Mapping Question Megathread v3

[Framperton]

[QUOTE=Stiffy360;39430322]These are ignorable as long as they aren't seen. In my map that had that kind of thing, the face was bright red or something. Keep a lookout for it.[/QUOTE]

Alright, I saw one of those and wondered what the hell, ill fix it.

ALso, how do you host a server using a custom CS GO map? My friend is trying to host my map, but its going on about invalid map groups. And you can't add onto the existing map groups already?

[Hellohmhello]

What causes this red and green grid, and how do I get rid of it?

[img]http://i.imgur.com/eUsmxQw.png[/img]

[Joey Skylynx]

[QUOTE=Hellohmhello;39432982]What causes this red and green grid, and how do I get rid of it?

[img]http://i.imgur.com/eUsmxQw.png[/img][/QUOTE]

Top left side of your toolbar you should see a grid with "3D" on it. Uncheck it.

[Hellohmhello]

[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;39433035]Top left side of your toolbar you should see a grid with "3D" on it. Uncheck it.[/QUOTE]

Cheers.

[FelixDragon]

[QUOTE=Diealready;39431632]I'm trying to parent the player to a minecart that's riding along some tracks, and everything is working fine so far except for when the cart starts to move down an incline, the player just falls normally, with the added downwards speed and they end up falling through the map.

It's a func_tracktrain, the player is parented to it by being given a targetname such as "t6_rider"
(if anyone else needs to know how to do this, make sure you have an info_null named the same thing that you name the player)
then a game_ui activates and freezes the player, so they cannot move, and everything works fine. but as soon as the func_tracktrain starts to move down a slope everything starts messing up. The tracktrain the player is being parented to is at a fixed orientation and not visible, I have a separate tracktrain for the cart.

What I want it to do is have the player follow the cart exactly, in the air and such, but I keep falling through the map.[/QUOTE]

Never mind, I got it to work. All I did was make a playerclip brush around the player, parent it to the train and it holds the player in place while the train moves.

[lope]

How come whenever I compile and test, or save and quit, Hammer fucks up my vertex editing? I'm making a surf map so I'm using the vertex tool a lot and almost every single ramp gets fucked up after compiling.
[B]
In Hammer:[/B]
[IMG]http://gyazo.com/5032701d51606e16a05f2d06ce2f6885.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://gyazo.com/b05b3c17fd63394afb3b37dc1f3880b1.png[/IMG]

[B]In game:[/B]
[IMG]http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t402/hlsavior/2013-01-31_00003_zps29a212f7.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t402/hlsavior/2013-01-31_00002_zpsd90cbbe7.jpg[/IMG]

[Mozartkugeln]

Are those vertices on the grid? If not, [URL=https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Reshaping_Solids#Complicated_Shapes]I have bad news for you[/URL].

Use paste special to make that curve instead of manually working with the vertices.

[lope]

[QUOTE=Mozartkugeln;39433339]Are those vertices on the grid? If not, [URL=https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Reshaping_Solids#Complicated_Shapes]I have bad news for you[/URL].

Use paste special to make that curve instead of manually working with the vertices.[/QUOTE]

I read that and all my vertexes are on the grid I made sure of it, but what grid size it considered to be "too many decimals"?

[editline]1st February 2013[/editline]

[U]EVERYTHING IS FIXED![/U]

[FelixDragon]

[QUOTE=lope;39433261]How come whenever I compile and test, or save and quit, Hammer fucks up my vertex editing? I'm making a surf map so I'm using the vertex tool a lot and almost every single ramp gets fucked up after compiling.
[B]
In Hammer:[/B]
[IMG]http://gyazo.com/5032701d51606e16a05f2d06ce2f6885.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://gyazo.com/b05b3c17fd63394afb3b37dc1f3880b1.png[/IMG]

[B]In game:[/B]
[IMG]http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t402/hlsavior/2013-01-31_00003_zps29a212f7.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1058.photobucket.com/albums/t402/hlsavior/2013-01-31_00002_zpsd90cbbe7.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE]

if you're trying to make a surf map, you're doing it horribly wrong, you shouldn't use vertex editing when making a surf ramp. just copy/paste/rotate each ramp segment, zoom in as much as you can, hold alt and align the bottom vertices. then func_detail the ramp.

[Zanarias]

[QUOTE=Diealready;39433823]if you're trying to make a surf map, you're doing it horribly wrong, you shouldn't use vertex editing when making a surf ramp. just copy/paste/rotate each ramp segment, zoom in as much as you can, hold alt and align the bottom vertices. then func_detail the ramp.[/QUOTE]

What he said is important. Vertex edited ramps will be a mess to begin with and cause the player to stop randomly while surfing along them.

[Mozartkugeln]

[QUOTE=Diealready;39433823]if you're trying to make a surf map, you're doing it horribly wrong, you shouldn't use vertex editing when making a surf ramp. just copy/paste/rotate each ramp segment, zoom in as much as you can, hold alt and align the bottom vertices. then func_detail the ramp.[/QUOTE]

You should actually use a helper brush and paste special to make the ramp; that spares you the trouble of manually aligning vertices, and it's much more precise.

[deholise]

I have two different textures that need the same transparency texture, is there a way to use a texture for transparency instead of alpha layer (+translucent 1)?

[billi999]

I've recently noticed that my worst offender for getting closest to map limits for a recent map of mine is waterindices.

waterindices         16503/65536       33006/131072   (25.2%) 

Apparently it's something to do with stopping T-junctions between brushes from producing seams between connected brushes, but I have done much less than 25% of my map so I'm concerned about overflowing it, especially since there's not much I can do in the way of removing or simplifying brushwork that doesn't sacrafice the quality of the map. Here's what part of it looks like so far:

[IMG]http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/7937/sfmapwireframe.jpg[/IMG]

Now imagine something with that amount of detail being copied 5 more times. obviously since that alone is unfinished it's going to cause even more of these waterindices things, so it looks like I'd definitely overflow it. Does anyone know if a map will still compile and run fine if it does get overflowed? If it doesn't does anyone know how I could reduce the amount of t-junctions without simplifying the brushwork?

[DaApocalypse]

I've been running into this problem a lot, you have two options. Make some of the worst offenders func_brush instead of func_detail, or convert your brushwork to models using propper.

[billi999]

[QUOTE=DaApocalypse;39435879]I've been running into this problem a lot, you have two options. Make some of the worst offenders func_brush instead of func_detail, or convert your brushwork to models using propper.[/QUOTE]

Thank you, does tieing brushes with Tjuncs to entities actually prevent them from filling waterindices though? It seems like even if one did vbsp would still need to fix it from causing seams...one less than ideal alternative I can think of is to have overlapping brushes (assuming the brush faces have the same texture and alignment in locations where it actually matters), which I know is horrible for vbsp, but at the moment seems like a possibility.

[Mozartkugeln]

Run VBSP on expert compile with -notjunc.

[billi999]

Thanks, but then you get lots of ugly seams where brush edges meet and the skybox shows.

[Dokaman]

Here's the problem I am having.

The view in Hammer isn't the same as what it is in-game, it's really confusing me.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ryg3s7X.jpg[/IMG]

Any help would be appreciated

[Mozartkugeln]

The brush's vertices are probably being snapped to grid automatically by the compiler. I suggest deleting the brush and remaking it, or using a tool like [URL=http://www.gyroshot.com/vertalert.htm]VertAlert[/URL].

[Dokaman]

Anyway to stop them being snapped? The brush is rotated at a 90 degree angle, could this be causing it?

I remade the brush and it seems to be working now! Thanks for the help.

Is there anyway to make a brush invisible?

[HighdefGE]

[QUOTE=Mozartkugeln;39436553]Run VBSP on expert compile with -notjunc.[/QUOTE]

Or you could fix the problem instead of relying on some parameter that worsens a map.

[Mozartkugeln]

[QUOTE=Dokaman;39436720]Is there anyway to make a brush invisible?[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure if it'll work, but you can try firing an [I]Alpha[/I] input with 0 as the parameter to a func_brush to make it invisible, and 255 to make it fully opaque again.

[deholise]

[QUOTE=Dokaman;39436720]Is there anyway to make a brush invisible?[/QUOTE]

Func_brush render mode=no render - fx ammount=0; texture= invisible-skybox-nodraw texture; $alpha 0; I/O disable-enable.

I've still got the same doubt. Can two custom textures share use another texture as "translucent texture"? I don't want to duplicate alpha layer...

[El Jameo]

I don't know what's up with me and paking files, but it doesn't seem to be working out.

VIDE, what was good and all is now worse than PakRat (constantly leaving out half the maps textures).
Pakrat leaves out some textures.
PackBSP was working out nicely but recently it's been giving me shit like this:

...
[AppModel] Packing list will be written to: C:\Users\James\AppData\Local\Temp\packbsp_list_8202822544242086697.txt
19:52:24,630 INFO  [AppModel] Packing list file at: C:\Users\James\AppData\Local\Temp\packbsp_list_8202822544242086697.txt
19:52:24,630 INFO  [AppModel] Final destination path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\el_jameo\half-life 2 episode two\ep2\maps\rp_***.bsp
19:52:24,632 INFO  [AppModel] Does destination file already exist: true
19:52:24,633 INFO  [AppModel] Renaming existing destination file to a backup: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\el_jameo\half-life 2 episode two\ep2\maps\rp_***.bsp.bak8
19:52:24,635 INFO  [AppModel] Running bspzip at:
19:52:24,635 DEBUG [ExternalController] Executing: "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\el_jameo\SourceSDK\bin\orangebox\bin\bspzip.exe" -addlist C:\Users\James\AppData\Local\Temp\packbsp_temp_4201617650702716401.bsp C:\Users\James\AppData\Local\Temp\packbsp_list_8202822544242086697.txt "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\el_jameo\half-life 2 episode two\ep2\maps\rp_***.bsp"
19:52:34,012[B] ERROR [AppModel] BSPZIP failed with exception.[/B]
org.apache.commons.exec.ExecuteException: IO error with output (Exit value: -1. Caused by org.apache.commons.exec.ExecuteException: Process exited with an error: -1073741819(Exit value: -1073741819))
	at com.technofovea.packbsp.packaging.ExternalController.exec(ExternalController.java:65)
	at com.technofovea.packbsp.packaging.BspZipController.packAssets(BspZipController.java:96)
	at com.technofovea.packbsp.AppModel.acceptPacking(AppModel.java:594)
	at com.technofovea.packbsp.gui2.PackbspView$15.doInBackground(PackbspView.java:1243)
	at com.technofovea.packbsp.gui2.PackbspView$15.doInBackground(PackbspView.java:1231)
	at org.jdesktop.swingworker.SwingWorker$1.call(Unknown Source)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(Unknown Source)
	at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(Unknown Source)
	at org.jdesktop.swingworker.SwingWorker.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(Unknown Source)
	at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Caused by: org.apache.commons.exec.ExecuteException: Process exited with an error: -1073741819(Exit value: -1073741819)
	at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.executeInternal(DefaultExecutor.java:346)
	at org.apache.commons.exec.DefaultExecutor.execute(DefaultExecutor.java:149)
	at com.technofovea.packbsp.packaging.ExternalController.exec(ExternalController.java:61)
	... 11 more
19:52:34,022 ERROR [AppModel] BSPZIP failed with text:
	Opening bsp file: C:\Users...

If you're wondering why the map is called "rp_***", I wish to keep it under wraps until release. And the triple dots are to indicate where the error is starting and where it's ending.

So I don't know. Alternative packers? Any good tutorials on how to use BSPZIP? Works fine in-game on EP2. No compile errors too.

Gotten really far only to be kicked in the nuts by the paking... :(

[Dokaman]

[QUOTE=Mozartkugeln;39438669]I'm not sure if it'll work, but you can try firing an [I]Alpha[/I] input with 0 as the parameter to a func_brush to make it invisible, and 255 to make it fully opaque again.[/QUOTE]

Thanks I will try that and report back!

Worked perfectly thank you again!

[FictionSource]

Does anyone how I delete outputs of an enity?

[Mozartkugeln]

I assume you mean while the map is running?

[QUOTE=Dokaman;39441036]Worked perfectly thank you again![/QUOTE]

You're welcome!

[99% More Fail]

How would I go about progressively removing models in sequence? To put it in context, I have a belt-fed machine gun turret, that has a belt of 12 rounds that loops repeatedly, via a very fast func_door that opens and closes rapidly. When I hit the last 12 rounds (out of 150) I want to start removing bullet models so it looks like it's running out of ammo.

[billi999]

Try something with a math_counter if you haven't already, and possibly a logic_case, from there I'm not sure what else you could do.

[R@Rdeathmatch]

I have a question.
I am trying to create a block, my grid is 64 but when I am trying to create the block is like the grid is selected to 1.
I don't know if you understand what I said but if you diden't just ask and I will try to explain it in detail. Is very frustrating because to fix that I have to close the hammer and now closing it is not working anymore.