Mapping
From Exterminatus Manual
Contents |
Introduction
This is the documentation to help you get started mapping for the Half-life 2(HL2) modification Extermaintus(EX). The purpose of this document is not to teach you how to make maps, but to document the content specific to EX. This document assumes you are familiar with the basics of mapping for HL2, if you do not take start with the Valve Wiki.
Workaround
There is a bug in Valve's Source SDK that prevents Hammer from working correctly with mods based on the Source SDK Base (appid 218, as the VDC says they should be). In order to get the current version of Hammer working with EX you need to change a line in the "$SteamDir\SteamApps\SourceMods\ex\GameInfo.txt" from SteamAppId 218 to SteamAppId 440. This tells Hammer the mod is based on TF2, rather than the Source SDK Base. You'll need to change that back before you play EX online.
Configuring the Source SDK
Next we must configure the Source SDK so it is aware of the EX.
- Log into Steam, switch to the "Tools" tab and open the "Source SDK" (this will open in a new window)
- At the bottom of the Source SDK window are two drop down lists. From the top one (labeled "Engine Version") select the "Orange Box" option
- Open the "Hammer Editor" from the Applications section at top of the Source SDK Window (this will open in a new window)
- In the Hammer window open the "Tools" menu at the top and select the "Options..." menu option (this will open in a new window)
The first tab in the "Configure Hammer" window is "Game Configurations", at the top of the tab is a drop down list labeled "configuration".
- Click the "Edit" button next to the configuration list(this will open in a new window)
- Click the "Add" button on the new window and you will be prompted for a game name
- Enter "Exterminatus" and click "OK" to create the new configuration
- Close the "Edit Game Configuations" window
- On the "Configure Hammer" window select "Exterminatus" from the "Configuration" drop down
- Bellow the "Configuration" list is a list of "Game Data files", click the "Add" button next to this list
- Browse to your SteamApps\SourceMods\ folder where EX is installed to, inside you should have an "ex" folder containing "ex.fgd", select this file and click "Open"
Your "Game Data files" list should now contain "$SteamDir\SteamApps\SourceMods\ex\ex.fgd". This file tells Hammer about all the EX entity types listed in the next section. You can now continue setting up your options. The default "Texture format" (Materials (Half-life 2)) and default "Map Type" (Half-life 2) should be fine. Their are a couple of default entity type options you can change next (but you don't have to). I recommend "prop_static" as the "default point entity" (the EX contains dozens of 40k themed props) and "func_detail" as the "default solid entity". The default values for "texture scale" (0.25), "lightmap scale" (16) and "Cordon texture" (black) are also recommended. Next comes the tricky part, the paths.
- "Game Executable Directory" should read "$SteamUserDir\Source SDK Base 2007\bin\hl2.exe", this is the SDK Base "game" that will be running EX.
- "Game Directory" should read "$SteamDir\SteamApps\SourceMods\ex\" , this is the folder where the EX has been installed to.
- "Hammer .vmf maps" should read "$SteamDir\SteamApps\SourceMods\ex\mapsrc", this is where for you to keep the source(src) of your maps, it cna be anywhere you want (eg "my documents/maps/").
- Click "Apply" to save your changes.
- In the "Configure Hammer" window switch to the "Build Programs" tab
- Select "Exterminatus" from the list of "Configurations"
- "Game executable" should read "$SteamUserDir\Source SDK Base 2007\bin\hl2.exe"
- ".BSP executable" should read "$SteamUserDir\Source SDK\bin\orangebox\bin\vbsp.exe" , this program turns your VMF map source into a basic BSP file that the Source SDK Base game can load
- ".VIS executable" should read "$SteamUserDir\Source SDK\bin\orangebox\bin\vvis.exe" , this program optimizes your BSP, so the game draws just those parts that are in sight
- "Rad executable" should read "$SteamUserDir\Source SDK\bin\orangebox\bin\vrad.exe" , this program calculates how the lights you have p[aced will illuminate your BSP map
- "Place compiled maps before running the game" should read "$SteamDir\SteamApps\SourceMods\ex\maps" , this is where your BSP file needs to be for the game to load it.
- Click "Apply" to save your changes.
You can now close the "Configure Hammer" window by clicking on the "OK" button. Hammer should be now configured to with with EX. You will be able to use EX textures, models and entities. Read on to learn more about the custom entities in EX.
Entities
EX supplies seven new types of entities for mapping, all their names start ex_ so as to be easy to find in the entity lists. The EX FGD file (configuration for Hammer) can be found in the $SteamDir\SteamApps\SourceMods\ex\ folder, before setting it up in Hammer. The full details of these custom entities can be found on the Map Entities page.
Naming maps
It's a good idea to name any EX maps starting with ex_ so that any players downloading your map will know it is for EX. It's also good practice to include a version number in the map name, and increase the number each time you share a modified version, so that your players know what version they have and what version they need to play. If you specify the translation file name in am ex_gameplay entity you won;t have to copy/rename your translation file for each version of the BSP.
Server Browser Thumbnail
In the Orange box version of the Source SDK we can display thumbnail images of each map in the server browser this article ( http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/TF2/Adding_a_Quicklist_Thumbnail ) on the Valve wiki can tell you how to create a thumbnail for your own map.
