Displacements: Pinnacles & Archways

StoneFrog

L6: Sharp Member
May 28, 2008
395
81
Hey all! I'm new to the forum. I was raised as a Goldsrc mapper and as my favorite game of all time (TFC) dwindles in fanbase I decided perhaps I should look into mapping for the second best game of all time (TF2). :)

I've already envisioned a Control Point map that could be thought of as two-way Gravel Pit (though this may change as limitations or gameplay issues occur). I started planning out the neutral Control Point and am having some problems with displacements - being based off that shiny new "forest" artwork, it's going to rely heavily on displacements which is making the rough dev layout (as well as the final layout) a lot trickier.

Both teams' territories are divided by a valley that spans the map. The neutral control point (to ensure nothing wonky occurs such as two teams capturing one of one anothers' "parallel" control points simultaneously) rests on a rocky pinnacle in the middle of the valley, similar to the outcrops in Badlands that the second-to-last Control Points sit on top of.

This point is generally reached by running across the overturned logs that form a bridge across the gap. There are also two natural rock "bridges" that begin at the sides of the chasm and wind up and around the pinnacle, eventually connecting with it. The catch is that only Scouts and Rocket/Sticky jumping players will be able to easily access these paths.

It's basically like the image below (the conventional log bridges are not shown in the image).

pinnaclecq4.png


Since I'm used to Goldsrc's methods of making cliffs (shearing and some vertex manipulation, sometimes "pseudo-displacements" by clipping brushes into triangles and vertex manipulating the corners), I really can't do displacements very well aside from the ground. Making something with steep faces such as this pinnacle is quite tricky, and I don't even know how I'm going to go about making those side paths. D:

Don't get me wrong. I have played with Source Hammer as early as late 2006, I know how all the new stuff works. I'm just not sure how to go about making this terrain. :bored:

I've tried subdividing, making each face a separate brush, and many other things. But I can't get it to look natural, it's always far too tidy looking.

Any tips? Thanks.
 

psihomir

L4: Comfortable Member
Mar 17, 2008
192
32
Hey mate ;) I also mapped for Goldsrc a lot, then when I decided to try my hands at Source, it took some time to get adjusted to the new things. This helped me a lot with displacements: http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?t=798

The cool thing is, displacements are actually not hard to work with, once you learn a bit about them - the effort to results ratio is really great, especially compared with the Goldsrc method of doing cliffs.
 

StoneFrog

L6: Sharp Member
May 28, 2008
395
81
Thanks. :)

I never really looked at making cliffs that, well, span both the X and Y axis by making them out of brushes that run perpendicular to one another. For some reason that always just went over my head. This should come in handy.