How many displacement tiles do you usually use for a 6x6 map and is there a more efficient workflow than just sewing them together and trying to terraform the mess with a brush that's to small for a job like that? Or am I just not putting enough time into it?
what is a 6x6 map? Generally, maps are around 30k x 30k units or so. Do you mean that you have a map that large that is only 36 displacements? The best way in my mind is to use your raise to tool to raise the geometry to the general height and then smooth it down with the smooth tool where the differences in height are. You'll need to be more specific for better help.
Make the equally sized brushes (an appropriate size & as many as you want) on the grid & select all of them and group them, then use the face editing tool to select all the top faces (only the top faces) and create your displacements. Then you should be set. You won't need to sew them so long as you have all of them selected when you're painting geometry. As long as you make sure that you have "Groups" chosen for your selecting option (groups, objects, and solids are the choices), then whenever you click anywhere on your terrain it will select all of your terrain. Then you can open your face editing tool and do your geometry painting without having the different blocks of the displacement separate from one another. If they don't ever separate, you shouldn't need to sew them.
I meant 6x6 in terms of the in-game sections (A1-F6). I used to know how many displacements each section was made with
mappers can set the minimap grid size, for instance duststorm is basically 5x5 grid, where mvalley has a 7x7 grid. However both of these maps are the same size, you can edit your maps grid spacing in the resource/maps/emp_mapname.txt which sets all of the minimap parameters, which texture and grid spacing etc. this is a basic displacement grid vmf, duststorm size. emp_DisplacementGrid.vmf
In game sections are purely up to the mapper. the map is usually a 1024x 1024 pixel image, and the mapper can choose how to divide that map. but um.... Yeah. How large are you making your displacements?
You can set those to be whatever you want when you create your /resource/maps/yourmap.txt file. It's irrelevant to your displacement structuring. So really, there's not a "usual amount" used for a 6x6 map, it's whatever you feel works best for your needs. For instance, Tropic Vendetta has a 7x7 grid of displacements (each 4096x4096 units in size), but the minimap .txt file sets a 5x5 coordinate grid. Conversely, Frozen Summit has a 14x14 grid of displacements (each 2048x2048 units in size), but the minimap .txt file sets a 5x5 coordinate grid. So, it's very subjective. Just use appropriately sized displacements (and as many as you need) for creating your map the way you want. You'll still be able to do whatever you want with the minimap coordinate grid when all is said and done. Edit: Keef & Metal beat me to a response.
sort of on topic: what are the names of the models that mappers generally use for the resources? I know you can use anything, but I still want to use the same rocks and wagon wheels for now and haven't been able to find the models yet
Wagon wheel used on emp_money: Code: models/props_wasteland/wheel03b.mdl Resource node rock used on emp_mvalley: Code: models/Common/props_general/resnode.mdl Resource node rock used on emp_isle & emp_canyon: Code: models/props_wasteland/rockcliff01f.mdl
