TSGK Clan Forum

[Phil-Hull]

Hi to all you mappers out there!

Im wondering if you could help me. Im looking at creating a melee map for HLDM TSGK servers. Is there any chance you could help me with a few things:-

1) I need to make spawn points were the player spawns with NO Weapons at all OR Stick / Crowbar only. - Is this possible?

2) Whats the best sizes / dimensions for a map without it being to big of a download / laggy.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Regards

<Phil-Hull>_TSGK

[Cynyx]

hmmm nobody answers here...

I'm not able to answer to you ... but some E=mc² members could do it (Fougere and Anti Fougere).
I'm remember at the beginning, the E=mc² killbox was without SMG on respawn and we have a training map with only pistol on respawn. After many maps, i'm sure they can help u also concerning map size.
Try to contact them via E=mc² forum.

[Fyckfaco]

Hi Phil, with little expierience i cant help too much, but i will do my best. Map size is not an issue with file size and lag really, it is the maps contents that effects this more. As for the laggy issues, it is a wise idea to use less destructable physics like wooden boxes and rogdoll physicls in your map. These with lots on screen can cause severe lag, or fps loss anyway.

As for size, you can make a killbox which is a rediculous size but doesnt mean it will use more polys or textures that the same map in small form, it may be a few mb bigger but not much. Its the entities and varied textures, compiles textures sounds etc that increase file size dramatically. As for spawning with no weapons, you need a weaon stripper that removes all you weapons as you enter map. I was one map that starts you in a singlar room, then the player enters a warp to main map, the warp strips the player of all weaons, then lets you pick up stun stick once you in. Hope that stuff helps, im not the best mapper in the world but good luck anyway

[deluxe]

hi,
there's one tutuorial i know, but it's in german lol
http://www.mapping-tutorials.de/forum/showthread.php?p=20280#post20280

maybe the pictures can help u a bit but i will try to explain it the best i can:

1- create a dark room (no lights in it lol, but u need to place some lights in your map otherwise u will get the default lighting) in which u place the info_player_deathmatch

2- create a big box (with the texture toolstrigger) in the dark room which encloses the info_player...

3- select this box -> tie to entity -> trigger_weapon_strip
the result of this is that the player who spawns inside the box has no weapons at all. now double click on the weapon strip and look for the keyvalue kill weapons -> select yes

4- now u have to remove the player from the dark room when he spawns
-> create a box (tools trigger texture) which touches the info_player_de... and make it to a trigger_teleport

Now u have 2 possibilities:
the easy one:

5- select the entity tool, select the entity info_teleport_destination and place it where u want the player to appear. double click on the enitity and call it something like destination1
select the box which u made to a trigger teleport, double click on it and look for the keyvalue "remote destination".
there u type now "destination1" or however u called ur info_teleport_destination.
now u can place some weapons near the teleport destination which the player will get when he appears there after his weapons got stripped of..

the problem is now: the weapons are placed in the level where u play, what means that other players could take them so that u have no weapons at all when u spawn

ok the more complicated version would be that u create another black room, in which u place the info_teleport_destination AND the weapons, and that u create another trigger_teleport box which encloses the 2 entitys mentionned above.

ok that should work, i'll attach the vmf of a only stick level where i used the simpler possibility.

if u have questions, feel free to ask

hf

[MeekMeekle]

I havn't checked outher forums yet .. but do you or anyone here know how to make LIFTS "elevators" that don't clip out.. or disappear..

I am having a problem with lifts that disappear ... when you stand where they are supposed to be they re-appear again.

thanks.

[Plasmo_TSGK]

Meek, I'm using the following tutorial for lifts and they seem to work fine: http://www.hl2world.com/wiki/index.php/Platforms:_A_Guide_to_Platform_Creation
More specifically, I'm using the method for func_movelinear. Disregard the func_door stuff the guy is talking about at the beginning of that section and start the lift wherever. Hopefully it helps . Lots of other good stuff on that site too.

Also, I've seen the lifts in domebox act as yours are every once in a while...not sure what was going on . It was really annoying to hit a lift that you didn't even know was there .

Keeping with the theme of lifts...does anyone know how to make an elevator on a moving object (ex. a vertically moving elevator on a horizontally moving platform)? Trying to parent it doesn't seem to work. I can get pushboxes (think killroofz) to work...but elevator lift things would be cooler .

[Sadist]

That problem with the lifts is a known problem, i came across this as well, its just one of those things, not anything to do with the map itself. I think osi may know answer, its to do with the server i know that much.

[deluxe]

[MeekMeekle]

Hi.. I found this wicked site that has tons of tutorials on how to do stuff. It has on on lifts and lights and hallways and like everything looks like there are 118 different ones!

So yeah che che check it ouuuut:

http://www.halfwit-2.com/?page=tutorials&category=1

[deluxe]

nice site meek! there are some useful things in it..

[Xmeagol]

woah! mapping rocks ..

[Plasmo_TSGK]

[MeekMeekle]

hi! Does anyone know how to make the lighting on my map more similar to domebox/donutbox? do i just need to put more lights? or is there a setting... as of right now my map has too many shadows kinda like "dm_killbox_bs_tsgk" and i'm looking for lighting to be more consistant throughout the map like the secy maps! (ie domebox/ donutbox)



ps.. if anyone wants to "test" out the map i'm making with a lil 1v1 action add me to friends and i can host it up for some sneak peak action... it's nothing special or amazing .. i am a mapping noob after all!

[Sadist]

I'm no lighting expert, but I get better results with more lights and making them less bright. About 100 brightness for confined areas, makes the shadows softer and makes for a more balanced light arrangement. Place in areas that would normally be dark when just one bright light was used in a killbox.

I dont know about domebox/donutbox, but a nice value i found for warmer lighting indoors was 254 216 146 100.

For filling the main arena, i mixture of spotlights and regular lights can be used. Spotlights have to be very bright to have an effect, experiment according to the distance from wall to floor, or ceiling to floor, of course four spotlights fixed to the walls pointing diagonally can alleviate your shadow problems! Start with brightness 2000.

Regular lights mixed in will fill in the undesirable shadow arrangements that spotlights often leave. Make these about 500 brightness or more and place away from walls and ceilings to avoid making the textures too bright.

And lastly, shadows are cool, so I wouldnt remove them all!

[MeekMeekle]

thanks Sadist! I've been experimenting a bit and I think I'm getting better! I didn't realize that the lighting could go soo bright either!

What's the deal with this en_cubemap stuff anyway?

do I need these .. are they for reflections or what is the deal?

[Freelancer]

Man im really willing to learn mapping ...
but my Pc is getting "Blanked" today
so Nothing will be on pc lol
My Father did something with Flashcard drivers wrong lol and my Pc
Crashes as soon i press the "Browse" Button in ANY windows Application
Mapping rocks guys have a good time mapping

[Sadist]

Cubemaps are important sure.

Just place one near each surface but at least 16 units away, and one for every change in lighting style (e.g. changes in coloured lighting, place one cubemap in the red area and one in the blue) the same for types of light.
People who have high end graphics may notice the reflections dont look right if you dont use cubemaps properly.

Note: cubemaps can count for more than one surface, so use sparingly, as they can slow down performance of the map.

then compile your map, play and use

buildcubemaps

in the console.

Any more help just ask.

[MeekMeekle]

thanks sadist! you're responses are always so helpful! any reason for why cubemaps need to be 16 units away?

my explosion barrels don't respawn and I don't know why. I am using physics_prop_respawnable and they are set to 60 seconds.

[deluxe]

1 question for cubemaps: do u directly attach the brush faces to the cubemap with the "brush faces" option, or do u just place the cubemaps a few units over the brush faces??

and concerning decals.. once i had the problem that some decals shone through the brush faces when u were some distance away from them, when i made func details out of the walls, everything was normal. but i dont think that making func details out of every wall with a decal is the best solution

and btw, do u use hints and areaportals and stuff like that in ur maps?? cuz i dont really understand how i have to build them in my map, to improve the performance..

[Sadist]

I dont know, just a thing i picked up from my hl1 mapping days i think, where entities used to fall out the map if too close

As for the explosion barrels, they should respawn, you seem to have everything set right. If in doubt, open up the dm_lockdown sdk file and copy and paste the explosion barrels in there.

Brush faces should only be used for glass, or water, a cubemap can be attached to several faces. No need to do so for regular surfaces.

Hmm, i disagree lol. Using func_details is a useful solution to the problem that custom decals wil not show up on others' servers unless downloaded, so i use the decals as textures by using func_detail.
I've never noticed decals shine through, so sorry cant help there.

Lastly, yes to areaportals, these must be placed with care as they can cause weird graphics in maps. Too many areaportals and it slows down your map though. Just think of them as walls that divide one area from another, so usually these are placed in over doors and windows.

Hints, i tried these, but i get no difference in fps, so obviously i dont know how to use them

[deluxe]

hm ok so i will try areaportals, thx anyway

[MeekMeekle]

how do I make it so people download the decals in my map when they go on my server?!?!?!?!?!

I can see my decals in my map .. but the only way I got it working was though manual download.