Making A Basic Ns Map
SuperTeflon
Join Date: 2003-12-31 Member: 24893Banned
Join Date: 2003-12-31 Member: 24893Banned
It'd be real nice if the pros could write a quick tutorial on how to make a super-basic NS map, assuming whoever is reading is familiar enough with hammer.
A beginner room with 'join marines' and 'join aliens' areas.
A large 'play room' which has two or three hives, a name for the room, a res nozzle, a comm chair, and a couple spawn points for each area.
Would help immensely. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> I finally got my map to compile... and I have no idea what the hell I'm supposed to do now. I can't even figure out how to make the map a default brightness.
A beginner room with 'join marines' and 'join aliens' areas.
A large 'play room' which has two or three hives, a name for the room, a res nozzle, a comm chair, and a couple spawn points for each area.
Would help immensely. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> I finally got my map to compile... and I have no idea what the hell I'm supposed to do now. I can't even figure out how to make the map a default brightness.
Comments
A beginner room with 'join marines' and 'join aliens' areas.
A large 'play room' which has two or three hives, a name for the room, a res nozzle, a comm chair, and a couple spawn points for each area.
Would help immensely. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> I finally got my map to compile... and I have no idea what the hell I'm supposed to do now. I can't even figure out how to make the map a default brightness. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
There's no such thing as an "NS" map really, it's exactly the same as mapping for DOD, CS, TFC, S&I, RC2... hell, any Half-Life mod at all. The only differences are the textures, a handful of entities and the general feel of the map, the basic principals are identical.
So i'd recommend you head over to <a href='http://www.snarkpit.com/' target='_blank'>snarkpit.com</a> and take a look at their tutorials. Just remember, it doesn't matter what mod they're supposed to be for, the principals of mapping are identical.
Even so, take this into consideration: Making the map may be exactly the same, however the design is completely different. DMC maps would play horrible as NS maps, as they are wide open, and spaced. NS maps are more enclosed, and tight. I don't exactly know if SuperTeflon was asking for help with design, or the physical creation.
-MasterMike
Also, I added a resource nozzle, but it comes with a marine RT already on it...
1: Make an entitiy in the readyroom. Select "info_player_start" from the list. You need to make at least 32 of these.
2: Make a brush in the readyroom where the players will walk into to join a team. Right click the brush and goto Tie to Entity. Select "info_join_team" from the list, and specify what team you'd like this to take you to.
3: Do this again for the other team, and obviously change the Team value
4: Make an entity in the Marine Start, and select "info_team_start" and select the corresponding Team value. You need to make at least 16 of these.
5: Do this again for the Alien spawn. You need to make at least 16 of these.
After doing all this, you have a working readyroom as well as marine, alien, and readyroom spawns.
Hope this help! <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
-MasterMike
I figured out the join team stuff... I'm sorta experimenting with my lighting options now.
Is there a way to set the whole map a certain brightness? I found something to that effect under 'map properties', but I set it to like 300 and noticed nothing. Or do I always have to use texture and entities?
Now for the super-nuubish question: Complex arcitechture, like... a broken pipe. I can make regular pipes with the 'prefab' cylinder. But how would I end it with a jaggedy pointy thing? Basically, how do I make complex arcitechture? I played with the vertex tool a bit, have no idea what the clipping tool does... though I did find out that the 'carve' tool exponentially increase the number of planes. Is there a way to circumvent that? Say I wanted to make... well, a vent.
If you want to change the overal brighness just add only one light (more can be added later on) then change in the map properties the default brightness to something like 60 to 120. If you have done this the brightness where there are no lights will be 60 to 120 (just experiment with these settings).
The lighting (hlrad) compile time will be very fast so you can experiment with it to see the ingame result.
You can also use different value but I think since natural-selection is dependant on athmosphere you should go any higher then 120 default light level.
Once you have the default lighting you want add some more lights and put an <a href='http://www.natural-selection.org/Mapping_Guidelines.html#env_gamma' target='_blank'>env_gamma</a> in the map, this entity will add contrast to you map without makeing the ingame gamma brighter. For example red wil be more red blue more blue etc.
I also have a standart map downloaded somewhere in the ns community (dunno url) with all the basic stuff in it for ns.
-read room + spawns and join teams
- hive start
- marine start
- 2 types of welding spots
- lift
- resource nodes
I'll put it up in the edit once I find the link
[edit]
Written by ChromeAngel:
Information on how to build a basic ns map
<a href='http://nsworld.ns-central.co.uk/mappingguide/appendix7.htm' target='_blank'>Quick Start Guide to Mapping for Natural Selection </a>
<a href='http://nsworld.ns-central.co.uk/mappingguide/ns_sample.zip' target='_blank'>Sample map download</a>
[/edit]
Hehe also the next post has the info above, submited during my edit.
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->
It has been made by the great ChromeAngel<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
indeed tseepra <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
GreetzZz Kouji San
Okay, problem, the map is missing it's .wads, gives me a ton of bizarre errors.
and what errors would be helpfull <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
and what errors would be helpfull <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Okay so it's not a bizarre error. But it's referencing the .wads from Chrome Angel's computer, and I don't know how to change the map to look for .wads elsewhere. I can change HAMMER .wads but that's not the problem.
Error: Could not open wad file \fps\hl\ns104\mapproject2.wad
Error: Could not find WAD file
Description: The compile tools could not locate a wad file that the map was referencing.
Howto Fix: Make sure the wad's listed in the level editor actually all exist
Error: Could not open wad file \fps\hl\ns104\ns.wad
Error: Could not open wad file \fps\hl\valve\halflife.wad
Just change under tools --> options. Then textures and remove any wads in this list of textures and add you own directory to the ns.wad and the half-life.wad.
then compile again
That should fix it.
[edit] remember to restart hammer[/edit]
Also, what designates the height of the commander overview?
Select the 2 walls in question, then select the Clipping tool [SHIFT+X] and draw a line across walls where you want them to be split. After you've done this click the Clipping tool again (probably 2 times). When you see a white line overlay on the entire walls press enter so it keeps both sides of the clip line and there you have it (a top wall and a bottom wall). Its a cutting tool
<b>The viewhight:</b>
Put an info_mapinfo entity in your map and check out its values on viewheight for commander and min map Z
These value are dependant on you z axis of hammer, to check your values just hold your mous cursor on the front or side view. Now put your cursor above the level (or where you want the viewheight for commander to be) and look at the second value on the status bar behind the @.
<b>viewheight for commander</b>
This one must be above the highest ceiling of your map (readyroom not included because it has to be above the viewheight for commander)
<b>min map Z</b>
This one must be lower then the lowest floor in your map it draws the black background the commander sees on none map areas
GreetzZz Kouji San
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Error: Entity 0, Brush 2: mixed face contents
? ? Texture !R25_STAGNANT and !R25_STAGNANT
Error: Entity 0, Brush 2: mixed face contents
? ? Texture !R25_STAGNANT and !R25_STAGNANT
Error: Entity 0, Brush 2: mixed face contents
? ? Texture !R25_STAGNANT and !R25_STAGNANT
Error: Entity 0, Brush 3: mixed face contents
? ? Texture TECKWALL19-BIG and !R25_STAGNANT
Error: Entity 0, Brush 3: mixed face contents
? ? Texture TECKWALL19-BIG and !R25_STAGNANT
Error: Entity 0, Brush 3: mixed face contents
? ? Texture TECKWALL19-BIG and !R25_STAGNANT
Error: Entity 0, Brush 3: mixed face contents
? ? Texture TECKWALL19-BIG and !R25_STAGNANT
Error: Entity 0, Brush 3: mixed face contents
? ? Texture TECKWALL19-BIG and !R25_STAGNANT<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ran the self checker in Hammer, found a problem with vertices, fixed that taboo (concave bad!) now I get that gibberish. Goddd this is hard... I can barely make a stupid pipe with a couple lights on it, how the hell do you guys make those super detailed hallways??! (wahhh)
As for those errors, check brush #2 and 3 and see if you can find anything wrong with them.
It looks like you're trying to mix a water texture and a normal texture though, which I don't think the compiler likes. Change !r25_stagnant, because that is a water texture (indicated by the ! infront of the name).
edit: grammatical error
As for those errors, check brush #2 and 3 and see if you can find anything wrong with them.
It looks like you're trying to mix a water texture and a normal texture though, which I don't think the compiler likes. Change !r25_stagnant, because that is a water texture (indicated by the ! infront of the name).
edit: grammatical error <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Oh... damn that easy, I thought it was something to do with a brush clipping through another brush <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif' /><!--endemo--> But yes, I had most of the map textured with the water texture because it was an easy contrasting texture.
(Oh also, how do I change the... 'amount' that things are adjusted? Even at map grid size 8, rotating a piece of wall makes it 'jump' a lot. I want it to not jump a lot.
(Oh also, how do I change the... 'amount' that things are adjusted? Even at map grid size 8, rotating a piece of wall makes it 'jump' a lot. I want it to not jump a lot. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
carve the shapes in the wall with the clip tool <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Sometimes even though you discard textures (WADs) from the dialog in VHE the editor still puts them inside your map file. Open it up in a plain text editor and you can see all the WADs that the map file wants to use.
Example:
<!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->{
"classname" "worldspawn"
"classname" "worldspawn"
"sounds" "1"
"MaxRange" "4096"
"mapversion" "220"
"skyname" "sand_"
"mapversion" "220"
"wad" "\program files\sierra\half-life\valve\halflife.wad;\program files\sierra\half-life\ns\ns.wad;\program files\sierra\half-life\ns\ns_eclipse.wad;\program files\sierra\half-life\ns\ns_lost.wad;\program files\sierra\half-life\ns\ns_tanith.wad;\program files\sierra\half-life\ns\sandman.wad;\program files\sierra\half-life\ns\ns2.wad"<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
~ DarkATi
Tools\Options is your friend <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Check out the architecture tutorial, it'll answer your most recent questions and provide some ideas. And remember, it's nearly impossible to do anything without the clipping tool! Make it your friend.