1. |
How do I get started in mapping!?
First
get the essential tools, gtk radiant
(editor), a compiler (wolf compile) and q3map (compile optimiser),
you can download them here
If you want to start designing levels what you need to do is
head over to the Getting
Started page and follow the tutorials through, read Basic
Construction and Making
Your First Room after that and then you should feel more
at home and you can then read some tutorials and start learning
how to map.
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to menu |
2. |
What is caulking?
This is applying a texture called caulk (which is found in the
common texture folder) to any faces that you cannot see (if
you dont know how to texture, see here).
Caulking unseen faces means the game engine doesnt draw them,
which means higher fps and lower rspeeds (rspeeds are the number
of tris on screen etc, the higher the worse) Some mappers make
there maps out of caulk first entirely and then put the texture
they want to be seen on the faces. Remember that if a brush
is entirely made of caulk (on all its faces) it will cause a
leak.
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3. |
What
is a leak?
When
your creating your levels, you should see it as you're in outer
space. Your creating a world, and it needs to be sealed off
from outer space! In the editor this means that the map your
creating needs to have no gaps that lead into the void. It needs
to be closed off, think of the void as everything in camera
view, and you are making things in the void, but you need to
seal them off from it, like our atmosphere seals us off from
space.
Note: water, fog, doors, etc, anything that's an entity really
wont seal from the void, you must have a normal brush, or a
sky brush to seal it.
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4. |
I cant compile my map
This
is a question which could have so many replies, your best bet
is to go to the Forum
and give out as much information as possible and then someone
can help you
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5. |
Are
there any guidelines to mapping?
Although
you can make many things you cant make everything you want,
you cant make every shape ever invented and you have to bare
in mind the r_speeds. These are how many polys are on screen
at once. Polys are from the brushes you create. The more polys
on screen the higher the r_speeds and that means the lower the
fps can be and the more PC lag you will get. So you need to
keep your r_speeds within certain boundaries, rtcw allows for
a lot compared to that of older games like hl.
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6. |
My map wont load it says "couldn't find bsp" or something
Before you play your map type in the console (usually by pressing
the ` key) /sv_pure 0 (that's a zero) This means the server
isn't pure so you can load your custom map since its not in
a pak file or from the original game, the server is set to this
to prevent cheating in hindsight. Note that for single player
maps, since your not creating a server as such, there is no
need to type in sv_pure.
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7. |
How
do I select a shape or deselect one?
You
need to hold shift and left click to select a brush or object
and to deselect press escape. You can read the Getting
Started tutorial for more information.
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8. |
My
camera view distance is really short or my camera view is sluggish
You
can use the cubic clipping camera setting by pressing the button
with the button on, the camera has a low drawing distance, which
can improve performance its a bit sluggish. On the other hand
with it turn off you can have full drawing distance.
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9. |
What
is compiling?
In
level design for rtcw you create a .map file. This map file
then needs to be compiled into a .bsp file. The compile is where
tools figure out what the map should be like in game, it determines
the lighting, the environment, everything, it compiles it so
it can be played.
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10. |
What
are r_speeds?
These
are how many polys are on screen at once. Polys are from the
brushes you create. The more polys on screen the higher the
r_speeds and that means the lower the fps can be and the more
pc lag you will get.
You can display r_speeds by typing "/r_speeds 1" in
console
You should keep to a maximum of 8000/10000 in the "Leafs"
column
if you go over these it should be in less visited areas and
only in places you cant get it down. Also these are old limits
for quake 3, rtcw uses a modified quake 3 team arena engine,
so you can probably get away with 12000+, check your fps (/cg_drawfps
1) and if its ok then you can rest easy.
For a list of useful mapping commands go here
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11. |
How
do I make a room?
If you want to start designing levels what you need to do is
head over to the Getting
Started page and follow the tutorials through, read Basic
Construction and Making
Your First Room after that and then you should feel more
at home and you can then read some tutorials and start learning
how to map.
back to menu |
12. |
What is a brush?
A brush is basically most things you create in the world, such
as curves and shapes. So its what you have made, if you make
a wall, that's a brush, if you make a floor that's a brush.
Its just things you have dragged out and made
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