Half Life 1 mapping tutorial thread

[Divagante]

Okay guys, so, i started this thread cause "uglybuddy" from dcisozone asked me to teach him how to make maps for half life, so i thinked it would be a good idea to teach what i know about mapping ^^

So, i'm going to start by saying that we, at dcfan, use the goldsource grafical engine, this is, the half life 1 (hl1) engine. It is important to know that half life is the game, and counter strike, day of defeat, paranoia, etc are mods (modifications) of half life.

To map hl1, i mainly use 4 tools: valve hammer editor 3.4 (freeware) to edit the maps themselves; wally (freeware) to edit .wad texture packages; goldwave (paydware, but the trial will last you forever!) to edit sound files (let's talk about this later on); and winbsp (freeware) to convert .bsp (compiled hl1 maps) into editable (and buggy) vhe .map files.

When recently i talked to dreammatix, he talked to me about another mapping program called quark (quake army knife) (oh, yeah, goldsource is kinda like a mod from quake engine, but i most old fps were mods from quake engine), i tryed it and, oh god it so diferent, and in my opinion, hard as hell. I prefer to use valve hammer editor because it is simple, grafically good, and the 3D view is always nice xD

Here's the tools:

Basics:
Valve Hammer Editor 3.4 (map editor)
Wally 155b (texture editor)
bsp2map v2&v3 (bsp to map converter)
Goldwave 5.58 (sound editor)
-- the previous 4 in one single file --

Others:
Quark (another map editor) ## official software link
HLDC tool collection by OVERRIDE (i organized and mirrowed these)

RE-MASTERED VIDEO TUTORIAL LIST:

VHE 3.4 tutorial 0 - intro to VHE 3.4
VHE 3.4 tutorial 1 - configuring VHE 3.4

So, here's the current tutorial list:
(please notice i'll remaster these tutorials when possible)

VHE 3.4 tutorial - 1 - how to configure vhe - re-mastered
VHE 3.4 tutorial - 2 - making a simple map (part 1/2)
VHE 3.4 tutorial - 2 - making a simple map (part 2/2)
VHE 3.4 tutorial - 3 - scrolling door, glass (transparency) and breakables
VHE 3.4 tutorial - 4 - clip, origin and sky textures
VHE 3.4 tutorial - 5 - lightning, weapons and monsters
VHE 3.4 tutorial - 6 - texturing, advanced transparency and ladders
VHE 3.4 tutorial - 7 - models and prefabs
VHE 3.4 tutorial - 8 - triggers (part 1/2)
VHE 3.4 tutorial - 8 - triggers (part 2/2)
VHE 3.4 tutorial - 9 - level changers


TO-DO LIST: (i haven't forgot about these)
- sequences (for in-game cutscenes)
- full entity list
- vehicles
(request are available)


Anything else, feel free to pm or mail me, i'll be attending questions

thanks to all, and keep tuned ^^ kindly, divagante!


------------------------------/---/---/-----------------------------

OTHERS

wavelenght - a site with many tutorials onto hl1 (and others)

THE NEXT TWO LINKS WERE TAKEN DOWN WITH THE MEGAUPLOAD BUST. IF ANYONE HAS THESE FILES PLEASE LET ME KNOW SO WE CAN RE-UPLOAD THEM

doccumentation on the RE camera look in the hl1 engine (original project by Dreammatix)

original valve-erc full doccumentation regarding hl1 entities

[Divagante]

Video tutorial 2 - how to make simple map (tools, views, simple concepts and simple compiling)

part 1


part 2


EDIT: my voice is like 10 seconds lagged! im very sorry about it, i only noticed it after i upload it =S i hope it won't confuse you much...

[Divagante]

(got another video ready to upload at midnight in witch i explain how to make scrolling doors, glass - read transparency - and a breakable box... i'd really like some feedback on this...)

[Anthony817]

Post this at Dcisozone and Dreamcast-talk forums too! Maybe we can get more HL mods ported over!

[Divagante]

video tutorial 3 - scrolling doors, glass window (read transparency) and brakables



EDIT: i didn't knew you were a moderator on dcisozone, anthony xD i'm posting on those forums right now ^^ also, i'm not teaching anything about porting (at least yet) i'm just telling how to map to hl1, but in the future i'll be more than happy to help with what i know about porting

[Divagante]

also, original "test1.rmf" and "test2.rmf" files: MEGAUPLOAD - The leading online storage and file delivery service

[Anthony817]

I have only been a moderator over there for 2 weeks or so, and I cleaned up the site of duplicate and broken uploads with the help of thecodester! Was totaly worth it!

I have an excelent idea. Riping the characters, weapons and levels and other assets from the Nintendo 64 version of 007 Goldeneye with a N64 PC emulator, and taking these models and whatnot and making a 007 Goldeneye game on the Dreamcast! Dreammatrix said he wanted to do a 007 game on DC using the Half Life engine, so this might be fairly easy to do.

[Divagante]

Video tutorial 4 - clip, origin and sky textures

[Divagante]

I have only been a moderator over there for 2 weeks or so, and I cleaned up the site of duplicate and broken uploads with the help of thecodester! Was totaly worth it!

I have an excelent idea. Riping the characters, weapons and levels and other assets from the Nintendo 64 version of 007 Goldeneye with a N64 PC emulator, and taking these models and whatnot and making a 007 Goldeneye game on the Dreamcast! Dreammatrix said he wanted to do a 007 game on DC using the Half Life engine, so this might be fairly easy to do.

I have the map files from 007 myself (those were the files Dreammatix sent me) but i can't help about the models, also, since 007 isn't on goldsource engine (i think) we can't just copy-paste, we gotta make everything and not just port it =S but it's still a good idea, for its a excelent game ^^

[Anthony817]

Well, what I meant was to run the game in an emulator in a window, and then you have a third party program capable of ripping any 3D model from any application and be able to use it for different projects.

The folks over at Shenmue Dojo have ripped models and assets from Shenmue 1 and 2, and are going to use actual Sega made models in 3D renders and in the Half Life 2 mod called Garry's Mod. They have a process that they use to convert the characters thay rip from the game, and use them in Gmod to make various scenes from Shenmue.

Basicaly, they run the NullDC emulator and then take a snapshot of the game, and capture all models and props from the game, then comes the long process of converting the models to a useable format for use in Gmod or rendering.

I hope I didn't make this sound too difficult. Useing the actual Nintendo 64 models to make a clone of the game on Dc might actualy play better than HL does since the textures and models are so low poly.

Also, I could post all your tutorials on the other 2 websites so more people see it if you want? I just think you will get more views that way, and you might even get a dedicated team to help you create your game.

I could ask the folks at the Shenmue forums how hard it would be to do, and what is required to convert the textures to a useable HL1 format.

[Divagante]

That's what i meant, looking from pics from an emulator or real game (tv) and then model from that. It's still pretty hard to do, but nothing's impossible xD

[Divagante]

video tutorial 5 - lighning, weapons and monsters

[Dreammatrix]

Exelent topic Divagante ! Good ideia make a mapping tutorial !

And about theGodeneye 007-mod
I have the most part of the models for make a G007-mod, and more and less the half part of the G007 maps.
If you are planning make a g007 mod for hldc you need concerntrate on mapping !
I will help if you start this mod .
Some years ago, before i joined the CSDC project i was planning do a G007 mod, but i never had time to do it!
And it was to much work to do alone.

[Divagante]

i already converted to .map, but unfortunnatly, .map conversion loses the textures theyre using, havent found a solution for that yet =S still, as i already sayd, thats a good idea, but one thing at a time, and hl: ops its to finish (personal objective)

about the models, what format are the models?

[Dreammatrix]

The models are normal hl .mdls.