Post by Splatpig63 in Custom Maps and Editor tips

Viewing post in Custom Maps and Editor tips

1) I want to create an empty cylinder with two meshes, one it's the outside and the other is the insides. How do I extrude it to make this effect work? Screen for reference:

2) I also want to weld two object/meshes toghever, so went I move them around and click them they are selected as one directly.

3) How do I avoid doors to keep opening by getting close to them, if I have intention to only make them openable by a lever/button? And how do I bind the color keys to the specific doors?

4) How do I set a proper fog effect, if I want my map to look like a Silent Hill-style landscape?

5) More of a suggestion, but it would be cool to have an option to resize any formed mesh in a proper way, rather than selected then for the surfaces or vertex and resize them bit by bit.

6) On the discord, one of the modders is working on a snowvy map, it would be cool to have a snowfall type effect like with rain and fog.

mutantleg326 days ago(+1)

1) cylinder pipes
there are two ways
one is to extrude one end and scale it down and extrude again
you can extrude selected quads by pressing K or L
to scale use the console command: S
e.g. S 0.5
is scale by 50 percent

another method that is easier but results in messy geometry is using csg:
this also uses console commands:
- make two cylinders (make sure one is in the another and they overlap)
- select the first and use the command: OP1
- deselect it
- now select the second and use the command: OP2
- deselect it
- use the command: SUB
now there should be a hole in the first in the shape of the second

there are also other operatiors that work the same way: SUB ADD INT
SUB is for subtract
ADD merges two entities
INT is for intersect (if you make two rooms or hollow meshes you can contact them with this)
(also you can make meshes hollow with the command FLIP )

2) joining meshes:

- select one mesh
- press J
- click on the other mesh

3) doors:

in properties (6)
select 'usedoor' or 'keepdoor'
for triggerable either use 'trigdoor_stay' or 'pathvator_togg'

4) fog:
one fog is the dark prisonfog
for this you need to place the actor 'spec_darkfog'
it's in the top row above the brainsucker statue
and looks like a little monitor

another fog is the sprite fog:
- make a zone with V
- in properties (6) select 'smokebox'

5) scaling:
you can use the console command S
e.g. S 0.5
"scale" also works: e.g. SCALE 0.5
this is uniform scale, if you want to scale on an axis,
you need to give 3 parameters e.g.:
SCALE 1 0.1 1
they are in the order of X Y Z
and Y is up

6) snow:
there used to be a snow effect in the game
but I need to check if it's still in 🤔 (possibly reimplement it )
I'll try to get it in by next update

if you need help or more details with any of these let me know!

Splatpig63325 days ago(+1)

The SUB system so far does the better result, but would be nice if it was a simpler way and with less weird geometry to subtract meshes.

mutantleg325 days ago(+1)

there is only a more complicated way:
using the main bsp (it re-optimises the quads - but it's meant for large areas)
anyway the steps for this:
- make a cylinder
- select it
- press numpad 1
- make another cylinder inside it
- flip it (with console command FLIP)
- press numpad 7
- now use the console command: BTOQ 0
this turns the bsp group 0 into a single quad mesh (and it should be selected now)

this can be used to make more advanced CSG stuff

also this bsp method is good for making large areas
but can get out of hand pretty quick
you can rebuild the bsp it with the ) or 0 key (whatever you got to the right of 9)
or using the console command BSP
you can assign bsp groups with the console command BG (e.g. BG 1)
there are about 30 groups and group 0 is the default

numpad 1 is for adding
numpad 7 is intersect
if you want to make a whole map using it I recommend starting with an intersected room as the first one

it's kind of like the dynamic bsp unreal uses, but only good for about 100 meshes
and there is no check if there is an error in your mesh (you need to make sure yourself)
and error in this case means a hole somewhere (use the noexport texture to add holes)
shapes can be concave - but sometimes it goes haywire - with missing triangles out of nowhere
(the groups are a work around for this )
and I recommend using the red 'noexport' texture to stick areas together

alas I usually just used the default 8 sided pipes that the editor auto generates
so making these detailed pipes is tricky

Splatpig63325 days ago(+1)

I think I'm starting to get the gist now. I'll try do more test to see what's the best method. Talking about that, when I press B to make a box shaped mes, sometimes it comes out with an empty hole in the middle ( much like with pressing C multiple times you can have a different way to raise cylinder) but it isn't always working as well as I espected to.

mutantleg324 days ago(+1)

yes, you can also use the mousewheel to change it
(alas I thought it would come useful for something)

anyway I made an extended tutorial for the BSP stuff:
https://imgur.com/a/6nWq71E
let me know what you think

Splatpig63324 days ago (1 edit) (+1)

Seems very useful, I'll share it throught the discord chat.

Splatpig63302 days ago(+1)

By working with BPS, I've come across this sort of weird bug that is happening in my map, maybe I'm doing something wrong but part of the the meshes doesn't seem to properly disappear to make a hole:

This seems to happen with wall meshes that aren't perfectly perpendicular, although I haven't verified yet.

mutantleg302 days ago(+1)

I'm afraid the BSP is not completely bug free - so these will happen now and then 😔
the thing is it's a technique that was never really meant to be used dynamically and it's hard
to predict what might cause an error (something to do with floating point errors adding up as the tree grows)
my only workaround (or recommendation) is to use multiple groups when you can
(of course there might be some other cause - I cannot tell for sure without looking a the map itself)

Splatpig63302 days ago(+1)

I tried replicating the BPS bug within a test map to see if this was something that specifically happened in sloped walls. Seems like the BPS work fine for the most part here:

The most obvious bug is at certain moments some meshes of the BPS will outright disappear for no apparent reason:

Seems like the real problem happen in my large map, where all the meshes that are supposed to disappear just remain in the carved hole, which doesn't seem the case in other maps I've made, and I don't understand how to possibly solve this issue.

View more in thread

itch.io

Viewing post in Custom Maps and Editor tips