It's all just randomly acquired bits and pieces of information about Radiant and mapping. :) Just a good memory more than anything else.

Anyone can make a great map in the Q3A engine - it just takes actually taking the time to learn the ins and outs of Radiant/scripting and learning all of the commands and techniques.

Oh, and be creative and never give up! :D

Great .. now can you tell me how to attach a script to an entity at spawn time? How to trigger a script on death of an entity? Or how to create a script for any generic object that is run whe the user picks that object up?

Don't know scripting, sorry. :D Learning it now myself. Read the ICARUS manual - that'll get you started.

Though I do know if you want to have a script start when an NPC is spawned, you can set the key spawnscript and a value. If you want a script to run on the main PC (Kyle), you need to target the info_player_start at a target_scriptrunner.

it would be nice to have a document somewhere wiht all the keys that once can set on objects.

I have created a script that sets force powers on startup of a level and would be happy to make a tutorial for it if you accept submissions.

All the possible keys for entities are listed in the little gray box in the entity panel... :)

And I'll be writing that tutorial myself later - thanks though. :D

Actually ... they arent. There are some undocumented keys in the system.

Oh really? Such as what?

And I assume you're using the SP entity help files, because the MP entity help files are incomplete. :)

How to trigger a script on death of an entity?

Target the entity at a target_scriptrunner that has the spawnscript key and the value is the path to your script.

Such as the keys that make something force activatable. I really wish they would have given us Yavin trials for example.

Create a func_door in SP and see what the FORCE_ACTIVATE checkbox adds for spawnflags. It is also talked about in the help box. Then use that value on your MP map.

Although I'm not entirely sure that that specific key works in MP... haven't tried it. :)

Well, except that im not looking to make a door but rather something like those sliders in the Yavin Trial level.

OK RichDiesel. This student of yours has created a map as a WIP for a SP level. It has quite a few different things in the map. Give it a look and let me know what you think. The map file is included in the PK3.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/derisor/sewers.pk3)

Well, the sliders in the Yavin Trial level were all done with scripting. :D

As for the map, not bad... definitely a good start. But I did notice a couple of things.

For one, there's a grate in the floor in between rooms with what looked like HOM behind it... You need to have something back there. :) It looks a tad odd.

In the hallways, you have a bit of texturing mismatching... As in there is a visible line between the lower texture and the upper texture.

Also, it's really annoying to have tons of doors where only some of them work and there's no good way to figure out which is which. :p You also need to master your func_usables to make the switches change (or work them via scripting).

On the upside though, your architecture is pretty well designed - good vertex editing on the curves (no seams that I saw) and most everything seems appropriately caulked... although I did just look at the BSP and didn't check out the MAP. I will assume you did it right. :D

Couple Questions Rich,
1.)Where can I find a site that has an in depth tutorial on shaders?(im sure yours will have it soonly but i need it NOW:p)

2.)Is it possible to create a moving fog?

3.)Is it possible to lessen the number of particles in a fog and spread them apart? ( in case you havent figured it out, im trying to create RAIN!)

Anywho, great job with the kamino map, i was especially impressed with the accuracy of the textures and the actual design ALMOST fit exactly with the movie.

1) No real good shader-coding tutorials that I know of except for the shader manual itself.
2) Yes... with shaders. :p
3) Do you mean actual fog or fog shaders? Actual fog (as in, the fog inside water), there aren't individual particles, so you just increase/decrease its opacity (which is in the shader script). A fog shader, yes, although I'm exactly sure how on that one. :)

And thanks! I was going for a movie feel and not a movie design (was aiming more at good dueling gameplay) so that's why it's not exact to the movie.

Yeah .. but did you notice my hallway carpet texture ? :)

Btw .. watch where you shoot in the sewers themselves. Remember the scene from episode 4 ? :)

Ill check the points you mentioned. Right now what gets me is there is a sparklies effect in the sewers where one curve meets the sewer but the merge is EXACT and Im nto sure wherei t is comming from.

As for the usables, I just enabled everything. In the third room, walk up to the blinking panel on the levt and hit your use key and you will see the switch on the sewer door change.

Did you find the secret area?

Hey Rich, nice tutorials, even my brother can do them :)

I guess Im used to Serious Sam, where you dont have to make a single brush for every single wall, istead flag a brush as "room," but anyways I have a question.

All of the pipes i see in single player seem to be models with bounding boxes made of invisible brushes. Is this true? If not do you have a tutorial on making those nice curvy pipes?

Neh, as far as I know, they're all just square caulk pipes with bevels inside to give the appearance of a pipe. Just use my arched-ceiling in a hallway tutorial and double it to encompass the entire hallway.

And as for Derisor, you need usables! :) Usables make your map seem interactive instead of just being a big congregation of blocks that you can poke. All I noticed is that that first door up on the left from the start didn't switch when I switched it. :)

And I wasn't looking for a secret area, so no. :)

So why is it when you shoot the pipes, they dont leave any scorch marks? I thought that only happens you you have a model and a bounding box?

It will also happen if you put an invisible shader on top of it (for example - slick). If you're referring to the bespin air vents, I think they have invisible curves inside the actual curves covered with system/slick

Not 100% sure on that though.

Also, I was having problems with the bouncers yesterday. I made a brush, copied it, put it right on top of the other, covered it with trigger, made it a trigger push, made another bush and made it a target whatever it was, then linked it with the ctrl k, the line even showed up to show that they were linked, but when i tested it no luck. Any ideas?

oh, and do you know wha tthe opengl lighting feature in GTK does exactly? I cant notice any real difference when its selected and not...

I am having problems with Gtk Radiant, what happens is I design my map and compile it...The map compiles OK and I get to check out my level. However when I return to GtkRadiant to add to my level, the parts of my level that I have just worked on disappears.
Please help since I have no idea whats going on and I can't make levels if I can't solve this problem.

The GtkRadiant is version 1.2.9 and my systems specs are: -
900Mhz Celeron processor
512MB SDRAM
60GB hard drive
64MB Geforce2 Ti (with the latest Detonator drivers)
Jedi Outcast also has the latest patch.

try making a backup of you .map file before you compile, until you find out whats going on.

how do i make a certain that when someone crosses it they die. ( like when they fall off the side of the building into the pit of darkness)

I made a brush, copied it, put it right on top of the other, covered it with trigger, made it a trigger push, made another bush and made it a target whatever it was, then linked it with the ctrl k, the line even showed up to show that they were linked, but when i tested it no luck. Any ideas?
That should work just fine... Are you sure that the trigger_push brush can be walked into by the player? The player needs to be able to physically touch the trigger brush for it to throw him.

oh, and do you know wha tthe opengl lighting feature in GTK does exactly? I cant notice any real difference when its selected and not...That switches the rendering in the 3D View between Direct3D and OpenGL drivers... if you have an nVidia card, you should be able to browse the 3D View in OpenGL faster than in D3D.

I am having problems with Gtk RadiantSorry, I don't use GTK. Does it do it in JK2R?

how do i make a certain that when someone crosses it they die. ( like when they fall off the side of the building into the pit of darkness)It is in my tutorials at http://richdiesal.jedioutcastmaps.com/tutorials/) ... the servers are down at the moment, but they should be back up soon.

Rich, any idea why I'm getting this in my level? the patches are all lined up perfectly in the editor.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/simarilius/pics/speeder/wtf.jpg)

thanks for the tutorials by the way, you've done a really good job explaining complicated stuff in a simple way.

Well, you need to first realize that patches aren't technically curves... they are just highly triangulated (that's probably not the right word) surfaces. Thus, in the game, sometimes two patches up next to each other won't have their triangles matched up to each other.

The only way to make sure that they are perfectly lined up is to make sure that the vertices (not the curves themselves) in Radiant are perfectly lined up. Even a fraction of a grid unit will cause problems.

Just a random guess, but you didn't use bevels for your curve and then make an endcap cap did you? And you made sure to add the cap after you'd manipulated the vertices? Failing either of those would cause a problem like that.

Hey, Richdiesel. Thanks for the tutorials. They've been a great help so far. I do have some questions though.

1. I created a small hallway for Kyle to crawl through and i put a door at the end that leads to another room. I put an area portal brush inside the door, like in your tutorial. Now when the door opens i get the HOM effect. In another part of the map i also created a door with a area portal in it and that worked fine. I'm not sure what i'm doing wrong. The only difference is that one door is a lot bigger than the other one.

2. I'm trying to get the vacuum of space effect that Raven put in some of their SP maps. I got a big room with a force field. I made a button/trigger which activates and deactivates the forcefield. I was trying to use trigger_push for the vacuum effect, but i want it to activate and deactivate with the forcefield. Is it possible to activate/deactivate trigger_push, or am i doing this all wrong and is there another way to make this work.

3. Does MP use the same lighting engine as SP? I loaded up my map in Sp and Mp and the lighting looks a lot better in SP.

Ok, Rich. I join my thanks to the countless others doubtlessly already expressed. Those tuts have gotten me off to a great start. But since I design for MP exclusively (and duel maps for that matter) there are a couple areas that I'm not to clear on.

First off, they both have to do with PK3's (I think...)

Like, for example, how to get music to play in your level? Architecture, lighting and gameplay are all great, ,but hey, you gotta have tunes!

Second, I HAVE to know how to do BOT routing. I mean, as you said, it's the right thing to do. I have a duel map ready except for those elements (may not be GREAT, but Hey, *I* like it!) so I'd REALLY like to finish it off before moving on to another map.

Anyone else with these answers, feel free to let me know - I've searched all kinds of forums, and no clear answers. And as yet, no tuts! (nudge nudge, Rich...)

Oh, ,and I had one more question - and this one isn't related to editing as such. Have you considered making the tuts downloadable? If I could get a printed 'bible' to work from, MAN would that ease my on-line time. Especially with the server down times.... Thanks again!

I will likely make the tuts downloadable when they are all complete. I am going back and revising them fairly often, so this will likely be a good distance in the future.

I will be making tuts on all the things you described, but I am going to finish my current mapping project first. Once I have it done, I'll be able to write some tuts on scripting too, and I know a lot of people are antsy for some of those.

For music, select worldspawn, add the key "music" and set a value. Done. :p

For bot routing (for the time being), read http://jk2ed.jediknightii.net/botroute.htm)

As for the door... hmm... your door completely blocks off the hallway, right? If it doesn't, an areaportal won't work (you'll get a HOM).

As for the triggerable trigger_push effect, that is done via scripting (and thus will only work in SP).

And the lightmap interpreter in the MP engine is much less complex and efficient than the one in the SP engine. That's just the way it works. *shrug*

hi there...
at first:
great tuts :) they are very easy to understad (i am german and my english isn't the best :) ) and helped me a lot in working with the radiant...

here is my question:
bofer i tryed to map with the JK2R i mapped with Worldcraft for Half-Life...
in my JK2-Map i want to build a 360° arch... in Worldcraft i used the "arch-tool" but i don't know how to build this in Radiant...

any idea?
thanks...

Originally posted by RichDiesal
The only way to make sure that they are perfectly lined up is to make sure that the vertices (not the curves themselves) in Radiant are perfectly lined up. Even a fraction of a grid unit will cause problems.

The vertices match up perfectly in GTK, as do the manipulation points, (the little purple ones)



Just a random guess, but you didn't use bevels for your curve and then make an endcap cap did you? And you made sure to add the cap after you'd manipulated the vertices? Failing either of those would cause a problem like that.

I used simple patches, moved the vertices then added the caps.
I did do a scale on the whole model tho, which i think must be the problem as it was ok prior to that. I've even tried deleteing the caps and creating new ones but there are still cracks. Its as tho one patch switches to a lower detail level before the other one, as at some distances/angles its fine, then all of a sudden the cap gos mad. ah well. thanks anyway, its just annoying to have something like this pop up when its essentially finished.

Rich, any idea why I'm getting this in my level? the patches are all lined up perfectly in the editor.

Your speeder can be as perfectly lined up as you want it to be, but youll have to have your game settings all the way up not to see those leaks. This is also apparent in the garbage whatever MP map, where you get the repeater. Those leaks dont appear when you have your game settings cranked up all the way. Its just how the engine works...

Originally posted by DarkSkywalker


Your speeder can be as perfectly lined up as you want it to be, but youll have to have your game settings all the way up not to see those leaks. This is also apparent in the garbage whatever MP map, where you get the repeater. Those leaks dont appear when you have your game settings cranked up all the way. Its just how the engine works...

I was puzzled by this as i thought i was running with them all cranked up so i just checked it, and I am playing on max settings. Interesting fact tho, i found when i turn geometric detail down to medium or low the cracks disappear. just bizarre.

thanks for the help

Sim

Originally posted by Winperator
[B]here is my question:
bofer i tryed to map with the JK2R i mapped with Worldcraft for Half-Life...
in my JK2-Map i want to build a 360° arch... in Worldcraft i used the "arch-tool" but i don't know how to build this in Radiant...
I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to make, but I bet you can get an idea in my Curves 201 tutorials... if you mean an elongated hole, just use the Hole in the Ceiling tut and turn it on its side. :)

Regaurding the domed cieling tut -

I've encountered a couple of probs while following it, most of which revolve around the inverted bevel. You state in the tut that once the invert bevel is placed, you can shift-click the individual parts of the group to de-select them. When I try this, the editor selects whatever is OUTSIDE of the box. (IE if there is a wall behind the curve area where I'm clicking, it selects the wall, not de-selects the curve). So, is that a misprint, or am I doing something wrong?

Second, ,the one time I *DID* manage to get rid of the upper bevel (still not sure what I did differently... I'd have kept it but the editor crashed shortly thereafter...) I pulled the vertices as directed. Problem is this - You say drag the "other two" top vertices to make the dome. There's only ONE other top vertex that affects the curve, unless there's a way to placee another on the top row that you neglected to mention. THe only other vertex on the top row pulls the whole BOX toward whereever I drag it. SO again, ,what gives?

Ok, done complaining, and now awaiting an explanation. With, I hope, Patience.

Oh, and I forgot one other puzzling thing... When I get the caps in place, then try to deselect them all with ESC, they ALWAYS get deleted as if I'd pushed the backspace. Any input on THAT issue would be good too.

Ok, ,found the solution. I post it here only to answer anyone else's question.

In the tut, Rich notes that when you add the caps, ,they become a single function group. Well, just UNgroup them, and then delete the parts you don't want.

And I found that third vertex... was hiding behind the curve mesh, where I couldn't see it.

Sorry to take up valuable space on the thread.. but if it confused me, there's gotta be SOMEBODY else who got confused too....

Oh hrm... still, those problems are just bizarre. You are using JK2Radiant and not GTKRadiant, right? GTK may handle these things differently (not sure though).

You shouldn't need to ungroup the curve to do that. It's actually much more difficult to work with curves without func_groups (especially when you have very small caps/curves that are hard to select on their own).

As for the caps deleting when you hit ESC, no idea. Shouldn't do that.

the thing with them deleting, check you havent got patches filtered in the view menu. If you have as soon as their not selected they'll vanish.

RichDiesel,

If you could load up the map in radiant and look at that intersection and tell me if you can figure out where those sparlies are ocmming from, id be appreciative.

Yeah, I'm using JK2. Never did any mapping for Quake, so I never had GTK. ANd true, ungrouping them makes it harder to move them around (Gotta select'em each individually...) but as the old saying goes, if it works....

Rich, can you help me with my map's wierd problems?
Using: JK2 Radiant
Map: MoC(?) Skyscraper Level
MP
FFA, JM, H, CTF/CTY(?)
Problem one: I am using the window textures that are used in the emperor's throne room in the deathstar map, found in the carin texture set. I cannot see out of them, and they are detail.

Problem Two: How to do ladders that work? I made the physical brushes and I made a ladder brush that the ladder is in but it doesn't work in game unless i don't know how to do it.

Problem Three: My elevator. Neither of the buttons appear in-game, the bottom one works to bring the elevator up, but it doesn't go down while i on it, and the top button doesn't work at all. I used Rich's button tutorial.

One: A texture is a texture. You need a shader, not a texture. :) I don't think Raven included a shader to make that texture transparent, so you'll hafta make one yourself. :)

Two: I've never gotten a ladder to work, so I have no idea.

Three: Switches/buttons can't be used in the same way with platforms as with doors... you will need to make your platform into a func_static and script it to get it to work.

And no, I've never tried it, so I couldn't tell you how. :) There are several such platforms, however, on kejim_post and you can find the scripts in SPscripts.zip.

I will also note that if you're making a MP level, generally speaking, you should (almost) never have any switches, because that somewhat interrupts the flow of a map. You'll notice that most switches (like the insta-death areas in some of Raven's MP maps) are all simple presence - not an actual switch - for that very reason.

hmm.... dang..... but the windows in the death star work! i tried the shader version of the window and i couldn't see out!
hmm... i guess you'll have to just jump up.
so what should i do instead? a bad staircase? ;)

Hey Rich? Nice tutorials man... I just have a few questions of my own...

1.) In my map your player has to escape from his cell, he has to find a vent to do so but he doesnt have any weapons to do so. And he starts off with limited force power... As he progresses through the stage he will find some more of course... But I want to know how to make a brush be destroyed by force push... I've tried breakables but it seems the only way is setting them to glass ^^*. Any Idea's?

2.) Is making a script (one that prints a message.) The same as Target_Print in Radiant? Does it have better features or...?

3.) I tried makeing a hover bridge... However my script seemed to make the bridge take off the far horizon! ^^*... LoL what's the deal with that? BTW im trying to make it Act like the abandoned hovercraft when you first get your lightsaber in SP.

4.) On that bridge I also want to make it so when you destroy the four generaters the bridge will fall to the ground shortly after... How would you do that?

5.) How do you manage to work on your map with all these questions?

Thank you
-----------
Sorry also forgot to mention... What do you and that other guy mean by 3fps? Area portals? In all the tutorials I've read I don't belive I heard anything about these...

1) That would be best done by scripting... give a force_push activated script to the breakable that activates it when push is used on it.

2) Scripting muuuuch more complicated. Scripting can make in-game cutscenes. Scripting good. :p

3) What's the bridge do? You probably don't need to script it... would likely be much easier to make it a func_train with a few path_corners to give the illusion of free floating.

4) Ehhh... well if it's a func_train, that wouldn't work. You would need to make it a func_static and script it to move between navpoints on its own. You would then need the breakables targetted at a target_counter that, once the 4 breakables had been broken, would flush the original script and instead make it fall.

5) I don't. :p The problem is that when I run into problems, I have no one to ask, so I just sit and stare at it and get frustrated. :p I am current working on ffa_archives, though, and need some help with it. There's a thread in this forum (REQ: Information on Jedi Archives I think it's called) that it would be GREAT if you could help with the request there. :D

----
Read my tutorial on doors. It goes over areaportals.

So you have finaly done it Rich, you have converted me to JKRad!!
Sooooo many things I did yesterday, getting NPCS to move were I want them to and Spawning them :)

All I need now it a trigger_once to activate a cutscene then I will be happy, any insights??


Anakin