First timer at building my own map :) (lightwave user)

(Kylie) #1

Ive used lightwave for a very long time. Is anyone else using Newtek Lightwave 3D to design their maps and then exporting to rtcw bsp format, or should I look at learning the mapping tools that are available for rtcw?. Im very comfortable with lightwave modeler (10 years+) so I would preferably want to use a modeler that I know and love but any suggestions are welcome.

Also I realise that making maps for a game like rtcw is probably a lot different than my previous work so any pointers/guides to introduction tutorials would be welcome.

Thanks

:drink:

(Codey) #2

Hi
I don’t know about any of the tools available for lightwave exporting to bsp, but I think it would be best to get into GTK Radiant, as it’s the most widely used tool and therefore less likely to have bad bugs or setup problems.

It’s probably best to play around in radiant and go through the first part of the included manual to get used to the proprietry controls and interface, after this basic stuff I would go onto the meriad of tutorials available from some of these sites:

Tram Design

Planet Pointy

Rice bug

Bubba’s mapping tuts

Nib’s mapping resource

Some of those relate to quake 3 mapping, but most of it still applies to rtcw too.

Hope that helps
:smiley: Codey
Wolfyv0.2

(pazur) #3

u cant use LW to build a map… at least u cant make buildings with LW for the q3 engine. the engine divides(splits) a map in areas(mappers call that portals). when the player is in one of such a portal all other are hidden and all the polys(tris) are hidden also and dont need to be drawn. so i strongy recommend learing gtk. for what u can use LW is: usual models and terrain(only with q3map2)

edit: this site has nice tutorials
http://www.wolfensteinx.com/surface/

(Fluffy_gIMp) #4

There is no getting around it, if you want to make levels for RTCW you need to learn GTK Radiant, but I’d argue that you can still use Lightwave for the majority of the detail work for a level:

With the new Radiant & q3map2 you can import ASE format model files into your map file (with texture coordinates and paths preserved). So essentially you can if you like, build your entire level in Lightwave and then import it into Radiant and then compile :). What you will still need to do is create all the collision boxes from brushes and place all the required entities etc. There’s a fair amount of theory behind the way the bsp system works and the way the engine will cull polygons based on player visibility etc which is something you should also familiarise yourself with.

If you are coming from a modelling background you will certainly find the brush (the polygon equivalent) tools in Radiant very primitive, so to me this method seems the best solution to make best use of your skills. You only need to look at new games like unreal 2003 to see that level design is going much more towards environments constructed from models rather than restrictive brushwork.

-Fluffy_gIMp

(Kylie) #5

Cheers for the information. I will spend some time learning GTK Radiant :slight_smile: