Does anyone have tips for making maps look more like the test chambers in the game? Also, how would I light a whole room, without having one extremely bright spot?

Wow this is a really vague subject line with a really vague question.
But as long as the subject is unclear, I might as well squeeze in a question without starting a new topic:

For the life of me, I cannot find the texture for the shiny metal tile floor! Does anyone know? Is it missing from my setup?

In the texture browser, type in "Portal" in the keywords-field. Optionally you can also type "Metal" in the filter-field. With the first you'll get all Portal-textures, with the second all metal textures. In combination, you get all Portal metal textures. But note in which field you type the words! If you type Portal in Filter and Metal in Keywords, you'll end up without textures in the field.

EDIT:

Oh, one tip I can give you for the test chambers: make sure all textures are aligned. Make all brushes powers of 2, that's easier (64, 128, 256 and such). Use the correct textures and correct props at the correct places, with which I mean use BTS-metal in BTS-areas and test chamber metal in test chambers.

Also always check your map for leaks. Leaks are real showstoppers. They prevent visleafs from being created, and they result in icky lightning, which means you cant really see what your ligntning really looks like.

Your best best is to download the decompiled test chambers and refer to them. This will show you exactly how things are done and where a lot of the lighting is. Also, go back and play the game from time to time. Take screenshots.

About the lighting, if you play through the game again and look carefuly, you'll see lighting coming from the floor at the sides of the room, or 'recessed lighting'
I used to have a tutorial for this somewhere, but I think I've lost it. Basically, there's a channel in the floor with a light emitting texture (search for recessed in the broswer). You can change the lightmap scale of the texture to make it more, or less, blotchy.

Observation rooms also provide a lot of light to the chambers. They generally use a light_spot behind the glass, pointing into the chamber. This, combined with the textured lighting used on the edge strips, usually provide adequate lighting.

Some chambers also cheat a bit, by using normal light entities with a high "constant" value, which provides more even lighting.

For the texture question, you can identify a texture's name in-game, by pointing at it, and using the console command "mat_crosshair". This will return the name of the texture.

NocturnalGhost wrote:

For the texture question, you can identify a texture's name in-game, by pointing at it, and using the console command "mat_crosshair". This will return the name of the texture.

wow man thats a kick ass command thanks!

ok, how about I reword this with a less vague wording:

Is there any specific way to position the metal wall textuers (as in smaller squares near important areas)?

Also, are there any prefabs or tutorials on how to make the panels move out and angle?

appunxintator wrote:
Is there any specific way to position the metal wall textuers (as in smaller squares near important areas)?

In general, there are more small metal squares closer to the floor of a room and they get larger the higher up. Of course there are still other sizes of squares interspersed throughout and there are also a few instances that completely ignore this "design rule".

Look at the official levels and play around with placement yourself to find a style that is visually pleasing.

Quote:
Your best best is to download the decompiled test chambers

How would I go about doing that? (or where)

appunxintator wrote:
Quote:

Your best best is to download the decompiled test chambers

How would I go about doing that? (or where)

Forum rules wrote:
Don't post links to illegal files (warez, etc.). We aren't a piracy forum, so we won't for stand it. If you are looking to acquire some software, take it to PM please.

Don't ask where to find illegal files. If you don't know how to get your hands on something, you shouldn't be asking for it in the first place.

Yellow cards and locks will flow freely when the rules are broken.

Rather than downloading decompiled maps, which, as Hober pointed out, is illegal, you should instead download Vmex. Then you can decompile the maps yourself without breaking any laws.

Also, the SDK came with a sample map. Look at that for some tips.

Sorry, I had no idea those files were illegal, nor would I given a refresher in the forum rules. You might want to spell that out specifically.

The program you need is...

VMex

Search the internet for it. Once you found it, do not post the link here as that violates this forum's rules.

Also, ONLY USE DECOMPILED MAPS FOR REFERENCE! There's nothing against looking how someone did something, and the police won't chase you for copy-pasting a single piston or light entity or such. But copying large parts of others' maps is frowned upon and you should not do it. Copying large parts of Valve's maps is even illegal.

ok, just one more question (for now):

What do area_portal's do? I keep seeing them, but can't understand what they're for!

Areaportals help with map performance, by blocking visibility to areas that don't need to be rendered at any one time.

They have two states, open and closed. When closed, anything behind them will not be drawn. When open, the geometry is visible again.

Even in their opened state, they can help with performance, as they only render geometry that can be seen from the areaportal when looked through.

With regards to Portal, they are usually used in doors. When the door is closed, and the areaportal is also closed, the area behind the door is no longer rendered by the game, which helps performance.

They must be used in such a way that they seal areas completely, or you will get areaportal leaks. By this, I mean that if you have 2 seperate rooms, and 2 corridors connecting them, each corridor must have an areaportal. If you just seal one corridor with an areaportal, it will leak.

For a better explaination, and some pretty pictures, check out this link.

Wow, never knew that.. come to think of it, there's a lot of stuff I don't know.

O.o

cake?

Another useful version (more useful in my opinion) are func_areaportalwindow's. They work very similarly to areaportals, and they do the same thing - stop the rendering of objects within area groups - but instead of working on an Open/Closed system, these ones work by a simple distance calculation and fade in and out when the player gets near them.

You can see this in work in HL2 in the buildings in the Canals, the Coast, and many areas in City 17. You'll notice that windows and doors seem to fade in and out from black as you approach or move away from them - that's areaportalwindows at work.

Any mapping in Hammer consist out of 4 elements:

-Architecture: Build your map. Make it fun to play.
-Functionality: Make sure all entities work well together. If you press that button, the door must actually open.
-Atmosphere: Add detail. Give your map that feel, those details it needs so badly.
-Optimisation: This is the hardest part for many mappers. Get your map to work as optimal as possible. Get rid of everything unnecesarry. Repair the leaks. Fix the bugs and glitches. If the player can't see it, it shouldn't be there.

Note that there is no set order for these 4 elements. They cascade, and you should never, ever neglect any of them.