Posts by louie

  • Programs that are usually used for Source level editing

    I think if you ask every single high level map maker, they'll give you a different answer.
    It all comes down to preference, also remember that a lot of the maps you see ingame and in earlier operations, are a collaborative effort. FMPone who made DE_Season for example is working with someone else to make the custom props.

    But if you have all the time and motivation (and money!) in the world, I'd say learn:


    * Hammer - for obvious reasons.

    * Photoshop - textures, decals & overlays.
    * 3DS MAX - props.

    * VTFEdit - to convert your image files to .vtf files usable in the editor
    * PakRat, VIDE, etc. - your choice of packing software, to pack all your custom content into a .vpk.


    Although GIMP is a free alternative to Photoshop, and 3DS MAX can be substituted with Blender.

    Bare in mind that it takes an enormous amount of skill and effort to create something like DE_Season.

  • [CS:GO SDK] Smoothing groups not working properly?

    Quote from Vorontsov

    Also, should I smooth corners like these together?


    Smoothing groups only work on faces that are connected in a 45 degrees angle or less.

    Also how does your geometry look from above? because I tried it out myself like so:


    Quote

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/QvviP7Z.png]


    obviously with smoothing groups on all the rounded corners, but I ran into another problem when I made the top left corner as you can see here:

    Quote

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/2Ubmbld.png]

    the solution i found is pretty impractical and weird but the corner you can see in the lower left corner is working correctly, as you can see here:

    Quote

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/yyodUNw.png]

  • de_chiku

    Small update:


    Quote

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/oH5nlXQ.jpg]

    Here's how alpha 2 looks, but I haven't updated the thread due to problems with the generating of the nav mesh.
    but I managed to a have a small playtest with a couple of friends and I've already decided on a couple of changes that I'll be implementing in alpha 3:

    alpha 3 will hopefully be ready during this week, and there will then be a proper update to the OP and the workshop.
    Many thanks to Vaya and pjw0 for helping me sorting the problem with my nav mesh.

  • de_nonameyet

    I think you might have made the mistake of over detailing your map without really testing the layout, there's a lot of great idea's in this map, but you really should avoid detailing as much as you've done here, you have all sort of fancy things on an almost unplayable layout, this is why you see a lot of maps being made with dev textures and minimal prop usage, because that way you can really focus on the lay out to begin with, and you simply will have and easier time changing things around without having to delete a ton of your hard work.

    And when I say unplayable layout, most of my concerns are what pjw0 mentioned and you should really focus on ironing out those sorts of kinks before starting to add all the nice little details.

  • [WIP] De_Rampard

    Quote from snorix

    Well guys it's your opinion, i respect it and you might be right. But there's a thing that kinda made me feel a little sad. That thing is that you guys came here and said how i should not start a new map and such, but none of you were capable of checking either map and giving me some feedback


    I guess it is a little rude of me just to tell you not to make a map, instead of being more constructive. - And for that reason I will in fact head over to Nonameyet and see if I have something to add.

    But my point still remains, and trust me I speak from experience, when you get stuck on a map, your first response will often be to quit it or postpone it, to work on something else, because then you can immediately get some work done and obviously when you just start off a map you're going to get what seems to be a lot of work done very quickly which is super satisfying, rather than sitting down trying to fix a problem filled project that you started a while back, which in turn, requires a boat load of work to accomplish what might just look like a tiny portion.

    But as I mentioned in my previous post, this is what mapping is; essentially you're creating you're own problems over and over again, and fixing them over and over again, to accomplish a final product that you can be proud of.

    And the part about creating problems is inevitable, trust me, no one sits down and creates a perfect map without running into complications.

    So if you quit, every time you run into these problems and complications, you're never going to finish anything.

    What you should really take away from this is to make sure to carefully select your project, what theme are you going for? what lay-out would you find interesting to work on? and this is not just about seeing Skybex's cs_cruise and going: "I want to make a boat map!", because you're super enthusiastic about boats right now. Of course take notes from maps you like, but really sit down and think about why you like a certain map, and think about how you want your map to use these inspirations. But this is really about finding out what YOU would like to create.

    Once you have chosen that, and that can take a long time, several weeks even, then you can sit down and begin your project, and then it's all about staying strong with that project, even when you hit roadblocks, complications, problems whatever you want to call them, you know that this is what you really want to create, and that should motivate you to keep going.

    Of course, it's not like you're not allowed to make something different or try out something for another concept, but make sure that your mind is still focused on that main project of yours because you've chosen that for a good reason, it's what you really want.

    Super sorry for the wall of text, but when I just started mapping a long time ago for StarCraft maps, I had the exact same problem and I "mapped" for 3 yrs without ever really finishing something I was proud of, and that is such a defeating feeling to me, so use my advice as you please, but know that I'm only saying this to spare you of what I've felt myself.

    Good luck.


    tl;dr you lazy fuck read the god damn post

  • de_chiku

    Quote from Vaya

    Hi


    the issue here is you have T spawn in an unreachable position- the engine is spreading out the mesh from T spawn then shitting a brick and dying. put a t spawner on the ground to generate your mesh (you can delete after)


    Map is well optimised btw Full compiled in like 3 seconds


    Quote from pjw0

    I don't think this was the cause of the problem, but in general the way T spawn is set up does not work.


    The way T spawn is elevated, once you drop down you can't get back. At a minimum, that's unacceptable because if players are AFK or drop the bomb here, potentially the bomb is out of play for the entire round. I was able to get back up by jumping on the orange box with a slanted top, but just barely; this may be impossible for noobs.


    The navigation mesh also will not automatically drop this far. I was able to generate the mesh successfully, but without marking another part of the map walkable, only T spawn has any leaves. Even after making the rest of the map walkable, I doubt if bots will be able to understand. Having part of the map set up like this, where part of the map is too high for the bots to jump to, will always require some manual work to even get the navigation mesh working at all.


    Thanks for this! - I actually didn't know that the nav mesh was generated from t-spawn, I'm thinking about making the road that T spawns on accessible from the lower bits of the map, it should fix this problem right?

  • [WIP] De_Rampard

    Honestly I think you should work on overcoming whatever problems you have on nonameyet before starting a new project, because mapping is process that takes a long time, and if you get demotivated because you run into some complications and for that reason want to start a new project, then you're never going to finish any project, simply put, because you are going to run into complications no matter what.

    So while I can fully understand that you can get demotivated or sometimes simply get tired of working on the same thing all the time, make sure to go back and finish that and not just get carried away with new project all the time.

  • Freelance Pay

    I don't know for level design, but as a graphics designer I've done both hourly rates and flat fees. It usually depends on the client and what kind of product they are looking for. I would definitely go for the flat fee to begin with if you're just starting out though, since you might not have a good grasp of how long something will take you and thereby you won't really know how much they client has to pay you, and that's seems sort of unprofessional and sloppy.

    Not to mention if you working on a hourly rate, sometimes you feel pressured by that and sometimes that might lead to a worse end result which bad both for you and your client.

    Note though that this is just experience as a freelance graphics designer, but I would imagine it's pretty much the same as a 3d level designer.

  • de_chiku

    Hello fellas, I have a bit of a problem here.

    de_chiku_a2 is finished, but for some reason Counter-Strike keeps crashing whenever I attempt to generate a nav file. It has done the same in the past but usually when i load the game back up the nav file has been properly generated and bots work, although this time around they just stand around.

    Does anyone have some suggestions on what might cause this? and how I can fix it?

  • [csgo] cs_cruise

    Newbie question here, how do you go about optimizing your map with all those curves, and diagonals? - Also this is just amazing, I mean I don't even know why I'm mapping when there are guys like you and FMPONE around.

  • de_chiku

    Thanks for all the solid feedback!
    I will sit down over the weekend and try to see if I change the map to maybe have 1 or 2 "big" roads and the change the rest of the map to smaller back alleys, etc.

    I have one question though, Is it best if I update the OP when I have finished the next version, or should I simply post a reply with all the updates?

    Again huge thanks for all the constructive feedback!

  • de_chiku

    de_chiku

    currently in: alpha 5


    WORKSHOP

    http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…s/?id=430377667


    OVERVIEW


    Quote


    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/rWd5JXu.jpg]

    NOTES

    OK, finally back with a new version, and once again you wouldn't even think it's still the same map, but everytime I try to tweak a part of the map another part seems to end up changing with it, and now I've ended up with this. I've really tried to keep gameplay more in mind and focus less on realism and aesthetically pleasing architecture, and the result have made for some architecture that might doesn't look very japanese, but hopefully I'll be able to fix that later on.

    Anyways, I'd be very glad to now what you think about this map, so subscribe with the link at the top and give it a test run.

    Cheers, Louie


    ADDITIONAL PICS:



    OLDER VERSIONS:


    alpha 1:

    Quote

    OVERVIEW

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/PxOTUn6.jpg]


    NOTES

    Hey everyone, I'm a long time lurker on MapCore and this forum is awesome for new mappers like myself!
    Until now I've never had anything that I've wanted to show, but I recently sat down and really tried to create a map,

    and here's the result:


    de_chiku, a defusal map set in a japanese urban district.

    I'm not trying to introduce any amazing new concepts, as much as I'm just trying to make a functioning map.
    I feel like the overall size is fairly decent although I'm a bit worried about some pretty huge LOS's.

    I would love to get some feedback on pretty much anything before I continue tinkering with it, although note that right now it's basically in it's earliest development stage (the map in the workshop link is the first and only compile I've done so far), and zero aesthetic work have been done at this point. I expect the map to change quite a bit before I settle on a lay-out, I also plan on introducing some height difference through out the map.
    So if you have some spare time, please subscribe to the workshop link found at the top and have a look a round.


    ADDITIONAL PICS