Map making Progress Thread

[Irish Pirate]

In general once I have the space blocked out for the map or map section I'm working on and I can get it to the point where I can compile it I make an effort to fix all the problems before adding anything new so there is less to keep track of.

If you know that one version of the map works you know that future versions are not working because of something you have done since then. It's a good place to be.

I have not actually gotten my map to something compileable yet, and as such I have been too lazy to set up my compiler. I'm hoping if you give me something to compile that will motivate me to set that up and then I will finally get around to compiling my map.

I'm still dieing to see if I can get this fog effect working nicely.

[Donat]

Surez, i guess i could send you the map to compile for yourself. You'll notice alot of things that might seem like they would leak but i've fixed. For example, the pipehall ceiling has a jaged cut in it where the aliens got thou, loads of little planes. I worked on that for a while to make sure that it didn't leak and all and it didn't the only areas that would be leaking would be the newest ones on both far sides of the map.

[Slayer of Hippies]

What's the big deal about putting a skybox around your map to block leaks?

[Irish Pirate]

Originally Posted by Slayer of Hippies

What's the big deal about putting a skybox around your map to block leaks?

Another quesiton with the same answer: Why doesn't hammer automatically make walls surrounding the boundaries of the map?

It makes you render many unnecessary faces which:
*will increase the amount of disk space your map takes on everyone's hard drive.
*will increase compile time.

The outsides of maps are ugly. You don't want anyone to see them and you don't want players to be able to get there.

It can cause problems with the commander interface when dropping structures or supplies.

There is still a hole in the map somewhere that leads outside of your intended playing field.

Why fix something with 6 brushes that you could fix with 1?

[Irish Pirate]

Does anyone know if DCs have a limited range on the Z axis? I would love to see in this map a strategic large vent location where DCs could be placed above a room to heal the aliens and structures in the room. This could be over a siege room (high enough that the sieges won't hit them, but in a place where marines could get at them with grenade launchers or by going to a higher level or something), or over something like double nodes.

[Donat]

Hehe, i've seen a siege map that has that, the seige room looks right at the hives, you can make a 'seige wall' with DCs and MCs on one side, and they will go thou the wall and heal you whilst you keep rines from building.


*Oh yes, irish, give me thou email so i can email the map to you, its still missing a door or 2 or maybe some vents but its ok. Tell meh what it is so i may send you teh map.

[Donat]

Coming soon: version for everyone to run around and take a look at. I've seen the 'near final' version off to irish for him to look over for leaks and junk and to get him compling. I'll need a host for the bsp when i do get it finaly done so you can all bombard me with questions.

For sake of this thread, when i do post it, please send me PMs via the fourms instead of posting here unless its something major. Like if you find something or want something changed while looking at the map, PM me =)

Soon it shall come. then i can sit back and go 'i've made the ready room and my part of the map, now where is the rest'

[Irish Pirate]

Ok I finally got my compiler set up. I compiled the room I was working on and saw that parts of it need resizing. I'll get a version out that you guys can see sometime over winter break probably.

Donat, I'll check out your map more when I have time and find that leak. There is a strategy for finding leaks which I didn't mention. Pointfile refused to work for me in my map so as an alternative you can create boxes around parts of your map and see if it compiles. If it compiles the leak is in that box. You can do this either with large boxes and cut them in half each time, or you can put it around places where you think there might be leaks (I already had a good idea where I would find the leak).

Also don't forget to populate your map with lights, they will help you greatly if you use the coordinates in the log to help find the leak. It usually points to the closest or one of the closest entities to the leak.

[Kittamaru]

You guys need a tester with mapping experience? I can help troubleshoot, find / fix leaks, ect.

[Donat]

Progress irish? I'm about ready to start working on it again, throw a box over it, and show it. I do think i need feedback from teh people who play because all i know mainly is what is in my editor.

[Irish Pirate]

Sorry, with thanksgiving break (no computer), finals and a play I'm rehearsing for I have not had time.

I'm guessing you still have the leak from before, even though you fixed the one. I recommend dividing the box up so you can narrow down where the leak is to fix it. I might have the chance to do it this weekend as most of my work will be done by then.

The catwalk needs texture aligning and the sides are not parallel to the wall, thats the only thing I can think of off the top of my head that I was going to mention/correct.

[xtcmen]

Sorry guys. I reformatted, and never installed hammer so the emergency room is really my only work done for this map and half a hallway. I just got fed up with all the bugs and stuff I lost interest I'm sorry.

[Yer Mom]

I dunno if this will go thru or not, a moderator has to okay it first, but if it does, I just want to say a few things.

This thread has done exactly what I wanted it to. I've started a fire that's spreading throughout the community. We want maps, so we have people finding and making them.

A few things I'd like to point out as far as finding leaks goes:

The map will either not load, or freeze on startup if you have a leak. These symptoms will also occur when you have manipulated vertices that are abnormal, or void, to the maps compiling engine. Normally, the compiler will just freeze if the vertex tool has been used wrong.

On a second note, I have had to reformat since I got banned from the forums. I actually had a virus corrupt my hard drive, so my reformat was immediate and unavoidable. I have lost ALL of my work on this map by doing so. I can't remember if I sent Slayer a copy of the map I had worked on or not, but if I didn't, I can't pick up from where I left off.

On that note, I'd like to say that someone else needs to take lead of this project, in my absence, to oversee and control operations and deadlines. I know that not many people are involved in this, but several people have made contributions that need to be added into the map to produce a rough draft of what we have so far.

Everything needs to be collected and put together to see how far we are as of today. Without my map, we may be looking at a very small map right now, but we can work on that once we figure out what we've got. If you have a contribution, it needs to be announced soon so we can get this started. I'm going to recheck the forums in a few days to see if this has been posted. If it has, I will continue to mediate as best as I can, but I'd rather see someone else take over control of this project.

I'd like to nominate Irish, but I know he doesn't have much time. Irish, it seems like you're doing a good job of keeping people informed in my absence and I appreciate that, but we need a leader while I'm not around. If you can manage the time, do it. If you can't, I can understand. Figure it out between yourselves, but make sure that a new organizing body is clearly established.

-Mom

[Yer Mom]

K, after the holidays. Mom's not busy much anymore, and I've got another Trimester of school before I start work.

I may redownload Hammer and start back on the map, but I haven't had the time yet to sit down and download it.

I'm going to get some free time soon, so bare with me.

-Mom

[Irish Pirate]

Ok, here is the deal with me. I can "take lead" of this project if you want me to. I will accept all the map pieces any of you wish to send me to keep them collected up. I have enough means of information storage that I can make sure I not only have your maps, but I have backups and I will not lose them all. If you have any questions, as always I will try to be around to answer them. If you want a faster response you can try e-mailing me directly.

I have found I have even less time over the holidays than I have at school. I've been working a lot (books are quite expensive), and I've been visiting a lot of relatives (read not a lot of computer time).

If you want me to set deadlines, the deadlines I'm looking at are to finish this project before the next school year starts in august. I'm assuming we will all find more time over the summer. I hope this is the case with me. If you need me to set smaller deadlines for certain parts of the map tell me what you are doing and I'll tell you when you should get it done.

Mom, if your compiler freezes up with any vertex or leak problem you need a new compiler. I use "batch compiler", if you can't find it I can hunt it down for you. Once you get all the settings calibrated (I don't know how difficult that will be, I got one already set up for TFC and I just modified that one, e-mail me if you need help) you should be able to compile maps that have errors and still run them as far as the errors were compiled.

Consider not reading this section if you don't care about how the compiler works.
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The way the compiler works is it creates something along the lines of 4 different maps, and shoves them all together. The very first one it makes just has all the basic walls and brush based entities. If that one compiles correctly (no misplaced verticies, no leaks) it adds the point entities, except for lights, and then makes two maps for the lighting.

The compiler will stop when it hits an error (verticies are corrected by removing the offending brush, leaks are ignored for competion of the first map). If you run the bsp before the compiler finishes the last steps the map will look very very bright and ugly, but it will have every previous compiled version stuck in. 99% of the time you have an error that stops you from compiling the only thing you have is the first map with the brushes, and in loading it up and looking around it's often visible.
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Alright, so the progress I have made so far. I have the general layout for a room. I have started to add minor amounts of detail and I got the fog effect I was looking for. I need to resize my map, it came out a bit bigger than I wanted it to be, and that might be somewhat time consuming. Fortunately the stuff that needs resizing isn't the stuff that I added detail to.

I have very ugly lighting that exists only for functionality of allowing me to see a compiled map. I did add one light where I will actually have one. It has an apparent source, and is quite pretty. I fleshed out one "chunk" of scenery as alien infestation. The way I was making the map I started with a big box, and I put blocks inside of it where I wanted things to be. I added 3-4 blocks for line of sight reasons. The two I have left I plan to make in to some sort of machinery which will invole more planning and be a bit more time consuming than making alien infestation, but ultimately nicer to look at and more rewarding (gives me a chance to make something interactive too).

I have only applied final textures to a small fraction of what needs texturing. I got the walls of the big hive room, some pipes, and water textures are also pretty much final.

xtcmen, I think might have a copy of your room, and I know I have some copies of other peoples things, but I don't think I have anything of Mom's.

I'm sorry things are not chugging along faster, but maps are large projects. I never expected this to be finished before the deadline I am giving you now of august.