- Apr 28, 2015
- 18
- 2
Hi, I have a bunch of questions (and vague, misguided observations I made that I would appreciate some feedback on) about hammer that just kept piling up and I didn't want to overflow steam chat with them. :blushing:
1. When I was running around the decompiled version of lumberyard I saw that all the displacements that made up the grass looked like stitched together 512x448 brushes. Is this just an aftereffect of decompiling or is there some advantage to having lots of small displacements make up the ground (basically does making lots of smaller displacements allow to to have higher quality bumps and noise than having just one huge brush with displacements all over it?) If so, do you really have to stitch them up manually or do you plan it with the "raise to" function in order to make nice neat seams. Every displacement tutorial I've seen just makes one displacement and then ends, I need to see what it's like when they're all put together properly to make telly-tubby hills or something.
2. I come from a kinda casual/competitive background, I've played a lot of tf2 and I've always really loved the maps. I'm stressing out over making everything perfect, making sure that there are no overpowered perch spots or any way to build a teleporter that brings a spy into your spawn etc. (Even though you can build teleporters in Badlands forward spawn and red/blue can't remember which 2nd spawn) I'm also constantly checking for how sentry range affects the map and all of the possible sniper angles and how I can cut them off. It is really slowing down the production of my map, this is less of a question and more of an opinion I'm asking for but is it better to yolo it with a specific vision and fix the problems later than try to build the perfect map from the ground up?
3. How is the custom map "meta" right now? I'm asking what are the most commonly produced maps, in order to avoid making something there may already be an overflow of. Also, what is the current state of payload maps? I want to create something inspired by the original more spammy payload multi stage payload maps like goldrush and hoodoo, but everywhere I look most payload maps are open and airy like badwater and upward. Basically are open single stage payload maps because they are considered "better" and the more modern version of the map? (I don't want to be stuck trying to make a better 2fort when I can be making a better doublecross for example)
4. I've looked around but I can't find a list of textures and models associated with the various themes in tf2. Other than flying around decompiled maps in hammer and jotting down the textures and props I can associate with the alpine theme or the spytech stuff is there a list I can be pointed in the direction of with those kinds of things in mind?
5. When I'm making the first few brushes, for slopes made of earth or dirt of whatever, is it best to make them brush ramps and come back later and make them smooth displacements, or is it better to just get it out of the way and create the displacement geometry in the first place?
Ok, that's all for now. I would really appreciate some answers/links that point in the right direction. Thanks!
1. When I was running around the decompiled version of lumberyard I saw that all the displacements that made up the grass looked like stitched together 512x448 brushes. Is this just an aftereffect of decompiling or is there some advantage to having lots of small displacements make up the ground (basically does making lots of smaller displacements allow to to have higher quality bumps and noise than having just one huge brush with displacements all over it?) If so, do you really have to stitch them up manually or do you plan it with the "raise to" function in order to make nice neat seams. Every displacement tutorial I've seen just makes one displacement and then ends, I need to see what it's like when they're all put together properly to make telly-tubby hills or something.
2. I come from a kinda casual/competitive background, I've played a lot of tf2 and I've always really loved the maps. I'm stressing out over making everything perfect, making sure that there are no overpowered perch spots or any way to build a teleporter that brings a spy into your spawn etc. (Even though you can build teleporters in Badlands forward spawn and red/blue can't remember which 2nd spawn) I'm also constantly checking for how sentry range affects the map and all of the possible sniper angles and how I can cut them off. It is really slowing down the production of my map, this is less of a question and more of an opinion I'm asking for but is it better to yolo it with a specific vision and fix the problems later than try to build the perfect map from the ground up?
3. How is the custom map "meta" right now? I'm asking what are the most commonly produced maps, in order to avoid making something there may already be an overflow of. Also, what is the current state of payload maps? I want to create something inspired by the original more spammy payload multi stage payload maps like goldrush and hoodoo, but everywhere I look most payload maps are open and airy like badwater and upward. Basically are open single stage payload maps because they are considered "better" and the more modern version of the map? (I don't want to be stuck trying to make a better 2fort when I can be making a better doublecross for example)
4. I've looked around but I can't find a list of textures and models associated with the various themes in tf2. Other than flying around decompiled maps in hammer and jotting down the textures and props I can associate with the alpine theme or the spytech stuff is there a list I can be pointed in the direction of with those kinds of things in mind?
5. When I'm making the first few brushes, for slopes made of earth or dirt of whatever, is it best to make them brush ramps and come back later and make them smooth displacements, or is it better to just get it out of the way and create the displacement geometry in the first place?
Ok, that's all for now. I would really appreciate some answers/links that point in the right direction. Thanks!