Hello, I have a few problems understanding Hammer...
I only wanted to add some monitors (GLaDOS and/or Wheatley) with specific voiceclips at points in my test chambers where I want them...or optic things like Vacuum Pipes and such things, all these little features. But then I found out that there is no other way than using Hammer.

I have seen the link collection (mapping-tips-and-useful-links-t468.html) and I've read MANY tutorials and tried to understand everything the best I can. I just started today with Hammer and I'm already overwhelmed with total headache after like 10 hours of trying to understand these complicated things.

I really would like to work with Hammer because it seems to give so much more things to do with Portal 2. But for me, it is very complicated and I'm almost at the point to give up, because I can't understand these things very well (I've never programmed ever before). The only thing I got working right in these 10 hours today was creating a closed room with nothing but a texture for the walls.

When I see these finished maps in Hammer, I cannot understand how I will ever do so much lines and things, every model, every texture, it seems like so much and so complicated things, like I will have to make one map in one week where I need some minutes in the puzzle maker ...

After like 10 pages reading and trying to adapt to my map in hammer, I didn't even understand what an instance or a brush is or how to make a simple monitor with Wheatley. Where the hell (or even WHAT) is this "Point Camera"? Where do I find it?
"Monitors are easy to make and they make the map more living." <- Easy...yeah, like 5 steps that need more than 100 hours to follow and understand? I'm at the break of insanity. I'm despairing...

Is there any "Step-by-Step" Tutorial? I'm so confused and it isn't even fun at all at the moment...
I really need help at this. It would be so great but I can't even understand the "easiest things" in the Hammer editor.
Any help would be appreciated...

Hammer is very complex, being Valve's internal mapmaking tool. It will take much longer to make a map in hammer compared to the PTI, but you have much more control over how things work.

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wik ... _(Portal_2/Your_First_Level
This is a nice starting tutorial.

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wik ... vel_Design
This page/site is very helpful. It has instructions for creating any of the test elements.

http://www.youtube.com/user/rocketrascal34
TopHATTwaffle has some very good video tutorials.

For the Wheatley monitors, you can just use an instance to place a pre-made one into your map. Instances are point entities, with a class of "func_instance". Give it a fixup name (anything really) and set it's vmf file to be "instances/monitors/wheatley_bigscreen.vmf". This will give you a Wheatley screen. You need to also place another instance outside your map with the file "instances/monitors/whealtey_studio.vmf". This is a black room with a Wheatley model inside for the monitor to display.

You'll need another point entity, a logic_auto. Open its properties and switch to the outputs tab. Add an output with the output name of "OnMapSpawn", targeting the name of the Wheatley screen and an input of "instance:relay_deploy_straight;Trigger". (Use the dropdowns to help). Add another identical output but with an input of "instance:relay_enable_screen;Trigger".

This will make the screen extend and turn on when the map begins.

TeamSpen nailed it. Most of the tutorials on the VDC are for the L4D branch or the HL2 branch, not the Portal branch. But Portal 2 is one of the few games to have support for instances, and they make everything SO MUCH EASIER. Instead of building a button or a door from scratch every time, you can just build it in an instance and use it over and over--and if you later make a change to the door, it'll change all the copies, so you don't need to redo everything. Instances are also, incidentially, the way the PTI works--each element is in an instance, the right-click menu are its parameters, and the connections are its inputs and outputs.

Uhm...there is a wall at the front of the monitor. Any way to get rid of that, actually to only see the monitor? I tried Ungrouping, but first it does nothing and second, I don't even see the wall in Hammer itself. Everything else works fine now...but there is a wall.
Here is a screen of it for better understanding:

http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/8100/2sgx.png

You need to embed the monitor in the wall, then send it an input to make it come out. Watch the monitors in the original game, they slide out from the walls when Wheatley starts talking.

FelixGriffin wrote:
You need to embed the monitor in the wall, then send it an input to make it come out. Watch the monitors in the original game, they slide out from the walls when Wheatley starts talking.

How do I do that? I don't see an "embed" option. When I mark both and group them, it does not work. When I place the Monitor "into" the wall so that they overlay, it doesn't work either...

And how to put an input? The list is clean in the input tab, and when I click "Mark" nothing happens, but there is said: "Double click or select and click Mark button to view input originator".

You have to imagine, you try to explain this stuff to someone who is a total newbie at Hammer / Coding and does not really understand the tutorials (maybe 10% of all said things - I don't understand all these parameter thingies and coding stuff related terms), because it is explained very difficult. Plus that, English is not my native language. I'm German and it's also very difficult for me to understand English, but I have to, since there is no German stuff around for SDK and Hammer.

Honestly, I don't think the monitor is a good start for anybody in hammer. My first map was just a simple box with white walls. From there, I created another box just like it, and linked them with a small tunnel. Try making something just out of brushes (the blocks you create with the tool that looks like a white cube) for starters. Once you have the basic feel of hammer, try making something a bit more complex. My second map ever was a simple box room with a moat in the middle. The whole room had black walls, and two white walls on each side of the moat. On the ceiling there was a hole with a missing panel and a pipe model.

When it comes to inputs and outputs, I wouldn't worry about that until you're comfortable with building using props and brushes. If you need any other help, just PM me with your questions. I'll be glad to help clear anything up for you. The first time I tried hammer, I was intimidated and didn't use it for about another two months. When I saw the things in the workshop, I was motivated again and decided that I would try to re-learn hammer. This time, I was more motivated, and I was able to push past that very first obstacle when learning something new. I guarantee that once you're able to get past that obstacle, you will be making maps like a breeze.

Wheatley Monitor Tutorial:

1. Place the entity func_instance in the map

2. Set the .vmf file to instances/monitors/wheatley_bigscreen

3. Click Apply

4. Place the monitor where you want it, most likely in the wall unless Wheatley can levitate his monitors.

5. In the instance's properties, give it a name. For the sake of the instructions, name it "screen".

6. Repeat step 1.

7. With this new instance, give it the .vmf filename of instances/monitors/wheatley_studio.

8. Place it anywhere outside your map.

9. Now you have to send an output to get the monitor to deploy. This can be done with any entity, for this tutorial use a button. In the button's outputs, write the following:

OnPressed
screen
instance:relay_deploy_straight;Trigger

1. Now you have your properly functioning Wheatley monitor. If you're curious as to what the second instance you put outside the map does, it is the place that the monitor is getting the actual feed from with the black backround and whatnot, so you don't want it inside your map.

Also don't worry, I really know how you feel with starting in Hammer. Everyone here, whether they started Hammer mapping with Portal or some other game, started out like you. It will probably take a while before you can release a map that is of some genuine quality, but don't go out rushing to make a map like I did. (it was a disaster.) Learn the basics first, then learn the more advanced things, and if you spend time on Hammer then I have no doubt you can make great maps too.

P.S.: You don't need to know a bloody thing about programming to make maps. I certainly don't know a bloody thing about programming. (though it would be nice.)

Lady_Vinyl wrote:
How do I do that? I don't see an "embed" option. When I mark both and group them, it does not work. When I place the Monitor "into" the wall so that they overlay, it doesn't work either...

Also: by embed, he doesn't mean there is an option. He means you have to literally put the monitor in the wall, unless it can levitate as mentioned before.

Sorry to say that, but the button does absolutely nothing. I wrote the Output just like you said.
I placed a button to press in the room with the output. When I press it, it does absolutely nothing.
And yes, the Monitor is placed in the wall.

Everything is fine - except these damn walls (see screenshot in my previous post). I placed the monitor in the wall (so that I don't see the monitor anymore at all). But nothing happens ...

Ps: Wheatley IS on the monitor. He is moving. I want to remove that damn walls around the monitor so I can see the screen clearly in front of me.

Pps: The basics I do in the puzzle maker. Only these things like monitors/screens, voice events, small decorations, elevators... these things that I cannot make in the puzzle maker. Only for this I need Hammer. So I think learning the basics is not necessary, since I can do this in the editor of the game itself ...

Could you screenshot the outputs tab for the button?

Here you are:

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/3998/vp7a.png

Lady_Vinyl wrote:
Pps: The basics I do in the puzzle maker. Only these things like monitors/screens, voice events, small decorations, elevators... these things that I cannot make in the puzzle maker. Only for this I need Hammer. So I think learning the basics is not necessary, since I can do this in the editor of the game itself ...

But how are you going to learn the fancy stuff without understanding the basics?

Looks like the name you entered for the instance is different to the one the button is trying to send an input to (they are case-sensitive, "Screen" is different to "screen").

Okay, I found out by myself. I had to write in the Fixup Name and the Entity Fixup Name both for the screen. Until now I only wrote it in the Entity Fixup Name. Now it all works, thank you all.

Edit: And now...how do I add a voice clip? Can I even add a special event where a voice clip will play, for example if I press a button and then Wheatey would say something?
I looked up in the Valve Developer Community (Wiki?) but it isn't explained very well there, or I just didn't find it.

Oh, and I just got it working that when the test chamber starts that the Wheatley Screen comes up.

The method VALVe used is ridiculous and its only advantage is to let you play around with the order of the clips without recompiling. Use the P1 method: logic_choregraphed_scenes. Use the portalwiki's list of voice lines to get names.

FelixGriffin wrote:
The method VALVe used is ridiculous and its only advantage is to let you play around with the order of the clips without recompiling. Use the P1 method: logic_choregraphed_scenes. Use the portalwiki's list of voice lines to get names.

To elaborate on this:

http://theportalwiki.com/wiki/GLaDOS_voice_lines (using GLaDOS lines as an example)
Hovering over the line shows the file name.

In the settings for the logic_choreographed_scene, this file name is what you'll search for in 'Scene File'. Give it a name, then trigger it, and you're set.

There is a bug in Hammer that makes it so you can't listen to Scenes lines, so as srs bsnss said, there are some extremely useful pages on ThePortalWiki with lists of GLaDOS lines and Wheatley lines. Find a line you want and hover over it with your mouse. A popup will show the file name of the sound. Then in Hammer, in your logic_choreographed_scene, find the line that matches up with the name on ThePortalWiki. Name it, and then fire an output to it from anything (using a button as an example again)

OnPressed
[name of your logic_choregraphed_scene]
Start

Important: Make sure that the line you chose is a "Boss Wheatley" line used in the last act in the game, or else Wheatley on the monitor will not move along with it. Dialogue boxes will also automatically appear if you have them turned on.

Very Important: If you want to use PotatOS, GLaDOS, or Announcer lines, you need to have an instance in your map for the lines to play: instances/choreo/glados_gen_actor. Place it anywhere outside your map.

Okay, thanks, I'll test it when I get to manage some time for it.
Maybe tomorrow, now I need some sleep ... so please stand by and I'll post again if any problems come up with it. I'm really glad that you are willing to help newbies at Hammer that wanna learn it.

If you still need help with anything with hammer (i dont know if you would) I can start making video tutorials. It would benefit to me and anyone else out there needing help with hammer.