Editing Tips
Interlopers Editing Tips
We've collated some useful tips for you to read and learn from. Whether you're a complete novice or an advanced level designer - you should find something here to interest you.
To contribute your own useful tips please visit this thread and read the first post for instructions.
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In total there are 44 tips
The users who submitted the most tips are:
- Blink ( 12 )
- Mage_ofOld ( 2 )
- forty-nin3 ( 2 )
- Phott ( 2 )
- Lord Ned ( 2 )
The users with the highest rated tips are:
- forty-nin3 ( 3.00 )
- Spartan ( 2.00 )
- YokaI ( 2.00 )
- marnamai ( 2.00 )
- Penney ( 2.00 )
Realism vs. Suspense of Disbelief
Tip Rating: 0.00
When a player starts up a game, they already know it isn't real. The point here is that any environment must therefore attempt to remove that idea from the player. That means just because you have seen a 200 foot long brick wall in real life, does not mean it will look good in-game. It is therefore important to get others opinions on your level to keep in check the Suspense of Disbelief you have attempted to create.
Category: Miscellaneous
Spice up vents
Tip Rating: 0.00
You can make normal model vents look a bit more interesting by adding a smaller vent to the side at varying intervals. Adding models/props_vents/vent_medium_grill001.mdl as an add-on to normal vents will compliment it nicely and break up the monotony of long vent systems.
Category: Hammer
Shortcuts
Tip Rating: 0.00
Get to know the shortcuts! You'll save yourself a few seconds each time you use one, and that'll build up to minutes and hours as you continue mapping.
Every action that will be used relatively often will have a shortcut; take the time to check what they are, and memorise them by using them.
Most of the common tool shortcuts are accessed through the SHIFT key and use the lower left side of the keyboard for easy access.
Use shortcuts! They aren't called shortcuts for nothing.Category: Hammer
Be realistic
Tip Rating: 0.00
When you're mapping what ever it is, be realistic in what you're doing. Example, don't place a huge metal door in a wood cabin is, and that goes for props too. Don't place barrels in somebody's house or on the street. Just try to think what that place would look like in that time period, or after a certain event.
Category: Miscellaneous
Keep things in scale
Tip Rating: 1.00
By using the dev textures you can ensure parts of your map stay in proportion with the player. Things such as doors and walls have specific textures for this use. Failing that, add several info_player_start entities in your map when you are working on new areas - this will give you a constant visual reminder of your level in relation to the player.
Category: Hammer
Nudge it around!
Tip Rating: 0.00
By default the arrow keys on your keyboard let you pan around the 2D viewports, as well as rotate the camera in the 3D viewport.
Since panning can be more intuitively accomplished by holding space and dragging with the left mouse button, there is an option that makes the arrow keys more usefull.
If you go to Tools->Options in the top menu bar, and select the 2D views tab you will see a checkbox labeled "Arrow keys nudge selected object/vertex." Check that and now the arrow keys will move what you have selected in any of the viewports by the number of units that snap to grid is set to.Category: Hammer
Ignore Groups
Tip Rating: 1.00
Got several brushes tied to an entity and need to adjust one? Don't waste time moving them back to world brushes, hit the Ignore Groups button along the top toolbar and then adjust the chosen brush(es) as you need.
Category: Hammer
Untextured Geometry.
Tip Rating: 1.00
When using dev textures or placeholder textures on complex and repeated geometry such as multi-brush pillars and archways for hallways, just keep one and use a simple brush as a reference for the rest.
Category: Hammer
3D Camera Movement
Tip Rating: 1.00
Place your cursor over your 3D camera view aand hit the "Z" key. This will lock your cursor in the center of the 3D Camera View. Use the WASD keys like you would in Free-Look Mode in Counter-Strike. This is helpful to quickly navigate to the specific area your working on. Hit "Z" again to exit this mode.
Category: Hammer
Getting help
Tip Rating: 1.00
Before getting help at all, try searching tutorials for yourself. Most of the time, unless there's an error with the program itself, someone has already written a tutorial about it.
Category: Miscellaneous
Adding to your 'simple' room
Tip Rating: 1.00
You'll notice that every room in your house isn't square per say, add little chamfered corners or round them out. It depends on the situation but roof support is something you should think of too.
Category: Miscellaneous
Base Brushing
Tip Rating: 1.00
When creating your map at the start phase, create the geometry in "DEV" textures (Search for "DEV" in the texture editing). When you have made the start geometry, i.e: the first hallway with a room in the end with some main things. Throw some "light" enities in your map, and compile.
Now look and see if everything is how you wanted it.
Summary: Compile often, and there is no need to texture everything before you know it looks right.Category: Hammer
Use Vertex Manipulation on corners
Tip Rating: 2.00
Very often you see newer level designers creating slanted corners by dragging the connecting brush and clipping off the excess. This is not optimal as it stretches the brush and creates problems when texturing. Far easier to use the Vertex Tool to move the edges of the brushes as shown below.
Category: Hammer
Using the grid
Tip Rating: 0.00
When creating brushwork make sure to stay on the grid. This means that brushes should have even lengths. It becomes very time consuming to deal with odd numbered brushes.
Also changing the scale of you grid can make work go much faster. In the beginning stages of the map put the scale up. Using 16,32 or 64 units works well. In these larger scales it is very easy to line brushes up.Category: Hammer
Measure using textures
Tip Rating: 0.00
Use textures as a guide to determining the lengths of some of your brushes. Most textures are lined up with the grid and if used on an even length brush will line up very well. This technique will make your maps crisp and professional looking. It is also a good idea to try and keep textures aligned to 0,0 for easy of alignment.
Category: Hammer
