/level-design

A repo for designing the maps included with the mod.

Primary LanguageBatchfile

Warning!

This repository has not been actively maintained! In the past 5 years Momentum Mod has changed dramatically and the information here does not yet reflect the current state of the game. While we do plan to eventually overhaul this document to more openly reflect our current mapping standards for all gamemodes, that has not yet been done! Follow the advice below at your own risk.

Level Design

These are the assets and .vmf files related to the Tutorial/Campaign in Momentum Mod.

If you are a Source Engine Level Designer, Texture Artist, or Modeler who wants to get involved, contact us via our website: Contact

The most active place at the moment is the Momentum Mod Discord.

Mapping Standards

This guide exists for those intending to make maps for Momentum Mod, as well as people working on the Campaign Mode.
In this guide:

  • Setting up Hammer
  • Spawn
  • Triggers
  • Surf Standards
    • Ramp Sizes
  • Style Standards
    • .rad files

v0.02 - 01/14/19

Setting up Hammer

Install Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer and Momentum Mod first. Singleplayer does not work, you must install Multiplayer.
Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer MUST be installed to the C:/ Drive, it unfortunately won't work elsewhere!

  • Once installed, navigate to Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer/bin and open Hammer.bat.

  • A dialog should appear asking you to pick which Game Configuration to use. Pick any of these to continue.

  • In the Menu Bar, click Tools->Options, you should be on the Game Configurations dialog.

    • Click "Edit" next to the Configuration drop-down.
    • Click "Add" and enter "Momentum" in the input box.

  • Select the new Momentum entry from the drop-down box.

  • Next, click "Add" next to the "Game Data Files" text box and navigate to the momentum.fgd and click Open.

    • For "Game Executable Directory" click Browse and navigate to Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer and click Open.
    • For the "Game Directory" browse to the Momentum Mod folder inside steamapps/sourcemods.
    • For "Hammer VMF Directory", you can choose any folder you want, this will be the place you save the Hammer map files to.
      • If you want to use the Git to keep track of your files, choose .../level-design/map-src folder wherever it may be.

You may also want to consider changing the "Default PointEntity class" and "Default SolidEntity class" options in the middle of this dialog. Also to be consistent, set your default Lightmap scale to 128 instead of 16. This option is found in the Game Configuration tab. It is strongly recommended to do so as VRAD will take much longer otherwise.

To start Hammer use the Hammer.bat from Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer/bin folder as SteamPipe broke the SDK Launcher a long time ago.

Spawn

All that is needed for the spawn is the info_player_start entity. The Mod itself will handle fall damage and movement settings (for Surf and Bhop respectively). No other configuration is required to begin playing as long as your map has the correct prefix.

Valid Map Prefixes include:

  • surf_
  • bhop_

Triggers

  • To start the timer in game, use the trigger_momentum_timer_start Brush Entity at the start of the map.

    • Use trigger_momentum_timer_stage for every stage after the first.

  • Use trigger_momentum_teleport_checkpoint for the "death" triggers, this will reset the player at the last stage they entered.

  • You can either specify what info_teleport_destination to use or use none and the player will be teleported to the center marker of the stage trigger.

    • There is an option to reset the player's speed on teleport, so no clips are necessary.

Surf Standards

Ramp Standards

Ramps will be at a 5/4 rise over run slope meaning if your ramp is 640 units tall, then it will be 512 units wide. The ramps should contain a base of 64 units so the overall height will be 704 units using the previous example.

Here is a spreadsheet that gives you the height and width of ramps that follow this standard.
Using a step angle of 2.5 or 5 degrees is preferable when making curved ramps, but not necessary.

Style Standards

.rad Files

.rad files are used to create lights just above specific textures.

In the file is a list of texture path names followed by a light value on the same line (R G B Intensity).
You can insert these values into the lights.rad found in the Momentum Mod folder, or use a custom.rad file that will house all the custom values instead.
The second option is preferable as it is easier to keep track of the custom light textures and it also doesn't overwrite a default file. The downside to this is that you will have to use a custom build profile.

To do this:

  • Click the "Expert" button on the "Run Map" Menu and add -lights custom.rad to the $light_exe line. It should be added before the $gamedir $path\$file section.
    • The custom.rad file will have to be in the base folder to work.
    • Alternatively you can use the relative path of the custom.rad file.