bspzipgui

[WAR_Nuker]

i got that bspzipgui prog by ti1337 but am unsure the correct way to use it. my map is saved in 2 locations. one location is in half life 2 deathmatch/hl2mp/maps and the other is in sourcesdk content/hl2mp/mapsrc. which file should i be adding my custom textures to. also, my custom stuff is in the directory half life 2 deathmatch/hl2mp/materials/canyonoasis . should i move this directory to a different location in order to make it work (like where i have my map saved in the 'maps' folder)? i tried adding my custom textures before with winbspzip and someone joined tellin me the texture was pink and black checkers. also, should i buildcubemaps before or after i add my custom material to my bsp?

 

[Ti133700N]

Use the Add file command from BspZipGUI. Then in the bsp path point to your bsp in deathmatch/hl2mp/maps. You don't have to move anything, just point to the good files and it'll work. In the file path, point to your texture (.vtf file) suppose the file is bob.vtf it should be something like : C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\[email protected]\half-life 2 deathmatch\hl2mp\materials\canonoasis\bob.vtf. In the relative textbox, put in : materials/canyonoasis/bob.vtf. Then click on the Go button. It will embed that file to your map. Then do the same thing for each file. Add them one at a time, for each texture you need 2 files, vtf and vmt. So the next file you would embed would be bob.vmt.

You should build the cubemaps before adding your stuff with bspzip.

 

[WAR_Nuker]

alright thanks man. ill give it a try now

 

[WAR_Nuker]

hey it worked. i put the new bsp in my source ded server/hl2mp/maps folder and got rid of the others (put them in a diff folder). i then opened up mp and joined my server. everything looks ok. however, i went to the file and it is damn huge. the file went from 2 MB to 4.5 ....i wonder if i did anything wrong.

Edit: well no friggin wonder the water texture is like 2.5 megs....that sucks

 

[Ti133700N]

Yea, those vtf can take alot of space cuz they are basically tga (almost not compressed and contains alot of color informations). You can zip the bsp with the compression level to maximum and distribute your file as a zip file (on the Web). For the actual servers then, you can't do much about it, most of the CS maps take alot of spaces too so it's normal.

 

[WAR_Nuker]

4.5 megs isnt TOO bad i suppose (in terms of downloading it off steam)

 

[showNOmercy]

4.5 megs isnt TOO bad i suppose (in terms of downloading it off steam)

4.5mb is nothing, Ive seen many maps hit 20+MB.

 

[WAR_Nuker]

yeah....and thats not the route i really want to take for an MP game. i know how frustrating it is waiting for something like that to download

 

[Dead-Inside]

Something you really have to watch out for, though, apart from textures, are displacementmaps... They take up way way way too much space. I'm guessing it's all the surfaces with their light information (A bumpy wall will have more light info than a flat).. But still.

 

[WAR_Nuker]

odd....i read once that displacement maps are easily rendered - even moreso than a regular brush. i guess someone lied to me....

 

[Ti133700N]

I think he's talking about the weight in KB not the strain on the system. I was probably the one who told you to use displacements, cuz yes, they are cheap to render, probably the cheapest thing to render actually, second would be low poly models, hum wait, sprites are also very easy to render but they do not look very good.