Mapping Question Megathread v3 - Developers

[QUOTE=geogzm;36274107]Much of this depends on what game content you want to use but you can use team fortress, hl2, ep1, ep2, portal and a few others to map for gmod.[/QUOTE] Well, I want to make a Trouble in Terrorist Town map for Garry's Mod... I'm just gonna need CSS, HL2, EP1 & EP2... Though, the problem still is that I can't select CSS as Current Game in the Source SDK...

I apparently have a bad displacement: Displacement 36 has bad geometry near -1648.00 -1024.00 93.05 Can't compile displacement physics, exiting. Texture is TOOLS/TOOLSNODRAW How could I find this displacement and fix it? I know it give the coordinates but they aren't too helpful when I have no idea what to do with em.

Ideal corridor width?

[QUOTE=timmah1112;36275929]I apparently have a bad displacement: Displacement 36 has bad geometry near -1648.00 -1024.00 93.05 Can't compile displacement physics, exiting. Texture is TOOLS/TOOLSNODRAW How could I find this displacement and fix it? I know it give the coordinates but they aren't too helpful when I have no idea what to do with em.[/QUOTE] you can find by coords and by brush number in one of the options.

[QUOTE=DerTontaiLama;36043521]Wouldn't that only be a temporary solution when editing? Okay, I'm pretty new with the Hammer Editor, so I'm not entirely sure how it works yet. This is my map as it is: [img]http://i.imgur.com/NA0QG.png[/img] Obviously, something is wrong, but I don't really know what is. :v: Wouldn't I only need a 2D skybox as well? Since you would only have a glimpse of it some places in the puzzle. Anyway, I had tried [url=https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Skybox_(2D)#Creating_a_Custom_2D_Skybox_Texture]Valve SDK Community Tutorial[/url], but I still don't get have a skybox works. Do you simply seal your level as a box, but with the skybox instead? I thought I read on the wiki it was a bad idea, and read it other places as well. An explanation would be nice :smile:[/QUOTE] Look up the fish bowl theory

So I've been working on a Portal 2 map casually for a while now. When I went to do some edits and additions and compiled to test them, the lighting changed, not to my liking. The black wall tiles have become very bright, shiny, and have a hint of blue (I'm using warm colored lighting), and it is ruining the feel of my map, since I need areas to be completely dark. It was working before, but now it is just overly shiny and bright. Here's a part of the map that shows the problem: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/FUpox.jpg[/IMG] How can I fix this? On a related note, I had the same thing happen is some of the portal 2 in-game editor: I was working with a dark non-portalable hallway with very little light. After a few days when I went to test it the tiles turned from the dark textures to the blueish shiny ones. I didn't mind it so much in that case. EDIT: Here is another example [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Rolpz.jpg[/IMG] that far wall should be pitch black (or almost) (there is another faint light from the stairs below but you shouldn't be able to see its effect until you can see the bottom of those stairs)

Vent textures? Specifically the 'walls' of the vent

It's the cubemap that makes it so bright. Did you place a cubemap in the dark area? You could copy the material and remove the reflections.

[QUOTE=DasMatze;36279749]It's the cubemap that makes it so bright. Did you place a cubemap in the dark area? You could copy the material and remove the reflections.[/QUOTE] Thank you, I would have never thought of that!

[QUOTE=IronPhoenix;36166266]Open the gameinfo.txt located in the game directiory and change the file path.[/QUOTE] I looked in my css folder, I found it, But I cant find any "directories" In it.

Alright, so I got this issue in my compile... ** Executing... ** Command: "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk\bin\orangebox\bin\vbsp.exe" ** Parameters: -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod/garrysmod" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\me_test.vmf" Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Apr 26 2012) 2 threads materialPath: c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod\garrysmod\materials Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\me_test.vmf Could not locate 'GameData' key in c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod\garrysmod\gameinfo.txt Patching WVT material: maps/me_test/dev/dev_blendmeasure_wvt_patch fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides... ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (2) ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (2) Processing areas...done (0) Building Faces...done (0) Chop Details...done (0) Find Visible Detail Sides... Merged 340 detail faces...done (0) Merging details...done (0) FixTjuncs... PruneNodes... WriteBSP... done (4) writing C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\me_test.prt...Building visibility clusters... done (1) Creating default LDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials: skybox/sky_day02_10*.vmt ! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps. Creating default HDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials: skybox/sky_day02_10*.vmt ! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps. Finding displacement neighbors... Finding lightmap sample positions... Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Building Physics collision data... done (2) (1983314 bytes) Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Water found with no water_lod_control entity, creating a default one. Compacting texture/material tables... Reduced 10334 texinfos to 4407 Reduced 726 texdatas to 542 (36785 bytes to 27825) Writing C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\me_test.bsp 31 seconds elapsed -2.641600 2.819400 0.000000 5.283200 2.819400 0.000000 5.283200 -7.950200 0.000000 -2.565400 2.819400 0.000000 make_triangles:calc_triangle_representation: Cannot convert -0.304800 -4.343400 0.000000 -0.304800 4.343400 0.000000 -0.660400 -4.343400 0.000000 0.635000 -4.343400 0.000000 make_triangles:calc_triangle_representation: Cannot convert -0.304800 -4.343400 0.000000 -0.304800 4.343400 0.000000 -0.660400 -4.343400 0.000000 0.635000 -4.343400 0.000000 make_triangles:calc_triangle_representation: Cannot convert Basically, this happens every time, and I know it has to do with the model I made with Propper, as it never happened before I used it, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to fix this. Any ideas?

[QUOTE=paulisdead18;36291654]Alright, so I got this issue in my compile... ** Executing... ** Command: "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk\bin\orangebox\bin\vbsp.exe" ** Parameters: -game "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod/garrysmod" "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\me_test.vmf" Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Apr 26 2012) 2 threads materialPath: c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod\garrysmod\materials Loading C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\me_test.vmf Could not locate 'GameData' key in c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\paulisdead\garrysmod\garrysmod\gameinfo.txt Patching WVT material: maps/me_test/dev/dev_blendmeasure_wvt_patch fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides... ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (2) ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (2) Processing areas...done (0) Building Faces...done (0) Chop Details...done (0) Find Visible Detail Sides... Merged 340 detail faces...done (0) Merging details...done (0) FixTjuncs... PruneNodes... WriteBSP... done (4) writing C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\me_test.prt...Building visibility clusters... done (1) Creating default LDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials: skybox/sky_day02_10*.vmt ! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps. Creating default HDR cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox materials: skybox/sky_day02_10*.vmt ! Run buildcubemaps in the engine to get the correct cube maps. Finding displacement neighbors... Finding lightmap sample positions... Displacement Alpha : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Building Physics collision data... done (2) (1983314 bytes) Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 Water found with no water_lod_control entity, creating a default one. Compacting texture/material tables... Reduced 10334 texinfos to 4407 Reduced 726 texdatas to 542 (36785 bytes to 27825) Writing C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\paulisdead\sourcesdk_content\Garrys Mod\mapsrc\me_test.bsp 31 seconds elapsed -2.641600 2.819400 0.000000 5.283200 2.819400 0.000000 5.283200 -7.950200 0.000000 -2.565400 2.819400 0.000000 make_triangles:calc_triangle_representation: Cannot convert -0.304800 -4.343400 0.000000 -0.304800 4.343400 0.000000 -0.660400 -4.343400 0.000000 0.635000 -4.343400 0.000000 make_triangles:calc_triangle_representation: Cannot convert -0.304800 -4.343400 0.000000 -0.304800 4.343400 0.000000 -0.660400 -4.343400 0.000000 0.635000 -4.343400 0.000000 make_triangles:calc_triangle_representation: Cannot convert Basically, this happens every time, and I know it has to do with the model I made with Propper, as it never happened before I used it, but I have no idea how I'm supposed to fix this. Any ideas?[/QUOTE] Have you tried recompiling the model? It looks like something has gone horribly wrong with it.

Would I be able to find the model using cordon then? I don't want to have to remake ALL the models, because most of them work and all, and I don't want to have to redo everything I just did.

[QUOTE=DasMatze;36279749]It's the cubemap that makes it so bright. Did you place a cubemap in the dark area? You could copy the material and remove the reflections.[/QUOTE] Upon further investigation, this does not solve my problem. I realized I was running on lower graphics settings, and upon changing them, the blue and shiny tiles returned. I figured out that the shader detail causes this problem: Here is the medium setting [b](the effect I'm looking for)[/b] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/oKrIK.jpg?1[/IMG] Here is the high setting, with the ugly blue/shininess [b](What I don't want)[/b] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/OqSeS.jpg?1[/IMG] How can I prevent the shininess from appearing with the high shader detail option set?

What texture is it exactly

I know this has been asked thousands of times, And I feel really dumb for not remembering but what was the compiler command to prevent these shadows from happening? And is there a list of these commands somewhere? [IMG]http://niggaupload.com/images/giCrK.png[/IMG] Sorry don't know how to thumb imgs either.

Make sure that those rocks have disabled shadows.

[QUOTE=geogzm;36277209]Ideal corridor width?[/QUOTE] In real life, a avarege corridor for a hotel is 3 people wide, and 5 in public ish places, just measure it with spawn points :3

How do I make moving lights? I've been trying to make the ghost train from Metro 2033 by using the light_dynamic. However the entity does not emit any lights at all. All I can get to work is the light beems from the front and back headlights.

I'm not familiar with the libraries so can someone give me a step by step on how to pool all of my source game's textures and models into the EP2 config dod:s, cs:s, portal, ep1

[QUOTE=Polaco202;36298006]I know this has been asked thousands of times, And I feel really dumb for not remembering but what was the compiler command to prevent these shadows from happening? And is there a list of these commands somewhere? [IMG]http://niggaupload.com/images/giCrK.png[/IMG] Sorry don't know how to thumb imgs either.[/QUOTE] [url]https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/VRAD#Options[/url] -staticproppoly -staticproplighting -textureshadows

[QUOTE=Wazbat;36298518]In real life, a avarege corridor for a hotel is 3 people wide, and 5 in public ish places, just measure it with spawn points :3[/QUOTE] I figured it out as 128 units for what I'm doing

Falling elevator? In my map the player is supposed to start in an elevator, freefalling, but the problem is, as you probably expected, the player eventually randomly flies up and slams into the ceiling, killing them. Is there any way to get the player and the elevator to fall at the same velocity, or the elevator to have its own 'gravity' for lack of a better term to keep the player in check with it? Tankayu :-)

Perhaps a trigger_push (I think that's what the entity is called) pushing downward, parented to the elevator?

[QUOTE=masterwolf;36302163]Falling elevator? In my map the player is supposed to start in an elevator, freefalling, but the problem is, as you probably expected, the player eventually randomly flies up and slams into the ceiling, killing them. Is there any way to get the player and the elevator to fall at the same velocity, or the elevator to have its own 'gravity' for lack of a better term to keep the player in check with it? Tankayu :-)[/QUOTE] Make the player spawn in an elevator off to one side, make the world move up past the sides of the elevator as if falling, sudden blackout when it hits the floor/stops, teleport player to base of lift shaft and then fade in from black?

[QUOTE=Firegod522;36295433]What texture is it exactly[/QUOTE] The main two I am using are metal/black_wall_metal_004a c and d, but the same effect is seen on the metal/black_wall_metal_002 family and I'm sure more of them do the same thing. I'm just using some typical portal 2 metal wall tile textures

[QUOTE=Misiek93;36306228]The main two I am using are metal/black_wall_metal_004a c and d, but the same effect is seen on the metal/black_wall_metal_002 family and I'm sure more of them do the same thing. I'm just using some typical portal 2 metal wall tile textures[/QUOTE] Portal 2 metals use a predefined cubemap texture and not the nearest cubemap so the reflections are same on all the panels. You could try editing the texture to remove the cubemap or make it env_cubemap. Or use a texture that isn't reflective (like the yellow back panels).

Is it possible to spawn a brush when another brush is shot? and then another when the spawned brush is shot? How D:

Can someone clarify something about areaportalwindows in multiplayer for me? If one player can see through an areaportalwindow then the other players can't right and it's separate for everyone?

I was wondering if there was any alternatives to dumping the entire material contents of a GCF into your current game just to get the missing textures in the map? Like is there a scan that takes out only the specific materials out of the GCF in the map? For example when I made a [url=http://the303.org/imaeg/hattime.jpg]CSS map using a modified HL:S level[/url] I had to dump all the materials into my CSS dir, compile, and then pack only the needed materials in PAKRAT. Is there a way for a packer to scan and pick out of a GCF/VPK? For HLS it wasnt bad because the total materials was rather small, but for any other game you are looking at thousands of files you need to dump.