TUTORIALS Needed!

[Dario D.]

Hurry, hurry, hurry people! I only have 10 days to learn Hammer AND mail my finished map for the DM contest, and I CANT FIND ANY COMPREHENSIVE TUTORIALS!

I've had several run-ins with these teeny-tiny tutorials on how to do extremely specific things. But where's the grand-daddy tutorial? One that tells you how to get from "file>new map" all the way to, "team: this map pwns!"

WHERE IS IT?! :sniper:

 

[eediot]

Tell you what, why don't we all just make an awesome map for you and then just give it to you?

 

[jmjneary]

it is part of the creative process you cannot be told how to get to the end you have to imagine it in your head


that might just be me if so please call the most qualified phyceatric dortor you can and tell him to fly up north cause there is a guy who really has a major screw lose (cannot spell you might want to call in the 4th grade teacher for this one)

 

[Dario D.]

Okay, I'm not sure I'm being understood here.

What I meant was, "please show me to a tutorial that walks me through all the steps of mapping, from opening a new map, all the way to the final steps needed to finalize it for release." I wasn't asking about the creative process; just about the mapping/editor process.

Any tutorials?

 

[JaytheHam]

A box with two spawns and a light could be a finished map.
Read all the little tutorials that tell you how to do specific things, decide which of those things you want in your map, and then make it.
Here would be a good place to begin: http://gamewag.com/hl2.html
Try the Architecture and Environment & Basics sections.

 

[Mr Neutron]

I'm working on it. Just give me 4 months.

Seriously, no one has ever fully documented mapping for a game. It's always been done in bits and pieces. Source is the first engine to come out half-decently documented, which has encouraged me to actually get serious about this one. I hope to improve the situation with my entity guide, which will eventually have a demonstration map for every entity.

The problem with mapping tutorials is that they have always been focused on using the tools while glossing over what the things which the tools manipulate actually do. Essentially, they start backwards. My thought is, once you know what you're trying to do with the entities, the annoying quirks of Hammer are overcome naturally during the learning process.

 

[Dario D.]

Hmm, ok.

I guess I'm spoiled. The first editor I used, "Dromed" for Thief 2, had a tutorial that one user made that was something like 40 pages long, printed. It covered step by step the process of making a simple, full-featured mission that included some of every major feature, the process explained from start to finish, from when you open the editor for the first time, to when you compress your final release zip file...

It was great to say the least.

IMO there's no better way to learn an editor than by following a tutorial on how to make a small, yet full-featured mission from start to finish.

The current method is like learning math for the first time, but starting with algebra. Makes your understanding of Hammer like swiss cheese - you get the general idea, but miss alot of in-betweens.

 

[Mr Neutron]

Yes, but 90% of the stuff to learn really doesn't have to do with Hammer itself but with the .vmf files Hammer produces. It's all those 200-odd poorly-documented entities that seem like a Hurculean task to learn when you first start. One's understanding of Hammer comes as you work with it, but entities require you to set them up right and then run the map, which takes a lot more trial and error (and waiting). Not to mention, it's not always clear which entity or combination of entities you want in the first place.

 

[Kyorisu]

Put it this way.

Anyone that doesn't know how to use hammer and is hoping to enter the contest, doesn't stand a chance.

 

[insertcoins]

where is this contest, where do we submit

 

[jmjneary]

open a new map make it press f9(compile map) click normal for rad and vis run it should open css up and start the game once in game type in consol buildcubemaps


and that is how to get a map to be in final form

 

[Mr Neutron]

I don't see the "make it" button. Do I need to format my harddrive?

 

[Kyorisu]

I don't see the "make it" button. Do I need to format my harddrive?

Make the map.

Yikes format HDD? what the hell are you on?

 

[Dario D.]

Heh. Someone needs to get the word out that reformatting the hard drive is NEVER necessary to fix a problem. It seems to be everyone's solution, and what a darn painful one too.

I've had my computer running fine for the last 5 years, and only formatted once at the beginning when I first installed windows.

I even went through 2 serious Spyware infestations that took a few days to overcome, but never did the harddrives go to the axe. Dont' EVER reformat, people! Spread the word!

-

Anyway, thanks people. I found a good link with the needed tuts (thanks JayTheHam) and now my map is well under way. It should be sparkling within 8 days, which is when I'll mail it in.

 

[Nubzcore]

****ing idiot, i hate people that ask for tutorials, the first sticky in the forum that says READ THIS: in big caps says VIDEO TUTORIALS! facking look god damn it.

 

[bxstreetlife]

dario try this site

http://www.interlopers.net

 

[Dario D.]

****ing idiot, i hate people that ask for tutorials, the first sticky in the forum that says READ THIS: in big caps says VIDEO TUTORIALS! facking look god damn it.

I saw it... I already watched them all.

-

Thanks BxStreetLife Good resources in the tutorial section there.

 

[Dasparov]

load map lockdown_whatever.vmf, compile send, call it lackdown. It'll be a hit!