Talk:Beginner Portal Map Tutorial

This guide seriously needs images. Also, it would be good if the image(s) were in agreement with the text; your text talks about a wall 8 x 512, yet the image shows a wall that is 1 x 8 (approx.) squares, which would put it roughly at 8 x 64 units... Alcator 12:54, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

• I agree that this guide needs more images. I might go through and add them, but let me say that 3 people I know have learned Hammer through this guide... two of them don't speak English as their first language, and none of them had any problems understanding it.
• To answer your issue with the image not matching the text, you are referring to an image far below the text that talks about the 8x512 walls... of course the image doesn't match up! That particular image is showing in very stark detail how people should align their walls together... not how large or even where the walls should be placed. RigorMortis 00:25, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Removed incorrect section about corners meeting at a point

I've removed an incorrect part of the article as not to mislead new mappers. Corners meeting at a point do not cause leaks.

Added template

I added a {{screenshot}} template because the creating a room section in the page seriously needs screenshots. (also because it makes the fact that the page doesn't have any screenshots more obvious) --Nathaniel 03:19, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Video Walkthrough

This tutorial would benefit from a screen recording of the process. Not with voice or anything just a recording of the process. I have just started using the Source SDK myself but was able to figure out everything. I'm just saying that I would be happy to make a recording of myself doing all the steps. So in a few days I'll get around to it, hopefully. --Yottabyte November 4, 2010

That is a pretty good idea, since there are no pages in the wiki that have a video (at least as far as I'm aware of). --Nathaniel 01:19, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

Tutorial should be a "How To" and not a "What To"

This is not my first time using Hammer, but it is my first attempt to create a Portal map. I was hoping there would be a tutorial that showed me how to make a map specific to Portal. It looks like this is the tutorial, but I found it frustrating in many places where it indicates what to do, but doesn't say how. For example the very first step is "Open a new map." Someone that is a veteran user of Windows can figure out that they need to select "File" from the main menu then click "New". In my professional experience as a computer programmer when we write up some help text or a tutorial for users we would say something like "Select File|New from the main menu to create a new map." This is just an example...there's many places in the tutorial where a user cannot easily figure out how to do something.

When I first created the new map it took me a while to figure out what the 4 windows represented...a tutorial shouldn't make the user guess what they are looking at...it should specify exactly what they are looking at. In this case the user is looking at a 3D view of the map in the top left window, a top view in the top right window, a front view in the bottom right window, and a left side view in the bottom left window. It would have saved me several minutes if this was given...and keep in mind that I've used Hammer before.

Also, I found showing various ways to create/copy walls caused me to lose track of the goal...I wanted to learn how to create a simple room...not learn every possible way to create one. I can learn various ways to create walls/rooms later if I wish...the tutorial should direct the user in the most efficient way possible to quickly create a room.

In addition, the brightness setting of 50 for the light is way too dim...I could barely see in the room using the default monitor settings with a fresh install of Windows 7, Portal, and the SDK...I set it back to the default of 200 which seems to be appropriate. Those providing guidance/tutorials should remember that they may have tweaked their settings and the users reading the tutorials and following their guidance may have a fresh install.

I'll see if I can do some justice to this page...since I'm going through the tutorial...and make it specific to Portal i.e. the tutorial didn't mention that most "concrete/" textures allow portals to be created while most "metal/" textures don't allow portals. I'll also come up with some screenshots.Rockn-Roll 05:53, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

First of all, I don't understand how you can say that "you've used Hammer before", if you don't even recognize the four main views. Second of all, this article is pretty much one big unintentional joke. Learning how to make a Portal map is not at all different from learning how to use Hammer at all. Check out some beginner Hammer tutorials instead. --MossyBucket (formerly Andreasen) 06:14, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

The last time I used Hammer was 1998; hence, I was looking for a tutorial to refresh my memory and get a kick-start to create Portal maps.Rockn-Roll 18:27, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

What is the point of this tutorial?

There is already a "create your first level" tutorial on this wiki (at least there was a couple of years ago), not to mention several on basic Hammer use, so this guy crams all sorts of information up into one article, adds a single portal gun, and all of a sudden it counts as a separate tutorial?

I vote we delete this article. Either that, or take the time to merge/strip it into something less redundant.

--MossyBucket (formerly Andreasen) 07:06, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

I'm developing updates to this page. Take a look at Beginner_Portal_Map_Tutorial to see what I'm doing.Rockn-Roll 18:33, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

I've added a Getting Started section to direct the Portal developer to the existing tutorial...perhaps that is all which is needed on this page? Opinions? If so, then perhaps a screen shot of a couple of typical portal/non-portal textures and an image of the portal gun to round it out?

VisLeafs

Why bring VisLeafs up at all? They have nothing to do with beginner maps. They cause no notable lag in small maps, and they're advanced course. Keep it simple. Don't overwhelm beginners with needless things. --MossyBucket (formerly Andreasen) 11:39, 13 February 2011 (UTC)