Engine Update Released

Updates to Team Fortress 2 have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Engine

• Enabled Steam Cloud support for key bindings and custom spraypaint images 
• Added Options->Multiplayer->Advanced option to toggle off/on: default is on

• http://store.steampowered.com/news/3407/

Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch Updates Released

Updates to Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Half-Life 2: Deathmatch have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The major changes include:

Source Engine Changes (CS:S, DoD:S, TF2, HL2:DM)

• Fixed a bug with voice recording intermittently not recording after playing in a level for a while (Mac)
• Fixed a rare client crash caused by text rendering (Mac)
• Updated the server browser localization files

• http://store.steampowered.com/news/4633/

Tweaking Hammer for Efficiency

by Timothy 'YM' Johnson @Nodraw.net

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 ...

Dynamic Materials with Proxies

by Andy "Velvet Fist, Iron Glove" Durdin @Nodraw.net

This picture constantly rotates.

Material proxies are a neat little feature of the Source engine that let you alter various properties of a material dynamically.  This can produce some neat effects, as the texture position, scale, rotation, transparency and much more can be changed continuously, or even in response to game events.
Take Half-life 2, for example.  You know those combine force-fields, that ripple with energy, and fade out as you move away from it?  Or in Team Fortress 2, you’ll have seen the rotating radar screen in the 2fort basement.  Both those effects are done with material proxies. Read more ...

Happy New Year 2010

Speed Mapping

by MangyCarface @Nodraw.net

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...

Merry Christmas 2009

Source Engine Dynamic Water Demo

by Jimmy42222

I know somebody has already done this but they were being all bitchy about not telling how they did it. I, however, will happily tell you how it works. The whole this is an info_particle system, stored in the little orange box (hah, pun). The info_particle_system is set to trace all around it with a trace collision property.

Here's a download link if you want to play around with it. If you do it in GMod you don't need the particle_manifest.txt file.

http://www.filefront.com/15188993/dynamic.zip

Optimization in Source: A Practical Demonstration

by MangyCarface @Nodraw.net

Optimization is one of the least understood parts of mapping in source; there is a lot of hearsay on the matter and generally the topic can appear overwhelming to new mappers. Today we’re going to discuss how optimization in source works, not from a theoretical approach, but from an example-by-example method that will hopefully bring us around to understanding the underlying theory. When implemented correctly, good optimization can be more beautiful than the aesthetics of a map itself. Read more ...

Interview with Level Designer Mateusz Piaskiewicz

by World of Level Design

Mateusz "Seir" Piaskiewicz is a professional level designer currently working at Techland. Techland is a game developer located in Poland. They are known for Call of Juarez series. Read more ...

[REL] dod_schlosshotel

New DoD:S map release!

Mapname: dod_schlosshotel
Gameplaytype: Capture the Flag
Leveldesigner: [MG]B@D
Website: MURDERGROUNDS.COM & bad.dod-federation.com
Download: http://murdergrounds.com/dod_schlosshotel.rar
Download-Mirror: http://www.mydod.de/index.php?c=cmap_d_243...
                             http://www.dodmap.com/index.php?option=com_r...

This is my first project FINISHED !


This is my final release of schlosshotel I hope everyone enjoys this release as much or more than rc2 screens below ....

Changes from rc2 release >


New redesigned Spawn areas
detailed entired map & Optimized the entire map to the best of my ability
Removed some custom models and added a few new ones
Added more areas to get up on the buildings
Fixed 99% of model misalignments and texture errors
added german flags and banners "more detail"
added a few water puddles
added custom german march song triggered around center hotel


Increased FPS 10-15 on my box over all by optimizing map ...

Credits >


Valve for all the Building Models
Custom Models by Pedroleum , Moroes,Surgeon,Thujalvi

Special thanks to >>>


Furyo for too many things to count , Moroes for help with the lighting!
My son Kill@ for the Overview !
My Wife for all her help & support and Ideas to get this map finished!
Splatt for his great Bug Testing !
And to all the [MG] members for help with the alpha,beta testing!


And to all the other dods forum members for their suggestions , comments


Look for more upcoming dods maps from
MurderGrounds Mapping Core @ "HTTP://MURDERGROUNDS.COM"

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=966222

TF2 and DoD: Source Update Released

Updates to Team Fortress 2 and Day of Defeat: Source have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Orange Box Engine

• Fixed an exploit that allowed files to be uploaded to the server at arbitrary locations in the file system
• Fixed a server crash caused by a client packet claiming to be an HLTV client when HLTV is disabled on the server
• Fixed a server crash caused by spoofing a client disconnect message
• Fixed a server crash caused by sending malformed reliable subchannel data
• Fixed a server crash related to unbounded settings on some convars

Community requests

• Removed centerprint texts for TF_FLAGTYPE_INVADE CTF game mode
• Changed TF_FLAGTYPE_INVADE CTF game mode capture reward from 10 kills to 1 capture
• Added OnCapTeam1 and OnCapTeam2 outputs to the item_teamflag and func_capturezone entities
• Fixed HUD "carried" image for the TF_FLAGTYPE_ATTACK_DEFEND and TF_FLAGTYPE_INVADE CTF game modes using the wrong team color
• Fixed dropped flag for the TF_FLAGTYPE_INVADE CTF game mode using the wrong skin

• http://store.steampowered.com/news/2759/

DoD: Source Update Released

Updates to Team Fortress 2 and Day of Defeat: Source have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Day of Defeat: Source

• Fixed an engine crash

• http://store.steampowered.com/news/2743/