

[QUOTE=oytal;38492012]Is there any way to show how many hours i spent in source sdk? Like on games on steam?[/QUOTE]

If you've used it recently, it'll appear under your 'recently played' tab, no matter how short you play it for I think.

http://steamcommunity.com/id/[B]YOURPROFILENAMEHERE[/B]/games?tab=recent

[HighdefGE]

[QUOTE=mdeceiver79;38492480]I think css and gmod use square detail sheets.

and replace
"sprite" "0 1536 512 512 512"
with
"sprite" "0 1536 512 512 *your resolution*"

ahh shit didn't read it. I'll leave this here for anyone else with the same issue. In future if somebody helps you consider posting the fix to help out people similar to yourself.[/QUOTE]

My bad, it was midnight and I couldn't be bothered to post.

What I did was make an image the same resolution as my sprite sheet and called it materials/detail/detailsprites.vtf/vmt. I also changed detailOrientation to 2, sprite's 5th value to my entire x-axis resolution, and spritesize's first two values to .5 0

I hope this helps future people that encounter the same problem.

[TH89]

Hey guys, I want to export a DXF from Hammer and import it into Maya 2012 so I can model props, but Maya is saying "Error: Error reading file." when I try to import the DXF. Is this a known issue? What can I do?

[Firegod522]

[QUOTE=TH89;38497046]Hey guys, I want to export a DXF from Hammer and import it into Maya 2012 so I can model props, but Maya is saying "Error: Error reading file." when I try to import the DXF. Is this a known issue? What can I do?[/QUOTE]

You could try using [url=http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?p=45]crafty[/url] and export as a .obj

[oytal]

[QUOTE=Agent Cobra;38492501]If you've used it recently, it'll appear under your 'recently played' tab, no matter how short you play it for I think.

[URL]http://steamcommunity.com/id/[/URL][B]YOURPROFILENAMEHERE[/B]/games?tab=recent[/QUOTE]

It didn't show source sdk there. But anyways i found it on favorites :) ty

[NowhereMan]

Is there a guide on to make a basic Jailbreak map for Hammer Editor? I'm still new but honestly I still don't know all of Hammer's stuff.

[fanerddu]

[QUOTE=NowhereMan;38497849]Is there a guide on to make a basic Jailbreak map for Hammer Editor? I'm still new but honestly I still don't know all of Hammer's stuff.[/QUOTE]

I suggest, before everything else, getting familiar with the menus and overall layout of the editor. If you're not comfortable with basic functions you're going to feel intimidated and get frustrated easily.

And [URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Level_Design_Video_Tutorials"]here[/URL]'s a list of tutorials linked on VALVe's developer wiki. I personally endorse [URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Level_Design_Video_Tutorials#3kliksphilip"]3kliksphilip's tutorials[/URL] because i've used them and they've helped; otherwise just look around, read a lot and mess around in Hammer. Don't be afraid to mess up/make mistakes.

[wauterboi]

Is there a simple way to get all of the materials and models from a map in the correct folder structure? Pakrat doesn't automatically do this which sucks. :(

[b]EDIT:[/b] Ooh, GCFScape can totally do that. Didn't know that.

[fanerddu]

how do i make a displacement's bullethole effects reflect the kind of material/texture it's made out of?

example: how do i make a pile of snow (made out of a displacement) when shot -- shoot out white particles versus the default particles?

[Firegod522]

in the vmt put it
$surfaceprop "snow"

[NowhereMan]

[QUOTE=fanerddu;38503019]I suggest, before everything else, getting familiar with the menus and overall layout of the editor. If you're not comfortable with basic functions you're going to feel intimidated and get frustrated easily.

And [URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Level_Design_Video_Tutorials"]here[/URL]'s a list of tutorials linked on VALVe's developer wiki. I personally endorse [URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Level_Design_Video_Tutorials#3kliksphilip"]3kliksphilip's tutorials[/URL] because i've used them and they've helped; otherwise just look around, read a lot and mess around in Hammer. Don't be afraid to mess up/make mistakes.[/QUOTE]

Thanks. I've basically watched that guys tutorials and used some Google searching to figure hammer out.

[Dreyzie]

Does anyone have a good tutorial on how to add custom content like skybox textures? I've never really used custom content before, and I want to start working with them. I've downloaded one of Firegod522's sexy skybox textures to try it out, but I'm really not sure where to start.

[fanerddu]

[QUOTE=simzboy;38504890]Does anyone have a good tutorial on how to add custom content like skybox textures? I've never really used custom content before, and I want to start working with them. I've downloaded one of Firegod522's sexy skybox textures to try it out, but I'm really not sure where to start.[/QUOTE]

what game are you mapping on?

[Dreyzie]

[QUOTE=fanerddu;38504928]what game are you mapping on?[/QUOTE]Episode 2.

[fanerddu]

[QUOTE=simzboy;38504961]Episode 2.[/QUOTE]

i was just recently looking up how to do this tonight actually; i managed to find [URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Skybox_(2D)#Changing_the_displayed_skybox"]this[/URL]. hopefully it helps?

[QUOTE=Firegod522;38504298]in the vmt put it
$surfaceprop "snow"[/QUOTE]

sorry, i can't seem to figure this out by your instructions; where do i find the specific vmt of the displacement i want to edit?

[Shirky]

[QUOTE=fanerddu;38506205]i was just recently looking up how to do this tonight actually; i managed to find [URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Skybox_(2D)#Changing_the_displayed_skybox"]this[/URL]. hopefully it helps?

sorry, i can't seem to figure this out by your instructions; where do i find the specific vmt of the displacement i want to edit?[/QUOTE]
When you have the texture selected in the vmt browser in hammer there is a little button on the bottom that says "Open Source"

[fanerddu]

[QUOTE=Shirky;38506445]When you have the texture selected in the vmt browser in hammer there is a little button on the bottom that says "Open Source"[/QUOTE]

hmm; well i see the 'open source' button -- but it doesn't seem to do anything when i click on it.

[B]edit[/B]:

[QUOTE]Opens the .VMT file that was used to generate the material currently selected. The file is opened with the Windows application associated with text files. You must have .VMT files associated in Windows with a text editor (such as Notepad) for this function to work correctly. To test this, double-click a .VMT file in an Explorer window and make sure it opens properly. [[URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Hammer_Texture_Browser#Open_Source"]source[/URL]][/QUOTE]

.vmt files are being associated with VTFedit on my machine; apparently that doesn't play nicely with Hammer?

[B]edit 2[/B]:

when i try to open the vmt of default textures it doesn't do anything when i click "open source"

but it did work when i clicked on the "open source" button for custom textures (i dont have many, i just downloaded a custom skybox to play around with earlier and figured id test that out)

so uh do i have to somehow extract all of these default texture files using GCFscape or something and put them somewhere else to work with?

[Dreyzie]

[QUOTE=fanerddu;38506205]i was just recently looking up how to do this tonight actually; i managed to find [URL="https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Skybox_(2D)#Changing_the_displayed_skybox"]this[/URL]. hopefully it helps?[/QUOTE]Not quite. I mean how to install it properly so I can use it. I've been looking at tutorials on Youtube, but I don't really trust them as much.

[fanerddu]

[QUOTE=simzboy;38507074]Not quite. I mean how to install it properly so I can use it. I've been looking at tutorials on Youtube, but I don't really trust them as much.[/QUOTE]

you mean you're looking for where you should save the vtf and vmt files?

perhaps this helps:

[QUOTE]if its for counterstrike then put the skybox files in the
counter-strike source\cstrike\materials\skybox directory
if its hl2 then its
half-life 2\hl2\materials\skybox

if its hl2 episode one then its
[B]c:\program files\steam\steamapps\your username\half-life 2 episode one\episodic\materials\skybox[/B]

if its hl2 episode two then its
half-life 2 episode two\ep2\materials\skybox

taken from [URL="http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9670170&postcount=7"]this[/URL] post over at steam forums

[/QUOTE]

[Dreyzie]

[QUOTE=fanerddu;38507167]you mean you're looking for where you should save the vtf and vmt files?

perhaps this helps:[/QUOTE]That worked. Thank you so much.

If I wanted to add other textures that aren't for the skybox, would I use the same path?

[Shirky]

[QUOTE=fanerddu;38506542]hmm; well i see the 'open source' button -- but it doesn't seem to do anything when i click on it.

[B]edit[/B]:

.vmt files are being associated with VTFedit on my machine; apparently that doesn't play nicely with Hammer?

[B]edit 2[/B]:

when i try to open the vmt of default textures it doesn't do anything when i click "open source"

but it did work when i clicked on the "open source" button for custom textures (i dont have many, i just downloaded a custom skybox to play around with earlier and figured id test that out)

so uh do i have to somehow extract all of these default texture files using GCFscape or something and put them somewhere else to work with?[/QUOTE]

Yeah the open source button only works with textures that are present in your materials folder. The only way to edit default textures is to extract them to the correct folders, but you only need the vmt.

[fanerddu]

[QUOTE=Shirky;38507339]Yeah the open source button only works with textures that are present in your materials folder. The only way to edit default textures is to extract them to the correct folders, but you only need the vmt.[/QUOTE]

thanks. i was able to finally figure out what to extract and where to place it -- only to find that the code i thought i needed to add to the vmt was.. naturally already there.

problem now is i think that the particles for the snow effect are simply messed up? instead of showing up as a white dust of snow its black.

[URL="http://oi47.tinypic.com/jkhnyx.jpg"]here[/URL] is a screenshot.

[wauterboi]

Because this is a hefty final compile I want to make sure I can watch what's going on.

[img]http://www.wauterboi.com/screenies/2012-11-18_21-25-46.png[/img]

What I'm doing right now is doing a BSP compile from Hammer, dragging that BSP onto vvis.exe -hdr in Windows Explorer, and dragging it onto vrad.exe. Is there a better way to have an automated compile outside of Hammer for final compiles - i.e. one shortcut to run vvis.exe and vrad.exe one after the other? Or, perhaps, a program that does this? (I'm not a fan of Nem Tool's batch compiler.)

[fanerddu]

has anyone else had this problem?

i was making some changes to my map and they weren't showing up -- (mapping for cs:source) after a few quick checks during tests, it turns out even though i was compiling the changes and they were going through fine... when i would open the map in-game, it would be a different version of my map without the changes i had made.

[B]edit[/B]:

turns out i wasn't reading my compile log correctly and i had a func_detail displacement. deleted it, saved, recompiled -- works fine once more.

[Greatdictator]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/9lBuo.jpg[/IMG]

I have NO idea where this is comeing from , can anybody explain as to why this and only this particular section of the maps textures is fucked up ?

[LosttoLauren]

[QUOTE=Greatdictator;38510900][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/9lBuo.jpg[/IMG]

I have NO idea where this is comeing from , can anybody explain as to why this and only this particular section of the maps textures is fucked up ?[/QUOTE]

I had a similar thing happen before, was related to shadows from a vent prop but doesn't look like you have anything like that there. Tried remaking those brushes?

[fanerddu]

anyone know of good places either on this site or elsewhere to get some good tips on designing/detailing interiors for cs:s?

[paulisdead18]

Alright, so I'm trying to light this area up, but it keeps ending up looking like this.
[URL=http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/920120753257606333/1F2DD054336BAB4C1E4DC8434089C7A071F36C70/][IMG]http://cloud.steampowered.com/ugc/920120753257606333/1F2DD054336BAB4C1E4DC8434089C7A071F36C70/[/IMG][/URL]
I'm using 2 light_spots for each light, with one on top and one on the bottom. The way I have the lights and the model isn't, or shouldn't be the issue, because I tried it on a blank map to see if that was a problem, but it looks fine.

I have the lightmap scale set to 2, and yes, the corridor is surrounded by a solid black texture.

I checked for leaks, but there aren't any, it just looks like this normally.