Official Helpful Stuff Thread

[SuperSumo]

here are some links to the programs people use to make custom stuff. have at them!

HLMV (with transparency support) (http://www.wunderboy.org/downloads.php) - hl model viewer
PakScape (http://tfc.kulturny.com/?action=file&id=116) - pak viewer/editor
Milkshape (http://www.swissquake.ch/chumbalum-soft/ms3d/) - model editor
Wally (http://www.telefragged.com/wally/) - wad editor
ZHLT (http://dev.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=zhlt) - zoner's hl tools, mostly for mapping
HL-SDK (http://dev.valve-erc.com/index.php?go=hl_sdk)
Hammer v3.4 (http://collective.valve-erc.com/data/docs/1039631978-44855700/files/hammer_v34.exe) - map editor
Batch Compiler v2 (http://www.fileplanet.com/dl.aspx?/counter-strike/countermap/batchcompiler200.exe) - GUI for compiling maps
Terrain Generator 2.2 (http://www.fileplanet.com/dl/dl.asp?counter-strike/countermap/terraingenerator220.zip) - terrain generator for maps
Sprite Wizard (http://tfc.kulturny.com/?action=file&id=114) - tool for making sprites
Sprite Viewer (http://tfc.kulturny.com/?action=file&id=115) - tool for viewing sprites and extracting BMPs from them
Gensurf (http://www.3ddownloads.com/showfile.php3?file_id=44070) - another terrain generator for maps
Font Maker (http://tfc.kulturny.com/?action=file&id=117) - A GUI for makefont.exe, easy fonts.wad generation.
WinBSPC (http://tfc.kulturny.com/?action=file&id=118) - Decompiles maps, although it doesn't work that well with HL.

Tutorial Wise...

Basic "How Do I Make a Sprite", maybe Dragline's stuff
How to use ripent/admin_mod to customize maps... (http://www.adminmod.org/help/online/Admin_Mod_Reference/Spawning_Items_Reference.htm) (maybe not the right forum)
Milkshape tutorials - http://www.polygods.com/tut_cat.html


FAQ Answers (contained in this thread)

Taking Screenshots of AVIs (http://www.thecatacombs.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=991#post14399)
Jump animations on the old models (http://www.thecatacombs.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=991#post490935)

Q: There's this really cool <something> in this avi, but when I try to take a screen-capture of it, all that shows up is this black box!

A: Well, you're not alone. Due to the way divx/etc movies are rendered, you can't take SSs of them using conventional means. Some players have a 'take screen-capture' option, use that if you can. Another option would be to use a program like HyperSnap DX (http://www.hyperionics.com/).

[OVERLORD]

I have written some basic skinning tutorials that can be found on my site. (http://shattered.recongamer.com/overlord/)

To date, there are only two tutorials, a very basic "getting started" tutorial for basic skinning, (http://shattered.recongamer.com/overlord/tutorials/basic/basic.html) and a small article containing tips for skinning with HLMV and PS. (http://shattered.recongamer.com/overlord/tutorials/advanced/advanced.html)

I will be updating and adding tutorials when I find time to do so.

Simple basic model texturing tutorial that I made

http://www.custom-tfc.co.uk/index.php?section=view_tut&t_id=11

[Nomad]

Originally posted by uBeR
Simple basic model texturing tutorial that I made

http://www.custom-tfc.co.uk/index.php?section=view_tut&t_id=11
well, I'm not sure if this kind of link would go under the websites section since it is basically part of the site... but they have several tutorials here: http://www.custom-tfc.co.uk/index.php?section=tutorials
particularly worth noting would be the transparency and teamcolor tutorials... as well as the ones by dragline and uber.
I personally would be very interested in more tutorials, customization and mapping are two facets of tfc I haven't tried/learned yet ;p

[SuperSumo]

Just thought some of you might be interested in adding events (muzzleflashes, sparks, sounds, and ejecting brass) to models, so I found out where they were in the halflife sdk and am pasting them here. I'll make a tutorial on them soon.

A sample line would be like this in the qc:

// 1 attachments
$attachment 0 "Bone01" 0.000000 -4.000000 0.000000
// 1 sequences
$sequence idle "idle" fps 15 { event 5001 0 "20" } { event 5004 1 "fly.wav" }

First, you need an attachment point, so thats what the $attachment is for. Second, you need to add the event to a sequence, so whats what the {event <number> <fps> <extra stuff>} is for. The event number for a muzzleflash is 5001, so thats why that event is there. The second even, the 5004, is the event that adds a sound to the model.

Like I said, I'll make a more easy to understand tutorial in the future.


Clientside events for viewmodels Extra Parameters

5001 Muzzleflash on attachment 0 Muzzle flash sprite path
5002 Spark on attachment
5004 Emit a sound Wav file path
5011 Muzzleflash on attachment 1 Muzzle flash sprite path
5021 Muzzleflash on attachment 2 Muzzle flash sprite path
5031 Muzzleflash on attachment 3 Muzzle flash sprite path
6001 Eject a brass shell from attachment



One last thing, the muzzleflash sprite is muzzleflash1.spr if you want to edit that.

[SuperSumo]

If you want your crosshairs sharp, use this command: vid_d3d "1"

[Unfor]

In light of several recent requests for default stuff:

Most of default tfc can be found here: http://www.tfcustomized.com/?page=defaulttfc

I would also like to remind everyone that the new .gcf files have every aspect of tfc incorporated into them, including textures/models/sprites. Therefore, if you just delete whatever you downloaded, it should revert back to default.

[Unfor]

dragline's personal cell shading tutorial: you'll need milkshape obviously to do this.

once in milkshape, you'll want to go to tools ---> kratisto's hl model decompiler, and decompile all your models (be sure to leave all boxes checked, i.e. qc file, bitmap textures, etc). then go to file---> import---half-life smd--> browse and find the reference smd (it usually has reference, or template, or something in it. in the case of player models, it is usually just named the name of the model, i.e. sniper.smd or whatever)

ctrl-a - selects all your vertices/groups
ctrl-d - duplicates the selection (in our case, everything)
fatboy - creates a slightly larger version of our selection (we'll need this to create a true outline, otherwise, the outline won't be visible because it is the same size as our model).
ctrl-shift-f - inverts the vertices (i think, we need this, otherwise we'll just have the same model that is slightly scaled greater than the original and is 2x the poly count)
texture - create an 8x8 (or one that has its dimensions divisible by 8, i.e. 64x64) black bitmap file. make sure it is 8-bit and in indexed mode. we assign this to our duplicated, scaled, inverted part. go to materials, select the texture (make sure that only our duplicated part is selected) and then hit assign.


[edit]:

to remove cellshading:

simply decompile the half-life model, and import the reference smd (as mentioned above). take a look at the control panel at your right. it should have 4 different tabs. model, groups, materials, joint. we only want to have to deal with, groups, and materials.

first, click materials. delete the plain black texture bitmap, you should notice a change in your 3D viewpoint if you have the "textured" option selected. the material will unassign itself once it is deleted. next, go to groups. we want to delete the group that the black material was assigned to. take a look at the different groups and take a guess which one is the right one. it shouldn't be too hard because it should be the only one that doesn't have a material assigned. well, click on it, select it, and hit your delete button. you should be done. right click in your 3D viewpoint (usually the bottom left one, by default) and click on textured. you should see the model as it would look without cell shading. if not, you've messed up somewhere. remember that if you accidentally delete something by accident, you can always go to undo last step (an option that allows you to trace back several steps), and start over. well, if you haven't messed up, you should be in good shape. now, go to file ---> export half life smd, and overwrite the OLD reference. make sure you do this, otherwise it won't work. you can't save it as a different name or it won't work. also, remember to always save it as a REFERENCE. sequence smds are animations, and we don't have to deal with them (and we don't want to). now, since all your stuff is saved as the the right name. go to tools ---> half-life---> compile .qc file (our qc file is basically the set of instructions that arranges every aspect of the model and puts it in order for us. we don't have to edit it so don't need to know too much about it.) once you hit compile .qc file, browse for your .qc file (there should only be one, unless you're decompiling all your models in the same folder...which is generally NOT a good idea). anyway, select it, and it will take a few moments to compile based on your computer. go to the folder, and take a look at your file; it may overwrite the old .mdl file you had, or if the .qc file had it saved as a diff name, you may have to rename the file. in any case, you're done.

[Unfor]

glowing models tutorial

http://bombclan.recongamer.com/zero/glowingtutorial.html

[Vr_]

Q: how do you play music in TFC? (like when tfc is loading, and also in game)

A: mp3s can go in the root of the folder (team fortress classic/tfc)
for background mp3, put an mp3 in /team fortress classic/valve/media and name it gamestartup.mp3
[if you dont hear anything check "bgmvolume" in your config]

[Vr_]

Q: Configs not executing class and map configs?

A: Try opening your config.cfg and adding: setinfo "ec" "1" & setinfo "em" "1"

[thx Milosenpotion]

[Unfor]

thats what happens when the links are 1-2 years old, :D

[tice]

http://home.earthlink.net/~dragcity/

[Unfor]

update:

flag icons tutorial by ao

thread here: http://forums.thecatacombs.net/showthread.php?t=85656

It's fairly easy to do:

--First, you have to make sure that you are using bmp images.
--Second, though not absolutely necessary but a good idea, you should make sure that your images don't exceed 256 pixels in both height and width and that each image's dimensions are divisible by 8.
--If your images meet these criteria, you can then safely create your sprite.

--To create a sprite, simply open up Sprite Explorer and click on "Create a New Sprite."
--Then, click next on the screen that pops up.
--On the next screen, click "Add" to add the bitmaps that will be used for your sprite. If it's an animated sprite, you'll add several bitmaps here. Since we're working with flag icons, you'll only have to add a single bitmap (since it's a still image).
--Once your bitmap(s) is/are added, click on "Next."
--Name your sprite whatever you want. I suggest you keep the naming convention used by Valve, so name your new flag icon something like tfchud11 and click on "Save."
--On the next screen, you only have to worry about the "Texture format" section. Select "Alphatest" and click "Next."
--Click "Next" once more on the following screen and "Finish" on the screen following that.

--Now that your sprite is created, you'll have to edit the hud.txt.
--Open up the hud.txt file (located in the sprites folder) and search for the lines (note that the following is simply an example and that it may look different for you):
Code:

flag_blue 640 tfchud10 0 0 64 64 flag_red 640 tfchud10 64 0 64 64


--What you'll need to do is edit the four numbers on the right for each of the flag icons, which represent the icon's dimensions (the first number being the left edge of the icon, the second being the top edge, the third being the right edge, and the fourth being the bottom edge).
--So, say that you created a tfchud11 sprite that is 128 pixels wide and 64 pixels high, with the red flag located on the left and the blue flag located on the right. Based on these dimensions, you would edit the two lines mentioned above as follows:
Code:

flag_blue 640 tfchud10 64 0 128 64 flag_red 640 tfchud10 0 0 64 64


--The lines are edited this way because based on our dimensions, each flag is 64 pixels wide and 64 pixels high (that's assuming that the icons are centered properly in the image). So, the blue flag's width dimension begins at pixel 64 and ends at pixel 128 (based on the sprite that we created), while the red flag's width dimension begins at pixel 0 and ends at pixel 64. Both flags' height dimension begins at pixel 0 and ends at pixel 64.

I don't know if I explained this properly, so let me know if there is something you don't understand.

[SuperSumo]

a lot of the links on here are dead ;\
Well...TFC is dying and people are moving on, letting their tutorials and stuff die on the internet. If people find updated links or new stuff at all, just post them in here. There just isn't as much good information on editing TFC anymore.