i need help with hammer!

[D€vIL²]

Im new to map making, the first attemt to map was useing the video tutorial by ichII3d i think the name was and he showed you how to make a basic room, well i made a map with that turned out to be ok, having learned basic lighting and how to make curved objects like a curved corner. so anyway the question is when i makeing a hl2 map i wanted to add some detail like awnings and pipes (models/props_c17/Gasmeter003a.mdl), am I supposed to place them in hammer as a prop_detail? because thats what I tried and when I compiled and ran it i just got a big error sign where i placed my object.

edit: never mind the first question i just made them prop_static and they worked

I want to place a barrel or somthing that i can interact with like shooting it what kind of entity does it have to be?

 

[Viperidae]

For physics interactable stuff: prop_physics.

Nice avatar btw.

 

[D€vIL²]

thx, yeah i forgot what it was.
http://img153.exs.cx/img153/6774/practice0001.jpg
http://img154.exs.cx/img154/4262/practice0000.jpg
this is the map im working on (third map attemt ever), BTW how do you make an environment light? so that i don't have to have fullbright on and don't have to place lights everywhere.

also if I want to place a dead ragdoll of lets say a burnt body in my map, do I just make him a prop_physics also?

 

[poseyjmac]

look at the different types of prop_'s. one of them may stand out as being one that could handle ragdolls

 

[D€vIL²]

got it thx.

edit:how do you change the skybox image and how do I go about adding buildings to the skybox?

 

[babychicken]

The sky texture is changed by going to map then map properties then entering a name from this list in there
http://*************/wiki/index.php/sky_list

Good luck
Babychicken
www.jandmtraders.com/HL2.htm

EDIT
they blanked out the URL can get it thru my page above