Valve has released the official L4D mapping tutorials!

Gold Member

November 2006
3,232 Posts

Just today, valve has released the offical L4D mapping tutorials.

It contains lots of info, too bad the SDK isn't out.
* Getting Started
* Your First L4D Level
* Ladders
* Visibility
* Nav Meshes
* Checkpoints
* Checkpoint Rooms
* Outdoor Levels
* Level Organization
* Level Standards
* Clip Brushes
* Elevators
* Panic Events
* Breakable Walls
* Finale Events Part 1
* Finale Events Part 2
* Finale Events Part 3
* Additional Finale Components
* Nav Flow
* Advanced Nav Editing
* Versus Maps

Go get it at http://www.l4d.com/LevelDesignDocs.zip

It even comes with some example .vmfs!

rieda1589

Gold Member

November 2007
2,239 Posts

Nice, Now just for the official SDK! (which they promiced in november)

EliteGuy

Gold Member

November 2006
3,232 Posts

Woah I didn't realize, it even comes with the example map compiled, (it has a final and everything, very fun).

It was VERY Fun!

Occlusion

March 2008
3,049 Posts

That looks great. Nice find.

peatear

December 2007
803 Posts

I hope they release the SDK soon-ish because of this.

EliteGuy

Gold Member

November 2006
3,232 Posts

The tank got me at the end. :(

l337k1ll4

September 2007
1,913 Posts

peatear posted:

I hope they release the SDK soon-ish because of this.

Coming in Spring, as part of the survival DLC pack.

Sgt.Will

January 2009
351 Posts

W00T! now I will be a saint in hammer

Jimmy422

Gold Member

March 2007
4,077 Posts

Sgt.Will posted:

W00T! now I will be a saint in hammer

No you wont.

.miniman.

August 2006
4,421 Posts

Wait, they released tutorials BEFORE the SDK?

MasterShake4

Gold Member

January 2006
3,896 Posts

Jimmy422 posted:

No you wont.

Damn, harsh words from the pringles guy.

Finally for the L4D mapping tutorials, I want to see what the community can make.

Blah360

July 2008
1,508 Posts

Yesh! Can't wait for this SDK!!

Jimmy422

Gold Member

March 2007
4,077 Posts

MasterShake4 posted:

Damn, harsh words from the pringles guy.

Finally for the L4D mapping tutorials, I want to see what the community can make.

Pringles guy? It's the monopoly man!

I say no you won't because based on his avatar and the fact that this guide is for really new mappers, it probably won't help him much. Sure, you'll learn how to make a box with a light and nav mesh, and maybe even a ladder, but you're not going to be a pro after reading it.

Also i'm confused as to how this was found, there's no link on their forums or on the site, how did it surface?

Sgt.Will

January 2009
351 Posts

Jimmy422 posted:

No you wont.

I am go fuck

(user was banned for this post (he swearded - Garry)

TimeBomb

Gold Member

May 2006
2,743 Posts

This is a godsend, I was afraid I'd have to learn how to do this my own way like I did in TF2 (none of my shit would work :l )

skyms2663

Gold Member

September 2006
2,412 Posts

Wow very nice find, i'll be sure to check this out.

Cuel

Gold Member

January 2005
6,637 Posts

Sgt.Will posted:

I am go fuck

(user was banned for this post (he swearded - Garry)

Hahahah I laughed.

This is great tutorials though

peatear

December 2007
803 Posts

l337k1ll4 posted:

Coming in Spring, as part of the survival DLC pack.

I know that, but I hope they might surprise us with a sudden release or something.

EliteGuy

Gold Member

November 2006
3,232 Posts

I was hope they release the DLC pack in march. The bad thing is since it's valve, valve time, and they only said spring, and spring is from march to june.

SenorJose

Gold Member

December 2007
2,212 Posts

Still taking me hours to generate the initial navigation mesh. :(

EliteGuy

Gold Member

November 2006
3,232 Posts

Yeah me too. When I have a largish map or even medium sized, it takes a long long time to generate the nav mesh.

SenorJose

Gold Member

December 2007
2,212 Posts

Did it manage to finish doing it? My seems like it's never gonna end. The map takes up about 4/5 of hammer.

EliteGuy

Gold Member

November 2006
3,232 Posts

It does finish but it takes a few hours

Ohforf

Gold Member

August 2006
4,448 Posts

Holy, does this mean I can finally map for L4D ?

FLAPJACK DAN

May 2008
1,290 Posts

Sgt.Will posted:

I am go fuck

(user was banned for this post (he swearded - Garry)

Fake bans are not funny anymore

(user was banned for this post (Yeah they are - Sgt.Will)
(user was banned for this post (No they aren't - FLAPJACK DAN)

Jimmy422

Gold Member

March 2007
4,077 Posts

Ohforf posted:

Holy, does this mean I can finally map for L4D ?

No. The SDK hasn't been released. Ironically, if you look at the SDK pictures telling you to pick the Left4Dead engine, it's photoshopped in.

Jsm

June 2006
675 Posts

Jimmy422 posted:

No. The SDK hasn't been released. Ironically, if you look at the SDK pictures telling you to pick the Left4Dead engine, it's photoshopped in.

It could just be that VALVe have a version of the source SDK that has the L4D stuff...

smurfy

Gold Member

October 2007
10,247 Posts

Jsm posted:

It could just be that VALVe have a version of the source SDK that has the L4D stuff...

No look, the font is clearly different.

Jimmy422

Gold Member

March 2007
4,077 Posts

Jsm posted:

It could just be that VALVe have a version of the source SDK that has the L4D stuff...

Valve doesn't even use the SDK, they just launch their tools directly.

Jsm

June 2006
675 Posts

smurfy posted:

No look, the font is clearly different.

I was only looking at the engine bit, that looks fine (I cant spot photoshops :(), but the current game bit really looks bad.

Jimmy422 posted:

Valve doesn't even use the SDK, they just launch their tools directly.

They still have to test it.

EliteGuy

Gold Member

November 2006
3,232 Posts

This isn't photoshopped at all... It's from valve.

Chet Faliszek chetf at valvesoftware.com
Fri Feb 20 15:39:29 PST 2009

* Next message: [L4Dmapper] Walls and dimensions
* Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

Some of you guys had a problem getting the mail with the tutorial, so I have it up on L4D.com

http://www.l4d.com/LevelDesignDocs.zip<http://www.l4d.com/LevelDesignDocs.zip>

if you have a problem downloading it let me know.

Some of the info pertains directly to the SDK but there is also a bunch of good nav stuff etc. If you have any questions, post them here.

If you know other L4D mappers, please feel free to invite them to the list and the tutorial. We aren't putting the tutorial up on the developer wiki yet since much of it is dependent on the SDK.

As always, if there is anything we can do for you (besides getting the SDK down even sooner... that is coming as fast as we can) please let me know.

thanks,

Chet

http://list.valvesoftware.com/piperm...ry/000000.html

It's not another campaign map, it's a tutorial map showing how to make a level for l4d.

EliteGuy

Gold Member

November 2006
3,232 Posts

This isn't photoshopped at all... It's from valve.

Chet Faliszek chetf at valvesoftware.com
Fri Feb 20 15:39:29 PST 2009

* Next message: [L4Dmapper] Walls and dimensions
* Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

Some of you guys had a problem getting the mail with the tutorial, so I have it up on L4D.com

http://www.l4d.com/LevelDesignDocs.zip<http://www.l4d.com/LevelDesignDocs.zip>

if you have a problem downloading it let me know.

Some of the info pertains directly to the SDK but there is also a bunch of good nav stuff etc. If you have any questions, post them here.

If you know other L4D mappers, please feel free to invite them to the list and the tutorial. We aren't putting the tutorial up on the developer wiki yet since much of it is dependent on the SDK.

As always, if there is anything we can do for you (besides getting the SDK down even sooner... that is coming as fast as we can) please let me know.

thanks,

Chet

http://list.valvesoftware.com/piperm...ry/000000.html

It's not another campaign map, it's a tutorial map showing how to make a level for l4d.

SenorJose

Gold Member

December 2007
2,212 Posts

I've been waiting about 5 or 6 hours now. Still sampling walkable space. Is something wrong with it?

Edit:
When I try to place nav_mark_walkable things around the map they go through my displacements and won't appear on the ground i'm pointing at but the level below.

Jimmy422

Gold Member

March 2007
4,077 Posts

EliteGuy posted:

This isn't photoshopped at all... It's from valve.

http://list.valvesoftware.com/piperm...ry/000000.html

It's not another campaign map, it's a tutorial map showing how to make a level for l4d.

Oh it was on a list.

And yes, it is photoshopped. Look at this:

That's obviously fake. HL2 and such aren't going into the L4D engine anytime soon. Trust me.

EliteGuy

Gold Member

November 2006
3,232 Posts

Valve's a dev, they might have just down that temporarily.

thefrog

Gold Member

June 2005
2,686 Posts

Jimmy422 posted:

Oh it was on a list.

And yes, it is photoshopped. Look at this:

That's obviously fake. HL2 and such aren't going into the L4D engine anytime soon. Trust me.

I don't think it is... Looks to me that valve just has all there games in one drop down menu

M_u_d

Gold Member

March 2007
4,594 Posts

Someone should texture and fill the sample map with props, it looks fun but I wouldn't want to play a devtextured map on L4D.

Bran

November 2008
609 Posts

thefrog posted:

I don't think it is... Looks to me that valve just has all there games in one drop down menu

Where are Portal, Tf2 and CS at then? :(

thefrog

Gold Member

June 2005
2,686 Posts

Bran posted:

Where are Portal, Tf2 and CS at then? :(

List to big? I don't know... i have learned to to question valve anymore... :\

Jimmy422

Gold Member

March 2007
4,077 Posts

thefrog posted:

I don't think it is... Looks to me that valve just has all there games in one drop down menu

The font is different. It's fake. They wouldn't put HL2 and all the other games in that engine list anyways.

confinedUser

October 2008
1,019 Posts

Jimmy422 posted:

The font is different. It's fake. They wouldn't put HL2 and all the other games in that engine list anyways.

true

Lord Ned

Gold Member

April 2006
15,898 Posts

Maybe it's just a mockup?

Technopath

Gold Member

November 2007
5,394 Posts

Yeah, I learned some stuff from those tutorials.

By the way, I'm making a map using the current "hacked" version of the left4dead hammer thing. I have this problem that the HL2 textures appear together with L4D textures which makes it tiresome to go check if the texture belongs to L4D or not. Any ideas on how I can make it so Hammer ignores HL2 textures?

Thanks in advance.

l337k1ll4

September 2007
1,913 Posts

Why is everyone waiting for the SDK? You can do it without the SDK released, I'm making a map right now.

Dragory

Gold Member

January 2006
4,824 Posts

l337k1ll4 posted:

Why is everyone waiting for the SDK? You can do it without the SDK released, I'm making a map right now.

Because

1) It will have all the L4D content, correctly, and you don't have to fiddle around to get it to work.
2) It hopefully introduces some fixes in Hammer, preventing crashes and bugs.

Those are my main reasons, don't know about others' opinions.

.miniman.

August 2006
4,421 Posts

Didn't Valve say it would be out in something like March along with the new DLC?

Why must they make us wait that long?

Technopath

Gold Member

November 2007
5,394 Posts

.miniman. posted:

Didn't Valve say it would be out in something like March along with the new DLC?

Why must they make us wait that long?

They said Spring, Spring begins in March but Valve isn't really known to release things earlier on the announced release dates...

Sgt.Will

January 2009
351 Posts

SenorJose posted:

I've been waiting about 5 or 6 hours now. Still sampling walkable space. Is something wrong with it?

Edit:
When I try to place nav_mark_walkable things around the map they go through my displacements and won't appear on the ground i'm pointing at but the level below.

build your own nav

shipkiller

Gold Member

July 2006
2,099 Posts

I tried to play the tutorial_standars in multiplayer and everytime my friend joined they got kicked off and their l4d crashed

Technopath

Gold Member

November 2007
5,394 Posts

shipkiller posted:

I tried to play the tutorial_standars in multiplayer and everytime my friend joined they got kicked off and their l4d crashed

Start the dedicated server or local host with an official map (eg. No Mercy). Then when everyone is in type changelevel <mapname>.

They shouldn't crash anymore.

shipkiller

Gold Member

July 2006
2,099 Posts

Technopath posted:

Start the dedicated server or local host with an official map (eg. No Mercy). Then when everyone is in type changelevel <mapname>.

They shouldn't crash anymore.

I did exactly that

didn't worked, it kicked them without crashing but with a strange excuse in the console

something about dictionnary

Nerdboy

July 2007
8,573 Posts

Holy shit! func_elevators!

JLea

Gold Member

June 2007
3,660 Posts

Just bought L4D today.

Thoroughly disappointed with the move away from GCF's, and the lack of SDK is fucking lazy.

Technopath

Gold Member

November 2007
5,394 Posts

shipkiller posted:

I did exactly that

didn't worked, it kicked them without crashing but with a strange excuse in the console

something about dictionnary

Always happens the first time you compile and run your map (always, meaning if you compile it again and try to load it it crashes with a dictionary error or missing model error). Just load the map again and it will work.

There's a fix for the dictionary thing here:
http://forums.l4dmaps.net/showthread.php?t=396

Although it didn't work for me.

Lord Ned

Gold Member

April 2006
15,898 Posts

L4D SDK is coming, the UPK's have been cracked and can be opened by GCFScape (Go update it), and they moved away from GCF's to prevent fragmentatno of files.