Level Design

Name / Description			Site/Author
How to place a decal A decal is like the spraypaint the players place. The difference is that we as mappers may set those when we create the map.
MAKING A SLIDING DOOR The sliding door is very complex to beginners but the more you do them the more they become amazingly simple.
How to make an Airstrike How to make an Airstrike
Setting up WorldCraft 3.3 for Team Fortress First of all this tutorial is how I set up WC3.3
Xen lighting Another problem with Xen maps is light sources.
Batch File Compiling for Beginners Creation and use of batch files for HL compiling
Custom Textures In Quark Learn howto use custom textures
The Essentials of Mapping: Immersing the Player This article is an important guide to improving your sense of style and should help you make your maps look a lot better
Preset Light Appearances This article contains a quick reference for the light entity's preset appearances.
How to make an elevator with a button in it. How to make an elevator with a button in it.
Tutorial 6: 'I have seen the light!!' Tutorial 6: 'I have seen the light!!'
Cheating in Half-Life Cheating provides the mapper with some useful tools to test and debug levels
Angular Velocity and Rotating func_trains This article discusses the use of angular velocity to create rotating func_trains.
QERadiant - Counter-Strike Map Types (cs/de/as) This tutorial gives you basic information about the 3 different types of Counter-Strike maps.
Creating Siege-like Cliffs Want to have that look of the famous cliffs and outdoor rocks in Siege and Docks? Check out this tutorial from the map's author.
Blue-Shift setup and mapping guide The hows, what's, where's, when's, dos and don'ts of mapping for blue-shift!
Finding Coordinates Many people ask how to go about reading and finding the coordinates given when certain errors occur with ZHLT. Fortunately its not too complicated.
One Way Glass Make a one way glass... a glass thats opaque from one side but transperant on the other.
how to change weather in valve hammer editor how to change weather in valve hammer editor
Getting Started with Hammer Getting Started with Hammer
Equipping Weapons in CS Controlling weapon usage in Counter-Strike
Using Skys There seems to be alot of confusion over how to implement skys in a level. The concept is much more simple than most people think, and perhaps this is what leads to confusion.
A Texturing Tip Holding ALT while applying texures
Tutorial 4: Door Antics... Tutorial 4: Door Antics...
How to use the Clipping tool A tutorial in using the Clipping tool
Poor Man's Shiny Floors A shiny floor that seems to reflect that which is above it adds an impressive touch to many Half-Life levels
How To Make A Pop Machine The pop machine - not only does it dispense cans of pop, you can also smack it around with a crowbar!
Team Fortress Team Fortress offers a unique challenge to mappers. this article will go over such pointers as respawn room placement and balance.
Using Complex Brushes Using Complex Brushes
Waterfalls Create your own Niagra falls, or die trying.
Making Your First Hostage Rescue Map With Hammer Making Your First Hostage Rescue Map With Hammer AKA Worldcraft by Guy Montag
Setting up Worldcraft Setting up Worldcraft
Understanding Leafs Leafs are something that all mappers should understand as they are an important factor in making a map without problems
Barney’s Wizard Counterstrike mapping guides: Part 2 'Covering Your Ass' Part 2 of Barney's great tutorial in the basics (and not so basics) of Counter-Strike mapping
How to copy-paste things (grass, trees etc.) How to copy-paste things (grass, trees etc.)
MAP BALANCE MAP BALANCE
Basic Texture Lighting It's easier and better than the light entity!
Level Transitions in Half-Life An issue constantly surrounded in questions is that of level changes. They remain a mystery to many designers, and for no real reason as their concept is rather simple.
Changing Levels in Half-Life Phil Daniels tries to clarify the issue of making level changes in Half-Life.
Low r_speed Cliff Walls In this tutorial, I'm going to try to show/explain a few of the tricks that some mappers use for cliff walls.
2-Stage Pipe the two-stage pipe, as I like to call it, looks quite nice.
Chaincraft - Explanations - Part 1 Terms and tips for more succesfull mapping.
Putting monsters on paths This article demonstrates how to make a monster follow a path until it's AI kicks in
Making a Useable Machine Gun Making a Useable Machine Gun
Creating a streetlight with light cone Creating a streetlight with light cone
TFC - Hunted Map This tutorial will show you how to make a map where there are a team of assassins trying to kill an important person
Glass In this tutorial i will show you about glass
Sky Tutorial: Skies/Environment maps in Half-Life Sky Tutorial: Skies/Environment maps in Half-Life
Tutorial 2: Your first room and Worldcraft basics Tutorial 2: Your first room and Worldcraft basics
Trigger_setorigin, with a waterfall into a rising water level. Trigger_setorigin can be used to sync a waterfall that is flowing into a pool of water
Basic Teleporter with Effects This shows the construction of a basic teleporter with sounds and sprites.
Creating A Retinal Scanner This tutorial covers the procedure of creating a door that can only be opened by an NPC using a retinal scanner.
Enemy AI In this tutorial, I'm going to try and show you how to use these nodes to make a level more challenging without adding any more monsters.
func_breakable - How to make windows with breakable glass This tutorial is going to explain every single little step from having a wall to having a wall with a window, that looks good. I asume you know how to make a brush.
Forcing Players to Respawn create a situation where players are forced to respawn when something happens
Adding Holes for Doors, Windows .... etc - Clipping Tool Adding Holes for Doors, Windows .... etc - Clipping Tool
DOD Setting up valve hammer for mapping This is a tutorial about setting up valve hammer so you can create maps for Day of Defeat
Triggering a game_text This is just a tutorial about how to make a text showing up when you fall down in a hole or walk trough someting!
The Sky Texture This tutorial gives you information and an overview about the different sky possibilities
Curves Brief tutorial on how to create proper curves
69th Vlatitude Tips long list of Mapping Tips
Overviews für Counter-Strike (German) Overviews für Counter-Strike (German)
BSP to MAP \| WinBSPC BSP to MAP \| WinBSPC
R_SPEEDS - Part 1 R_SPEEDS - Part 1
DoD Flag Objectives Most DoD maps use CTF or Control The Flags as the primary mission objective.
Sky How to make out door sky areas for Half-life
creating elevator(not func_door) creating elevator(not func_door)
How to make a swinging pendulum for use in a Grandfather clock or similar object. How to make a swinging pendulum for use in a Grandfather clock or similar object.
Rules for the Novice Mapper Rules for the Novice Mapper
Keeping Track Of, And Changing The Global State Of Entities Keeping Track Of, And Changing The Global State Of Entities
Combining Scripted Sequences and Sentences Combining Scripted Sequences and Sentences
Stripping Ammo and Grenades This tutorial covers how to remove ammo and grenades from spawning players.
Code Locks Well there are several techniques to make doors with passwords, but I think this is by far the easiest method.
making glass break on touch in 5 steps making glass break on touch in 5 steps
How to make Land mines How to make Land mines
creating ladders This tutorial will explain to you how to create those simple HL ladders!
Enemy AI Enemy AI
Mapping Guide for HL using QEradiant Mapping Guide for HL using QEradiant
How to make a switch to turn lights on and off. How to make a switch to turn lights on and off.
Angled textures tutorial This is just a small tutorial explaining how to quickly and perfectly align textures at an angle.
Diagnosing Problems Covers locating and fixing many mapping mistakes.
Vertex Manipulation 4 - Realistic Cliffs Vertex Manipulation 4 - Realistic Cliffs
Vending Machine Create a working vending machine
Onscreen Messages Learn how to make text appear on the screen during your levels.
Resetting entities at the start of every round (Counter-Strike specific method) Resetting entities at the start of every round (Counter-Strike specific method)
Complex cliff faces .. the easy way!
Errors Mapping & Compiling Errors and solutions
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEATHMATCH MAPPING DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEATHMATCH MAPPING
glass with func_wall To make breakable glass, just make a block with a glass texture
An Introduction to Lighting This is going to be an introduction to adding lighting effects to your level.
Torching a Door Among the many new things the Half-Life: Opposing Force expansion pack introduces, one of the most interesting is the engineer NPC.
Spicing up your architecture Get rid of those boring
Using the arch tool in Hammer 3.5 Video tutorial explaining how to use the Arch tool inside Hammer
Creating your first map Creating your first map
Triangle Terrain 2: Switching Direction How to link terrain facing different directions
common mapping problems/questions common mapping problems/questions
func_ladder This page explains how to make a ladder in a Counter-Strike map with Hammer.
Multisource and env_globals This is my first tutorial, but don't worry, you'll get the hang of multisources and env_globals by the time you've read through this. Blue statements are the functions I want you to perform. So let's get started.
Entities: All types of triggers You have already used the trigger_multiple in the previous tutorial. Now, we will try out different kinds of triggers.
Make a 1 Way Window Want to make a window where you can see through one side, but not the other? This tutorial shows you how.
A Guide to better Framerates Levels with a bad framerates are the biggest problem for mappers.A level with a poor framerate often makes such a level unplayable.
Pretty Effects with Spirit of Half-Life Pretty Effects with Spirit of Half-Life
Entity Tutorials A collection of short Entity Tutorials
Vertex manipulation - basics, tricks and common errors Vertex manipulation - basics, tricks and common errors
Changing Levels Simple guide to level changes, Including One Way.
Making Optimized Stairs How to make professional-ish stairs...
The BSP Process and Visibility This tutorial is written for Quake II and to some extent Quake 3 Arena. However, all Quake engine games work on a similar principle (though not all have hint brushes or detail brushes).
Deathmatch Deathmatch can be found in many games so its important to understand the issues involved with this gamestyle. In this article I cover such issues as weapon placement and gameflow.
valve hammer audio tutoiral guy how to make music play in hammer
Vending Machines Of the breakable kind
A Guide to better Framerates A Guide to better Framerates
All light entities In this tutorial i will show you how to use advanced lighing.
Patrolling Guards It's the nightmare scenario. You have been captured by the enemy, disarmed and left for dead in a cell.
Lasers for the masses an introduction
Lighting your map Lighting
Compiling Terms You Should Know Compiling Terms You Should Know
Vertex Manipulation Part 2 Once you've mastered VM, you can create pretty much every kind of solid possible. Learn some more uses for it here.
Making Glass glass is extremly easy to make when you know how
Using RESGen The relic of a program
Comparing two keyvalues Comparing two keyvalues
QERadiant - Counter-Strike Basic Information This tutorial gives you basic information about CS mapping and how to use the new entities
Making water Making water
Another way to create rocks how to create easy rocks...
Creating a simple camera Creating a simple camera
The Ladder Tutorial The Func Ladder Entity
How to add sound in your map How to add sound in your map
Doors for beginners sliding - rotating
Realistic Steam When making steam, many people just pick one sprite and use that. Using the method outlined here will produce much better looking steam.
Making a Rotating Door You will be taught how to use the entity; 'Func_Door_Rotating'. Pretty easy 🙂
Customising the Health Packs A quick n' dirty guide, that shows you gow to create your own health pack models, without even knowing how to model or using Milkshape.
Using the item_nuclearbomb Using the item_nuclearbomb
Entity Editing Tutorial Entity Editing Tutorial
Advanced Doors Tutorial Okay, considering that you've read Brian's basic doors tutorial, you should know how a door works.
Half-Life Clip Hull Generation How it works, what goes wrong, and how I fixed it in question and answer format
Bringing your maps to life An example on how you can make your maps more interesting to look at
Easy Texture Alignment Just a short tutorial to help you line your textures up, faster than manually adjusting X and Y coordinates.
QERadiant - Overview Of Ground Styles This Overview shows some examples of realistic grounds
Leaks Finding and fixing them
Skybox textures This guide will show you how to make custom skybox textures for use in your map.
Introduction to Counter-Strike mapping Create the classic cs_map.
Using Valve Hammer Editor to Create Worlds for Natural Selection Welcome to the Valve Hammer Editor (hammer /wc) overview and tutorial.
Basic use of the multi_manager The multi_manager is a very powerful entity and is often used in conjunction with the multisource and env_global entities
Vertex Manipulation - Taming The Beast Vertex Manipulation - Taming The Beast
Chaincraft - Explanations - Part 3 Terms and tips for more succesfull mapping.
How to setup Valve Hammer Editor with ZHLT You need some compiler tools to make the mapfiles Hammer uses into bsp Halflife or Counter-Strike uses.
Setting up Worldcraft for Opposing Force editing Setting up Worldcraft for Opposing Force is just like setting it up for any other mod, but there seems to be confusion, hence this separate article.
DoD Class Limits DoD Class Limits
Mapping help Tutorials for Half-Life & Mods Mapping help Tutorials for Half-Life & Mods
Jargon Some mapping Jargon Explained
Attack and Defend Using Teamcheck Entities This tutorial shows you how to set up the entities for an attack-defend map where the teams swap after each round.
Teamcheck Entities Tutorial This tutorial will show you how to change the team value of different entities by using the teamcheck goals, info_tf_teamcheck & info_tf_teamset.
Making Light Beams Making Light Beams
Mind that Fan Looking out for the your head as you make a spiny fan
Doors Doors are moving brushes that can move into chosen direction
Fans Build a working fan that creates wind.
Vertex Manipulation 3 - Creating Realistic Vertex Manipulation 3 - Creating Realistic
Location Files A .loc file is what allows players to use %L in messages (and get a result).
Env_fog with visible sky I was testing some other stuff and suprisingly I achieved an affect I didn't know was possible
Worldcraft Set up Worldcraft 3.x only allows for the creation of Half-Life (and Half-Life mod) levels.
Creating Rain. Creating a Effect of Rainfall in GoldSrc.
Tutorial 3: Adding a second room and a door Tutorial 3: Adding a second room and a door
Custom skies Custom skies
Configure Worldcraft version 3.3
The Rustmill Effect The Rustmill Effect refers to the effect created in the Rustmill map. In it, there was a 'map board' that consisted of an overhead view of the level.
Rotating Weapons This tutorial teaches you how to create the effect of weapons that hover and spin over the ground 'Quake 3' style.
Rotating Doors - the ORIGIN Brush Rotating Doors - the ORIGIN Brush
Theory - Connectivity and flow Connectivity and flow
Making an Arch You will need the ambient_generic and the trigger_multiple entities for this tutorial.
Vertex Manipulation Intro Explains how the Vertex Manipulation tool can be used to create advanced solids, and the various ways in which you can modify them using it.
Making breakable glass Making breakable glass
WC Sphere Making How to make a sphere in worldcraft using the 'cone slicing' method.
Decompiling GoldSrc Maps Showcasing Decompilation of BSP to MAP format in GoldSrc Engine.
Using skys in Half-Life Using skys in Half-Life
Ways to Prevent Leaks If your level doesn't compile because it has a leak, then you need to find the leak and delete. This tutorial helps define methods to find and eliminate leaks
Mappers should read:Fix the bot's bugs with ladder Help mapper know about czbot problems with ladders
An alternative way to find map leaks easily An alternative way to find map leaks easily
Laser + Multi Manager + Button Laser + Multi Manager + Button
How to use game_player_equip How to use game_player_equip
func_wall - how to make {blue transparrent func_wall - how to make {blue transparrent
Embedding Textures into a Map This article discusses the use of the wadinclude and nowadtextures CSG parameters which allow you to embed textures directly into the compiled map file.
All about Levels and Speed All about Levels and Speed
How to make Overviews for HLTV/HDTV How to make Overviews for HLTV/HDTV
Capture The Flag Covering many points on how to implement a successful capture the flag gamemode
Using The Clip Tool Using The Clip Tool
Overriding Server Settings This small tutorial explains how to override the default settings running on a game server.
Hammer Beginner Tutorial 3 Adding Rooms, Hallways, and Doors
Half-Life Map Entity Editing Half-Life Map Entity Editing
Rotating Objects a quick guide to making them
Overlays & Lighting How to create overlays, and light them
Room corners An alternative to boring 90 degree corners
How to make a mirror floor How to make a mirror floor
A comprehensive guide to func_detail A comprehensive guide to func_detail
Making Steam Making Steam
Resource Files When you don't have a map, the server will check for a .res file to see what it should send to the client
Elevator #2 This tutorial covers how to make an elevator that can move between more than two floors.
Adding Models to action hl and other mods Adding Models to action hl and other mods
func_door_rotating This page explains how to create a rotating door in a Counter-Strike map with Hammer.
Rocks and Cliffs Between a rock and a hard place: using vertical stacking to achieve realistic effects and low r_speeds in rocks and cliffs.
Car tutorial How to make a car in CS.
How to make respawnable glass Have you ever wondered how to make respawnable glass in half-life or tfc?
Creating a basic room Get to grips with creating a basic room
Doors with Glass How to add Doors with Glass in Half-Life
Polygon Reduction Methods This is a quick and dirty guide for some common polygon reduction methods
How To Use Environment Maps So, you've got your spiffy new Environment Map....but what the hell do you do with it now???
Making Glass Making Glass
Volumetric Fog This tutorial assumes you are well versed in Worldcraft editing and have some basic knowledge about entities - especially func_illusionary and func_conveyor.
Capture The Flag Tutorial Capture The Flag Tutorial
The Basic's of world craft The Basic's of world craft
Hammer Beginner Tutorial 5 Lifts 'n' Stuff...
Basic detail Basic detail
valve hammer level transition (halflife1) so in this video ill show you guys how to make it correctly and place the landmark and the trigger
Using the Technique In-game: Creating Killable Fish that Respawn Every Round (Part 2) Part two of Lacos' tutorial on resetting entities at the start of every round. Be sure you've read part 1 first!
Basic Doors Doors are a critical part in every level. That's where this tutorial comes in, so roll up your sleeves and get ready to make some simple doors.
Teleporter Tutorial Hey I think that you needed a teleport tut, so here it is
Adding sky to your levels To show a sky map around parts or all of your level
Trees Four different approaches to tree-making!
How to use VisGroups The VisGroup tools is for the convinience of mappers. When a lot of brushwork makes the work complex it can become difficult to maintain the big picture.
Scripting Tutorial #2, A Specific Example For this tutorial, I will be using a part of my uncompleted single-player map.
Custom Words Custom Words
In the Beginning Some of the important things a SP map should include.
Env_sprite Tutorial The env_sprite entity is used to place, yep you guessed it, sprites in your level. It's also very easy to use.
Adding a Skybox The Skybox is the Image around your map
Ladder Tutorial Ladders, like glass, are brush based, but aren't as simple.
That First Room You ask any mapper and they will fondly remember their first room.
Making a Custom Console Background Making a Custom Console Background
How to make a ladder Although confusing at first, making a ladder is actually very simple.
Projective shadows A trick using projective shadows in trinity render to produce a good looking shadows
Basic Half-Life Values This tutorial shows some basic values and sizes of Half-Life
DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEATHMATCH MAPPING - Part 2 DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS FOR DEATHMATCH MAPPING Part 2
creating transparent and opaque objects This tutorial will explain to you how to create objects with total transparency or partial opacity
Setting up Quark Setting up Quark for Half-Life mapping
The Retinal Scanner how to add the Retinal Scanner in Half-Life
Controlling Turrets Through Cameras This article describes the simple intracacies of creating a turret which you can control through a camera.
'Brushed' Art: Part 1 This is related to the Vertex Manipulation tool
How to Create a Ladder This is basically a ground-up tutorial that will guide you through every step in creating a ladder.
R_speeds R_speeds
func_tracktrain func_tracktrain
Finding Leaks Well You have to start somewhere and in my opinion its best to start simple, so my first tutorial is a simple reference on how to find Leaks in your level.
Making a symmetrical map Making a symmetrical map
Rounds I have been asked to explain how to make a map which uses rounds.
Multi Managers explained This is a basic tutorial on how to use and setup a Multi_Manager.
Introduction To HL-CS Mapping Introduction To HL-CS Mapping
Creating Ladders How to make your average ladder.
Firebinders - The Text Chanmer Experiments - Conclusions Firebinders - The Text Chanmer Experiments - Conclusions
armoury_entity Tutoria A simple tutorial for the entity 'armoury_entity'
Curved Corners and Sloping Passages Curved Corners and Sloping Passages
first Half-Life map with Worldcraft2 first Half-Life map with Worldcraft2
Trees, From Far Away.... How to make trees that line your landscape.
Counter-Strike Map Types Yeah I know, most people know, however, up until minutes ago, I knew nothing, but I now know most!
Game Text Tutorial Game Text Tutorial
Simple Doors This is a guide to simple doors in Half-Life, and how to get them working using WorldCraft or Hammer 3.4
Elevator with moving button The tutorial demonstrates how to make a lift whose button (seemingly) moves along with it.
Level Transitions Seamless level transitions are something very cool and versatile.
Ambient Generics - How They Work Tired of not knowing why or how the ambient_generic entity works in Half-life?
Get Learned! Step 4 - Learn to Fly Get Learned! Step 4 - Learn to Fly
Slippery Surfaces Want to make your player feel uneasy on the feet?
Two-way Trigger This tutorial shows how to make a trigger that will target different objects depending on which way the player walks through it.
How to Port a Part Of a Source Map To Goldsrc How to Port a Part Of a Source Map To Goldsrc
How to use the multi_manager entity How to use the multi_manager entity
QERadiant - My First Ladder This tutorial shows in easy steps how to make a climbable ladder
Mounted Weapon Mounted weapon can shoot bullets, laser, blast or rockets.
Teleporter Tutorial There are two types of teleporters that can be made in Half-Life. There's a simple version and a complex version.
The complete teleporter effect Hey. This tutorial will show you how to make a teleport device, using sprites, beams and sounds.
How to make a ladder How to make a ladder
Pitch Yaw Roll Demystified Pitch Yaw Roll Demystified
Doors This one tells you how to build doors
How to make it impossible for T/CT to buy How to make it impossible for T/CT to buy
How to make a static rotating crane. I mostly made this for the transparent part.
How to change the sky box texture How to change the sky box texture
Atmosphere in your map (Part 1 - Horror) Atmosphere in your map (Part 1 - Horror)
How To Make Counter-Strike Maps This is a complete guide that will get you started making maps for Counter-Strike.
How to make scary 'ghost' monsters How to make a level scary with 'ghosts'
Half-Life Dimensions a list of important Half-Life dimensions
Texturing your map I will now show you how to add textures to your map.
Reference: Real World A reference article covering a few small pointers on creating a suitably authentic real world setting. Bear in mind its a little out of date with the release of next gen games like HL2 and Farcry.
Save/load keyvalues between levels Save/load keyvalues between levels
Making Glass Making Glass
Rotating Billboards Create a rotating sign with a volumetric light effect.
From The Frame Up A guide for new mappers on adding detail to basic designs.
Decals: All You Need To Know The easy way to place Decals
Ladders A quick tutorial describing ladders and their various uses.
Adding decals to your map Worldcraft make it fairly easy to add decals to your map
Making a destroyable active tank turret (realistic) Making an active tank turret that can be destroyed with explosive weapons.
Entities in Quark Entities in Quark
Elevator no. 2 This tutorial covers how to make an elevator that can move between more than two floors.
Elevator With Moving Buttons An oft-asked question is how do I make an elevator with a moving button. Here's how.
Half-Life Teamplay Half-Life Teamplay
The Essentials of Mapping This article is an important guide to improving your sense of style and should help you make your maps look a lot better
Videomaking with HLAE Learn how to capture demos and export them to video using this powerful tool.
How to use q2beaver How to use q2beaver
How to make vehicles How to make cars, planes, etc...
Taming the Speaker Entity The 'speaker' entity creates the effect of having a public-address system in your level. It is designed to make random announcements every 3 to 10 minutes while it is active.
How to make Rain/Snow How to make Rain/Snow
VHLT's 'SOLIDHINT' VHLT's 'SOLIDHINT'
Controllable Vehicle - Train Make a train, car, boat, elevator, chopper, ship, plane or even roller-coaster with powerful func_tracktrain entity.
Security Scanner Security Scanner
Leaks This article discusses what leaks are caused by and provides several methods of finding and fixing them
How to loop sounds How to loop sounds
Compiling You can't play a map without compiling. Compiling your levels is a very intricate process, and Kabaal's in-depth tutorial helps make sense of it.
Using the Vertex Tool This is used to make blocks fit and be different shapes, all you do is click on the object you want to shape and click on the 3d wireframe style icon on the left, now lots of dots appear on the object.
How to make a surf map Here I'll write how to make an surf map....
Rotating Lights This tutorial demonstrates how to create the rotating light beam effect as seen in the Half-Life: Uplink
Better looking buildings Using angles to make better looking cities and towns
Assorted Mapping Hints This tutorial combines a lot of little things I have learned over the years as a Half-Life mapper, but which aren't quite major enough to justify their own separate tutorials.
SETTING UP YOUR MAP FOR CS So you have crafted your map and now it's time to get it ready for playing in CS.
Adding custom content part 1 A map typically consists of the brushwork and entities.
Finding & fixing leaks Finding & fixing leaks
Carving responsibly Carving is never pretty. So many new mappers rely on carving which ends up shooting their r_speeds through the roof or creating nasty errors.
Advanced R_speed Tweaks Although VIS blockers are the most important way to keep your r_speeds under control, there are a variety of other tweaks and tricks you can do to lower your r_speeds within each area of your map.
The BSP Process and Visibility The BSP Process and Visibility
Half-Life Teamplay what to know when setting up a Half-Life Teamplay Map
in-game level maps overhead plan of level, displayed in game as texture of map, chart, diagram etc
Monster_generic and Monster_furniture Let's start with the monster_generic entity. To tell you the truth, this entity is not very hard to use. However, I've only seen it being used in very advanced levels made by very proficient level designers.
The Hallway how to connect two rooms with a hallway
TF Map Making Tutorial The Team Fortress Map Making Tutor. v1.1
Rising water Rising water
Clipping Brushes Clipping Brushes
How to use detailtextures in a professional manner How to use detailtextures in a professional manner
valve hammer monster in this tutorial we gonna make monster
Creating Transparent and Opaque Objects How to make those transparent things like fences, railings, etc. plus transparent brushes like windows!
Titles.txt How to modify the titles text to produce Messages
Scripted events for Stock Half Life Models a CHM File for scripted events for Stock Half Life Models
Common Monster Properties This article covers the properties common to most monsters, including entity properties and flags.
Glass Tutorial Glass is another brush-based entity.
Tankrockets Create your own turret-mounted weapons. In this case, a rocket-launcher.
trigger_teleport - Teleportation trigger_teleport - Teleportation
creating siege-like cliffs creating siege-like cliffs
How to find leaks easily How to find leaks easily
In the Beginning Really basic tutorial on building a cube and compiling it.
TFC: Capture The Flag TFC: Capture The Flag
Monster Health How to modify one monster's health without coding, directly from within the map editor.
Water - how to make it func_water
Resetting Entitys At The Start Of Every Round Resetting Entitys At The Start Of Every Round
Multi_manager The multi_manager is a point-based entity used to time-activate other entities in your map.
Counter-Strike Entity Overview Outkast goes over the basic CS specific entities. Wahoo! We've been needing a tutorial like this for a long time!
Vis Groups A guide to using Vis Groups
Pendulum This is a tutorial to make a func_pendulum. It is similar to a func_rotating and func_rotaing_door.
Common errors and problems in HL mapping Common errors and problems in HL mapping
Tutorials - Theory - Inspiration Please note that this workshop is designed for Sven coop mod or single player based theme maps
Texture Application Using the texture Application Tool
Chokepoints In this article I'll try to layout a map from how I want the chokepoints to be.
Using teamcheck entities (A&D map setup) TFC has had its Team Check entities for a while now. However their usage in custom maps thus far has been extremely limited
Elevator Doors that move Moving elevator doors. A complex look at path_corner interaction
Destroyable Cameras Destroyable Cameras
Multi_managers Usage
Configuring func_trains - func_tracktrains Tutorial for all those newbies out there.
Sliding Doors Another Mazymatic short & sweet tutorial on making sliding doors.
Compiling Part 2 Compiling using batch files.
Lifts Make a lift from some solids.
Weather Effects In Day of Defeat Weather Effects In Day of Defeat
Healing pools tutorial Xen maps would just look stupid if you place health chargers around.
Making a ladder Making a ladder
Sky boxes for Newbies Creating skyboxes around your map.
Half-Life Rain Tutorial Half-Life Rain Tutorial
Basic Spawn Protection for Day of Defeat Maps Basic Spawn Protection for Day of Defeat Maps
How to use Wadinclude Basicly, it is as it says, it is to include custom wads in the bsp file
Random entity triggering Learn how to randomly trigger events in your map, without any custom code!
Rotating Objects This is a brief descriptive article on the process of setting up rotating entities.
Changing the Game play of other maps how to be a l33t hax0r and change the gameplay of other maps.
r_speed tips and information r_speeds are basically the number of wploys on screen at one time, or the amount of r_speeds drawn by the game engine if you wanna get technical.
Tutorial 9: The new Game_xxxx Entities Tutorial 9: The new Game_xxxx Entities
How to Control the Player Respawn Rate How to Control the Player Respawn Rate
The Gmdm2 tutorials Part 1 Part 1: Doors
Sky Tutorial Since we have a tutorial on the light_environment entity, which is used to make sunlight in outdoor levels, I figured it would be helpful if we had a sky tutorial.
The 'Boulder' Method For Cliffs and Terrain.
Common Monster Properties The majority of monster entities share a common set of properties
How to fix those leaks Have a leak in your map? Read this!
Creating a spiral staircase This tutorial will teach you how to make a spiral staircase with Hammer
Special Sprites I learned recently from a fellow mapper that there are actually different kinds of sprites one can use in Half-Life.
Lights, lighting and lighting effects Hello! Now I want to talk about lights, lighting and lighting effects, as I think they are one of the most important components of map design.
Map Sizes in Worldcraft Map Sizes in Worldcraft
How to call in an airstrike This tutorial will lead you through the creation of an air strike table
Panel Texturing Mangling at its best
Setting up a teams.ini Creating a set team for you're map
Glass and Transparency How do I make glass? How do I make things transparent?
Territorial Control Tutorial In a Territorial Control map each team compete to control all the command points.
R_SPEEDS R_SPEEDS
More Triggers Some more on triggers and ideas on how to use them
Clipping Brushes Clipping Brushes
Counterstrike Mapping Counterstrike Mapping
env_rain Tutorial A tutorial for add rain in your maps!
Compile Options The compile tools contain a number of features that are accessible through command line parameters. Below are the available parameters for each tool
Sky Positioning Sky Positioning
Pipe-Works pipes done your way...
The fastest way to compile your maps! A tutorial on using batch files to compile your maps.
Size in Counter-Strike Here are some normal heights and width you should at all time be aware of.
HLT's 'func_detail' HLT's 'func_detail'
Making a Door that Slides If your wanting to Make a slidy door then you picked the right place to come,
Half-Life Style Guide #1, Lab 2 This is a style guide from Dave Johnson that goes over the style and atmosphere building properties of the first lab environment.
Counter-Strike Camera Views Tutorial Counter-Strike Camera Views Tutorial
Better Sprites With Env_Beam The env_beam entity enables you to do many cool effects with sprites, such as make them not always face flat at the screen, scrolling sprites, and fading the end
How to use the HINT brush How to use the HINT brush
Rotating Lights This tutorial not only shows you how to make rotating lights (like in the Uplink demo), but also how to make those 'fire doors' in the game that close when you break the glass.
Setting up Hammer for Half-Life mapping A guide for setting up Hammer editor.
Day of Defeat Mapping: Part 1 The Tools
Embedding Textures into a Map Embedding Textures into a Map
QERadiant Basics This tutorial gives you information about the basic functions of QERadiant
Making and Dealing with Sky Making and Dealing with Sky
Making Popular Maps You may make the greatest map in the world but if nobody plays it, its not much good to anybody? Find out what is required to make sure your map gets lots of downloads.
NPC and Item Placement Theory Non-Player Character (NPC) and item placement can influence both the gameflow and immersion of a level.
Vertex Manipulation: Basics, Tricks and Common Errors A great introduction to vertex manipulation, including how to not get into trouble with bad brushes.
QERadiant - My First Room This tutorial shows in easy steps how to make a single room
Ladders, stairs, ropes Typical platform objects.
Firebinders - The Text Chanmer Experiments Part 3 MORE ON TEXTURE AND SCALE
The Retinal Scanner One of the interesting effects from Half-Life that people want to use is that of barney opening a door by using a retinal scanner.
An Introduction to Triggers This tutorial is going to be pretty basic, and is mostly aimed at those who are new to Worldcraft and making levels.
How to use the pointfile method with Valve Hammer How to use the pointfile method with Valve Hammer
Einführung in den Hammer Editor 3.5 Introduction to hammer in German.
Lives A lives system in your maps makes it so that players can not respawn after they died.
Controllable Sentry Tutorial how to create and customize a controllable sentry gun
Rotating Cameras Rotating Cameras
Volumetric lighting Volumetric lighting is fun
Sven Manor Enitity Guide Sven Manor Enitity Guide
Making Sewers how to make a sewer tunnel, step by step!
A little Hammer FAQ Some common FAQ based on hammer
QERadiant - The Sky Box This tutorial will give you some information about the 'sky box' and about the light_environment entity.
Vertex manipulation - basics, tricks and common errors Vertex manipulation - basics, tricks and common errors
How to set up a multi_manager How to set up a multi_manager
Creating a Info Text File for Your Map You know how you get that little text message at the beginning of a map?
How to make a nice terrain using the triangle method How to make a nice terrain using the triangle method
Batch Files Compiling. The very word is enough to strike fear into the heart of even the most experienced mapper.
how to make rail in valve hammer how to make imple train
Entities Entities
Using Complex brushes (Realistic Cliffs) Using more complex brushwork
Moving Controllable Train, Rail cart ... etc Moving Controllable Train, Rail cart ... etc
How to make freeroam maps that don't crash servers One of the problems with freeroam maps is that they have a tendency cause strain on the server
QERadiant - Additional Rock Styles This tutorial shows two additional rock styles to make your rock wall more detailed.
Design Considerations for HLDM Part 2 Gamedesign theory for HLDM
Atmosphere & Ambience Two crucial elements in making highly engaging and good looking maps. In this article I will give tips on how to maximise their effect.
Spiral stairs tutorial This tutorial will show you how to make a set of perfect spiral stairs faster than the lifespan of a snark. We'll be using our friend, the arch tool, to build the stairs.
Manipulating skies - with unendless maps without changelevels I have invented about nice trick like you don't need to worry about changing skyboxes.
The ladder How to make a ladder?
Half Life Appearance Light Type List Half Life Appearance Light Type List
Earthquake This will make an earthquake effect much like the one used in the game
Condition Zero - Advanced navmesh editing guide An illustrated tutorial about bots navigation meshes
Hammer Beginner Tutorial 1 What the heck makes up a 'level' anyway
Half-Life Deathmatch Mapping What is HLDM?
Half-Life Skies Using Half-Life Skies in Worldcraf
QERadiant - My First Hallway This tutorial shows in easy steps how to connect two rooms with an hallway
Hunted Map Tutorial A Hunted map is basically composed of four different parts
Design Considerations for HLDM Part 3 Gamedesign theory for HLDM
Locks and keys Locks and keys are so boring so lets shoot the lock off!
How to apply decals in a map (Valve Hammer) Applying decals in a map
INFO_TFGOAL & i_t_g The main TF entity with which you should be familiar is INFO_TFGOAL
Arches and Curves Tutorial This tutorial will show you how to make a Quake style archway to connect 2 rooms.
Aiscripted Sequences Completly control monsters
Underwater Currents Underwater Currents
Decompiling GoldSrc Maps. Showcasing Decompilation of BSP to MAP format.
HL Monsters A brief overview of the HL enemies to give mappers an idea of how they should be used.
Introduction to Mapping An introduction to mapping concepts and setting up WorldCraft
Get Learned! Step 3 - Buildin' Blocks Get Learned! Step 3 - Buildin' Blocks
FUNC_NOBUILD The func_nobuild is a brush based entity which prevents engineers from building anywhere in the area where this brush exists.
Half Life 1.10 Entity list (Advanced) Common FGD Entitys, and how to use them
How to make a Teleport How to make a Teleport
The Gmdm2 tutorials Part 2 Part 2: boulder basics
How To Spawn NPCS In Multiplayer To Add NPC In Multiplayer (Works On Android & PC) You Must Follow my Steps
Masked Textures Masked Textures can be highly useful in many aspects for making ladders, grates and so forth
WorldCraft 3.3 from the beginning This is a very basic tutorial telling you how to set-up your basic WorldCraft 3.3 options
Using the Clipping Tool The clipping tool can be found on the left hand side of the screen, its the brown wood style block with a yellow cut out bit on.
trigger_camera How to use the trigger_camera
Compiling maps using ZHLT Compiling maps using ZHLT
Counter-Strike 1.6 Mapping Counter-Strike 1.6 Mapping Tutorial
Reference: Sci Fi Setting This is here for reference purposes. This article is really not as good as the rest, but I've kept up because there are 1 or 2 good points to be picked up.
Water How to make Water in HL
Playtesting Playtesting is the most important part of a map's creation and typically makes or breaks it. This article gives some pointers to consider.
Detail versus Design Detail versus Design
Func_vehicle with models This tutorial shows you how to make a func_vehicle and use a model for a car!
Advanced env_beam This is an advanced tutorial showing how you can combine buttons, beams and a multi_manager for some interesting effects!
Bringing Your Map To Life This is the part of mapping that seperates the good mappers from the amazing mappers - The ability to make your map breathe.
Magic Cargo Container This demonstrates the illusion of having a moving cargo container that has working doors and appears to be carrying a cargo of armed soldiers.
QERadiant - Texture Fitting This tutorial shows you how to fit textures
Chairs, Scientists and Barneys Getting scientist bums on seats, so to speak, is a common query among mappers new to Half-Life
How to reduce r_speeds How to reduce r_speeds
Physical Logic – Half-Life Physical Logic – Half-Life
QERadiant - Steam This tutorial shows in easy steps how to create realistic looking steam
How to Make a Sphere in Worldcraft Well there are several techniques to make one, but by far the easiest method in Worldcraft is called the 'cone slicing' method.
Clip Brush Tutorial Obtain even more control over your hapless player with this tutorial.
Hammer Beginner Tutorial 2 Your First Room
Using Sprites Describes the various uses for sprites, including halo effects and the steam trick. Also compares variousrendering modes.
Setting Up Hammer for TFC This will cover getting Hammer configured and ready to make TFC maps.
In the Beginning Part 5 Furniture: Add some furniture prefabs to enhance realism.
Curved Walls - Rounded Walls Curved Walls - Rounded Walls
How to make breakable wall How to make a breakable wall
The Clip Texture This tutorial shows how to use the clip texture
Rendering Properties Most brush-based and model-based (monsters, etc) point entities allow you to set their rendering properties
Climbing Climbing: slopes & ramps, jumping, stairs, cliffs, downspouts, ladders & ropes..
How to make a CTF map How to make a CTF map
GAMEFLOW A map with good flow keeps the action going and the players moving.
Concepts: Triggers and Targets Triggers and targeting are basic concepts of the mapping process. They are a part of almost every entity event so it is important to understand what they mean and how they work
Tutorial 1: A basic intro. to levels Tutorial 1: A basic intro. to levels
About CLIP Texture About CLIP Texture
Glowing Sprites In this article I will explain how to achieve a glowing sprite effect.
Player Sizes In this tutorial I'm going to run through the player sizes and dimensions for CS
Spotlight Tutorial A tutorial outlining how to make a nice looking light that shines to a spot, has a faint glow about it, and a fading beam of light visible.
Customizing the lights.rad File Customizing the lights.rad File
Finding Leaks Using Pointfiles Find those annoying leaks the easy way!
Multisource Tutorial The multisource entity is very useful in map-making.
Xen bounce pads Xen bounce pads
https://web.archive.org/web/20021219134831/http://valve-erc.com/resources/?page=tut_torchcut Teleporters with sprite and sound effects are quite easy to construct
Camera tutorial This is an advanced tutorial on how to use and setup a Trigger_camera entity
Spiral Staircase Adding a Spiral Staircase for effect
QERadiant - My First Door This tutorial shows in easy steps how to make a basic moving door
Creating an Overview Here is a really simple guide to producing professional looking overviews for your maps.
How to Modify NAV Files Explains how to modify the paths that bot's take to navigate your map
Multi-destination teleporter Entity heavy, recommended to experienced mappers only
How to use keyvalues Keyvalues are little pieces of information about the entities in your map
valve hammer scripted sequence i show you ho to make scripted sequence
The 51 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Half-Life Level Editing The 51 Most Frequently Asked Questions About Half-Life Level Editing
TEAM FORTRESS TEAM FORTRESS
Texture Alignment on Curves Texture Alignment on Curves
Get Learned! Step 6 - Sprinkles Get Learned! Step 6 - Sprinkles
Compiling Introduced An introduction to compiling, what it is, how it works, and the different ways it can be done.
How To Create An Airstrike This tutorial demonstrates how to create an interactive airstrike.
Elaborate Elevators, Part #2 Elaborate Elevators, Part #2
WorldCraft 3.3: func_plat WorldCraft 3.3: func_plat
Arches 101 Arches 101
Texture alignment on curves Vertex Manip and Align to View pointers included
An Absolute Newbie Guide to CS Vehicles Tayl0r's tutorial on how to put a vehicle in a CS map.
Tetrahedron Rock Formations How to make realistic terrain using tetrahedron-shaped brushes
Newbie's Guide to Doors Part 1 Newbie's Guide to Doors Part 1
Pitch Yaw Roll How to set up object pitch - yaw - roll.
Hammer Beginner Tutorial 4 Door Antics...
Doors Create sliding or hinged doors with this tutorial.
Map naming conventions. There are a few basic rules on naming your map.
How to use the vertex editing button How to use the vertex editing button
QUAKE vs HALFLIFE MAPPING QUAKE vs HALFLIFE MAPPING
Apache Delivering an APC Apache Delivering an APC
Making A Curved Corridor Making A Curved Corridor
valve hammer change target (half life) back with another video in this video i will show you how change target in hammer
multi_manager You will probably use this in every map.
Understanding TFC goal states Hopefully this mini-tutorial will explain how goals interact with one another and with other entities.
Team Specific Entities These entities are composed architecture, such as doors and laser, and point entites
Guide To Achieving A Perfect Single Player Review Score Hello and welcome to my guide for achieving mapping nirvana.
How to make Sewers How to make Sewers
Invade and Defend Tutorial What a Sequential Control map actually is
Bounce Pads Create a floor-hugging xen push pad, as seen in 'Bounce'
Beam & Sprite Effects This tutorial covers some amazing entities like env_bubble, env_funnel and env_shooter
trigger_changetarget Covers usage of the trigger_changetarget.
Glass and Moving Doors Glass and Moving Doors
Sculpting prefabs Learn about sculpting prefabs out of a single brush, using textures to guide you
Leafs Understanding Leafs
WorldCraft v2.0 Setup This FAQ is designed to help you get WorldCraft setup
Setting up Hammer for counter-strike mapping A guide for setting up the Hammer editor, using the Half-life SDK
How VIS works This document is more like a how it might work, than how it actually works
10 Most Common Counter-Strike Mapping Pitfalls Zaphod lets us in on his list of top 10 most common Counter-Strike mapping pitfals.
Motion Blur Effect How to create a motion blur effect in half-life. Note: blur does not show if in software mode or if gl_clear 1 is set.
Fire Making a fire is actually very simple
How to call in an air strike This tutorial will lead you through the creation of an air strike table. What's an air strike table? you ask? It will allow you to target a specific point in your level and send an airstrike raining down on the targetted position.
HINT BRUSHES Hint brushes are somewhat hard to understand.
Multi Managers Explained This is a basic tutorial on how to use and setup a multi_manager. No advanced experience is needed to use this entity, but it is assumed you know how to place and manipulate entities.
LCD Display (with custom values!) LCD Display (with custom values!)
Texture Application Tool Texture Application Tool inside Hammer
Permanently locked doors Permanently locked doors
The 'vent' effect. this tutorial will demonstrate how to make a some scientist get pulled in to a vent
Half-Life Editing Tips Half-Life Editing Tips
Hammer Editor Tutorial #1 - How to start the Hammer Editor This is our first tutorial. We'll show everyone who wants to do a Map for HL2 or a different Mod, how to start the Hammer Editor.
Tutorial 8: Controllable trams: The Func_tracktrain entity Tutorial 8: Controllable trams: The Func_tracktrain entity
Working Vending Machine with Round Corners Working Vending Machine with Round Corners
How to do complex brushwork with no errors Learn how I do dynamic brushwork with minimal errors in VHE.
Realistic dynamic landscape Having trouble with flat/blocky terrain? No more!
Problems and solutions then compiling map Common and rare error
How to make transparant (shiny) floor in VHE How to make transparant (shiny) floor in VHE
How to Override Server Settings This small tutorial explains how to override the default settings running on a game server.
Cool Looking Dripping Water Just a cheap trick to make cool looking dripping water. Simple, fast, and easy.
Team Fortress Classic Survival Guide Team Fortress Classic Survival Guide
Basic detail This is a quick tutorial teaching you to create some of the basic detail and entity functions in Half-Life mapping.
Ladder tutorial How to make a basic ladder
QERadiant - Water This Tutorial shows how to make basic water
Chaincraft - Explanations - Part 4 Terms and tips for more succesfull mapping.
Getting a Grunt to use a Turret This tutorial will explain the process involved in getting a monster_human_grunt to operate a func_tank (turret).
Hollow spheres Vertex scaling
Mapping For TF A general guide, with a number of points to consider when mapping for Team Fortress and its variants
Natural Selection - Electric Arcs Ever wondered how I made the pulsing electric arcs in Eclipse and Odins Guard?
Light and Sky Basic lighting tutorial. Appearance types list. How to create exterior area with sky tutorial.
HOW2MAP part1 HOW2MAP part1
Reusing/duplicating complex entity systems Reusing/duplicating complex entity systems
Properly Using Carve and Hollow in WorldCraft Any experienced mapper will tell you that carving and hollowing are bad ideas.
QERadiant - Prefabs This Tutorial shows how to use prefabs in QERadiant
Scrolling Textures First I would like to introduce scrolling textures since they haven't been addressed very well.
Torching a Door Torching a Door
Compiling Basically once you have done a bit of your map you should test it, not do the whole thing then try to compile, do it after major or even slight changes.
Working with entities - general techniques and thoughts Entities are what makes a map alive. Without entities, a map is just a set of walls, between which the players can bore themselves to death.
r_speeds Most mappers know that the more they see from a certain angle ingame the more lag will appear. But plane is sometimes devided into smaller chunks which also causes lag.
Creating Complex Brushes This tutorial aims at showing advanced level designers how they can create complex brushes easily.
Editing Individual Brush faces in Quark Editing Individual Brush faces in Quark
21 Golden Tips for mapping with Half-Life 21 Golden Tips for mapping with Half-Life
How to make Caves How to make Caves
Creating Switchable Texture Lights Creating switchable texture lights is now possible and very simple to do.
Mitered Corners: The Undying Myth All too often, new mappers are told that mitering (or angling) the corners of brushes together will help to reduce r_speeds and is a general sign of good construction.
Scripted Basic use of scripted_sequence's
A Brief Look at R-Speeds A Brief Look at R-Speeds
Using Complex brushes Going a bit more advanced on brush/vertex manipulation
Water Tutorial In Half-Life, water is simply brushes tied to an entity.
Putting Sound Into Your Map Putting Sound Into Your Map
Making A Cave In this sample tutorial I will describe one of the best ways to create a cave in Terrain Generator
How to make glass How to make glass
LADDERS Ladders are a very essential part of any map, let alone cs maps.
Fences you can shoot through Here's how it's done
Special Effects A lot of effects can be created, fire, smokes, fog, sparks, lasers, blood. bubbles or even model shooter
Some tips on styling your maps Box rooms are boring. Spice them up!!!
Horizonal Bubbles How to place & control horizontally flowing bubbles in a map.
valve hammer xen i show you how make xen gravity and xen map
How to make a pop machine How to make a pop machine
Creating a Simple Respawn Room This tutorial will cover how to make a typical respawn/re-supply room.
The Glass Tutorial Whole texture transparency via the 'Render Mode' key
Platforms Platforms can move in any direction though defined paths and have rotation.
Player movement Some player movement related entities.
How To Make A Map With WorldPad (aka: WordPad) How To Make A Map With WorldPad (aka: WordPad)
Special Textures There are a number of textures that come with Half-Life that apply special properties.
The ultimate quick-guide to less clipnodes The limits of leafs and clipnodes have always been the most annoying to all mappers.
Mortar Madness How to create a mortar
Realistic Steam Realistic steam is really quite easy to make, its a wonder its not in more levels. 🙂
Team vs Team Balancing Tutorial This is quite advanced tutorial
Water, lava, acid Water, lava, acid, raising water, waterfalls. Some useful information about complex water.
10 most common Counter-Strike mapping pitfalls 10 most common Counter-Strike mapping pitfalls
Hallways Using the Clipping tool.
Sewers Sewers are quite easy to put together and can be explained fairly quickly.
Texturing Techniques Texturing Techniques
Scripting Tutorial #3 In this tutorial I will tell you how to make a zombie rip through a wall. I expect that you have read Vlad's previous two scripting tutorials.
How To Make Stairs How To Make Stairs
Advanced Map Making - Random looking Cliffs There are a few ways to make random looking cliffs;the three ways are listed here
Units, here is an ACCURATE scale to use when mapping, very useful. Units, here is an ACCURATE scale to use when mapping, very useful.
LEAKS EXPLAINED LEAKS EXPLAINED
Dark Outdoor Maps Put a little night in your map.
Resetting entities at the start of every round (Counter-Strike specific method) Resetting entities at the start of every round (Counter-Strike specific method)
Using Skys in Half-Life This article discusses the use of skys in Half-Life
Making a Ladder You can make anything into a ladder. even something slippery like a plastic fish.
Dimensions How wide, high, long can I make things?
Pitch Yaw Roll Demystified This article by Mr. Yuk discusses the use of the Pitch, Yaw, and Roll values (PYR) to make inverted models (and sprites) for use in mirroring a room.
Dimensions These dimensions apply to levels created with most editors, as long as the code for the player entities has not been modified.
Tutorial 7: The Func_train possibilities Tutorial 7: The Func_train possibilities
Compiling If you are using Worldcraft for the first time then it is probably best until you get a feel for things just to simply stick with hitting F9 and Enter to compile your map.
TFC Entity Reference TFC Entity Reference
The Origin Texture This tutorial shows how to use the origin texture
one-way glass transparent from one side, opaque from other side
Advanced Lighting This is a continuation of my Introduction to Lighting Tutorial
Stairs Build stairs complete with an angled bannister.
DoD Advancing Spawns DoD Advancing Spawns
How to make a Respawn room This tutorial will cover how to make a typical respawn/re-supply room
Tentacles! Tentacles!
WorldCraft Tutorials: Part3 This section will cover the basics of making a room. We will also look into making a hallway joining another room, and a door in the middle of the hallway.
Advanced Lighting (info_textlights & light_surface & improved sky lights) In this tutorial we'll explore the depths of texture lighting.
Compiling Errors A list and their solutions
Texture Application What I am going to discuss is the best way to avoid the error Bad Surface Extents and weird texture placement.
Long compile times and tips to improve them This tutorial is made to give a starting mapper some information about compile times and ideas how to improve them.
The Gmdm2 tutorials Part 3 Part 3: building a better boulder
Complex Door This tutorial will show you how to do a more complex door -- a multi-polygon door with a glass pane in it.
The Hallway how to connect two rooms with a hallway in Half-Life
Sky Positioning Sky Positioning
Simple r-speed tutorial Basic texture scaling and VIS-blocking
Introduction to QERadiant Introduction to QERadiant
Teleporters Build a simple teleporter
Useful Mapping Commands Put these commands in the console
Finding Coordinates Many people ask how to go about reading and finding the coordinates given when certain errors occur with ZHLT. Fortunately its not too complicated.
Making water that looks good Making water that looks good
More Complex Triggers Create a series of triggers that make an interesting scenario - an explosive elevator.
Creating Backpacks Backpacks are one of the most common things you'll be putting into a TFC map
General Level Building Tips and Suggestions General Level Building Tips and Suggestions
Map Overviews Map Overviews
water and liquids In this tutorial I'll show you how to create all kinds of liquids
Rotating Doors Third in the Mazymatic series, this time how to make a rotating door.
Pressure pad This entsystem lets you have a 'pressure pad' which toggles a light ON and OFF
How to make a de_map In this guide I will show you how to build a small but still playable de_map (defuse map).
Slippery Floors Put slippin' slidin' action into your levels. Or don't. In any case, it wouldn't hurt to know how this is done
A little inspiration Tips on good level Design for CS
Globals 1 An introduction to the env_global and how to use it to do cool inter-level stuff.
Mapping tips and tricks #1 This list shows tricks which can boost your mapping workflow.
How to make cliffs What this tutorial is about, is how to make cliffs in a pretty easy way.
How to use !activator How to use !activator
Worldcraft Tools I The basics of worldcraft. This tutorial is broken up in to sections based on what tool its showing how to use.
Looping Multi_Managers Here is an incredibly simple and often used trick to make a multi_manager fire something over and over.
Top Ten N00b Problems (And Solutions) After spending over a year now in the forums, it's obvious that certain questions keep coming up over and over. Here are some I have noticed, complete with solution.
Making rotating doors This is a simple tutorial on making rotating doors.
Shutdown-Style Map Tutorial This tutorial shows you how to create a Shutdown style gameplay,
Obscure R_Speed Tweaks MaxNodeSize, NULL, etc.
Cool Door Well that's all the doors that I can take so that's the last door
Remove - give - place weapons How to remove, give and place weapons in a CS map.
Realistic Steam How to make Realistic Steam in HL
TFC Class Limits TFC Class Limits
Chaincraft - Explanations - Part 2 Terms and tips for more succesfull mapping.
General editing stuff General editing stuff (note text and bg is white ^^)
Making a Rotating door Here you will learn how to make a door that open for real, rather than just sliding.
Proper Half-Life mapping - The Essentials, Leaks, and Beginner's Guide What I'm going to do is ram mapping etiquette into your skulls
TFC Mapping Frequently Asked Questions TFC Mapping Frequently Asked Questions
Scalable monster health / Player amount detector This tutorial covers how you can trigger certain events in your map according to the amount of players currently on the server.
func_doors func_doors
QERadiant - My First Moving Platform This tutorial shows in easy steps how to create a simple moving platform by using the func_plat entity
Creating Environment Maps With Terragen Creating Environment Maps With Terragen
Rotating Door Rotating Door
How To Make Arches (The Good Way) How To Make Arches (The Good Way)
Fun with monster_grunt_repel This tutorial is going to explain to you how to use the monster_grunt_repel entity in your level.
Three Important things/rules Three Important things/rules
Creating Proximity Doors Creating Proximity Doors
The Destructible Camera Tutorial This tutorial describes how to create a camera that, when destroyed, will no longer work.
Multisource Concept of the multisource entity explained, along with two applications of it.
Using Half-Life Skys in Worldcraft Below are the valid sky names and their corresponding lateral textures
Advanced texturing Open the texture selection tool. Noticed the different options?
Tutorial 5: Lifts, and more lifts... Tutorial 5: Lifts, and more lifts...
Half-Life Rain This tutorial file explains how you can easily add rain in your levels.
Setup Guide: Hammer A pictorial look at the configuration of the editor
Changing Hammer Change your Hammer splash screen
Compiling in Quark Compiling in Quark
Making a nuke Here, a button is pushed which triggers an alarm and eventually an air strike.
Rendering Properties This lists some brief explanations of the different rendering properties available to you in most of Half-Life's visible entities.
Render Properties Explains the rendering properties available to many entities. Also includes a fence trick (allow bullets through but not monsters or the player).
How to read a Compile Log This is a very basic tutorial about how to read a compile log
Lights This article shows you how to switch lights on and off and what each type of light does.
Trigger Events Between Levels Learn how to trigger events between levels using the logic_auto and env_global entities.
Making A Curved Corridor - Part 2 Making A Curved Corridor - Part 2
Using Sound You will need the ambient_generic and the trigger_multiple entities for this tutorial.
Bubble effect How to create underwater bubbles in maps
Arches simplified Step by step quick tut for making arches or arched doorways.
Skies This is a Visual Guide of the different sky textures included in Half-Life and how to add them to your map.
QERadiant Editor Manual Manual for QERadiant
Door with turning handle This tutorial demonstrates how to make a door with a handle that must be turned to open.
How to make a ladder How to make a ladder
How to make sprites more flexible If you ever played DOOM, you probably saw that the sprites can sort of rotate, but not lean, or look like they're on the floor.
TFC - Hide & Seek Maps Hide & Seek Maps
How to make a clip brush How to make a clip brush
func_ladder, func_illusionary - how to make a ladder Making a ladder is no big deal when you've done it once. If you havn't made your first ladder yet, this tutorial is made special for you.
HLCC- view compile log Makes it a little easier to view the compile log for winxp users.
Dropping the Flag in an Area for Points This tutorial explains how to drop a flag only in a certain area to score points.
Newbie's Guide to Doors lets take a look at how to create a door that slides across or up/down
R_speeds: speed vs. detail This tutorial is a must-read for any serious level designer. Kabaal talks about the crucial elements of making a level run smoothly on even slower computers.
Finding & fixing leaks every known method of finding and fixing those pesky things
How to Make Rain This tutorial will explain how to use the env_rain entity for making rain in Counter-Strike like in de_aztec and de_slap
Using the func_wall to improve framerates The func_wall entity is often used by mappers when they want to prevent polygon subdivision and encounter leaf warnings/errors
TFC - Command Point System - Warpath Style This tutorial will show you how to make a map like 'warpath'
Making glass brushes Making glass brushes
Xen Lighting How to 'naturally' light up Xen maps
Adding and Removing stuff using .BSP only This article will explain how to edit a .BSP file to add or remove items from the map, without needing the .VMT or .MAP file.
Elevators using func_train A basic elevator using a func_train and path.
Making Prefabs What are prefabs? pre constructed objects. in other words, objects people have made.
Security Cameras Security Cameras
General level design theory General level design theory
Basic Map Readme File Often overlooked, but essential, and nice polish
Cylindric texture alignment in Hammer 3.5 Short video tutorial explaining the process involved in texture alignmnet for cylinders
Creating A Usable And Destructible Mortar mortars that can be used by one team to bombard a part of the map with simulated mortars
How to make ammo bags in TFC How to make ammo bags in TFC
How to make a ladder A ladder in Half-Life is a combination of two things: the physical ladder which you see, and the invisible field which you can climb.
Adding Atmosphere A dialogue about getting horror into your map
The Texture Application Tool Texture Application Tool What is it?Where is it?What's it do? Here a picture of it and it's location.
Making a sliding door In this tutorial you will learn how to make a sliding door.
Rotating Door Rotating Door
Making Keys that unlock Doors Have you ever wondered why Half-Life doesn´t have a key system,
Light All you ever needed to know.
Advanced Shadows Advanced Shadows
Crate Prefabs This tutorial gives you an overview of the official crate prefabs.
Creating Basic Doors How to make simple sliding and rotating doors.
Creating a Streetlight with Light Cone Creating a streetlight with light cone.
Texture Face and world alignment Texture Face and world alignment
Map-Making Basics - Part 1 Map-Making Basics - Part 1
Glass Create a breakable, translucent glasshouse.
The Bendy Door The Bendy Door
The 'Busy Scientist' effect OK what we are going to do is, make a scientist go around a room and check computers, in an endless loop.
DoD Mapping Tutorial A video tutorial which demonstrates how to make a map for the original Day of Defeat modification using the Valve Hammer Editor
valve hammer multimanager valve hammer multimanager
Elevators, Moving Platforms and Trains - Moving Level Parts Elevators, Moving Platforms and Trains - Moving Level Parts
How to make a road, that dont look crappy How to make a road, that dont look crappy
Putting Water Into Your Maps Water is an often overlooked part of mapping, mainly when it comes to cs maps.
Netvis Tired of long compile times?
AllocBlock crash solution The AllocBlock section in the compile window will tell you how many allocation blocks you have filled. “64” is the most.
Detpackable Walls in Team Fortress Classic Detpackable Walls in Team Fortress Classic
creating basic doors This tutorial will explain to you how to create basic doors which can slide or rotate.
Detpackable Walls Tutorial Detpackable walls are a very common occurance in lots of maps, especially Valve-made ones
Buzzybots Mapping Tutorial Buzzybots Mapping Tutorial
Textured Lighting Textured Lighting
r_speed reduction methods This tutorial will explain to you how to reduce lag caused by r_speeds (polygon counts) in a Half-Life level.
How to make ladder How to make ladder
Func_weldable Create a button that needs to be welded before being used
Creating Ambient Noises How to put those ambient noises into your map, like drips, machines, and all those other WAV files in the game.
Angled textures Wall supports and wells
Compiling with Beaver It is a compile tool, you must compile a map before you can play it.
Getting started with worldcraft by Wills Getting started with worldcraft by Wills
The Hallway It seems this is a big stumbling block many people encounter - how to connect two rooms with a hallway.
Uneven Ground and Cliffs using the Triangle Method Uneven Ground and Cliffs using the Triangle Method
How to make breakable windows How to make breakable windows
Map optimization part 2 I will now show you what is vis leafs and how it will influence your map design.
Using the Multi_Manager Using the Multi_Manager
Carving What is carving in hammer and how to do it.
How to make realistic water How to make realistic water
Level Transitions An issue constantly surrounded in questions is that of level changes
How to make a rotating glass door How to make a rotating glass door
How to Make a Simple Door How to Make a Simple Door
Multiplayer Level design Treatise Treatise on general Multiplayer map design
Making Ladders and Glass Making Ladders and Glass
The Texture Application The Texture Application in Hammer
Random Event Generator Random Event Generator
Hint Brush Tutorial A great hint brush utility written by a friend of Relic25's
QERadiant - My First Rotating Door This tutorial shows in easy steps how to create a simple rotating door
Scaleing: Why it works. Scaleing: Why it works.
Applying Textures This is found in both tools on top toolbar, and its the green blue and brown icon on the left hand side of screen.
Random Prefabs This tutorial gives you an overview of the official random object prefabs.
Creating Custom Map Titles & Other Flash Things for Half-Life Welcome to the wonderful world that is Titles.txt.
How to use LeafMarker When starting out making maps most new mappers soon experience having a LEAK
R_speeds What they are and how to control them
Torching Open A Door (Half-Life) In the Half-Life: Uplink demo, at one point you see a group of grunts cut open a steel door
Rope, Waterfalls and Dripping Water. How to make Good looking Rope, and other useful stuff.
Rotating Light Effect How to make a Rotating Light Effect in HL
QERadiant - Basic Camera System This tutorial shows in easy steps how to make a basic camera system, with a camera and a monitor
Creating Environment Maps With Terragen Creating Environment Maps With Terragen
Adding Models to Counter Strike 1.6 map Adding Models to Counter Strike 1.6 map
Putting Monsters On Paths This article demonstrates how to make a monster follow a path until it's AI kicks in (usually when it sees a player).
Proper ropes/cables for lifts Using a sprite for a rope instead.
Leaks and how to fix them Leaks and how to fix them
Spirit of Half-Life entities In this tutorial I will teach you about the most important SoHL-entities.
Triangle Terrain 1: The Basics Cover any area you wish in some complex looking yet easy to make terrain
Detail textures in Half-Life Detail textures in Half-Life
Adding Glass to Doors This tutorial shows how to add translucent glass panels that move with the doors found in the Doors tutorial.
Connectivity Connectivity can make or break a map.
Easy Spiral Staircases Using the 'Arch' Tool This tutorial will explain how to create a spiral staircase with the 'arch' tool, eliminating the need to use the vertex manipulation tool.
How to make a door How to make a door
How to make your own credits How to make your own credits
Models and how to add them in your map A map is typically composed of 2 things; brushes and entities. But there are other things which make a map. These include models, sprites, sounds, etc.
valve hammer elevator update i do this update to elevator because the first was suck
Elevator with moving button The tutorial demonstrates how to make a lift whose button (seemingly) moves along with it
Lightvalues Lightvalues
Using Valve Hammer Editor to Create Worlds for Sven Co-op Welcome to the Valve Hammer Editor (hammer /wc) overview and tutorial.
Keypad Tutorial Keypad Tutorial
Sven Co-op: Mapping Setup This guide will prepare you for making custom maps for Sven Co-op in the current version.
Creating 2D Fog This lets you create either low-lying fog or a steamy haze floating just below the ceiling. It is an interesting application of the special sprites discussed in the other tutorial.
Brushing a pipe curve in Hammer 3.5 In this tutorial you learn how to create a proper looking curve for a cylindric brush object
How to make Usable Camera How to make Usable Camera
Advanced Camera Tricks Advanced Camera Tricks
Textured Lighting Textured lighting, when used properly, is by far the best type of lighting in most situations.
Setting up VHLT for mapping Setting up VHLT for mapping
Computer Prefabs This tutorial gives you an overview of the official computer prefabs.
Moving and rolling barrel tutorial This tutorial will explain how to make a rolling barrel that also moves (as seen in Blue Shift)
The magic cargo container This tutorial demonstrates how to make a moving cargo crate
How to Use the env_render entity How to Use the env_render entity
How to plant a bomb underwater! pilpaX sets us up the bomb - this time underwater!
Making domination-style maps This 'tutorial' (more of a list of entities) shows you how to create your very own domination map (as seen in Unreal Tournament).
Setting Up Valve Hammer Editor It took me a lot of time searching through the internet how to set up Hammer 3.5 and make it work flawlessly, and I never found a tutorial that had everything...
R_Speeds R_Speeds
Rain in Half-Life How to add Rain in Half-Life
NPC and Item Placement Theory NPC and Item Placement Theory
Making a Working Camera System Within this tutorial, I will show how to setup the entites needed to create a working camera system for use in TFC maps.
Creating a simple camera Creating a simple camera
Total Map Optimisation This tutorial helps you understand how the engine renders your map and how to improve the performance
The Mysteries of the Pak File... The Pak file Demystified
Blur effect Blur in Half-life? Is that possible? Yes!
HLCC Setup Half-Life Compiler Controller
Making NPCs do things - Scripted Sequences Making NPCs do things - Scripted Sequences
Chairs, Scientists and Barneys From the title of this tutorial you will probably assume that I'm just going to tell you how get scientists to sit in a chair.
Grates Very simple to do these are.
The Opposing Force Opening Sequence This tutorial explains the methods and tricks used to create the opening ride sequence seen in the Opposing Force expansion pack.
How to make a curve - the next step! How to make a curve
Making Your First Map With WorldCraft 3.3 Guy Montag writes up a great intro to setting up your first map in Worldcraft 3.3. Read on ye newbie! We won't tell if you advanced people learn somethign too
Standard Measurements (CS) These are the standard Measurements, taken from cs_mansion which is practically older than CS
Half-Life Style Guide #1, Lab 1 This is a style guide from Dave Johnson that goes over the style and atmosphere building properties of the first lab environment.
Origin Brush This tutorial explains the use and creation of Origin Brushes. Origin Brushes are needed for any entity that rotates.
Drivable objects Drivable objects
Advanced r_speeds Control With this method, you can almost double your detail level and your r_speeds won't even blink
QERadiant - Vertex Manipulation This tutorial shows you three different ways to manipulate brushes
Importing Models and Textures How to import Models and Textures from other Mod's
How to Install Valve Hammer Editor 3.5 for Counter-Strike mapping This tutorial will explain in the even least details about how to install Valve Hammer Editor.
Making glass brushes Making glass brushes
using a keycard to open a door keycard must be picked up for door to be openable
Hammer Editor Tutorial #2 - Navigation In this Tutorial we'll explain you how to navigate the Hammer Editor. You'll learn more about the functions of the Tools and the handling of the Editor.
The Rustmill Effect This demonstrates the effect used in the Rustmill map
Get Learned! - Install I want to make CS maps but don't know where to start
Cropping technique... apply images to brushes with no seams
Usable machine guns Note that this is the same ways to make gun emplacements in all mods
Entities (old SnarkPit) Entities (old SnarkPit)
Compiling tips Compiling tips (note the text and bg are White ^^)
QERadiant - Creating A Basic Rock-Wall This tutorials shows how to create a simple rock wall by using different kinds of vertex manipulation
Add water you can see through Making look-through able water
Triggering sounds and messages This tutorial will show you how to display messages and play sounds fromwithin the TF entities
Setting up Worldcraft for Mods This article details the process that must be taken to configure Worldcraft to create, compile, and run maps for any Half-Life mod.
The Grate Tutorial Partial texture transparency via the 'Render Mode' key.
How to reduce polys How to reduce polys
Make a Ladder Believe it or not, you make ladders with the func_ladder entity
Gensurf Explained Gensurf is a wonderful program that can generate realistic terrains for your levels.
Triggers This is a guide on how to use triggers
Detailing Maps How to keep even the simplest architecture looking good.
Useable Prefabs This tutorial gives you an overview of the official useable object prefabs.
Connecting Two Rooms Connecting Two Rooms
Worldcraft and Counterstrike This is a comprehensive walk-through for setting up Worldcraft for Counterstrike editing.
QERadiant - Ground With Triangular Brushes This is small tutorial which should show you how to make a ground out of triangular brushes.
Cycler entity submodel+light additional functions When you work with models in your map usually you use cycler entity, having a fiew submodels or model that can be light incorecly can be a pain to work with
Tetrahedron Terrain A more low-poly solution for triangle terrain
Cutscenes and Action Control Camera, text and animation. Spawners, monsters, player and environment control
Using Valve Hammer Editor to Create Worlds for Counter-Strike Welcome to the Valve Hammer Editor (Hammer /WC /VHE) overview and tutorial.
Worldcraft 2.0 and Half-Life Texturing This article goes over the different facets of textures and texturing as related to Worldcraft 2.0 and Half-Life
Collapsing Walkway I will demonstrate one of the possible ways to create a Collapsing Walkway.
Making a res file Res file is very important for server admins.
Rain Rain for Half-Life
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
Map-Making Basics - Part 2 Map-Making Basics - Part 2
NULL Texturing and boosting performance NULL Texturing and boosting performance
Hint Brushes What are they?
Laser and Beam Effects Explains how to set up the moving laser trick, as well as some things that can be done with circular beams.
Map optimization part 1 Introduction to optimization.
Simple sequence of events Using a multi_manager
Getting background sounds to loop Getting background sounds to loop
How to configure Valve Hammer Editor for Counter-Strike 1.6 mapping How to configure Valve Hammer Editor for Counter-Strike 1.6 mapping
Creating Buttons You can create all sorts of buttons, activated by triggers, or simply by touching or using it.
A beginners guide to CS 1.6 mapping So I’m now going to try to teach you how to make your first map. There are already some tutorials out there, but for those who can’t find it or don’t understand it: here’s mine. Good luck on your first map!
Taming the Speaker Entity Taming the Speaker Entity
Basics of Entities - Adding and Editing Entities Basics of Entities - Adding and Editing Entities
Half-Life Teamplay This tutorial demonstrates how to create team oriented levels without resorting to TFC. Half-Life's game entities open up a new world of possibilities.
Advanced Compilation ZHLT and Vluzacn's Compile Tools guide. Light, shadow and brush control. Clip types. Mirror.
Curve Tutorial Tutorial for making curves
Advanced Terrain Creation Advanced Terrain Creation
In the Beginning Part 2 Walls and Halls: life after the cube. Make another one and connect them with a corridor.
On textures and wpoly (128, 256 or 240, which is the best?) textures and wpoly (128, 256 or 240, which is the best?)
Game_player_equip tutorial I thought I'd make a thorough tutorial for the game_player_equip entity
Doors and windows Doors and windows
Alternative rocks/desert technique This tutorial shows how to create terrain environments by splitting your brushes into triangles and doing safe vertex manipulation.
How to make an Ammo pack This small tutorial explains how to make an ammo pack for a TFC map.
Texturing Your Room Texturing Your Room
Adding and Loading Textures and Custom Textures Adding and Loading Textures and Custom Textures
Basic terrain mapping in Hammer 3.5 Video Tutorial covering basic terrain mapping in hammer
How to get (almost) perfect texture rotations This tutorial applies to the Hammer Editor 3.5
Level Transition Simple transition between maps.
Triangle Terrain 3: Optimising Terrain Adding, removing and optimising those triangles
Making Your First Bomb Defusion Map With Hammer Making Your First Bomb Defusion Map With Hammer AKA WorldCraft
Creating Keen Arches Want to make arches in your map? Stuck on that pesky old vertex tool?
Security Cards Get the card - without it the door won't open. Another look at Globals and Multisources
In Depth: Level Transitions Level transitions (using the trigger_changelevel) are an often misunderstood aspect of Half-Life editing.
Creating A Locked Door This article describes the process used for creating a door that can be locked and unlocked through the use of the func_button, trigger_relay, and multisource entities.
Complex cliff faces (faster alternative method) Make complex rocks without the errors!
How to load a map (.bsp file) in-game Basic tutorial on using the command line or console to run a map.
R_Speeds What is it all about ?
Getting Started Getting Started with Worldcraft
Trigger_camera This is by far one of the coolest and most difficult entities to master. With our help, you just might get a handle on it. Read on!
Grunts and Gun's Grunts and Gun's
Texture and Lighting Now that you've created a couple of rooms, it's time to think about textures.
Sky tweak How to keep the r_speed down? Its pretty simple... We use the same method as the weaponmodelers do. Hide the backface.
Making realistic Trees Making realistic Trees
Complex geometry:part 2 I will now show how to use the vertex manipulation tool
Half-Life Compilers Somewhat Detailed Explanation of Half-Life Compiling Tools And/Or Techniques
Land Mine Effect How to simulate land mines
Leaks Everyone experiences them. Everyone hates them. They're the frickin' level leak. Below are some causes and effects, and a number of ways you can deal with leaks.
Lighting And Compiling Lighting And Compiling
Creating Overviews How to create those in-game overviews
Using prop models in SC Using prop models in SC
How to setup hammer for cs mapping This guide is going to show you how to setup hammer for making cs 1.6 maps
Read Me First A long winded look at mapping
Door with turning handle This tutorial demonstrates how to make a door with a handle that must be turned to open.
How to make ambient noises How to make ambient noises
Multi_manager The multi_manager entity replaces the aging trigger_relay entity. The multi_manager can trigger up to 16 different entities at set time lengths
SKIES SKIES
More Doors Well this is even more door for you to build
Creating Proximity Doors Creating Proximity Doors
valve hammer teleport valve hammer teleport
Window lighting trick Making rooms look better
Making New Buttons for Your MOD Allows you to add custom buttons to your MOD
Seamless Teleports Seamless teleports are incredibly useful for connecting two maps that would otherwise overlap with each other
Triggering Things upon Player Death How to use some more advanced game entity behaviour to trigger things upon the death of a player.
Gib Item List list of gibs available in goldsrc
Worldcraft2 / the interface Worldcraft2 / the interface
How to Make Steam + Non-Steam HL1 Maps A little tutorial on how to make Half-Life 1 maps by HLCRAZY
The AAATrigger Texture This tutorial shows how to use the aaatrigger texture
Leakage Leakage
Half-Life Animations Turn those demos into avi, gif, or other movie formats
The Rustmill Effect The Rustmill Effect refers to the effect created in the Rustmill map
Long Compile Times and Tips to Improve Them Does your map take too long to compile? Lacos delves into the reasons why, and what you can do to speed things up!
Creating Atmosphere Goes without saying this is important, it can make or break a map in some cases. How to obtain the right atmosphere for a map is very difficult.
Making Glass An often asked question is How do I make glass?
A beginners guide to mapping: Part 2 A beginners guide to mapping: Part 2
So you think Bots are stupid? C-S Bots are stupid as hell, and that's exactly why I've written this tutorial.
CS 1.6 Manually Displacement Tutorial Goldsource Engine Manually Displacement Terrain Tutorial
Mapping Technique Ever wonder how some mappers are able to bang out a regular stream of good quality maps, while you struggle along for months on the same thing? Its all about your technique...
QERadiant - My First Window This tutorial shows in easy steps how to make a glass window
How to make a waterfall I have seen a lot of people asking for how to make a waterfall, however, it seems hard to find a tutorial on google. Thus this one.
'Glowing' Texture Lights 'Glowing' Texture Lights
Making a skybox Making a skybox
Scripted Sequence's for Newbies part 2 Scripted Sequence's for Newbies part 2
Making a ladder Putting a ladder in your map is actually quite easy.
Rotating Light Effect Rotating Light Effect
How to make an APC burst through wall This tutorial shows how to make an APC (Armoured Personal Carrier) backup through a wall, the back door open, and marines rush out.
Level Design I will cover the process of level-making itself. In short, this tutorial will tell a beginning level editor how to make cool levels instead of levels that suck.
Tutorial 10: Func_tank - Making a Controllable Turret Tutorial 10: Func_tank - Making a Controllable Turret
QERadiant - Gate And Glass This Tutorial shows how to make gates and transparent and breakable glass
The 'Grunts busting through a skylight..' effect This tutorial shows you how to create the effect of human grunts dropping through a skylight into a room.
Adding a model into Counter-Strike maps Adding a model into Counter-Strike maps
Func_pendulum I thought I'd write a little tutorial since a lot of people tend to have trouble getting this entity to work.
In the Beginning Part 3 Basic Texture Application: Got walls and halls, now add some textures to make it all look great.
How to Add Light to Your Level In this short tutorial, you will learn to create a simple room and light entity that will demonstrate a normal white light.
The 'Healing the engineer' effect The 'Healing the engineer' effect
How to export RMFs in Jackhammer I've always hated that problem when Jackhammer would export the RMF incorrectly. This mostly applies for porting to VHE, and maybe other things?
Configuring Hammer 3.4 to use Steam This tutorial will teach you how to use Steam with Hammer
How to make great looking natural terrain by using gensurf How to make great looking natural terrain by using gensurf
Rotating Objects This article goes over the generic process of creating an entity that rotates.
Torching open a door In the Half-Life: Uplink demo, at one point you see a group of grunts cut open a steel door, presumably with an oxygene-acetylene torch. Here's how it was done.
Blocktober - Hard Duty (Design Process Tutorial) The first blocktober for Hard Duty is now arrived. See the workflow of the developers to have a better understanding how levels are designed.
Understanding vhe In this tutorial I will show you how to use vhe.
Barney’s Wizard Counterstrike mapping guides: Part 1 'The Basics' Barney covers the basics of mapping for Counter-Strike. Newbie or experienced user, this is a must-read tutorial.
Bringing your map to life Ideas and inspiration on how to change just another map into an awesome map.
Ladders how to use them in your map
Useful Console Commands A nice tutorial showing and explaining special console commands that can help the mapper
Changing the sky in your map Changing the sky in your map
WorldCraft Tutorials: Part1 This tutorial will cover the basic of getting WorldCraft started. Like how to setup your 'game configuration', 'build programs', and 'textures'. We will also recommend what programs you should use, like what compile frontend and what compile tools (build programs).
Basic scripted sequences/sentences tutorial Basic scripted sequences/sentences tutorial
How to curve,bend,arc almost everything How to curve,bend,arc almost everything
Glass A quick and simple guide on how to make glass for your maps.
Scripting Tutorial #1, Overview Actually, this tutorial goes beyond just enemies. As you will soon see, the scripting system can be interconnected with any entity you wish.
func_wall optimizations Using the func_wall to improve framerates
Teleports Teleports are a fun and easy thing to make.
Design Considerations for HLDM Part 1 Gamedesign theory for HLDM
Scripted Events - Using multi_manager Scripted Events - Using multi_manager
Making proper arches There are many ways to create arches in the goldsrc engine. But the method which saves the most polygons wins.
Invisible 'Use' Trigger Invisible 'Use' Trigger
How to use the env_message this will instruct you how to make your own custom messages appear on the screen during the game
Making Shoot-trough-able grate Making Shoot-trough-able grate
Func_rotating Have you ever wondered how to make a rotating propel on an airplane or simply a fan in a ventilation system?
Entity Guides TWHL's great collection of Entity Guides
Making a Capture the Flag Map This is a tutorial to make a map that the Allies or Axis need capture all four flags to win the round
Worldcraft 2.x and TFC This article outlines how to setup Worldcraft 2.x to allow you to make TFC maps.
TFC: Hunted! The Hunted style maps seem to be quite popular.
Keys Making Keys, and getting them to open doors
Creating your first map Many new mappers often come to forums just to ask how to create brushes, entities, or a whole first room. This tutorial is designed to answer those basic questions.
Player Units This information is here to help you create the right distances and heights in your levels when creating steps and jumps etc...
How to layout a map How to layout a map
Combining Brushes with a Text Editor Ever wonder how to combine multiple brushes into 1 big brush?
About Invalid Brushes About Invalid Brushes
func_vehicle complete tutorial func_vehicle complete tutorial
Textured Lighting Can you turn on/off textured lights?Well you can sort of.
One-way - two-way mirror tutorial This is a mapping tutorial that will guide you through how to create a one way mirror in your map
The Shrinking Effect Learn how SlayerA made the shrinking machine.
Making a Rotating Door Making a rotating door isnt as hard as you might think, its just a question of doing a little bit more than your normal door.
How to make a trigger If you are new to HL level designing and want to know how to make trigger, read this!
How to make a pop machine A pop machine. You've all seen 'em. You've all used 'em. How do you make 'em? Lemme tell ya.
Reference:Lab Setting This is a very short article on creating a good lab setting. It could do with re-working but I've kept here up for reference purposes till I get round to changing it.
Worldcraft 2.x for Newbies Here's a complete installation/setup/getting started guide designed for people to new to Worldcraft and/or editing
Hints: How They Work A very advanced technical tutorial explaining how hints are used in the compilation process to reduce poly counts and why they work.
xen healing pools healing pool as encountered in xen with full effects
The Clip Brush Tutorial Making and Using Clip Brushes
Style Guide #2, Lab 2 Style Guide #2, Lab 2
CHANGING LEVELS IN HALF-LIFE CHANGING LEVELS IN HALF-LIFE
Func_ladder Tutorial How To Make A Ladder
Worldcraft 3.3 FGD Format Changes This article outlines the changes made to the FGD file format as of Worldcraft 3.3. This will be of special interest to mod developers who want to make the most of the editing support for their mod.
chairs, scientists and barneys scientists placed easily and correctly in seats, barneys rotate in swivelling chair (as seen in half-life intro)
How to compile your map - The Basics Compiling a map can sometimes be the biggest source of problems associated with Half-Life/TFC editing.
Changing the map layout between rounds! A very cool and advanced idea here. How to make a map be different between rounds.
How to change views on join or team switch. How to change views on join or team switch.
Electrical Arc In this tutorial KungFuSquirrel tells us how he created the electrical arc in his map ns_eclipse.
Get Learned! Step 7 - Finish Line Get Learned! Step 7 - Finish Line
Adding water Water is very easy in half life.
trigger_hurt This tutorial will show you how to use the trigger_hurt entity.
Introduction to Hammer Editor and Mapping Introduction to Hammer Editor and Mapping
Locked Doors Locked Doors
Creating Skies How to put a sky in your map.
TFC - Hunted Tutorial Making a 'hunted' map is no small undertaking. The hardest part of making a 'hunted' map is the design.
Advanced Triggers In this tutorial, I will cover all trigger_ entities other than trigger_once, trigger_multiple, and those fully covered in other tutorials.
Mapping tips and tricks #1 101 Mapping tips and tricks #1
Get Learned! Step 2 - Plug It In Many new users of Hammer are so scared by the configuring process that they run away, never to come back.
The X-Ray Effect One of the things people have wondered about is how Gearbox achieved the x-ray effect in the of3a6 map
Antigravity lift There are 2 ways around this, one for SP maps and one for DM maps.
The Bendy Door This article discusses how to create the effect of a door bending and bulging before it finally breaks open
All scripted sequences for all models. All scripted sequences for all models.
Adjust the Respawn Delay This small tutorial explains how to control the player respawn rate. Setting this will make the player wait X seconds after they die before they can respawn.
Making an as map Just select the info_vip_start entity from the entity tool and place it next to the counter-terrorist.
Making One Way Glass If you happen to be making a corporate building super map, then maybe you want some funky 1 way glass in it.
Rotating door with glass pane Rotating door with glass pane
Squads How to make monsters work together as a team.
Making a cs map I will show you how to place hostage spawn points in your map now.
How to give Teams different names How to give Teams different names
Osprey Putting the Osprey (the aircraft that drops off rapelling grunts) in your level is more complicated than regular monsters. Read this to find out how to do this.
Setting up Worldcraft Setting up Worldcraft
Configuring Worldcraft 3.3 Configuring Worldcraft 3.3
Creating a func_tank on valve hammer editor in this video i will cover up how to make a func_tank for the one who you can manually controll it and the one who will be controlled by the engine.
How to make a Respawning Breakable Glass Window In this tutorial I will show you how to make a Respawning Breakable Window
Terrain Generation Options This is a simple little tutorial I've designed to help explain the terrain generation options TG offers
Forge Game Data Files (fgd) What is an fgd?
Tips For Faster Compiling Just some stuff that I know about compiling, that will speed things up a little for you.
Poly reduction - Null & Bevel This tutorial adresses what Null and Bevel textures are, and how they can greatly improve the performance of your map
How to make a curve How to make a curve
Func_button Func_button
Setup Guide: CS This tutorial takes you through the process of setting up Worldcraft so it works with Counter-Strike.
QERadiant - Rotating Glass Door This tutorial shows in easy steps how to make a rotating door with a glass window
Making your first room Ok, I was asked to make a basic tutorial for a simple room, so here goes.
Ground reflection tutorial with a bit of imagination you can actually fake some effects
Frequently asked Questions and Tips Frequently asked Questions and Tips
How to make a tip over pylon How to make a tip over pylon
Configuring the Editor Configuring the Editor
How to make glass This tutorial will teach you how to make windows.
Glass How to make glass
Hint Brush Tutorial Hint brushes are a powerful and often misunderstood tool.
QuArK setup tutorial for Wizard Wars QuArK setup tutorial for Wizard Wars
Making See-Through Glass Making See-Through Glass
About carving Become a lean, mean, carving machine
'Brushed' Art: Terrain A tutorial focusing on terrain and cliffs in GoldSRC
Monstermaker Tutorial Even if you know nothing about the monstermaker entity, do you think you could guess what it does? What did you say? It makes monsters? Well, that's partially right.
Rounded Corners another possible method, using Hammer
Vertex Manipulation 1 - The Basics and reshaping solids This tutorial will cover the basics of vertex manipulation and what shapes can do what.
Adding your own custom textures This tutorial will teach you how to add your textures to your map.
Rope, Water and Waterfalls Rope, Water and Waterfalls
Tank busting through a wall effect The effect I will demonstrate is, a tank smashes through a wall then starts shooting at you
Security Cards Here's a really quick tutorial about getting a key to open a door (there might be an easier way to do this but I found that this method works pretty well).
QERadiant - My First Elevator This tutorial shows in easy steps how to create a simple triggered elevator by using the func_door entity
Rock2-Style Map Tutorial Rock2-Style Map Tutorial
Tutorial 11: Seamless Level Transitions Tutorial 11: Seamless Level Transitions
The making of good grass in WC The making of good grass in WC
Tutorial 2b - Func_Train Lift, Multiple Floors + Lift Doors So want to make a Lift that travels over multiple floors?
The Half-Life .MAP Format The .MAP format for Half-Life is pretty simple to figure out, but for the sake of having an easily accessible resource, I've gathered the relevant information below.
Making A Room Once you have familiarised yourself with all the tools, then you can begin your map making.
Sun light Sun light and use in maps
Making a de map I will now show you how to make a defusal map. This is one of the most simplest tutorials here.
Using Valve Hammer Editor to Create Worlds for Un-Life So you want to make a map for Un-Life. Do you have the skill, and the time to make one?
creating skies This tutorial will explain to you how to put some outdoors into your level!
Doors and Switches - Basics of Naming and Targetting Doors and Switches - Basics of Naming and Targetting
How to Make a Rotating Door Before you can make a rotating door, you should know how to make a rotating object. Therefore, I'll cover this first.
Better Texturing Techniques There are simple ways to make your levels look more attractive and interesting with just texturing.
How to reduce r_speeds with rafters How to reduce r_speeds with rafters
INFO_TFDETECT Every TF map that you create has to have an info_tfdetect in it
Map optimization Part 3 In the last part, you learned how does vis work and how it influences your map design. This tutorial is divided in three parts to quickly show you how to optimize maps.
Setting up Multiple Objectives - multisource Setting up Multiple Objectives - multisource
How to make a fountain How to make a fountain
HALOS ON LIGHTS HALOS ON LIGHTS
Carving/Clipping Carving/Clipping
Prefabs and Monsters Prefabs and Monsters
Creating a Bounce Pad This tutorial will illustrate how to create a 'bounce pad' similar to the Xen Bounce Pads found in the original Half-Life single player game.
How to add a sky to a map How to add a sky to a map
Advanced func_breakable In this tutorial I will show you how to create objects with mutiple func_breakable's, which break in the way they would in real life.
Shocking the Ichthys Shocking the Ichthys
Trigger_teleport Tutorial Simple tut. for create teleportations
How to make a Breakable lab Lab fun, computer were always fun here's how to spice things up.
Grunts and Guns Turrets controlled by grunts? How about turrets controlled by grunts and players? Find out how here!
Pipe-Works (part 2) T- and X- junctions
The Ambient Generic Explained The following information / tutorial assumes you are comfortable working in WorldCraft with entities as well as have a working knowledge of where to place and how to access .wav files from HL entities
VERC Enityi Guide VERC Enityi Guide
What is vhlt If you are keeping up with the level design news for goldsrc, you may have heard of vhlt.
See-through and Shoot-through Brush - the CLIP Brush See-through and Shoot-through Brush - the CLIP Brush
Reflective Surfaces This is a good method to have a reflective surface in Half-Life
Your First Map - Basics and Controls Your First Map - Basics and Controls
One Way Glass This is actually easier to make than you may think.
Using the LIGHTS.RAD file for Texture Lighting PilPax has sent this great tutorial our way that outlines just how to use the lights.rad file for texture lighting.
QERadiant - Overview Of Rock Styles This Overview shows some examples of realistic rocks
Curved Tunnel Ceilings - Pipeworks Method Make a perfect curved tunnel ceiling using the arch, skewing, and clip tool.
WorldCraft 3.3 from the beginning WorldCraft 3.3 from the beginning
Set a Trap with Monster Maker This tutorial tells you how to set a trap whereby one or more monsters erupt from a wall or the ceiling to ambush the player
Single Player You want to make a single player map but overwhelmed by the thought of adding a plot, placing weapons and monsters and generally doing lots of hard work? Dont be.
Lifts (aka elevators) Between 2 floors
Creating Custom Skins for Models Creating Custom Skins for Models
Waterfalls I suppose all good maps featuring rivers in them have waterfalls.
How to create your map type How to create your map type
Introduction to Goals and Goal States To help you better understand the goal states
Item/Weapon Placement Item/Weapon Placement
GoldSrc Map Texture Tutorial - Part 7 SCROLLING Textures
Trigger_Changetarget The trigger_changetarget simply changes entities' targets and it is easily configured.
Map Compiling Theory Many people simply do not know or understand how and why a Half-Life map needs to be compiled.
Port mapping from cs:go to cs 1.6 Port mapping from cs:go to cs 1.6
Valve hammer scripted sentence tutorial how to make scripted squence
BSP to MAP \| BSPTwoMAP BSP to MAP \| BSPTwoMAP
Creating A Locked Door This article describes the process used for creating door that can be locked and unlocked through the use of the func_button, trigger_relay, and multisource entities
first Half-Life map with Worldcraft2 - Part 2 first Half-Life map with Worldcraft2
Stall Door Tutorial I will step you through making various complex objects and how to create complex shapes that look real.
MAKING PIPES Making pipes is quite simple yet a very overlooked method of enhancing your level.
WorldCraft Tutorials: Part2 In this tutorial I will guide you through the layout of WorldCraft, how it is layed out and what each of the buttons do.
How to make a grate/fence that you can shoot through How to make a grate/fence that you can shoot through
Creating an Evolution of a Map Archie explains in detail his process for producing the popular 'Evolution of a Map' videos he's created in promotion of SnC's mod The Core.
The Art of Ladder Making This is a short article which describes the proccess of making a ladder in VHE, and assumes you have basic VHE knowledge.
Invisible 'Use' Trigger how to setup invisible and useable triggers in Half-Life
Mapping terms definitions FAQ Collection of Mapping terms definitions FAQ
Blocking Areas So you want an area to be visible but you dont want peeps getting there?
The Advanced Compile Dialogue A brief description of the commands and uses of the advanced compiling screen in Hammer.
Compiling 101 Learn anything and everything about compiling, from the tools themselves, to parameters, and different methods to compile.
TEXTURED LIGHTS Textured lights then, many mappers swear by them and others just hate them.
PUSH YOUR MAP to the limits - FPS optimization and some other stuff. Today I am going to talk about all ways of optimizing your goldsource(cs) map FPS wise (or probably just about most of them)
How to make rotating doors with glass How to make rotating doors with glass
ambient_generic How to put background sound into your map
Making { Textures Invisible In this tutorial, you will be taught how to make the blue areas on textures e.g. fences, air-ducts and so on, and so fourth, invisible.
valve hammer trigger back again guy with another video wil be making simple triger
Multi-level lift, call to any level from all levels I had a massive headache trying to get this working, and after two days of trying various methods, I finally figured it out.
Making a one way window part #2 (breakable) Sam expands on the original 'one way glass' tutorial and shows us how to make it breakable! Woot!
Texture Lighting Learn how to use lights.rad to make your textures emit light.
How2Map - Half-Life 1 & Sven Co-op How2Map - Half-Life 1 & Sven Co-op
QuArK setup tutorial for Wizard Wars (part 2) QuArK setup tutorial for Wizard Wars (part 2)
Setting up QERadiant and the HL plug-in This is the one and only solution i found to get the plugin to work. It may sound a little exotic but it works!
Creating Player Spawns in a CS Map Where to put those pesky entities so that the Ts and CTs have a place to start in your map. Short and sweet.
Force fields Making simple, controllable force fields
Advanced Monstermaker Effect I made my beams work, so I figure I'd share the way to make a very unique and interesting monstermaker effect.
How to make a Retinal Scanner this tutorial will assume you already have basic mapping skills and know what a Aiscripted_sequences entity is
Blocktober - From Nothing To Something (Design Process Tutorial) In this article, see how Hard Duty evolved from a simple concept art on paper to a full fledged level.
Simple Camera Tutorial Simple Camera Tutorial
In-Depth: Getting started in Mapping Mapping for Half-Life
How to make a nice looking house! How to make a nice looking house!
How to Jump Over a Building In 3 Easy Steps How to Jump Over a Building In 3 Easy Steps
Ladders How to make a ladder. Clean and simple!
Windows and Transparent Objects Windows and Transparent Objects
How to make effective lighting How to make effective lighting
func_teleport func_teleport
QERadiant - Cutting This tutorial shows you how to cut the edges of a brush
Creating a streetlight with light cone Creating a streetlight with light cone
Invisible Usable Trigger This demonstrates how to create an invisible non-solid field
Trigger Events Between Levels Learn how to trigger events between levels using the logic_auto and env_global entities.
How to Setup the Endround Effect In this tutorial I'll show you how to set up a round based map as well as give you some extra info on the TFC endround keys.
QOOLE 99 Editor Introduction Tutorial This tutorial is meant only to teach the basics of QOOLE 99
Lighting Lighting your level
QuArK setup tutorial for Wizard Wars QuArK setup tutorial for Wizard Wars
Big Block Method of Error Finding What is the BBMoEF? Basically its a method of breaking your map down into different peices to determine which part is causing your problem.
Map Layout Theory for Counter Strike How to layout your level for Counter Strike
R_SPEEDS - PART 2 R_SPEEDS - PART 2
QERadiant - Arbitrary Sided Brushes This tutorial shows you how easy it is to create arbitrary sided brushes
How to create Awesome Lamps/Lights How to create Awesome Lamps/Lights
Realistic Shadows Technique to create realistic and precise looking shadows
Decals\Abziehbilder Making decals is easy.
Map Testing Procedure This tutorial will provide instructions on setting up Hammer to launch TFC maps correctly
Multi-textured surface Multi-textured surface
Übersetzung der Modelling for Half-Life.doc aus dem HL-SDK 2.2 German translation of the Half-Life.doc from the SDK.
Blurry shadows trick (used in cloudy maps) How to simulate cloudy weather, that is, how to make the shadows blurry
Polygon Reduction Methods Polygon Reduction Methods: A quick and dirty guide
Leaks Finding a Leak
Skies (2) This tutorial is designed to give you some general information on the sky properties in Half-Life.
Firebinders - The Text Chanmer Experiments Part 2 USE OF FUNC_WALL, EPOLY
Advanced geometry:part 3 In this tutorial I will shown you how to use primitives, prefabs and trims.
Firebinders - The Text Chanmer Experiments Part 1 TEXTURE SCALE ON LARGE OBJECTS, TEXTURE SCALE ON SMALL OBJECTS, TEXTURE ALIGNMENT, MITERED BRUSH JOINTS, BRUSH CONTACT
Making a proper sky for your map. Making a proper sky for your map.
Counter-Strike Mapping This mod offers such variety, its hard not to want to map for it. cs has many entities for its special objects as well as the normal hl ones.
How to make a beach How to make a beach
TFC - Dustbowl Style Map Dustbowl Style Map
In the Beginning Part 4 Basic Lighting: Got a textured room, so add some lights...
Elevator No. 2 This tutorial describes the process of making an elevator that can move between more than two floors.
Arches Make arches and curves the correct way
R_speed Reduction Methods High R_SPEEDS got you down? Check out Mr Deth's tutorial on how to reduce them.
Scripted Sentences Get those monsters talking.
Perfect Timing with Doors This tutorial shows how to get any doors , how awkward they may be , to close and open at the same time as each other.
Func_Wall, Func_Illusionary and Func_Wall_Toggle How and when to use these three entities.
QRAD Textures and the .RAD file This article is explains the concept of QRAD (light emitting) Textures and their relation to the lights.rad file.
Creating a Working Camera System Within this tutorial, I will show how to setup the entites needed to create a working camera system for use in TFC maps.
Difficulty levels chosen by vote and difficulty level dependant events Implementing multiple difficulty levels in a map with a vote in your map is easier than you think.
Advanced compile From now on, use the advance compile menu when compiling maps.To do this, just click on the expert button in the compile menu.
Doors with Glass How do I make a moving door with transparent glass sections?
Dod texture list Full list of DOD textures. Only usefull for map makers and editors.
Environment A tutorial that explains how to set up a sky, as well as how to light outdoor areas.
Making a vehicle Everyone wants a car these days, personally I believe if your wanting to pop in a vehicle then make sure its not the centre of attention of the map
INFO_PLAYER_TEAMSPAWN This entity is needed to allow the players of the map to spawn.
Making your first map In this post I will show you hove to create your first map.
Choose A Sky For Your HL Map (With Sky Previews) Ever wonder how to change the background sky texture in your map? Read this easy tutorial! Includes a handy list of envmap previews to show you what the different skies look like.
Textured lighting There are 2 ways to add lighting to your map- via entities, or textures.
Respawn Rooms Respawn rooms are a feature of most TF maps, if not all.
Terrain Mountains, Hills, Lakes and Cliffs
Introduction to R-Speeds The expression "r_speeds" is short for "rendering speeds". Essentially, it is a measure of how much is being rendered (drawn) when you are in any given area in your map.
Hammer Editor Tutorial #3 - First Room In this Tutorial we will explain you how to create your first room. You will learn to place one light and a player start and something more
Using ToggleFlag Properties Some of TFC's settings are done through special fields called ToggleFlags
Creating a Pond In this tutorial I'll show you how to create an irregular depression in the ground and fill it with water to create a pond.
Sizes and Scaling Keeping things to size can be a problem, for instance with counter-strike the player models were lowered so this made some maps look a big large,
Big List of Single-Player Mapping Tips Here's a list of useful hints and tips relating to single-player mapping
Reference: HL Monsters This article is here for reference purposes. With the release of HL2 its kind of defunct now, but it lists the HL monsters and how best to use them
Tutorial 2b - Func_Train Lift, Multiple Floors + Lift Doors. Lift2 - A func_train lift with attached Doors.
Adding and Changing Sky - 2D Skybox and Global Lighting Adding and Changing Sky - 2D Skybox and Global Lighting
How to make a thunderstorm in cs 1.6 map How to make a thunderstorm in cs 1.6 map
Custom Textures - Use & Including The old-fashioned way
How to trigger something after using a button for a period of time. How to trigger something after using a button for a period of time.
Func_train Tutorial A func_train is a brush-based entity that you can get to move around in some interesting ways.
Lighting Lighting
Neil Manke's VIS Tutorial - Smoke and Mirrors! Neil Manke's VIS Tutorial - Smoke and Mirrors!
The Opposing Force Opening Sequence The Opposing Force Opening Sequence
Shoot-through-able Grate How about a grate that a player can shoot through? Same idea applies to chain link fences, bars, etc.
INITIAL DESIGN The initial design phase of a level is very important
Worldcraft 3.3 Preview This is a short preview of the upcoming Worldcraft version 3.3
Creating an Ammo Pack This small tutorial explains how to make an ammo pack for a TFC map. It's basically an excerpt from my Respawn room tutorial.
Entities: Making a train In this tutorial, I will show you how to make a train in cs.
Fixing Fullbright and Black Void Glitches - How to fix Leaks Fixing Fullbright and Black Void Glitches - How to fix Leaks
Get Learned! Step 5 - Plumbing Get Learned! Step 5 - Plumbing
To new mappers - Tips To new mappers - Tips
Torching open a door In the Half-Life: Uplink demo, at one point you see a group of grunts cut open a steel door. Here's how it was done.
Making a button (lightswitch) how to make a button
Manipulating light in GoldSRC Lighting can be tricky sometimes, but there's usually a way out
Half-Life Map Entity Editing there is some map data that can easily be edited in any text editor (such as Notepad) without changing the compiled map - entities
The X-Ray Effect This tutorial explains how the X-Ray machine effect was accomplished in Half-Life: Opposing Force.
Airstrike a la Crossfire Brian explains how to create an airstrike like the one in Crossfire or DoubleCross deathmatch maps.
Flame Effect A quick tutorial explaining how to create a slightly more advanced sprite-based flame effect, using a multimanager.
env_explosion Tutorial A tutorial for add toggled explosions!
How to make pipes - Part 1 This time we will learn how to make pipes.
ZHLT RAD compile flag options -and the results ZHLT RAD compile flag options -and the results
Leaks! Everyone experiences them. Everyone hates them
Mapping Mentality This article goes over the sort of attitude you should adopt if you want to enjoy mapping and become good at it.
Env_Render A Simple Introduction This tutorial describes a simple usage of the env_render entity
Torching Open A Door (OpFor) This Half-Life: Opposing Force tutorial demonstrates how to make an engineer automatically torch open a door.
Scripted Sequence #4, the Seesaw of Death The first thing I'd like to say is that if you haven't read our previous three scripted sequence tutorials, you should do so before attempting this one.
Map Making Basics - Part 3 Map Making Basics - Part 3
The Osprey How to set up an Osprey and make it fly properly.
Doors With Glass Another common question is about making doors with transparent glass in them. This article explains how it's done.
Dead NPCs for HL1 and CS Need some corpses for your maps? Read on.
Taking better screen shots This guide shows you the two ways to take screen shots and how to remove the hud
Poly reduction - Tips & Tricks 01 This tutorial addresses the issue of polygon cutting, a dreaded issue that can greatly decrease the performance of your maps
Angular Velocity and Rotating func_trains Angular Velocity and Rotating func_trains
Customizing the lights.rad File Customizing the lights.rad File
creating ambient noises This tutorial will explain to you how to insert and use ambient_generic entites to put ambient sounds in your level.
Cel-Shade Brushes How to add a constant black-outline to brushes!
valve hammer 3.5.1 tutorial 1 how to cinfigure hammer for half life 1 or opposing force and the same thing for blueshift download hammer 3.5.1 and fdg file
Half-Life Unit To Real-Life Unit Conversion Want to map something to scale and you need to know the mapping to real life unit conversion ratio?
R_Speeds R_Speeds
Creating a dark environment. Creating a dark environment.
Multi_manager Looping Made Easy Looping a sequence using multi managers without the fear of a map crash. Also with an example on how to loop with multiple multi managers.
Creating a simple camera Ever want to have a camera in your map, so that users can scope out the enemy? Like the ones in the truck in Assault.
Reflective Flooring Well it isn't really reflective flooring :P, its a work around of it. But never the less is can be achieved and what's more, the r_speeds can work out ok
Stripping the Weapons from Players A tutorial about how to strip weapons from players at the start of a round. Useful for structured PA or KA maps.
Skewing textures in Hammer A trick that allows you to skew textures in Hammer instead of just rotating them
Making a deathrun map Making a deathrun map
Climbing a wall ledge But I dont have hands...
TFC - Rock2 Style map This tutorial will show you how to create a map like rock2
How to group objects How to group objects
Compiling Part 1 What is compiling?
Trigger at round start Trigger things at roundstart
Making an oldskool de_aztec bridge This tutorial will teach you how to make an old-school de_aztec bridge. (shoot through, but walk-over)
Sizes in cstrike Sizes in cstrike
Quick Guide to Making Simulated Fog for HL A quick and concise guide to making fog in a Half-Life level.
Capture the Flag Tutorial the game setup entities, the flags and the capture po
Random Event Generator This article describes the process of creating a random event generator. Idea originally by mazemaster.
Mirror Floor (or Wet floor) This tutorial will explane how to make a mirror floor.
Water Trickle Water Trickle
Creating a side mound You'll notice on some maps hilly areas, in certain places, the only map using it that I can currently think of is dust, and its barely noticeable, but its there.
trigger_changevalue and env_render a little 'tutorial' what trigger_changevalue can be used for
In the Beginning Part 6 Monsters: Adding Barneys, grunts and aliens brings your map to life. This is a basic guide.
Level Transition Simple transition between maps.
Resetting Entities at the Start of Every Round (Part 1) Learn how to reset entities at the start of every round, so those lights are off again, doors shut, etc.
How to make ladders How to make ladders
How to create realistic looking shadows (ZERO coding!) I don't think I've ever seen a tutorial - discussion about this before, so hopefully it will be useful
DoD Object Objectives DoD Object Objectives
Detail textures What are detail textures?
func_door - How to make sliding doors func_door - How to make sliding doors
The X-Ray Effect One of the things people have wondered about is how Gearbox achieved the x-ray effect in the of3a6 map.
Mapping Hints Small collection of Mapping Hints
Making .mat files Making .mat files
69th Vlatitude FAQ long list of 69th Vlatitude FAQs
Visual Sprite list A visual representation of 128 sprites.
How to make pipes - Part 2 This is part 2 of the pipes tutorial, and in this part I'll try to teach you how to make a pipe that actually bends.
TFC - CTF map CTF map
Moving doors with transparent glass Moving doors with transparent glass
Elevator Level Transition The level change in this tutorial is only one way. Here is the basic setup. You walk into the elevator, push the button, the doors close and the level changes.
How to Make the Screenshot for an Overview How to Make the Screenshot for an Overview
ITEM BALANCE ITEM BALANCE
DoD Spawn Protection DoD Spawn Protection
QERadiant - Doors With Glass This tutorial shows in easy steps how to create a moving door with a glass window
TFC - Command Point System - Canal Zone Style This tutorial will show you how to make a map like 'Canal Zone 2'
Train Madness About trains and how to use them
Using the Clipping tool In this tutorial, you will be taught how to clip objects, using the Clipping tool.
Basic Teleporter with Effects Teleporters with sprite and sound effects are quite easy to construct.
func_train - how to make a train func_train - how to make a train
Complex geometry:part 1 Now I will show you how to use the clip tool and how to make doors, windows, etc.
Murderball Tutorial This tutorial shows you how to create a Murderball style gameplay
Firebinders - The Text Chanmer Experiments Part 4 FLOORS & CEILINGS IN A ROUND ROOM, TEXTURE SCALE ON SMALL OBJECTS
controllable crane crane can be moved incrementally as button is held down
Scripted Sequence's for Newbies part 1 Scripted Sequence's for Newbies part 1
Introduction to Triggers in Entities Introduction to Triggers in Entities
Elaborate Elevators, Part #1 Elaborate Elevators, Part #1
Understanding the 'Clip Tool' This tutorial first goes over how to use the clip tool, then goes on to describe the many uses and abilities of this powerful tool.
Setting up Hammer 3.4 Ok folks, this little guide is going to get you set up with Hammer 3.4 (Formerly Worldcraft).
NPC and Item Placement Theory Some pointers on NPC and item placement
Door With Turning Handle This article covers how to make a door that has a handle that turns when it opens.
Perfect 90 Degree Curves The cylinder method!
Style Guide #1, Lab 1 Style Guide #1, Lab 1
Get Learned! Appendix Read the Help inside Hammer! It's surprisingly helpful. Don't forget to use the Index and Search tabs.
Detailing your architecture As with my last instalment, this is not so much a tutorial as a series of suggestions and hints. In it I will try to suggest some ways to add detail to a level's architecture in an attempt to increase its visual appeal.
The magic cargo container This tutorial demonstrates how to make a moving cargo crate (a func_train) turn into a hollow crate containing a squad of grunts. When the crate is placed on the ground, doors at one end open revealing the grunts.

Level Design

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