Requests on making a map..

[genocide604]

As i am not a very experienced mapper, i was wondering what kind of tips i need to get on my way. I have an idea i have already schem'd out, and the way hammer is designed seems to be more autokadish.. I need some simple stuff answered,
-how do you make the ground.. ie streets, snow covered ground etc..
-how do you make a skybox...
-how do you change the lighting of the map

thanks for anyone who puts in the time to answer these

 

[sabre0001]

ground - use the brush tool (can hollow out a room also by creating a brush, right-click,hollow)...create brush with the texture you want or use the texture tool (block with 3 colors).

sky - as above (except use sky texture) - unless you actually want a custom skybox, dunno bout that...

lighting - use entity - light -configure these for color, appearence, etc. can also use textured lighting by browsing with the word light.

 

[genocide604]

By ground i meant, is it the bottom of the skybox? or is a giant box created and the ground is placed inside it after?

My skybox will be dark/clouds and i want it to be snowing hard..

I made 1 map in cs1.6, and i havent mapped since so im relearning everything. The thing is i always have the ideas and the imagination.. but using hammer gives me the impression it wasnt made by my type

Im just looking for what order you make stuff as well, you make skybox first models next, textures, tweaking etc etc??

also i remember configuring the hammer options menu before i started my map, is there anything i should know or change before i start production of the map?

Anyways any other begginer tips you could offer, would speed up my process because i wont release the map until near perfection.

-ps its called cs_precinct13

 

[sabre0001]

you can make maps block by block - if you mapped before it shouldnt require a lot of re-learning...mostly the same...ground would be the bottom of the hollowed out block OR the base brush (better to use base brush as its easier to expand)

 

[genocide604]

I made my basement, but its a combination of two blocks.. one is a rectangle and the other connects to the side.. how do i get rid of the wall seperating them, i want them to be one whole room?

 

[Deleter]

first ungroup the blocks of the room. Then delete one of the walls and make the other one shorter. This is if you made them with the hollow command.

 

[genocide604]

first ungroup the blocks of the room

What do you mean ungroup them? and yes they are both 16 thick.. i just wanna remove the walls seperating them..

 

[poseyjmac]

you're better off with a basic tutorial. check out hl2werld for good tutorials

 

[genocide604]

some more question

Ive been reading through tut's all morning, thank god i dont have classes today or hmwrk

Ive come up with some really simple but annoying dead ends, which may be basics for most around here.. here goes..

-How do you create "no go" zones, like say i set a bunch of cars on the road so they cant pas, but they use teamwork and boost over the cars, how do i make an invisible wall?

-Doors, where do i find them? i know how to edit them and etc.. but where do i find them in the sdk?

-Props, where do i find basic props like tables chairs and all the stuff that hl2/cs:s currently use to cut down on the customizing of props?

-Where do i find sets of stairs, whole stairs wells etc.. or any tutorials on stairs .. im in need of a stairwell for a basement, and another for the upstairs so any tutorials would help.. or a finger in the right direction..


Thanks very much if you can answer some of these!

 

[sabre0001]

not sure what you mean by no-go areas that you CAN actually get past - unless you use a func_brush.

Doors - any texture can be used - create a brush the size of your door and then just 'tie to entity' and select func_door - i advise using Ichii3Ds video tutorial from here - goes into an in-depth view once you have a door created.

Props - Use the entity tool (the lightbulb) and select prop_ (can be physics, dynamic, static) - sometimes dont work unless you use the prop_xxxxx_override version. Select the entity and right click to get properties OR alt-tab and go to world model -> find the model you want, click apply and there ya go...

 

[genocide604]

Cool ok thats what i figured, i saw all ichii's videos at least 5 times each.. i just didnt know if doors were premade or not..

Is it very hard to make custom textures, like a poster, a comp screen, picture of sorts?

Also i tried getting the door to rotate on a side axis, so it opens like a door and doesnt "slide".. but it keeps moving the whole door and not the axis of rotation.. whats with that?

Thanks for you help sabre, your getting me past some simple yet annoying obstacles..

 

[sabre0001]

i think the axis has to be a hinge too but as a brush...not completely sure...will check tomorrow (early if i can) and if your q isnt answered i will see what i can do...

Textures must be scaled correctly - they can be easy enough to do using wally - there are definately some good custom texture tutorials out there - for now however i would advise just using whats there and getting used to the tools (you'd be surprised how much you can improvise) and there are also texture packs being released...

 

[genocide604]

I got doors to work good, im getting the run around with lights though, how do you make lights only light one room, i have two room seperated by doors one has a regular light default, and the next room has a glare of the light room through the door? how do i make the light now puncture the door?

-also how would i make it snow, and snow only outside?

 

[genocide604]

Getting back to the post above this,
-how do you make it snow outside? blizzard like limitd vision?
-How do you make stairwells ,or is there premade ones?
-How do you attach an actual model to a light, so its not just a lightsource coming out of no where.?
-how do you set animations to things, ie: a fan rotating, or a animation on a computer screen?

Thank you in advance

 

[genocide604]

Can anyone answer the questions in the last two replies?

-also, what is a brush.. i seem to get it confused when reading tut's.. is it the box on the sidetoolbar?

 

[sabre0001]

1) Not sure about snow - i think there is an entity precipitation or something but not 100% sure

2)stairwells are just a lot of perfectly sized brushes...i think there are some premade (poss in the sources_sdkcontent folder)...there are tutorials out there on this - i think on snarkpit.com

3)use a prop_static and look for a model of the light you want...name this prop. get a light entity and place it just under the model and 'parent' it to the name of your prop

4)Unsure

Yes a brush is the cube at the side, its any block that you create...

 

[genocide604]

Ok, ive tried making a sky box... but where are the skyboxes used in cs:s.. like the night time one etc.. with stars..

Im looking for a good tut on skyboxes, the one at snarkpit is too vague..