10 March 2010

How Does I Map?

Since FAS is moving to the Orange Box engine, that means that anyone creating third party maps for FAS can not use HL:DM or any other Source engine games due to the engine change.

If you are looking for another game to use in the meantime, DysPatch recommends using the HL2:EP2, but be warned that the foliage included will not be a part of FAS.

2 comments:

Naota said...

To clarify, maps made in just about any iteration of the Source version of Hammer will still compile fine for FAS under the Orange Box - it's the mod itself that will require the Orange Box SDK Base framework to run. Third-party developers will likely have to compile again using the updated hl2.exe from an Orange Box engine game, but the map source files themselves remain fully compatable. After all, if switching to the Orange Box invalidated our old Ep1 maps, we would be in a sorry state indeed :P.

On the plus side, vertex lighting, HDR, and I believe even the compiling tools themselves have been improved, making any old maps not only nicer to look at for no extra effort, but also quicker to compile.

Naota said...

Incidentally, 2 minute long full compiles of tc_iwojima are, as one might say, off the chain. I remember my old HLDM and CSS maps chugging away for 16 hours or longer on their final compiles, and once the level had been fully laid out, getting anything under 5 hours was no mean feat.