Like did you use a terrain generator or something to create those beautiful maps, or did you do it all through Valve Hammer, by careful attention to detail? Some of the maps are just so well done. Is it possible for some of you mappers to post wireframe images of your maps, so we know how well crafted your maps are? And keep up the great work!
Terrain generators suck, they assume that hammer is only capable of heightmap terrain, when in actuality, displacements are much more powerful than that. I made one cliff segment, copied it, vertex manipulated the base brush to change the shape, then sewed the edges together.
mine probably doesnt count as either beautiful or well made, but I did it all in hammer with a huge grid of square displacements and an age of vertex tweeking. Follow other peoples' methods and use vertical surfaces etc for bits that will end up vertical - ie get the brushes in roughly the right shape before making them displacements...
If it's wireframe you want, you can take a look yourself. Create a server, and type "sv_cheats 1" at the console to enable cheats. Then type "mat_wireframe 1" to turn on wireframe mode. Then you can use "noclip" to take a look around. As for displacement technique, it obviously varies from person to person. I like to create a basic grid to start with, giving it a little randomisation just to stop the ground from being totally flat. Then for any distinct cliffs and things create blocks and utilise the vertical surfaces to create walls. Nobody has made a map with extensive caves in yet, but this is an example of something that a generator would probably not be able to do.
http://users.telenet.be/samhannes/mapping/emp_frost/emp_frost0213.jpg http://users.telenet.be/samhannes/mapping/emp_frost/emp_frost0214.jpg http://users.telenet.be/samhannes/mapping/emp_frost/emp_frost0215.jpg
There was a map that was being made by a JPL member which was a reverse escort map. This map had displacement tunnels.
I start with a idea for a building that i try to recreate in hammer then i build the building next to it Then i might add the street, or another bulding, or play with the lights inside one of the buildings if i'm happy so far, i keep going That repeats untill i end up with a decent sized part of a map, and then i desperatly try to make this fit into somthing that could be descriped as a playble layout without extreme dissadvantages for annyone Alot of other people actually use layouts and plans, and that probobly is the best way of doing it, but it haven't worked for me Oh, and just to show you how it's not suposed to be done, heres some wireframe images of streets of fire http://www.xperienced.net/grizzly/Maps/StreetsOfFire/Wireframe/sofgrid1.PNG http://www.xperienced.net/grizzly/Maps/StreetsOfFire/Wireframe/sofgrid2.PNG http://www.xperienced.net/grizzly/Maps/StreetsOfFire/Wireframe/sofgrid3.PNG http://www.xperienced.net/grizzly/Maps/StreetsOfFire/Wireframe/sofgrid4.PNG
