I'll give that a shot. I've used TexMex once before, about a year ago or so. Can't remember what I used it for, but it wasn't for this. I never realised one could simply extract textures from a bsp. Thanks for the link; I no longer had TexMex on my computer, so that really helps. 

texmex has aged really well, as a tool. still massively relevant and functions perfectly on modern OSes. 

And it's messing with me:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm196/voiceofthenephilim/why%20light%20why_zps5n36j9nx.jpg

Three of the lights it claims have a value of '0', despite very much having a value. All of them use the '_surface' function. Does anyone know why they refuse to light? 

can't imagine why off hand. That is a slightly old build, could be worth updating just in case that fixes it: http://ericwa.github.io/tyrutils-ericw

Are there any different keys set on the ones that aren't working compared with the one that is? 

What is that Jitterning stuff? I've never seen anything like that when I run it. 

That was some debugging code left in by accident in an older build 

I'm assuming this isn't possible, but it couldn't hurt to ask...

Is it possible to increase or decrease the size of a brush while preserving its shape? As in, let's say you've created a cylindrical shape, and you want a larger version (not just longer, but with a larger diameter). Is it necessary to create a new, separate brush (as I've been doing), or is there perhaps a tool or function that lets you simply increase/decrease the scale of the brush (kind of like you can do with images in image editing software)? 

For those using TB: I've only just noticed that I can see three lines in-editor, an orange, blue and green one, corresponding to the x, y and z axes (not necessarily in that order). Is the point where they intersect the centre of the world (i.e. 0, 0, 0)? 

1st. Its possible to scale brushes up/down the amount you want with some editors. Trenchbroom currently doesnt do this for you.
2nd. Yes. 

 

Scaling complex brush shapes isn't something you want to do in Quake anyway.

What I do sometimes to scale up cylinders is to cut them into wedges, and pull the faces on each wedge outwards/inwards. In editors like TB and Radiant which preserve the adjacent angles of other faces when you pull on a face, this works really well. And in Radiant, which has CSG-merge, you can merge all the wedges back together into a single brush.

Otherwise, what I actually do more often, is to just remake the shape I want at the bigger size. This style of curve is what I most often use, and it's all about the ratios (interior angles have 1/4 and 1/1 slopes, outer faces are 1/2 and 2/1), and it's easy to make at all scales with the clipping tool. 

Really useful advice! 

cut them into wedges, and pull the faces on each wedge outwards/inwards

Works like a charm! Thanks again. :)

Currently using only TB, so I have no way of merging the wedges back together -- does this matter much? Am I likely to run into problems when I have 12x as many brushes per cylinder? 

No, it doesn't really matter, Qbsp will cull the hidden faces anyway. I find it easier to work with less brushes whenever possible though. 

I have another question, though:

When I cut a 12-sided cylinder into wedges and extend the sides as per Scampie's advice, it works perfectly.

However, I just tried it with a 24-sided cylinder, which I created by clipping the corners of a 12-sided cylinder, as shown in czg's curve tutorial: http://www.quaketerminus.com/hosted/happymaps/curv_tut.htm (2nd image from the bottom of the page). Somehow, it doesn't seem to work: when I drag the edges outward, they don't line up.

Is there a mathematical reason for this? And is there a fix/workaround? Does anybody know? 

When I made the grid size really tiny, it all lined up. 

There is this sudden blue to brown transition:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/amurad/Games/jam6a_zpssdvhzf0f.jpg

It's a blue sunlight / sunlight 2 with orange coming from lava.

The top of the rock looks hand painted in blue. There should be a smoother transition to brown. What's the best way to do it, in your opinion? 

Check the keyboard shortcuts, there is a command to build the convex hull of the current selection. The effect is the same as CSG merge. Also works with faces; that makes it easy to build connecting brushes. 

That was it. Thank you. 

Thank you.

However, I've looked through the keyboard shortcuts several times now and I cannot find anything like what you describe... 

Fyi 

What is it called exactly? I mean the shortcut I should be seeing? 

Is there anything similar to hl2 "play everywhere" flag for sound entities to make music play not as a 3D positioned sound, but as 2D sound? Does any mod support it, quoth or anything else? 

it's called "create convex hull"

Theres more on it here -

https://github.com/kduske/TrenchBroom/issues/706 

But I still don't see it. There's nothing called "Create convex hull" in my keyboard shortcuts list, or anywhere else that I can see...