Intangible Solids, and Tangible Ether

(Mr_Tickles) #1

Hi everyone, first post on this forum…

I have been here before and viewed as a guest mainly so i could get started at mapping… anyway…

I have quite a few cylinders in my map at the moment and because it is nowhere near complete yet I would like to get this out of the way. When I compile the map and run it in ET I am able to find the one edge that doesn’t seem to clip on cylinders, usually it’s the west edge. I can walk straight through all my posts and pillars, great!
I’m only using the basic compiler at the moment because it takes long enough to start with. I was wondering if this problem is sorted out with the later compilers or do I have to insert a clipping plane into every cylinder that I have? (Lol, yeah, cylindrical clipping brushes wouldn’t work either huh?)

Again to do with cylinders,
I have built a house on cylinderical struts just high enough so that a player can prone to travel under it. This started to be a bit of a problem so I raised it, so now a player can just crouch under to move… However, the problem comes when trying to get out from under the front of the house. When run in ET it seems like there is a clipping plane at the front of the house preventing me from emerging from underneath when crouched or even proned. Although I can move from the outside of the house, under that area both proned and crouched. It’s almost as if there is a one way clipping plane on the front limit of the house. Also, it’s just limited to a section of the front of the house and doesn’t go all along it’s front. (And no, I haven’t got any clipping brushes anywhere near that section of the map. It’s just your basic flat brush on top of cylindrical struts on top of slightly off-flat terrain).

Any Ideas?

Thanks for reading…

(LaggingTom) #2

For the non-clipping cylinders, just add a clip brush. As for the other, I’m unsure what you could do.

(Mr_Tickles) #3

Thanks, but I was wondering if one of the later BSP compilers would sort that out seen as though i only uesd the basic one, which as far as I can see is used mainly for testing maps rather than the final version.

Thanks for the reply.

(LaggingTom) #4

You could always try yourself I suppose. I honestly haven’t the slighest why it shouldn’t work on just the -meta.

(MadJack) #5

Probably not that but make sure there’s nothing filtered out. View->Filter and uncheck those that are checked. Might be as simple as that.

(buttrot) #6

download latest version of q3map2 here http://www.splashdamage.com/index.php?name=pnPHPbb2&file=viewtopic&t=7095 You need to run it from a batch file or a dos command line.

(Mr_Tickles) #7

Thanks for the replys guys.

I’m new to mapmaking and have no idea what this is. I’ve downloaded it but can someone tell me what it is please. Is it a fix for Radiant? for the Engine? A better polygon compiler? Just curious…

Well, I was hoping that this could be it, … I went to my filter menu… nothing was checked :frowning:

(MadJack) #8

Q3map2 is what is making the BSP or the structure of the map so ET can read it. The BSP is what is loaded when you /devmap mapname

(buttrot) #9

im guessing your best bet is to make sure you have the latest version of radiant version 1.4.0 and use the q3map2 included its recent enough.q3map2 is a compiling program.you use it when you click on bsp in radiant.the menu that drops down is differnt compiling options.bsp meta is enough to test a map.the options are all explained in the manual.

(Mr_Tickles) #10

Thanks for all the advice peeps. I have Radiant version 1.3.8, so i think i’ll pick me up a copy of the latest and install the q3map2.

Just wondering, do any of you have the same problem? It’s happened with any sized cylinder brush with me (haven’t tried the dense and very dense though). If you press against the western most edge of a vertical cylinder, you can pass right through it.

(MadJack) #11

You can go through any patches on the side they’re not textured. That’s true for all patches. What I’m wondering about is if your cylinder is a patch or a brush. Yes, I know you said brush but you also said you’re new to mapping :slight_smile:

You can use clip brushes of any size, form or shape, it does not matter.

As for the seemingly invisible clip/brush… I’m not sure what to say without having the map but it could be many things.

No need to upgrade to 1.4.0 if you don’t want to, I still use 1.3.8 though I tested 1.4 and there’s some bugs/features in it that I don’t like. Grabbing the latest compile of q3map2 is a good thing. There’s a readme in the zip of q3map2 for installation, read it.

(Mr_Tickles) #12

Ah Ha! I’ve seen things which talk about patches and brushes and don’t really know about the differences. I created a brush then just clicked on the curve menu then the cylinder option, so i’m guessing that makes it a patch. I suppose if I wanted to keep it as a brush I’d better do some 2 point clipping. Or have to insert a clip brush in the side of it?

Um… don’t worry about the invisible clipping plane… there isn’t one, oops :rolleyes:. It’s just that some of the vertex’s of the triangles used in the terrain are sometimes not smooth to run over and you have to jump. With a bit of wiggling and jumping I managed to get through it, was just hoping that you should be able to crawl over it… or prone over it? Funny word prone isn’t it? I looked it up, … it means to lie face downwards. I like getting massages… but not when someone is shooting at me… like that ever happens. Maybe it’s just an American thing. Us Brits usually say “Lie on your front” not “Lie on your face”. Anyway…

Yeah, I think I’ll stick with 1.3.8.

Thanks. :smiley:

(MadJack) #13

Anything curve is a patch. As I said above, the textured side for a patch will clip you out but is it possible your patch is not fully closed? You could make a clip brush and put it inside the patch too. Make the patch and hit CTRL-6 or 8, that’ll make your patch 6 or 8 sided, then move the edges by hitting E and clicking on one of those edge, move them so the brush you just made is inside the patch then choose the clip texture.

HTH

(Mr_Tickles) #14

Ummm yeah, pretty sure the cylinder is closed, wouldn’t know how to open it. So I’ll have to put a clipping brush in whenever I make a cylinder. Is this normal practice for everyone using cylinders? It does seem a bit odd.

Ok, I’ve got the zip file, opened it, extracted it (into a separate folder), read the readme, moved the two shaders, edited the shader list and attempted to add “q3map2” and “cel” to terrain and terrain2 but found that they were already there.
Buttrot said to use a command prompt. Question is, is this the command line :

C:<path to q3map2>\q3map2.exe

and what switches do I need?
Please point me in the direction of a site that gives the different switches and explains what each of them do. All I really need is the basic one, one for adding light, and the final one that I can leave compiling over night. Although an explanation of all the switches would be handy seen as though I am new to mapping and don’t know what goes well for certain parts of the mapping process.

Thanks

(MadJack) #15

That should get you started Copy the content of my .bat file post that is in green and paste it in a file that you will rename <name_you_want>.bat

To start compiling simply drag & drop the .map file on the .bat file and it’ll start, choose options and there you go.

I suggest you read the thread if you have problems.

As for the meaning of the switches I suggest reading the manual There. It shouldn’t be too hard to find.

HTH

(Mr_Tickles) #16

Woohoo! Cool! :clap: :banana: :notworthy: Thanks!
Sorry for being a pain in the arse with all my questions.

I’ve lost all my knowledge of windows shortcuts now! Lol
I tried linking a shortcut to the batch file with the command to put my map on the end so I only had to click the icon on my desktop to compile it.
Lol, I’m just being lazy, I’ll do it the “two-seconds-longer” way.:smiley:

(MadJack) #17

That’s one way to do it :slight_smile: I don’t use that because I often compile a region only so I would still have to go and change the file name but hey, whatever float your boat :smiley: