Hi, noob questions
Hey everybody, glad I found the site, and I hope to make some nice Portal maps for everyone to enjoy. I've done a tiny bit of modding for Deus Ex using the Unreal Editor but that's it.
I do have some questions to start.
1) While browsing around on Valve's wiki I found a mention of standards for Portal maps, hallway widths etc.. It can't be too hard to find because I've only done surface reading so far, but for the life of me I can't find that page again. I've taken screenshots of much of the original game so I do have references but I'd still like to find and bookmark that page again.
2) UnrealEd had a nifty texturing feature that allowed you to click on a surface using a key+click combo, which would make that texture active. A different key+click combo would apply the texture to another surface. Does Hammer have that capability?
3) How do you do something like trigger a trigger in the console? 'trigger [entity name]' or something like that? Maybe what I'm really asking for here is a list of useful console commands related to testing maps.
4) I've never done wiki entries either but just edited a few typos/grammar issues. Is there any etiquette to doing this (aside from obvious sabotage attempts.)
Good to be here, I love the idea behind Portal and I look forward to mapping.
1) Don't know that page, but usually it's best to stay to the texture formats (no half tiles or panes of concrete). Having that said, you can of course have 2 panes of concrete above each other, but not one pane and then a half pane above it. That is possible, but it doesn't look very good.
2) Umm, sorta.
-1. Choose the brush with the texture you want to reuse.
-2. Select the Texture Application Tool.
-3a. You are now in the Face Edit Window, now you got the texture of that brush selected. When having applied multiple textures to 1 brush, choose the face that contains the texture you want to use.
-3b. Leave the Face Edit Window
-4. Choose the brush you want to use the texture on.
-5. Click the "Apply Current Texture"-button just below the Texture Application Tool. Don't click the Texture Application tool! If you do that, you'll select the texture of the brush you wanted to apply the other texture on, and you have to reselect that other texture again.
I'm sure there's a faster way, but this is how I do it.
3) Sorry, don't know this either.
4) Only edit pages if you think it will add to the page. Also it's best to first tell whatever you want to change on that page's discussion page, and see what other users think of it, before you do it.
"Duct Tape is the answer."
3) point_clientcommand entity
Place one of those in your level and name it something obvious, then make a trigger brush, set up the desired trigger and target the point_clientcommand with a perameter override of <console command>
1) I know that the concrete walls span over 128 vertically,so if you want a wall with 2 vertical panes on it make the wall 256 in height.
2) With the texture application tool open, click on the wall with the texture you want to copy, then right click on the wall you want to copy it to.
Check out my Portal 2 map, Entrapment!
http://forums.thinking.withportals.com/community-releases/entrapment-1-1-1-t2323.html
Awesome, thanks to everyone.
The general height of rooms in the game seems to be 2 panels (256) high, and hallways 128. I just went through the first 10-15 maps again and took screenshots with a critical eye--there is a lot of little detail that I missed.
I think I even managed to find a fix for a broken tutorial. Happy day! Heh.. Thanks again everyone.
PS - Family Guy is a great show. (-:
Place one of those in your level and name it something obvious, then make a trigger brush, set up the desired trigger and target the point_clientcommand with a perameter override of <console command>
I thought he was asking if it was possible to fire a trigger in game, via the console...?
In that case, use the console command "ent_fire" followed by the name of the entity to be triggered.
... and the name of the output to trigger.
But there's an auto-completion for this.
That's what I was thinking of, thank you. I even found that I can type 'map [mapname]' and rerun the map--that's been an obvious timesaver.
Also, thanks to the site in general for rewriting some of the tuts that are on Valve's site. Specifically, a different way of explaining the hole for the box dropper. This is what Valve's wiki says:
Just reading that BSOD's my brain. I get it but TWP's tut is better. Valve's tut on ball catchers also has some confusing bits.
Now on to the 'more questions' segment. 
5) I've had some leaks in my map but when I use Map->Load Pointfile (IIRC) I never have any pointfiles! Is that because I have VIS and RAD turned off when I compile & check for leaks? I should be looking in the right location according to Valve. (I'm @ work and can't try this out, sorry.)
6) What setting allows light to pass through an object. Disable shadows=Yes? I haven't messed around with lighting too seriously. I figure I'll do that and detail everything once I work out the puzzles.
Yes, diable shadows will allow light to pass through props. By default, shadows are cast by a prop's collision model (which may just be a big box), so for more accurate lighting you can add -StaticPropPolys to VRAD as you compile, but it takes longer.