RESOURCE: Mapping

RESOURCE: Mapping

Postby John_III » 18 Mar 2011, 03:15

Use this thread to share ideas, screenshots of maps you are working on, or ask any mapping-related questions.

John_III {l Wrote}:A great reference for mapping in RE can be found here: http://iamnotabot.freeforums.org/editing-controls-and-commands-t16.html

fluxord {l Wrote}:Cube engine specifics:

Various tips & guides about level design:

High quality articles that have disappeared (but still are in the http://web.archive.org/):
Image
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Re: Mapping

Postby Ulukai » 14 Aug 2011, 09:28

Here we go with the first question :)

I'm trying to create a map with 2 rather large temples, some smaller buildings and a pretty large outdoor area. It is my first attempt to creating a Cube 2 / RE map, so it is hard and I'm wasting a lot of time experimenting, but I believe it is worth the effort. My feeling is that RE might have profit by an editing menu from where you can select objects like trees or choose water etc. If this would be in place already, please correct me but I couldn't find it.

1) For the temples, I need quite some pillars. Those are wider at the base and on top and have some rounded corners. How can I make one pillar and then copy it 30 times to other places in the temple? I only found how to copy a certain grid, but it doesn't copy the "object" that is the pillar.
2) When 1 temple is done, I need it to be copied to the other side of the map, is there a possibility to do this like with the pillars?
3) How can I shift textures to make them fit? Can I also make them look bigger / smaller?

Thanks for the tips, any help or good documentation is appreciated. I already read the RE wiki and the link above from john_III.
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Re: Mapping

Postby Kitsune » 14 Aug 2011, 09:31

There is an editing menu, but it doesnt fully function, its /showgui editing. Also YaRo's menu.cfg provides a much better editing gui under the same command.
To copy things you can select the cubes, then do /copy and move to where you want it and do /paste
There are some cvars in relation to the textures, but i dont know them off the top of my head.
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Re: Mapping

Postby Ulukai » 14 Aug 2011, 11:20

Thanks, this got me started. I someone can fill in the texture shifting I would be grateful.
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Re: Mapping

Postby qreeves » 14 Aug 2011, 12:09

In a map config (where N is the number of pixels to shift):
{l Code}: {l Select All Code}
texoffset N

or in game using vdelta commands:
{l Code}: {l Select All Code}
/voffset N
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Re: Mapping

Postby Ulukai » 14 Aug 2011, 14:31

qreeves {l Wrote}:In a map config (where N is the number of pixels to shift):
{l Code}: {l Select All Code}
texoffset N

or in game using vdelta commands:
{l Code}: {l Select All Code}
/voffset N


I noticed /voffset N only shifts left / right, no way to shift up / down? Or a way to sort of drag a texture until it's in place? I find it confusing to guess the number of pixels.
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Re: Mapping

Postby fawstoar » 14 Aug 2011, 15:48

Many thanks for the guide, I've been wondering how to do some more advanced editing.
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Re: Mapping

Postby Ulukai » 14 Aug 2011, 22:51

Does F2 really show all available textures? I thought I've seen more and other textures used in maps, like the red and blue tiles in bath for example. The standard set feels a bit limited or am I missing something?
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Re: Mapping

Postby qreeves » 15 Aug 2011, 01:28

Ulukai {l Wrote}:I noticed /voffset N only shifts left / right, no way to shift up / down?

Sorry, /voffset X Y, where you can use zero for either X or Y.

Ulukai {l Wrote}:Or a way to sort of drag a texture until it's in place? I find it confusing to guess the number of pixels.

Sorry, nothing quite so easy (though, an idea I totally agree with and will have to give more thought to). All textures are powers of two however, so try going up in multiples or 32/64/128/256.
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Re: Mapping

Postby qreeves » 15 Aug 2011, 01:34

Ulukai {l Wrote}:Does F2 really show all available textures? I thought I've seen more and other textures used in maps, like the red and blue tiles in bath for example. The standard set feels a bit limited or am I missing something?

More often than not, textures are reused with colours applied to them. This is done through either the vcolor R G B (R/G/B = 0.0 -> 1.0) or the new vpalette N V (N = palette set, V = palette id) command (in the case of bath). vpalette is an idea I came up with where textures/etc can be dynamically coloured (eg. so each side of the level has teamalphacolour and teambetacolour [both variables you can change]), play bath in a non-team game, you will notice it goes grey. :)
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Re: Mapping

Postby Ulukai » 15 Aug 2011, 14:22

Thanks a bunch, I'll keep you posted when I make some progress in my map. Got the copying going now and will start with the outdoor area soon. The heightmapping makes it easy :) Please let us know when there are new features in the editor like improved texture shifting. I'll try to update the wiki too one of these days with the tips you just gave.

I'm still thinking of a way to close my map off, probably with rocks around the playable area, but than they have to be really high because with some powerjumps you are on top of them in no time...? Or is there a better way to do so?
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Re: Mapping

Postby Ulukai » 15 Aug 2011, 22:10

Another question: the /gettex command should tell me which texture is used on a surface, but where do I get this information?
Also, the 0 key doesn't work for me to select all faces of a cube at the same time. Maybe it has something to do with my Azerty keyboard layout... Is there another way to do so?
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Re: Mapping

Postby qreeves » 16 Aug 2011, 01:23

Ulukai {l Wrote}:I'm still thinking of a way to close my map off, probably with rocks around the playable area, but than they have to be really high because with some powerjumps you are on top of them in no time...? Or is there a better way to do so?

This is one of the ways mappers needs to be creative in Red Eclipse. Most often, maps are left in the open air, so players just fall outside the level boundaries. Others are closed in, and there are others that just use unexplained clip (which isn't too terrible if it is just the top of the level). You could even set up particle fields and put death material beyond them to mimic an electric force field effect. It's pretty much up to you how you go about it.

Ulukai {l Wrote}:Another question: the /gettex command should tell me which texture is used on a surface, but where do I get this information?

The /gettex command gets the texture of the surface you have selected, and makes it the active texture (so you can grab a texture you've used somewhere and continue using it elsewhere without searching through the list). Pressing F2 will show you the name of the texture.

Ulukai {l Wrote}:Also, the 0 key doesn't work for me to select all faces of a cube at the same time. Maybe it has something to do with my Azerty keyboard layout... Is there another way to do so?

It won't "select" all faces of a cube, it merely toggles whether you apply textures to the selected face, or the entire cube. The variable changed is allfaces, and you can type /allfaces 1 to turn on, or zero to turn off again. To rebind the key, type: /editbindvar KEY allfaces (where KEY is the name of the key as it appears in data/keymap.cfg).
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Re: Mapping

Postby Ulukai » 16 Aug 2011, 10:17

Thank you Quin for the generous help, it makes the way through the labyrinth that the editor is easier ;). Allow me to ask some more explanation for some functions while we're at it ^^

The L key links entities, what is this for? When should I use this?
How does the texture brush mode works?
How can I make a torch (on a wall) to light my temple? I'll probably need to sculpt it very precisely out of cubes and I can add lights to it, but what about the flames and maybe some smoke?

Man, it takes me so much time to try to achieve simple things in the editor, but I'm having so much fun at the same time :). Once I have a beta version finished (not very soon I'm afraid), I'm thinking of posting it here for a testrun and suggestions.
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Re: Mapping

Postby fluxord » 16 Aug 2011, 23:06

I'll just post some links about Level/Map editing here.

Cube engine specifics:

Various tips & guides about level design:

High quality articles that have disappeared (but still are in the http://web.archive.org/):

I'm just a noob :) in Map Editing but I think that these should complement the mapping command reference posted at the top of this thread.
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Re: Mapping

Postby qreeves » 19 Aug 2011, 08:26

fluxord {l Wrote}:I'm just a noob :) in Map Editing but I think that these should complement the mapping command reference posted at the top of this thread.

Done, thanks :)
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Re: Mapping

Postby AxE » 20 Aug 2011, 13:43

How do you link a script to a trigger? I just cant seem to figure it out.

All I want to do is make a trigger say something when you walk over it, does anyone know how?
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Re: Mapping

Postby qreeves » 21 Aug 2011, 00:27

AxE {l Wrote}:How do you link a script to a trigger? I just cant seem to figure it out.

All I want to do is make a trigger say something when you walk over it, does anyone know how?

Create a trigger, set its type to 'script', then set 'id' to whatever index you want it to be. Type /worldalias on_trigger_N [echo "You pressed a trigger!"] (where N is the 'id' you selected) and save your map. You may need to reload it to get the trigger to work correctly. The alias will appear in your saved map.cfg, you can edit it there if you wish.
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Re: Mapping

Postby AxE » 21 Aug 2011, 09:43

thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

someone should really add this to the wiki, just a suggestion :p
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Re: Mapping

Postby Ulukai » 25 Aug 2011, 01:11

Some more questions...

1) Some maps like blink and Venus combine 2 textures on 1 cube surface. How is this done? I've been playing with the texture brush, but it doesn't seem to do anything.
2) How can I add grass to the map, like on venus?
3) To add weapons and particles, you need to know the number of the entity you want to add, is there some sort of list?
4) How can I link entities together and also link them on a piece of geometry?
5) Can you give some more information about the vpalette command? What are the different palette sets and the palette ids?
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Re: Mapping

Postby Ulukai » 26 Aug 2011, 21:42

Anyone? Any help would be greatly appreciated... Especially for the grass and combining textures, that's what I need the most right now.
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Re: Mapping

Postby sireus » 26 Aug 2011, 22:20

First off, you need to add the necessary settings in the map .cfg. I couldn't find any specific info for RE, but it should be the same as for Sauer.
See texture blending and autograss.
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Re: Mapping

Postby Architect » 26 Aug 2011, 22:32

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Last edited by Architect on 02 Feb 2014, 08:14, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mapping

Postby qreeves » 27 Aug 2011, 03:58

Ulukai {l Wrote}:1) Some maps like blink and Venus combine 2 textures on 1 cube surface. How is this done? I've been playing with the texture brush, but it doesn't seem to do anything.

Texture blending, use the Sauer docs suggested in this case.

Ulukai {l Wrote}:2) How can I add grass to the map, like on venus?

Select a cube with a texture you want to add grass to, then type /setgrass "textures/grass" or for the texture definition in your map.cfg use texgrass. Other useful commands here are: setgrasscolor, setgrassblend, setgrassscale, setgrassheight

Ulukai {l Wrote}:3) To add weapons and particles, you need to know the number of the entity you want to add, is there some sort of list?

I find it is usually easier to just type /newent whatever and then scroll the attributes. If you hold down the numeric keys (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc) and scroll the mouse wheel while an entity is select, it will edit that respective attribute (1 = attr 1, 2 = attr 2, etc). All entities display info above themselves when selected, so it should be easy to just scroll and see until you find what you want.

Ulukai {l Wrote}:4) How can I link entities together and also link them on a piece of geometry?

Select two entities, the first one you select is the "origin" and the second one you select (by right clicking) is the "destination". To link the two entities together press "L". Pressing it once will link origin to destination, pressing it again will link in both directions, pressing it again will link destination to origin, and pressing it one more time will remove the linking. You can't link entities to geometry, for something like that you will need a mapmodel.

Ulukai {l Wrote}:5) Can you give some more information about the vpalette command? What are the different palette sets and the palette ids?

Set "0" - Pulse Colours
0: turn off palette effects
1: dark fire pulse colours
2: bright fire pulse colours
3: disco pulse colours (bomber-ball)

Set "1" - Team Colours
0/1/2/3: neutral/alpha/omega/enemy colours (only enforced in teamplay games)
4/5/6/7: neutral/alpha/omega/enemy colours (enforced at all times)

Set "2" - Weapon Colours
0/1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9: melee/pistol/sword/shotgun/smg/flamer/plasma/rifle/grenade/rocket colours (only enforced when that weapon is able to spawn in the current game configuration)
10/11/12/13/14/15/16/17/18/19: melee/pistol/sword/shotgun/smg/flamer/plasma/rifle/grenade/rocket colours (enforced at all times)
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Re: Mapping

Postby Ulukai » 31 Aug 2011, 09:09

Thanks Quin, the vpalette command was very usefull to me.

How can I rotate entities lile spawnpoints and mapmodels like trees? There is a blue arrow that I can't point in another direction.
To get the map ready for CTF and DTF, is it enough to place the necessary entities or do I need some special lines in the map.cfg?

My map is getting into shape, need some more details in geometry and do the rocks to close off the map. Then some lighting, weapon placement and spawnpoints. I'm really enjoying this :) Too bad I have so little time... Editing is a real time burner!
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