Gravelpit-style Shack Instance Kit V2
A DIY kit for creating 192x256, 256-tall shacks, plus some fully prefabbed shacks
These gravelpit shacks have been a perfect gameplay prop for me for the past 2 years. With a height of 256 and a sloped roof, they're something I can place next to a 128-tall surface with a guarantee that it'll act both as cover and something the players can crouch-jump onto. Plus, the shack interior itself makes good cover, and is a great place to put health.
The zip file contains three folders - instance, instance2 and instance3.
Place these in the main folder you keep your vmfs in, then place a func_instance in your map, and you should be able to browse to the three instance folders and select these VMFS.
General notes about instance3:
The zip file contains three folders - instance, instance2 and instance3.
Place these in the main folder you keep your vmfs in, then place a func_instance in your map, and you should be able to browse to the three instance folders and select these VMFS.
- "instance" contains the prefabbed gravelpit shacks I've been using since 2021, which are meant to either be stood on flat ground or sunk slightly into the ground. Their naming scheme is a little inconsistent.
- "instance2" is an upgraded, 2022 version of the 2021 shacks, where I placed a 256-tall wooden base beneath them with a staircase up to it. The staircase can be flipped by changing the 1 at the end of the filename to 2, and vice versa. The base can be used to either create inaccessible space below the shack, or allow players to run under it. The top of the base allows players to run a full circle around the walls of the shack.
- "instance3" is where the assembly-kit vmfs are contained. You can do everything that "instance" and "instance2" could do with these, plus a lot more, but at the cost of speed.
| instance3 | HOW TO USE |
| 1) (OPTIONAL) Place a base (gshack_base_tall1 or gshack_base_short1) if your shack is intended to be suspended in the air. If you intend your shack to be reachable from the ground below, there are stair vmfs (gshack_base_stairs_short* and gshack_base_stairs_tall*) which will align perfectly with the base vmf as long as you have the origins of the two instances in the exact same place. I recommend gshack_base_tall1 combined with gshack_base_stairs_tall3a. | |
| 2) Place a door (gshack_door_single_* or gshack_door_double_*). Its origin should be in the exact same place as the base's origin, if you have one. I recommend gshack_door_single_fancy1. | |
| 3) Place a wall (gshack_wall_blank_* or gshack_wall_window*_*). Its origin should be in the exact same place as the door's origin. If you use a blank wall and a window wall, you won't need to rotate either, but if you're planning on using two of the same type of wall, you'll need to rotate one of them 180 degrees. I recommend gshack_wall_window3_fancy1 and gshack_wall_blank_fancy1. | |
| 4) (OPTIONAL) If you're using only fancy pieces, you can use a special extra "ceilingbeams" piece. Again, its origin should be in the exact same place as the door's origin. I recommend... well, it's the only one, but I recommend gshack_ceilingbeams_fancy1. | |
| 5) Place a roof (gshack_roof_metal*). Yet again, its origin should be in the same place as the door's origin. I recommend gshack_roof_metal1. |
General notes about instance3:
- All pieces come pre-clipped so you don't have to worry about splash damage getting eaten or players bumping into beams
- Fancy pieces can't easily be mixed and matched with regular pieces due to different wall thickness
- "metal1" is grey, "metal2" is blue, "metal3" is red and "metal4" is rusty, but for roofs, "metal1" is rusty panels while "metal2" is grey sheet metal
- There's only one type of fancy piece (it was essentially copied from cp_bruhstbowl), so for alpha maps it's generally gonna be better to use non-fancy pieces or prefabbed shacks, but for a beta map it'll probably be better to convert your pieces to fancy and then collapse them to add extra detail.
- Collapsing the pieces for beta is also good because it lets you edit the luxel sizes.
- I highly encourage you to add your own pieces onto instance3, with different textures, extra details, or - best of all - unique gameplay! For example, the double-door pieces weren't my idea, they were Sarexicus's idea from when we worked on mvm_downrush together.
- License
- Free to use and modify.
