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What editor to use

Postby Rct. Tsoul » Thu Dec 17, 2009 2:20 pm

I use GTK Radiant before, but I need to know before I start making a level is that what editor is the SG community using, I see ZeroRadiant is talked about but cant seem to find a link to it, I would be nice to have a direct link too. And also the tools you need for SG levels is not working please provide links to these things below.

SG prefabs, need a link to these as well, are there entire buildings such as saloons, brothels, and furnature, or will this all need to be made from scratch, It is good if the mapper community stay uniform with thing such as tables and chairs, saloon type stuff.
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Postby ReD NeCKersoN » Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:27 pm

I think you'll find most everything you need HERE.
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Postby Rct. Tsoul » Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:27 am

I installed Radiant 1.5, it sucks and does not even work, I am unable to change x, y axises and stuff in 1.5, thanks I will install 1.4

The Smokin Guns Mapping Tools link to FilePlanet does not work anymore, please someone email it to me or provide another link, thankyou.
Last edited by Rct. Tsoul on Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby ReD NeCKersoN » Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:33 am

Most of us here use 1.4
Unix guys seem to have better luck with 1.5 than Windows users.
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Postby Pardner » Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:53 am

Rct. Tsoul wrote:The Smokin Guns Mapping Tools link to FilePlanet does not work anymore, please someone email it to me or provide another link, thankyou.


http://www.moddb.com/games/smokin-guns/ ... oolz-v2zip
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Postby Rct. Tsoul » Fri Dec 18, 2009 4:56 am

recap, need working link to Smokin Guns mapping tools

Also I met someone that is a level designer at ID software, and he told me that Radiant is a free version released to the public, and builds character, if you can build a nice level on Radiant the people like to play on and looks nice, It would take months to perfect it. I cant remeber the name of the editor used at ID Software, it is similar to Radiant, but it also has a folder system that allows you to to create prefabs easily transferable, like on the level I designed that a StarGate and ring platform transporters and took me MONTHS to perfect and make it work correctly, INGAME it looks and works greate, in Radiant they look like cluster F**Ks of scrible, I so much a make one rong move or even sneeze and hit a wrong key, I would be screwed, and have to start over again, I have seen other editors that allow you to make your prefabs in folder groups that allow you to manipulate them or even chose that brush in the editor just on its file name or folder group, Radiant dont let you do that. I perchased a level editor back in 1999 called QED2 that worked greate for Quake 2, but was very buggy, once your level got to large it would start f**king up, I dont know if it was the editor or Windows 98 but I was not able to finish the level because of its size limitations, and it would also cause hole in the level that you and fall of the map, it worked greate for creating prefabs and small objects to export, but once you got it into an actual level editor you would not be able to take advantage of the file nameing system or folder system and the ability to make certain folders and brushes childs of childs of childs ( folder within a folder within a folder and so on )

Is there a HIGH QUALITY EDITOR that I can buy that has this function that actually works?
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Postby ReD NeCKersoN » Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:16 am

Rct. Tsoul wrote:Is there a HIGH QUALITY EDITOR that I can buy that has this function that actually works?

Try searching google? I doubt anyone here has the answer to that question. We all use the free stuff.
Btw, I'm wanting to say ID used QERadiant.... which was GTKRadiant's predecessor if I'm not mistaken. I could be wrong, but a google search would probably clear that up too.

The sort of prefab complexity that you seem to be describing isn't something I'm familiar with. But I do know that GTKRadiant works across several gaming platforms. Mostly "Quake based" engine games.
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Postby Pardner » Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:24 am

Rct. Tsoul wrote:recap, need working link to Smokin Guns mapping tools

Check above.

Rct. Tsoul wrote:INGAME it looks and works greate, in Radiant they look like cluster F**Ks of scrible, I so much a make one rong move or even sneeze and hit a wrong key, I would be screwed, and have to start over again, I have seen other editors that allow you to make your prefabs in folder groups that allow you to manipulate them or even chose that brush in the editor just on its file name or folder group, Radiant dont let you do that.

Wait so your maps worked great in game, but were a mess in the editor? Welcome to mapping and game design:
Image

I am not sure what you mean by the rest of that.... Radiant supports many different games. You simply click and change to a different and it changes file structures to match you new game.

True radiant has bugs, but thats what Google is for. I have not found a bug yet that I could not fix in some way. Yes, there has been some that required me to copy all my working brushes into a new map, but I would call that starting over.

There are many tricks Radiant mappers learn while using the level editor. Talking to other mappers is the easiest way to learn them.

Rct. Tsoul wrote:but once you got it into an actual level editor you would not be able to take advantage of the file nameing system or folder system and the ability to make certain folders and brushes childs of childs of childs ( folder within a folder within a folder and so on )

Errr... what? We have "models/ase/*" but you could have "/models/ase/furniture" if you wanted to. Same thing goes for your env, textures, sounds, and maps folders. The only one I can think of that might not like it is the scripts folder, but Radiant loads those on start-up and you don't really need to worry about organizing them.

Rct. Tsoul wrote:Is there a HIGH QUALITY EDITOR that I can buy that has this function that actually works?



Radiant 1.4 is the best editor for Q3 based games, in my opinion of course. The only other reasonable editor I ran accross is Quark
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Postby Rct. Tsoul » Fri Dec 18, 2009 5:57 am

No you dont understand, NOW imagin that you were going to make a chair in the editor, 4 legs, the seat, and the backrest, now that is 6 brushes, I need to be able to name each brush, leg1, leg2, leg3, leg4, seat, backrest, then put them in a folder within the editor and name that folder chair307, save it, now go do something else in the editor, come back to that chair and select the folder named chair307 and it will automatically select ALL 6 chair brushes and then I can move it a little or to the other side of the room, now that I am satisfied where it is, I drop that folder into the folder named Room4, so if I need to move that ENTIRE ROOM LATER, I just need to select Room4 instead of going into the editor and manually selecting 500+ different brushes, hoping that I didnt miss one.

Understand now.
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Postby ReD NeCKersoN » Fri Dec 18, 2009 6:13 am

In Radiant, you would select all 6 brushes, then go to "edit" in the menu, & "save selection as prefab" & name the entire prefab rather than each brush. Then if you want to load it later, you go to "edit" in the menu & select "load prefab."

Hey man, we can't make Radiant work the way that you're used to. Ya know? ;) If you're determined to try mapping for SG, you have little choice but to learn the available software for it. On the plus side, it's all free... & beginning to sound simpler in comparison.
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Postby Pardner » Fri Dec 18, 2009 6:43 am

Long Post


I understand I believe. Radiant does not have that built in, but that is exactly how I map. For instance:
Image


The building on the left I built and saved as "lago/hotel.map". Then I built the building on the right and saved as "lago/saloon.map".

Now I have two (or three or four) buildings in different map files. Now I want to build a nice looking terrain so I fire up EasyGen (see the tutorial):
Image

( As you can see in the picture, I actually create big brush blocks where I want to build my buildings. Then I copy those blocks into separate map files and make the buildings separately. This decrease compile time for testing. Just keep your entity tragetnames unique! )

I saved the terrain in a map called "dm_lago". Now all I have to do is "Load Prefab" (1.4) or "Import" (1.5) all my buildings into my nice terrain:
Image


Rct. Tsoul wrote:manually selecting 500+ different brushes

Ok, you got me there. Once I deselect those buildings I imported, there they stay. But there are tricks you can use to select 500+ brushes (most of these don't work in 1.5 ).

  1. You can use func_group. This is simply an editor entity and does not effect the map compile (unless you are using texture blending). Highlight the group of brushes (the 4 legs, the seat, and the back of your chair) and make them a func_group. Now if you want to select the entire chair again:
    • select 1 brush
    • modify that one brush (eg stretch in +x direction)
    • press "Ctrl+z" to undo that modification
    • taadaa all brushes in the group are now selected
    Now this only works on brushes that are not a part of another entity.
  2. Create a massive brush that encompasses the entire chair. Now click "CG Subtract". Lastly press "Ctrl+z" and all the brushes inside the big brush are selected. The problem is if the group of brushes are not isolated, you might end up selecting brushes you don't want.
  3. Learn an use your hotkeys:
    • "i" : invert selection. I you want to select a large number of brushes, it might be easier to select everything else and press "i"
    • "h": hide selected. Useful for solving the problem in #2). Hide the brushes around the group, then you can do #2) without any trouble.
    • "Shift+d": hides your detail brushes. Works really good with "h".
    • "Alt+4": hides your transparent brushes. Makes it so you can see easier.
    • "Alt+2" : hides your entities. Great for solving the problem in #1)

So like Red said, if may not do what you are used to, but feel free to explore other options. All the maps for this game was made on some version of Radiant. A fella names Languid_Plates mentioned that you can export a .map file from Blender (3D Modeling software). There is also Quark, but I don't know anything about it.
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Postby Rct. Tsoul » Sat Dec 19, 2009 2:00 am

YES Quark, that has the grouping that I am talking about, I forgot the name, the grouping folder file system within the editor is what is needed, but the Editor does not work as good as Radiant as far as visibility and precision brush making, if only you could marry Radiant and Quark.

Thanks Pardner, that is a good idea on just placing blocks where your building are going to go, it never acurred to me to do that.
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Postby Rct. Tsoul » Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:26 pm

I just installed Quark, and it has come a long way in 5 years, if anyone can help me get the mapping tools for Quark that would be greate, if they dont exist please let me know, for now I can only do Quake3.
I need to be able to choose Smokin Guns within the editor.
Please Help
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Postby Pardner » Sat Dec 19, 2009 11:37 pm

Well, Smokin' Guns = Quake3

Maybe someone the mappers here have Quark project files stuffed in their back pocket, but I dont. Try looking arounf the Quark directory. Where ever you see "Quake 3" replace with "Smokin' Guns" and where ever you see "baseq3" replace with "smokinguns"

Also, download our map package because you will need the "sg-entites.def".... assuming Quark uses something similar.

If/when you get it working, let us know. It might be worth adding to the tutorials and mapping package.
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Postby Rct. Tsoul » Sun Dec 20, 2009 12:16 am

Yes I can select a game like Star Trek Voyager Elite Force that I dont have and point that to my Smokin Guns folder, I will try to compile the test maps supplied for Radiant in Quark, if the map works then I should be good, and I can just copy entities from the test maps and use them as needed.
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