Hammer Editor Tutorials

[IneptGuard]

Alright, there at the best quality I am going to get for the time being. Sorry about the sound, just crank you volume for the first three videos.

Vid#1
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLeksdbzlkg&feature=channel_page

Vid#2
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImNiaa0J1kM&feature=channel_page

Vid#3
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdtNxMB2o_w

Vid#4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEv3Moo30l8&feature=channel_page

Vid#5
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNg_P66cSyA

Vid#6
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuvugKum7cI

Vid#7
www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6ojwnm24zE

Vid#8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKftc62hHjw

Vid#9
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRjMSR3_8eE

Vid#10
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPS0SoazaSw

Vid#11
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmxa3xYGy2o

Vid#12
www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYfkRxAJbVc

Vid#13
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG_IMpJv0FA

Vid#14
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctyUEt9MnsY


Doors tutoial vids -

Vid #1
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk7815KDJDM

Vid #2
www.youtube.com/watch?v=khbSn_4paBk

Vid #3
www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1zWCN1qSPk

Vid #4
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rhMs-KgDJQ

Vid #5
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfxGphKqqbk

Vid #6
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c93p4EkYjI

Vid #7
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kygavoS5quo

Vid 8 will be up real soon, it just shows the finished product and the method for corecting the func_door_rotating - uncheck spawn flags: rotate on X axis and rotate on Y axis.


I changed some settings around and shortened the vids to increase the quality, also you will notice that i am just letting the vids run into each other. What can I say, I'm lazy.

I will get new Vids up when I get a chance (soon).

[veteran_gamer]

holy shit when did you post this!

[veteran_gamer]

im following the tutorial right now, getting set up

[IneptGuard]

The 4th video is up, Please ignore my drunk-en-ness...

Don’t get discouraged man, it's going to take a few lessons before you’re able to stand on your own. Remember you have no choice, I will make you learn hammer weather you like it or not. : )

[veteran_gamer]

yeah, it just might take 13 times, but ill eventually get it

i want to make an outside map, like the streets n shit, residential neighborhood setting you know?

have some (unarmed) civilians in their homes, getting chased down and smashed by the zombies

ahhh

beautiful

[IneptGuard]

I just made some adjustments; the length of each Video has been cut down in order to improve compression quality. I will also be using the zoom feature more often to help improve visual quality. As for the sound I am still messing with the Amplification settings, I'll get it sooner or later.

I just recorder 4 more Videos I will upload them as soon as possible.

Don't concern yourself with the first 4 videos to much as most of these are just part of the introduction. Once we start mapping I will still come back to each tool as I use them and explain what I am doing and How

[kenneth]

Hmm.. I was going to get back into Hammer one of these days. I think I'll try it today. See if I can remake my old subway I made. These tutorials would be a good way to start again. Watching now.

[IneptGuard]

Let me know what you think, even though these first three videos suck as far as quality is concerned.

I hope these help you out and if either of you have any questions I will be more then happy to answer them to the best of my knowledge.

I will upload the next few videos tonight and perhaps make a few more for good measure.

In the next few videos we will start on our first map.

[veteran_gamer]

hey man everything is a process, you'll improve little by little within a short time cause you've got the brains for it, just not enough front line experience, i guarantee within a month or two, you'll have a real nice setup with good quality all around

p.s.

it also helps that you have a pc/audio/video/windows guru at your disposal, his name is veteran_gamer, he just doesnt like gloating or showing off, talk to him for all of your needs though, he wont do it for you, he'll just provide shortcuts and tips that will help you learn what you would of already on your own, a bit faster

feel me nigga?

[IneptGuard]

Added more vids,

On that note, do you have any idea why I can't reencode BSR videos in high quality or HD? every time I try it comes out fucked or it gives me an error message, basicaly saying that the code is incompadable.

[kenneth]

These tutorials are real nice, IneptGuard. Straightforward but somewhat long winded (but you can't complain since you're taking time to explain shit thouroughly). I've got a nice detailed hallway going, going to keep adding on to it. I think I should just do the basic layout of the map first but hell, my first map is going to be small anyways and to really see what I'm shaping it all into I've gotta detail it as i go.

[IneptGuard]

If you find yourself, not sure what to do next as far as layout and design. I recommend grabbing a pencil and paper. it sound ridiculous but all you need to do is draw a shity top down view of your map and start adding to it from there. I have drawn little sketches if you will of all three of the maps that I am currently working on. It's easier than trying to wing it in hammer.

Ya, I talk to myself a little too much. I think that 5,6,and 7 turned out better all around. I think that’s how they will be from now on. short and more to the point. Glad you liked them

[kenneth]

Oh yeah, for real dude. I haven't drawn much yet, but for now I've got a great idea. It's a really slow process right now but I'm adding detail as I go like I said so, hell that soaks up time. It's just trying to figure out what texture to use, what models to use to spice it all up, etc. I watched 6 and 7 and their going great and like vet predicted you're improving as you go along. Thanks for teaching me about the clip tool, hah! As long as it isn't a complex shape, it usually doesn't fuck up my brush work that much.

My layout so far is.. You start in a hallway with an open duct behind you. The duct is an explanation as to why you start in a basement hallway. Maybe I'll work on the prequel map with an outside envoirnment were you work your way to the area and sneak in via the duct, but thats later. But, beyond the door at the end is a storage room/basement type area (the hallway will have breakers and fuse boxes and shit for a purpose) with some stairs leading up to the apartment complex. I think.. I'm going to do an assassination type map once I get the layout finished and start learning gameplay basics. Or maybe just an ode to HL2 of just trying to find your way around C17 as a begining of a map pack lol. Who knows. anyways.. Screenshots!

img392.imageshack.us/img392/6278/hallway0000dv4.jpg img122.imageshack.us/img122/5494/hallway0001du2.jpg img210.imageshack.us/img210/1592/hallway0003ob3.jpg img234.imageshack.us/img234/5079/hallway0004fv9.jpg

Needs work but so far for a guy whos picked hammer for 2 days quit for 4 months then picked it up for a day again, I think i'm doing pretty good. Comments, crit, praise blah blah is always appreciated.

[IneptGuard]

You are probably aware of these already. But I thought I would mention this anyways.

Ok, looks pretty good so far. Only some minor things I noticed and all are easy decorative things that you can fix in a minute or so. The first is just the wall texture. You got a case of texture repetition going there, not a big deal, just find a similar texture that doesn’t have that crack in it. The 2nd thing isn’t really a problem but I just thought I would mention it. The light fixtures, you can change the skin if you would like to give them a “lit” appearance. The only other thing I want to mention is a door frame. I couldn’t tell if you have one in there or not. A door frame is one of those things that is so natural that if you have one no one will notice it but if it’s missing that doorway will never look quite right.

Don’t worry about the whole story concept just yet; otherwise you’ll end up like me. 3 maps at once and no release date in sight.

Once you feel confident enough, you can start planning out a map pack or a mini campaign but first lets conquer logic entities, scripted sequencing, choreographed scenes and many other functions that most mappers don’t know shit about. These are the things that I will eventually get to in my videos. But for now I would just practice honing your skills.

You got this shit down man, pretty good so far.

I will be uploading the next few videos soon. We touch on entities like lights, props and npcs (briefly) and then we finally compile our first map.

[kenneth]

The door frame is there man! But I'll change up the texture you're right. I think the fact that mat_fullbright 1 is on and theres no lighting yet really impacts the map and It'll look 100x better once its lit up with proper lighting. Thanks for the tips. Only thing I didn't notice was the light fixtures. I'll have to change the skin. I never cared about the story too much since my first map a lone will take time because I want it to look natural.. I honestly hate those shitty maps with blocky architecture and mis-aligned textures and everything outta proportion.. Even for first maps its no excuse! >

But ok.. just fixed the lights, and the texture, still repetative although WAY better.. I think truly un repetative looking textures wont be that possible. I'm re-doing the ducts and making the outside later on. BTW I got some questions.. How do I add a padlock to a door and then unlock it? I want to go into the store room find a crowbar then break the padlock at the other end of the hallway to gain access to the tenements. i've got some basic doors going but they lack detail. Also can I add handles to doors and make the move as well?

Thanks in advanced and thanks for the tutorials, they're helping a lot.

[IneptGuard]

Hold on, I'll type up an answer for ya in a sec. I gotta order some food first! I'll be back in a minute.

[IneptGuard]

Ok, first and for most. What function are you using for your door? If you're using a standard func_rotating then you can not add a handle but if you want one then create a prop_door_rotating and change the world model to Door_01_left.mdl this door has like 6 different skins to choose from. For the handle there is a key value for that, but i think it only works for prop_door_rotatin (smart edit mode) Keyvalue: Hardware type

The door lock I believe is simply a prop_physics with a spawn Flag set to: motion disabled, and an output of: On Break - Dorr X - Unlock. Door X being what ever door its attached to.

[kenneth]

Thanks man! It works great. Man I'm loving this shit. So fun... No headache at all.. At least until I make more experimental stuff. hehe.. Thanks for the help, brother I appreciate it.

e/
Progress shots!
Lighting looks... Meh.. Lame, lol. Need to learn more about it, but it'll do just as a place holder for now.


Haven't done too much because I restarted.. My first attempt was a mess so I did it from scratch again a lot neater.
Need a door frame for the door with the lock in it though. Hows the other one looking though? Noticable/unnoticable enough? I noticed the other one had really lame shading that looked liked something outta the freaking 90s.

Sorry for jacking your thread dude.. hehe.

[IneptGuard]

Hey! get back here with my thread you bastard!

Don't worry about it. I can always kill this and make another one.

Basic lighting will be covered in next few videos along with some other crap. Which reminds me, I should probably encode those before I forget.

The hall way look noticably better, I love the ceiling. You could create a dropped ceiling with tiles and cut out some of holes to simulate missing tiles alowing the player to pear up into the crawl space and see pipes and wires and what not. There is potential here.

[kenneth]

Cool, can't wait! Good ideas too, I was thinking of something like that but I like the ceiling concrete texture too much. I think I'll do a duct from the ceiling though it wouldn't look too great on the walls. Or maybe just maybe do the tile thing like you said. The idea reminds me of HL1.

The tutorials are going great, but imo they need more flow.. I suppose it's just me but I usually like to get right to things. Hopefully they'll speed up with the more advanced ones.. hehe.

Btw.. I have about 2 env_cubemap entities in there.. but they don't seem to be working.. :/ Any help?

[IneptGuard]

Quite simple my freind, first make sure that they are in the middle of the hallway (not touching the walls, floor or ceiling) and then what you need to do is compile and run the map then once the game is up and running HL2 will create default cubmaps (which suck) for basic reflectivity. All you have to do is open up the consol and type: buildcubemaps

And then you will see screenshots of however many cubes you have, when its finished you're suposed to restart the map (type: restart into consol) for good mesure but if I am testing I don't normally do that. After you do this, the cube map settings will be saved to the .bsp file and you don't have to do it again. Until you create a new version or recompile it through hammer. Also check your advanced video settings, I have mine set to reflect all, which looks very pretty.

[IneptGuard]

New Vids added.

[kenneth]

Wicked! Right on time for the new year too.

[IneptGuard]

HaHa, I am so drunk right now, it's 4:00am here, time for bed. Happy new year man! good night.

[kenneth]

Only buzzed here.. Decided to tone it down this time. Have a good National Hangover day..

[IneptGuard]

Let me know how things are working out and if you found the last few videos helpful.

I only spent about an hour on my map this week but I got more done in that hour than I have in the last 2 weeks so things are moving along nicely for me. How goes the battle on your end?

[kenneth]

Note - the 14th video is private! Selected viewers only. Not much has gone on over on this end. FUCK I want to map so bad right now but homework first, yeah? hehe.. It's sooo tempting though, I'll admit. I deserve to be smacked upside the head.

[IneptGuard]

Privet?

Damit, I new I forgot something. I will fix that asap, It's not like its very special anyways. It just covers the compiling process and the finished results. In the next videos I will cover inputs and out puts doors and elevators and then we will do things like glass, water and cubemaps.

[IneptGuard]

I will be posting somemore vids, soon. By the weekend at the latest. I will cover inputs, outputs, triggers, doors, elevators, glass, water and outdoor environments.

I cant seem to get BSR to record a higher quality and I can't convert BSR videos to HD or even high quality. Does anyone have an any advice?

[amf357]

This has taught me to use hammer better than the otehr tutorials I've tried in the past. Great work.