While most CS maps really don't fit the DOD style of gameplay, there is a custom map that I've seen running on only one server, but to unanimously rave reviews: cs_kismayo, a huge, wide-open Middle Eastern city, with enough variations in roots and mixes of large, wide-open areas and small corridors and passageways that it'd be an intense firefight for everyone concerned. So I'm wondering how difficult it would be to port a map from CS:S to DOD:S. Is it just as simple as replacing the spawns and switching hostages/rescue points with flags, and it's ready to go, or is there more to it than that? I've done design work with other games before, but I'm very new to Hammer and Source mapping, so I'm hoping a conversion will be easy enough to teach me some things without trying to make a first map from the ground up...that and we could use some more maps :)

Thanks in advance for any help:sheep:

ask the mapper!
...he just have to change the ents. and maybe some textures ...a work of a few hours.

theres a tool called vmex097 to decompile the maps but you got to ask the maker first

So it would go something like this, I'm assuming...

1. Decompile the map w/ vmex
2. Open it with Hammer as a CS:S map
3. Delete all the game-specific entities and save it
4. Open it with the editor set up for DOD and place the flags
5. Compile it as a DOD map

Is this right, or am I missing something?

Also, a few other questions:

A. The map uses some default CS textures and could possibly use some custom ones. Will the CS textures have to be d/led with the map, since they won't necessarily be called by DOD? In either case, how do I go about bundling any extra textures with the map?

B. Would it be easier to reskin any CS textures with DOD ones to avoid this problem?

C. If I make the map and host it on a server, could I then have an admin join it, dl the map that way, and then he'll have all the necessary files to upload to our dedicated?

I'm sure these questions are really newb and silly :confused: but again, I appreciate any help

Edit: Oh yeah, I asked the maker already :)

Interesting question this: Is it actually possible to own DoD:S without owning CS:S? What I mean is, technically you shouldn't distribute CS:S textures with a DoD:S custom map.

Originally posted by Trp. Jed
Interesting question this: Is it actually possible to own DoD:S without owning CS:S? What I mean is, technically you shouldn't distribute CS:S textures with a DoD:S custom map.


yes, its possible.
i had one or two wood-textures from cs:s in my map. my friend who tested it got the pink-textures-of-dead everywhere i placed the cs:s wood... he owns only dod, since he has bought it without hl2. therefore, he has no cs:s textures.

hl2 or hl2dm textures do show up, since i think the official dod-mappers use some of those textures in their maps to.

the cs:s textures are a big NO for me. its very annoying to play with pink textures...

oh, same applies to cs:s models.

if you really want them, you can pack the needed ones into the bsp at the end. then they would show up.

but packing them into the final BSP still can be interpreted as a direct violation of the Steam EULA, where it's said that no steam cache file can be redistributed.

It's an ongoing topic that's been around for ages now, and where no one clearly knows what he can/can't do. I've emailed gabe newell for an official answer, which remained (expectedly) unanswered.

Check the VERC for some interesting threads about the issue...

Wow that's a toughy.

Innocently putting in a CS source texture into a DOD map, could be a form of redistributing, since you're basically giving someone who doesn't own the software, a piece of it. Yes, it's only a 1MB VTF file, but it's the principal.

Holy crap.

I also asked in my email if Valve made a clear distinction between putting valve content within your mod and claiming it as yours on one side, and just embedding valve content within the bsp of a single map you made for an existing official game.

To me there is a difference. In one case you'd be claiming as yours something that isn't and would also be redistributing copyrighted content to people without the original game. In the other case, you're just making a map for an official game and although redistributing the content in a way, it can't be used again in the form you provide it with, as it's embedded in the bsp.

In the end we can go on and on with different examples, and other threads have turned into just that, because as far as I know, there are no clear definition of what can and can't be done as custom content creators.

i thought valve allowed anything from any of their games to be used as custom content for another? i'm sure i heard that somewhere before, and as you have to own at least one of the games to be playing the map or whatever it is, valve aren't losing out at all.

btw, i've had a few errors using vmex before, strange brushes everywhere and texture problems. if you're contacting the original author anyway to ask for permission, you could just ask for the .vmf to edit in the dod:s entities.
or, you could use ripent or another one of those programs to just edit the .bsp directly.

hi
also a lot of entities seem to stop working correctly on a map decompiled using vmex, then recompiled in hammer.
spot lights and area portals are two.

Never experienced anything bad with Vmex myself, although I never tried to recompile anything. From what I experienced, I have yet to see a single mistake. go figure, either way I'm sure we'll all agree it's a very good program

I believe, that as long as the material in question is being used in mod made to be played on the Source engine and for a Valve-specific mod (CS, DoD, NS, whatever) it's OK and fair game. At worse it's a case of non-inforcement of rules. I doubt Valve would have a problem with anything created w/any of their software components as long as it was on Steam and using the Source engine in a not-for-profit mode. Almost all of the thrid-party mods I've seen use a smattering of DoD, CS, and HL2 components in their builds.