Wall Worm Forums

Because I had to leave a little earlier I could not set up all of the new models for the new WIP screenshots, instead I'll quickly share a viewport overview of how the level currently looks like in 3DS Max:



Sorry for the large size but resizing removes all detail. So that's how it currently looks like, I have hidden all WWMT helpers along with the collisionhulls. This is one side of the cathedral which will soon be copy-pasted to the other side to decide how large/small the midline of the crossplan will be (it shouldn't be too large). Then, I will proceed with what will be the most intensive part of the cathedral and that's the top of the cross which unfortunatly is a very complex task. Fortunatly in 3DS Max this will be easier now compared to Sketchup in the past (Yes... Sketchup...).

Tomorrow in-game screenshots!

Hello everyone,

So here I am again with a WIP of yet another cathedral... I did not abandon the previous version though I paused it for a CS:GO version that will be a completely new realisation of a cathedral that will push the gothic style even further.

Because it's going to be created for CS:GO I can mess around more with polygons and do just a little bit more compared to CS:S (I just need to keep away from using too many alpha textured models suggested by Robert Briscoe). That's not all, because this time around I will be using Wall Worm Model Tools' Anvil elements and CorVex completely, in other words I'm intentionally making this project to learn working with these amazing tools, and so far I have only been extremely positive and the experience and effectiveness of the tools are incredible so far, when I have used like probably not even half the program so far.

Not only is it amazing because you circumvent every external step that was earlier necessary, but everything is right on the boat, if something is wrong or missing, I'll just create it right into my level and when it's done it'll be there and on the end I'll just have to hit export a few time to get everything into a .bsp and get the map running.

Not to mention, if you remember that doing something wrong in Hammer is often the absolute end of your vmf, this is not the case in 3DS Max, so you have much more freedom in experimenting without you having to worry about corrupted files.

Anyways, enough of that, for those who used it or are using it they know what I mean. Here are some very early WIP screenshots of how it currently looks like, although those models in the pictures are the very final product of how some of the base elements of the cathedral will look like:







The last picture is showing the collisions for those who would be interested. Collisions are now even easier in 3DS Max. I mean, I used to make all of them in Sketchup because earlier in Sketchup I found it easier to do measurements, now this is completely useless with the introduction of CorVex.

If someone has remarks or commentary, I'd love to hear about them!

Here is the MAXScript Listener. Thanks for the fixes, Helps me out a ton!

Note: PhysX SDK initialized
Note: PhysX Plugin initialized
Max to Physcs Geometry Scale = 1.0
Max to Physcs Geometry Scale = 1.0
-- Error occurred in outputWWMT(); filename: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2012\scripts\WallWorm.com\common\mse\wallwormVMF.mse; position: 96665; line: 394
--  Defined in encrypted script
--   called in wwmt loop; filename: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2012\scripts\WallWorm.com\common\mse\wallwormVMF.mse; position: 121080; line: 493
--  Defined in encrypted script
--   called in outputVMF(); filename: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2012\scripts\WallWorm.com\common\mse\wallwormVMF.mse; position: 121097; line: 493
--  Defined in encrypted script
--   called in btn_export.pressed(); filename: C:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 2012\scripts\WallWorm.com\WallWormUtilities\exportSceneAsVMF.ms; position: 27276; line: 609
--  Frame:
--   vmf: undefined
--   addednoticice: undefined
--   minutes: undefined
--   ended: undefined
--   seconds: undefined
--   started: 64342224
>> MAXScript Rollout Handler Exception:
-- No ""isDeleted"" function for undefined <<


So I have recently been stumbling across an unusual error in 3DS Max while using Anvil and CorVex.



This never happened until I started to copy-paste previously baked geometry. Either that, or because I copied an already existing model in my scene that was assigned to a WWMT helper and then when I wanted to select it to make a new model and new WWMT out of it it just redirected me to the original model.

As such, I thought I would make a new box, assign it as new model, add the copied model on it, deleted the box, then tried exporting it. Then, when I wanted to export the scene as .vmf it also ended up giving the error.

The weird thing is, I reverted to a backup copy file where none of these previous changes where done and I started again copying the baked worldbrush geometry and first exported it to test, and it worked. Then, I selected an earlier copied pillar from the original model (which was back then not assigned to a WWMT) and it produced a fine new WWMT helper, and set up everything, exported the model. But then again, when I wanted to export the scene, it gave me the same error.

The problem of the error is that it locks 3DS Max in some kind of way where no matter what I select, I can't see any names/modifiers and I can't do anything at all.

I can't continue mapping at this point in the file, which is why I resorted to the forums.

As the title says, when opening the WWMT Settings dialogue, it will prompt me that message and leave me with empty settings presets. Everything else is fine and keeps getting saved but I have to re-open the GameConfig file everytime to switch between games.

I have opened MaxScript Listener (F11) but unfortunatly it doesn't show me anything.

I updated the post with my latest map de_himeji_castle

Quote from: Infidel on September 09, 2013, 09:32:15 AM
WOW, great work. I am impressed with the overall quality of the images shown. These maps look fantastic. Thanks for sharing them with us and I look forward to further updates.

;D

Well I recently finished the entire inside (I still have minor work on the organ that I'm building now). Once that one is finished, I'll post new pictures so you can see the 'finished' inside. I still will have to add furniture and carpets/altars/cathedral stuff xD But that's something for later when the level design is done, as it is part of gameplay instead of level design, which I intend to do later on.

I'm also starting the outside, which I believe to be even more challenging, partly because it's something new over the older version, as well as being difficult due to lots of details that I'll have to calculate in terms of polygons, and value.

Thanks for the encouraging comment!

This evening I'm going to write about optimizing in modeling, however beforehand I would like to mention that I'm not a professional modeler. I mean it's not my work/job, but it certainly is my hobby, and experience with multiple engines learned me the way of optimizing everything. There are many obvious, but also unobvious ways of optimizing models and I will try to adress the most important ones in what I'm going to write very soon.

I'm writing it now in an external program to later post it here, as I think it will take some time before it's finished.

Quote from: wallworm on August 01, 2013, 07:36:23 PM
Excellent discussion on your project. Perhaps your next project will even do the world geometry in Max too :)

When you get time, please share with the community the exact steps you're taking to optimize various elements as it will be helpful for those people who don't understand how/why. For example, it is very common for a new user to import a 300k + model from some external source then try to add it into a level. Showing how and what you've done specifically might be helpful for some aspiring artists.

Sure, would you like me to put it here or somewhere else on the forums? Lol a 300k model, I think Source limits around 50K for one model, and even then Valve themselves never used more than around 10K at max for a single model. One exception I know of is the very last helicopter in HL2EP2 which has 37k polygons, but it was an exception.

I really would indeed, but not this evening, since it's very late and I'm almost going to sleep. I'll see tomorrow, when I certainly will have the time. I will probably more explain why a model should be low-poly for many reasons and why going expensive is bad (because nowadays many people tend to think polycount isn't important, and yes RAM memory is also important but doesn't make polycount irrelevant) and why LODS aren't always a solution.

See you tomorrow!

ZE_CATHEDRAL (CS:S)
URL: http://gamebanana.com/projects/34608




This cathedral is being built for the Zombie Escape community (mainly for PlagueFest, but any other ZE server is completely free to use it!) and is entirely built by me. It uses Google Sketchup, 3DS Max and WWMT to their full potential for delivering the best possible results on the Source Engine (the CS:S and HL2 version).

This map has a precedor, currently available for download, but inefficient to host on a server: http://csgo.gamebanana.com/maps/168170
Why? Because it was created under severe pressure, in a timespan of 5 days and back in the time it were my very first models, where I didn't know everything about polycount and methods to increase performance.
I believe the entire cathedral when rendered exceeds a million polygons with all of the models together, making it combined with many players and dynamic elements a pain in the butt for computers to run. It runs at 45fps in average when fully rendered, which is a no-go.

In time with many other projects until now I have learned so many methods to optimize from the roots up that I was finally able to re-start a project that is very hard to realize, a fully standing cathedral where 64 players can run into with at least 100fps or more at dynamic moments, with the necessary aesthetics. This new cathedral has many different approaches over the first version:

• The entire cathedral architecture consists of 1 texture. All of the models are UV-mapped with one 1024x1024 sized texture containing the 3 most important textures, being the cathedral walls, marble pillars and dark-stone-like concrete supports. The older one had 3 albedos/textures (512x512) one all of the models, making it more expensive. This may look like a ridicilous way of increasing performance, but for a map at this scale every little bit counts for something!
• The polycount plain and simple is 3 times less than the initial models, being much better organized and looking much better, if not being incomparable. Certain other models are also differently designed over the old one, being more realistic towards real-existent cathedrals. This makes the difference between everything bein rendered at 170FPS instead of 45...
• The frontwing has a double corridor-structure instead of the older single one.



• The windows now are all 2 polygons while the older windows had around 50 polygons (counting 50 polygons x 60 times...). Also the windows frames are around 400 polygons while the older ones where 3500+ being incredibly expensive for little to no better results.
• Brushwork is now integrated in a work-friendly environment instead of an impossible-to-fix result over the older one

I cannot predict when this project will be done, as I will also create a complete outside framework for the cathedral (something which I haven't done in the older version for obvious reasons) and also add many more gameplay elements than before. I did learn that taking all the time pays off instead of rushing anything with projects as fragile as these, so never rush anything, even if it takes years! Currently there is around one month of work in this cathedral (working arguably 3 weeks onto it, about 3-4 houres a day).

This wouldn't be possible without WWMT, I mean I need to align everything perfectly, and with the easy illuminating origin, texture export and model tweaking tools WWMT provides it makes everything so easy. Sometimes when I realise such a tool wouldn't exist, there would be no way for me to be standing where I am now. Many options such as collision models, sequences, illuminating origin, attachements, LODS, Custom Breakable Gibs and so much more were totally inexistent to me until I discovered them with WWMT.

I will post extra screenshots to share so far. Except for the first 4 screenshots (including the 2 above) I quickly took the effort to go back into the map and take updated screens of the work so far:









I'll keep this thread up-to-date when something important is to be shared!

Quote from: wallworm on August 01, 2013, 01:56:48 PM
PS. At the moment, the images are broken.

Ugh, I know why, my bad. Gonna fix that in a minute!

EDIT: Fixed!

Hello everyone. As WWMT helped me across all of my level designing blocks and allowed me to realize numerous projects, I decided to post them here for everyone to understand the power and utility behind the tools Shawn provides us. I realised during my developments that Wall Worm acted as a decisive bridge between 3DS Max and Source and without it, nothing here below would have existed, or barely coming to the results I could achieve so far.

ZE_CATHEDRAL (CS:GO)
URL: http://csgo.gamebanana.com/maps/168170



Made on request, it's my very first project to have ever been finished and released. It's in critical condition, deserted and the performance is below average, but the entirity of the cathedral you see is modeled inside of Google Sketchup, imported into 3DS Max for texturing and then exported with the Wall Worm Model Tools (WWMT from now on). Without WWMT I would probably never finished this project, and maybe I would never have continued level design. Cathedral was my first step into the Level Designing world and still remains (for me) one of the most iconic maps.

DE_WINTER_FOREST (CS:GO)
URL: http://csgo.gamebanana.com/maps/171244



A smaller project finished in 5 days, featuring a large-scaled outdoor, winter-like environment. It was the first map to use custom trees that used the Sway shader (By copying the Urban Tree MVT values at the time) and all of the models where used in conjunction with WWMT. Again, I have to mention that I would not be able to make these without the WWMT. Yes, I could have used custom models that were already compiled and exported for the Source Engine. Then again, CS:GO was just released at the time so there was no way people released foliage models that were compiled for the CS:GO version of the Source Engine (as you have to recompile models with the studiomdl.exe from CS:GO). I still had to learn about the VTF settings and alpha maps and pixel art in general, so the map received a huge update after release, fixing all of those old issues.

CS_ARDENNES (CS:GO)
URL: http://csgo.gamebanana.com/maps/173968



Ardennes was my first ambitious project where I wanted to take my artistic endeavours to the next level. The map is an attempt to prove that the Source engine does handle large environments, with lots of foliage. It is not the best optimised map however, and still has many issues gameplay-wise. I learned some new techniques with this project which allowed me to delve deeper into the 3DS Max tools. It took me 3 complete months to finish the project. All of the texturing and modeling was done in 3DS Max, Sketchup and exporting with WWMT.

This time I also wanted WWMT to take a very important role in exporting such as using the illumination origin option, using the origins of models to perfectly align across brushes (I calculated all the brushes their dimensions and then I made models onto those in the 3D modeling program Sketchup to have them perfectly align, then export to Source and the results are outstanding). I created and used fully working custom breakable props, which I found otherwise unable to create, all thanks to WWMT!

Ardennes is also the first map where nearly every single model is made with the WWMT, without Wall Worm there was absolutely no way I could even start this project. It was, however, designed in Hammer and Sketchup, something which would fade away after in future projects.


AWP_RATS_ELECTRIC_ORGAN (CS:S)
URL: http://csgo.gamebanana.com/maps/173968



A special project where I recreated my electric organ at home. It was released for a contest, and although it never won any spot, I remain confident it was one of the most original of all entries. The stops, keyboard and pedals were all photographed, modeled, textured and finally exported with the WWMT. It was a lovely project to work onto, unfortunatly it's clear that it never saw the light of day at any point in time during and after release, and is now entirely abandoned.

It was my only work on Source (as opposed to CS:GO).

HIMEJI_CASTLE (CS:GO)
URL: http://csgo.gamebanana.com/maps/177542



At the time, Himeji was a huge leap forward compared to all my previous works in nearly every aspect. It was extremely ambitious and required me to learn many new tricks on a timespan of 35 days for yet another contest (Famous Landmarks). Originally I wanted to create the Atomium from Brussels... but after 5 days of trying and getting frustrated it just didn't work. It was then that I saw an image of the Himeji Castle on Google and I was instantly grasped by its beauty and detail.

I brushed out my knowledge of modeling and texturing, using Sketchup to model and 3DS Max to texture. This was the last project to ever use Google Sketchup and Hammer to solve independent tasks of my projects. Himeji took exactly 35 days to complete with considerable time spent on the map, each and every day. Having time over at the last 3 days I added more detail and gameplay elements. Later after release it received a huge update and a better attempt towards competitive play. The map is still unfinished and is one of the few projects that I want to finish later down the road.

Himeji took first place, as can be seen here: http://gamebanana.com/contests/winners/42 Having been the first map to ever win a place it boosted my spirits to continue.

DE_CATHEDRAL (CS:GO)
URL: http://csgo.gamebanana.com/maps/181217



Despite its barren gameplay and experimental graphics, Cathedral holds a special place in my heart because it is the first map I have ever attempted to finish and release publicly while being made entirely inside 3DS Max with the aid of the Wall Worm Level Designing tools (Wall Worm Anvil, WWA from now on). WWA and WWMT allow you to essentially make a fully fleshed out map in 3DS Max without ever leaving the program or environment, or even entering Hammer for that matter. You can design brushes, models and textures all in 3DS Max, so why would you even want to switch between all these programs to essentialy waste a lot of time for the same results.

Such filosofy allowed me to change my workflow and transfer towards Wall Worm for creating all my levels. There are so many essential tools in 3DS Max which simply aren't present in Hammer. If you count that on top of all the tools designed by Shawn Olson such as the 3D Skybox converter, Sky Writer, Corvex, Carver, ShellVex, Detailer, PropLine and finally Wall Worm Pro, you're saving houres and houres of work.

Admittedly, while it holds a special place, it is nearly impossible to properly play on because of scaling issues and shading problems. I was faced with the hard reality that gameplay is, and remains the key element of a map.

DE_PONTIFICI (CS:GO)
URL: http://csgo.gamebanana.com/maps/185072



Pontifici was the first attempt to improve the gameplay element of a map, taking the basics of the competitive spirit to play by balancing timings for bombsite and cover, while still trying to go for a relatively open map. It should give you the feeling of being in a medieval town that uses a canal for transport, connecting both sides with a bridge.

While it succeeded in gameplay partially, it can be improved, and already underwent considerable art-transformations that are unreleased as we speak.

SPACE MARBLE (CS:GO)
URL: http://csgo.gamebanana.com/maps/185591



Space Marble is the direct result of my temporary retreat of the classical gamemodes such as Bomb Defusal and Hostage Rescue. It is a prime example of a map that hugely benefitted from Wall Worm as a whole. The map simulates a Marble Track by letting spheres roll around with purely physical interaction. A very tough task to ask for the Source Engine if you consider that physics are very dependent on material type and object weights.

In order to create the tracks, I used splines for crazy turns and creative routes that at times also diverge into branching paths. In Hammer this would have been a hell of a nightmare to design considering that you'd have to create the tracks and then export them, and then reposition the new track everytime, hoping that it is attached seamlessly to the previous one etc etc...

Space Marble took first place, as can be seen here: http://gamebanana.com/contests/winners/61

SURF_GREATRIVER_2015 (CS:GO)
URL: http://csgo.gamebanana.com/maps/185591



Greatriver is probably one of the most popular surf maps of all time. CS:GO currently has a hard time to really grasp CS:S players to over to the new game, so I decided to support the Surf Community by remaking this iconic masterpiece. Black is the original designer of the concept and first version, and Xdream (clan) has made considerable improvements over the map.

I co-operated with a professional surfer who has a lot of knowledge about surf that I simply didn't know. He adviced me to keep the map as close as possible to the original, as well as removing some elements which simply had nothing to do with the gameplay. I intend to bring the ultimate greatriver edition by focussing on Surfing as much as possible, rewarding those with great skill, as well as making the map just a little bit noob-friendly. The most controversial change is undershotty being removed (a connection on a sloped surface on the back of the ramp that starts from the 3 little platforms with the shotgun, hence 'undershotty').

Greatriver 2015 boasts a ion-like design and tried to guide the player on the ramps by using linear textures. Reflection and river-like elements are important, so the map is mainly tainted in blue.

And here's the abnormal one

I have a problem with a model I recently animated.

I got Sonic from SSBB and I have nicely put all the textures onto it. There was none but one problem with his eyes texture, it was tiled for some reason and there's no way I could remove the tiling (or I just don't know how to do that....) So what I did was cropping and replacing the eye's texture so they were perfectly in place so that you can't see it's tiled.

Now when I export both model and vtf's it looks very fine but the texture of his eyes are put back onto their original position with the tiling visible. I have tried millions of changes but it just doesn't seem to stay in place.

Any help?

(I can send the max file ofc)

Haha, indeed. Been a long time since I updated. Well the system is too complicated for me, I'll just stick with simple particles coming out of info_particle_systems... I'll update right away!