Sketchup to VMF conversion help needed - Developers

Hey everybody, I found out you can make maps in sketchup and export them to a vormat hammer can load. so I DLed the necessary Sketchup plugins (I think, turns out the L4D tools aren't the only one, there's a sketchup plugin called 'playup' that you can just google for) Anyway, I made a map in sketchup, its freaking huge, I made it for GMod, HL Deathmach, and TF2, Unfortunately there's a bit of a problem. When I exported the map, it saved as only 11KB and in hammer, its 6 brushes, a bunch of boxes that make one really big box. nothing else is there. I looked in the tools for playup and it says that there is an option to debug to see what is, and isn't going to work. it turned everything green and black. presumably green is okay, and black isn't, but that's not the case, as those 6 boxes (that make the bigger box) are green on one side, and black on the other. I do NOT have L4D, and don't currently have the money to buy it, just to get it's dev tools. I haven't even added any materials because I was going to do all that in Hammer. So I suppose the question is, Is there anyone on here, who has the working tools, that I can send my sketchup file to, that you can convert, and send back to me after verifying that it works? after that I also might need help with my skybox, but first things first. anyway, here's a screencap of my map in Sketchup, if anyone can see any problems. it's not the entire map, there's 1 building off screen on the left (identical and flipped to the one on the right) the bigger one in the middle is 30 feet high. this map is also quite huge just to warn you) [IMG]http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w301/milest3hr4t/TF2Map.png[/IMG]

the plugins don't require L4D, they just shipped with the L4D beta, get a friend to send them to you that has L4D

[QUOTE=Bang Train;15617037]the plugins don't require L4D, they just shipped with the L4D beta, get a friend to send them to you that has L4D[/QUOTE] i don't know anyone with L4D. also I have a plugin that's supposed to do it, I think it's an error in my map. from the screen cap I posted does it look like it should work?

Hammer isn't going to enjoy those curves. They are probably your main problem. Hammer arches will take a max of 24 sides i believe.

[QUOTE=metallics;15617089]Hammer isn't going to enjoy those curves. They are probably your main problem. Hammer arches will take a max of 24 sides i believe.[/QUOTE] actually those curves are in less than 6 segments for any of them. the only exceptions might be the middle parts, and those I can replace with squares anyway

Legally you need l4d to own the plugins.

[QUOTE=EliteGuy;15617325]Legally you need l4d to own the plugins.[/QUOTE] thats retarded for 2 reasons, 1 its a free download, and 2, this is mostly for team fortress.

[QUOTE=Miles_The_Target;15617123]actually those curves are in less than 6 segments for any of them. the only exceptions might be the middle parts, and those I can replace with squares anyway[/QUOTE] You miss the point. 6 segments, but sketchup is a CAD drawing package at its heart, so it refreshes the lines so technically each one of those curves, are made up of hundreds of straight lines. Hammer cannot handle that. Ignore my 24 sides thing earlier I was being slightly thick, it's dependant on arch size, just the tool wont allow more than 24, but hammer has to stick to the grid and thus smooth arches are impossible without modelling (and even then you are limited by the number of polys you can use).

[QUOTE=metallics;15617415]You miss the point. 6 segments, but sketchup is a CAD drawing package at its heart, so it refreshes the lines so technically each one of those curves, are made up of hundreds of straight lines. Hammer cannot handle that. Ignore my 24 sides thing earlier I was being slightly thick, it's dependant on arch size, just the tool wont allow more than 24, but hammer has to stick to the grid and thus smooth arches are impossible without modelling (and even then you are limited by the number of polys you can use).[/QUOTE] except those curves are made of a few lines, I can actually refer to endpoints... I could always make it out of a bunch of squares. but that still doesn't fix my problem, [url]http://playuptools.blogspot.com/[/url]

[QUOTE=Miles_The_Target;15617364]thats retarded for 2 reasons, 1 its a free download, and 2, this is mostly for team fortress.[/QUOTE] It's free if you own left4dead. Just because you want to use it for something else doesn't make it legal. e.g. In gmod, if you use & download DoD:S models when you don't own DoD:S, it's illegal.

[QUOTE=EliteGuy;15618198]It's free if you own left4dead. Just because you want to use it for something else doesn't make it legal. e.g. In gmod, if you use & download DoD:S models when you don't own DoD:S, it's illegal.[/QUOTE] irrelevant, that's not the software i'm using, I'm using an open source project.

This will work fine as long as it is func_detail'd. Hammer won't give 2 shits about them being off-grid because it obviously doesn't have microbrushes. [editline]10:19AM[/editline] I haven't tried that sketchup plugin before and I presume it doesn't break your objects into convex blocks. So go through and do that first.

[QUOTE=HiddenMyst;15620454]This will work fine as long as it is func_detail'd. Hammer won't give 2 shits about them being off-grid because it obviously doesn't have microbrushes. [editline]10:19AM[/editline] I haven't tried that sketchup plugin before and I presume it doesn't break your objects into convex blocks. So go through and do that first.[/QUOTE] actually I think it does, but just to check, how do I do this Func_Detail thing?

[QUOTE=HiddenMyst;15620454]This will work fine as long as it is func_detail'd. Hammer won't give 2 shits about them being off-grid because it obviously doesn't have microbrushes. [editline]10:19AM[/editline] I haven't tried that sketchup plugin before and I presume it doesn't break your objects into convex blocks. So go through and do that first.[/QUOTE] Fairly sure microbrushes aren't the only reason you stay on grid. Take a sphere, save the vmf close it, open it again, watch the points move.

Okay so Quite frankly I have no idea what I'm doing. In sketchup, by converting it all into one big component, it exported CP_mymap.vmf AND it said it processed ".mdl" (no file name). I'm guessing that means my map is now a giant empty space, and what the map is supposed to be, is now a component in the map... so I open Hammer and find that yes, that is in fact what it tried to do. it gave me a big empty map, and a static component. you know ERROR. I tried finding where it exported the .mdl too, and it LIED TO ME! It actually exported " .qc" (1kb, no name) " .smd" (4,740 Kb, no name, its something) CP_mymap.qc (1kb) CP_mymap.smd (4,783 KB) That said I'm guessing that the .smd's are actually the component I want, and hammer doesn't seem to know wtf to do with it. I tried loading it in the model viewer, and it wont let me go out past ./root so I can't find it because I don't know what ./root IS. The upside is, I have now connected ALL the curved spaces into hundreds of flat surfaces (total for the whole map) So, I guess at this point I'm both asking for help, and if I can't get help, making a request. Help) I have, with the source SDK, created MyMod and CP_Mymapname under source mods. where do I put my map, and the cq/smd files, and what do I have to do to make Hammer recognize it. from there how do I get it to work in GMod and TF2 For the request If noone can help, is there anyone here who knows what to do and can convert the files for me. I seriously do not know what I'm doing other than the actual map design. I finished the map in sketchup and don't know what to do from there. I put a lot of work into it. Is anyone willing to take what I've already done and turn it into a working map that I can edit in hammer correctly and add all the materials and such? from there I can load it in GMod and make sure it worked before I move on to adding the capture points, spawn points, resuply etc.

I've never seen or heard of this tool you are using before, but basically it sounds like it's turning the interior of your map into a model, which is insta-fail in source to have the all the level geometry modeled, because the lighting will be terrible.

It's not importing everything because I'm guessing 1% of the sketchup model is valid brushwork. Import everything to 3dsmax and whack it into source, you can use that as a reference to build off.

[QUOTE=metallics;15624308]I've never seen or heard of this tool you are using before, but basically it sounds like it's turning the interior of your map into a model, which is insta-fail in source to have the all the level geometry modeled, because the lighting will be terrible.[/QUOTE] I don't care if it gets terrible lighting in the direct conversion, as I was going to manually re-adjust all the lighting and materials in hammer, the way your actually supposed to. besides its a freaking team fortress map, that I was going to skin with red, blue, orange, and black (depending on area and piece) dev textures for a sort of mix between Mirror's edge's new-ish maps, a TF2 map I played, Tron, and all around simple map. quite clearly I don't care if the lighting sucks, as long as it doesn't mess with playability. anything thats a game-breaker I can add a lightsource to. [QUOTE=Sophei;15624936]It's not importing everything because I'm guessing 1% of the sketchup model is valid brushwork. Import everything to 3dsmax and whack it into source, you can use that as a reference to build off.[/QUOTE] I don't have 3ds max, otherwise I would have made my map in 3ds max and not sketchup which is free. If I had 3ds max I wouldn't be using sketchup at all now would I? So, rather than bite your head off, how can I check what Is and is not valid brushwork, so that I can edit it to make it valid? squares circles and some other crap right? and what does it define as a 'concave' area, is it because it dips in? i've seen that in source games. is it because it has less than 90 degree angles? couldn't be that, i've seen it too... So in short i'm looking for someone to help me with this, or to be pointed to an idiot proof tutorial, that doesn't require I buy anything. I honestly have no clue what I am doing, I just made a pretty map and want to get to play in it. thats it. beyond that, no experience what so ever.

You can have concavity in a Source map, you can't have concavity in a single brush.

Well vertexes have to be on the grid for a start and lots of other factors. 3dsmax has a trail, there's no excuse. If you want to make maps for source then use hammer. Don't try and do thing a hacky way because you can't be bothered to use your brain and learn something. Your attitude stinks, no wonder no one is helping you. Figure it out. Cya

What is with all these people wanting to use sketchup to make maps? Hammer really isn't that hard to use. Anyways 90% of those brushes will be invalid solids and the other 10% will be offgrid. Learn to use Hammer if you want to make proper maps, it is one of the easiest editors out there.

You used the model exporter. Use the map exporter. Also this map will be prone to errors and whatnot.

[QUOTE=metallics;15624048]Fairly sure microbrushes aren't the only reason you stay on grid. Take a sphere, save the vmf close it, open it again, watch the points move.[/QUOTE] That's because sphere's have invalid brush faces (not planer) and hammer "fixes" these on open. With something like this, he could easily split it into convex objects in sketchup and it will export to hammer just fine. The off-grid vertices won't cause many issues.

[QUOTE=eichhornch;15627872]What is with all these people wanting to use sketchup to make maps? Hammer really isn't that hard to use. Anyways 90% of those brushes will be invalid solids and the other 10% will be offgrid. Learn to use Hammer if you want to make proper maps, it is one of the easiest editors out there.[/QUOTE] you have obviously never USED hammer. you have to click and drag a box on 3 separate windows to get it where you want it, then hit enter, then set the textures, then do it all over again, for EVER WALL. Everything about this program is counterintuitive. valve needs to get off there asses and remake Hammer, because I would place money that the reason that HL2 Ep 3 is taking as long as it is in dev time is 80% maps because of how ass backwards and dated hammer is. [QUOTE=HiddenMyst;15628336]That's because sphere's have invalid brush faces (not planer) and hammer "fixes" these on open. With something like this, he could easily split it into convex objects in sketchup and it will export to hammer just fine. The off-grid vertices won't cause many issues.[/QUOTE] 100% of my map in sketchup is planar. I have 0 curves. you hear that? ZERO CURVES AND NO CONVEX SURFACES, Every shape has been broken down into convex shapes, and guess what? when I export it STILL GIVES ME AN EMPTY MAP! I really am going to have to start from the ground up AGAIN.

@Miles_The_Target Erhm, most of the time you make one brush and then just hold the shift key.. which duplicates brushes on the fly... Learn2Hammer It's one of the most intuitive level creation tool I've used.

[QUOTE=Miles_The_Target;15633930]you have obviously never USED hammer. you have to click and drag a box on 3 separate windows to get it where you want it, then hit enter, then set the textures, then do it all over again, for EVER WALL. Everything about this program is counterintuitive. valve needs to get off there asses and remake Hammer, because I would place money that the reason that HL2 Ep 3 is taking as long as it is in dev time is 80% maps because of how ass backwards and dated hammer is.[/QUOTE] I've been using Hammer for the past four years so don't tell me that I've never used it. Also have you ever heard of this very useful function called shift-drag to duplicate objects? Obviously not, so who's the one who's never used it?

even if i only export a cube it gives me an empty map. the shit is broken

[QUOTE=Miles_The_Target;15633930][b] you have obviously never USED hammer. you have to click and drag a box on 3 separate windows to get it where you want it, then hit enter, then set the textures, then do it all over again, for EVER WALL. Everything about this program is counterintuitive. valve needs to get off there asses and remake Hammer, because I would place money that the reason that HL2 Ep 3 is taking as long as it is in dev time is 80% maps because of how ass backwards and dated hammer is. [/b] 100% of my map in sketchup is planar. I have 0 curves. you hear that? ZERO CURVES AND NO CONVEX SURFACES, Every shape has been broken down into convex shapes, and guess what? when I export it STILL GIVES ME AN EMPTY MAP! I really am going to have to start from the ground up AGAIN.[/QUOTE] :ughh:

[QUOTE=Miles_The_Target;15633930]you have obviously never USED hammer. you have to click and drag a box on 3 separate windows to get it where you want it, then hit enter, then set the textures, then do it all over again, for EVER WALL. Everything about this program is counterintuitive. valve needs to get off there asses and remake Hammer, because I would place money that the reason that HL2 Ep 3 is taking as long as it is in dev time is 80% maps because of how ass backwards and dated hammer is. 100% of my map in sketchup is planar. I have 0 curves. you hear that? ZERO CURVES AND NO CONVEX SURFACES, Every shape has been broken down into convex shapes, and guess what? when I export it STILL GIVES ME AN EMPTY MAP! I really am going to have to start from the ground up AGAIN.[/QUOTE] Can Sketchup export to any other formats? Because if you can get one that can be imported into XSI, then you can export to vmf via that.

[QUOTE=Miles_The_Target;15633930][B]you have obviously never USED hammer.[/B] you have to click and drag a box on 3 separate windows to get it where you want it, then hit enter, then set the textures, then do it all over again, for EVER WALL. Everything about this program is counterintuitive. valve needs to get off there asses and remake Hammer, because I would place money that the reason that HL2 Ep 3 is taking as long as it is in dev time is 80% maps because of how ass backwards and dated hammer is. 100% of my map in sketchup is planar. I have 0 curves. you hear that? ZERO CURVES AND NO CONVEX SURFACES, Every shape has been broken down into convex shapes, and guess what? when I export it STILL GIVES ME AN EMPTY MAP! I really am going to have to start from the ground up AGAIN.[/QUOTE] you're saying this in the mapping forum?