Contradiction when building cubemaps?

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GEARScience
19 Posts
Posted Aug 24, 2014
I'm finally getting into the finally parts of my map, and I tried to build cubemaps today. Only problem is, when I tried to build cubemaps, it crashed, saying it was unable to save them, or something to that effect. It seems the only folder it will build cubemaps in is the portal2_sixsense folder right now.

Normally, I would just compile it in that folder, but doing so would lead me to a a whole other problem.

When I try to create a map in that folder, instances do not load. Every time a put an instance in a map in that folder and compile, Hammer can't seem to find the instance map.

Currently, the only thing I can think of doing is moving ALL of my instances into that folder, but I don't even know if that will work when pakratting everything up.

If anyone could help, I'd really appreciate it.

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 24, 2014
Replied 19 minutes later
I don't really know about sixense users, but we have to build cubemaps for a map placed into the portal2_dlc2/maps/ folder in order to make the command to work out. Try that.

We use to directly make our hammer editor to save a copy of the map into that folder after finishing compile as well.

Avatar
GEARScience
19 Posts
Posted Aug 24, 2014
Replied 1 hour later

josepezdj wrote:
I don't really know about sixense users, but we have to build cubemaps for a map placed into the portal2_dlc2/maps/ folder in order to make the command to work out. Try that.

We use to directly make our hammer editor to save a copy of the map into that folder after finishing compile as well.

I tried the portal2_dlc2 folder first, but it did the same thing, where it just told me it couldn't save it. I put my entire instance folder in the sixsense folder, and all the instances show up, but now I'm just worried for what that means when I pakrat the map.

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 24, 2014
Replied 2 hours later
That is weird... Could it be anything unrelated to the buildcubemaps command itself, like a lack of writting permissions for Portal2 in your local folders?

About your custom instances, you don't have to pakrat them... You only need to pack your custom materials, models, etc., but if you only used the stock elements, you won't need to pack anything. Also, it wouldn't affect pakrat at all where you place your instances, it will just check in the path you specified that your portal2.exe file is into, in order to check for the non-stock stuff.

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GEARScience
19 Posts
Posted Aug 25, 2014
Replied 10 hours later

josepezdj wrote:
That is weird... Could it be anything unrelated to the buildcubemaps command itself, like a lack of writting permissions for Portal2 in your local folders?

About your custom instances, you don't have to pakrat them... You only need to pack your custom materials, models, etc., but if you only used the stock elements, you won't need to pack anything. Also, it wouldn't affect pakrat at all where you place your instances, it will just check in the path you specified that your portal2.exe file is into, in order to check for the non-stock stuff.

Well, one of the instances is Skotty's Energy Ball launcher, which I believe uses custom models and textures. Would that whole thing need to be pakratted?

I don't think it would be permissions, I think it may be the fact that once I got the Razer Hydra and a new folder was created, it became the default folder like how the portal2_dlc2 one was.

The weird thing about the sixsense folder is that it is the only folder where the cubemaps work and instances won't. I did try and move all the instances to the sixsense folder, and all of a sudden they worked in Hammer. So does that mean the path is different for instances in the sixsense folder?

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 25, 2014
Replied 1 hour later

GEARScience wrote:
Well, one of the instances is Skotty's Energy Ball launcher, which I believe uses custom models and textures. Would that whole thing need to be pakratted?

Not exactly. You only need to pakrat the models (the energy ball and the launcher and catcher) and their textures, and IIRC also the ball sounds, and pakrat will do most of that automatically for you if you use the Scan feature.

GEARScience wrote:

I don't think it would be permissions, I think it may be the fact that once I got the Razer Hydra and a new folder was created, it became the default folder like how the portal2_dlc2 one was
The weird thing about the sixsense folder is that it is the only folder where the cubemaps work and instances won't. I did try and move all the instances to the sixsense folder, and all of a sudden they worked in Hammer. So does that mean the path is different for instances in the sixsense folder?

K, I see now. Can I know where exactly is the sixsense folder located and what folders are inside of it? Anyways, I still think that your instances should be under your /sdk_content/maps/instances/ folder and your BSP map under your /sixsense/ folder to be able to build cubemaps...

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GEARScience
19 Posts
Posted Aug 26, 2014
Replied 1 day later

josepezdj wrote:
GEARScience wrote:

Well, one of the instances is Skotty's Energy Ball launcher, which I believe uses custom models and textures. Would that whole thing need to be pakratted?

Not exactly. You only need to pakrat the models (the energy ball and the launcher and catcher) and their textures, and IIRC also the ball sounds, and pakrat will do most of that automatically for you if you use the Scan feature.
GEARScience wrote:

I don't think it would be permissions, I think it may be the fact that once I got the Razer Hydra and a new folder was created, it became the default folder like how the portal2_dlc2 one was
The weird thing about the sixsense folder is that it is the only folder where the cubemaps work and instances won't. I did try and move all the instances to the sixsense folder, and all of a sudden they worked in Hammer. So does that mean the path is different for instances in the sixsense folder?

K, I see now. Can I know where exactly is the sixsense folder located and what folders are inside of it? Anyways, I still think that your instances should be under your /sdk_content/maps/instances/ folder and your BSP map under your /sixsense/ folder to be able to build cubemaps...

Alright. I've had a lot of trouble in the past with getting Pakrat to scan correctly though. Several times I've had it say that there is nothing to add, and a lot of sound files go unpacked, so I've been a it worried about using the scan feature as the main source.

The sixsense maps are located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_sixense jus tlike the portal2_dlc2 one is. In there, there is:
(folders)
bin
cfg
maps
materials
media
models
puzzles
relists
resource
SAVE
scripts

(files)
demoheader.tmp
gameinfo.txt
gearplayground.dem (demo file for source recorder)
modelsounds.cache
pak01_000.vpk
pak01_dir.vpk
stats.txt
voice_ban.dt
workshop_log.txt

I placed the instances inside the maps folder recently to get them to work, because for some reason it wasn't pulling it from the sdk_content folder.

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 26, 2014
Replied 1 hour later
Ok. About pakrat, all you need to do in order to make it to pack your custom stuff correctly is to tell it your game directory. That can be done right after pressing the Scan button, entering the whole path to your game dir in the upper box. I recommend you to also put the path in File > Preferences.

Now, due to you have a gameinfo.txt file into your sixsense folder, try using that folder as your game dir (not sure if that will work though). You might need to edit that gameinfo.txt to add more search paths... Hmmmm, can you post the content there's inside?

About instances, I'm pretty sure that you should be able to locate them being in whatever folder. However, you must think that they are already using models that they need to locate properly. I don't know where you placed those models, probably under the sixsense folder, and that can be the reason to your issue. Put your instances in your sdk_content/maps/instances/ folder, and the custom models under /portal 2/portal2/models/ folder.

Anyways, your VMF maps are inside your sdk folder, right?

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GEARScience
19 Posts
Posted Aug 28, 2014
Replied 2 days later

josepezdj wrote:
Ok. About pakrat, all you need to do in order to make it to pack your custom stuff correctly is to tell it your game directory. That can be done right after pressing the Scan button, entering the whole path to your game dir in the upper box. I recommend you to also put the path in File > Preferences.

Now, due to you have a gameinfo.txt file into your sixsense folder, try using that folder as your game dir (not sure if that will work though). You might need to edit that gameinfo.txt to add more search paths... Hmmmm, can you post the content there's inside?

About instances, I'm pretty sure that you should be able to locate them being in whatever folder. However, you must think that they are already using models that they need to locate properly. I don't know where you placed those models, probably under the sixsense folder, and that can be the reason to your issue. Put your instances in your sdk_content/maps/instances/ folder, and the custom models under /portal 2/portal2/models/ folder.

Anyways, your VMF maps are inside your sdk folder, right?

Right, I'll try that. Pakrat has given me a lot of trouble in the past though. I didn't find anything last map I did even though the path seemed right. What would correct the path be of the game directory?

gameinfo.txt is this:

"GameInfo"
{
   game       "PORTAL 2 Sixense MotionPack"
   title       "PORTAL 2 Sixense MotionPack"
   GameData   "portal2_sixense.fgd"
   gamelogo    1

   SupportsDX8     0
   SupportsXbox360 1

   FileSystem
   {
      SteamAppId            620      // This will mount all the GCFs we need (240=CS:S, 220=HL2).
      ToolsAppId            211      // Tools will load this (ie: source SDK caches) to get things like materials\debug, materials\editor, etc.
      
      //
      // The code that loads this file automatically does a few things here:
      //
      // 1. For each "Game" search path, it adds a "GameBin" path, in <dir>\bin
      // 2. For each "Game" search path, it adds another "Game" path in front of it with _<langage> at the end.
      //    For example: c:\hl2\cstrike on a french machine would get a c:\hl2\cstrike_french path added to it.
      // 3. For the first "Game" search path, it adds a search path called "MOD".
      // 4. For the first "Game" search path, it adds a search path called "DEFAULT_WRITE_PATH".
      //

      //
      // Search paths are relative to the base directory, which is where hl2.exe is found.
      //
      // |gameinfo_path| points at the directory where gameinfo.txt is.
      // We always want to mount that directory relative to gameinfo.txt, so
      // people can mount stuff in c:\mymod, and the main game resources are in
      // someplace like c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\half-life 2.
      //

      SearchPaths
      {
         Game            |gameinfo_path|.
         Game            portal2
         Game            ..\game_sixense_dev\portal2_sixense
      }
   }
}

The models, which I'm looking at now, and I may not actually be using, are in this directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\models\props and instances are under
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\sdk_content\maps\instances. I just made a copy of them so that they would work in the sixsense folder.

Also, I do have some VMF files inside the sdkcontent folder, but the one I'm working on right now is in the sixsense folder because cubemaps wouldn't build when placed anywhere else.

Thanks for the help and quick replies, by the way.

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 28, 2014
Replied 11 minutes later

GEARScience wrote:
Also, I do have some VMF files inside the sdkcontent folder, but the one I'm working on right now is in the sixsense folder because cubemaps wouldn't build when placed anywhere else.

Let's clarify some concepts:

  • you build cubemaps for an already compiled map, a .BSP file, having previously placed some env_cubemap entities in your map's chambers.

  • .VMF files are the raw maps, those you edit and make.

So, why would you need to have a .VMF file inside your sixsense folder in order to build cubemaps? >.< You only build cubemaps for a compiled map, have you compiled your map yet? have you got a .BSP file to build cubemaps for?

Avatar
GEARScience
19 Posts
Posted Aug 28, 2014
Replied 2 hours later

josepezdj wrote:
GEARScience wrote:

Also, I do have some VMF files inside the sdkcontent folder, but the one I'm working on right now is in the sixsense folder because cubemaps wouldn't build when placed anywhere else.

Let's clarify some concepts:

  • you build cubemaps for an already compiled map, a .BSP file, having previously placed some env_cubemap entities in your map's chambers.

  • .VMF files are the raw maps, those you edit and make.

So, why would you need to have a .VMF file inside your sixsense folder in order to build cubemaps? >.< You only build cubemaps for a compiled map, have you compiled your map yet? have you got a .BSP file to build cubemaps for?

Of course! Is it even possible to build cubemaps if you haven't run the map? How else would you get to the console?

There was both a .vmf and a .bsp for the map when it was in the sdk_content folder, in the portal2 folder, and the portal2_dlc2 folder before. But NONE of those saved the cubemaps and instead crashed to desktop with a message about not being able to save the cubemaps. Once I put the file in the sixsense folder, it build the cubemaps exactly how it was supposed to build.

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 29, 2014
Replied 20 hours later
Ok, man, sorry, but your reply confused me :p

Let's focus. You are already building cubemaps correctly if the map is into your sixsense folder, so that is achieved, right? This is my advice then:

  • Keep your VMF maps always into the sdk_content/maps/ folder
  • Keep your VMF instances always into the sdk_content/maps/instances folder
  • Open your hammer editor and go to Tools > Options > Build Programs tab. At the bottom of that tab, you'll find the "Place compiled maps in this directory before running the game" box. Fill it up like the following pic:

Please try that and confirm if both your instances and the buildcubemaps command work out.

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GEARScience
19 Posts
Posted Aug 30, 2014
Replied 12 hours later

josepezdj wrote:
Ok, man, sorry, but your reply confused me :p

Let's focus. You are already building cubemaps correctly if the map is into your sixsense folder, so that is achieved, right? This is my advice then:

  • Keep your VMF maps always into the sdk_content/maps/ folder
  • Keep your VMF instances always into the sdk_content/maps/instances folder
  • Open your hammer editor and go to Tools > Options > Build Programs tab. At the bottom of that tab, you'll find the "Place compiled maps in this directory before running the game" box. Fill it up like the following pic:

Please try that and confirm if both your instances and the buildcubemaps command work out.

I just tried this and Portal 2 does not start up after it finished compiling. When I tried to load up the map manually using console commands, it can't find the map, but the map is still there, I checked it in the folders.

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 30, 2014
Replied 4 hours later

GEARScience wrote:
I just tried this and Portal 2 does not start up after it finished compiling.

That will only happen if you choose to do it in the compile window:

Normal Compile

Expert Compile

GEARScience wrote:
When I tried to load up the map manually using console commands, it can't find the map, but the map is still there, I checked it in the folders.

That doesn't make sense, since you confirmed you could run the map before and to build cubemaps from the sixsense folder. Something is missing here.

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GEARScience
19 Posts
Posted Aug 30, 2014
Replied 5 hours later

josepezdj wrote:
GEARScience wrote:

I just tried this and Portal 2 does not start up after it finished compiling.

That will only happen if you choose to do it in the compile window:

Normal Compile

Expert Compile

GEARScience wrote:

When I tried to load up the map manually using console commands, it can't find the map, but the map is still there, I checked it in the folders.

That doesn't make sense, since you confirmed you could run the map before and to build cubemaps from the sixsense folder. Something is missing here.

I didn't have the "don't run map after compiling checked,, I double-checked that after it didn't work the first time.

Also, let me get this right: You want me to put the map in the sdk_content/maps/ folder, run it from there after changing "Place compiled maps in this directory before running the game" to the sixsense folder?

None of this is making sense to me either...

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TeamSpen210
608 Posts
Posted Aug 30, 2014
Replied 5 hours later
The vmfs go in sdk_content, then you run the bsp from portal2_sixsense.
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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Aug 30, 2014
Replied 24 minutes later

GEARScience wrote:
Also, let me get this right: You want me to put the ***map***

Are you meaning .BSP or .VMF? I want you to put the compiled map, the .BSP, under the "sdk_content/maps/" folder in order to build the cubemaps. All the .VMF are intended to be under the SDK folders though... see?

I hope that is clear.

GEARScience wrote:
You want me to put the map in the sdk_content/maps/ folder, run it from there after changing "Place compiled maps in this directory before running the game" to the sixsense folder?

None of this is making sense to me either...

Man, let's agree about this:

  1. The Hammer Editor allows you to decide where to put a copy (the "original and first .BSP file" will be always placed into the sdk_content_/maps/ folder right after compile, cause the .VMF to be compiled up was here when we built cubemaps) of the resulting .BSP map after compiling. That is just a Hammer feature, a thing you can take advantage from... and it's simply specified in the route I told you about before:

(Btw, forget about "running the map" or not, that was never the point.)

Therefore, you don't need to put any file into any folder. Say your desired folder path into that box in the Options menu and you'll have a copy of the .BSP map in the specified folder after compile ready. However, if you don't want to edit your Hammer Editor Options, you do need to place a copy of your compiled .BSP map into the portal2_sixsense/maps/ folder if you want to build cuebmaps properly (as you confirmed before).

  1. You just can't "run it from there". It is the game code that states a priority to load from when you run a command like 'map '. For the rest of us, that is the portal2_dlc2/maps/ folder, but it seems that for you it's the portal2_sixsense/maps/ folder, good, that .BSP map file (and not any other one placed-saved-copied into any other folder) will be the one that your game will load/run to play with and will build the cubemaps for.

  2. Since the copy of your .BSP map will be into the "portal2_sixsense/maps/" folder, the command buildcubemaps must work out and must store the resulted info into that specific .BSP file, so don't forget to locate the file into that path when publishing to your workshop.

  3. Same for Pakrat. That file in that path is the one you must load into pakrat to store the custom content into. Remember those tips I told you before about setting your paths in pakrat for it to correctly perform the Scan and Auto features.

  4. At least, I hope that you know how to properly build cubemaps. I'm tired or typing now (:p), so read this other thread.

I really hope I'm not sounding conceited, it's just that some of your comments made me think that you can be mixing concepts

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GEARScience
19 Posts
Posted Sep 02, 2014
Replied 3 days later
Well, I'll try and fix this, but right now, I'm just trying to figure out where everything goes.

Right now, I have the .bsp and .vmf in the portal2_sixsense/maps folder.

Quote:
I want you to put the compiled map, the .BSP, under the "sdk_content/maps/" folder in order to build the cubemaps. All the .VMF are intended to be under the SDK folders though... see?

But wait, I couldn't build cubemaps when the .bsp was in that folder. Even if I put the .vmf in there with it.

Quote:
1. The Hammer Editor allows you to decide where to put a copy (the "original and first .BSP file" will be always placed into the sdk_content_/maps/ folder right after compile, cause the .VMF to be compiled up was here when we built cubemaps) of the resulting .BSP map after compiling. That is just a Hammer feature, a thing you can take advantage from... and it's simply specified in the route I told you about before:

So basically, this puts a copy of the compiled map in the sdk_content folder after the cubemaps were built in the sixsense folder where they work?

Quote:
3. Since the copy of your .BSP map will be into the "portal2_sixsense/maps/" folder, the command buildcubemaps must work out and must store the resulted info into that specific .BSP file, so don't forget to locate the file into that path when publishing to your workshop.

Well, it seems the buildcubemaps command works. I built the cubemaps and they seem to work in-game.

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/27341552309527148/1E16398537F4CDDE430E55A9903F45DEB65D2A81/

but what do you mean by "don't forget to locate the file into that path when publishing to your workshop?" Where do I need to specify the path when uploading to the workshop?

Quote:
4. Same for Pakrat. That file in that path is the one you must load into pakrat to store the custom content into. Remember those tips I told you before about setting your paths in pakrat for it to correctly perform the Scan and Auto features.

So if the .bsp and .vmf are in the path "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_sixense\maps" that's the path I set for pakrat to use the Scan and Auto feature?

Quote:
5. At least, I hope that you know how to properly build cubemaps.

I thought I knew how, but considering the cubemaps aren't saving in the pakratted file, I may not. Steampipe changed so much.

Well, considering I manually added the textures and custom content, I pakratted the map in question up and everything seems to work fine, even the instances after I copied the instance folder to the sixsense folder. Everything seems to work! Except for the cubemaps! I moved the .BSP to the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\sdk_content\maps and loaded up the map and the cubemaps weren't there. Not sure what happened to them. They worked fine when the .bsp was in the sixsense folder. I thought the .bsp had the cubemaps compiled into it?

I tried following this tutorial: http://youtu.be/RPFmYqwxhMY?t=8m37s and all that happened was the textures turned into frameworks and the sound files completely broke.

This is the map, if it helps. http://www.mediafire.com/download/b357ib7l9n7tbt4/sp_gear_mappack_playground.bsp

I am realllllly sorry if I'm causing you frustration, by the way, and thanks so much for helping me still.

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josepezdj
2,386 Posts
Posted Sep 03, 2014
Replied 8 hours later

GEARScience wrote:
Right now, I have the .bsp and .vmf in the portal2_sixsense/maps folder.

Again, the .VMF does nothing there, keep ALL your .VMF under the sdk folder.> GEARScience wrote:

But wait, I couldn't build cubemaps when the .bsp was in that folder. Even if I put the .vmf in there with it.

.< Please understand that the .VMFs has NOTHING to do with either building cubemaps or the entire game, NOTHING. The game only understand .BSP files! Get them out of there at once! Man, please say again where exactly are you putting your .BSP map file to build cubemaps, because I don't think I know it anymore! wasn't it your portal2_sixsense/maps/ folder?
GEARScience wrote:
So basically, this puts a copy of the compiled map in the sdk_content folder after the cubemaps were built in the sixsense folder where they work?

Listen, Hammer will output a .BSP file exactly into the same folder where the .VMF file that you are seeing into Hammer is located (usually under sdk_content/maps/ folder), ok? APART FROM THAT, Hammer can also put a copy of the same .BSP where you say into that box in the Options menu I told you before... Note that I'm not talking about cubermaps now here anywhere, ok?

The idea behind this is to let you run the map in P2 after you compiled it (you can't run it if your only .BSP file is in the sdk folder... it should be under any /maps/ folder so the game can find it), so that is the reason why by default it puts a copy of the .BSP file in portal2/maps/ folder, ok? Now, almost all of us changed that path already because the DLC2 update destroyed the possibility of building cubemaps from there... and we set it to portal2/portal2_dlc2/maps/ folder, ok?

But in your case, use the folder that lets you build cubemaps! (which I think it's your portal2_sixsense/maps/ folder)

GEARScience wrote:
but what do you mean by "don't forget to locate the file into that path when publishing to your workshop?" Where do I need to specify the path when uploading to the workshop?

I mean that when you are publising to the workshop, you must browse your .BSP map file, right? OK, so you would normally want to upload the .BSP file WITH the cubemaps inside, right? Well, that .BSP file should be the one inside your portal2_sixsense/maps/ folder, am I right?

About the rest of your post, sorry man, but I still read a lot of mix-up between concepts there, so PLEASE read what I just posted above carefully.... and then the following:

  1. You make your maps into hammer and save .VMF files. These are only understood by Hammer, NOT THE GAME.

  2. If you want the game to understand what you created in Hammer, you must compile (turn a .VMF to a .BSP). So, the compile process outputs a .BSP.

  3. You must run the game and load your map (.BSP file) to build the cubemaps. Don't dare to change the map name after you built cubemaps because in that case you will break them, and should build them again! And just in cases, let me tell you how to do it properly; after you are seeing your map in Portal2, open the developer console and type:

buildcubemaps (wait up until it's done building them and storing them into your .BSP file)
mat_hdr_level 0 (with this, you turn to LDR... by default, the game runs on HDR!)
buildcubemaps (now your are building cubemaps for LDR)
mat_hdr_level 2 (with this, you make the game to return to HDR)

After this, your reflections should be there.

  1. THEN use pakrat to embed your custom stuff. PAKRAT READS .BSP FILES ONLY, SO AGAIN, FORGET ABOUT .VMFs! As I told you, you save a lot of time (oh well, depending on the amount of custom stuff you must pack thus the time required) by using the SCAN feature. About this I suggested you to try as the GameDir path into the Scan Window the following one:

*C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_sixense*

Why? because you have a Gameinfo.txt file in there and it might work out, but I don't know at all Try it and report back!

In the case pakrat doesn't find your custom stuff, then try the path we all use to put there as GameDir:

*C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2*

  1. Instances, instances, instances.... Please understand this: instances are nothing but .VMF files. Therefore you can't pack them into a .BSP file... Keeep them always into your sdk_content/maps/instances/ folder, please. A completely different thing is the custom content that a given instance could be using, as is your case with the energy pellet instances, ok? So, you don't need (and you simply can't!) to pack that 'instances' folder from Skotty's stuff, ok?

What you should pack is the following folders: /models, /materials, and /sound.


Now, this is the content of the .BSP map you posted (in Pakrat, go to "View > As a Tree" if you want to see it like this):


1. There are no cubemaps information in there!
2. There aren't any models packed! You need to pack Skotty's revised launcher and catcher models, and the combine ball model:

  1. The sounds for the energy ball aren't pack either. You must grab them from:

Boy, I hope that I explained better this time!

GEARScience wrote:
I am realllllly sorry if I'm causing you frustration, by the way, and thanks so much for helping me still.

Don't be, man. No problem. It seems to be my condition, I like helping ppl and sharing what I know.

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Avatar
GEARScience
19 Posts
Posted Sep 04, 2014
Replied 1 day later

Quote:
1. You make your maps into hammer and save .VMF files. These are only understood by Hammer, NOT THE GAME.

  1. If you want the game to understand what you created in Hammer, you must compile (turn a .VMF to a .BSP). So, the compile process outputs a .BSP.

Right! I got that as soon as I learned the .BSP is a compiled map.

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3. You must run the game and load your map (.BSP file) to build the cubemaps. Don't dare to change the map name after you built cubemaps because in that case you will break them, and should build them again! And just in cases, let me tell you how to do it properly; after you are seeing your map in Portal2, open the developer console and type:

buildcubemaps (wait up until it's done building them and storing them into your .BSP file)
mat_hdr_level 0 (with this, you turn to LDR... by default, the game runs on HDR!)
buildcubemaps (now your are building cubemaps for LDR)
mat_hdr_level 2 (with this, you make the game to return to HDR)

I do do it this way, and never change the name! It works fine as long as the .BSP is in the sixsense folder. As soon as I move it out of that folder though, the cubemaps don't work! It's like they are saving somewhere but not in the .BSP itself.

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4. THEN use pakrat to embed your custom stuff. PAKRAT READS .BSP FILES ONLY, SO AGAIN, FORGET ABOUT .VMFs! As I told you, you save a lot of time (oh well, depending on the amount of custom stuff you must pack thus the time required) by using the SCAN feature. About this I suggested you to try as the GameDir path into the Scan Window the following one:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2_sixense\

Why? because you have a Gameinfo.txt file in there and it might work out, but I don't know at all Try it and report back!

In the case pakrat doesn't find your custom stuff, then try the path we all use to put there as GameDir:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\portal 2\portal2\

  1. Instances, instances, instances.... Please understand this: instances are nothing but .VMF files. Therefore you can't pack them into a .BSP file... Keeep them always into your sdk_content/maps/instances/ folder, please. A completely different thing is the custom content that a given instance could be using, as is your case with the energy pellet instances, ok? So, you don't need (and you simply can't!) to pack that 'instances' folder from Skotty's stuff, ok?

I've used both game directives, and neither show anything after scanning. I've had to put everything in manually.

Also, about the instances, I never pakrated them into the .BSP. But in order for them to show up and be recognized in Hammer Editor and compile, I had to move the whole instances folder to the sixsense folder, hence the "contradiction" I stated earlier.

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1. There are no cubemaps information in there!

I KNOW! That's my problem! They are saving somewhere, just not into the .BSP! That's my biggest issue as of right now.

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2. There aren't any models packed! You need to pack Skotty's revised launcher and catcher models, and the combine ball model:

  1. The sounds for the energy ball aren't pack either. You must grab them from:

Oh! Forgot about those. Though my friend told me they seemed to work fine, I guess the sounds weren't in there. Also, since Skotty uses the actual energy ball launchers in the game, I just don't use the "clean" version, and it should be fine. Didn't know the energy ball had a model though, I thought it was just a sprite. Should probably add that to the map...

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Don't be, man. No problem. It seems to be my condition, I like helping ppl and sharing what I know.

Thanks!