Mapping Question Megathread v3

[Mozartkugeln]

[QUOTE=All0utWar;39586789]Is there any way to have a game_text entity call out a players name in the server? I wouldn't bet on that there would be but would that have to be called out in the server or is there actually a way for the entity to spit out a players name?[/QUOTE]

Are you making a map for GMod? This can be done quite easily with some Lua.

[pkhzor]

So I started mapping and now that I've made the outside area I realized that it's not near the center of the grid aka the 0 0 0.
Should I just move the map itself on the grid or can I make a 3D skybox regardless of where my map is on the grid? I'm assuming I'd have to scale the distances on the map and it might be a lot more work but I don't know a way to copy paste entire maps without it being offgrid due to models.
I'd prefer if I wouldn't have to move the map itself.

[TCB]

I don't think it really matters where your map is, as long as it isn't too close to the edges.

[pkhzor]

[QUOTE=TCB;39590389]I don't think it really matters where your map is, as long as it isn't too close to the edges.[/QUOTE]
Going to go with the trial and error method and see how if it works out. Hopefully someone posts a proper tutorial like thing. Thanks for the tip though.

[TCB]

You could try Paste Special and have the origin as 0, 0, 0, I guess. Again, I don't see why it would matter.

[pkhzor]

[QUOTE=TCB;39590491]You could try Paste Special and have the origin as 0, 0, 0, I guess. Again, I don't see why it would matter.[/QUOTE]

Got it working, just placed them the right scaled distance from the 0, 0, 0,. Camera itself still stays at the centre.

I finally understand how 3D skyboxes work.

[All0utWar]

[QUOTE=Mozartkugeln;39588402]Are you making a map for GMod? This can be done quite easily with some Lua.[/QUOTE]

Well yes, it was going to be for Deathrun. I was going to have it be like, you break a secret wall and it announces something like, "{playername} found the secret room".

[Mozartkugeln]

[QUOTE=All0utWar;39592138]Well yes, it was going to be for Deathrun. I was going to have it be like, you break a secret wall and it announces something like, "{playername} found the secret room".[/QUOTE]

In that case, you could try using a lua_run entity (though I'm not sure [I]exactly[/I] how those work).

[Tayley]

I'm having major problems with adding water - no matter what type of water I use; cheap, fancy, dx7 all of it causes vvis to freeze and not compile. I thought it might have been a leak but I have no pointfile so idk.
map compiles fine without water. should I up my vmf for you guys to take a look at or is this enough info?

[HighdefGE]

[QUOTE=Sir Bubbles;39580197]Anybody know of some good snow textures or a snow texture pack? Preferably ones that have an icy or rocky/snowy cliff texture to blend with.[/QUOTE]

I'm not sure how much of use it'll be to you but some few months ago [url=http://facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=1225197&highlight=]I ported 400mb worth of skyrim textures[/url] including snow, icy-marsh grass, etc. I'm pretty sure some of the snow blends with the mountain rock textures too, and if they don't, it's really easy to add your own .vmt based on the materials I have under the blendlinks folder.

[Mozartkugeln]

[QUOTE=MrBunneh;39594383]I'm having major problems with adding water - no matter what type of water I use; cheap, fancy, dx7 all of it causes vvis to freeze and not compile. I thought it might have been a leak but I have no pointfile so idk.
map compiles fine without water. should I up my vmf for you guys to take a look at or is this enough info?[/QUOTE]

Could you throw a compile log our way?

[Tayley]

[QUOTE=Mozartkugeln;39596441]Could you throw a compile log our way?[/QUOTE]
yeah sure, here: [url]http://pastebin.com/4dfgWt69[/url]
I just looked though, could it be perhaps due to this?

 ***need to set $abovewater for material dev/dev_water2_cheap
***need to set $abovewater for material dev/dev_water2_cheap

[pkhzor]

[QUOTE=MrBunneh;39596527]yeah sure, here: [URL]http://pastebin.com/4dfgWt69[/URL]
I just looked though, could it be perhaps due to this?

 ***need to set $abovewater for material dev/dev_water2_cheap
***need to set $abovewater for material dev/dev_water2_cheap

[/QUOTE]
Not to be a jerk about it but..
[URL]https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Adding_Water[/URL]
[URL]http://www.interlopers.net/tutorials/1785[/URL]

Apparently that error occurs when you make water the wrong way or you have a leak somewhere on the map, might be a decal or some origin in the void.

[Tayley]

[QUOTE=pkhzor;39596579]Not to be a jerk about it but..
[URL]https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Adding_Water[/URL]
[URL]http://www.interlopers.net/tutorials/1785[/URL]

Apparently that error occurs when you make water the wrong way or you have a leak somewhere on the map, might be a decal or some origin in the void.[/QUOTE]

map is currently surrounded in a hollowed skybox.
I just checked again, and there is also absolutely nothing outside of the map. water worked fine until I ripped the boat from de_port, but ever since then it doesn't work. I've removed the boat since, but to no avail.

[tortus412]

is there a way to make a "fuse box"?

example. you have a box with an brush in it, you remove or destroy the brush and the lights go off. than you need to find a new brush or replace the one you removed and place it back, than the lights go back on

is it possible to do this?
if so how?

[mcilona]

[QUOTE=tortus412;39598316]is there a way to make a "fuse box"?

example. you have a box with an brush in it, you remove or destroy the brush and the lights go off. than you need to find a new brush or replace the one you removed and place it back, than the lights go back on

is it possible to do this?
if so how?[/QUOTE]

Not exactly sure how you would set that system up off the top of my head, but I'm pretty sure some of the entities involved would include maybe filters and logics. I know there was a few sections in nightmare house 2 that did something pretty close to what you were talking about, and they did a vmf release, so if you want to check that out it could help.

[Glaber]

I'm recently having trouble with getting a dynamic model to show up.

[img]http://th03.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/046/7/a/school_progress_2_by_glaber-d5uzu49.png[/img]

as you can see in the bottom right picture, the model shows up in hammer, but in HL2 it doesn't

[HectorWiz]

Hello to you all. I'm trying to do an island with a modern house in it. I want to do a beach and stuff like that, but I'm having some problems with the displacements. I want to make a corner with an inclination here:
[img]http://villabuilders.es/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/displacements.png[/img]
But I don't know how, if I create the solid with the Vertex Tool it breaks. Any help here? Thank you.

[Stiffy360]

[QUOTE=HectorWiz;39599977]Hello to you all. I'm trying to do an island with a modern house in it. I want to do a beach and stuff like that, but I'm having some problems with the displacements. I want to make a corner with an inclination here:
[img]http://villabuilders.es/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/displacements.png[/img]
But I don't know how, if I create the solid with the Vertex Tool it breaks. Any help here? Thank you.[/QUOTE]

You can warp displacements in ways you never thought of. for islands, I advise making it flat, then using the raise/lower tool to create the hills

[QUOTE=Glaber;39598514]I'm recently having trouble with getting a dynamic model to show up.

[img]http://th03.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2013/046/7/a/school_progress_2_by_glaber-d5uzu49.png[/img]

as you can see in the bottom right picture, the model shows up in hammer, but in HL2 it doesn't[/QUOTE]

I really don't want to know what you are trying to make, but check the info tab of the model browser to see what kind of model it is. If it's a physics only, you can't use as prop static and vice versa.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/TJqFQBX.png[/IMG]

[Mozartkugeln]

[QUOTE=HectorWiz;39599977]But I don't know how, if I create the solid with the Vertex Tool it breaks. Any help here? Thank you.[/QUOTE]

You're most likely making an invalid (concave) brush. Try dividing the brush into two wedges along the diagonal.

[HectorWiz]

[QUOTE=Mozartkugeln;39600204]You're most likely making an invalid (concave) brush. Try dividing the brush into two wedges along the diagonal.[/QUOTE]

Hammer doesn't allow making displacements in triangular faces.

[All0utWar]

[QUOTE=Mozartkugeln;39594194]In that case, you could try using a lua_run entity (though I'm not sure [I]exactly[/I] how those work).[/QUOTE]

So there's no other way? Is is possible to have a lua script run when you load up a map?

[Mozartkugeln]

[QUOTE=All0utWar;39600417]So there's no other way? Is is possible to have a lua script run when you load up a map?[/QUOTE]

That's exactly what the lua_run entity is for.

[HectorWiz]

[QUOTE=Stiffy360;39600185]I advise making it flat, then using the raise/lower tool to create the hills
[/QUOTE]
I've done it, and again, it gives me the same error. I seriously don't know what I can have done wrong.

Here is the compile text
[quote]

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk\bin\source2009\bin\vbsp.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\half-life 2 episode two\ep2" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk_content\ep2\mapsrc\gm_coolhouse.vmf"

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Sep 15 2011)
4 threads
materialPath: c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\half-life 2 episode two\ep2\materials
Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk_content\ep2\mapsrc\gm_coolhouse.vmf
ConVarRef mat_reduceparticles doesn't point to an existing ConVar
Trying to create a non-quad displacement! (entity 0, brush 243)

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk\bin\source2009\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\half-life 2 episode two\ep2" -fast "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk_content\ep2\mapsrc\gm_coolhouse"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (Sep 15 2011)
fastvis = true
4 threads
reading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk_content\ep2\mapsrc\gm_coolhouse.bsp
Error opening c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk_content\ep2\mapsrc\gm_coolhouse.bsp

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk\bin\source2009\bin\vrad.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\half-life 2 episode two\ep2" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk_content\ep2\mapsrc\gm_coolhouse"

Valve Software - vrad.exe SSE (Sep 15 2011)

Valve Radiosity Simulator
4 threads
[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[48 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']

Loading c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk_content\ep2\mapsrc\gm_coolhouse.bsp
Error opening c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk_content\ep2\mapsrc\gm_coolhouse.bsp

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\hectorwiz\sourcesdk_content\ep2\mapsrc\gm_coolhouse.bsp" "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\hectorwiz\half-life 2 episode two\ep2\maps\gm_coolhouse.bsp"

The command failed. Windows reported the error:
"The system can not find the specified file."
[/quote]

And here is an overview of my map without exterior models: [url]http://puu.sh/233Jr[/url]
As you can see, all displacements have four sides.

[Firegod522]

Trying to create a non-quad displacement! (entity 0, brush 243)

[HectorWiz]

[QUOTE=Firegod522;39601133]Trying to create a non-quad displacement! (entity 0, brush 243)[/QUOTE]

It says that the brush 243 doesn't exist...

[Mozartkugeln]

Select everything and copy it into a completely new, clean VMF.

[Metallics]

-snip-

Late

[Glaber]

[QUOTE=Stiffy360;39600185]I really don't want to know what you are trying to make, but check the info tab of the model browser to see what kind of model it is. If it's a physics only, you can't use as prop static and vice versa.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/TJqFQBX.png[/IMG][/QUOTE]

That's fine with me, either way, thank you.

[jeimizu]

Any idea why a sound I imported will load/play fine in Hammer, but fail to load in-game?