getting bsp to work

[bendstraw]

Hello All,
I'm sorry this may be asked a million times and your all pretty sick of it probably.But I searched google for a very long time and I tried to follow the sticky thread but all the links to link back to the sticky.

Anyways heres my work flow. I export objects to .obj I then import into blender where I export to quake 3 .map. Then I use gtkRadiant to compile to bsp. I downloaded q3bsp a bsp viewer and my bsp crashes the program.

The bsp has no textures for testing purposes(I want to get a working bsp before I create an actual map )

Is my workflow wrong? How might I make a working map? Do I have to have a pk3 file?
if any of you could answer my questions I would greatly appreciate it.
Once again sorry if this is a commonly asked question I tried to educate myself as much as I could before asking you guys

[dONKEY]

Hi,
First off, thanks to Kat I am a convinced blender user. Any Blender specific questions would best be aimed at Kat on his site Kat's bits
I don't quite understand your workflow here. I know you can export a blender mesh as a map file but I think you are missing some stages out if you try to compile that in GTK.
I have never used the export map script in Blender. I usually export my meshes as ase models, and import them into GTK. Info on Exporting a model with correct texture paths can again be found on Kat's site.
I expect if you export a mesh as a map, no texture (uv) info is being exported. You can open the map file in GTK, apply caulk to everything, then apply the required textures to visible surfaces before attempting to compile a bsp.
Making a map entirely from models is possible, but you face some hurdles. I've written an article on doing that on my site (Leveldk, and there is a similar article at Kat's Bits. If you're making stuff in Blender to export as a map file, you may as well make the map in GTK in the first place. This would probably be faster in the long run. Just make complex details in Blender and export as a real model.

[obsidian]

I export objects to .obj I then import into blender.

Export from what? Another modeling program?

Then I use gtkRadiant to compile to bsp.

Q3Map2 is the compiler for GtkRadiant. Does it give you any error messages or warnings in the log file?

Is my workflow wrong? How might I make a working map?

What are you making in the first place that you can't just do in GtkRadiant directly? Models do have some limitations and you may be at the mercy of trying to convert between different file formats which may not be doing everything entirely as they should.

Do I have to have a pk3 file?

No. As long as you launch your map in Q3 with the console command, /sv_pure 0


Unless you have something very specific in mind, you are probably better off creating objects in GtkRadiant and add in certain details as models rather than doing this whole round-about way which is a completely unpredictable workflow.

[bendstraw]

Hi,
First off, thanks to Kat I am a convinced blender user. Any Blender specific questions would best be aimed at Kat on his site Kat's bits
I don't quite understand your workflow here. I know you can export a blender mesh as a map file but I think you are missing some stages out if you try to compile that in GTK.
I have never used the export map script in Blender. I usually export my meshes as ase models, and import them into GTK. Info on Exporting a model with correct texture paths can again be found on Kat's site.
I expect if you export a mesh as a map, no texture (uv) info is being exported. You can open the map file in GTK, apply caulk to everything, then apply the required textures to visible surfaces before attempting to compile a bsp.
Making a map entirely from models is possible, but you face some hurdles. I've written an article on doing that on my site (Leveldk, and there is a similar article at Kat's Bits. If you're making stuff in Blender to export as a map file, you may as well make the map in GTK in the first place. This would probably be faster in the long run. Just make complex details in Blender and export as a real model.

Thank you Ill check those sites out and see if they can help me out any. Also you think that a .ase would be a much better route to take?

Export from what? Another modeling program?

yes I export from max as my main modelling software

Q3Map2 is the compiler for GtkRadiant. Does it give you any error messages or warnings in the log file?

Yes I get shader not found warnings and texture not found warnings.
I also get a message that says map leaked?

What are you making in the first place that you can't just do in GtkRadiant directly? Models do have some limitations and you may be at the mercy of trying to convert between different file formats which may not be doing everything entirely as they should.

Nothing at the moment but I would like to know a workflow where I can build custom items. Also beyond creating levels for q3 I'm a hobbyist game creator and would like to load my own levels into my own games(im already capable of loading bsp files I just have yet to create my own)

Unless you have something very specific in mind, you are probably better off creating objects in GtkRadiant and add in certain details as models rather than doing this whole round-about way which is a completely unpredictable workflow.

I still have alot to learn in gtkRadiant I went straight to the build menu after importing my .map. Is there anything i need to prepare in gtkRadiant in order for my map to work?

Thank you all for your help Its hard to find good help on the subject and you've all have been very helpful.

[Silicone_Milk]

Map leaks if you don't enclose your model in a giant water-tight box.

Bring the model in to the GTKRadiant editor and make a big hollow box around your model.

[obsidian]

Maps also leak if you don't have a spawnpoint (it doesn't know inside from outside).

Putting a big box around your model isn't exactly a correct fix (will probably cause -vis issues and bots will act like retards), but it will probably at least allow your map to compile.

Really, everything you see in the screenshots thread is mostly custom content. Most built directly in GtkRadiant with perhaps some bits of models imported in. I have doubts if using Max/Blender/Radiant/etc. to make an entire map is the best idea. The smallest hickup or fart from any of the exporters can cause unforseen and unsolvable problems which are probably more trouble than they're worth.

[bendstraw]

I was hoping to stay in my comfort zone(max) but time to hit the books with gtkRadiant(still very much a noob with it)

The smallest hickup or fart from any of the exporters can cause unforseen and unsolvable problems

thats quite possibly the funniest thing I've heard all day yet very true and I see your point

Thanks guys for all the help i figured I was way out in left field somewhere.

[bendstraw]

also I can't seem to get gtkRadiant to find my custom textures. I made a txt file in the scripts folder as told by the manual but I'm not to sure what to type in it?

also I made a hollow box with a starting position and the output is still saying my map is leaked?

[dONKEY]

Custom textures don't require a shader unless you desire a special effect. Make sure the images are .jpg or .tga and scaled to the power of two (64, 128, 512 etc). The textures should be placed in an exclusively named folder (mynewmap) inside the texture folder inside the baseq3 folder.
Make sure GTK has shaderlist only unchecked.
If you are using shaders (textures with a shader script attached to them), make sure the shader script is referenced in the shaderlist.txt file in the scripts folder. Simply add the name of the shader to the bottom of the shaderlist.txt file.
As for preventing leaks in a map, as a short term fix, place a hollow box made from textures/common/caulk around your map and add an info_player_deathmatch inside the playable geometry.
For more info go to my site (link in earlier post) and look at the Q3 tutorials, I have a complete set of 'building a map from scratch' articles.

[obsidian]

Just to be clear, textures need to be placed in:
[q3install]\baseq3\textures\[mynewmap]\

Shaders (if you have one) should be placed in:
[q3install]\baseq3\scripts\[mynewmap].shader

Edit your shaderlist.txt to tell GtkRadiant that you have new textures/shaders in those folders by appending the name of the shader/textures_directory to the list.
[q3install]\baseq3\scripts\shaderlist.txt

add [mynewmap] to the bottom of the list.

[bendstraw]

thank you all for you patience so far.

I was following one of the tutorials that donkey posted and it requires i bring up the texture menu/editor.

both seem to be missing from my radiant. its not in the menu bar and pressing t doesn't do anything?

[obsidian]

What version are you running?

[bendstraw]

im running 1.5.0.0

thanks to your guys help I was able to load a custom quake level that worked pretty good.
but im still missing my texture menu which is the only way to uncheck the "shaderlist only" im guessing.

Just to be clear, textures need to be placed in:
[q3install]\baseq3\textures\[mynewmap]\

and that is where I place the .pk3 or the .jpg/.tga's

sorry for all the questions but I'm also trying to load my own bsp levels in a c++ program so I want to understand this pretty thoroughly.

EDIT: also if any of you happen to know what could cause holes in .bsp when loaded outside of quake. The program i used was able to load and walk in quake levels but loaded my bsp with lots of geometry holes. Just to add to the curiousness my level works in quake?

[dONKEY]

GTK 1.5 saw a sea change in quite a lot of stuff. Not a bad change but just different. The texture menu is now to the side of the texture window. In that same window under VIEW the shaderlist.txt only is now shown as shaders only

[obsidian]

baseq3\textures\ is just for textures (jpg/tga). PK3 files go in the baseq3\ directory. PK3 files are just .zip files renamed to .pk3 and house the same directory structure internally (so if you open a PK3 in WinZip or 7-zip, you will see a textures directory inside the zip which contains a bunch of jpg/tga files).

Running GtkRadiant 1.5, you also need the appropriate Gamepack for Q3 (see my signature). This installs a bunch of developer files that you'll need.

If using Vista/Win 7, you have to run GtkRadiant with "Disable desktop composition" in compatibility mode.

Do you have a screenshot of those "holes"? Is this inside of Q3 or some other program? Are you saying it works in Q3 but not in the other program?

[bendstraw]

Do you have a screenshot of those "holes"? Is this inside of Q3 or some other program? Are you saying it works in Q3 but not in the other program?

Ya it works in q3 but not in the program me and my friend are developing(the load bsp function are already defined by a wrapper and work with existing quake 3 levels so im sure its not programming error) I dont have a screenshot on hand because the actual program is on my friends hdd, but If it helps Ill show you one as soon as I get in contact with my buddy again. Until then the holes LOOK like bad clipping but is actually missing pieces of geometry(clear from the collision works elsewhere but not in the holes.)

I dont expect anyone to know how to fix that problem because that is beyond the scope of the original post but thanks for inquiring.

thank you I found my textures and will dl that gamepak. Thank you all for your help. Someday the internet will allow me to upload beer for you guys but until then thank you.