Hello everybody. I just registered for the forums so I thought I'd introduce myself. I loved playing Portal (all 4 times). What a concept. i'm really exited about community made mapping. I haven't done any mapping in a few years. I did a few maps for Quake 1 thru 3 and the RA mod. Nothing too impressive but it was fun to do. I'm not familiar with the Source engine yet but plan to read up this week.

I do have one quick question. I started to read a tutorial on setting up Hammer and the other tools needed for mapping and noticed an announcement saying that, with the new SDK update, the tutorial was obsolete. Just wondering what would be the best way to get set up now. I prefer to do it right the first time.

Look forward to meeting you all and checking out some of your maps!

Bizob

Welcome, Bizob.

Although I'm hardly a guru, I think I can set your mind at ease.

1. If you haven't already, go ahead and download the Source SDK in Steam. (Click on the Tools tab, then right-click on Source SDK and choose Install game...)

2. Once it is downloaded, double-click it to launch the SDK. Steam will check to make sure it has the latest version before it launches the program. Once the SDK window comes up with its list of apps, you're good to go (even if you just hit Cancel). Now you've got the updated SDK.

Read the postings you see online very carefully. Some people are having trouble loading maps & content they made with the old SDK, using various workarounds. There are various fixes for these problems. But since you're just starting out and you have no maps or anything saved yet, this won't affect you.

Now, if a tutorial tells you outright that it doesn't work in the new SDK, you should probably find another tutorial. Here are a few places to start looking:

Valve Developer wiki: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Category:Level_Design
There are lots of useful links on this page. Setting up Hammer, mapping basics, HL2, TF2, and Portal tutorials.

Thinking With Portals wiki: http://wiki.thinkingwithportals.com/wiki/Main_Page
Most of this stuff is still over my head, but there's some basic stuff too.

http://www.interlopers.net/
http://www.halfwit-2.com/
Most Half-Life 2 mapping tutorials are relevant to Portal mapping. Creating geometry, texturing, and lighting are all the same. The game entities differ, though, so be careful trying to implement more complicated stuff from HL2 tutorials unless you know what you're doing.

Have fun!

Now that the SDK is out, you just need to download it and select Portal from the game options. That's it, no setup required.

Well I got the SDK installed and running. So far everything seems to be working. I seem to be having a small issue with the models though. It seems like Hammer isn't seeing all the portal models. Wheres the cube model?? I'll have to double check this because I'm not sure if it's really a problem or I just don't fully understand things yet. I'm certainly having fun learning though, stayed up till 4am playing around with my first map last night.

I got the basics of geometry and textures down, that was pretty much the same as other editors I've used. I still have to learn how to make brushes able/unable to accept a portal, just haven't got that far in my reading yet.

I will probably hold off learning lighting techniques for a bit. I think you can make a decent map with just the basic lighting techniques (ie just put a light in the middle of your room). Of course good lighting makes good ambiance but hey I'm just a noob.

Today I'll be tackling entities. I can add a spawn point and the portal gun already. I want to learn how to use triggers and make doors and buttons.

Bizob

To make a cube, make a prop_physics, and specify "models/props/metal_box.mdl" as the model.

For a companion cube, use skin "1", or skin "0" for a storage cube.

bizob wrote:
I still have to learn how to make brushes able/unable to accept a portal, just haven't got that far in my reading yet.

You're in luck. With the updated SDK all the textures in the official game that didn't accept portals don't accept portals by default now. Make any metal wall and it won't accept portals. Any concrete wall will. Just follow the standards set in the game, all the textures should work on their own.

If you are very specific about making certain walls that would normally accept a portal not accept a portal, create a brush with the "Invisible" texture. Place the brush 1 unit in front of the wall. Press ctrl+t (alternatively right click and click "tie to entity"). Scroll through the class lists and make it a "func_noportal_volume". Any area covered by the brush won't accept portals anymore.

For beginning out though, this probably won't be necessary. Just use the default textures and everything should be good

Welcome to the community... feel free to idle in #thinkingwithportals on EFnet on IRC and ask questions there for some instant feedback... (assuming somebodys around...)

I noticed the official Portal textures worked just fine and that's pretty much what I'm using but I know eventually I'll want to use other textures. Thanks for the tip.

I may post some screenies of my first little map just for giggles.

oh yeah I joined the TWP group on steam and got mirc reinstalled. So off to chat and map.

A few screenies of my first map.

Look, I learned primitives.

Companion cube. Thanks NocturnalGhost.

Fun with models.

Nothing is functional; no buttons, doors or anything fancy yet and I have at least one more room to do completely and add some finishing touches.

Bizob

Hammer has to be the best mapping tool ever. Hands down. You should have no trouble learning it.

Worst mapping tool ever, you mean. Too bad it's the only one for source games (unless there's something I don't know? anyone? please? I'm hoping here?)

It seems decent. I just wish they had used the Unreal-style weltanschauung that space is full rather than empty by default. That means no possibility of leaks, and making a room means just carving a few cubes rather than aligning lots of little walls.

Morg wrote:
It seems decent. I just wish they had used the Unreal-style weltanschauung that space is full rather than empty by default. That means no possibility of leaks, and making a room means just carving a few cubes rather than aligning lots of little walls.

The differences between the engines are staggering, it's not as simple as making it CSG based like Unreal (where the world is solid).

Well I have to say the editor is fine so far. it's fairly user friendly yet seems powerful. I have had a few issues but most of those are probably my noobiness. I feel like I'm learning a programming language when I read up on the SDK.

I do have one issue that's kind of a biggie and I can't get resolved. Every time I go to launch the SDK, I get a "game not available at this time" error. I have tried all the solutions on the valve site and a few forums but the only thing that works is to delete my "sourceSDK" folder and re-download the SDK. I have a few ideas of my own to try; just need the time to try them.

If you haven't already, try hitting "Refresh SDK Content" under the "Utilities" heading when you launch the SDK. Maybe "Reset Game Configurations" (not sure what this does).

Crooked Paul wrote:
If you haven't already, try hitting "Refresh SDK Content" under the "Utilities" heading when you launch the SDK. Maybe "Reset Game Configurations" (not sure what this does).

Tried both of these and still have the same problem. I did notice an error when I run my maps that says something about not being able to remove gamestat.log (or some such file). I'll have to check the file permissions on this one. I can still map, it just takes 2 minutes to re-download. It's inconvenient but not the end of the world (nor my mapping ambitions).

msleeper wrote:
Now that the SDK is out, you just need to download it and select Portal from the game options. That's it, no setup required.

Exactly what he said, and welcome to the community!

If you're still having this problem, I recommend posting a question about it on the Steam forums, or even sending an email to Valve support.

Crooked Paul wrote:
If you're still having this problem, I recommend posting a question about it on the Steam forums, or even sending an email to Valve support.

Sent Valve an email and I'm still waiting on a response. I've narrowed the problem down myself though. It seems to be a conflict with my antispyware. If I shut down my antispyware everything launches fine and no re-downloading. Unfortunately I forgot to back up my project files when I did the second re-install but those were all goof-off projects anyway.

Back to the tutorials...