Interlopers.net - Half-Life 2 News & Tutorials

Editing Tips

1. Write down your bugs as you go!

   Tip Rating: 1.00

   Everytime you compile your map you will spot visual errors or scripting bugs that you need to correct. To make this process easier simply have a notepad to hand and write down the bugs as you go, no matter how good you think your memory is you will forget them and then have to fix it as well as the next set of errors.
   
   Make a new list each time you fix the last list and eventually it will shrink down until you've solved every little error. Playtest your map with friends and write down what they see as well.

   Category: Miscellaneous

   Tip submitted by Blink

2. Easy Texture Scrolling

   Tip Rating: 0.00

   Select a face with the Face Edit Sheet and then just use your arrow keys to scroll the texture easily.

   Category: Hammer

   Tip submitted by Duke Nukem

3. Spice up vents

   Tip Rating: 1.00

   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

   Tip submitted by Blink

4. A fresh Perspective

   Tip Rating: 0.00

   Never, ever, ever, test your level/map pack/mod by yourself. You need beta testers, maybe 3-5, to get a fresh persective of your maps. Find out from a player's mind if the experience is satisfying and enjoyable, and if not adjust your mod. Every map needs to be beta tested.

   Category: Half-life 2

   Tip submitted by Turd Ferguson

5. Don't release your first map

   Tip Rating: -1.00

   Even you know your first map isnt going to be a work of art. Because of this fact, you shouldn't release a first map. Use your first map to practice various techniques, or try something crazy just to see if it will work. If you really feel inclined to, you should only release a version of your first map to some close friends, to test it and give you constructive criticism.

   Category: Miscellaneous

   Tip submitted by Olympus04

6. Use the SDK Maps

   Tip Rating: 1.00

   Valve graciously provided us with several maps with the sdk_ preference. There is a map for every physics effect, and also several maps for actual levels in the game or for the multiplayer components, to really learn how to get things done.
   
   Use these well made maps often, its the easiest way to learn new techniques, because you can run the map, then check what it does, then see how to do it in hammer.

   Category: Hammer

   Tip submitted by Olympus04

7. Untextured Geometry.

   Tip Rating: 2.00

   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

   Tip submitted by Ripper_hugme

8. 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

   Tip submitted by Mage_ofOld

9. Re: Flexible rotation

   Tip Rating: -1.00

   " "Do you think it's annoying when you can't rotate things 180 with exact precision? Well have you tried ticking the "15 degree rotation" box in the "2D view"-settings? Do that and it shouldn't be a problem. What? You need stepless rotation again? Well, just hold the shift button and rotate." - lillerik
   Or...
   
   Press Ctrl+M and type in 180 in "X" and press OK." - Phott
   Sorry, should me "Y" and not "X" :S

   Category: Hammer

   Tip submitted by Phott

10. Save Often

    Tip Rating: 2.00

    Never forget to save your map often, and keep multiple copies of the map file. If you don't you WILL regret it later.

    Category: Hammer

    Tip submitted by Spartan

11. Realism, and working from references

    Tip Rating: 1.00

    When working from real-world references, always beware confusing realism with accuracy. In games, realism is best thought of as 'suspension of disbelief', not accuracy. So, just because your reference photo contains oddly-aligned brickwork, or a glaring seam between two styles of brickwork, this doesnt mean you should recreate that - it'll end up looking like bad texture alignment. Similarly, a strong contrast between two lighting styles might not always carry over to the game well. In short, always prioritise the artistic qualities of the scene over it's accuracy.

    Category: Miscellaneous

    Tip submitted by Jest@

12. Re: Tips Submission Thread

    Tip Rating: 0.00

    Alt-Right click: Used to align a texture as to the face selected. (Perfect for aligning textures on corners with ease)
    
    Ctrl-M: While in selection mode to rotate, scale, and move based on input values. (Very useful for turning brushes and props with precision.)
    
    Walls are ~16-8 units thick, 128 units high, and the space in-between floors is ~32-16
    Stairs are ~Rise-8 units, Run-12 units
    
    Arches are easier to build if one makes it manually (using vertex-edited blocks) from the outside of a cylinder brush.
    
    The skew tool loses alignment to the grid if used more than once on the same edge.

    Category: Hammer

    Tip submitted by Chopium

13. Easy random entity rotation

    Tip Rating: 0.00

    Have you ever had a model such as a tree which you need to rotate each time you add it? Here is a simple way.
    1) Open a new file in hammer.
    2) Create your entity/model and place it just below the map origin as shown in the picture below:
    
    3) Go to the right hand bar and click the tick-box to give it a random yaw (rotation). This means that each time you place the prefab, it will rotate from above randomly.
    
    4) Click 'Create Prefab'.
    5) Save the file with any name you wish in sourcesdk/bin/<engineName>/bin/prefabs
    where <engineName> is either ep1 or orangebox depending on which game you are mapping for.
    
    6) To use your prefab, select the entity tool, then in the same box as 'Create Prefab' click the 'Categories' drop-down list and select prefab. Then in the 'Objects' drop-down list select the prefab you just made. Place like a normal entity.
    
    Enjoy <!-- s:D --><img src="http://www.interlopers.net/forum/images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif" alt=":D" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

    Category: Hammer

    Tip submitted by NoFace

14. Flexible rotation

    Tip Rating: 2.00

    Do you think it's annoying when you can't rotate things 180 with exact precision? Well have you tried ticking the "15 degree rotation" box in the "2D view"-settings? Do that and it shouldn't be a problem. What? You need stepless rotation again? Well, just hold the shift button and rotate.

    Category: Hammer

    Tip submitted by lillerik

15. Shortcuts

    Tip Rating: 1.00

    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

    Tip submitted by Rick_D