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  2. Philipp

Posts by Philipp

  • Having issues re-compiling my map from 2016. Does VRAD compile differently now?

    • Philipp
    • January 26, 2021 at 4:17 PM

    Thank you for the suggestion! It's weird, I got it to work by enabling -StaticPropLightingOld without the -both parameter. That in turn made the map way darker than before. Re-enabling -both made the map go back to the right brightness levels again.

    So it's all fixed now. ?

  • Having issues re-compiling my map from 2016. Does VRAD compile differently now?

    • Philipp
    • January 26, 2021 at 1:41 AM

    Doing an update for my map Lair to get the radar in order and do a bit of polishing. The map is from 2016. (Workshop Link)

    I have decompiled it with the latest BSPSource since I do not have access to the original file. When compiling it again some prop_statics were really underlit or appeared black. Checking 'Enable Bounced Lighting' helped a bit here but introduced other issues as can be seen below, and the underlit prop_static issue persists in many places:

    https://imgur.com/a/0liJk8W

    I'm wondering if Hammer is calculating the lighting differently in 2021 vs 2016 or if this is a decompile issue.

    (I don't think the 'Enable Bounced Lighting' option even existed in 2016.) Parameters for compile: -final -both -StaticPropPolys -textureshadows -staticproplighting -game $gamedir $path\$file Is there a fix for this, or would I have to somehow get a legacy version of Hammer to get the map to compile as before?


  • [WIP] ARIZONA - Source files available

    • Philipp
    • September 21, 2017 at 1:34 PM

    That's a shame, but understandable! :(

    Maybe Source 2 will rekindle the flame down the road?

    Would you want the custom assets to be only used in this map, or would you consider for them to be used by the community for any map?

  • DE_ORE

    • Philipp
    • September 9, 2017 at 8:35 PM

    Just from looking at it I would recommend some more custom work on the lighting/skybox. It looks a bit generic, CS:GO 2013 style. Very heavy on the bloom as well. A thunderstorm or some work on colour correction could give this map a more unique atmosphere. I really like the different levels to it. You could probably open up the barn a bit more to allow for more interesting light coming in. The flow of the map didn't seem very clear to me, even though there are signs to the bombsites. The map is very busy, and think you can even double down on the detailing more on some of the .bsp'y parts - but try adding hints towards where to go. Strategically placed lights could help here, or certain textures more indicative of the pathways.

    The mountains could probably be a bit more majestic. On the gameplay side I can't really comment.

    Something really cool about this one, think you can turn it into something special with an added layer of finish!

  • ITT: Post maps/scenes that never saw the light of the day.

    • Philipp
    • July 6, 2017 at 7:03 PM

    'Secret' Area in Lair.

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/7ExoAML.jpg]

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/l7KJD7q.jpg]


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    Flyaround at 7:35. I released the map but this area was never finished. Stumbled upon the screenshots again.

  • WIP in WIP, post your level screenshots!

    • Philipp
    • May 31, 2017 at 9:54 PM

    [Blocked Image: http://i.imgur.com/rAhkLwV.jpg] Very early WIP for CSGO.

  • [CS:GO] [WIP] Free content from Waterfall

    • Philipp
    • April 21, 2017 at 1:59 PM

    To me they are a bit too generic with just some boxes in a pretty enclosed space. It contrasts to the rest of the map which is very scenic. Maybe there is a way to open them up to make the waterfall more front and center even where the bombsites are, or turn the boxes into something more meaningful and unique that would add even more personality to the map. Couldn't tell you exactly what that could be, but there's probably some potential there. :)

  • [CS:GO] [WIP] Free content from Waterfall

    • Philipp
    • April 10, 2017 at 11:20 AM

    The quality of your indoor environments floored me. In most official Valve maps these often come across as something rather low-priority... Waterfall raises the bar here. Regarding your indoor lighting, are there any special tricks you've used? Seeing some spotlights with a very low lightmap scale... do you use constant lights or ambient lighting in any special way? Thanks for planning to make these available, these could add a lot to indoor scenes! PS: I found the bombsites on Waterfall a bit anti-climactic. Maybe there's a way to make them a bit more 'panoramic'?

  • CloseCombat 2017 - Some dev commentary!

    • Philipp
    • March 30, 2017 at 6:08 PM

    Hi everyone, first post! Thought I'd share some of the development of tr_closecombat1_2017.

    [Blocked Image: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/171541721460482250/E18432456FDD5D1982C765EC31F13BF6B9332AF6/]

    [Blocked Image: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/171541499404733415/6831FDA7F6943A54861930463766D9AF00290209/]

    [Blocked Image: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/171541721460522130/A8A068F728490A5582EDA1E3FD6309D44CA4A06C/]

    [Blocked Image: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/171541721460521399/C1571BFB6E9A1DB63DC94B0F46725A96DE7EE531/]

    [Blocked Image: https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/171541089267659563/F989C1E7B34852CECB3A2D9DBCBDC0D453C4D5A3/]

    Original for 1.6:

    The content cannot be displayed because it is no longer available.

    CloseCombat was one of my favourite maps for CS 1.6. I remember playing it as a wee boy and it was always a blast.

    I doubled down on mapping in late 2015 and it helped me prepare my design portfolio. My mapping ethos quickly became: Visibility (even in murky maps like Lair). This was pre-Nuke overhaul, when white unfinished paint spots were used to add visibility to encounter-spots...

    CloseCombat for CS:GO was quite a while in the making, this is the first version released first going back to January 2016: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…s/?id=610502694

    I later released an Extended version which I gradually overhauled with high-res assets as they became available. The current version took that another large step forward by adding loads more detailing and high-res wherever possible. I like doing maps in this iterative way.

    I decided to open up the original remake by adding loads of scenery that also makes players semi-visible through tinted windows. This takes a bit of the randomness of the starts out of it, as the map becomes learnable. Still decided not to include a radar for a little surprise factor.

    I don't do models or textures (Big thanks to everyone who made theirs available!), the dark window tint was achieved by using the urban_horizon_even texture with 10000x10000 texture scaling, letting me use it as a gradient behind glass. Blue lights inside the rooms are supposed to make the tint appear blue. The glass texture itself is scaled all the way down to 0.008. Light block textures are used on the windows to not have the blue light seep into the white laboratory section. The layers are: Glass -> Tint -> Light Block -> Bullet Block (Which I still can't get to work properly... This is especially annoying in the mid-section... Help!) -> Block LOS (So BOTS don't shoot against outer glass)

    Texture fidelity is important to me, a lot of the other textures are scaled down to 0.0625.

    The theme is anti-gravity laboratory. This came from a prop I discovered in the Castle assets that was used to test reflections I believe. It is a blue sphere. I added it to a re-design of my Bloodstrike remake as part of the center artwork, having it float as if not affected by gravity: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…s/?id=783149992

    Then I decided to make a little 'story' out of this by making the CloseCombat map the laboratory in which this anti-gravitational technology is researched. The sphere comes back, but it is contained behind glass and has damaged its surroundings, indicating that the technology is in its early stages.

    Once I released CloseCombat 2017 to the Workshop I got comments which said that the mid should be low gravity. I thought local low-gravity was not possible and dismissed it at first, but did a re-think and discovered that a trigger-gravity can achieve this. I then raised the middle part's ceiling to make a jump at 20% gravity possible. This adds quite a bit more personality IMHO.

    The map is very unoptimised as I never got into that and the windows open the entire map quite a bit. FPS are semi-stable but could probably be better. The good thing about the inacessible scenery is that the props don't have to be solid. I also painted on a lot of the shadows with the shadow_simple overlay. (There's still one flickering glass texture I can't get rid of...)

    That's the gist of it, would be happy to answer any questions/comments!

    Workshop Link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/fi…091&searchtext=

    Detail Shot:

    The content cannot be displayed because it is no longer available.

  • Mapcore Introductions Thread

    • Philipp
    • March 30, 2017 at 10:56 AM

    Hi there, I'm Philipp, this is my Workshop:https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561…iles/?appid=730

    I like doing remakes and deathmatch maps. My goal is to bring a visual fidelity to more casual maps that usually isn't there. My biggest project so far has been 'Lair', a map that is inspired by horror movies and night scenes in Asia. I started mapping casually for CS:S in 2005, and took a long break until 2015 when I finished my studies. I took one year off to teach myself product design and mapping went along into the portfolio. Currently a student again. On the side I make music (which plays when you use the jukebox in Lair). My maps have urban Asian influences from living in Singapore/Bangkok most of my life and I see these imaginary environments to some extent as a reflection of self. Happy to be here!

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