Mod's, they make the world go around.. but how!

I've been inspired by empires, and other mods to want to make my own, and as you guy's have allways been a freindly crowd, i was wandering, those of you here that can mod and map, how did you learn? and where from?

 

What do you want to do? Just map?

 

iv only been doing the odd bit of mapping here and there for about a a year/half a year. making the most basic thing in the begining seems very hard like a box which you can spawn in but as you get into it more you make bigger more interesting things... its great funjust you have to work out where to start.

as of yet i have still never made a full map...

 

i've had experiance mapping older games liek jedi kngiht, and half life 1. but i've allso modded jedi knight quite a lot.
i want to do both with hl2, but i imagine it's going to be alot harder.
i mainly want to learn so i can make a mod called 'F1RST' and use it to help me get into uni next year. but if i cant, i wont complain

 

a nice place to start would be the valve wiki
heres a forum with some nice reads on making mods: http://www.hl2world.com/bbs/index.php?c=5

that should help you atleast get some basics for your mod

 

The Snarkpit used to be the mekka of HL mapping back in the day. There's a lot of stuff about HL2 mapping in there in rated tutorials(you know what's worth the read). Also the community is very helpful as long as you don't shove l3337 sp3333k down their throats and act like a complete moron. But then again that's good advice for every site. Oh and there are some modeling tutorials(more to come soonish about Blender) in there too as well downloadable prop packs(I gotta remind people to start another CCC).

Programming in HL2 is done with C++ as far as I know(never looked at the code, although perhaps I should). So here are some pages for you to look trough about the subject:
http://cplus.about.com/od/?once=true&
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/C%2B%2B_Programming
There'd be more, but somehow I've managed to misplace some of my bookmarks...

 

i know some C++, and have plenty of friends that are pretty good at it. i'm readin though the SDK now. i've been to the snark pit a couple of times, nothing recently though.
this question is prehaps more towards modders than mappers..
What program do you use to model? i know HL2 was made with XSI, but i have 3dsMax. is there a plugin or converter availible?

 

a. This is not the appropriate forum for your question
b. Almost everything you need to know is in the valve developers wiki, I suggest you spend some time reading it.

 

a whole mod is a huge project, usually taken up by teams of at least 4.... especially as there are many jobs to fil

why don't you do some work for Empires, and show that off to get yourself into uni? plus, you'll be working on a mod that will certainly be fun, poplular, and so your work won't go forgotten. in addition to that, you'll get tonnes of praise from us lot :D, and regular feedback

 

ModDB is a good place to start, although if you want help you better post your entire idea or nobody will listen to you.

 

Man i'd love to work on empires, but apart from a bit of modeling in 3ds, there's not much i can do, prehaps some graphics or vocals... :/, doubt you have much need for that.
anyway, the wiki is mind boggeling, so i'm making a little explaintion of it.
I don't intend to take on a whole mod by myself, but if i can get a start on it, models, consepts etc. then people will take notice and (hopefully) like the idea, and want to help. That and i dont want my coder to say to me 'i've done this and that' and me not have a clue what they are on about.

after looking over some of the other posts on modDB and alike, i've decide i'm going to try to get someone to basicaly tutor me in their spare time.. that way i'm not asking for a full time anything untill i'm sure i can get it done. and i'll learn what i want to know.

P.s. sorry for wrong forum, i read general, i thought general :/
thanks for the help guys.

 

I learned how to map on my own until the Valve wiki came, that was 1 week after i started. Then i just did everything by trial and error, with long compiles after it.

 

I learned on my own too. I started mapping for Quake 2 back in the day. I used qoole which is similar to hammer, so it was an easy transition.

 

I'm working on bumpmapping and reflection mapping every goddamn texture in Vampire : The Masquerade : Bloodlines

 

I learned to map in Hammer with tutorials i used online. I never used the valve wiki :/
I tried to model, but could never get any good tutorials/never get into it.
I learned photoshop from various tutorial sites.

the best tutorials for beginners are video tutorials, try to find those.
www.pixel2life.com

 

I call annoying guy with lame suggestions for this new mod!

 

Aw, darnit, I wanted the "ideas guy" position.

Guess I'll do chatroom moderator.

 

hey you can be the guy with the great ideas -=D

 

But that's my job!

 

Well, i guess hes out of luck -=D cause I'm still gonna have the lame ideas!

MUWAHAHAH :D!