hi,

Does anybody know if there are plans to release a SDK VMF of a dod map with the release of dod:s, similar to cbble for CS:S be nice if they did to show support for the dod mapping community

Nothings been said about that topic yet. Would be a good idea though, instead of having a bazillion tutorials covering flag cap areas, blowuppable areas, spawn protection, etc.

Don't count on it though. mappers are usually reluctant to hand out their source files.

hasnt stopped cs:s hldm and a bumch of hl2 maps in the sdk to look at

highly unlikely.

Actually there hasn't been much discussion yet on this, but rest assured it will come up between Valve, the dev team and the mappers.

Personally, I do think we should pick at least one official map and release the .vmf the way it was done with CS:S along with smaller example .vmfs of specific mapping topics.

As for which map? I don't know, and I don't know whether it will be done at all.

Anyway, I completely understand the community's desire to see a SDK map and I will gladly offer my opinion to the dev's that we should release one, but ultimately it will be up to the them and Valve.

I think we all agree that it should be done, try pick a map that includes a lot of dod:s specific features :D

yea a few turorial maps like the HL2, SDK_hints ect, would be good.

Originally posted by Ricochet
Don't count on it though. mappers are usually reluctant to hand out their source files.

Valve own them, not the mapper.

anyway ...

If this does happen then great, I assume flag capping stuff will work to start with and objective based stuff later?

Originally posted by haircut

If this does happen then great, I assume flag capping stuff will work to start with and objective based stuff later?

I think the things like flag capping and objectives can be handled in relatively small example .vmfs and we can probably have a lot of them to address all the little different DoD:s specific entities and what not.

Working with source thus far I can see the bigger immediate questions will be around using the 3d skybox, working with displacements and texture blending, sound scripts and lighting.

So if you're worried about getting up to speed on mapping for DoD:S, spend time now on Source mapping fundamentals and the DoD:S specific stuff probably won't be as hard to pick up.

Originally posted by izuno

So if you're worried about getting up to speed on mapping for DoD:S, spend time now on Source mapping fundamentals and the DoD:S specific stuff probably won't be as hard to pick up.

would you recommend CS, or HLDM? most people seem to be leaning towards CS for practice, but since you've actually done some real stuff, what do you think would be closer to dod?

Originally posted by josh_u[RR]
would you recommend CS, or HLDM? most people seem to be leaning towards CS for practice, but since you've actually done some real stuff, what do you think would be closer to dod?

It probably doesn't matter that much which you do to learn source mapping technology (like displacements and such)...but keep in mind that CS and DOD are both fundamentally team based games where map balance is a critical issue. HL2DM is just deathmatch and it's heavily dependent on grav gun and physics objects.

But the real issue is that DoD:S actually shares some art assets with CS:S (at least for now) so visually it may be easier to make something that looks like WWII than with HL2DM assets.

The other issue is porting from CS:S to DoD:S... meaning....let's say you make a map in CS:S and it's got great layout/flow and you want to port it to DoD:S. My gut tells me it's going to be easier to port than had it been made in HL2DM, however I haven't actually done either myself so that may not be an issue. (porting art assets i mean) The question is, how much of DoD:S will be in common with HL2DM and CS:S and HL2 and how will it work if you create textures and assets for one mod that you want to move to another mod?
That's another item for a DOD:S mapping "how to" list.

Anyway...I'm rambling...as we get more clarity we'll obviously have more information to share.

thank you for the quick response :D

i dont get how there would be any problem porting from hl2dm or cs, considering both contain many of the same core hl2 textures, CS just has its own specific ones if you choose to use them.

I've easily extracted cs:s materials and moved them into a custom folder in my hl2dm directory called 'cstrike' and work just fine. I see no certain advatage either way personally.

Your still gonna have to change around a few things, move all your used materials to the dod folder, change your .vmts, remove any mod-specific entities, etc.

Originally posted by izuno
Working with source thus far I can see the bigger immediate questions will be around using the 3d skybox, working with displacements and texture blending, sound scripts and lighting.


I can do all that in CS: S ... :D and there are some really good tuts on the main Help page to help with all of that.

It's the DoD: S stuff that I want.