hey guys... I've been trying my hand at creating a source map and gotten pretty good start so far... however, I seem to not be able to figure out nor find a good tutorial on creating good lighting and... More importantly, how to make working cap zones.

Cap Zones:
I seem to be missing a dod_capture_area entity. This is the name of the object I've read I need to create the cap zone, but it is not in my entities list. I have the dod_control_point entity and can setup a flag and configure it, but can't make a cap area to go around it. What am I missing here?

Lighting:
I can put lighting in the map, but it's just not right. I'm using the light_environment, because I want it to look natural, but everything is so dark. I've adjusted the brightness all the way up to 1600 and it's still really dark. I'm looking for a bright sun light effect and I'm getting a twilight look to everything.

Any suggestions or links to help me out with these issues would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

To make a capping zone you need to do the following.

Place your flag which you seem to be ok with.

Then you need to create a brush around the flag the size you want your capping area to be and texture it with the "trigger" texture.

Select the brush you have just created and click the "move to entity" button on the right hand side of the Hammer window and select from the drop down list the entity dod_capture_area and there you have your capture area.

You will also need a dod_control_point_master in your map otherwise your capture areas will not work.

In the properties you need to do the following.

dod_control_point (Flag Model)

Name ............i.e. Centre
Give it a Localized name to print (the name displayed in game when the area is captured)..............i.e. Centre Flag

Index of this point .........has to be set, i.e. 1 2 or 3 each flag has to have a different index point as it is unique to that flag and also determines the order that they are displayed on the in game hud.

dod_capture_area

In the last option on properties "Name of the control point this area........" you need to put the same as the name given to the flag so in this example Centre.

There you have it all the flags should now work.

As for your query about lighting the light_enviroment is the right entity and should work fine so long as you don't have any leaks in your map and you are doing a full RAD compile. If you do a fast RAD compile it wont light the map to the settings you have used. However this normally makes your map very bright rather than very dark so can't explain that one.

For tutorials try this link http://www.dod-federation.com/tut_search.php should be everything you ever need to know there :D

Thanks! I actually figured out the cap zones playing around with them and referencing some sample maps, lol! Lot easier than I thought.

i will definitely check out the link you gave. Still looking for nuance type stuff with the lighting.

Thanks again

Have you tried using the settings here (http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Sky_list)? These are the optimal brightness settings for each skybox.

Maybe a screen shot of hammer or your compile log would help us figure out why your lighting is not right.

I assume you have the top of your map enclosed with a skybox and do not have any "leak" messages on compile?

Hey guys... still messing around with lighting...


Cpl. Punishment -- I have seen that page and another that gives that info.... but I am sad to say that I am not really sure how to use those textures. I am using the actual "skybox" texture. Could this be the issue? The engine seems to treat that texture as an "open sky" (no bullet hits and no light reflection). I placed a light source actually touching the skybox brush once and it locked up Hammer trying to compile... so you don't want to do that, LOL! It just tells me that the skybox texture I'm using is treated a lot differently from other "solid" textures.

Dradz -- I have not received any compile error messages or leaks. i will try and see if I can post some screen shots for you along with the locations and settings for the different light sources.

Thanks!

What you want to do is use the tools/toolsskybox texture on wherever your sky will be showing. Then, go into the Map menu and open up the map properties. Type in the name of the sky you chose (from the list I linked you to) where it says "Skybox Texture Name." Then, create a light_environment anywhere in your map, and use the settings in the list. That should work, hopefully.

And, yeah, it's not a good idea to have an entity leaking out through your skybox. Hammer doesn't like that much. :p

and dont just texture the "interior" face of the skybox brushes, texture EVERY face of any brush used for the skybox.....

What you want to do is use the tools/toolsskybox texture on wherever your sky will be showing. Then, go into the Map menu and open up the map properties. Type in the name of the sky you chose (from the list I linked you to) where it says "Skybox Texture Name." Then, create a light_environment anywhere in your map, and use the settings in the list. That should work, hopefully.

And, yeah, it's not a good idea to have an entity leaking out through your skybox. Hammer doesn't like that much. :p


Freaking AWESOME!!! That's what I was looking for. Worked great and looks sooooo much better. Thank you Cpl. Punishment!

I think the determining facture here was the pitch and ambient values. I did not really mess with those properties the first time.