Beginner's Question

[McGrunert]

Hey there.

 

I want to start mapping with Dark Radiant.

But I got a problem...

 

I'm using the A-Z Tutorial to edite my own map successively.

In this tutorial there are these lines:

 

Open Dark Radiant (hereinafter DR) and also open Dark Mod for quick testing.

If you have a mission already open in DR then select File menu > New Map to clear it.

Save it now as any suitable name. You might prefer to save later but I always do it immediately. All missions must go (with exceptions I will describe later in Managing your Mission Files) in the darkmod\maps folder or a folder within that. I urge you to create a new folder for each project within that maps folder. In this case:

1. Open File Menu > Save As
2. Make sure you are in the 'maps' folder.
3. Select 'Create Folder' and type in say 'tutorial'. You might prefer 'Tut' or even 'T' because you have to keep typing it over and over in the Dark Mod console when testing!
4. Select that folder
5. Enter the name of your mission at the top.

 

Now, my problem is following, when I open this saved 'FirstMission.map' I get'en error:

 

Failur reading map file:

C:/[...]/maps/Tutorial/FirstMission.map

 

Unable to parse map version (parse exception).

 

 

And by the way, I can' t open the existing 'Tutor.map', which is within the 'Tutorial' folder, too.

 

 

 

Thanks for answer ahead.

 

(Excuse me for my 'bad' english).

Edited May 10, 2011 by McGrunert

[Sotha]

Have you configured DR to work with darkmod? Check the DR settings are okay, especially the Game-settings.

 

Also at some point the readable editor couldn't work if the mapper didn't create the xdata folder manually. Maybe you should try to manually create folders "maps" and "xdata" in your darkmod folder.

[McGrunert]

Ok, I' ll create the 'maps' folder manually, again.

 

 

There is no 'xdata' folder...

Where should I create this folder?

 

-------------------

 

Edit: Ok, excuse me I didn' t read carefully.

 

I try it...

 

-------------------

 

Edit2: Ok, I checked everything.

 

'Maps' -and 'xdata' folder are there, created manually!

 

 

And the Game-settings are:

 

Select a Game: Doom 3

 

Engine Path: C:/Program Files (x86)/Doom 3

 

Mod (fs_game): darkmod

 

Mod Base (fs_game_base, optional): (none)

 

 

The error is still there.

Edited May 10, 2011 by McGrunert

[Fidcal]

The problem is simply that you have created a blank map, saved it, then reloaded it. Dark Radiant could find nothing to parse. Don't worry, as soon as you create anything that error you will never see.

 

I think when I wrote that tutorial I was paranoid to get people into the habit of saving regularly. I think I expected everyone to continue the tutorial from that first save and keep saving not actually try to load the empty map. I hope I didn't say load the empty map anyway!

 

Anyway, welcome to Dark Mod mapping and good luck. Just post any questions and we'll try to help.

[McGrunert]

Oh okay, I was just testing to load a empty map.

 

Okay thanks a lot.

Yeah, 'got a lot of experience in mapping with DromEd (Thief 2 - Editing) and Thief 3 - Editing.

 

 

By the way, nice missions Fidcal and Sotha.

[Sotha]

Oh okay, I was just testing to load a empty map.

 

Okay thanks a lot.

Yeah, 'got a lot of experience in mapping with DromEd (Thief 2 - Editing) and Thief 3 - Editing.

 

 

By the way, nice missions Fidcal and Sotha.

 

Thanks! Welcome to the community and good luck with your mapping endeavors.

 

Be sure to ask for help if you run into mapping trouble, there are many DR veterans here who gladly offer help.

[fllood]

Good to see a new dromEd'er join ranks.

Are there FMs you did release for T2/T3?

[McGrunert]

Good to see a new dromEd'er join ranks.

Are there FMs you did release for T2/T3?

 

You dromed' too?

 

No, I didn' t.

Everytime I was creating a FM, the components in my PC went on strike.

 

I think the components did it deliberately...

[fllood]

You dromed' too?

I think the components did it deliberately...

 

psst... this had been a Trojan we sent to get you to DR

 

I'm still a huge pro-Thief man, but it's DR and this community that got me attracted to start learning to build ...

[McGrunert]

psst... this had been a Trojan we sent to get you to DR

 

I'm still a huge pro-Thief man, but it's DR and this community that got me attracted to start learning to build ...

 

AHA! Ok... 'got it.

 

Well.

 

 

Okay guys, I got a problem...

I don' t understand the step: to connect two rooms!?

 

I got a room and there is a room above.

Between those rooms I wan' t to create a little 'room' (with a ladder).

 

So, tell me pls...

[Sotha]

So essentially you have two rooms on top of each other and you want to make a hole in the floor between them.

 

Two choices:

The Clipper way: select the clipper tool from the left toolbox. Click two waypoints while having the brush you want to cut selected. You see a line appear between the waypoints. Press shift+ enter and the brush will be cut. Repeat so that you get a rectangular hole.

 

Or the brushwork way:

Select the normal editing tool, the button above or below clipper tool. Select the floor and resize it to small size, clone it around. Align the pieces so you have a hole.

 

Either way you use, remember to put a visportal in the hole. Make a brush that fits in the hole. Select it, right click orthoview and say make visportal.

 

I recommend learning to use clipper effectively at an early stage; it really is the most useful tool, at least IMHO.

[McGrunert]

Thank you.

 

I' ll report, if I need help again.

[McGrunert]

Hey guys, sorry for a double post.

 

 

'have a question again:

Are there a 'search machine' in DR?

 

There are things I' m looking for, but they are hard to find.

 

Exsample: I need pair of mushrooms (glowing mushrooms)... seen in the FM 'Winterharvest'.

 

Maybe, somebody can remember!?

Edited May 11, 2011 by McGrunert

[Baddcog]

They'd be under nature in models, but there might be a preset entity with light in entities/models (not sure)

[Flanders]

In the model viewer select the darkmod folder, then "Shift" + "right arrow" to expand the whole darkmod folder, now you can search with "ctrl" + "f".

[McGrunert]

Great... thanks.

 

'thought I was searching the whole 'darkmod' folder.

[McGrunert]

Oh... hey.

My last question for today.

 

I'm workin' on a mission and using the A-Z Tutorial, but my english isn' t the best.

So, i don' t understand one point.

 

Ambient light.

 

I got a room with glowing mushrooms, but on the other hand side the room is completly dark.

Could someone explain the Ambient light - point exactly for me?

 

'cause no one wants to play a map, which is so DARK - like Fidcal is describing in his TuT.

[fllood]

Could someone explain the Ambient light - point exactly for me?

1) Create a Light Entity and give it the name ambient_world. It's radius should cover your whole map beyond any walls. And the entity (as usual) not be in the void.

2) In the Light Inspector in the 'lights' list select 'lights/ambientLightnfo'.

3) Set the brightness 6 for a start.

Voi la...

 

The ambient_world light will now illuminate the whole map with a basic light, so no more pitch black shadows. ... later on you might consider using info_location to put different colored/brightend ambient lights to some parts of your map (not part of the A-Z however).

Edited May 11, 2011 by fllood

[McGrunert]

Ok, thanks.

 

Now I understand, when I re-read the ambient light - point... and your comment.

 

 

And the message with 'leaked', when I 'dmap' my Mission... is this bad?

Or does it matter or so on?

[Fidcal]

All playable areas must be sealed against the outer void rather like a submarine. If you get a leak then it can't be played and it has to be fixed.

 

In the file menu use 'pointfile' and it draws a red line. If you follow that you should be able to find the gap and you have to fix it. Depends on the gap. Sometimes you need to resize the wall or drag it further along. Walls must be thick enough - ideally 8 or 16 thick - and also some textures leak such as decals. Also the outer walls must all be worldspawn not entities.

 

See this section on dmapping with a bit about leaks and a link to more info. Post back here if any problem.

[DeTeEff]

Keep in mind that the tutorial is there to guide you through the building basics AND to show you how basic things work. When you start on your first 'real' mission, you'll get a huge amount of work done for you if you use the startmap-pack. It may be downloaded from the main page, where you got DR. Essentially it's a map with some examples of AI, objectives, water etc. It creates all the cruical things as objectives, ambient world, location settings as well as the shop in the beginning of most missions. It also comes with a complete folder-tree so you more easily can see where all the separate map files are stored. All in all, it contains a lot of stuff and all you'll have to do is replace the existing stuff, with your own

 

Thank you all involved in making this mod user friendly!

[Baddcog]

Be aware that default grid size is currently 1. I'm trying to get this changed as it's pretty bad for most stuff, especially beginners.

 

Grid 1 is really small and great for details, but also VERY easy to get leaks from, because you have to zoom in sooo close to see if there are gaps.

 

If you set it to at least 4, 8 is better to do all your base brush work that seals it will all be much easier to keep snapped and sealed at a decent grid size.

[McGrunert]

Keep in mind that the tutorial is there to guide you through the building basics AND to show you how basic things work. When you start on your first 'real' mission, you'll get a huge amount of work done for you if you use the startmap-pack. It may be downloaded from the main page, where you got DR. Essentially it's a map with some examples of AI, objectives, water etc. It creates all the cruical things as objectives, ambient world, location settings as well as the shop in the beginning of most missions. It also comes with a complete folder-tree so you more easily can see where all the separate map files are stored. All in all, it contains a lot of stuff and all you'll have to do is replace the existing stuff, with your own

 

Thank you all involved in making this mod user friendly!

 

How can I open .pk4 files in DR

'tryed to 'open' or 'import' them...

Edited May 12, 2011 by McGrunert

[Fidcal]

The resources such as textures, models, don't need to be opened because DR gets them out of the pk4. I'm not sure about prefabs. I think they still have to be extracted. If you mean map files such as in another FM then I think they need extracting.

 

pk4 files are just normal zip files so to extract you can tell your zip program to open them (right click and 'open with' varies with Windows) or just rename them temporarily from pk4 to zip.