WorldCraft / Hammer Half-Life Mapping

I've decided I'm going to give mapping another shot. I've tried once before, but only put in about a week's worth of effort. I really enjoy doing things like this, and even wanted to be an architect when I was younger! I really, really want to learn this, and would appreciate any tips or help anyone can give me. I know it's quite a broad topic, and somewhat complicated, but I'd like some words of advice from any experienced mappers out there.

I can already tell I'm going to have trouble with vertexes.. (i.e. making hexagons, octagons, etc.) And just to let everyone know... I've googled WorldCraft / Hammer tutorials and have come up with a plethora of information. I'd just like any experienced words of wisdom or tips that I can use. Also looking for motivation and support in my new venture

 

^^^^^Yea That ^^^^^^^

I've been working on a new map for BF1942. I also really enjoy doing these things. It's been a learning experience for sure. LOL Never done anything for Half Life, but I'm sure if it's anything like BF it can be a pain.

So many things to do & so many things yet to learn. LOL

I made 43 tracks for Motocross Madness 2 & it took a long time to learn everything. I had alot of fun & lost quite a bit of hair in the process.

Just stick with it & don't give up. Someday you'll be able to help another just starting.

 

Well... to explain a little on how much of a n00b I am to this map making, I'll give you an example of my recent troubles. Once upon a time I knew how to do this, but it seems I've forgotten since then, and even back when I knew how to do this, I think I still had problems. When applying textures, I'd like to apply it to just one face of a brush (object) and not the entire brush. How n00bish is that, huh? hehehheh Like I said... even when I knew how to do this, I seem to remember I still had problems... like the texture would show up outside the brush, like a cube for example, but I just want it to show up on one face, or side.. not the entire brush.

I'm sure I'll figure it out through one of these tutorials I've saved... but it seems all the tutorials I have are web pages. So another question... if anyone finds or knows of a tutorial that I can download that isn't HTML format... or at least not a web page that I have to go to file and "save as" I'd appreciate it. Not really a question, but any help is still appreciated.

 

Well man you could always right click and "Select All" then copy & paste into Notepad. I mean if it's a webpage that has the tut layed out on it. I don't know of any tutorials.

 

I've been doing pretty good with this mapping venture. I figured out my above posted problem... such a simple thing I couldn't figure out, but at least I got it resolved. I've actually got a small map with 2 rooms connected by a corridor with some prefabs in it (desk, chair, couple shelves, and some lighting) and I've actually learned more in the past few days than I did when I first started trying to learn this about a year ago.

The deeper I get into this mapping, it seems, the more complicated things are getting. For instance, there's about 100 entities and such that I know nothing about. I've also been surfing quite a bit to learn more about what I'm getting into... and I'll tell anyone that's interested in game mapping that it's nowhere near as easy as it looks. It sure is fun, though... to accomplish and finish a map and know that you've created something that people can actually use and play.