Couple of quick questions!
Hey! I know how to pretty much use Hammer on occasion for what I need to do, however sometimes I get stuck, so, this is when I ask for help.
This applies to general Hammer questions, but I'm mainly trying to do things by exporting a PeTI map and editing it in Hammer. (I create puzzle elements / the general area in PeTI, then make it look a million times better in hammer.)
I have a few questions, one of which was answered in another thread but I didn't quite understand it.
Question 1) Custom Music from exported PeTI Map
I know that apparently everything regarding this is meshed into one place... But I'm not quite sure how to remove the music and replace it with my own on a single map. I know that trying to go to edit this brings me to another VMF, which I assume would modify all related maps that use this?
I'd just like to know how to remove the music, so I can add my own. It was covered somewhere else before... But I'm having a hard time trying to figure it out. Which also leads to another question...
Questions 2-6 Answered (In some capacity.)
On the question about the music... Completely treat me as I'm retarded, because it's the most complex thing to me for someone who doesn't mess around with many scripts, events, etc.
1. Music
Implementing music involves changing it to the correct hertz and sample rate. Implementing music into Portal 2 is the same as other Source games, however, you will need to run the snd_rebuildaudiocache console command in order to cache the sounds when you play your level.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxVxeGYh618
If you want to stop playing or looping music, the normal stopSound output does not work. You might need to use a soundscape which you can trigger.In depth explanation would probably involve me making it, which I cbf atm.
2. Searching / Editing multiple entities
There is a way to edit multiple entities, however I wouldn't suggest doing this unless really necessary. Make sure to add in appropriate lighting after deleting what you want.
Go to Map -> Entity Report. Tick the tick beside class and type in light. It will then filter all light entities (or entities with 'light' in their class). You can select multiple entities by holding shift or ctrl and clicking.
3. Some Sounds just won't play.
Refer above for converting the sounds to the appropriate formats.
4. Clean, clear, water
Unfortunately there is no water off the top of my head which you can swim in or is 'clean'. The closest I think would be the water that was in GLaDOS' destroyed annex at the start of Portal 2 (water_glados_01) but this water was pretty dirty as well.
SpongyLover was nice enough to share their custom clean water and gave it to me a while back:
5. Cameras?
That whole block of text makes absolutely no sense to me. You can place entities in the 3d view just as you can place entities inside the 2d xyz grids. (Clicking on walls etc.)
Page source: http://1337-org.darkbb.com/t102-shortcu ... mer-editor
That said: you should be using the 'z' key while hovering your mouse over the 3D view in order to look around your map instead of the Camera Tool.
If you press 'X' while your mouse is inside the 3D view, you can move and resize things in there. Very handy to see what you're doing in crowded maps. It takes some getting used to, because the axes available for movement depend on your current viewing direction.
(Or block-select layers of your map and assign them to different visgroups.)
Other Portal 2 maps: Medusa Glare
Portal 1 maps: Try Anything Twice | Manic Mechanic
3. Some Sounds just won't play.
Implementing music involves changing it to the correct hertz and sample rate. Implementing music into Portal 2 is the same as other Source games, however, you will need to run the snd_rebuildaudiocache console command in order to cache the sounds when you play your level.
Yeah, that's my problem though. I follow everything to the letter and some sounds won't play. I'll try the console command but that doesn't really explain why some sounds play (that are NOT the proper format) but the ones I purposely create in the correct format don't. I'll re-try everything from scratch again and see if I can get it to work. :/
You didn't quite answer the question of how to replace the music from a PeTI map though, but thanks anyway. (For example, the music is apparently in this complex network of scripts that's apparently global to all PeTI maps. I'm not sure how to edit it. I could ADD in extra music, but I don't know how to replace the music. They'd just layer on top of each other when I enter the chamber.)
Unfortunately there is no water off the top of my head which you can swim in or is 'clean'. The closest I think would be the water that was in GLaDOS' destroyed annex at the start of Portal 2 (water_glados_01) but this water was pretty dirty as well.
SpongyLover was nice enough to share their custom clean water and gave it to me a while back:
Awesome stuff! Thanks to you and SpongyLover for providing that! 
That whole block of text makes absolutely no sense to me. You can place entities in the 3d view just as you can place entities inside the 2d xyz grids. (Clicking on walls etc.)
Page source: http://1337-org.darkbb.com/t102-shortcu ... mer-editor
That said: you should be using the 'z' key while hovering your mouse over the 3D view in order to look around your map instead of the Camera Tool.
I think you're confused by what I'm asking. I'm not talking about the "Camera Tool" I'm talking about placing things while moving around the camera. Perhaps I phrased it wrong. I'm talking about adding things into "3D View" (Flying around my map on the top left box). Yes, I already know you can add entities to the map, I even gave that as an example of what I CAN do. What I'm asking is if I can add new Blocks to the map in this view. For example, I click the block tool, click a point on the map, I'd want a small starting block to appear that I can edit in 3D View. NOT drawing it on Front/Side/Top.
Thanks for the help so far!
Along with the fact that I still need some assistance, I have another question:
Is there a way to disable the bots being electrocuted by water in Co-Op?
Chell has no problem entering certain types of water, but the bots... being bots, get electrocuted even in normal water. As long as the texture is water, they die. Is there a way to prevent this?
I'm essentially trying to make a visual "playground" for 2 players to play in... And the pool... well... doesn't exactly agree with the guests.
You CANNOT manipulate geo in the 3D view. Also, I'd get used to moving entities in the XYZ views ASAP. Your placements will be a lot more precise.
If you think about it really hard, it makes a lot of sense why it's this way.
Also, we delete "playground" style maps, so if you're planning on releasing it here, you should probably consider that.
For your sound issues have you considered my Portal 2-specific tutorial here? It describes how to create a soundscript for a custom wave and use it for a scene, but you could write the script and then use an ambient_generic to play the sound with the specified identifier.
Keep in mind to create 16 bit PCM wav files with 44.1kHz sampling rate!
If you think about it really hard, it makes a lot of sense why it's this way.
I usually do when I can find what I'm trying to manipulate over the 100's of overlapping objects. Also thanks, that answers my question!
The "playground" is a personal project that'll only be viewed and played by a friend and myself. It's not meant to be released as a map. (Unless I add a full puzzle element to it, which I doubt.)
Most of the questions are helping me to improve and understand mapping with already exported PeTI maps... So eventually I most likely will be releasing a map, it'll be a puzzle though, no worries. =P
Yes you can, if you turn on the "X" toggle. The current selection will have those same resizing handles as in the orthogonal / XYZ views.
I use it mainly for clone-dragging and reshaping blocks while making holes and patterns in walls. For some reason, for me it's faster and more intuitive than selecting things in one view, and moving them in another. (Selecting brushes by their edges or centres in the ortho views is too finicky IMO.)
Though in most other cases the ortho views are more accurate, I agree with you there. Especially while working with a smaller grid size.
Other Portal 2 maps: Medusa Glare
Portal 1 maps: Try Anything Twice | Manic Mechanic
Yes you can, if you turn on the "X" toggle. The current selection will have those same resizing handles as in the orthogonal / XYZ views.
Yeah, I do that already for objects that are already there. I was wondering if there was a way to create them in the view though, which there's not.
I've just decided to create what I want in an empty portion of the map, then cut and paste where I want to place it in the 3D View, then modify it there. Usually on maps that I create from scratch myself, I can usually comprehend what is what. I have a hard time navigating already created maps where each of the 3 views always overlap something else.