Welcome to Tutorial Three

In this tutorial, I will show you how to apply the last two tutorials to get your first level in Half-Life. Lets get it on!

All commands in this tutorial: will be like this.
All Coordinates in this tutorial: will be like this.

Contents:

Building Your First Level:

So you have WorldCraft loaded up and you have the configuration sorted. Good… I would like you to open a 'New Map' for us to work with, to do this click File->New. Then maximise the map. Once you have done that I would like you to press CTRL+E, this will centre you on the map, a good place to start mapping.

Click for a larger image.

Now you need to setup the Grid to snap and get the grid size to 32 units. Take a look at this picture.

Click for a larger image.

You can see here that I have got the Grid set to 32 units and that Snap to Grid is on. You can use the [ & ] to change the grid unit size. You can use the map menu to turn on 'snap to grid'. Note: 'Snap to Grid' is normally on as default.

In the last picture you can see @-244, -544. This was the co-ordinates of the cursor in a 2D view when I took the screenshot.

I will be using them as a guide for you when you make your first map. E.g. If I ask you to make a light at x/y-top @0, 0. This would mean make a light entity in the top down 2D view at the coordinates 0, 0.

If you don't understand that, you will have real problems in the mapping world. It is simple as I can make it.

Your First Room:

Click on the 'Block Creation Tool'. This will allow you to create a block in the 2D views. I would like you to left click x/y-top @-224, 224 and drag it down and left until you get to x/y-top @224, -224 and let go of left mouse. This will give you a square outline in the x/y-top view.

Now press Enter and WorldCraft will create a block in you map. The centre of the square in the x/y view should be @0, 0. In the y/z-front view, you should see your block. It will look different to your x/y-top view because you are viewing it in 2D from the front.

Now, in the y/z-front view, select the block by dragging around it. You must use the selection tool to do that. Note that WorldCraft will not select the block unless Auto-Select is on. If Auto-Select isn't enabled… enable it by clicking on this button. If you choose not to use Auto-Select… you must press 'Enter' every time you drag a selection. Your choice.

Once you have the block selected, with the selection tool, resize the block with the handles until the block is 128 units in height. You can tell the dimensions of your selection because it is just to the left of the coordinates display.

So your block should be 448w 448l 128l. In the y/z front view, the top of our block should be located y/z-front @?, 128 and the bottom of the block should lie on the y/z-front @?, 0.

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Now we have a solid block, that isn't much good to use. So we need to hollow it out. Don't worry WorldCraft can perform this for you. Lets hollow it out.

1. Make sure your block is selected by selecting it in any of the views. [Objects go red when selected].
2. In one of the 2D views right click on your block to get the menu up. Select Hollow from the menu.
3. You will be presented with a hollow dialogue. The box defaults to 32 units. We want the box to hollow outwards though… so enter -16 in the dialogue and click OK.

You block should now be 'hollow'.

Click for a larger image.

Lets take a look at our block. Click the 3D Window, and then click the 3D Textured button. This will allow you to see a basic preview of what your level will look like in the 3D Window.

You use the x key to toggle movement in the 3D window key. You should se a crosshair. [Make sure caps lock is off]. Using the mouse to look about and the following keys to move about:

W: Forwards
S: Backwards
A: Strafe Left
D: Strafe Right

So your 3D view should look something like this:

Click for a larger image.