How do I make the floor of a map?

Dream-Chan

L1: Registered
Oct 9, 2021
9
5
I have begun working on a map and I don't quite think I'm doing the floor correctly. To make the shape more natural, I connected a bunch of blocks together. When it came time to convert them into displacements to get a more natural ground, however, I ran into a few problems. What I encountered was that I cannot sew the displacements together, and that my changes don't show up when I compile and test the map. I'm not quite sure what I've done wrong, so help would be appreciated. Screenshots can be provided when need be.
 

Tiftid

the Embodiment of Scarlet Devil
aa
Sep 10, 2016
518
391
When you compile, entities try to find a path between themselves and the void, and if they can, the map leaks. This produces all kinds of undesirable effects, such as the "changes don't show up" behaviour you noted.
Displacements won't block this line trace, so when you changed your floor-blocks into displacements, your entities gained the ability to trace a path straight through the displacements into the void, causing a leak. (This line-trace can be visualised in Hammer by going to Map -> Load PointFile).
The solution is to put nodraw floor-blocks underneath the displacements, which will block this path-trace.

As for being unable to sew the displacements, displacements require a few very specific conditions to be sewn together.
Stealing an image from pont's google doc:
L0uk0_Yem8gJ854BN0Xr3-72Jiui_dEJD7QAt1jVJTkG6gaYefmjfQSOSHSHL1Lk6bN2aeL_VhNFMEQXtecdK3QQ2RSHibE2GqP_vbUK-YxW186ZAGABOWqwDXZnSZBRAzmTWHp-=s0

The displacements need to either be the same size, or one is exactly half the size of the other. As you can see with the angled block in the bottom right, you can have a displacement that's only the appropriate size at the edge where it meets with other displacements and it'll still sew nicely.

Hope this helps.
 

Dream-Chan

L1: Registered
Oct 9, 2021
9
5
Looking at screenshots from both of you makes me think I've screwed up in some way, so I'm gonna dump an overview of the wire mesh of the displacements. The rectangle at the far right corner is red spawn placeholder, everything else is the displacement ground.
 

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I dinne ken

Has currently had enough
aa
Apr 16, 2016
324
432
Yeah that looks not great. You want to keep things on-grid. Try working in higher grid sizes like 16-64 or even 128 for blocking out big things.

It's easier to read in the viewport, quicker to compile, and makes leaks less likely.
 

iiboharz

eternally tired
aa
Nov 5, 2014
857
1,291
Yeah it also looks to me like you're making your displacements out of odd shapes. What you really want to do is make them out of simple square/rectangular primitives and then sculpt them into shape. None of whatever you've got going on right now.
 

Dream-Chan

L1: Registered
Oct 9, 2021
9
5
I was doing it in an attempt to get a more natural, forest clearing like area. If that's not how it's done, how should I go about it?