Your "Ahhhh...NOW I get it!" Moments

ChuckSpurgeon

L2: Junior Member
Jan 6, 2014
52
10
I learned a LOT from watching UEAKCrash's stream this weekend, during the 72 Hour Contest. Thanks SO much, Crash, for streaming, losing sleep, playing along with everyone who threw suggestions, questions, and lame jokes your way. You're a real sport.

I'm very new to mapping (I actually just tool around Hammer, defragging my brain at the end of a long day; I have no actual completed maps, nor serious aspirations to be a published mapper), but among the things I learned this weekend were things like:

  1. My visleafs/hint-skip won't work if my light_environment is out in the void. Did not know that. Duh.
  2. Paste-special. That is all.
  3. Skybox texture won't cut up and deface buildings or structures that I've turned into func_details.

At the risk of confessing you didn't know something that other mappers would point, laugh, and Simpson's-Nelson you...what things suddenly crystalized for you as "ah-hah" lessons?

Thanks to anyone who is willing to share!
 

tyler

aa
Sep 11, 2013
5,102
4,621
Good thread idea, hopefully more new mappers participate.

One of my early OHHHH moments (from years ago) was that displacements work better when you build the brushes close to how you want the displacement to look.
 

Vel0city

func_fish
aa
Dec 6, 2014
1,947
1,589
Instances allow for the most complex geometry on a weird rotation. That was brilliant.

Also Hammer crashes a lot less when you don't do complex maps (compare plr_Split's creation with something like 20 crashes compared to cp_overgrown's 10). KotH and A/D maps it is.

Hammer crashes due to memory issues return a blank vmf. lol what, hammer pls.
 

ChuckSpurgeon

L2: Junior Member
Jan 6, 2014
52
10
Soupcan, I saw you a lot in Crash's stream this weekend. My Twitch screenname is Chip_Mousekowitz.

Thanks for responding, guys!
 

Snowbat

L4: Comfortable Member
Apr 23, 2013
165
74
So many I can think off.

- Quickhide
- Paste special
- Make textures align properly by holding CTRL + M1
- When I learned the subdivide for displacements existed
- When I learned you could apply one overlay to several faces
- When I learned you could func_detail everything that didn't have to block VIS
- When I learned that those windows fading to black when getting further away from them were actually areaportals for optimizing

When I learned those things, some of them recently, some of them long ago, I was like this every time
 

Egan

aa
Feb 14, 2010
1,375
1,721
  • Skybox texture won't cut up and deface buildings or structures that I've turned into func_details.

I didn't know that!

-

I think I've forgotten a lot of my 'Ahhhh...NOW I get it!' moments, but hints' use in general stumped me until I made my arena_discovery map.. What really showed me (literally) what they did was when I used them in example maps and checked mat_leafvis 3 - this shows the map's visleaf cuts and the portals they create.

Here's a video I made just now showing mat_leafvis 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByIagYuVYXk
 

Beetle

L9: Fashionable Member
Aug 17, 2008
627
178
The entire finicky process of creating/texturing/exporting a model from blender to tf2
 
Sep 19, 2010
475
499
Displacements are so much easier to work with when you make them all the same size. 256x256 power of 2 is my go to. Matches up perfectly with 512x512 power of 3. Learned that from YM in the chat awhile back.
 

ChuckSpurgeon

L2: Junior Member
Jan 6, 2014
52
10
256x256 power of 2 is my go to. Matches up perfectly with 512x512 power of 3.

o_O

My brain is ass-ploding, for realz.

I didn't start this thread for selfish reasons, but I'm already learning a lot!

Please...keep them coming, interwebz friends! :)
 

Joey

L1: Registered
Nov 17, 2014
26
38
Displacements are so much easier to work with when you make them all the same size. 256x256 power of 2 is my go to. Matches up perfectly with 512x512 power of 3. Learned that from YM in the chat awhile back.
this.
 

Moonrat

nothing left
aa
Jul 30, 2014
932
585
I was messing within Underbid, while I was tryna push out the first version.

Basically, The Vertex tool can be used to create cool angled structures very easily, and can take the piss out of working with The Clipping tool...
 
Mar 23, 2013
1,013
347
Thanks. Still struggling to figure out visleafs and hint/skip.

Also...this video led me to your Quick Thoughts on people's maps, which are enlightening.

I think understanding how visleafs work is the hardest think for new mappers.
Also if you are so thirsty for all kinds of features of hammer, I recommend watching TopHatWaffles Tutorials. His tuts are quite professional and don't leave out any detail.
 

mdpenguino

L1: Registered
Jan 4, 2015
26
4
Probably the best one that I have learned would be:

- The cordon tool, for when you're still in the early 'blocking out' stages of your map and you're not ready to put a skybox in just yet.
 

Kube

Not the correct way to make lasagna
aa
Aug 31, 2014
1,342
1,849
>turns on "Textured" in 3D Viewport
>overlays stop flickering
>OH MY THAT'S ALL I HAD TO DO!?!
 

worMatty

Repacking Evangelist
aa
Jul 22, 2014
1,257
999
Erm... "Now I get it." Lemme have a think.

  • When I learned that sending a speed adjustment input to a func_tracktrain uses 1 to mean 100% of its maximum speed (so 0.1 is 10%, 0.5 is 50%).
  • When I learned how to correctly configure logic_measure_movement to 'parent' rope entities (parenting them is broken in TF2).
  • When I learned how to use a custom sound scape file to replace existing voice lines and sound effects.
  • When I figured out how to make players speak voice lines using SpeakResponseConcept and AddContext.
  • When I learned that parenting a func_brush to a func_door_rotating to use as a tipping platform, and then setting the 'Not solid to player' spawnflag of the func_door_rotating prevented players from blocking the movement of the platform when they touch each other.
  • The day I decided to clip my stairs in Block Bullets rather than Clip to shape splash damage.
  • When I learned that the InValue input to a logic_case can be used to fire a specific Case output. Also, that the value of a math_counter can be outputted to it. So useful.
  • When I followed the guide on making a 3D skybox on the Source SDK wiki to make my skybox and map displacements line up perfectly.
  • Searching for a way to carry conditions between rounds (without them being mini rounds in a multi-stage CP map), I found env_global and associated logic_autos. I used this in a deathrun map to allow the winner of the previous round to teleport to a special easter egg gallery, containing pictures of old versions of the map.

I'll add more if I think of any.

Also: *YOUR *YOUR *YOUR *YOUR