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Recently I have just started playing Counter-Strike again. Played a few games and started thinking, “hey, why not make a map?”. The last time I was active doing Counter-Strike and the original Half-Life game maps, was when I’m in my Form 2 and Form 3 years. Still remember that time, making a map is a real pain, because my old computer was not fast enough. Rendering/generating a map may requires an hour for just a small map back then.

Mapping software, Valve Hammer Editor(formerly known as Worldcraft)

The map creation software required, is called Valve Hammer Editor/Worldcraft. The tool is a freeware, so you can search and download it online. Before I actually begin creating a map, need to spend sometime configure the settings for the program once you installed it. Then, start going around the tools panel and create the map.

A simple block shape

It all start out by using the “Block tool” to grid out a rectangle/square, to create a single room. There are a few things that need to be take into account, is the Top view, Side view and Front view, as this is 3D. The blocks of rectangle/square that I’ve created need to be resized precisely. By using the “Hollow” function in Worldcraft, I can easily create a rectangle into a simple rectangular room.

A room created

Using the camera view, I can view the 3D textured room I’ve created. And then there’s no way the room’s wall and floor look all the same, then I have to apply texture on the ground and the ceiling using the “Toggle Texture tool”.

3D view of the room

Applying texture

After creating a simple room ,it’s time to add a start point in the map, so that the game player have a location to start with. Of course not to forget, is the lighting, cause you wouldn’t want to play in a map that is completely dark, would you? To add start point and lighting, I need to use the “Entities tool”. “Entities tool” basically is a tool that allow you to place objects, such as weapons, light, player start point, enemy/monster start point and etc. can be placed into the map.

Entities placed. Green indicates start point, the other one being light entity.

Different entities or objects can have different property values to be set. For instance a light entity, you can change the values like brightness, light color and light angle.

Work in progress

It sure take me some time to learn back then, but it sure was enjoyable back then. Recently I’ve just made a map, it’s not big, but fun for playing short rounds. You can download and try it, fy_ur_takefire. The map is playable with CS 1.6 and above, just extract the files to the cstrike/maps directory. Below are some of the screenshots.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 4th, 2007 at 10:17 am and is filed under Work. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.