Get the map files. 

If you just want to see the entity lump, you can
load bsps in QuArK 6.66. Or extract textures.
But dont use QuArK.
Dont do that. 

use winbspc

https://www.quaddicted.com/files/tools/winbspc12.zip

note: the decompiled map is not going to be that useful to build with or see how it was built, as it would be impossible to recover the original brushwork.

you should NOT use it to lift others work! if the author intended to allow you to do that, they'd release the .map.

you CAN use it to see how entities are put together or how a trick might have been done. that's basically the most useful thing decompiling can do. 

Two more silly questions:

1) Which is the best wad for the standard id textures (i.e. all the textures that were in the original game)? There are so many different wads on Quaddicted that I don't know where to start.

2) Is it better to add textures as you go along, or at the end, once all the brushwork is finished? I've been doing the latter, but now I'm starting to think it may have been a stupid idea... 

I believe has all the ones you want 

Willem tried blocking a map out without textures but didn't end up finishing... 

Thanks for the wad name and for the advice. Yeah, now that I've started "colouring in" what I have built so far, I see what a bad idea it was not to texture from the start... 

it depends what textures you end up using. Some textures like bricks and stuff are fine but if you're making something like a base map then it would be difficult to align the textures properly once you have blocked everything. 

Luckily it's a medieval map, so mostly bricks and wood. Still, it's proving to be a bit of a pain, especially getting the wood grain right everywhere, and texturing tiny details that I could have copied and pasted already textured. Oh well, better to realise the mistake now than several weeks or months later...

Besides, it's a beginner map, so chances are I'll need to redo most of it sooner or later anyway. 

Which is the best wad for the standard id textures (i.e. all the textures that were in the original game)? There are so many different wads on Quaddicted that I don't know where to start.

You can combine wads together. 

I've been using hmap2 to compile the map I'm working on from time to time to test how things work (being inexperienced, I am still trying to get a feel for scale, etc.).

Now, having added textures to much of the map, every time I compile there are certain brushes that are still displayed without textures. hmap2 claims it cannot find the wad -- but the rest of the brushes do show up as textured, and they use the same wad. I've tried changing the textures on those brushes to something else, but the problem persists.

Does anyone here have any idea what the cause of the problem might be? 

http://user.tninet.se/~xir870k/

The guy who made these versions of the compilers set the standard. He added many features and bugfixes that are now taken for granted.

I would recommend it. TxQbsp is as solid as a rock. Use that to compile the bsp.

Recently Tyrann has done some excellent work on his version of the compilers. You could also try these:

http://disenchant.net/

They are now, also, as solid as a rock.


One other thing you could try - before you compile the map check the wad paths in the .map file. Save your .map file from your editor, then open the file in Notepad++.

http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v6.6.7.html

Look for the wad paths and check that they all add up.



The other possibility is that it could be a problem that you are having with the specific textures that don't show. Which wad are you using and which textures wont show? What are the dimensions of them? Are you using .wad or .hlwad files? 

http://quakewiki.org/wiki/Getting_Started_Mapping 

Thanks for the recommendations, RickyT23. I've installed tyrutils, but can't get qbsp to work at all. I guess I don't understand the syntax yet; hopefully I'll figure it out.

The other possibility is that it could be a problem that you are having with the specific textures that don't show. Which wad are you using and which textures wont show? What are the dimensions of them? Are you using .wad or .hlwad files?

The same textures I used elsewhere in the map, that do show up on other brushes. Mainly city6_7 from id.wad.zip as recommended by FifthElephant above. I'm using just this one wad at the moment.

One other thing you could try - before you compile the map check the wad paths in the .map file. Save your .map file from your editor, then open the file in Notepad++.

I'm on Linux -- does it have to be Notepad++, or can I just use a different text editor? I am able to open my .map files with the default text editor, but maybe that does not show all the information Notepad++ would show. What am I looking for?

You can combine wads together.

Thanks, necros. I wanted to restrict myself just to the id textures to begin with, though, which is why I was looking for a wad that contains all of those and nothing more.

http://quakewiki.org/wiki/Getting_Started_Mapping

Thanks, Spirit. I used that when I opened TrenchBroom for the very first time and it was tremendously helpful, but I don't think it solves my current problem. 

Try tyrqbsp with the -oldaxis switch. 

Re: not appearing textures.

Check the concerning brushes, maybe you�ve got duplicates there.. I had that once. 

That was exactly it -- duplicates!

Wonder how that happened? 

and Gin? 

Hehe :-)

Actually, I didn't even know there was a Ctrl+D function until now.

I rather suspect it has something to do with selecting a brush and then Ctrl+ clicking something else to select it too, and inadvertently moving the first brush and moving it back without noticing. 

An indispensable program:

http://quakeone.com/files/9-mapping-developer-server-admin-tools/22-texmex-3-4/

mother
fucking
tex-meexxxx

Open all the wads you want, drag all the textures you think look good together into one wad, only load that wad in the editor. Export/import from sane image formats to create your own additions! Hide stupid messages in your trigger texture! In a solid, utterly bug-free (albeit windows only) GUI app.

It's the best tool. Does what it says on the tin and it does it well.

What ever happened to Mickey? I heard he disappeared because he went broke and had to start couch surfing but that was ten+ years ago. (the economy is way better now!) 

Is awesome. 

I assume you might be using an editor that exports a .map file and runs the tools automatically? Whether that is the case or not, realize that the tools are standalone apps. In order to make a playable and lit .bsp file, you need to run three apps, in order.

Export your .map file from your editor and put it in a directory on your root hard drive called 'compile' or something. Now you should't have to worry about the wads not working, because inside the .map file there there is a little bit of text where the full location for the .wad textures are.

Now in order to run the tools, you need to make a batch file, or a shortcut, or preferably usie something like a command prompt (If your on Linux then this should be no problem I guess), and navigate to the directory where the tools and .map file are.
(in Windows i click the start button, type cmd then enter, or go 'all programs'->'accessories'->'command prompt'. Then i would type (without quotes) 'cd c:\compile' then i would see 'C:\>'

Here I can use the tools. The bqsp tools are simple. You just type the name of the tool and the name of the map. So if I had a file called blahmap.map, I would literally type (without quotes) 'txqbsp blahmap'. Once your map has been built (if successful) you could then process the light entities so the light tool can add the shadows information to the map. Here we see how I can use a parameter:

light -extra blahmap


As for the text editor, it doesn't matter what you use as long as it can handle big file sizes, because the file is full of numerical co-ordinates for different brushes, and they can get to be very very big, for a text file... 

Contains all of the info for the entities, just like JSON or something like that. So you can edit certain things quite easily like targetnames, and entity names (like a door called 'bob'). But you can also easily edit the path information about the location on the HDD of the .wad files, or .hlwad files - whichever you use. TxQBSP supports .hlwad and .wad files.

Load the .map file into a text editor and search for the word 'wad' - you will find it :) 

If that doesn't do it for you then it's safe to say that it can't be done. Not for Quake anyway. 

I'm finding on my map I'm getting overly bright red corners on my lighting (even where there isn't a light touching it). Has anyone got any experience with mapping with Quake 2 engine games?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/814f7f7htjgrx0r/Htic2-02.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vg9zld2x0d0idef/Htic2-03.jpg