cp_close_quarters

jamin620

L1: Registered
Jan 30, 2008
36
4
OK, so this is gonna sound harsh, and Im sorry for that, but this is not something you should be showing us.
add some detail, do a full compile, then post.

I know you dont have much experience mapping, but there is nothing that we can assess from what you have shown us.
 

Geuel

L1: Registered
Feb 28, 2008
49
7
OK, so this is gonna sound harsh, and Im sorry for that, but this is not something you should be showing us.
add some detail, do a full compile, then post.

I know you dont have much experience mapping, but there is nothing that we can assess from what you have shown us.
No problem, I only posted here as I was advised to do so by a moderator.

The pictures aren't completely up to date.

Quick question: what do you mean by a "full compile?" Is the bsp not the fully compiled map?

Something I was going to ask for help with was the texturing after I had gotten to that point. Mostly because I wasn'st sure whether the way I've formed the level would make it difficult to do texturing, etc.

All comments, good or bad are always welcome.
 

DJive

Cake or Death?
aa
Dec 20, 2007
1,465
741
Its always good to get critiqued. Also make sure to post why its posted ie, show progress, looking for help/ideas on layout etc.

as a first map as you said i don't find anything wrong with it, there are a bunch of awesome links in my sig and the tutorial section.

Id work on brush work before placing props, but each persons different, ive never been a big prop person.

By full compile is making sure when you run your map that everything is set to "Normal" when before you click compile.
 

Geuel

L1: Registered
Feb 28, 2008
49
7
Its always good to get critiqued. Also make sure to post why its posted ie, show progress, looking for help/ideas on layout etc.

as a first map as you said i don't find anything wrong with it, there are a bunch of awesome links in my sig and the tutorial section.

Id work on brush work before placing props, but each persons different, ive never been a big prop person.

By full compile is making sure when you run your map that everything is set to "Normal" when before you click compile.

So...I normally set everything to "Normal" when I compile. Do I need to include the other files for it to be a "full compile?" And while I'm working on it, should I not be compiling with everything set to Normal?
 

DJive

Cake or Death?
aa
Dec 20, 2007
1,465
741
So...I normally set everything to "Normal" when I compile. Do I need to include the other files for it to be a "full compile?" And while I'm working on it, should I not be compiling with everything set to Normal?

no "right" answer for that, it really depends on your goal.

Ie say i have a map, fairly large. If i only wanted to see if my capture point worked right, i would compile BSP only, put -Run VIS "NO , -Run RAD "NO"

this will only compile the map, and not do any lighting allowing for a very fast compile, however aweful looking map. If i only wanted to check my CP though, i wouldnt care for the lights.
 

jamin620

L1: Registered
Jan 30, 2008
36
4
I almost always do a full compile. as I see it, compiling is the only way to a) see how your lighting looks and b) see how the map runs. without a full VIS and RAD, you cannot to this.

If you want to do a quick compile to check out a certain area, do a cordon compile. Here is a link to learn how...

If your not running vis or rad, why bother compiling at all?

Also, it looks like you did not close out your map. I would recommend doing a quick "how to map for HL2" tutorial before trying to make a map, just to learn some basic skills. I should have mentioned this in the first post. How to Map

Remember, build your map like its a submarine. everything that is not game space is the damn ocean, so you don't want any leaks.
 

Geuel

L1: Registered
Feb 28, 2008
49
7
Also, it looks like you did not close out your map. I would recommend doing a quick "how to map for HL2" tutorial before trying to make a map, just to learn some basic skills. I should have mentioned this in the first post. How to Map

Remember, build your map like its a submarine. everything that is not game space is the damn ocean, so you don't want any leaks.

So, when I shared the pictures, they were already out of date. I'll post some new ones soon. The roofing has been done, and as I mentioned, I have the basic layout how I want it.

I'm almost done with the blue and red spawn areas and then I'm going to learn how to put down the capture points. After that, I'm going to be fixing up my textures, and then adding "flare."

I'm fairly confident that I don't have any leaks. I do have some debris floating around that I'm going to be deleting, of course...but there is an enclosed area that has the pathing that I had more or less intended in my sketches.
 

Geuel

L1: Registered
Feb 28, 2008
49
7
Don't forget to switch over to tf textures when you begin texturing. To specify, in the browse window type in "tf" in the filter area.

Yeah, all the textures I'm currently using are just place holders.
 
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jamin620

L1: Registered
Jan 30, 2008
36
4
opened up your VMF file. just a heads up, you dont want to have brushes inside of other brushes.
 

Geuel

L1: Registered
Feb 28, 2008
49
7
opened up your VMF file. just a heads up, you dont want to have brushes inside of other brushes.

I figured that was the case when I did that, and I would think the reason for not doing so would be for looks, only.

The way I reasoned it out to myself was that:
a) the player will never see that and
b) I can have one giant object (the large stone-like roof) instead of several smaller objects, which I would just kind of instinctively think would be less "resource" use.

If having multiple objects would not really bother any performance, I would prefer to not have them be inside of each other.
 

Narkissus

L5: Dapper Member
Jan 22, 2008
228
9
Having multiple objects touching doesnt bother performance. Infact it always seems that intersecting brushes actually are the ones that do cause problems. Also it does tend to flip out ingame visually if you have intersecting brushes all over the place. And i think it gives VVIS a headache as well. Overall its just better to have no intersecting brushes.
 

Geuel

L1: Registered
Feb 28, 2008
49
7
Having multiple objects touching doesnt bother performance. Infact it always seems that intersecting brushes actually are the ones that do cause problems. Also it does tend to flip out ingame visually if you have intersecting brushes all over the place. And i think it gives VVIS a headache as well. Overall its just better to have no intersecting brushes.

Message received: I'll fix that when I get home.

A quick question though. I've noticed when running around through the map that things are pretty bright. The thing is, I haven't put any lights in it at all and was kind of expecting it to be dark until I added lights to it.

So, the I guess not so quick questions are...
1) Why is my map bright and not dark?
2) How can I make it dark and not bright?

...hmmm, I think that's actually the same question. *shrug*
 
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Paria

L5: Dapper Member
Dec 12, 2007
202
31
add 1 light to your map and you will have complete darkness everywhere else in your level :)
 

Brandished

L5: Dapper Member
Jan 19, 2008
234
311
One other thing, zip or rar your maps when distributing them, this saves a lot of bandwidth on your part and the downloaders. I shrank a map that was 8MBs down to 700KB just by rar'ing it.
 

Geuel

L1: Registered
Feb 28, 2008
49
7
One other thing, zip or rar your maps when distributing them, this saves a lot of bandwidth on your part and the downloaders. I shrank a map that was 8MBs down to 700KB just by rar'ing it.

Well, it's the University's bandwidth, but I guess I should be considerate of the people doing the downloading. ^^
 

Geuel

L1: Registered
Feb 28, 2008
49
7
Need help fixing a leak.

**UPDATE 2**
Long story short, not everything was a func_detail, Ctrl+t does something other than what I thought it did, everything is now as it should be.

Leaving this post as is so I can laugh at myself later.
**END UPDATE 2**

**UPDATE 1**
So, the wiki page on leaks says that func_details aren't adequate for preventing leaks.

I find this odd, because I believe pretty much everything on my map is func_detail and I had no leaks at one point. It is very possible that I missed where the compile log might have said I had a leak, however when I started fixing leaks, I would find paths that eventually led to cracks. I would imagine that if pretty much everything on my map was leaking, that all of my leaks would just shoot out of the nearest wall, floor, ceiling as it is in the pictures below.
**END UPDATE 1***

So, I was compiling fine, no leaks. Then Steam encountered some errors when trying to run TF2 after compiling, and then eventually started giving errors when compiling, something about the registry already being in use or something.

So, I restart Steam completely, and things seem fine again. I compiled, but got leaks in my red spawn. Turns out...my floor was gone. So, I replaced it, but then I started getting other leaks again....on an info_player_teamspawn.

From the pictures below, it looks like the leak is going directly through the roof of the spawn. However, from what I can see, the info_player_teamspawn is well within the bounds of the spawn room.

The roof exists, and it looks like the leak is going through it?
leak1.png


The pointfile is pointing at the selected info_player_teamspawn at the end
leak2.png


The bottom seems fine.
leak3.png


...so does the top.
leak4.png


The front and side views seem to confirm that the info_team_spawn is well within the bounds of the room.
leak5.png


Any suggestions?
 
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ChickenHunter

L4: Comfortable Member
Feb 12, 2008
163
13
just make the spawn points float in midair. the players still spawn on the ground. thats what i do so i dont have any errors