What Map Program Would Recommend?

sk84zer0

<div class="IPBDescription">for someone who has never mapped before?</div> Ive been wanting to try mapping, and i would like to know a good and easy mapping program. I have <i>never</i> mapped in my life. What would u guys recommend?

quazilin

Well if you want to map half-life/ns use valve hammer editor. Its pretty easy to learn and very good for that job.

sk84zer0

where can i get hammer?

DarkATi

Valve Hammer Editor 3.5 Beta (Don't worry just because it's Beta it has no serious bugs I've used it for months now and it's the shiznat!)

<a href='http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=hammer_beta' target='_blank'>http://collective.valve-erc.com/index.php?...?go=hammer_beta</a>

~ DarkATi

Wolv

Two alternative mapping programs are QERadiant and <a href='http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~quark/' target='_blank'>QuArK</a>.
With the former I have little experience, but I know it's mostly used for Half-Life by people who already had experience with it for other games.
The latter is my personal favourite. Compared to WC a downside is that it's less used, so there also are fewer QuArK-specific tutorials out there. So choosing QuArK will mean that the initial learning curve of learning how to actually use the program may be a little steeper. Once you get the hang of that you'll notice it's actually quite newbie-friendly, with a lot of newbie errors you simply can't make in QuArK, such as creating illegal brushes.

Choosing which editor is best is mostly a matter of personal preferance though, as there isn't any editor that is plain "better" then the rest.

Erias

I used QERadiant to map for QuakeIII, and it was pretty sophisticated and powerful, but I haven't bothered trying it as I'm doubtful it would work very well with HL. If there is a resource or two out there for getting it to work smoothly with HL, I might recommend it.

I myself have never tried Quark and don't know much about it. I might try it sometime, though, as I find Hammer to lack refinement, versatility and power (sounds more like a car than a mapping app, but I'm too tired to go into the specifics of what I want to see in the software.)

Anyways, mostly I'm looking for something a little less n00b-oriented. Something that makes sense to a <i>mapper</i>, instead of being oversimplified and oriented to every dummy with a copy of HL.

But, to the point, if you're new to mapping, most people would indeed recommend Hammer.

The_Real_Quasar

Hammer is certainly the easiest for new mappers to use, and it's a pretty good tool all round. It all comes down to personal preference in the end.

statusq

I have used QuArK for mapping since days of Quake2. It has come a long way from what it was. When Half-Life support was added you couldn't make any slopes since QuArK messed them up, but IMHO now it's the best mapping program available <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
I didn't like the way WorldCraft worked when I tried it a few years back.

[edit] WorldCraft is the former name of Hammer for those of you who haven't been around for long, and I shall always call Hammer WorldCraft <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->