Thanks - that just may have saved my map. I actually tried removing the whole area I had worked on today but even that didn't work. But these tools solved the problem and fixed a bunch of others as well (buttons not making a sound etc.). But I also noticed that some textures on curved surfaced got rotated 90 degrees. 

TxQBSP (recommended) or add the TreeQBSP option -oldaxis. 

I cannot believe how much headache this program is giving me - and I'm trying to build the last room. Now I can no longer select anything in 3D window. This actually has happened before but then I just restarted the program. Any ideas? 

This was a big problem for me to, but luckily Pope knew the answer on how to fix it. All you got to do is uncheck "Hardware Acceleration" in the options menu. You should now be able to click on objects in the 3d window after doing that. 

unfortunately it runs slow as shit without hw turned on. I still use 1.6, but I should probably switch to hammer :/ 

The transition from 1.6 to later versions is basically painless. All you have to do is make sure you know how to compile hl .map format into q1 .bsp format (say, using our modern compile tools). You'll have to get a q1 entity placement file working, as well. It's worth it! 

Okay, it works now.

Two questions:
-How to make monsterspawns so that stepping on a sector triggers the spawns?
-I tried using the portal texture that usually ends a level but it's not visible in game. 

1: Put monster into trigger_teleport, put tele_destination_something to where it should appear, make trigger_once for player to step into and target the trigger_teleport by it (eg trigger_teleport has targetname "montele1" and trigger_once has target "montele1").

2: trigger_teleport are invisible. Just create a new brush at the same place and give it the *TELEPORT texture to have it visible. 

1: Use Quoth, put monster where it should appear, set DELAYSPAWN flag on the monster, make trigger_once for the player to step into and target the monster by it (eg monster has targetname "montele1" and trigger_once has target "montele1").

@ Spirit: sorry ;-) 

Ha, actually I really second the suggestion to use Quoth. 

I'm not gonna use Quoth since I want this level to be accessible to everyone. The fact is that many casual usermap players are just too lazy to install any extra material just to play a usermap.

In WC, I noticed this thing called Default light level. Do mappers usually use this? 

But its an easy way to spoil a map if you set it too high - experiment until you get something you like.

It depends on the mood you want, typically set it so its less than your sunlight (which I'd advise using unless you don't have any sky brushes) with your actual pointlights being higher than that.

As I said before read aguirRe's documentation, there's alot of stuff to play with there, like anglesense, that can change the style of the map, only adding one (or a a handful of) variables to your worldspawn (SmartEdit). 

Your choice, but Quoth is on its way to become a sort of standard... when Basepack and Quoth2 come out with the _real_ goodies, it will be a defacto standard.

I think everybody here has it, and thinking back, many maps released in the past months use Quoth, as well as mapping projects like the vertical map contest and of course Basepack. Also Ijed's Warpspasm...

The only ones who don't have Quoth are probably very casual players or newbies (not many). Or QW players.

With the project I'm coworking on atm, I was reluctant in the beginning to use Quoth, but it's really for the better. I can not imagine using the trigger_teleport setup anymore. The thought alone is enough to make me go *brrrrrrrrr*. It's a pain in the ass that Quoth can spare you (plus some of the new monsters are really good, like the Rocketeer or Voreling.)

Think of it as a mapper's toolkit, rather than just a mod. It's not just about new monsters. It gives you as a mapper, more freedom and more possibilities, while not requiring any custom engine.

It's your choice though :-) 

I can send you an updated .fgd if you want to use it - meaning all the options for light, Quoth entities etc. appear in WC without having to mess about with SmartEdit. 

probably this is not the right place, but i want to ask a Q4/D3 mapping question. it's stupid but how the hell can i set a screenshot on map load in d3 engine? 

Should someone prefer .def files, I have a unified Quoth+Quake one. :-) 

The loading screen is actually a GUI.
Take a look at the original GUI files and you can probably figure out how to make a copy with the relevant file pointer changed.
I don't remember if there's a naming scheme that decides what GUI the game shows during load or if it's written in a script/decl somewhere, but I remember the whole thing as being easy to figure out. 

I started adding items and monsters. Now, why the hell do some items insist on disappearing? I have checked that they're not limited to any particular skill setting and so on so what's the problem?

The teleport thing doesn't work. The platform that has been tied to trigger_once entity doesn't show up in game.
In Build, all you had to do was to add a sprite called Touchplate and give it a value. Then you added Respawn sprites around the map and linked them to the Touchplate sprite. Quake is like Doom - the monsters have to be somewhere in the map before you teleport them.

"The only ones who don't have Quoth are probably very casual players or newbies (not many). Or QW players."

Yes, but the map is 95% done so it wouldn't make any sense to switch to Quoth at this point just to avoid having problems with teleporting monsters.

Standard or not, it's still extra hassle to many casual players. This is just a usermap and therefore not worth the trouble.

I of course have Quoth, play maps that support Quoth and think it's a fun pack. The monsters are particularly entertaining. 

I'm guessing you've gone beyond a certain size, which means WC won't display all the objects - remember, its about as old as Q1 itself. To get around it use visgroups.

I could go into a detailed explanation but they're pretty logical and easy to use - properties of whichever object, set it to a visgroup, set the hand of that visgroup on or off and update - the off hands visgroups are invisible in the map. Useful for building stacked levels or just seeing the geometry without alot of entity boxes in the way.

Also, for the platform you mention, it's probably better to make it a func_wall that is killtargetted by the trigger_once - the monster's stood on top and falls into the teleport field after the func_wall is removed. 

The items are likely disappearing because they are placed too close or even inside the walls. Move them a few units away from any adjacent geometry. Type 'developer 1' in the console and load your map to see corresponding warnings.

If all you wish for is teleporting monsters, then there is no need to go for Quoth of course. Just put them inside trigger_teleport brushes in a room outside of your main map and have some trigger_once (or any other entity) fire them as explained above.

As for casual players not caring for installing extra mods: It's probably true, yeah. But then again, if they are too casual to even read the text file coming with the map (explaining what is required to run it), they don't really deserve to play it at all.
Of course, if you're benevolent, adding some 'protection' can't be wrong when using a mod... But that's another story. ;) 

Okay, the items weren't inside walls but apparently too close to them (had no idea that's a no no).

Anyways, I asked a few days ago about sunlight. Now, I have no idea where to put that "-sunlight" command (I have Aguire's tools). I checked "Extra" options from the Run window but apparently I had no idea what I was doing since the program crashed/didn't have any effect when I tried putting that -sunlight somewhere there. The txt file provided no instructions for n00bs like me.

The lighting system is pretty new to me. In Duke3D (and in Doom) you construct all shadows manually by building sectors and then shading them. I actually made a map (http://lvlworld.com/comments.php?id=1540) for Q3A but that was a bit - but not much - different (GTKRadiant) and it's been years. 

Start using the tools from the command line. That is where you add such options as "-sunlight". In the end, the trouble is worth it (imo). 

Now the teleport thing works but I have no idea where the monsters go. The monsters are teleported from their original location but they don't end up where they're supposed to end up. I'm supposed to add info_teleport_destination entity to where I want the monsters to appear, right? And the trigger_teleport is supposed to target it. 

as a test, make sure the destination is off the floor a fair amount.

In radiant the bounding box can rest on the floor, but if you're just placing a zero-sized point (does worldcraft do it this way? -- probably, since worldcraft users are always putting ammo in walls and stuff) then it need to be up... try 48 or 64 units... 

Yeah, it works now but the monsters get telefragged. I guess I have to make separate teleports for each dude.