First time editing source

[Ibanez]

Well, I've posted this on another forum I go to, but I figured this forum would be more appropriate if I wanted feedback, seeing as it's the best place for Source editing. I'm making a project in Source, and I'm kind of attempting to make it be its own standalone mod unrelated to the Half-Life universe. You wake up in a flooded basement, with no idea what happened. Generic amnesiac waking up alone in a lonely environment. Let 'er rip.


Where you wake up. (Can anyone tell me what that seam is on the water surface in the second pic? It seem related to the brushwork, but there's nothing terribly complex going on.)

Walk outside to a distant roll of thunder, which scares away some crows. I'm new to Source editing, so my displacements are pretty sketchy, but I'm working on it.

On the scripting side of things, I'm getting the hang of inputs/outputs, but there is one thing I'm trying to do that is beyond my skill level. You start off with no weapons, and come across a corpse. Through the use of decals and props, it is clear that the victim shot himself in the head with a .357, which you can pick up. It's empty. I have all that scripted out so far, where you pick up the gun, text flashes 'It's empty.' and then it is taken away. What I want to happen now is the complex part. The player is given a new weapon, the .357 model rotated so that it is gripped by the barrel, and is a mere model replacement for the crowbar. Nothing fancy, no new animations. Just a new model rig. Possible?

Opinions so far? This is about a day's worth of work.

[Unstoppable Florence]

Holy crap. Just, wow.

Get off this forum and stop making me look bad!

[ReservoirWOLF]

the 3rd pic looks very unnatural, the walls seem too high. manly the right one(no fence). basement looks awesome though!

[Ich 666]

Third screenshot is a bit too dark. I get what lightning youre going for but this is really a bit too dark

[source-maps]

I really like how you put the red lighting in the ventilation system
maybe check out this tut about displacements, I would re do them if I were you http://www.interlopers.net/tutorials/16891

[Ibanez]

the 3rd pic looks very unnatural, the walls seem too high. manly the right one(no fence). basement looks awesome though!

So, do you think it'd look better if I put a fence on top, or should I do something else to it?

[Ibanez]

meh. I don't know how to make this look more natural. I'm going for a wind-swept Hebrides-style look, but it's difficult. I also need to learn how to make a 3d skybox.

[Turd Ferguson]

Damn I'm not even as good as the new guy!

[thefight]

Try opening up one of the sides and just have it lead into dense forest with bushes and stuff. This will make it feel not so closed in. and put a fence to show that the player cannot go back there.

[joe_rogers_11155]

Regarding the revolver work you were asking about.

First, did you say you make it work so that the player picked up an empty gun? I have never been able to do that. Whenever a player picks up a gun for the first time, he usually gets some ammo along with it. So are you saying that made the gun be truly empty upon player pick up?

Second, I think replacing th crowbar model with the revolver melee model would not be difficult to a weapon modeler. You would also want to replace the GUI crowbar images and probably turn the sound of the crowbar striking things into the loud "footstep" of a weapon. (The same sound made by weapons when dropped on the ground in-game)

I think the best thing ever would be if you made it so that when the player found some ammo for the revolver, he turned it back around, reloaded it, then used it as a regular revolver again. Perhaps MOUSE2 can alternate between the two attack modes. However, that is probably going into the realm of creating a new weapon entity altogether.

Nice mapping by the way. What other engines have you worked with?

[Ibanez]

I worked with the Quake engine for a long time. And to answer your question about the current procedure, when the player picks up the weapon_357, it triggers a game_text that says 'it's empty' and a weapon_strip at the same time. So, before the player has an opportunity to fire, the gun is taken away. It does a good job of conveying that the player picked up an empty gun and stowed it away. However, I need one more step- to then give the player another weapon, the 357 model rotated as though it were held by the barrel, but using the crowbar animations. It can go into the crowbar slot and the crowbar HUD icon can be replaced with the 357 icon. And then when the player finds ammo, he'll simply be able to use it again as the normal revolver. For the time being, I just type 'give weapon_crowbar' in the console.

[Groxkiller585]

I worked with the Quake engine for a long time. And to answer your question about the current procedure, when the player picks up the weapon_357, it triggers a game_text that says 'it's empty' and a weapon_strip at the same time. So, before the player has an opportunity to fire, the gun is taken away. It does a good job of conveying that the player picked up an empty gun and stowed it away. However, I need one more step- to then give the player another weapon, the 357 model rotated as though it were held by the barrel, but using the crowbar animations. It can go into the crowbar slot and the crowbar HUD icon can be replaced with the 357 icon. And then when the player finds ammo, he'll simply be able to use it again as the normal revolver. For the time being, I just type 'give weapon_crowbar' in the console.

I do belive you'd have to take the gun's model, extract it, rotate it, then extract the Crowbar's model, take the animations, and merge those on the melee-gun, then recompile it as a new model, then finally edit a config. file to say that the crowbar is replaced by this new model.

Good news about this is you can reset damage values and other things with it. Bad news is it's a heck of a lot of work, maybe you should let the player keep the melee-gun and say it's broken if they find ammo.

EDIT: oh i forgot to say, nice map! I like the basement, very creepy.

[Ibanez]

Hmm, well it's worth a shot. I refuse to make yet another mod with a crowbar. This whole thing will not take place in the HL universe. It'll be something I'm making up, an apocalypse/sole survivor sort of thing. Preferably heavy on puzzles and survival, and less on balls-to-the-wall action. There are enough of those mods already out.

[Groxkiller585]

Hmm, well it's worth a shot. I refuse to make yet another mod with a crowbar. This whole thing will not take place in the HL universe. It'll be something I'm making up, an apocalypse/sole survivor sort of thing. Preferably heavy on puzzles and survival, and less on balls-to-the-wall action. There are enough of those mods already out.

*picsnip*

Nice job on the rock walls/fences! I think the grass could use the sprites though...you can look up a tutorial on it, or you can use one that the HL2 stock already has. (though you should learn it, gives better options later on.)

Also the lightposts seem a bit too low, are they supposed to be electric wire holders or just poles with lights on them? Either way making it a bit taller could help.

I like what I see so far, and I'd consider DLing this mod. If it's mostly puzzles then I definetely will DL it because I'm getting tired of "survive the zombie hoard that chokes you until you barely make it...or don't." mods. Portal mods are significantly better to me (for the obvious reason of puzzles) so if it has puzzles in it i'm bound to DL it eventually.

[Ibanez]

Thanks, the light posts look better now.
Here's an overview of everything except the basement, which is hidden.