Koth is generally considered the best place to start. They are small, (mirror)symetric and simple to set up.
In fact the most easy is the arena mode, even if nobody play it anymore.
This. The biggest issue new people face with KoTH is general mapping design and scale. If it feels bad in any way then it likely is but if you are unsure then testing will help a lot.
Before i start making koth_blackrock, some questions :
1.How do i adjust the lighting‘s brightness and where is it going to face ?
2.Can i copy items from other maps like caps to my own map ? (Cause everyone was happy when mvm_bigrock was released because they got a new waterfall)
3.What skybox can i use to make nighttime ? Because there‘s no doublecross‘s skybox in textures or ABS‘s pack
3.What skybox can i use to make nighttime ? Because there‘s no doublecross‘s skybox in textures or ABS‘s pack
How do i copy entities ? the usual ctrl + c doesn‘t work1. For environmental lighting, you can modify the orientation of the light in the env_light setting. For individual lights, usually you can simply rotate them, especially if it's a point_spot.
2. Sure! The waterfall has been used in many other maps so it's okay to use it. Just try and keep your map original and don't copy too much (props are cool, entire control point designs aren't)
3. You can see the different skyboxes TF2 in this article. ABS's pack also comes with a prefab of environmental settings with all the shadow controls, colour correction and light settings that you can copy straight into your map too, which is much easier if you want the same environment as a official map.
EDIT: Ninja'd by GPuzzle! I need to be quicker.
How do i copy entities ? the usual ctrl + c doesn‘t work
and 1 more thing, how can i freely adjust the size of a brush per HU ? In my hammer it seems that i can only adjust the size per block
You may need to have enabled so you don't copy the entire gallery (since it comes as one big grouped thing)
As Micnax said, you can change the scale of those "blocks" (the grid) at will with [ and ]. But you should try to keep major walls and floor levels aligned to a 16-unit grid and keep your wall positions close to an even larger grid if you can. Only use the 1-unit grid for fine detailing.and 1 more thing, how can i freely adjust the size of a brush per HU ? In my hammer it seems that i can only adjust the size per block