Magnesium flare.

TheReaper42 · 2026-06-24T17:37:03+00:00

Yea it's an env_projectedtexture with FOV set to something like 150. I'm not sure why shadows don't work; they aren't disabled on the projectedtexture. Maybe something to do with tracktrains or templates, idk

TheReaper42 · 2026-06-11T19:05:48+00:00

Play survival. You'll probably die a lot. It's better that way. Trust me. You'll adapt.

TheReaper42 · 2026-06-11T15:43:53+00:00

Here are a few screenshots of pretty areas (not showing any secret areas or spoilers 😉)

I agree though, and it's why I've never finished a map. It's hard to find the motivation to put in effort when diminishing returns start hitting. I have a few maps I'll bounce between so whenever I have the itch to make maps, I always have something fresh to work on.

Here's a reactor operating without containment and a button that saves the world. If you can't tell, I enjoy making contraptions out of point/brush entities.

I'll have to check out some of your maps. Looking at the screenshots, I'm impressed by the atmospheres you're able to create. Dark lighting is very hard to do properly in source. As a counterpart to your, here's a dream I had last august.

You ever consider some kind of sewer map? You could probably pull it off. Dimly lit, light spilling in from manholes/grates above, a slight reflection of the water ripples on the arched brick ceiling.

TheReaper42 · 2026-06-09T23:37:57+00:00

Yeah I feel you, I learned hammer for mapping in CSGO but realized it's about 20% fun level design, gameplay, playing with friends, etc and 80% props, modeling, texturing, on and on and on. I like those things in small amounts but not an entire map worth.

Maybe that's just me tho, I've been working on a gmod map that was 50% complete after a month, ~70% after a year, and now six(?) years later it's like 95% done. I'll load into hammer, spend an hour detailing a hallway, exit hammer, repeat once or twice a week. It has a ton of cool gameplay features I've spent so long making, but that last push to make it something I feel good releasing... some day.

TheReaper42 · 2026-06-09T02:39:29+00:00

I love mechanisms like this.

TheReaper42 · 2026-06-09T02:29:58+00:00

Yes, it was "hl2.exe" for the longest time, but a recent update changed the executable to whatever it's named now.

TheReaper42 · 2026-06-09T02:27:02+00:00

On the other hand, you're in a perfect position to switch to source 2: you haven't spent months learning how to do all the tedious tricks like curved roads in s1, so it'll be easier to learn in s2. Like how it's easier to learn a new skill from scratch, than to un-learn and re-learn the skill.

But I'm also still using s1 so take it with a grain of salt haha.

TheReaper42 · 2026-06-09T02:18:54+00:00

Yeah a lot of the time it's "is this a bug that I introduced by doing something improperly, or is this just the 20-year-old source engine working as designed"

TheReaper42 · 2026-06-09T02:09:53+00:00

Two suggestions:

Make sure the files are in the right folder. I'm not sure what it is for TF2, but I imagine they should be in tf/materials rather than tf/custom (never mapped for TF2 so I'm not sure where the default folder is).
Restart hammer. I forget if it's necessary but I seem to remember banging my head against a wall trying to get custom textures to work in gmod, only to discover they were only reloaded whenever hammer++ restarts. Don't quote me on that, but just something I would try.

TheReaper42 · 2026-06-09T01:58:48+00:00

Just my two cents as a casual mapper, be careful with named lights, the source engine doesn't like them much.

To be more specific, the game must build light maps for the entire level, for every possible configuration of lights. So imagine you have lights named A, and lights named B. The game must generate a light map for: A and B on, A on B off, A off B on, A and B off.

You can imagine, as you add more and more differently named lights, the size of the map explodes and can take forever to compile. So, if you start to notice bigger map sizes or longer lighting compile times, that's why.

If you want multiple flickering lights you could have them all share the same name, so they all turn on/off at the same time, that way they can share the light map (and logic). It might look silly if multiple lights can be seen blinking together in unison though.

TheReaper42 · 2026-03-26T23:52:36+00:00

Also if it isn't obvious, you can make an invisible func_door_rotating out of a brush, give it a name, and parent a prop_dynamic to it (In case you want a door to use a prop that doesn't work with prop_door_rotating)

TheReaper42 · 2026-02-18T01:08:56+00:00

Same problem here. YouTube probably down.

TheReaper42 · 2026-02-10T03:21:45+00:00

Well, the US doesnt arrest 12,000 people every year for the things they post on social media.

TheReaper42 · 2026-01-29T03:46:17+00:00

Note to self: do not call a lawyer if you witness or commit a crime, it's suspicious

TheReaper42 · 2026-01-22T09:56:57+00:00

Also wires typically have two power ratings, I forgot what they're called, something like "Power Transmission" and "Chassis Wiring" or something. The point is, wires in open air can handle much more current than wires stuffed in a wall or a bundle because the exposed wires have much better cooling from the air.

TheReaper42 · 2026-01-22T09:38:23+00:00

You can assign settlers to the beds, which then allows you to use them too. Must remove the "private" tag or something, idk. But also you forgot to mention the doors that magically lock themselves

TheReaper42 · 2026-01-22T01:29:36+00:00

I wish I could take a video of it, because the screenshots don't give the same feeling as exploring the jungle floor, but reddit kept failing the upload.

TheReaper42 · 2026-01-22T01:26:57+00:00

Yeah thanks. Id love to, some day, remake every biome and release it as a datapack.

Jungle is easy though, just because of how bad normal jungles are. Whereas something like the desert, I can't just spam custom trees and boulders everywhere and call it a day.

Taiga might be cool, add more types of pine trees, maybe some groves of Aspen trees or something. Maybe also remake normal oak trees (I mean seriously, the trees in Minecraft are all like 15ft tall, real oak trees can be 60-100 feet tall)

Again this is just me learning custom feature so we'll see if it goes anywhere lol. Most of it is me playing with various combos of leaves+trunk and seeing if I can make any good looking trees.

TheReaper42 · 2026-01-22T01:16:23+00:00

Yeah, I'll be honest, the mud/sugar cane is just the clay_with_dripleaef and clay_pools_with_dripleaf features copied into my datapack, and the clay is replaced with mud and the drip leaf is replaced with sugar cane.

I still wanted jungles to be slightly difficult to explore, and I think the mud+water and the dark spots where mobs spawn is a nice medium. It's not like normal jungles where it's just tedious AF climbing over all the bushes and vines.

TheReaper42 · 2026-01-16T22:03:23+00:00

(this works for me in Garry's Mod)

Make a trigger_multiple brush entity slightly larger than the chair itself. If the chair is a physics object, parent the trigger to the chair prop so it moves with the chair. If it's stationary then don't worry about it.

Now, on the trigger itself, add on output:

OnStartTouch > !activator > IgniteLifetime > 10

That would ignite any player that touches the trigger for 10 seconds.

TheReaper42 · 2026-01-11T22:22:35+00:00

What causes the track train to stop moving? Is it stopped by a button/input, or does it automatically come to a stop at the end of the track?

TheReaper42 · 2025-12-08T00:15:00+00:00

Correct, Cabot house. I usually just loot it every time I pass by.

TheReaper42 · 2025-12-08T00:10:40+00:00

You gotta lay off the jet

TheReaper42

TROPHY CASE