Posts by Michael Greenwood

Quote from jackophant

@Michael Greenwood maybe I misunderstood what you were after then. There's a section there regarding layout, specifically Ben's Bible on Multiplayer Level Design that I thought would help.

You don't have to be present for the playtest, but it is helpful and appreciated. When you can hear what people are saying, you can hear how they say it, text can only convey so much meaning. We use a feedback plugin that captures everything typed, as well as a demo (which you can use on some websites to create a heat map) and make the files publicly accessible. A separate file is stored from text specifically prefaced with "!fb" or "!feedback" so you can get right down to what you can see people have said without sifting through the entire chat log.

Ok, I hadn't seen that. I'll read this through! Thanks for the help

Quote from jackophant

@Michael Greenwood

You should find an answer to most your questions there

I've read that through quite a few times already. And I don't mean to sound unappreciative as it was of great assistance - but there are hundreds of tutorials on how to optimize, texture and use the hammer editor and only a very small handful on building for player flow, choke points, engagement times and bombsite construction. I would happily participate in the playtests of other's maps and give out feedback, but they are not at times that work with my job (except occasionally sunday) - So I want to know how I can help the community and help myself.

There seems to be LOTS of discussion about optimization, textures, brushes and aesthetics, but much less about layout. No matter how good a map looks, if the layout is crap - it won't be any fun to play.

I've been learning and building a lot recently and have had way more concerns with how I lay it all out for gameplay - rather than my eventual theme. What are the best ways of getting feedback and suggestions on map layout, specifically regarding stuff like important choke points and bomb sites?

I just have filler textures at the moment, is that enough to request playtesting? Or where do I go from here?

Quote from Vorontsov

It depends, some people can get on fine not making any custom models while others need it because it can't be covered with brushes

But how much of a map's detailing is done with prop_details, and how much with just using brushes?

And how to I add something like a road texture to the ground? Is it actually adding brushes in such a way that you just do it as a normal adding the texture to the face? What about something like a curving dirt path on grass with displacements?

What's the best way to add fences/railings?

I'm still trying to figure out what the general balance is between brushwork and props.

So what is the best way to get people together for a layout test play? I have my map complete with filler textures and the majority of props are in place (as filler brushes for the most part).

I can probably get 5 people of my own, but how do I go about it when I want a full 10?

Thanks!

Single Your long post on Visleaves was not in vain and helped me greatly. Thanks a lot!

Sorry, I dont understand what "zeroing" a texture means. I get that textures at 0.25 make a 512x512 texture apply to a 128x128unit area, but what does that mean for my map making? Areas should be built with 128x128 blocks?

When detailing, what proportion would you say is premade props, custom props or brushwork?

I'm most concerned about textures. I can't find the optimal ratios I should be using to best tile the textures cleanly. Currently I have everything snapped to 4, but you are saying doing it to 16 is better?

When designing the layout for my map, I've been using grids of size 2 or 4. A tutorial I saw recommended using snap on grid with a minimum size of 8 for initial layout. Is there any truth to this?

Since this seems like a good general beginner question thread:

I am trying (and failing so far) at finding a good tutorial for building natural terrain/displacements with textures. I would greatly prefer it to NOT be a video tutorial, but will accept anything if that is what is available. Thanks!

Quote from jackophant

• the quickest, easiest method for nodraw is apply it to everything
• then using the face edit tool, only texture the faces that are visible to the player

basically, with func_detail, you want your rooms to be as square as possible. Any brush work that stops that by jutting out, you want to func_detail it otherwise it creates longer compiles (incrementally across the whole map and depending on the complexity of the object).

If you refer to the stickied post in the mapore contest, it has everything you need to help you, especially if you want your map to take part in the contest

Ahh, I didn't look there because I don't plan on entering the contest. I'm taking this slow and steady. This answers all the questions I have so far, thanks!

Quote from Grillet

1. Use the Run Map in Expert mode and set the configuration to Fast. https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Hammer_Run_Map_Expert

2. Read more about func_detail here: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Func_detail I can't really explain it myself
Personally I rarely use it in the blockout stage of a map, but as much as possible should use func_detail in the end.

3. Use the Face Edit sheet. Either press the button for it in the left toolbar or Shift+A to open it. Press Browse and search for Nodraw and then select it. Then, with the Face Edit Sheet window open, select any faces on the brushes you want to be nodraw and then press Apply. Read more about it here: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Hammer_Face_Edit_Dialog

Thank you very much! This is exactly what I was looking for. (Well except #2, but the impression I am getting while reading around is you use it when it makes sense and will come with experience).

For No Draw, should it be applied to all sides except the top one with something like a floor? For example if I have a 200 wide x 400 long x 8 tall path with walls - should no draw be applied to all faces but the surface the player walks on, or just the main underside?

I've been learning the hammer tool recently and have been building a CS:GO map and been having a lot of fun with it. I have a main layout all built using dev textures, but have a couple questions:

- I've been optimizing rotation times and engagement times for the two bomb sites, but every time I make changes I have to wait quite a few minutes for it to compile. Is there some sort of incremental compile or way to make it quicker with just small edits/adding props/lighting etc.?

- I don't really understand when to use func_detail.

- How do I add no draw to the outside of brushes, is it placed there as another brush on top or..?

Thanks for any help!