Wall Worm Forums

Sort of like this:



The house in the foreground is obviously playable as well as some of the outside area. I'm assuming that the house in the background would be an area of the Skybox as well as some of the trees with the anything beyond that being the sky. I just don't know what walls off the playable area before the Skybox since there's no definite 'wall' or 'box'.

However, the one you made has a definite wall between the playable area and Skybox.

Thanks for this! If we're talking about blocking off the entire playable area, is it possible to use transparent geometry (walls, blocks, etc) to wall off? Sort of like being outside and having transparent walls seal in the playable outside area so you can see out into the horizon with no leaks? Not sure if it should be done like this.

This is an inside area I've been working on and want to expand the playable area into an outside environment. Still working on getting the mapping/textures right.

Thanks for putting together the video. I've checked out all of the links in the past, but I'll try to go over them again. Also, I had a chance to go to a private screening last week, but forgot.

I was thinking about it over the weekend and had this question: Is Sky Writer just for essentially taking pictures of your environment to use on a 3D skybox? Like taking all 6 views created from Sky Writer and manually applying the TGA files to the each side of the Skybox. I just wasn't sure if it was supposed to apply them automatically to anything tagged as Brush+Skybox once compiled.

I have the newest version (Feb 22nd was the release date I believe). I remember seeing the update about the UnlitGeneric Sky Materials when searching around for help and have made sure to do this correctly. I'll keep messing with it to see if I can get it to work properly. If I create a 3D Skybox, how do I go about texturing each 6 sides properly? Also, the video would be awesome and greatly appreciated!

Could you briefly explain how the 3D Skybox and Sky Writer work? I've tried to follow what pieces I could gather from different tutorials, but it's never worked for me.

Do both have to be used together in a scene? I can create a sealed 3D Skybox in the scene, apply your supplied material to it, get the camera, and tag the pieces as Skybox/Brush in Anvil. I will still get that weird, liquid-like black and white above.

With Sky Writer, I will create a simple environment with mr sky and mr sun that will render out fine in Max, but will have the same effect as above when loaded into Source. After I've created a simple environment, I will create a new sky, render the pieces, and compile. After that I will select it in Anvil and export the VMF. Still the same effect. Anything I should correct? Note: This is for CS:GO and I had read that there were problems with it, but that was back in 2012.

Thanks.

I don't understand why there would be unless the Source community is comprised of old fans that aren't able to accept that the product that their used to is being phased out by something superior. I highly doubt any 'professional' maps put out are designed in Hammer, but rather in something like Max or Maya. Hammer just seems like a watered-down version of a 3D program which is why I ventured to find something that would let me use Max rather than just crumby block geometry. I've been doing 3D stuff off and on for years. I've switched back and forth between Cinema 4D and 3DS with the latter being what I've been using most recently.

Awesome. This is good news! I was hoping there was one that could be deleted. Lol. You should do a lesson 1 through X series with the new UI if you ever have a chance. That'd be helpful to new guys since there are different ways to go about doing things compared to when you did the last series of lessons. If I recall correctly, the lesson series was built around the use of Convexity which is now dead. I'm glad I got in when I did since WWMT has essentially phased out the need for Hammer at this point. Thanks again!

Thanks for the help. I had another question. It seems that, in your videos, when you create a hull from a selection, it makes one copy of the original object. Why does it create two for me? That leaves me with 2 hulls and the object. For example, I will have:

Box012
Box012_Hull_Master001
Box012_Hull_Master001_Hull001

Not sure what the third is for. Also, when I generate a hull, it automatically hides the first two above and I have to 'unhide all' to bring them back.

The entities were checked during the export. I deleted all models (just one box in this case) and the points started working again. Really strange.

I recreated the model, redid what I had done previously and everything seems to work fine. I also had another question about hulls.

When I create a hull around an object and export that object, it seems as if that hull is married to the object in whatever position is was upon export. Therefor, I can move the original object around in the scene and it will still be concave where ever I place it regardless of where the hull master is located in the scene. That being said, what should I do with the hull just sitting in the scene? Hide it? It seems like it's just taking up space in the scene at that point. Also, what purposes do the helpers serve? I vaguely remember them being important when creating proxies, but I can't remember any other time they're used. Thanks for the replies!

Thanks for the replies!

So, the model updated in-game after re-exporting it. I feel this is somehow related to following your advice on not PAKing. However, my point entities (terrorist spawn points to be specific) stopped working forcing me to 'spectate' in-game. This happened after updating the model and exporting it. Very strange. Also, I get a tracer-like blurry effect upon looking around in spectate mode. Seems like these issues shouldn't be related to updating a model. Also, running the compile batch alone doesn't update anything when running the map. I actually have to re-export the VMF and compile on export for each update to show in-game.

Thanks for the prompt response! It's mostly the textures not updating upon change and re-exporting the model. The said textures have been exported and in the correct directories. If I resize the model or move it, it's sometimes reflected in the game, but sometimes not. The new texture is almost always never applied after editing and re-exporting the model leaving it black. Not sure if it's due to leaving the game open because sometimes I keep it open between tests and sometimes I don't. I believe I've tried to reboot the game and it didn't solve the problem. I'll start a new project and attempt to recreate the problem, but follow your advice to see if it indeed still recreates the issue. I will report back. Thanks!

Want to start off by saying this an awesome plugin! I'm not so new to 3DS Max, but rather the plugin. I've probably watched a few hours worth of your tutorials and the plugin seems pretty intuitive. However, it seems as if my models do not update when edited and re-exported. For example:

I can create simple world geometry (4 walls, a ceiling, and a floor) and place a box in the middle of the map. I can apply a standard material with a bitmap (TGA) to the box, create a hull, assign it, set as concave, and export it as well as everything (all types of materials, paks, VMF, etc) as per directions and it will run fine in-game.

However, if I go back and edit the model in any way (size, material, position, etc) and re-export it along with an updated VMF file, the changes will not be reflected in-game and often show up as a black object.

It's probably a simple fix, but I haven't been able to find any topics or questions similar to this problem. Any input would be greatly appreciated!