[Tutorial] Building Buildings (houses and stuff)
 

Building Buildings

other useful tutorial concerning buildings

[Tutorial] Building angled roofs (the Valve way!) - TF2Maps.net

[TUTORIAL]Angled roofs - TF2Maps.net


When we are done, the building will look something like this
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/6533/test0000c.jpg

Lets create our first room. We are going to start with four walls. I added a info_player_start entity so I ket an eye on the scale.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/7768/tt1y.jpg
The walls are 16 units thick, Please try not to go below it or weapons models can stick through walls. I am using nodraw textures, but you are free to use any texture you want.
http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2852/tt2z.jpg
For those wondering, the “room” is 256x256x256 units big, but in the final version (as seen above), I increased the height (because it looked better).
doors and windows
Now for some doorways. Create a prop_Static and find a nice doorframe model for it. In this case I used models/props_farm/doorframe001a.mdl, but others will do fine aswell. Also I recommend you disable the shadows. Now place the doorframe inside the wall, you can’t see the doorframe anymore, but don’t worry, we are going to fix that. From here on I have my grid side set to 8.
http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/8408/tt3i.jpg
Find the 2d view in wich the doorway-wall faces you, now take the brush and duclicate/move/resize it so that it surrounds the doorframe. You don’t have to do it the way I did, you can also make 2 long vertical pieces and a small bit above the doorframe.
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/3826/tt4.jpg
Do the other walls as well. Remember you can also place windows and even a combination of window(s) and doorframe(s). The window model used is models/props_forest/windowframe002.mdl. but again , you are free to use any window model you like.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/1010/tt5b.jpg

adding a roof

Create a brush slightly longer that than the wall beneath it, I have it sticking out 8 units. Now open up the vertex edit tool and change it in a half-rook-like structure like below. I keep the height:width ratio to about 1:2
http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/9308/tt6y.jpg
Not how the upper end is vertical and the lower end is horizontal. Now copy this brush and rotate it 180 degrees and put it against the original one. Now we are only left with a triangular hole. Add a brush the width of the wall below it and vertex edit it into a triangle
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/243/tt7.jpg
Now our roof is done
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3571/tt8x.jpg

Now we have a simple building.
http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/4392/tt9p.jpg

extending the building
We have a building, but it is a bit boring. We don’t want a simple shape building, we want a irregular shaped building.
http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1258/tt10l.jpg
It is very simple, just repeat the step done above. You basicaly create a smaller three-walled build right next to it. Make sure the new roofs are parallel to the old roof. If the extension is on the side of the old building, you should use “half-a roof” as seen in the image above. Make sure it the original building and the extension are connected through a doorway frame. If you don’t want the extension to be accessible, make it apparent
http://img692.imageshack.us/img692/1461/tt14.jpg
Now, to extend to the top, create a platform on top of a ceiling and use that as a floor for a new mini-building. Just create a triangular brush on top of the roof
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/8207/tt11.jpg
Now you have your platform to build on
http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/6123/tt12.jpg
After extending a bit extra, this is what I created
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6664/test0001.jpg
And because I can, here it is with different textures. (textures aren’t aligned and the viemodel is visible, but you get the picture)
http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/8473/test0002.jpg

Support
For this part of the tutorial I will use this half-constructed house, so we can easily see the inside. I used dev textures so you can easily see what is what. Blu=walls, red=roof, orange=support.
http://i50.tinypic.com/2yo8h9u.jpg

Support can be placed both on the inside and on the outside, I personnaly prefer only putting it in the inside.
We start by creating an outline inside the original building. I kept the beams 16x16 thick but you can experiment and see what you like most.
http://i45.tinypic.com/14qwsk.jpg

if you building is long/wide enough add additional pillars and beams.
http://i50.tinypic.com/t4teyu.jpg

optional, I like to do this. Add something on top of the support. I think it makes it look better, but the building will look smaller from the inside. Adding some cracks to it is a great effect
http://i46.tinypic.com/25iun7p.jpg

Now add more beams in the smaller empty areas. (empty = no window or door)
http://i49.tinypic.com/25996o2.jpg

overlays
this one is simple, quickly overseen, but makes everything so much nicer.
to find overlays, simply type overlay in the filter of the material browser and tf in the keywords field.
It is hard to overuse overlays, this actually a bad example the overlays are far from seamless. I used the stain* overlays here.
http://i47.tinypic.com/fd9cox.jpg
Also use these overlays on the outside.

On the outside put a nice company name and more overlays. One overlay I found quite a lot in good maps was the patch overlay, feel free to use it. (also use it to mark where ammopack and medkits spawn.)
http://i48.tinypic.com/2vj4f20.jpg


count the overlays.
http://i50.tinypic.com/r9ny1d.jpg

props
I cant say a lot about this one, find some props you think fit in and place them in corners and leaning against walls.

Wow this looks quite useful.
So you said this may become a series can i ask what's next in the series?

Yes, you may ask.
I don't know when I am going to make the next one. I'm guessing it will be next week depending on how busy I am.

Also: I'm taking requests

nice

one suggestion though:
could you implement at least a short description on how to optimize the building (place areaportals or even hint-brushes, what to func_detail etc..) ?

Basically, you put an areaportal in each window and doorframe. You func_detail anything that doesnt block visibility, like the roofs, or support beams. I dont think that hints are needed there, you mainly need them in wide outside areas, no sense to put them in a single house.

I'd like to thank you for this tutorial-- I'm just starting mapping for TF2 and I'm having trouble creating things in the style of the game.

buildings like the ones in these tutorials are pretty damn see-though. It would bne best to just func_detail the entire thing.

That is pretty much true, but the problem that would arise is that stickies dont stick to func_detail

Er... yea they do.

oh crab, I just tested and indeed they do.

ewwww

Your texturing is horrible and you're making the roof all wrong

You're probably better off concentrating on elements of the buildings contruction, such as prop rooms, windows, doors, room shapes, roofs, all individually. Using existing official content as reference. But i'm sort of already tackling this myself i must admit.

Yes, I know the texturing is horrible. But how do you think the roof should be done?

As a supplement to this tutorial, I would recommend loading up your favorite Valve map from the SDK, find a building you like (say the big one at point B in gravel pit), and try to select it/dissect it/rebuild it yourself in a new file. It is often surprising how much brush work goes into making one building.

I believe most of that building is actually func_detailed, so you have to move it to the world first to really pull apart its pieces.

Okay everybody has been discussing about func_detailing.
I opened up some official maps in hammer, the results.
gravelpit: all buildings are func_Detail
dustbowl: the buildings are mostly func_Detail
badwater: only roofs and some support are func_Detail
goldrush: varies per stage. Sometimes everything exept the roof is func_Detail
badlands: the upper parts of the buildings are func_detail

there are quite some ways of handeling it. I think it should be left to the mapper what to func_detail and what not.

a little compare (it's dustbowl)
with func_detail
http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment...1&d=1257271031
without func_detail
http://forums.tf2maps.net/attachment...1&d=1257271031

Like so, [ame="http://forums.tf2maps.net/showthread.php?p=119968"][Tutorial] Building angled roofs (the Valve way!) - TF2Maps.net[/ame]

Alt+rightclick is a beast.

alt+right click can also cause the 'texture perpendicular to face' error and crash your compile. So if you will alt+right click, make sure to check your map for problems using the "check for problems" on the file drop down menu, to fix any axially mis-aligned texture faces before compile.

Hasn't ever crashed me :)

And for others, to check for problems in your map press alt+p

Update bumb

I added some parts to the tutorials. (everything from "support")
My original plan of making a series is officially dead, there just arent that much different themes. Instead I will give the knowledge I gained with the latest mini-contest.

hydro style, maybe? Or interiors

I'll see what I can do. I do not play hydro a lot, I dont think I even played it once after I started mapping, so I dont recall the detailing there. I will take a look and if it is different enough and I can reproduce it, I will make a tutorial. Interiors is a bit fage, I will see what I can find on that.