Great video, came back to S2 after not touching hammer for years and I was still stuck to creating corridors out of 4 blocks, clipping out sections for doors etc. I immediately ran into a lot of messy problems - Certain bits ending up misaligned with the grid, weird lighting artifacts etc. Makes sense that it should be approached more like you are modelling than just sticking bits together, this look not only more optimized but far cleaner and easier to manage than having tens of objects per room.
Really glad that it helps put things in modelling perspective! I really believe these good work habits will continue to eliminate problems along the way :)
Did you get used to it more by now or already stopped mapping again? I also returned after 15+ years and still find it difficult to create accessible structures likes houses without numerous blocks.
I have been working in Blender trying to make maps for my game. I have been struggling for months trying to learn best practices when it comes to blockouts, proper topology, etc. I had an epiphany today to just use map editors to make my maps instead of Blender. Finding your tutorials was a godsend. TYSM for this this is what I have been looking for for months.
I can't follow this tutorial the editor doesn't behave the same way. When I select the line @4:00 and press f to 'bevel' it keeps the line in the middle and I can't actually follow these steps. So far I hate everything about this editor I think it is low quality.
For anyone who's a complete noob like me, when he get's to the point where you need to drag the beveled edge and don't have any arrows to move, press T to toggle transform mode.
Excited to get started on your tutorial series here. I was building by blocks and a lovely patron (Neon) helped me, and also pointed me your direction. Very cool stuff. Thanks you.
Would’ve been nice if you could’ve pressed f8 (I think) when explaining the n-gons, to show how the triangles are different. I like the advice on cubemaps and meshes!
@ 4:40 doesn't having the extra edges create Ngons on the side walls and the ceiling though? While for *modeling software* it's not recommended, in terms of Hammer it should be able to compensate for that well enough.
Yup! We do address this in video 3 and beginning of video 5. The better way, as Marnamai suggested, is to extract the face before splitting it to avoid the additional vertices. In the end, the engine can handle N gons that are horizontal and vertical without issue - but it is good practice to try and limit them when possible!
Hey quick question: In preparing for S&box, I'd like to know the map limitations that source 2 imposes on. What is the brush limit and size limit of a source2 map? Original source had 32768x32768 as it's size limit, which would estimate to about half a kilometer by half life 2 standards and allows up to 8192 Brushes (Doubled for GMOD) what should I expect from it's sequel?
seeing as noone has updated you, garry and his team have managed to expand this limt a few months ago, but after about 2-3 hammer 1 maps in length you begin to encounter obvious floating point errors
Is there anyway to make the Hammer Grid more pleasing to look at if that makes sense? My eyes get super-strained looking at the grid lines... Or do you have any advice for making this strain less irritable?
This series is awesome; thanks for putting it together! I'm new to this; and having an issue with the entities tool. @2:17 when you choose that entities tool I'm not getting the same toolbar display you get. Mine is only showing a small text box instead of that nice list of categories like player, lighting etc. I can't figure out how to change that to display it in the same way yours is. I imagine it's a simple setting adjustment but I'm new to this and can't figure out how to duplicate that display. Any help would be appreciated so that I can proceed with adding HLA entities to my design. Thanks
I can still work fine without this but I noticed for you that you look through the faces closest to you so you can see the inside of the box from outside, however mine doesn't do that and i have to be inside the box to see anything in it.
Not sure if you still reply to this, but if you use the cut tool in straight lines that avoid cutting n-gons, wouldn't that work just as well and allow a more simple solution to doorway placing?
Yup! Thats another great method as well - I don't think there are any WRONG ways to make a door just a bunch of DIFFERENT ways depending on work flows Avoiding NGons as much as possible is best but the engine can end up triangulating it in the end if you don't care much for UV or subdivisions
Hi - does it still hold true that "ngons" create artifacts through lighting and it should be better to create MORE faces when editing/extruding? I find it very difficult to edit faces with many subdivisions
I'm a super noob with this stuff, but in another tutorial (another channel) they explained you should set some kind of "lightspace" or something like that, to 128 units (or 128 units higher than a player can reach at any given spot on the map). I assume this is why he chose 128. Hope that helps!
@@depholade it varies. 10 feet was historically standard for various reasons. Depends on type of building too. 8 feet is more common inside of a house than anywhere else. For games, it’s common to build rooms that break real world scale for better “player feel”. See the interiors of Last of Us for example. Door frames are extended to give room for the camera. The scale of rooms inside of houses are ginormous compared to real life. It varies. I am in college for game design, formerly architecture.
Hi, stupid question but: I closed the material selection window instinctively to reduce clutter, and I can't figure out how to open it again. How do I do that?
When I use the bevel tool after selecting the two edges, for me it doesn't work like how it does in the video. For me it creates a hexagon out of that side of the cube and messes things up. Is there something I'm missing? Is there some setting I need to change or maybe the tools have gotten an update since this video came out or something?
Make sure you are using the same grid size as in the video. Also double check to make sure that your edges that are selected are correctly merged and not open / split
I know good workflow is building the map outward from one mesh. But is it going to ruin my project if, let's say, i build a couple blocks to make a shelter and delete the faces that the player won't see?
Does anyone know if Source 2 will ever feature more games, multiplayer FPS and so on ? Is it possible to use source 2 as game engine for any kind of game I want to create ?
not sure of this but you can look into S&Box, by the creator of garry's mod, you can basically do any gamemode you want, fps parkour.. i even saw minigolf and pool, and all of the games inside s&box are based on source 2
I know this is probably a dumb question, but how do you even get/how do you open Hammer for the first time? Is it just a something in the files of HLA or do I have to go somewhere to download it?
if you have HLA you will need to download the tools from the workshop. Right click on PLAY on your HLA library and you should be able to download workshop tools from there
In this video, it is using the Half Life: Alyx tools. However you can get started by using Dota 2's or Steam VR's version of Hammer. Just be careful since those might not be up to date or include all the features showcased in this tutorial series.
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 When i went to go try this out i tried to run the map and it just shows its loading and then shows the valve logo and does nothing
I figured it out! You forgot to change your scale from 64 to 16. He does it around 2:50 in the video. I thought it was unneeded, but it worked when i did his scale
Can I not use source 2 building tools but just model say a modular building in 3DS max, import the pieces, assemble them and have it work without any problems ?
Yes, you could! Source 2 works like any modern modeling tool and allows 3d objects in fbx and obj format to be imported via model doc and then used in a map. It's prefered to model enviroment and such in Hammer. - Moonded
Hi, New to hammer completely. slowed the video down to learn but anytime I tried to do the door bit It created a hexagon any ideas on why? I couldn't figure it out.
Make sure that when you create the quad faces after CTRL D, that you select both the vertical edges and then press F to bevel them and move both of the new edges together. Otherwise you will create weird shapes
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 This happens to me also. I did shift D then had both edges selected but pressing F just turned the face into a hexagon shape. What should I do? I don't know if this is related but when i double click the edges, the symbols that let you extrude and so on aren't there
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 yes I meant to type Ctrl not shift. Getting to the quad faces isn't the problem its that after selecting the two edges bevelling it turns in into a hexagon
@@RiyadKash can you change the grid size on your bevel to make sure that when you select the entire edge line, and then press bevel, it isn't too big of a grid?
go to properties in half life alyx then go to dlc, click the checkmark box and when you launch half life alyx you will have an option to open the dev tools
I'm realizing right away that this program in inferior to Hammer 1 just for the camera system alone. The camera in Source 2 is huge headache and it makes no sense at all. Why would they completely change the camera for hammer after over 20 years?!
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 You actually created additional ngons (5 vertices on sides, 6 on ceiling and floor) by how you added the extra edges to that one face, if you do not wish for continious edge loops, extract the face before inserting the edges.
Bruh, just seeing you edit in 3D like that is already going to make things so much faster.
Great video, came back to S2 after not touching hammer for years and I was still stuck to creating corridors out of 4 blocks, clipping out sections for doors etc. I immediately ran into a lot of messy problems - Certain bits ending up misaligned with the grid, weird lighting artifacts etc. Makes sense that it should be approached more like you are modelling than just sticking bits together, this look not only more optimized but far cleaner and easier to manage than having tens of objects per room.
Really glad that it helps put things in modelling perspective! I really believe these good work habits will continue to eliminate problems along the way :)
Did you get used to it more by now or already stopped mapping again? I also returned after 15+ years and still find it difficult to create accessible structures likes houses without numerous blocks.
I have been working in Blender trying to make maps for my game. I have been struggling for months trying to learn best practices when it comes to blockouts, proper topology, etc. I had an epiphany today to just use map editors to make my maps instead of Blender. Finding your tutorials was a godsend. TYSM for this this is what I have been looking for for months.
So glad it was able to help in other areas!
Well this just blew my mind, I've used source 1 hammer for a long time and this changes a lot!
This is super useful, thank you
You're welcome!
I can't follow this tutorial the editor doesn't behave the same way. When I select the line @4:00 and press f to 'bevel' it keeps the line in the middle and I can't actually follow these steps. So far I hate everything about this editor I think it is low quality.
For anyone who's a complete noob like me, when he get's to the point where you need to drag the beveled edge and don't have any arrows to move, press T to toggle transform mode.
I wish I had put the on screen keyboard to make things easier when I started the series lol but thank you for adding that in!
Excited to get started on your tutorial series here. I was building by blocks and a lovely patron (Neon) helped me, and also pointed me your direction. Very cool stuff. Thanks you.
Glad to be of help! :)
makes a whole lot more sense why i was having issues beforehand
Glad we were able to resolve them!
Would’ve been nice if you could’ve pressed f8 (I think) when explaining the n-gons, to show how the triangles are different. I like the advice on cubemaps and meshes!
Great idea! I need to show this on the next one - thank you
Wish I had this when first starting out. Love it!
Thank you I hope this helps usher in a wave of new source 2 mappers!
@ 4:40 doesn't having the extra edges create Ngons on the side walls and the ceiling though? While for *modeling software* it's not recommended, in terms of Hammer it should be able to compensate for that well enough.
Yup! We do address this in video 3 and beginning of video 5. The better way, as Marnamai suggested, is to extract the face before splitting it to avoid the additional vertices. In the end, the engine can handle N gons that are horizontal and vertical without issue - but it is good practice to try and limit them when possible!
Hey quick question: In preparing for S&box, I'd like to know the map limitations that source 2 imposes on. What is the brush limit and size limit of a source2 map?
Original source had 32768x32768 as it's size limit, which would estimate to about half a kilometer by half life 2 standards and allows up to 8192 Brushes (Doubled for GMOD)
what should I expect from it's sequel?
Right now the entity limit is at 16k entities for S&box, but the world size limits are the same. Garry is looking to expand it however
seeing as noone has updated you, garry and his team have managed to expand this limt a few months ago, but after about 2-3 hammer 1 maps in length you begin to encounter obvious floating point errors
when I get to the bevel step it creates a weird polygon instead of doing what it does in your video.
If you didn't figure it out, it's the grid size that's the problem. It needs to be smaller.
@@BlazertronGames man you rule thank you
@@BlazertronGames Thank you
Is there anyway to make the Hammer Grid more pleasing to look at if that makes sense? My eyes get super-strained looking at the grid lines... Or do you have any advice for making this strain less irritable?
on 4:20, ctrl + D doesn't give me that cross cut that you have.
any ideas on why?
the face needs to be a quad - if it is anything but a quad it will not work. Check to see if its an N gon selected
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 how do i check what is selected?
It could be your grid size
hi. when i move face like you did at 4:53 the edges next to the face move with it and i dont know how to make them to stay. i move the face of a mesh.
hold shift when moving the face. fixed it
SHIFT to extrude :)
When I bevel to make the hallway at 4:30, the face instead turns into a hexagon. fix for this? are the edges not joined or something? Thanks.
Try ALT F now since this command has changed in CS2
to anyone else having the same problem, remember to check that the grid size is set to 16 before you bevel
thank you for your tutorials :D learned enough to follow them and just made my first bhop map on steam workshop
That makes me so happy to hear! Don't be afraid to post a link!
This series is awesome; thanks for putting it together! I'm new to this; and having an issue with the entities tool. @2:17 when you choose that entities tool I'm not getting the same toolbar display you get. Mine is only showing a small text box instead of that nice list of categories like player, lighting etc. I can't figure out how to change that to display it in the same way yours is. I imagine it's a simple setting adjustment but I'm new to this and can't figure out how to duplicate that display. Any help would be appreciated so that I can proceed with adding HLA entities to my design. Thanks
I can still work fine without this but
I noticed for you that you look through the faces closest to you so you can see the inside of the box from outside, however mine doesn't do that and i have to be inside the box to see anything in it.
is it acceptable to use the clipping tool if you cut the whole way through a face, edge to edge?
What exactly is the difference between the Source Engine 2 base version and the full license?
Hi
Is there going to be any more videos in this crash course?
Not sure if you still reply to this, but if you use the cut tool in straight lines that avoid cutting n-gons, wouldn't that work just as well and allow a more simple solution to doorway placing?
Yup! Thats another great method as well - I don't think there are any WRONG ways to make a door just a bunch of DIFFERENT ways depending on work flows
Avoiding NGons as much as possible is best but the engine can end up triangulating it in the end if you don't care much for UV or subdivisions
Hi - does it still hold true that "ngons" create artifacts through lighting and it should be better to create MORE faces when editing/extruding?
I find it very difficult to edit faces with many subdivisions
noope, you can use ngons its ok
now u have Ngons on the ground and roof?
Yeah it's fine they triangulate automatically
Hi eagle! Question: should walls really be 128 units high? That’s like 10 feet and it seems huge. Thanks!
I'm a super noob with this stuff, but in another tutorial (another channel) they explained you should set some kind of "lightspace" or something like that, to 128 units (or 128 units higher than a player can reach at any given spot on the map). I assume this is why he chose 128. Hope that helps!
10 feet is a standard height for real world walls.
@@zacharoninoodle not only are you wrong a simple google search would have fixed your ignorance. it’s actually 8 feet.
@@depholade it varies. 10 feet was historically standard for various reasons. Depends on type of building too. 8 feet is more common inside of a house than anywhere else.
For games, it’s common to build rooms that break real world scale for better “player feel”. See the interiors of Last of Us for example. Door frames are extended to give room for the camera. The scale of rooms inside of houses are ginormous compared to real life.
It varies.
I am in college for game design, formerly architecture.
Hi, stupid question but: I closed the material selection window instinctively to reduce clutter, and I can't figure out how to open it again. How do I do that?
At the top of hammer go to view toolbars and reset to default
by adding the edge loops only on the wall to create the door aren't you making ngons on the ceiling and floor?
Don't worry about N Gons at the end of the day the engine triangulates it. I just stressed out using good work habits but you can use N gons if needed
When I use the bevel tool after selecting the two edges, for me it doesn't work like how it does in the video. For me it creates a hexagon out of that side of the cube and messes things up. Is there something I'm missing? Is there some setting I need to change or maybe the tools have gotten an update since this video came out or something?
Make sure you are using the same grid size as in the video. Also double check to make sure that your edges that are selected are correctly merged and not open / split
Your grid is probably set to 64 by default. I had the same issue. Switch it to 16.
@@aaronchaisson9467 you saved me
Can't hear clearly what shortcut you said. Can"t see anything (720p !)
I know good workflow is building the map outward from one mesh. But is it going to ruin my project if, let's say, i build a couple blocks to make a shelter and delete the faces that the player won't see?
Nope not at all! There is no one RIGHT way to do things, always multiple avenues :D
Does anyone know if Source 2 will ever feature more games, multiplayer FPS and so on ? Is it possible to use source 2 as game engine for any kind of game I want to create ?
not sure of this but you can look into S&Box, by the creator of garry's mod, you can basically do any gamemode you want, fps parkour.. i even saw minigolf and pool, and all of the games inside s&box are based on source 2
I know this is probably a dumb question, but how do you even get/how do you open Hammer for the first time? Is it just a something in the files of HLA or do I have to go somewhere to download it?
if you have HLA you will need to download the tools from the workshop. Right click on PLAY on your HLA library and you should be able to download workshop tools from there
right click hla , enable tools in DLC tab
Can you import source 1 maps to source 2?
yes
where do you download this hammer version
In this video, it is using the Half Life: Alyx tools. However you can get started by using Dota 2's or Steam VR's version of Hammer. Just be careful since those might not be up to date or include all the features showcased in this tutorial series.
How can we download?
For me when i invert meshes to make rooms i fall through the floor in the map
That shouldn't happen... check to make sure that the object is a solid and rendering physics on it
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 How can i do that? Im new to half life alyx mapping
@@atomicscout2013 make sure that under map properties, that it is not set to a skybox map. You might have changed that
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 When i went to go try this out i tried to run the map and it just shows its loading and then shows the valve logo and does nothing
I got access a key to s&box from a friend so here I am :3
when i create a bevel it makes a weird hexagon, am i doing something wrong or did bevels change?
same here
I figured it out! You forgot to change your scale from 64 to 16. He does it around 2:50 in the video. I thought it was unneeded, but it worked when i did his scale
@@bradycrowson thank you omfg
Can I not use source 2 building tools but just model say a modular building in 3DS max, import the pieces, assemble them and have it work without any problems ?
Yes, you could! Source 2 works like any modern modeling tool and allows 3d objects in fbx and obj format to be imported via model doc and then used in a map. It's prefered to model enviroment and such in Hammer.
- Moonded
Is there any Way to get the Half Life:Alyx Hammer Editor, without having to buy Half Life:Alyx?
You can use the Steam VR or Dota 2 hammer for free but it won't come with the assets
Get a S&box beta preview.
how do i add a custom
crosshair
Hi, New to hammer completely. slowed the video down to learn but anytime I tried to do the door bit It created a hexagon any ideas on why? I couldn't figure it out.
Make sure that when you create the quad faces after CTRL D, that you select both the vertical edges and then press F to bevel them and move both of the new edges together. Otherwise you will create weird shapes
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 This happens to me also. I did shift D then had both edges selected but pressing F just turned the face into a hexagon shape. What should I do? I don't know if this is related but when i double click the edges, the symbols that let you extrude and so on aren't there
@@RiyadKash instead of shift D are you able to press ctrl D to get the quad faces?
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 yes I meant to type Ctrl not shift. Getting to the quad faces isn't the problem its that after selecting the two edges bevelling it turns in into a hexagon
@@RiyadKash can you change the grid size on your bevel to make sure that when you select the entire edge line, and then press bevel, it isn't too big of a grid?
woah, thanks for the help!!!
Glad to be of help!
Hi Eagle One Development Team! I'm new and i have a question so where can i download it? Have a nice day sir!!!
Download SteamVR on Steam in order to get free access to the tools. Or you can also get it through DOTA 2
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 I got it, thank you so much sir!
@@jordannguyen6946 Good luck!
Can someone please explain the word "ngones" for someone who is not a native english speaker?
5 sides or more in an object
Dude please someone explain to me how to install source 2 i want it so bad and i dont know how to get it. Can somebody please tell me how?
go to properties in half life alyx then go to dlc, click the checkmark box and when you launch half life alyx you will have an option to open the dev tools
Now were cookin
You shouldn't build with blocks? That goes against everything we've done and learned in Source 1 for over 20 years
When you get used to the workflow, you'll never want to go back to blocks! :)
This *breathes in* is *breathes in* the *breathes in* block *breathes in* tool *breathes in*
awesome
I'm realizing right away that this program in inferior to Hammer 1 just for the camera system alone. The camera in Source 2 is huge headache and it makes no sense at all. Why would they completely change the camera for hammer after over 20 years?!
this is not good workflow for doorway
If there are more tools to add to our bench lets add them! What is another way to efficiently make them? I'll add it in a later video!
@@eagleonedevelopmentteam849 You actually created additional ngons (5 vertices on sides, 6 on ceiling and floor) by how you added the extra edges to that one face, if you do not wish for continious edge loops, extract the face before inserting the edges.
@@marnamai We point this out in video 2 and 3!
@@marnamai Good tip on the extract before inserting edges though - will add that on our next lesson!
how do u download hammer editor ?
It’s under dlc for your game
This is going to be so hard to learn after source 1
It’s much easier I assure you
At 4:19 how are you moving the edges right and left? i see the gimzo but when moving the edge doesent move
Join our discord discord.gg/eagle-one and we can help you solve your issue!
Thanks, I needed that
Glad it helped!