How would I create a quonset building in Hammer?

[ficool2]

I want to make this building in a map

I have no idea where I would begin on how to make this building shape. I tried making an arch, however I was stuck on how to make the front/back walls to cover the arch holes. I attempted by merging the inside vertices of the arch into one but it created an invalid brush instantly. I don't need the front/back faces "pushed in" like in the picture
So how can I achieve this and is there any optimisation I can do to it other than making it func_detail? I'm terrible at making complex shapes like this and I recently began making a proper map so yeah, sounds impossible.

 

[tyler]

You're right to use an arch. Use powers of 2 when you make them, or cylinders, and everything will be on grid and easy to line up with other brushwork if need be. Don't resize arches or cylinders after making them. Usually I'd just make full circles and cut them in half.

The inner wall can either be a cylinder with the same number of sides, but with a smaller size accounting for the arch itself (so, if your arch is 16u thick, the cylinder should be 32u smaller). Or you can make a new brush and simply vertex edit the points to line up with the inner arch, which will be on grid (maybe at the 1u scale but that's alright) if you use powers of 2. When you are vertex editing, if you hit Ctrl+F on the middle yellow dot, it will give you a new vertex (this is called splitting the face).

For optimization, I would not func_detail this. I'd just make a skip cube around it and make the outer sides (not top or bottom) hint faces so that nearby visleafs don't get too crazy.

I attached the one I made.

 

[Lampenpam]

For optimization, I would not func_detail this

In this case it's probably a good idea to move all verticies on the grid. This could be done in a second by selecting the structure and hiting ctrl+v (select vertex tool), select all verticies and hit ctrl+b (move selected to grid).
Even if it is func_detail I would move everything on grid because im paranoid, but I think it's more important to do it with solid brushes to avoid some compile troubles.

 

[tyler]

In this case it's probably a good idea to move all verticies on the grid. This could be done in a second by selecting the structure and hiting ctrl+v (select vertex tool), select all verticies and hit ctrl+b (move selected to grid).
Even if it is func_detail I would move everything on grid because im paranoid, but I think it's more important to do it with solid brushes to avoid some compile troubles.

As I said, if you work on powers of 2, everything will be on grid. I don't think it's as problematic as you think though.

 

[RodionJenga]

Also, if the specific one in pl_snowycoast works for you, it's here

 

[Crowbar]

As I said, if you work on powers of 2, everything will be on grid. I don't think it's as problematic as you think though.

I'd disagree. No matter if you work with powers of two or not, the sines and cosines will give pseudo irrational values. Instead, to stay on-grid, Hammer has an option (in General tab, I think).
Also, there's an option of func_detailing the thing and putting a nodraw brush inside it for vis. That will depend on one's mapping style, though, I feel.
edit: correct me if i'm wrong by any means

 

[tyler]

If you find a way to make an arch using powers of 2 and it's not on grid, I'd like to know about it. I'm all but certain that's the only way to stay on grid with arches. I actually don't know how this can be debated unless you don't know what a power of 2 is.

 

[Crowbar]

Well, I did a bit of an experiment.
Created two arches with the size of 512x512, Hammer snapped their vertices on-grid. You seem right with that. However, making a 384x384 arch yields the same results - Hammer snaps their vertices on-grid.

 

[tyler]

True, that's not a power of 2. I always use powers of 2 if I can, but multiples of 16 might also work because of the Hammer grid. I don't exactly know what it is. The point is don't go around making 633x599 arches and complaining.