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-Tutorials-
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-External Tutorials-
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-Tips-
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1) Learn how the Half-Life engine and your compiling tools work. This will help you to understand how to put the map together so that it is rendered in the most efficient and fluent manner possible.
2) Build each brush individually, do not carve. This can dramatically help you keep your r-speeds down as each brush can be made as efficient as possible. This will also help you to manage your map better as its size and complexity grows.
3) Don't go overboard on complex textures. This can overload the Hl engine and cause your map to run dramatically slower.
4) Use original textures that go together in a kind of theme. Custom textures can't hurt at all and the more original your textures are, the more your map will stand out. Dust gets kind of boring after the 167th attempt.
5) When testing a map write down even the most trivial of errors. These will often be missed when you go back to fix your map and might be missed even in future runs. Maps with errors just seem unprofessional.
6) Take your time. Many of the greatest maps took at least a month and many can take several more. You won't regret it when your done.
7) Try to add architectural items such as posts, beams, walls with various depths or whatever else fits. This will help bring atmosphere into the map and give it a very deep and realistic feeling. Be careful not to go to overboard though or you may end up choking your map to death.
8) Use ambient sound to bring your map to life. A map can be made visually but sounds will quickly submerge your players into the map and really make them feel part of it.
9) keep track of your r-speeds. Simply type developer 1 and r-speeds 1 into your console and watch the numbers flow. It can be a real pain in the ass to map every three hundred and sixty two branches on a tree only to find that no computer can render them and you have to scratch the whole thing. Also remember that not all systems may be as fast as yours so what runs fluently on your pc might kill another.
10) Compile your map completely. This mean doing a full "vis" and wherever possible a "rad". Avoiding this step can make your map unplayable with immense r-speeds.
11) When ever possible leave at least a 1 unit gap between brushes. This will stop the HL engine from breaking that brush up where they meat and save you on the r-speeds.
12) Learn how to use a func_wall to help prevent complex brushes from breaking other brushes up where it is not r-speed friendly to do so. This step can also save you on the r-speeds.
13) Learn how to use hint brushes. This can be the number one savior of r-speeds. For an excellent tutorial on how to use hint brushes and how the "vis" works please click on this link. Even though it was designed for Quake the idea is still the same for Half-Life.
14) Use decals to help bring life to those boring old plain walls. This is another example of a simple little thing you can do that will help make or break a map.
15) Curve corners, slant walls, and make other objects using various angles. The real world isn't flat, why should the digital one be any different?
16) Plan the whole level out before you even get started. This can dramatically improve the game play and prevent any problems such as dead ends or other pointless areas.
17) Scaling textures up is yet another excellent way to improve your r-speeds, especially in wide open spaces. Many outdoor textures were actually designed with this very idea in mind.
18) Add unique lighting. Anything from flickering lights, to spotlights, to env_glows to light switches can help to bring a dynamic effect to any of your maps.
19) Use complementary textures. This means use textures that add to each other and are relevant to each other. Many walls look great when you add a brick bottom and a metel top to them because this is simply what you would find in real life. Don't be afraid to use two or three brushes along the same wall to really bring some life and depth to it.
20) Be original. Use what ever means possible to come up with a map that is really different or unique. People get bored of the same old theme, even if it isn't the same old map anymore.
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-Wads-
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Structural Wad
(10 megs zipped)
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Ever since the demise of Anarchy by Design I have been unable to find this excellent wad so I've uploaded it to my site. It contains hundreds of excellent textures in various different themes.
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Es_Trinity.Wad
(1.81 megs zipped)
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For players who are new to CS and do not already have this .wad. Textures from if are used in Cs_Rats3_Beta and thus it is required to play that level.
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-Files-
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DataHL.qrk
(120 kb zipped)
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For Front Line Force and Counter-Strike Mappers. This DataHL.qrk contains full support for all entities in v1.1 of FLF. It also contains fairly detailed help for each of the entities spacifics. It also contains Waldos additions to the game_player_equip entity which allows you to equip any CS player with various weapons. To install it simply overwrite the DataHL.qrk in your QuArK/Addons folder.
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Reg-To-Rat Unit Converter
(46 kb zipped)
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For mappers of the "Rats" mod. Takes units for objects you would normally use in a regular HL map and converts them to those you would use in a "Rat" style map. Has many preset values such as the height of a wall, door, or table. Also includes the ability to change the scale. Reg-To-Rat requires the Visual Basic 6 Runtimes to run, they can be found here.
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