Running Hammer on a comp that can't run TF2

T

The Asylum

Thinking of being able to map on the go on my old laptop. I've heard it's possible to build maps w/ hammer for games that can't run on your compy. How is this done?
 

MrAlBobo

L13: Stunning Member
Feb 20, 2008
1,059
219
its quite simple...download the sdk, download the game, launch the game and wait for the painfully slow load time you get on an old laptop, close the game once the menu loads, launch the sdk, select the game and start mapping. You may also want to set steam to offline mode after all this so you can stay logged in on your primary computer while still being able to map.
it also doesn't hurt to lower some of the settings on hammer so you don't have to deal with the lag on more detailed maps
 

A Boojum Snark

Toraipoddodezain Mazahabado
aa
Nov 2, 2007
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7,669
Bobo's right, but... Hammer itself is a pretty significant resource hog. I was unsatisfied with it's performance on my brother's old laptop on which he played HL2 when it came out.
 

Earl

L6: Sharp Member
Dec 21, 2007
284
38
Yeah, unless the laptop has at least a gig of RAM, I wouldn't bother. You're just going to be frustrated by slowness otherwise.
 

MrAlBobo

L13: Stunning Member
Feb 20, 2008
1,059
219
if your only doing blocking out or other non-detail oriented tasks you will be perfectly fine...
my old laptop the one time i opened tf2 i got about 4-5 fps at absolute lowest settings and absolute lowest res...and i still managed to use hammer just fine (my laptop was a low end model 5 years ago) so...yeah...
the 1280 by 720ish res is kinda irritating though
 

theydidntnameme

L1: Registered
Jan 2, 2009
40
8
my old laptop wont even run hammer. it starts up and shows the hammer logo then it just vanishes wihtout a trace.. i start it up a million times and same thing. so i have to use worldcraft to make my levels on my laptop.. and do a few things to convert it for hammer. that way at least i can work on my map at the go, then texture it and stuff when i get it onto my desktop
 

Invictus

L1: Registered
Oct 15, 2008
26
1
Yeah, unless the laptop has at least a gig of RAM, I wouldn't bother. You're just going to be frustrated by slowness otherwise.

On that note, laptop RAM is pretty cheap. Not all laptops have an extra memory slot, though, and they can be less-than-convenient to reach.
 

roninmodern

L3: Member
Feb 5, 2008
124
5
On that note, laptop RAM is pretty cheap. Not all laptops have an extra memory slot, though, and they can be less-than-convenient to reach.



It's generally IBM/Lenovo that doesn't have an extra slot. On any other make if there's only 1 slot on the bottom of the machine, the other slot is under he keyboard.