A n00b being a n00b

[Jackrabbit]

Hey everybody. I've used Hammer before for HL1 maps, so I know the basics, but I never actually finished a map. I've got some n00b questions, and...well I didn't look around too hard I'll admit. I figured this would be faster and easier.

First, I'm placing lights. I know how to place lights, but I don't know how to make objects cast light - for instance a lightbulb hanging from a ceiling, or the bulb inside a lamp. I tried putting a light entity next to a hanging light bulb, but the bulb is just pitch black (light is being cast around the walls and stuff though.

Second, I'm looking for a website or something with more models. I need a three seater couch, lamps and lights, better stoves...yada yada, house stuff. If you guys could help me out and point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it very much .

 

[Dead-Inside]

You have to do some nifty work with your light. If it's a cealing lamp, then stick the light directly beneath it (NOT inside of it!).

If you mean the actual texture on the lamp is dark/not lit, go in to the properties of the lamp and go to the "skin" tab. Type 1 instead of 0 and click apply, you should see a new skin now. Lost of stuff have different skins, pipes do too.

For custom models you're best off doing them yourself. You do get a free copy of XSI for HL2/CSS (Basically Source) modelling. I don't have any HL2/CSS model sites myself though, but I wouldn't mind some

 

[Jackrabbit]

Thanks for your help =). I'm going to keep asking questions in here if you guys don't mind...

I have a few objects in my level that aren't showing up. They're there, cause I can push them around and hear them, but they're not visible. Does anybody know why?

 

[POWDERKEG]

are they tied to the wrong entity? this has happened to my props and stuff before as well it was an entity problem

 

[Phisionary]

i think the not being visible thing is an issue with the view radius. I had a tire that only showed up only when you ran into it. I've heard that the 'start' and 'end' view radius, respectively, should be -1 and 0. if that doesn't do it, grab the resize thingys for the little circle inside your model and drag them out so they're big, and see if it shows up then...

 

[POWDERKEG]

you know what i heard that too Phisionary...and i never knew that the little circle thing is what makes you aqble to see the models...oh well im a newbie mapper

 

[Dead-Inside]

Well Phis is right but I had this awefully strange bug myself the other day where my barrels would disapear. Now I never did check the fade distance but I copied a working barrel and around 3/10 barrels were invisible ingame (Though still there), so my bug would be why the fadedistance would change during the copy-paste. Just seems odd to me.

 

[Phisionary]

it's an odd problem.
I was playing the new official CS:S map cs_compound, and noticed there are some invisible objects just around the corner from the ct spawn. So I guess everybody has this issue sometimes.

 

[Dead-Inside]

Indeed. I wonder what it's related to.

 

[Jackrabbit]

I'm learning . I've got a couple more questions...well I already forgot one. How do I make a light switch? I don't care about animations or anything, I just want to make it so when the player hits the Use button on a brush or object, a light in another part of the house goes on or off. Thanks in advance .

Oh, that reminds me of something else. Could I make it so a switch starts a fire?

[Edit] Remembered my other question - how do I make breakable stairs? I know how to make breakable brushes, but nothing happens when the player steps on them.

 

[Raeven0]

Lightswitch - give a light entity a Name, then send it a TurnOff input (via the OnPressed output of a func_button or something)

Fire - place an env_fire entity and uncheck its "Start On" flag

Breakable stairs - tie each stair to a separate func_breakable and set its "Break on Pressure" flag?

 

[Dead-Inside]

OH! OH OH OH! I got an excellent idea for a gameplay element for my next mapping project . Thank you Raeven0 .

 

[Polishwonder74]

Oh, that reminds me of something else. Could I make it so a switch starts a fire?

Yeah, I'm having trouble with this, too. I'm trying to make a push-button fire to incinerate some zombies, and no matter what I try, I just can't get it to work. I've looked high and low for fire tutorials, and I can't find anything that helps me.

 

[Jackrabbit]

VVIS.exe keeps freezing up while doing a portal flow thing...any clue why this is?

[Edit] Alright it finished, it just took a damn long time. Check this out...


** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk\bin\vbsp.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\counter-strike source\cstrike" "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole"

Valve Software - vbsp.exe (Jan 19 2005)
1 threads
materialPath: c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\counter-strike source\cstrike\materials
Loading C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole.vmf
"materials/models/OLD_weapons/v_models/m249para/ammobox.vtf": cached version doesn't exist
fixing up env_cubemap materials on brush sides...
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6.Brush 34071: WARNING, microbrush
..7...8...9...10 (1)
WARNING: node with unbounded volume
WARNING: node with unbounded volume
ProcessBlock_Thread: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6.Brush 34071: WARNING, microbrush
..7...8...9...10 (1)
WARNING: node with unbounded volume
WARNING: node with unbounded volume
Processing areas...done (0)
Building Faces...done (0)
FixTjuncs...
PruneNodes...
WriteBSP...
done (0)
writing C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole.prt...done (1)
Creating default cubemaps for env_cubemap using skybox sky_wasteland02...
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 (1) (149171 bytes)
Emitting linux collision data (use -nolinuxdata to disable).
Building Physics collision data...
done (1) (228012 bytes)
Placing detail props : 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10
Writing C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole.bsp
8 seconds elapsed
Memory leak: mempool blocks left in memory: 48
Memory leak: mempool blocks left in memory: 2

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk\bin\vvis.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\counter-strike source\cstrike" "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole"

Valve Software - vvis.exe (Dec 15 2004)
1 threads
reading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole.bsp
reading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole.prt
713 portalclusters
2211 numportals
BasePortalVis: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (3)
PortalFlow: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (186)
WARNING: Cluster portals saw into cluster
Optimized: 750 visible clusters (0.00%)
Total clusters visible: 95734
Average clusters visible: 134
Building PAS...
Average clusters audible: 483
visdatasize:111791 compressed from 136896
writing c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole.bsp
3 minutes, 9 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk\bin\vrad.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\counter-strike source\cstrike" "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole"

Valve Software - vrad.exe (Jan 18 2005)
----- Radiosity Simulator ----
1 threads
[Reading texlights from 'lights.rad']
[1 texlights parsed from 'lights.rad']

Loading c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole.bsp
2125 faces
3 degenerate faces
581751 square feet [83772224.00 square inches]
1 displacements
10621 square feet [1529448.75 square inches]
2122 patches before subdivision
8976 patches after subdivision
8 direct lights
BuildFacelights: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (24)
BuildVisLeafs: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (5)
transfers 215499, max 148
transfer lists: 1.6 megs
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #1 added RGB(16973, 15442, 12067)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #2 added RGB(3682, 3007, 1930)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #3 added RGB(1139, 907, 570)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #4 added RGB(403, 311, 191)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #5 added RGB(158, 120, 73)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #6 added RGB(65, 48, 29)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #7 added RGB(28, 20, 12)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
Bounce #8 added RGB(12, 9, 5)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #9 added RGB(6, 4, 2)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #10 added RGB(3, 2, 1)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #11 added RGB(1, 1, 0)
GatherLight: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (0)
Bounce #12 added RGB(1, 0, 0)
Build Patch/Sample Hash Table(s).....Done<0.0107 sec>
FinalLightFace: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10 (1)
FinalLightFace Done
Ready to Finish
0 of 0 (0% of) surface lights went in leaf ambient cubes.
ComputePerLeafAmbientLighting: 0...1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10

Object names Objects/Maxobjs Memory / Maxmem Fullness
------------ --------------- --------------- --------
models 5/1024 240/49152 ( 0.5%)
brushes 330/8192 3960/98304 ( 4.0%)
brushsides 2187/65536 17496/524288 ( 3.3%)
planes 1412/65536 28240/1310720 ( 2.2%)
vertexes 4452/65536 53424/786432 ( 6.8%)
nodes 1409/65536 45088/2097152 ( 2.1%)
texinfos 387/12288 27864/884736 ( 3.1%)
texdata 37/2048 1184/65536 ( 1.8%)
dispinfos 1/0 176/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_verts 289/0 5780/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_tris 512/0 1024/0 ( 0.0%)
disp_lmsamples 25847/0 25847/0 ( 0.0%)
faces 2125/65536 119000/3670016 ( 3.2%)
origfaces 1175/65536 65800/3670016 ( 1.8%)
leaves 1415/65536 79240/3670016 ( 2.2%)
leaffaces 2503/65536 5006/131072 ( 3.8%)
leafbrushes 796/65536 1592/131072 ( 1.2%)
surfedges 15176/512000 60704/2048000 ( 3.0%)
edges 8489/256000 33956/1024000 ( 3.3%)
worldlights 8/8192 704/720896 ( 0.1%)
waterstrips 200/32768 2000/327680 ( 0.6%)
waterverts 0/65536 0/786432 ( 0.0%)
waterindices 3306/65536 6612/131072 ( 5.0%)
cubemapsamples 0/1024 0/16384 ( 0.0%)
overlays 0/512 0/180224 ( 0.0%)
lightdata [variable] 502344/0 ( 0.0%)
visdata [variable] 111791/16777216 ( 0.7%)
entdata [variable] 11933/393216 ( 3.0%)
occluders 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder polygons 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
occluder vert ind 0/0 0/0 ( 0.0%)
detail props [variable] 1/12 ( 8.3%)
static props [variable] 1/1606 ( 0.1%)
pakfile [variable] 20243/0 ( 0.0%)

Win32 Specific Data:
physics [variable] 149171/4194304 ( 3.6%)
==== Total Win32 BSP file data space used: 1380421 bytes ====

Linux Specific Data:
physicssurface [variable] 228012/6291456 ( 3.6%)
==== Total Linux BSP file data space used: 1459262 bytes ====

Total triangle count: 6206
Writing c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole.bsp
53 seconds elapsed

** Executing...
** Command: Copy File
** Parameters: "C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\jackrabbit\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\mapsrc\cs_rabbithole.bsp" "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\counter-strike source\cstrike\maps\cs_rabbithole.bsp"


** Executing...
** Command: "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\counter-strike source\hl2.exe"
** Parameters: -game "c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\jackrabbit\counter-strike source\cstrike" +map "cs_rabbithole"

 

[Jackrabbit]

Just one more for now...how do I clip displacement brushes? I made all the ground I need, but it's overlapping into a basement. I want a clean cut on it.

 

[Sieg]

Jack Rabbit,do you really expect someone to read all that?

 

[Jackrabbit]

I'm a n00b, I don't know what to expect.

*waves his hands* Go away if you don't want to help.

 

[Phisionary]

If it takes a long time, that may mean you have complicated brushes that have not been tied to func_detail. Any world brush that does not act as a view-blocker (therefore screening out large areas of the map that would therefore not need to be rendered) should be set as a func_detail or some equivelant type.

There are other causes for slow compiling, but that's a common one.

Displacement maps can be clipped I think, but the remaining displacement must be a four-sided polygon. There is a nice article on verc about it, I don't have the link at hand but you should be able to find it easily. It's linked right on the valve SDK tuts page, if you have a link to that.

 

[Jackrabbit]

Thanks everybody for your help so far and for your continued help . I really would never finish this map without you guys.

I have a few more questions. First, I made a sun, and it's kind of working. The problem is that the skybox texture has a sun also, so there are two suns in the sky giving off light. The second problem is that the sun I made isn't really doing it's job. I want the map to be late afternoon, just as the sun is going down. A bright orange in the western sky, I want it to shoot rays of light through the windows of this house and cast squares of light on the floor. The fake-o skybox sun does this from the South, but I want that crap out of there. The sun I made lights up the side of the house, but it doesn't shine through the windows. How can I fix this?

Damn lights... Another problem I have is with this touch lamp. Heres what I want to do - have a touch lamp with a lamp shade on it that casts shadows on the wall. Here's what's going on though - I've got a lamp, and a light tied to it, that way the light moves with the lamp. The problem is 1) there's no lightbulb, 2) the lampshade is a seperate object, so that causes problems, 3) the lampshade doesn't cast shadows on the wall or shade the light, 4) I'm having a hell of a time with the func_button. What I did was...hmm, I just thought of something actually. Haha, I'll get back to you guys when I'm done trying something new.

 

[Dead-Inside]

I'll be disregarding the lighting problem for now, but for the sun;
Your lignt_env can first of all have its light changed to the orangey/red you're looking for. Secondly, you can set it so that it "shines" through the window by tweaking the angle. Thirdly, the 'beams' of light aren't created by the sun itself, but the light does still shine through the window if you're done it correctly.

Someone get the name of the lightbeamentity....

 

[Jackrabbit]

Can I take pictures with my digital camera and use them in my map? I think Wally is the name of that texture/spraypaint program, and...oh look, I have it laying around. Can I use this?

 

[Jackrabbit]

Sorry I keep bumping this thread, but I keep having questions, and I figure it's better than spamming new topics .

I want to make a pair of foldable stairs that go into an attack. The player clicks use, and hatch drops down, and then once that's fully open a set of stairs unfolds. I haven't tried this yet, but I know I'll have trouble with it. I figure I make a door, make some stairs with the door as their parent...but the stairs are also a door, and then I need to make it so the stairs open after the other part is open... *ponder* Any ideas? Also, I'm still wondering about rays of sunshine.

 

[Dead-Inside]

Well, if it's possible with the doors, just have them first move with the door, then (Estimate a delay in your initial button) when the door is open, have another output open the other doors, which should have moved with the first door. Might take some tweaking.

Obviously a scripted sequence would be best here but it might not be possible. And no, I don't know how to do it.