Looking to start learning Hammer Editor 3.4

[Re1nhardt]

Does anyone have any good learning sources or tutorials for a beginner? Including setting up hammer 3.4 for creating Half-Life and Counter-Strike maps with the files steam provides.

The only mapping knowledge I have currently is creating very simple Doom maps in Doom Builder 2 by creating sectors, I know the basic concept of mapping how pretty much everything is done by creating squares and then decorating them up to not look like squares.

[Puni]

Tophattwaffle I guess.
Never got on with him, had a fall-out over two of our released maps but he does provide a lot of tutorials. Just google him.

Or there is some old school youtube guy but I forget his name, 3kphillips or something?

Im amazed you got Hammer to work in the first place, I tried to get back into mapping last week and all Hammer keeps doing is not loading the grids..

[wazanator]

[QUOTE=Puni;44459946]I tried to get back into mapping last week and all Hammer keeps doing is not loading the grids..[/QUOTE]

Which if you google the "Failed to Load Default scheme" error it brings you to [url=https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Failed_to_load_the_default_scheme_file]this page in the VDC[/url] which I updated back in September so that it says [quote][url=http://i.imgur.com/v7inGBz.png]If you are trying to launch hammer for a Valve game from the Source SDK launcher and are receiving this error try launching hammer.exe from "steam/steamapps/common/gamename/bin"[/url][/quote]

Not trying to be rude it's just I've seen this question so many times now that it's maddening to think that people give up before doing something as simple as googling the issue and reading for 15 minutes.

OP if you need help add me on [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/wazanator/]Steam[/url] I'll be happy to answer your questions or send you links to the tutorials you need. Just PM your username if it's different then the one on here because I get a lot of friend request spam and don't want to decline you on accident.

Off the top of my head though:

[url=http://www.tophattwaffle.com/]TopHATTwaffle[/url]

[url=http://www.interlopers.net/tutorials/]Interlopers[/url]

[url=http://www.optimization.interlopers.net/]Optimization guide[/url] (Be sure to read this unless you want to spend a day compiling your maps)

[url=http://www.worldofleveldesign.com/articles.php]World of level design[/url] (Doesn't have just Source Engine games but the ones they do have are pretty good especially the road tutorials)

[url=http://halfwit-2.com/]Halfwit-2[/url](which thankfully is backup again it seems)

Also don't be afraid to ask questions, everyones been a beginner at some point. Facepunch, Interlopers and the r/SourceEngine community can answer most questions.

[Re1nhardt]

I contacted TopHATTwaffle but apparently he only works with Source Engine games. :v:

I'll add you to steam.

[Titanium]

you might want to join the svencoop forums and maybe the twhl forums, it's going to be your two sources for HL1 mapping.

[wazanator]

[QUOTE=Re1nhardt;44465888]I contacted TopHATTwaffle but apparently he only works with Source Engine games. :v:

I'll add you to steam.[/QUOTE]

Oh shoot is it Gold Source? I actually have no experience in that sorry :(

[Re1nhardt]

Hmm, iv'e decided to start learning for Source aswell then, the gold source community is quite dead, and the upgrade of source capabilities would be nice.

[Titanium]

You'd be better off with the Unreal Engine 4 at this point, source will bring you nothing at all unless you plan to release gmod/sp maps.

[UnknownPredator]

[QUOTE=Anthracite;44468714]You'd be better off with the Unreal Engine 4 at this point, source will bring you nothing at all unless you plan to release gmod/sp maps.[/QUOTE]

Unreal 4 has a very different interface compared to hammer, The doom editor is similar to hammer and it would be easier and more helpful for him to learn it. Unreal is great for those with custom content, but hammer is great for beginners and those beginners can easily make models and textures.

[Bucky21659]

[QUOTE=UnknownPredator;44472588]Unreal 4 has a very different interface compared to hammer, The doom editor is similar to hammer and it would be easier and more helpful for him to learn it. Unreal is great for those with custom content, but hammer is great for beginners and those beginners can easily make models and textures.[/QUOTE]

I don't like the Unreal Editor, never have and never will. Even the viewport controls are stupid and unintuitive. Hammer's a lot easier to get into in these regards.
With that said I have to say Unreal's a lot stronger in the graphics and flexibility departments (by flexibility I mean it's not as difficult to do something like an RTS game as it would be with Source), but like you mentioned, Source is easier to use. Just my two cents on the argument.

As for OP's questions:

Hammer 3.4 is available on Steam under the "tools" category, listed as "Half-Life SDK."
Install and run that and it shouldn't be too terribly difficult to configure it for Half-Life.

In-case you're someone who has, for whatever reason, relied on the SDK Launcher your entire life (and/or you're a total GoldSrc/modding n00b), then here's the configuration I set up for my Half-Life, replace these paths to wherever you have these games installed if necessary.

Configuration:
Half-Life

Game Data files:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor\fgd\half-life\halflife.fgd

Game Executable Directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life

Mod Directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life\valve

Game Directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life\valve

RMF Directory:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life SDK\Map Files

Change the "Mod Directory" if you want to mod for another game. I don't know when you'd change the "Game Directory" since all GoldSrc games now install into the same "/SteamApps/common/Half-Life" folder.

In-case you're wondering what the "RMF Directory" is (because I didn't know at first either), it would serve the same purpose as the folder where you save your .vmfs (/mapsrc/).

[GiGaBiTe]

Here's the last version of Hammer for Half-Life:

[url]http://number-7.com/ai.php?dir=half-life/tools/&file=hammer_352.7z[/url]

It's more recent than the one included in the HL SDK and should include both the ZHLT and VHLT compile tools, which are far superior than the originally shipped quake 2 compile tools that come in the HL SDK.

[Bucky21659]

[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;44515051]Here's the last version of Hammer for Half-Life:

[url]http://number-7.com/ai.php?dir=half-life/tools/&file=hammer_352.7z[/url]

It's more recent than the one included in the HL SDK and should include both the ZHLT and VHLT compile tools, which are far superior than the originally shipped quake 2 compile tools that come in the HL SDK.[/QUOTE]
Wow, Valve adds a tool that they hasn't been touched in nearly years to Steam and we still have to resort to third party sources to find up-to-date versions?
[I]*slow clap*[/I]

Thanks for pointing that out though.

[GiGaBiTe]

During the entire lifespan of Half-Life, Valve never updated the compile tools. They used the modified Quake 2 compile tools from start to finish.

You can see the version history of the early forks of custom compile tools here:

[url]http://zhlt.info/version-history.html[/url]