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From HalfLife 2 Knowledge Base

By Jota Flisk - chan_gremista@hotmail.com

Introduction

Here I'll explain how to create your first Half-Life 2 maps. If you already didn't create your MOD, read this tutorial: Modding_Intro.

The room

   What the world would be if there isn't walls?

To make a simple room of 4 walls, a ground and a ceiling, make 6 blocks. 4 will be the walls, 1 will be the ground and the other will be the ceiling. Change their size for you can conect them, making a hollowed cube. Make sure to don't let any leaks. What are leaks? Leaks are holes that conect the world of Half-Life 2 to the real world. If there is anyone, they game will crash. Then, make sure to fill them with blocks!

The information

   Where will I appear? And where are the lights?

The most important entity is the info_player_start entity. It shows where will the player spawn. It's only for SP maps. Add just one. To add an info_player_start entity, select the entity brush (it's like a lamp), select where will the player start, and them click the Right Mouse button and hit Create Object. It's done. But where are the lights? To add a simple light, select the entity brush, select from where the light will come from and hit Create Object. It's Done.

Compiling

You were noticed that your MOD don't run .vmf files and only .bsp files. So, you have to transform the .vmf to .bsp. To do this, click File/Run Map... Put this configurations:

   Run BSP
   ( )No
   (*)Normal
   ( )Entities only

   Run VIS
   ( )No
   (*)Normal
   ( )Fast

   Run RAD
   ( )No
   (*)Normal
   ( )Fast

   (*)Don't run the game after compiling

and it's done. Your map is working now.

Now, you are ready to start detailing Source maps. Go to the next step in this tutorial: Mapping_Intermediate