Maps
From EGN Wiki
"In computer and video games, a level (sometimes called a stage, zone, course, episode, round, world, map, wave, board, phase, act, chapter or landscape) is a separate area in a game's virtual world, in modern games typically representing a specific location such as a building or a city." source.
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Maps in FPS Games
When you play FPS games like Counter-Strike: Source the server will run a map. All players connecting to the server must have this map before they will be able to spawn in the server. If players don't have the map, the map is normally downloaded automatically to the player. Sometimes maps require additional objects to work, like sounds, models, textures and so on. Provided the server is configured properly, these will also be downloaded to the player if the player does not have them.
A map normally runs for somewhere between 10 and 40 minutes, and then the server changes to another map.
Maps exist in Counter-Strike: Source as .bsp files, located in the SourceApps/Account Name/counter-strike source/cstrike/maps folder.
Custom Maps
The following sites are mapping communities that have a fairly large collection of custom maps, freely downloadable:
Developer Resources
Tools
There are a range of freely available developer tools available to design and compile your own maps. Some of these include:
- Source SDK Which is a map making tool that is free to download through Steam. Installation and Download details can be found here
- DispGen, a tool for generating level displacements using height-maps.
- GCFScape, a program for opening GCF files stored in your SteamApps folder, which are VALVe files compressed.
- Crafty, preview BSP files in a 3D window.
- Terrain Generator, a program to generate map displacements.\
- MAPfool, a program to convert .map files (common in Hammer 3.5 and below level editing) into hammer 4.0 readable files.
- Terragen, a program used to create scenery but is generally excellent to create 2D skyboxes (the sky you see in-game).
- Entity Spy, a tool to edit entities in .bsp files (already compiled). You can change around player spawns, model location etc.
Tutorials
Tutorials for mapping can be found at:
