Hammer update!

[KungFuSquirrel]

Hey guys,

For those of you still poking in Hammer, there's a new Source SDK/Hammer update that adds some neat stuff. .vmf instancing a la L4D2, manifest/layer support, some show/hide stuff, and some updates to the displacement tool (a new "sculpt" tool). May be some other stuff, since I can't find a proper changelist anywhere... just trying to get what I can from a former Raven colleague out at Valve.

If I find a proper changelist, I'll post it here - I encourage you guys to do the same

[Jetsetlemming]

The last news listed in Steam under the "View news" menu option for the Source SDK is from Sept. 2006. Source SDK Base, July 2009. L4D SDK just has generic L4D2 news.

On an unrelated plus note however, I just noticed that the UDK has found its way into my Tools listing in Steam. Yay not having to manually go download the new versions!

[KungFuSquirrel]

Yeah, they don't seem to like updating the news. But, open up Hammer for the Orange Box and the new stuff is there.

I just saw UDK there but it doesn't work for me But, that's fantastic news.

[Campaignjunkie]

uhh, anyone else's grid views acting up now? sometimes they're black, there's all this flickering, sometimes info_nodes are monochrome sometimes yellow in the 3D view... It just seems a whole lot more unstable now.

EDIT: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... 534&page=4

a lot of other people are having this problem. awesome. well, I guess that's the next few day's productivity out the window...

[Sentura]

anyone know how to get tools back in the small window like before? apparently i have to open the large fucking window to get into the tools section...

[sarge mat]

I just saw UDK there but it doesn't work for me But, that's fantastic news.

Yep same for me.

[-HP-]

Instancing rules!

[Wesley Tack]

yaaay, valve updated HAMMER... and once again break it along the way...

jeez, how many days will I loose now because of this fuckup (or weeks)...

this is what I have to work with..?

[sarge mat]

They did this with L4D1's SDK. As far as I know it was never fixed 100%. Nothing as unusable as this though.

How do they not know about stuff like this before posting.

[Skjalg]

Because theres probably one or two coders on this, so they basically only test it on two rigs (maybe the same gfx card even) before they release...

[Thrik]

Hammer is so amusingly retro.

[dux]

Haha, hammer. I'm sorry guys

What's instancing? Is that copying a section from one map into yours but it will paste exactly into the same coordinates from where it came from?

[e-freak]

instancing is creating a "map tile" that you can then use everythere in your map like a prefab but with the benefit of being able to edit the instancing source parallel.

[KungFuSquirrel]

Pretty sure you can blame me for this one. Don't think they were planning on releasing this stuff publicly until a friend of mine let slip they had this stuff in the Orange Box branch and I pestered him to get it included in the release build

But, when it's working, it's a tremendous update. The new show/hide almost entirely eliminates the hassle of visgroups (which, good lord, are such a terrible setup). I'm curious to learn more how the manifest stuff works, too. And good lord, the instancing is glorious. The biggest win isn't just that you have a "prefab" referencing an actual file that propagates the changes throughout, but that you can build an axial structure but place it however you want within the level with none of the usual geometry precision errors. COD has used this extensively to build large non-axial arrangements, and they also added it for L4D2 and used it similarly. I'm currently using it to get a rotationally precise modular set of walls and roof pieces in this kind of arrangement:

[attachment=0]arena_roundhouse_editor_003.jpg[/attachment]

[Skacky]

Yeah instancing is very good stuff.

Dux: you can already do that with Paste Special.