New Map: de_plague_beta

[Demonic Plague]

Here are some screen shots on a map i just finished up. Take a look and let me know what you think.

 

http://www.hickorytech.net/~joneses/scrnsh...ue_beta0000.jpg

http://www.hickorytech.net/~joneses/scrnsh...ue_beta0001.jpg

http://www.hickorytech.net/~joneses/scrnsh...ue_beta0002.jpg

http://www.hickorytech.net/~joneses/scrnsh...ue_beta0003.jpg

http://www.hickorytech.net/~joneses/scrnsh...ue_beta0004.jpg

Edited April 30, 2007 by Demonic Plague

[mookie]

Looks nice. If you know how to do a 3-D skybox you should add one.

[Demonic Plague]

Only my second map, but I'll try to add one. I kind of looked around for a good tutorial on building one but not much luck, any suggestions?

[mookie]

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/3d_skybox

[Demonic Plague]

I would like some help on this if possible. Here are two pictures

In the 3d skybox, the building with the green roof, in the first picture it is in the right spot, the same it views everywhere else on the map....except for when on top of roof and to the right like in picture two.

Picture one: right behind the wall slightly set back

Picture two: way back behind furthest wall and continues to scroll left as i move further right

Could it have something to do with the fact that the little zigzag walls to the left of the structure are actually exterior walls with nodraw surface on the back of them? Or did i mess something up in the 3d skybox part? It doesn't do it with any of the other structures in the 3d skybox though. And one more question: do you guys draw your 3d skybox as normal and then shrink it down, or shrink first then add buildings, etc.? Thanks in advance for any help.

[mookie]

It doesn't really matter if you work out the skybox large then shrink it or work it out small. My own preference would be to do all the buildings of the 3D skybox as large and make sure they're all on the 16 or 32 unit grid lines, then select them all, shrink them, and move them away. The thing you have to be really careful about is making sure that your sky_camera entity in the 3D skybox matches where the origin is in the map. If it isn't in the right place, the buildings might appear to shift around as you move, which might be the problem you're seeing. The easiest way to go IMO would be to do all the buildings normal size, place the sky_camera at the origin, then select all the brushes in the skybox and the sky_camera together, scale them (the sky_camera is a point entity so scaling it will not be a problem and will make sure that it stays in place since the brushwork will not necessarily scale about the origin), then move them away. Also, make sure that the level and the skybox are both completely sealed. If the map leaks you can have problems, both with the 3D skybox (seeing parts of the regular map super-sized in the skybox) and with VVIS (won't run, so your map will lag people) and VRAD (only direct light if VVIS doesn't run, so surfaces not facing the sky or a light will be pitch black).

[Demonic Plague]

well, i've added some stuff, a few displacements and some buildings. What do you think?

 

also mookie, i PM ice_berge about possibly adding this to custom map nite, but he hasnt gotten back to me yet. If you can do it i'd appreciate it. the files can be found here:

My homepage

Edited May 4, 2007 by Demonic Plague

[mookie]

The skybox is looking pretty good from what I can see. You've got some missing models and materials around the map though; you'll need to find out what they are so they can be distributed with the map. Once you've got those figured out, they can either be included separately, or packaged into the BSP with BSPZip.

[Demonic Plague]

well the places it says error are ragdolls, those i can just remove (although it would take away from the 'plague' theme). but everything i put in there was included with the SDK, doesn't everyone have the same pool to draw from? like i said this is only my second map so how do i include the skins/textures that aren't showing up in my bsp file? thanks mookie, you've been a lot of help.

 

oops, sorry, didn't notice you gave me the ref file for bspzip...

Edited May 6, 2007 by Demonic Plague

[Ice_Berge_00]

well the places it says error are ragdolls, those i can just remove (although it would take away from the 'plague' theme). but everything i put in there was included with the SDK, doesn't everyone have the same pool to draw from? like i said this is only my second map so how do i include the skins/textures that aren't showing up in my bsp file? thanks mookie, you've been a lot of help.

 

oops, sorry, didn't notice you gave me the ref file for bspzip...

 

You used textures that didn't come with the SDK. Don't forget that any custom maps, any materials, resources, sounds and whatnot that go with custom maps you had will show up in Hammer and be useable on your maps. There's nothing special you do to use them, and there's no specifial indicator in Hammer that you are using them. That's why they don't show up when someone else loads your map.

 

one other note, the SDK doesn't give you any new materials or anything, it just is the tools to make maps, mods, models and such. All of the materials come from your CSS directory

[Demonic Plague]

ok, i think i did that right and put the new bsp file up for download. I couldn't find one of the model files on my computer though. i went to where it should have been and there was nothing there...oh, well i can always delete it. but anyway. one question...if the bsp.exe puts the textures etc into the bsp file, then how come it doesn't take all that it is supposed to? does it not know how to find them? and how am i supposed to know which ones it doesn't take along automatically? ok, that was more than one question. thanks again

[mookie]

You need to pack in both the VMT and VTF files for each material. VMT is the materials file and it gives the info the engine needs about hardness, etc. VTF is the texture file and has the actual picture that's used. For models like the guerrilla zombie, you want to check to see if there are any other files too. In the models folder, I find 6 files for each model (.dx80.vtx, .dx90.vtx, .mdl, .phy, .sw.vtx, .vvd), and most of the time there are some files inside /materials/models as well.

 

one question...if the bsp.exe puts the textures etc into the bsp file, then how come it doesn't take all that it is supposed to? does it not know how to find them? and how am i supposed to know which ones it doesn't take along automatically? ok, that was more than one question. thanks again

VBSP doesn't actually put any textures into the BSP file; it assumes that all the files will be found on each client's computer. Models and materials that come with HL2 or CSS will be available for every client (packed into the GCF files). For other custom files, it's your choice whether you want to use BSPZip to add them to the BSP or set them up to be downloaded with a RES file. Most commonly, people package every file except the NAV file into the BSP. Having the files separate and specified with a RES file is usually only done with models and materials that will be used by several maps (e.g. the UH-60 model used by many assassination scenarios) or files that were unnecessary at the time of the map's release and can't be added later without changing the BSP's checksum (as radar overviews were for older maps).

 

P.S. The fish are swimming in air.

 

Error: Material "maps/de_plague_beta/nature/water_canals_water_clear_-1096_1312_57" : proxy "AnimatedTexture" not found!
Error: Material "maps/de_plague_beta/nature/water_canals_water_clear_-1096_1312_57" : proxy "TextureScroll" not found!
Error: Material "maps/de_plague_beta/nature/water_canals_water_clear_-1096_1312_57" : proxy "WaterLOD" not found!
Error: Material "maps/de_plague_beta/nature/water_canals_water_clear_-94_686_487" : proxy "AnimatedTexture" not found!
Error: Material "maps/de_plague_beta/nature/water_canals_water_clear_-94_686_487" : proxy "TextureScroll" not found!
Error: Material "maps/de_plague_beta/nature/water_canals_water_clear_-94_686_487" : proxy "WaterLOD" not found!

[Demonic Plague]

so how can i run the map like i'm downloading it for the first time so i can see the errors like you are?

sorry i'm such a newb at this.

also, when i -dir my bsp file it lists my textures etc as:

materials/maps/de_plague_beta/blahblah.vmt

but when i add it on my own it looks like this:

materials/blahblah.vmt

with no /maps/de_plague_bet should that be in there?

and what if i recompile at some point, will i have to add all of that back into the bsp again?

Edited May 7, 2007 by Demonic Plague

[mookie]

so how can i run the map like i'm downloading it for the first time so i can see the errors like you are?

Shut down Steam, then go into cstrike and rename /materials and /models.

 

also, when i -dir my bsp file it lists my textures etc as:

materials/maps/de_plague_beta/blahblah.vmt

I think those have something to do with the lightmaps and you shouldn't need to worry about them.

 

and what if i recompile at some point, will i have to add all of that back into the bsp again?

Yes. If you go back to the link for BSPZip, you'll probably want to scroll down a bit and read the section on making a list of files to be included and getting them all at once.

[Demonic Plague]

OK. Sorry i haven't posted here in a while, i was on vacation in California. But anyway, i think i hvae everything fixed so if you'd like to redownload and check it out i'd appreciate it. You can get them HERE Thanks again for all your help.

[tookey]

sky flash = t sided map