WiP in WiP, post your screenshots!

Nov 2, 2010
356
1,050
I kind of want to attempt TF2 mapping again but I know I'd spend a few hours doing it then give up again. I've been mapping in Source for 5 years now and I've only ever released one map. My hard disk is littered with half-finished VMFs.

If I were to try and finish a map for a change, where would you guys recommend starting? I understand all the principles of mapping, I just don't know where to begin. I swear you guys are wizards for being able to make a layout that isn't total shit.

Should I just try to make a simple arena map? :/
 

TyeZenneth

L6: Sharp Member
May 31, 2014
340
294
I kind of want to attempt TF2 mapping again but I know I'd spend a few hours doing it then give up again. I've been mapping in Source for 5 years now and I've only ever released one map. My hard disk is littered with half-finished VMFs.

If I were to try and finish a map for a change, where would you guys recommend starting? I understand all the principles of mapping, I just don't know where to begin. I swear you guys are wizards for being able to make a layout that isn't total shit.

Should I just try to make a simple arena map? :/
KotH is the simplest, in my opinion, and a good layout is something that comes with practice, or so I've heard.
 

Idolon

they/them
aa
Feb 7, 2008
2,123
6,137
a layout that isn't total shit.
Don't worry about making a layout that isn't shit - I can almost guarantee you, no matter how hard you think things over, it will be shit. The best thing you can do, as someone who is new to TF2 map design, is make something crap and understand why it is crap. Then, change the map to make it less crap, lather, rinse, repeat.

There is no design bible on how to make good maps, because writing such a book would be impossible - everyone learns and understands differently! It's important to understand design in a way that makes sense to you, and that can only be gained through experience.
 

Bakscratch

Finisher of Maps
aa
Oct 29, 2010
714
1,495

wareya

L420: High Member
Jun 17, 2012
493
191
I wonder how hard it'd be to wright a new vbsp.....

I think in terms of technical difficulty, it would go like vbsp > vvis > vrad
vrad is very "well documented" in comparison to the other two. vvis is easier than vbsp to me because i know what a stab tree is. and vbsp is plain alien.

sawmill is very asymmetrical, lumberyard has minor asymmetries and I have barely played watchtower more than a handful of rounds.

The level of asymmetry in lumberyard and sawmill makes me wonder why. I'd have thought if they were going down asymmetry it'd be substantial like hydro. Such a minor asymmetry just seems odd.

I agree completely. Minor asymmetry only serves to make the map harder to learn because once you learn a part of it it turns out that the equivalent place is screwed up. Yunshu is even more asymmetrical, but things still look similar, so it's still confusing. If you're going to make an asymmetrical map, you need to do it in details exclusively like 2fort, or you need to go all out with only the number of rooms and connectors being the same -- you'd be a mapping god if you completely legitimately pulled off anything in the middle.
 

SSX

aa
Feb 2, 2014
392
411
Can someone please explain to me what causes the area portals to not load anything from behind a doorway, but when you step through everything loads, but the outside becomes in-renderable?
 

Ravidge

Grand Vizier
aa
May 14, 2008
1,544
2,820
Can someone please explain to me what causes the area portals to not load anything from behind a doorway, but when you step through everything loads, but the outside becomes in-renderable?

You've discovered a closed areaportal.


Edit: welcome to page 1000
 

Yacan1

D I G I T A L I N F L U E N C E R
aa
Nov 7, 2010
411
793
Back to getting this thread fun to watch again,
A WiP shot! from hammer!
c260dfe65d.jpg
 

Fantaboi

Gone and one day forgotten
aa
Mar 11, 2013
892
1,050

YM

LVL100 YM
aa
Dec 5, 2007
7,158
6,079
Hey, you just got reply 10,000 and post 10,001. Those are both pretty cool numbers fantasmos :p

(also you're page king of page 251)