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Topic Starter Topic: Is there a modern guide for q3 mapping?
deqer
Insane Quaker
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PostPosted: 08-24-2014 04:06 PM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Doesn't need to be something huge that covers everything, and every possible solution of doing things or what tools are being used.

Perhaps someone's personal guide/checklist, of their routine of setting up their environment (tools, configs), selecting a custom texture pack (and how to manage that for your pk3), etc.

Maybe even a checklist of items, such as:
- Setup a folder structure for your pk3 file.
- Add custom textures. It's good practice to have your own texture naming schema by renaming the textures from the texture pack you want to use.
- Compiling the map with ...

Doesn't need to be for quakelive either, although would be cool to have a second guide for that too.

---

The reason I ask, is because it would be nice to have something like this to read through for if you revisit the hobby of mapping after being inactive for long and forgetting a lot of the things you did.

Can't seem to find anything (good (modern)) through Google.
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Martinus
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PostPosted: 08-27-2014 05:39 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


If you had install radiant, you might have in your q3 folder, a docs folder wich one contains guides how to do mapping. I think it's fair enough to learn the basics.
(If you cannot found it here's a link: http://icculus.org/gtkradiant/documentation/q3radiant_manual/)

You could manage your pk3 files like a folder with totalcommander (double click on it). To create pk3, just make a zip file, then rename it.
If you don't know how to structure the pk3 folders, just download a map from another author, and watch it.



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deqer
Insane Quaker
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PostPosted: 08-27-2014 07:59 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Martinus wrote:
If you had install radiant, you might have in your q3 folder, a docs folder wich one contains guides how to do mapping. I think it's fair enough to learn the basics.

(If you cannot found it here's a link: http://icculus.org/gtkradiant/documentation/q3radiant_manual/)

True.
I think it's expected though that radiant has a manual and that the user should read it.

The guide I'm talking about wouldn't teach the tool (radiant) itself, but merely mention the tool to use. A modern approach to this type of guide would have latest (and useful) information about, for example, which version of radiant to use and why. I think a good start would be to grab some of the information from this thread: http://www.quake3world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=50300 where the guy has done the research for you and mentions the different versions, and the pros/cons and/or reasons people use which versions and why. Good information there, and saves other people from figuring that out themselves.

Now that you mention it, I think it's safe to assume that perhaps there's room for a modern (or at least, a more user-friendly) approach to a guide of how to use radiant. Perhaps an experienced mapper knows of ways of providing a better manual for radiant, better (in the sense of summaries, tips, most popular usage/techniques) written content, since the radiant manual is from the 90s. But, that's another topic/project/guide for another time.

Martinus wrote:
You could manage your pk3 files like a folder with totalcommander (double click on it).

There you go. That's a start. Thanks for mentioning your tool. Would be nice to hear more about why you use that tool over other alternative tools, etc.

Martinus wrote:
To create pk3, just make a zip file, then rename it.

I imagine you feel most people would know this, but doesn't to have this type of info anyways as a friendly reminder or tip. It may be possible a mapper just might forget this after being inactive for years.

Martinus wrote:
If you don't know how to structure the pk3 folders, just download a map from another author, and watch it.

While this may seem like common sense, I think it's still worth mentioning. I think prior to this statement, there can still be a recommended structure outlined, then following that recommendation, could be this statement of checking out the latest released pk3s to confirm the structure matches the latest outlined structure as previously mentioned.

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What GUI do you use to compile your map? What compile settings you do you use, and why?
Also provide tips like, don't use paths with spaces, even though you could by wrapping paths with "" marks, it's just easier not to and have Quake installed in a path with no spaces. In rare occasions, you can still have a problem where "" marks isn't an option, or doesn't work as expected; so, always safe to just work within a path that has no spaces.

---

Etc. etc.
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Martinus
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PostPosted: 08-27-2014 11:36 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


pk3 structure and naming: http://icculus.org/gtkradiant/documentation/q3radiant_manual/ch02/pg2_1.htm#makepk3

To compiling I usually use the radiants bsp menu or Quake Toolkit (both no need guide to use I think :) )
The radiant bsp menu has complete compiling lines, just need to click on them. (what you need whit your map ofc.)
Quake Toolkit: check the chooseable options in each stage (include bot support options too) which one you needed for your map.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Q3Map2
Here's a link for the stage options

Mapping is a thing which one never been forgettable. :)
And also you can learn the mapping magic by yourself too. :)



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cityy
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PostPosted: 08-30-2014 06:24 AM           Profile Send private message  E-mail  Edit post Reply with quote


Not sure if this is what you are looking for but http://ws.q3df.org/level_design/ is pretty extensive.



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