Quote from Vordwann on June 3, 2012, 8:55 pm

Well I'm guessing you've figured out that "z" activates/deactivates the free flying abilities in hamnmer, and WASD and the mouse allow you to fly around.

Also, there is no texture that says "Noclip," that's an in-game cheat code for flying in-engine.

Thirdly, I can see why the map would look confusing, seeing as all the wall pieces are made of 128x128x128 cubes. If you search hard enough, you WILL find the first floor of your map. Just look for some point in the inside of your map and once you find it navigate from there to where you remember the first floor to be, so you'll have a reference point to start from.

There is no "jump to" command in Hammer but after a while you should get the hang of getting around very quickly in the editor. It's not particularly difficult...

Hope some of this helped.

Quote from Another Bad Pun on June 3, 2012, 9:21 pm

yuppicide wrote:

I'm wonder how I find my way around the map.. I mean I can move the camera around. But it looks so different. Outside of the map I see walls that say "noclip" and "nodraw" I think (but backwards). So, I move in to say the first floor of my map, but the textures look nothing like in the real game.

Nodraw literally means what its name implies; it doesn't draw a texture that surface. So if you put nodraw on a surface, the compiler won't render it in game. You won't be able to see it. There are actually a lot of textures in hammer that show up in the editor but are not drawn in game. Through experience, you should be able to eventually figure out which textures show up, and which ones don't. The textures that are invisible do have uses though. For instance, nodraw is used for sections of the map that the player won't be able to see. Cutting out sections the player won't see, (such as the top of large buildings), can improve performance. You can read all about this type of stuff here. (For the nodraw bit find the nodraw page.)

Quote from wrathofmobius on June 3, 2012, 9:26 pm

yuppicide wrote:

1 - Is there another forum I should go with noob Hammer questions? I understand here might not be the best place.

2 - I started reading some tutorials and fooling around, but it's very confusing. I was using the PTI, but had to switch to Hammer because of the free fly/no clip camera. I had made a level that was made up of 3 floors, but I couldn't see the second floor to add lighting.

I'm wonder how I find my way around the map.. I mean I can move the camera around. But it looks so different. Outside of the map I see walls that say "noclip" and "nodraw" I think (but backwards). So, I move in to say the first floor of my map, but the textures look nothing like in the real game.

Is there a way I can go to the "entrance" or be able to set a few points on my map so I can push a button or something to get back there quickly?

Hey there yuppicide! Welcome to the forum. This is the right place for any Hammer-related questions, no matter how "noobish."

PTI maps are usually more complex than maps made using Hammer. What I would recommend is to learn Hammer, maybe make a few chambers only using Hammer. It's difficult, but it'll give you a better background for editing PeTI maps in Hammer. It's the way I, and many others, learned it.

Textures look different in Hammer for a few reasons:
* A lot of the green textures are really just transparent green overlays over a normal brush. This is because PeTI maps are heavily instanced.
* There is also no lighting because lighting is calculated once you compile the map. (well, at least static lights) If it were to give you a lit preview of the map, it would lag like crazy.

There is a "jump to coordinate" tool in Hammer. Once you find your way to a good spot in your map, select the nearest brush or entity and take note of the coordinates, pointed out in this image:
http://imgur.com/uDy7X
Then, go to View > Go To Coordinates... and input those three coordinates. Then, bam! You're there. However, I personally think that once you get a good feel for Hammer's controls, it's easier to just "fly" there yourself. But, that's just my opinion.

Hope this answers your questions. Good luck!

Quote from yuppicide on June 3, 2012, 9:35 pm

Thanks for all the help so far.

Yeah, I definitely know where the first floor is.. I think I just have to walk around until I locate the entrance. Basically need to not get frustrated. After that I can get to the second floor. In PeTI I can chop off the third floor and make a drawing of the second floor layout to determine where my lighting and other stuff will be.

I guess little by little I'll get there.

Maybe once I actually finish the map I'll use Hammer to add some stuff PeTI won't let you.

Quote from Vordwann on June 3, 2012, 10:01 pm

If you want to disable the greenness of the instances, go up to the instances drop-down menu in Hammer and click "View" and then "Normal".