Getting Started With Mapping
Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2018 12:40 pm
Introduction
Hey everybody, I'm Xinored and i decided to create a series of guides about creating maps for cs 1.6. The reasons for that are to share my experience of mapping and make it easy to access for others and myself included. There are so many things that cannot be found anywhere in the internet anymore and can only be discovered through experimenting. I have forgotten so many things since the last time i used The Hammer Editor for nojarq_fun_zone and took some time go rediscover them again, so i started writing them down. And from that came the idea to just post full guide for all different steps i took to finish completly map for cs 1.6. I also uploaded my personal files i use for mapping so people don't have to waste time to search on internet for those files and versions. With this guide i hope to inspire more people to try creating something themself and maybe one day you can play your own map in our server.
First step is to download this archive. It contains all files that i use and you need for mapping.
Download
Setting Up
The first thing that you need to do after downloading the files is to creating your main folder about mapping and put every file you ever use for mapping in there. Never use your desktop for that purpose. I personally put my folder in my storage HDD and link it to MEGA cloud, so even if my PC exploaded nothing will be lost. I'm telling you this in the beggining, because some maps can eat hours of your time and you don't want to lose anything, so make a habbit to keep everything simple, saved and backuped.
Valve Hammer Editor Configuration
Extract "Valve Hammer Editor 3.5.3" file in your Mapping folder. Its portable, so you don't need to install it. This is the main software you gonna use to create maps. I downloaded it from GameBanana and highly recommend to use it instead of another version. When you first start Valve Hammer Editor (Im gonna say it VHE from now on) you need to configure it. Its one time thing and doesn't take more that 10 min if you follow this guide, so don't be intimidated.
1. Open hammer.exe from "Valve Hammer Editor 3.5.3" folder as administrator.
2. Press "No" when VHE ask you to open guide and the Configuration window will pop up.
3. Go to "Game Configuations" tab press "Edit" button and then "Add". In the empty space type "CS" and then close the window.
4. Go to the Mapping folder and extract "fgd files" archive and copy them in your Valve Hammer Editor/fdg folder.
5. Now you need to add the 2 fdg files you just extracted in the VHE. From Game Configuration menu there is "Add new" button
under Game data files. Add "cs16expert-hex805.fgd" and "zhlt.fgd" from Valve Hammer Editor/fdg folder you placed them. Those files are very important.They gives you access to all entity types in VHE.
6. Set Default PointEntity to "info_player_start" and Default SilidEntity to "func_detail". The first one is optional its just the default entity, but its important about the second one to stay to func_detail so the solids in the map use less resources from the engine.
7. Game executable directory - just point it to your CS 1.6 main folder. For steam users its - Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life. Mod directory is the cstrike folder - Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life. Game directory is the same - Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life. Hammer Rmf directory is the folder where the map .rmf files are going to be saves, you can put them in your mapping folder or leave it empty like me and the hammer will ask you everytime you create new file where to save it.
It should look something like this:
8. Go to Textures tab click "Add WAD" and add both files "zhlt.wad" and "all-in-one.wad" like this:
9. That was the most important setting you need to make in VHE. The other are optional to change for you as you please.Those are my settings for other tabs:
10. You are done configuring Hammer! Now its time to configue the compiler tool. I recommend getting over with configuring the compiler before you proceed to using VHE, just to be done with and not thinking about it later afeter your map is ready for compilation.
Compilator Configuration
And you are done with the configuration of VHE. Good work! Now you need to configure your batch compiler.
The Complier is the tool that's transforming your .map file into .bsp file that can be played in cs 1.6. Even if you already have created
awesome map you can play it until its compilated form the complilater without errors. More about compilation errors in the next guides.
1. Extract "Batch Compiler 3.1.2.rar" and then install the file. The installation is easy, just put it in your Program Files as default.
2. Start "Batch Compiler" as administator. Its important to always start it as administrator, or else it will guve you error when you try to compile your map.
3. Go to Specification menu and click on "Zoners Tools Advanced"
4. Check mark those compilation stages as shown in the screenshot:
5.Now Extract "Vluzacns ZHLT v31.rar" and copy the folder "tools" to your Valve Hammer Editor folder. Those are the compilation tools you gonna use to create .bsp maps.
6. Now you need to embed those tools in the Batch Compiler. Go to "Options/Setup/Stage Paths" and there you must select the path to those tools for every stage. Example:
CSG - /Valve Hammer Editor/tools/hlcsg.exe
BSP - /Valve Hammer Editor/tools/hlbsp.exe
VIS - /Valve Hammer Editor/tools/hlvis.exe
RAD - /Valve Hammer Editor/tools/hlrad.exe
At the end where HL and Steam is select the path to your hl.exe and steam.exe. (If you are not using steam just leave it empty).
7. After you are done with that you can use my batch preset i put in "Batch Compiler 3.1.2.rar". It contains all of my setting i use to make maps. Go in Options/Setup/Presets and add there "batch compiler preset.bcp". If you have any problems with that you can aslo make your settings manually like the screenshots bellow.
Now you are all set. You can start exploring the world of mapmaking! In the next guide i will introduse you to the basic tools in Hammer and how to create simple map. If you have any questions or problems post in this topic.
Hey everybody, I'm Xinored and i decided to create a series of guides about creating maps for cs 1.6. The reasons for that are to share my experience of mapping and make it easy to access for others and myself included. There are so many things that cannot be found anywhere in the internet anymore and can only be discovered through experimenting. I have forgotten so many things since the last time i used The Hammer Editor for nojarq_fun_zone and took some time go rediscover them again, so i started writing them down. And from that came the idea to just post full guide for all different steps i took to finish completly map for cs 1.6. I also uploaded my personal files i use for mapping so people don't have to waste time to search on internet for those files and versions. With this guide i hope to inspire more people to try creating something themself and maybe one day you can play your own map in our server.
First step is to download this archive. It contains all files that i use and you need for mapping.
Download
Setting Up
The first thing that you need to do after downloading the files is to creating your main folder about mapping and put every file you ever use for mapping in there. Never use your desktop for that purpose. I personally put my folder in my storage HDD and link it to MEGA cloud, so even if my PC exploaded nothing will be lost. I'm telling you this in the beggining, because some maps can eat hours of your time and you don't want to lose anything, so make a habbit to keep everything simple, saved and backuped.
Valve Hammer Editor Configuration
Extract "Valve Hammer Editor 3.5.3" file in your Mapping folder. Its portable, so you don't need to install it. This is the main software you gonna use to create maps. I downloaded it from GameBanana and highly recommend to use it instead of another version. When you first start Valve Hammer Editor (Im gonna say it VHE from now on) you need to configure it. Its one time thing and doesn't take more that 10 min if you follow this guide, so don't be intimidated.
1. Open hammer.exe from "Valve Hammer Editor 3.5.3" folder as administrator.
2. Press "No" when VHE ask you to open guide and the Configuration window will pop up.
3. Go to "Game Configuations" tab press "Edit" button and then "Add". In the empty space type "CS" and then close the window.
4. Go to the Mapping folder and extract "fgd files" archive and copy them in your Valve Hammer Editor/fdg folder.
5. Now you need to add the 2 fdg files you just extracted in the VHE. From Game Configuration menu there is "Add new" button
under Game data files. Add "cs16expert-hex805.fgd" and "zhlt.fgd" from Valve Hammer Editor/fdg folder you placed them. Those files are very important.They gives you access to all entity types in VHE.
6. Set Default PointEntity to "info_player_start" and Default SilidEntity to "func_detail". The first one is optional its just the default entity, but its important about the second one to stay to func_detail so the solids in the map use less resources from the engine.
7. Game executable directory - just point it to your CS 1.6 main folder. For steam users its - Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life. Mod directory is the cstrike folder - Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life. Game directory is the same - Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life. Hammer Rmf directory is the folder where the map .rmf files are going to be saves, you can put them in your mapping folder or leave it empty like me and the hammer will ask you everytime you create new file where to save it.
It should look something like this:
8. Go to Textures tab click "Add WAD" and add both files "zhlt.wad" and "all-in-one.wad" like this:
9. That was the most important setting you need to make in VHE. The other are optional to change for you as you please.Those are my settings for other tabs:
10. You are done configuring Hammer! Now its time to configue the compiler tool. I recommend getting over with configuring the compiler before you proceed to using VHE, just to be done with and not thinking about it later afeter your map is ready for compilation.
Compilator Configuration
And you are done with the configuration of VHE. Good work! Now you need to configure your batch compiler.
The Complier is the tool that's transforming your .map file into .bsp file that can be played in cs 1.6. Even if you already have created
awesome map you can play it until its compilated form the complilater without errors. More about compilation errors in the next guides.
1. Extract "Batch Compiler 3.1.2.rar" and then install the file. The installation is easy, just put it in your Program Files as default.
2. Start "Batch Compiler" as administator. Its important to always start it as administrator, or else it will guve you error when you try to compile your map.
3. Go to Specification menu and click on "Zoners Tools Advanced"
4. Check mark those compilation stages as shown in the screenshot:
5.Now Extract "Vluzacns ZHLT v31.rar" and copy the folder "tools" to your Valve Hammer Editor folder. Those are the compilation tools you gonna use to create .bsp maps.
6. Now you need to embed those tools in the Batch Compiler. Go to "Options/Setup/Stage Paths" and there you must select the path to those tools for every stage. Example:
CSG - /Valve Hammer Editor/tools/hlcsg.exe
BSP - /Valve Hammer Editor/tools/hlbsp.exe
VIS - /Valve Hammer Editor/tools/hlvis.exe
RAD - /Valve Hammer Editor/tools/hlrad.exe
At the end where HL and Steam is select the path to your hl.exe and steam.exe. (If you are not using steam just leave it empty).
7. After you are done with that you can use my batch preset i put in "Batch Compiler 3.1.2.rar". It contains all of my setting i use to make maps. Go in Options/Setup/Presets and add there "batch compiler preset.bcp". If you have any problems with that you can aslo make your settings manually like the screenshots bellow.
Now you are all set. You can start exploring the world of mapmaking! In the next guide i will introduse you to the basic tools in Hammer and how to create simple map. If you have any questions or problems post in this topic.