Idea: Mapping Black Mesa

[Mechagodzilla]

No, not that sort of mapping.

I mean like a map-map "you are here" sort of deal.

Think about it: each section of Black Mesa that you visit in HL has already been modeled and, thanks to the no-cutscenes way the plot works, they all connect together like puzzle pieces.

Now, since in Opposing force and Blue shift you visit places from HL1, you can graft in the areas of Black Mesa that they portray as well.

Things probably won't line up too well between the three games, but it should be easy enough to add a few generic corridors to get everything to fit right for consistency's sake.

Eventually, as hardware progresses, it could be possible to link everything together, add original bits to fill in the blanks, incorporate Decay's missions and create one huge multiplayer map, or a Black Mesa 3D simulator. :O

Possible? Or should I just lay off the crack?

 

[Carbon]

lay of the crack

I got through the first 14 or so levels, but it crossed over itself too much and photoshop was having a heart attack. its simple enough to use the overhead draw mode (dont even remember the command) getting everything scaled right tho (since different maps take up different amounts of area) you end up having to rescale in photoshop, or have a super high res in halflife and zoom out a loong way every time.

Its a lot of work, but perhaps if done properly it would be kinda cool.

 

[bliink]

there was a map in the train section of blue shift that laid out a section of the rail system... which might help.. but i dont think it would be possible simply because its too complex and you'd have no idea what was behind hundreds of sealed areas

EDIT: what would be kinda interesting is if you somehow went through all the maps and 'fixed' them to make them pre-disaster... it would be boring, yet interesting

 

[Mechagodzilla]

lay of the crack

I got through the first 14 or so levels, but it crossed over itself too much and photoshop was having a heart attack. its simple enough to use the overhead draw mode (dont even remember the command) getting everything scaled right tho (since different maps take up different amounts of area) you end up having to rescale in photoshop, or have a super high res in halflife and zoom out a loong way every time.

Its a lot of work, but perhaps if done properly it would be kinda cool.

I figured there would be that sort of trouble.

Instead of converting the maps into top-down Jpegs and attaching them in photoshop, it'd probably be easiest to move all the maps into a modelling program like MAX and then rearrange them and resize them in there.

How did you get the maps into jpeg anyways?

there was a map in the train section of blue shift that laid out a section of the rail system... which might help.. but i dont think it would be possible simply because its too complex and you'd have no idea what was behind hundreds of sealed areas

EDIT: what would be kinda interesting is if you somehow went through all the maps and 'fixed' them to make them pre-disaster... it would be boring, yet interesting

I know the map you're taking about, but I doubt it's accurate. It does mention some areas that aren't visited in the actual games though.

As for the sealed areas, just leave 'em blank for starters. The main gist is to attatch all the known stuff together. Anything beyond that is bonus.

Fixing up the facility would rock so much, but it'd be way easier to make an "aftermath of the accident" map, since most every level is already destroyed.

 

[Carbon]

There is some console command (used for creating the overheads of CS layouts etc) you enter it into the console and you can move closer or further away from the map in a top down view, then you take a screenie and open them in photoshop after you ahve done a few.

I hadn't thought bout using a modeling program, quite a good idea actually. But unless you had a converter that would go from bsp to a modeling format without trying to convert it into bsp style geometry (ie loads of blocks) otherwise you would be stuck deleting half the map each time just to get the layout in view.

 

[Mechagodzilla]

I hadn't thought bout using a modeling program, quite a good idea actually. But unless you had a converter that would go from bsp to a modeling format without trying to convert it into bsp style geometry (ie loads of blocks) otherwise you would be stuck deleting half the map each time just to get the layout in view.

This is why I'm only theorising: I've got no clue how to model anything, let alone how to convert a "bsp".
I'd bet a dollar that such a converter exists though.

 

[Carbon]

Maybe, maybe not. I should check out what the "aas" format is, which the map decompiler will also write too as well as .map's.

I always wondered how it would be to try and fit all the bits together where half-life, opposing force, and blue shift crossed over as well.

Maybe if this were done you could get a general overview of the layout of black mesa to work off. Like the rough locations of sector C in relation to the transit systems etc. Might add to consistency, I had always wondered where sector A and B etc could be

 

[DEATH eVADER]

Use the noclip command and fly mode. fly over the level and take a birds eye view screenshot. Do for every single level (forget Xen) and merge the screenshots together on photoshop

 

[thund]

Tried it once, it overlaps itself a lot. You would have to take artisitic license and change the height of a few elevators or something (so that the height difference would stop areas from overlapping). Or just explain that the facility uses wormholes etc and compresses space outside of the normal 3 dimensions :smoking:

 

[007aaa1]

BAM, full map of Black mesa! Now start building!

 

[pomegranate]

**** me.
So much fail in one post... it's almost beautiful.

 

[lefty]

well at least he was trying to be helpful.

 

[Vegeta897]

So much fail in one post...

Why?

I mean, besides the bump, it's a pretty cool image that I haven't seen.

 

[pomegranate]

1. Epic bump
2. Not a new picture, this has been posted before
3. Scroll-crippling size
4. In a first post

bong!

 

[Operational]

Well I, for one, hadn't seen it before and am glad it was posted.

 

[MorganFreeman911]

I agree with op, but that WAS a huge bump. At least I havn't seen it and it's cool.