Hammer Crashing

General Development Source 1
#21

I think just as important as ctrl-s’ing all the time is remembering to make backups as you go. Yes, Hammer does autosaves, but it’s still something you should do yourself every so often. Just go and copy-paste the file on itself and Windows will add “copy” and a number.

I used to have the Flag tab crash all the time, but it hasn’t happened in months. The Model Browser “crash” still sucks. I’ve never heard of clicking in a 2D view and retrying to fix it. Worth a shot the next time it happens.

I don’t have many problems with outright crashes. I did notice that Bravado blew a gasket at some point on my old PC where every Object Properties seemed like it had to update and redraw itself for a second every time I clicked on something else. Brought production to a crawl.

#22

Use version control software.

#23

^ That
There’s cheap ones, and some that are free for small amounts of storage (and VMFs aren’t typically large). DKY’s debated me this before, but personally I feel like if you’re not using a form of version control for your project, you probably don’t really care about your project.

#24

You can also just use a free Version Control System that uses a local architecture. That is, one that doesn’t require an online repository to function (and stores all its files locally). That way, you genuinely don’t have to pay anything (though this comes at the cost of not having an external backup if your drive fails).

For instance, Git or Mercurial. Both of those don’t require an external repository (though you can use one if you want), which means you don’t have to pay someone to host your versioned files for you in order to use them. Plus both Git and Mercurial are free (and open-source).

#25

Or you haven’t heard about it before :stuck_out_tongue:

#26

Still better than Unreal Engine 4´s level editor.

Because in Unreal, you will be making 100% inside of an external modeling program.

#27

Because BSP is shit for anything other than basic, simplistic geometry. Every bit of technically impressive brushwork I’ve seen is only impressive because the effort it took to create it because it’s not mesh-based. Everyone I’ve seen who thinks Hammer is better than Unreal’s editor has an interesting quirk in common, in that they’ve worked almost exclusively in Source/GoldSrc, and has little to no modelling experience. Unreal has an excellent editor, in my opinion. But I think comparing it to Hammer is a bit unfair because Hammer is largely focused on its BSP construction aspect (I forget the term, but it’s got a name), whereas Unreal is a more comprehensive development suite. Not that I dislike Hammer, though. I mean it works. It’s got a bunch of shitty kinks and stuff that just shouldn’t happen but it does what it’s meant to well.

lol I debate this with @JeffMOD sometimes. Pretty sure we’re on opposing ends of the spectrum.

#28

We totally are, which I think it’s safe to say is due to my background with Goldsrc. You’re not the only one I’ve argued with about this sort of thing - one of my roommates and I had a disagreement about whether or not level editors should even have geometry tools. I can definitely see the application of mesh-based stuff for props and details, but the way BSP tools are structured is just much more intuitive for me in terms of making the low-level architecture.
There are ways to turn BSP into meshes, but they generally use a compiled map, and, in Source at least, the compile tools tend to create splits in the geometry based on gridlines which makes the resulting mesh hard to work with.

We need a VMF-to-OBJ converter that can strip out unneeded faces the way the compile tools do, but without the chops. :stuck_out_tongue:

#29

I should probably take the time to mention that BSP is mostly designed to work best with enclosed, indoor spaces that are generally cube-shaped (which makes sense, since most of the games back then were like that). Outdoor areas have a high tendency to defeat the whole point of the BSP geometry system, especially when coupled with PVS. This is why Episode 2’s outdoor areas were predominantly enclosed box canyons-- they’re outdoor, but also enough like the old boxy rooms that BSP still works decently.

Now that modern games have been moving more toward outdoor and open areas, BSP is a lot less relevant (from a visibility standpoint, at least).

#30

For what it’s worth, Hammer gives people like me - who have absolutely no experience in modelling, and doesn’t have the time or initiative to learn - a chance to create maps that we can be proud of.

#31

I would say I have modeling experience.
Still. Hammer is TIMES better than UE4 when it comes to blocking out a level. It´s the reason why HammUEr exists.

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