Mapping Question Megathread v3

[aaagamer]

[QUOTE=Mozartkugeln;39261349]Welcome to Source.[/QUOTE]

been here for a while actually. Any tips at all or should I abandon all hope/release the damn thing anyway?

[Ki11aFTFW]

[QUOTE=aaagamer;39261658]been here for a while actually. Any tips at all or should I abandon all hope/release the damn thing anyway?[/QUOTE]

I have this issue with one of the maps on my L4D2 campaign, and mine is also open with a shitload of details. Bottom line is, try to stay away from huge open areas in Source. It isn't as big a deal if it's not apart of the gameplay, because then it is a lot easier to hide faces/fake details and such. But with a something like that, which the player can reach, is just D:. There is no other expression for it. The game has to cull so many faces of the brushwork/detail that it just dies eventually, because the player is there and he can see everything. Now the only way to get around this is by portaling the shit out of the level and making all unnecessary brushes detail brushes. This still does'nt work half the time. If it is still stuttering after a full optimization attempt, I'd suggest re-working your layout.

EDIT: The only maps I think you could look at for reference are the first levels in HL2:EP2 when you first heal alex and get out of the mines. It has a huge vista with a lot of active npc's along with a huge gameplay area. Still, it is only a few brushes since it is just displacement's for the most part. All in all, it's still worth a look.

[crazymonkay]

So my HL2 is crashing for some indiscernible reason.
Basically all I'm doing is spawning a template npc with an npc_template_maker. And HL2 crashes.
I've also tried an env_entity_maker with a point_template to spawn it, and it still crashes.
The weird thing is that I've done this before and, while it crashed the same way at first, it no longer does.

[Mozartkugeln]

Which NPC?

[crazymonkay]

An npc_citizen

[miroki]

This is my first post in the thread so please don't be mad at me if I do something wrong.
I want to make maps for Gmod but I dont know if I should use Source Engine 2007 or 2009 because when I tried to use 2009.The Hammer didn't work properly as it is.
Could you guys help me about this please?
Note: I even have added Garry's Mod to the gamelist in Source Engine 2009 before I started the Hammer.

[R@Rdeathmatch]

[QUOTE=miroki;39264846]This is my first post in the thread so please don't be mad at me if I do something wrong.
I want to make maps for Gmod but I dont know if I should use Source Engine 2007 or 2009 because when I tried to use 2009.The Hammer didn't work properly as it is.
Could you guys help me about this please?
Note: I even have added Garry's Mod to the gamelist in Source Engine 2009 before I started the Hammer.[/QUOTE]

After you open Source SDK then select Source Engine MP then select Counter Strike : Source.
And if you do this it should work properly.

[TheVoidDragon]

Can someone tell me what the correct size for walls is meant to be for a building with multiple floors? I know 128 is what walls usually are, but what about when you include floors and a ceiling?

Would it be like 2 for the floor, then 128 for the wall, then another 2 for the ceiling/floor of the next level, then another 128 for the wall etc, so a 2 floor building would be 268 units high? Or do you do it with the floor/ceiling as part of the wall so the actual wall height is therefore 124, bringing a building with 2 floors to a total of 256?

[GoldPlatinum]

[QUOTE=aaagamer;39261097]This in game console error spams when the player is in certain parts of my map:
[B][I]Too many vertex format changes in frame, whole world not rendered[/I][/B]
It is coupled with a strange flickering of certain world brushes, a drop in FPS, and I believe it is linked to crashes giving the "too many indices for index buffer, tell a programmer" error. I am under the impression that this error is linked to having open areas with a lot of detail on screen at once. My map is a fairly detailed piece of a futuristic city, and I am curious to know what (if anything) can be done to get around this problem so I can release my map.[/QUOTE]

Tried to optimize?

[IronPhoenix]

[QUOTE=nightlord;39265826]Can someone tell me what the correct size for walls is meant to be for a building with multiple floors? I know 128 is what walls usually are, but what about when you include floors and a ceiling?

Would it be like 2 for the floor, then 128 for the wall, then another 2 for the ceiling/floor of the next level, then another 128 for the wall etc, so a 2 floor building would be 268 units high? Or do you do it with the floor/ceiling as part of the wall so the actual wall height is therefore 124, bringing a building with 2 floors to a total of 256?[/QUOTE]

I use 8 for the floor/celing. The side of the floor is part of the wall, allowing you to have a different texture on the wall (like a trim). So you have a base of 8, wall of 128, floor of 8, bringing that total to 144.

[HighdefGE]

[QUOTE=aaagamer;39261097]This in game console error spams when the player is in certain parts of my map:
[B][I]Too many vertex format changes in frame, whole world not rendered[/I][/B]
It is coupled with a strange flickering of certain world brushes, a drop in FPS, and I believe it is linked to crashes giving the "too many indices for index buffer, tell a programmer" error. I am under the impression that this error is linked to having open areas with a lot of detail on screen at once. My map is a fairly detailed piece of a futuristic city, and I am curious to know what (if anything) can be done to get around this problem so I can release my map.[/QUOTE]

This happens a lot in big open areas with lots of brushwork. Func_detailing everything won't help. The only way I got out of this problem is by converting a lot of detail brushwork into models via propper and by including func_areaportalwindows on every single window. Now that's probably too much of a hassle so the only thing I can advise you is to optimize your map enough so that the player is exposed to the least and minimum amount of visleaves as possible.

[Gaming_Unlim]

How would I go about filling the small gaps that an arch has when I go to put floor under it?

[aaagamer]

[QUOTE=HighdefGE;39267464]This happens a lot in big open areas with lots of brushwork. Func_detailing everything won't help. The only way I got out of this problem is by converting a lot of detail brushwork into models via propper and by including func_areaportalwindows on every single window. Now that's probably too much of a hassle so the only thing I can advise you is to optimize your map enough so that the player is exposed to the least and minimum amount of visleaves as possible.[/QUOTE]

Turning some objects into models might do the trick, I hadn't considered it. Of course I will try and further optimize, but it seems making even a small section of a city drives the source engine wild.

[timmah1112]

Hello everyone, I'm looking for a good cloudy night skybox texture. I've browsed gamebanana and seen Mr. Chops skies here and none really go for what I'm looking for. Anybody have any suggestions?

[Hellohmhello]

I'm having a problem with my func_dustclouds. I currently have 2 of them in my map however only the first one I've made shows up ingame. I've had this issue before using 3 brushes but only the first one showed. What's happening?

[Chrille]

[QUOTE=nightlord;39265826]Can someone tell me what the correct size for walls is meant to be for a building with multiple floors? I know 128 is what walls usually are, but what about when you include floors and a ceiling?

Would it be like 2 for the floor, then 128 for the wall, then another 2 for the ceiling/floor of the next level, then another 128 for the wall etc, so a 2 floor building would be 268 units high? Or do you do it with the floor/ceiling as part of the wall so the actual wall height is therefore 124, bringing a building with 2 floors to a total of 256?[/QUOTE]

It depends. Usually it goes: 128 unit wall, then 8 for the ceiling/floor, 136 in all. For me. Unless it's a bunker type thing that has thicker floors.

Valve did it a little differently in the apartment levels in HL2, though. I imagine it was to make it easier for themselves to do multiple floors. They included some space in the texture dedicated to an 8 unit thick ceiling/floor brush (look at wallpaper001b if you want an example), so that it was 128 total, instead of 136 or 144 or whatever. Made it more easily repeatable.

[El Jameo]

I tried posting this in the [URL="http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=868142"]official VIDE thread[/URL] and no-one responded. It's possible that asking in that thread wasn't the best thing to do so may as well try here. :)

Whenever I use VIDE to pak a file with "env_cubemap" in the material's VMT it won't pak it. It shows up fine in EP2 (the game I'm building the map on), but not in GMod.

EP2:
[IMG]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/17094269/sdk_materials_tes_010000.jpg[/IMG]

GMod (after paking):
[IMG]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/17094269/sdk_materials_tes_010000 (2).jpg[/IMG]

Anyone know what's up? I haven't scanned this thread because, sorry, but 97 or so pages to crawl through... It's easier just to ask again TBH.

[QUOTE=aaagamer;39261097]This in game console error spams when the player is in certain parts of my map:
[B][I]Too many vertex format changes in frame, whole world not rendered[/I][/B]
It is coupled with a strange flickering of certain world brushes, a drop in FPS, and I believe it is linked to crashes giving the "too many indices for index buffer, tell a programmer" error. I am under the impression that this error is linked to having open areas with a lot of detail on screen at once. My map is a fairly detailed piece of a futuristic city, and I am curious to know what (if anything) can be done to get around this problem so I can release my map.[/QUOTE]

Sadly I don't know how to fix this, but you can stop it spamming your console if you put:

con_filter_enable 1
con_filter_text_out vertex

...that in your console, or putting it in your autoexec.cfg then it saves you putting it in at all.

Like I said, it doesn't stop the errors, but it doesn't display them. Might help you out a little. Good luck with that.

[Firegod522]

What does the vmt look like

[Brominum]

Can I get a link to how particle systems work? I need to have the rocket's engine fire turning on and parented to a rocket for this side project I'm doing.

[El Jameo]

[QUOTE=Firegod522;39279584]What does the vmt look like[/QUOTE]

"lightmappedgeneric"
{
    "$basetexture" "BRIDGE/SE1_metal_wall_02"
    "$surfaceprop" "solidmetal"
    "$bumpmap" "BRIDGE/SE1_metal_wall_02_Normal"
    $envmap env_cubemap
    $envmapconstrast 1
    $normalmapalphaenvmapmask 1
}

I found an alternative Paker, but I like VIDE, so to suddenly lose it is a shame really. It's also to see if anyone else is experiencing the same issues.

EDIT:

Forgot to mention that it looks for files in the materials/maps/<mapname>/... folder, not the actual materials folder, which comes up in VIDE's table as "<filename>_<some random string of numbers>.vmt". And even after removing that maps folder, it's still looking for the same files but it says they don't exist. Hope that makes sense.

[IMG]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/17094269/videtextureissue01.png[/IMG]

[Mozartkugeln]

Just use Pakrat. VIDE has certainly had its share of bugs over the years.

[Agent766]

It really sounds like a leak that's just not being detected. I'm not sure what could cause it though.

[ViralHatred]

[QUOTE=Agent766;39286823]It really sounds like a leak that's just not being detected. I'm not sure what could cause it though.[/QUOTE]

[B]6 degenerate faces.[/B]

You have some corrupt brushwork, it is likely leaking to the void. Make sure you have no func_details touching the void, other possibly problematic ones can be converted back to world to see if that solves the problem.

[Brominum]

[QUOTE=DarthTealc;39287957]I managed to remove the cause of the 6 degenerate faces but vrad is still crashing. This is what I'm now getting:

I think I'm just going to have to remove bits of the map until I find the section causing the crash. There is still no point file and Hammer can't find any errors.[/QUOTE]

Cordon might be your friend in this case. Instead of actual deletion, keep switching the cordon around in sectors until you can narrow it down.

[Cabbage McGravel]

[QUOTE=BandClassHAH;39295203]Cordon might be your friend in this case. Instead of actual deletion, keep switching the cordon around in sectors until you can narrow it down.[/QUOTE] Cordon is indeed a helpful tool for leak finding. For example, I had a TF2 map which randomly leaked, using cordon allowed me to see that my level wasn't leaking, it was just a smug green Gordon Freeman was floating out in the void and breaking everything. I use it a lot more now.

[pkhzor]

How to make downward fire in hammer? Or is that not possible to make for gmod?

[Sprockethead]

So im trying to make this monster thing follow you around,

[IMG]http://www.filedump.net/dumped/20130121000011358726805.jpg[/IMG]

Im not much of a technical guy, so my tracktrain experiments have failed miserably.
Any ideas?

Also any clues why my trees are doing that color glitch?

[StarmanSuper]

[QUOTE=TCB;39257939]Just put HL2 in windowed mode and leave it open in the background. When compiling check "do not run game" and when it's done just enter the map via console.[/QUOTE]

Thanks alot, you're a big help.

[jeopardy2630]

[QUOTE=Sprockethead;39295988]So im trying to make this monster thing follow you around,

[IMG]http://www.filedump.net/dumped/20130121000011358726805.jpg[/IMG]

Im not much of a technical guy, so my tracktrain experiments have failed miserably.
Any ideas?

Also any clues why my trees are doing that color glitch?[/QUOTE]

I don't have experience with tracktrain, but I suppose you should just play around with it?
Regarding the "color glitch" (mean lighting glitch?) I would suppose you need cubemaps.

[Sprockethead]

[QUOTE=jeopardy2630;39300903]I don't have experience with tracktrain, but I suppose you should just play around with it?
Regarding the "color glitch" (mean lighting glitch?) I would suppose you need cubemaps.[/QUOTE]

gee thanks