HL2 Source SDK Released!

DRakE

SDK has been released thorough Steam.. it's a 35MB download, but it's worth it, if you're into that kind of thing

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Valve has released the Source Software Development Kit (SDK) Tools via Steam. A precursor to the release of the full SDK, which will be released shortly after Half-Life 2 is made available, the Source SDK Tools release offers a comprehensive toolset for starting production on Source-based MODs, including Hammer, XSI EXP for Half-Life 2, compiling tools, the Source Model Viewer, documentation on programming, modeling, building materials, and more. For more information, please visit www.valve-erc.com/srcsdk/
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Anima

I'd love to get my hands on it but theres no way I'd by HL2 through steam with me being on ISDN :mad:.

I acquired a hacked version but its bollacks and crashes alot. From what I can see from Hammer though, Its nowhere near as good an editor as Farcry's one, which is a shame.

Winters

Yes but for anyone used to the existing HL Hammer it will be, more or less, the exact same.

DRakE

Winters wrote:

Yes but for anyone used to the existing HL Hammer it will be, more or less, the exact same.

yeah, that's handy. I think that to make those crazy curves and smooth walls, you still have to make the triangle brushes yourself..

bit of a jip

tba

Hopefully it will be able to import some common formats

SantaHoe

There are a few cool things like being able to paint deformations in brushes to achieve things like natural terrain etc.
And having cycler ents appear as the .mdl's they're linked to instead of a simple box is very cool.
There are a few other things aswell I think, like additional surface properties, but I only threw together a tiny test map today to check things out and start learning what the new entities do.
Definitely not as many improvements/additions to the editor as I'd been hoping for... apparently new features are going to be added to Hammer soon though.

l3rian

full sdk isnt out yet :mad:

that horrible word "soon" is the mentioned...

SantaHoe

Yeah I want to get my hands on that face poser program

DRakE

anyone try to use the new hammer yet?

SantaHoe

Eh, yes.
One thing that's getting on my tits is when you have multiple brush faces selected (for texture application), then switch to the camera tool to move another angle and select more faces, you lose the faces you had selected originally... wtf?!
Also right-click/create doesn't seem to work when creating new entities, yet it works on brushes.
I've noticed some other strange quirks aswell.
There are now hints in the entity property pages aswell which is nice.
Lots of new things to learn entity-wise tbh... like I said in my second-to-previous post, not much new really, but fingers crossed...

Anima

Another thing that is pissing me off is that when you are editing vertices, the original layout of the brush is still shown. Makes it really hard to see what your doing.

I like the explaination of the variables in the entities aswell.

DRakE

I have NO IDEA where the sdk went when i downloaded it. It doesn't turn up under a windows search, and I can't get it off steam anymore, it's disappeared !

What the Fluck?

SantaHoe

DRakE wrote:

I have NO IDEA where the sdk went when i downloaded it. It doesn't turn up under a windows search, and I can't get it off steam anymore, it's disappeared !

What the Fluck?

By default it would have downloaded to: \SteamApps\you@email.com\sourcesdk\bin
If you can't launch it from the steam games menu, I dunno what to tell ye! :P
Isn't steam wonderful?

l3rian

http://www.steampowered.com/index.php?area=news


"Next week we will be releasing the Source SDK, along with a surprise for the community"


good news.... i wonder whats the surprise?

DRakE

The surprise is that it won't be released til the wekk after

I found the SDK , now to start mapping*!









*messing about with the physics

DRakE

I LOVE THIS PROGRAM!

Mapping for HL2/CS:S is so much more fun with the new tools available.. you can add realistic terrain to faces without the ugly vertex's showing up in the editor window, they'll only show up in CAMERA view. You can add models SOO much easier, and don't have to clip them off this time, they're their own entity this HL around

Physics are so much fun, I made a crate full of water bottle models explode yesterday. Kudos VALVe, Kudos for that if nothing else

SantaHoe

Yeah I found the displacement tools to be excellent... I was creating a cliff face the other day and noticed the edges of the cliff weren't properly aligning to the other brush I had as the top surface... then I found their raise/lower-to(?) tool and snapped them all back into place just perfectly. A pleasure to work with.

Although for some reason I can't find my lights.rad, even though the compiler reports that it's been parsed. o_0
Also what's the story with the whole "using direct lighting only" message... I don't have any leaks, so what am I missing?

And if anyone comes across decent tutorals, post them here.
Found a nice few here -> http://www.interlopers.net/content.php?article.68

Anima

I haven't looked at displacement features yet, how do you use them?

I've been messing with water and the 3d skyboxes mostly. The 3d skyboxes are a very clever idea, makes the map look 100x bigger than it actually is just by using a few brushes.

Theres still a few things pissing me off though, like the faces being deselected when you hit the camera. GRRRRR :mad:

SantaHoe

When you click on a brush face as if you're going to change the texture alignment or whatever, there's another tab on the top of that dialog box that you can use to paint deformations on the brushes surface.
As for those funky normal maps they were showing off at E3... now there's something I want to investigate! anyone used these?

DRakE

normal maps eh? what are those?

it that like the "omg i can make the whole game plastic" doom3 stuff?

SantaHoe

Hmm, no.
Normal maps give a flat single face of a brush the appearance of having a much more complex geometry, almost like bump-mapping but far more impressive.
Normals are basically a way to describe what direction the face of a polygon is pointing, and hence what angle(s) you can see it from.
So as you move around and look at this single brush face from different angles, other parts of the texture are revealed just as if you'd built it as a complex mesh.
It's difficult to describe really... but you'd understand the effect instantly if you look at the E3 demo where they showcase the source technology... it's the same video where they pick up a security camera with the gravity gun and wave it around, while the security monitor updates what that camera is seeing in real time.
Thinking about it now, it strikes me just how much of this fancy technology went unused in HL2... I'm wondering if half of this stuff is even available to modders at the moment

DRakE

I ran the 'STRESS TEST' and saw what norml maps do..

very funky

SantaHoe

Hmm, cool so it's definitely in the engine then... strange I didn't notice it being used in HL2, unless the usage was more subtle O_o
So much to learn, so few tutorials...

Anima

I didn't notice it much either. Only time I've seen it being done well was in that cave scene in the tech demo.

DRakE

The Mapcore Forums are pretty good forums for this kind of stuff, they do textures, models, maps, everything. Lots of people from Gearbox, VALVe and other games companies post there frequently.. I saw a thread on normal maps there somewhere

SantaHoe

Some serious talent on that forum alright :eek:
I read someone saying the expensive water in hl2 is a normal map, how about that

DRakE

expensive water and cheap water, i still don't get that..

i assume its just the amount of resources it uses?

Anima

Yeah pretty much. You can't have the two types in a visible scene though so you kinda have to plan around it aswell.

l3rian

Full SDK is out!

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch

New multiplayer game featuring physics simulation system

Half-Life 2/Source SDK

Includes game code needed to create Half-Life 2/Source MODs

New Half-Life 2 sample character model

Ability to edit Half-Life 2 maps

Maya model exporter

3d Studio Max model exporter source code

Sample MOD with vehicles

DRakE

WIN!

Gonna try this **** out when I get home

Thrasher

Normal-maps definitely used in HL2-SP (and even the HL2DM levels).

It's particularly noticible in the scenes with tiles on the walls (you will find that light reflected of the walls will reveal the normal-maps). Also, some floor tiles, rock cliff-faces and the Citadome.

I'm sure it's used throughout - just that the game looks too life-life to be too obvious! Personally, I think HL2 is a breakthrough in graphic realism.