So you’re putting in lights and you find the perfect settings to light the room, but there’s a problem: the ceiling is almost pitch black! A surprisingly common problem, so what do you do? increase the light’s brightness and suffer a blinding floor? Nope. Read more ...
Just a quick one today to clear up something that possibly isn’t experimented with much when considering lighting, the spread angle from the light_environment. The entity itself recommends a value of 5 degrees to start with however, as my attention was drawn recently to, this is actually quite a large angle. You’ll see on a sunny day, the shadow from a tall building is incredibly crisp. Read more ...
One of the most fundamental aspects of level design is proper scale and dimensions. A door way that is few units too large or too small will ruin the illusion of your environment.A building set to improper scale will destroy the immersion of the player in your environment.Hammer Source has few key aspects of keeping your world on scale and proper proportions.
The tutorial covers:Read more ...
How to keep your map to proper scale and dimensions
Hammer Source character scale, wall height, door dimensions, stairs
Developer textures
Grid values
Hammer Source Map Construction Breakdown takes a look at what elements levels are made up of in Hammer Source. Knowing how a map is constructed inside Source helps you to understand your own process and what you need to do with your own maps.
The tutorial covers:
How the map constructed?
What elements are used?
How everything comes together in Hammer Source.
Hammer Source Interface Crash Course in 15 minutes. The tutorial covers the entire interface to get you started mapping in Hammer Source. Most commonly used functions are covered.After watching the 15 minute video you will be comfortable navigating around the viewports in Hammer Source and you'll be ready to start mapping.
Learn how to install the Source SDK correctly and how to use Valve’s Hammer Editor. Read more ...
Back when I was trying to learn Source mapping, I ran into several issues, most of which involved lighting or water. While I have not mastered Source lighting, I can offer some help to those having issues with water. Read more...
Like any engine, after a bit of love and attention it can run much better, spend some time setting hammer up how you like it, get something that you like and get it to work for you, it’s your workflow. Read more ...
There are a few things you can do to greatly improve the speed at which you map. I’ll be going through a few of these things, point by point, but you must use them in practice in order to get faster!
Read more...
Updates to the Source SDK have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:
Hammer
- Fixed bug in which the model browser can become unresponsive
- Game overlay no longer attaches to Hammer which fixes incorrect 3D camera position bugs
- Google Sketchup to Hammer exporter now ships in the Source SDK
Updates to Source SDK have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:
Source SDK
- Added source files for ten shipping TF2 maps
- arena_lumberyard
- arena_ravine
- cp_badlands
- cp_dustbowl
- cp_granary
- cp_gravelpit
- ctf_2fort
- pl_badwater
- pl_goldrush
- tc_hydro
- Updated shadercompile binaries and added missing DLL needed for shader compilation
SDK Tools
- Fixed the issues with the following tools: height2ssbump, normal2ssbump, pfm2tga, splitskybox, vbspinfo, vmt_tweak, vmtcheck, shadercompile
- Fixed an issue in studiomdl pertaining to $shadowlod
Hammer
- The texture browser automatically ignores most textures that cannot be placed on brushes or displacements, as well as anything inside a .svn folder for those using svn as their choice of versioning software.
- Added additional auto visgroups for sprites and cubemaps
- Separated the VRAD calls into two sequential while using HDR (-ldr and -hdr) instead of -both
- Model browser is now created once per session
- Displacement brush dial now has greater range
- Added a stop button to sound previews
SDK Launcher
- Added the ability to edit game configurations with vconfig
Source Code
- Added a new template mod that replaces the old 'advanced' source . This template has options for teams,classes, sprinting, prone, stamina, etc.
- Added shader source; fxc.exe, psa.exe and vsa.exe must be placed into the dx9sdk\utilities folder and you must modify materialsystem\stdshaders\buildsdkshaders.bat to set your paths.
- Most tonemap controller options now work in multiplayer. The 'template mod' map 'sdk_teams_hdr' demonstrates this.
- All three mod types by default mount the required appids - Multiplayer uses 218 and mounts 320 for example. Gameinfo.txt contains a new entry 'AdditionalAppId' for this purpose.
- Particle systems can now be defined with a per-map manifest, similar to soundscapes.
- Fixed a number of issues which caused the server to not compile in linux
Multiplayer Source Code
- Players animate with the new animation system that came along with TF2.
- Fixed third person animations and all effects
- Fixed SLAM issues
- Fixed Use of UTIL_GetLocalPlayer on the server in various locations
- Fixed a number of other bugs / asserts
Singleplayer Source Code
- Fixed a number of issues preventing the source from functioning correctly
- Added new vehicle "hl2buggy" so that users may have both the charger and the old buggy
In diesem Tutorial werde ich euch erklären, wie man in TF2 (=Team Fortress 2) per Hammer-Editor ganz leicht ein Portal, einen Beamer oder auch genannt "Teleporter" setzt.
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Updates to Source SDK have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:
Source SDK
- Team Fortress 2’s game objects for new 'Payload' gameplay are now available to map makers
- Custom settings in Hammer are no longer overwritten when the SDK is restarted
Updates to Source SDK have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:
Enhancements
- Added a drop-down list in the SDK Launcher that allows the user to switch between The Orange Box engine and the Half-Life 2: Episode One engine
- Two new lighting preview modes are available in Hammer
- Models are automatically centered when loaded in Faceposer
Bug Fixes
- Fixed crash and corrupt configurations for users that don’t own any Orange Box games
- Resolved issues with building models for any games that that use the Half-Life 2:Episode 1 engine
- Fixed crashes in Hammer and Faceposer when HL2 is set to the active game
Known Issues
- Cannot create shortcuts to Hammer, Faceposer, and Model Viewer
- Linux makefiles for the Orange Box source code are incomplete and will be updated in the next release
- The Particle Editor is not presently included in the Source SDK
- SDK shader code only included with mods built to use Half-Life 2:Episode 1
Updates to the Source SDK have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:
Source SDK
- Fixed crash when opening VGUI model browser in Hammer
Updates to the Source SDK have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:
- Fixed problem with building cubemaps for TF2, Ep2, and Portal maps
- Added missing models and textures for Hammer and Model Viewer. This addresses two crashes
- Fixed problem loading 'FileSystemOpenDialog.dll' in Hammer and Model Viewer
- Changed the game configuration logic such that only Orange Box games are available in the active games list when the SDK is set to use Orange Box tools. Only pre-Orange Box games are available when the SDK is set to use the Ep1 tools
- Temporarily disabled Hammer Lighting preview modes until compatibility issues can addressed
The Source SDK has been updated with content and tools to create maps, models, and textures for Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Portal, and Team Fortress 2. In addition to support for games in The Orange Box, the Source SDK can continue to be used to create content for other top-selling Source engine-based games, such as Half-Life 2: Episode One and Counter-Strike: Source.
Included in the Source SDK are:
- The Hammer World Editor, which provides the capability of creating custom levels for Source engine games
- Valve’s custom Faceposer tool that allows users to produce choreographed sequences in the Source engine
- A model viewer that allows artists to preview models and their animations quickly and easily
- Source code that allows mod makers to create their own game based on Half-Life 2 or Half-Life 2:Deathmatch
- All of the tools required to make build custom textures and models for Source engine games
Future Source SDK updates will provide new development tools, as well as source code for creating single and multi-player mods that utilize the latest Source engine features.
Updates to the Source SDK have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:
Source SDK
- Fixed compilation issues for Linux dedicated server in SDK
- Removed 3D Lighting Preview menu choice from Hammer
- Fixed SDK Launcher bugs when performing outdated MOD check
- SDK Wizard now creates 'maps' directory underneath the new mod directory. This prevents a map compilation error
- The 'cs_milita.vmf' distributed with was loading in a bad state if the grid is set to be displayed at startup. New version has grid off
A major update to the Source SDK has been released on Steam. Included in this update are several features and fixes for the tools in the Source SDK.
New SDK Features
- High Dynamic Range lighting now supported in the tools
- Day of Defeat: Source support now included
- New Hammer Editor features:
- VGUI Model browser with real-time 3D view
- Map autosave/backup
- Model and displacement rendering in 2D views
- Many other small improvements and bug fixes
For a full list of changes, see the Source SDK Changelist on the Valve Developer Community site
