Hammer update!

    You're right Thrik, you'd've thought they'd've (good old english abbreviations eh?) stepped it up a notch to bring Source into the new generation of editors. They just seem stuck in the past.

    But don't get me wrong, I love Source. I worked on Black Mesa for a year or so and made some decent stuff with it, but damn, I've meddled with the UDK since and it seems so much more advanced. Source just seems so archaic now, they really need to make something new.

    It's sorta like trying to make an ugly woman beautiful through plastic surgery... No matter how 'pretty' she looks now, underneath she's an ugly motha******. Source just needs to be put down gently and laid to rest. RIP!

    Shieeet, "engine discussions / source sucks" topics again, we better stop right here before Furyo deletes 80% of the thread!

    Yes, Source Engine is the most archaic shit out there at the moment. I mean, just look at L4D2, it looks horrible! Lucky for valve, they make really good games where the graphics don't really matter tbh, but they (valve) are lagging behind.

    I still think they are working on a brand new engine, it's the logical step to take. If their not, valve as we know it wont live long. No matter what you say, you need to keep up with technology if you want to compete with the rest of the industry.

    Also, please explain the whole instancing idea from the previous page. I don't understand it, what's going on in that screenshot?

    Pogo, in the shot everything highlighted in yellow is part of an instance. Each instance is a single point entity (func_instance) that references a separate .vmf file. That file is then combined with your map at compile time. Any change you make to that .vmf file will automatically update every single use of it in your level. This is super useful for anything you want to repeat often ( you can instance a blockout version of a piece of geometry, for example, then detail it or change it without having to copy/paste every use of it ), or any complex geometry you want to throw into your level at crazy angles (you're rotating a point entity, not brushwork, so all precision from the original file is maintained).

    @ KungFu Squirrel

    Quote (Pretty sure you can blame me for this one. Don't think they were planning on releasing this stuff publicly until a friend of mine let slip they had this stuff in the Orange Box branch and I pestered him to get it included in the release build )

    When do you think it will be fixed and will you post here that it has when it is?

    Cheers

    So some of the issues supposedly should have been addressed already (such as the missing grid issue), but if you're still having issues, list them in as much detail as you can give, with steps to repro (if applicable, some stuff is more readily apparent). I'm passing this link to the guy I've been talking to so he can help get the info collected. Rick Johnson has been doing a good job from what I've seen of scouring the issues posted to the Steam forums, and if you talk to anyone else with issues, make sure they get passed along to the appropriate place.

    You've got an internal tool set on a specific range of hardware and software being merged into a huge install base, so unfortunately some stuff is going to slip through Hopefully can be addressed quickly. It really is a nice update when it's working!

    Quote from KungFuSquirrel

    Hey guys,For those of you still poking in Hammer, there's a new Source SDK/Hammer update that adds some neat stuff. .vmf instancing a la L4D2, manifest/layer support, some show/hide stuff, and some updates to the displacement tool (a new "sculpt" tool). May be some other stuff, since I can't find a proper changelist anywhere... just trying to get what I can from a former Raven colleague out at Valve.

    If I find a proper changelist, I'll post it here - I encourage you guys to do the same

    Seems like some cool updates

    The instancing should be great. I'm also interested in seeing that new "sculpt" tool

    @ KungFu Squirrel

    Thanks for looking into the problems. These are the problems I'm having atm with Hammer

    1 When I select a brush, it is no longer highlighted and hard to distinguish from surrounding brushes in the 3D window

    2 When I select a brush and go to a 2D window to re-size it, I select a handle and when I move it,

    the window goes all black and I can't see how far it has moved until I release the handle, trial and error is a pain

    3 Models are rendered in 3D as all black

    4 The cursor cross hairs are not always visible making it hard to know if I have selected anything unless I look in 2D windows to check

    5 When I use Ctrl-E to center on an object or model it doesn't always center properly

    Has the basic configuration for hammer and how been changed for some reason?

    If I have to learn hammer all over again I will probably just give up as there is little support from Valve on it's use.

    I love mapping, and all things half Life, but these problems are unacceptable.

    It seems to me that Valve wants to phase out mapping and Modding for their products by making their editor unusable.

    Maybe it's time to move on and map for a game company who looks after its customers.

    I just returned from my 2 week break at hammer and it seems that my vacation has been lengthened. I'd rather wait for another update than using an old binary. For some reason i believe it could do harm.

    Quote from Surfa

    Add -dx80 to the launch options and it should fix the problem.

    I believe you meant -dxlevel 80

    how does instancing work with leaks? and if you rotate an instance, isnt the point entity still stuck t the grid so the edges arent necessarily stuck to the grid making it hard to mesh with the outside world or separate pieces you want to place within an individual instance?

    sirocco: I wouldn't look at it that way. They didn't have to make new updated features publicly available for an old version of their toolset. Unfortunately, some things broke in the transition from internal dev to external release. They'll track them down and fix them, and you'll have a stronger Hammer than you did before out of the deal.

    Bic: Instanced geometry is combined into the map at compile time, and leaks behave accordingly. If the instance covers the hole, the map will seal and compile. The point entity represents the world origin of the instanced .vmf file. If you rotate it, it can be tricky to line up correctly, but you'd also want to plan for that as you build it. Think of it like the pivot of a model. You want it at a point where it will line up with geometry. For a full stand-alone building or structure, you can just center it and call it good. For something that lines up with a wall, line it up flat against the appropriate axis. For the case of my circular structure, I built them so every instance is placed on the world origin and rotated in place, which allows all the edges to line up - I cut the edges off by creating a wedge of two brushes and carving the sides to create precise rotational seams. Fun trick I learned in UE3 from a friend at GBX that also works nicely here with the new update.

    I'm supposed to finish my mod! :/

    Can't get it working with -dxlevel 80.

    I'll watch gameplaytest-sessions in the mean time but damn Valve, get it fixed!

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    although I use some of the best tools in the industry, I must say hammer still has a place in my heart

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