General Mod Questions......

[DigiMajik]

I plan on doing some extensive mapping/modding for hl2. I love the first game and actually plan on doing some development for the second. I have a few questions though, and i thought i'd ask them here.

Background:
I'm not totally new to the modding community as i've worked(and still am) on many WarCraft 3 projects. Now, the triggers in that game were extremely easy for me to pick up and run with.

Now, having zero experience with the half-life mapping tools, I really have no idea what i'm doing. Unlike the editor for WC3, which was pretty easy to learn, upon opening hammer, i was like wtf? Where do i start?

Now i'm faily proficient with a number of programming languages, so coding won't be a problem. However, i dont know about this "scripting" everyone is speaking about. If i saw an example of this, it might make a little more sense, but eh..

I know, that no one know for sure, but do u think it would be wise to spend my time learining hammer or wait till hammer2. Personally, it looks almost the same to me, so it would make sense to go ahead.

either way, if you know of any good tutorials or just want to help, let me know.

feel free to stop by www.thewarcenter.com and say hi.....

 

[SidewinderX]

well, you cant be that experianced in the mod community if you dont know what "scripting" is...but....
a script a peice of code that cause soemthign to happen.
ie, you might have a script set up so when a player passes a certian point, the wall explodes.
In most mod editiors, you make your own triggers with scripts, unlike WC3, where triggers ar epremade for you.

Does your proficency w/ programming languaes include C++? if not, coding WILL be a probelm.

also, in a real editor (not the WC3 crap) you start with space. you can build in all dimensions, you ar enot limited at all (well, not really...)

 

[DigiMajik]

well, you cant be that experianced in the mod community if you dont know what "scripting" is...but....
a script a peice of code that cause soemthign to happen.
ie, you might have a script set up so when a player passes a certian point, the wall explodes.
In most mod editiors, you make your own triggers with scripts, unlike WC3, where triggers ar epremade for you.

Does your proficency w/ programming languaes include C++? if not, coding WILL be a probelm.

also, in a real editor (not the WC3 crap) you start with space. you can build in all dimensions, you ar enot limited at all (well, not really...)

i have a general idea of scripting, i've just not done it.

yes i am familiar with C++.

i agree with your wc3 editor crap, it may be the fist i've modded on, but i know that it's too limiting. i would much rather write a few lines, than to hunt down a specific trigger from a list. nothing pisses me off more than not being able to do what i need because there's not a predefined trigger availible. i have countless ideas i couldnt do becuase of this. things i could have done in 2 min using code, has taken me sometimes hours to do with triggers.

i'm no stranger to this type of environment, i just need something like a good tutorial on the hammer tool. mostly for setting it up, etc and basic functions. like a good readme or faq. i've piddled with it some, but i was mostly looking to see if anyone had a really good place to go . most everything i find is broken into specific peices and scattered across different sites. ex)find out how to build a ladder on site a, and how to biuld a door on site b...

none of it i look at looks to be that hard. time consuming, yes, but not hard. i just need to know how to configure it and the basics. later on, i'd need to know the really intensive side as i'm sure i'll push it to the limit.

 

[Stitch]

The Hammer editor is at the most, fairly easy to learn once you've got a grasp on the camera editing and vertex manipulation aspects of the editor. The other components are generally there for you to make more complex levels. Furthermore, there will be a healthy abundance of tutorials for Hammer with the tools Valve is releasing. In the meantime, look on the net for tutorials on the fundamentals of Hammer.

I too worked with the Warcraft III editor and I can say from one WC editor to another, that Hammer is drastically different in all possible ways. Example: there are no tools to raise or lower the terrain; you do this yourself by making brushes. The new editor might feature a terrain editing system, but who knows.

 

[kawai]

hehe i dont know much about scrips or making a mod to be frank with you but i do have a little experience with hammer but only making cs maps there are some good tutorials for cs in http://countermap.counter-strike.net/Tutorials/
you can check it out if you want but its nothing promising

anyway can someone tell me if there is any totorials on scriping for a mod

 

[ComradeBadger]

if you want HL hammer tutorials check out www.valatitude.com 69th Valatitude (i think that link is correct, i don't use tutorials much myself, lol ,