Finding the right engine - Page 2

Zapper · 24-04-2010, 11:53 AM

Source engine is good too indeed.

But the hammer map editor is epic fail. Seriously if u work on 3d editors like 3dsmax, maya or map editors like sandbox, unreal 3 editor u dont wanna begin making maps in hammer because its annoying to move around in ur map, to put models and textures u need to have a plugin or a program to change the format + the crashes and bugs u get when u wanna run ur map to see if it works ingame.

You could go to the engine sticky section too xD

Murder king · 25-04-2010, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zapper

Source engine is good too indeed.

But the hammer map editor is epic fail. Seriously if u work on 3d editors like 3dsmax, maya or map editors like sandbox, unreal 3 editor u dont wanna begin making maps in hammer because its annoying to move around in ur map, to put models and textures u need to have a plugin or a program to change the format + the crashes and bugs u get when u wanna run ur map to see if it works ingame.

You could go to the engine sticky section too xD

Well indeed, moving around the map is kinda uncomfortable when you start, but in few days you just get used to it. Hammer never seems to crash to me, maybe it's because of your computer power

. And wtf you're talking about plugins for hammer to import models? Hammer doesn't have plugins, infact, it doesn't need them. The only thing you need to do is transform the textures to .vtf format, and compile the models models to .mdl format, since those are the default texture and model file extensions for the engine.

To view and "compile" the textures for the source engine, you just need vtfedit:
Nem's Tools [VTFLib - Download - VTFEdit v1.2.5 Full]
It can read vtf and vmt files, change vtf to jpg, png, bmp, and few more.
And for model compiling, cannonfolder's tools are the best:
Cannonfodder's Half-Life 2 Tools

Schmung · 26-04-2010, 05:50 AM

Hammer is actually one of the nicer level editors I've used because it's so geared towards a specific purpose. As an engine though, source is a convoluted nightmare with some terrible tools and completely barking mad conventions. You'll spend more time in a text editor than anywhere else.

I've played around with Unity a bit and it's a very, very friendly bit of software. For what you want to do I'd say it's probably a better bet. As you say, UT3 is so feature rich that it may be overkill for what you're trying to do.

kanga · 26-04-2010, 08:07 AM

Hammer was a total nightmare for me, compiling a sonofabitch

My vote would go to unity 3d for ease.

Cryrid · 26-04-2010, 09:48 AM

I don't mind Hammer; it was easy enough and never gave me problems. Source itself is starting to feel it's age though, especially when it comes to the model/material importing process compared to newer engines like UE3 and Unity.

Zapper · 27-04-2010, 02:47 PM

@ Murder king with the plugins i mean that u could put plugins in 3dsmax or maya to have ur .mdl object.

Having a quad core I5 with a 4850 512 mo 4 gb ram wont make hammer me lag or crash xD , like i said its when u want to test ur map i had problems with entities or whatever else its so long ago.

Even if i deleted everything on the map and left a ground with a spawning point, the map wouldnt even want to run... even after a restart of hammer. And i used alot hammer back in time was making a map for almost a day and lost everything in 2,5 secs ( the map was working perfectly 25 mins ago when running an ingame test).

I dont wanna begin a discussion about this because each developer puts his own time to make a nice map editor or not.

Vamediah u vgot older engines like Unreal Engine 2, Unreal Engine 2.5 too

I vgot sites too to help you if u want them

Gilgamesh · 28-04-2010, 05:29 AM

Having played with most engines (cod/radiant, unity, hammer/source, ue3/udk and a ton of proprietary engines) as a programmer I still prefer UDK/UE3, you can get so much done very quickly without much knowledge and the backup/documentation is great. Source is probably the worst, well apart from Call of Duty stuff, but that is running off a Quake 3 base so it's old style now.

Schmung · 28-04-2010, 06:30 AM

I think a lot of it depends on what you started out on. I started out back with Quake when hammer was worldcraft, so it's way of doing things and the progression from that to source was a breeze for me because it's all based off the same way of working. I could never get on properly with radiant though, so anything Q3 based is a royal pain. That's where source shows it's age - poor integration across tools and the way the newer features have been badly integrated with the older stuff. UE3 is far better integrated and thought out and though I've never gotten on with the editor that's an entirely personal thing and nothing against the tools themselves.

26-04-2010, 08:07 AM	#14 (permalink)
kanga Administrator 846 - 391	Hammer was a total nightmare for me, compiling a sonofabitch My vote would go to unity 3d for ease. __________________ Tutorials on Youtube. Portfolio. Game-Artist on Linkedin Getting started for free.

27-04-2010, 02:47 PM	#16 (permalink)
Zapper New Member 12 - 2	@ Murder king with the plugins i mean that u could put plugins in 3dsmax or maya to have ur .mdl object. Having a quad core I5 with a 4850 512 mo 4 gb ram wont make hammer me lag or crash xD , like i said its when u want to test ur map i had problems with entities or whatever else its so long ago. Even if i deleted everything on the map and left a ground with a spawning point, the map wouldnt even want to run... even after a restart of hammer. And i used alot hammer back in time was making a map for almost a day and lost everything in 2,5 secs ( the map was working perfectly 25 mins ago when running an ingame test). I dont wanna begin a discussion about this because each developer puts his own time to make a nice map editor or not. Vamediah u vgot older engines like Unreal Engine 2, Unreal Engine 2.5 too I vgot sites too to help you if u want them Last edited by Zapper; 27-04-2010 at 02:51 PM.

28-04-2010, 05:29 AM	#17 (permalink)
Gilgamesh Frequenter 141 - 27	Having played with most engines (cod/radiant, unity, hammer/source, ue3/udk and a ton of proprietary engines) as a programmer I still prefer UDK/UE3, you can get so much done very quickly without much knowledge and the backup/documentation is great. Source is probably the worst, well apart from Call of Duty stuff, but that is running off a Quake 3 base so it's old style now. __________________ https://ghiest.wordpress.com/

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24-04-2010, 11:53 AM	#11 (permalink)
Zapper New Member 12 - 2	Source engine is good too indeed. But the hammer map editor is epic fail. Seriously if u work on 3d editors like 3dsmax, maya or map editors like sandbox, unreal 3 editor u dont wanna begin making maps in hammer because its annoying to move around in ur map, to put models and textures u need to have a plugin or a program to change the format + the crashes and bugs u get when u wanna run ur map to see if it works ingame. You could go to the engine sticky section too xD

26-04-2010, 05:50 AM	#13 (permalink)
Schmung Senior Member 180 - 38	Hammer is actually one of the nicer level editors I've used because it's so geared towards a specific purpose. As an engine though, source is a convoluted nightmare with some terrible tools and completely barking mad conventions. You'll spend more time in a text editor than anywhere else. I've played around with Unity a bit and it's a very, very friendly bit of software. For what you want to do I'd say it's probably a better bet. As you say, UT3 is so feature rich that it may be overkill for what you're trying to do.

26-04-2010, 09:48 AM	#15 (permalink)
Cryrid Senior Member 299 - 72	I don't mind Hammer; it was easy enough and never gave me problems. Source itself is starting to feel it's age though, especially when it comes to the model/material importing process compared to newer engines like UE3 and Unity.

28-04-2010, 06:30 AM	#18 (permalink)
Schmung Senior Member 180 - 38	I think a lot of it depends on what you started out on. I started out back with Quake when hammer was worldcraft, so it's way of doing things and the progression from that to source was a breeze for me because it's all based off the same way of working. I could never get on properly with radiant though, so anything Q3 based is a royal pain. That's where source shows it's age - poor integration across tools and the way the newer features have been badly integrated with the older stuff. UE3 is far better integrated and thought out and though I've never gotten on with the editor that's an entirely personal thing and nothing against the tools themselves.