Mapping help

[Accident]

Hey, I'd really like to map for AS, but I am really stuck, I don't have a clue now to.

I have mapped for the unreal engine before, so I know it reasonably well, although I could do with touching up on a few bits, but I am still completely lost for AS.

I have searched for tutorials, and help for AS mapping is shit/non-existant from what I have seen, there aren't any tutorials I can find on the web.

So far the most I have managed is to open the AS editor.

Can anyone help me, what should I do to get a map going?

Thanks for any help.

[NoData]

What about official web site? http://www.blackcatgames.com/swarm/mappingdocs

[BiG_D]

Plus, there's a whole section in the unofficial FAQ dedicated to it... http://forums.blackcatgames.com/showthread.php?t=4814#2

[Moses2k]

This lack of Googling skillz does not bode well for you, I'm afraid.

[DarkLord75]

Buchus had a very good link about mapping, thats how i made my first map... Hmm. Now that i think of it it was a mapping guide for the original UT. Maybe thats why my map sucked.

[UArchitect]

What about official web site? http://www.blackcatgames.com/swarm/mappingdocs

seconded!

[Accident]

Thanks all.

I have tried to google but I only got FAQ's that didn't actually help, I can only seem to find things about mapping for further on, things about people asking how to make doors etc. Where as I am still trying to find the first thing to do after opening the editor.

I tried reading the basic principles on the mapping docs when I first tried to map for it, but I didn't really understand it, I was hoping there was a more noob-friendly way of doing it.

Because I don't really get the fact that it already has a map donei n the first screenie, I kinda meant more of a 'First click ... to do ...' kind of thing so I'd pick it up, but this seems to jsut kinda drop you into it.

I don't understand how there isn't ceilings on the rooms, or how you carve into the map, when there isn't anything there to carve? Or does carve mean something different to what I thought it does? Or if once you've done all that, the camera is up there already, or if you have to place a camera there or what.

Sorry dudes for being a uber-noob, but I wanna learn how to map for AS as I like mapping for things, but I can't get my head around it.

I'm reading up on some ut2k4 tutorials at the moment.

[fluffy]

I thought you mentioned knowing the basics of UT mapping. ASw mapping isn't that much different and the mapping docs on the Alien Swarm homepage should be enough to make your first box.

When you start a new project, the entire map is solid mass (think rock perhaps). You have to carve the space (air) where your players, static meshes etc will be. Since the camera moves above your carved rooms, a carved space is required for the camera as well. And you don't place the camera yourself, so don't worry about that. All this is explained in the ASw specific docs together with doors, spawners etc. If it doesn't come to you through words, open the most basic ASw map you know and have a look at it.

So, in order to test a ASw box you need to carve a room, carve camera space, place a light(actor) and place a player start(actor).

If you need help getting started with general UT mapping and have the bandwidth, I recommend downloading the VTMs from www.3dbuzz.com. Or read about basics in the Architectonic guide. After the first few lessons, read the Alien Swarm mapping docs. Good luck!

[Carth]

You start with a block of everythingness. Click the cube tool and make it a suitable size, then click subtract to remove some of the everythingness, and there you have a room. Continue subtracting areas to make more rooms, connecting corridors etc.

Select surfaces and then click a texture in the texture browser to apply that texture.

Put a player start where you want the map to start.

You can read stuff like that in any UT2004 tutorial, the only way ASw is different, are you need to add aliens, set up doors, and make room for the camera, and those are what are explained in the Alien Swarm mapping docs.

To make room for the camera, make a giant box, about 512 units high, and place it above all of the rooms, then subtract it. It's a good idea to choose Engine.Black as the texture before subtracting, because you want anything that isn't part of your map to appear black. Just as when you subtract a box next to another box to connect them, subtracting this one next to the ceiling will remove the ceiling (or raise it actually).

When making the map, think of the camera looking down and what it sees.

Sorry I can't explain it any better, if you're still not sure about the whole ceiling thing, just ask again

Edit: Fluffy beat me to it

[Phantaloz]

Ao-2NiceBoxesofShit will give you a good start! Take a look at it

[Accident]

Thanks everyone, that is awesome, I shall try it now.

The main thing I was confused about was the whole camera and seeing inside the rooms, but I guess I get it now.

Thanks all.

[Bucchus]

Buchus had a very good link about mapping, thats how i made my first map...

Are you sure? I don't recall linking any mapping tutorials. I'm not a mapper, I've read maybe a few pages of such a thing but never gotten farther.

[Accident]

Hmm, can anyone explain this to me please? I don't quite understand what the red builder brush is.

You will also need to place a BlockingVolume in the space above the rooms, so the player can't jump his marines out the top of the rooms and run about on top of the walls. To place a BlockingVolume, position your red builder brush and click the Volume button on the left. Set the BlockingVolume to bClassBlocker=true and add AoMarine to the BlockedClasses list. This way the volume will just block the marines and not the camera.

[Fuzzy Bunny]

The "red builder brush" is the red wire frame cube you get when you go to subtract something from the map's everythingness. It's kind of like your tool. It can also be a sphere, cone, cylindar, etc. but you'll only ever have one.

[Accident]

Thanks all, I have made a very basic map, which works.

It is only a square 256 x256 x256 with a light and spawn, but it has the black space above it for the camera and a blocking volume.