Posts by biXen

Yeah I guess that works too. I have terabytes of space though, so I'd much prefer to have a library of things I know works, and preferably know where I got them from. I will check out Picasa, it's been a while.

Hi,

I wonder if anyone knows of or uses any tools for organizing their texture library. Over the years I have gotten a lot of free to use texture packs, have downloaded a lot at different places and made stuff myself. But if there's no quick way to find something it's almost impossible to use any of it.

Was thinking of using lightroom, but it's not spot on for what I need I think. Should be easy to add stuff, with also variations for each texture (for normals, bump etc.). And obviously good fast search for finding stuff.

Nice tool, looks really clean and seemed to present errors nicely too. Will definitely use this. Btw Windows 8.1 gave a smartscreen warning when I started it, but maybe you can't do much about that. (do you have to register in their developer program or something to avoid it?)

I love the mood of this, reminds me of some Rainbow Six / Splinter Cell maps. A lot of shapes are very very basic though, PS2 basic

But eventhough the contrast of darker maps look better they can be a killer for playability. There's a reason the maps in rotation are quite bright. That said I'm not going to say it doesn't work without playing it I will check it out next time I'm in -game.

Getting better, I know how hard it is, my level is still a blocky mess

As a new mapper myself but somewhat experienced 3d hobbyist I would just like to give you an advice for detailing. Almost no edges in real life are sharp / completely square, so a lot of your details look very blocky, e.g. your A spot screenshot a couple of pictures above. If you are not grayboxing you are probably better off rounding some things off right away Also references are alpha omega like jackophant touched on. The scale of windows to doors to building in that A site picture is off.

Quote from jackophant

You are correct. However, the new faces aren't necessarily nodraw as it depends on which faces of the brush are textured when you cut. Hammer has a way of working it out, but I haven't found it to be reliable and just opt to check and texture to nodraw to make sure.

If I'm right in saying, when a face is completely covered the compiler doesn't render it anyway, but I don't know how this affects the filesize.

Are you sure about the last part? I would gather it doesn't light it, but the face might still be drawn by the GPU? Or does it figure that out too.

Also, more Hammer specific. Am I right in understanding that when you cut something you never weld anything back together? Things are just grouped, and you have to texture the individual parts?

(I guess since any new faces would have nodraw anyway so there's perhaps no negative effect on performance at least?)

Thanks. I guess if you have something smashing looking then people are going to spend the time downloading it even at 200MB, I'm not quite there yet Good to know though, I'm aiming for custom skybox and at least a good base of custom textures. From what I could see it quickly rises in filesize when added to the map.

Hi all,

I have a few questions regarding CS:GO specifically and more in general. I am working on a map for the competition (won't be finished in time, but either way) and I am currently half blocking and playtesting while I am also trying to create some "standout details" using brushes. I have finally gathered a good overview of good tutorials for most of the Hammer related things I need to figure out, which is good. My questions are mostly related to the next step, when the block/greybox is starting to be completed. So here goes:

1. I have been mapping on and off since Duke3D, but people's expectations of how things should look is at another level now, obviously. I am a bit afraid of the first impression of a half-done map being played by many people. So does one create a WIP workbench entry for the greybox, that you use for development, and then create a new one when the look is more final? If so, won't you lose subscribers to the development one when moving too? What's best practice here?
2. I feel that to stand out the map needs custom textures. Is there any stats on what maximum overall size of the map one should aim for? Considering it has to be downloaded by anyone who wants to try the map?
3. What kind of version control are people using, is the one in Hammer any good? I recall with dread old level editors completely ruining a level beyond recovery so I am in the old habit of saving in steps. I am thinking git will get quite bloated and slow with files like this.

Good stuff, thanks.

Looks great! How are you balancing / testing the hostage part of the gameplay? Feels like there's so little good info on how to make a good hostage map, it's all defuse.

Quote from laminutederire

On what computer does it run at 200 fps in ultra settings, with a high resolution and a proper sound system?

I run CS maxed at 1080p and most maps are steady over 200fps.

And you may think you can't see the difference between this and that, but when I sit at my 144Hz / 200fps setup and turn to look at my friends screen his screen looked like he was running it on a broken screen at 10fps, but he had 140fps, just 60hz though. Big difference, anyone who says differently don't know what they are talking about or are blind

You can also see the difference between 24 fps film and 60fps film, but since we are so used to 24fps movie it is referred to as "filmic" and is pleasant to us. That's why many directors don't want 60fps / digital.

Looking good, looking forward to updates.

Quote from besprutad

The most popular cs:go map de_dust2 has only one safe way to rotate aswell (through ct-spawn). I really don't see the problem. Same with inferno

Don't agree. You can go short on dust2, which is a lot safer if the other team has an awper as you can get through with one flash then. Will play this map before I comment on it specifically though.