SPLIT: L4D Tools Discussion

[JoshuaC]

It took them this long to release an L4D SDK without any major changes to Hammer? Wowzer.

What I find even more disappointing is the fact the game still won't be able to handle custom maps for a good few more weeks till they get it updated.

[Campaignjunkie]

For Hammer, there's probably all kinds of Ep3 stuff attached to it that they have to decouple for the SDK release. Which is maybe why it took so long for essentially a non-update. Shrug.

[JoshuaC]

Looks and feels like the same old hammer to me. Only thing that needed to be updated was the ability to load vpk's and a new set of compile tools. L4D's file structure differs quite greatly from other source games so that could be the reason it needed it's own set of everything.

[KungFuSquirrel]

I'd like to be able to see the previous version of lighting in the editor so I could made adjustments to it. The lighting preview is nice but it's far from an accurate representation of what it looks like ingame.

The problem is the second you adjust it, it would have to either re-compile, or totally break everything. Unless they go fully dynamic (which they probably won't anytime soon), the best they can do is give an approximation. The same is true in UnrealEd. Your previous baked lighting is there, but the second you move a light or rebuild an object it's all tossed out and replaced with a dynamic approximation. The important thing is you can actually get the foundation of your lighting where you want it without having to waste time on compile after compile.

Also I think I'm going to break this subthread out into its own discussion...

[The Horse Strangler]

I think we should squirrel. Though I also never used google sketchup, did you know you can carve in it and never crash, because it carve's in quads? Google sketchup also has it's own lighting preview and can place entities for hammer to use, but can't do normal things like place logic and work with I/O.

GOOGLE SKETCHUP DEFEATS HAMMER TEN TIMES OVER BUT CAN'T USE LOGIC_RELAYS

Google seems to win people over again.

[zeOx]

I can't get hammer to boot. using Windows 7 if that matters, don't see why it should though since normal hammer works fine

[Gloglebag]

The first thing I thought when I started up sketchup, when it was first released for free, was "holy shit why can't hammer and radiant be as intuitive and powerfull as this".

I'm glad valve agrees.

[AlexG]

I am liking the tools.

The light preview could use work and it is far from accurate representation after you compile but its a start.

SketchUp is great addition, I really don't see myself using it. But I do see the potential in it.

Raytraced Preview seem to show what it will look like in game, but I can only get it to work once during each mapping session. I have to restart the editor if I want to use it the second time.

[the0rthopaedicsurgeon]

it stays working as long as you leave the 3d view in 'lighting preview' and don't close the raytrace preview window. you can then keep moving around and switch to see how the lighting will look in the separate window (although as soon as you move the cursor back into hammer it'll minimise).

[AlexG]

it stays working as long as you leave the 3d view in 'lighting preview' and don't close the raytrace preview window. you can then keep moving around and switch to see how the lighting will look in the separate window (although as soon as you move the cursor back into hammer it'll minimise).

Thank you

[popcornjake]

Can somebody pretty please post a screenshot of the hammer lighting preview? I'm still stuck working with the ep1 engine and as such am very curious about this lighting preview business.

[Minos]

Can somebody pretty please post a screenshot of the hammer lighting preview? I'm still stuck working with the ep1 engine and as such am very curious about this lighting preview business.

You aren't missing anything. It's quite fucking lame and useless.

[FrieChamp]

I've become curious and downloaded the authoring tools, but hammer freezes on loadup for me as well (running on vista64)

[zeOx]

I've become curious and downloaded the authoring tools, but hammer freezes on loadup for me as well (running on vista64)

just leave it hanging and it'll eventually "unfreeze".

I get an error when compiling maps which reads "Steam validation rejected". anyone have any idea on how to fix this?

[OhSnap]

I've become curious and downloaded the authoring tools, but hammer freezes on loadup for me as well (running on vista64)

just leave it hanging and it'll eventually "unfreeze".

I get an error when compiling maps which reads "Steam validation rejected". anyone have any idea on how to fix this?

'+sv_lan 1' in console