Step 1 - Get the DopeINSTALL
You can't make something out of nothing, so grab yourself a shiny new copy of the "Valve Hammer Editor" and also get the "ZHLT Compilers". These are absolutely required to make maps for HL games.
Direct link to Hammer Editor (v3.4)
Direct link to ZHLT Compilers (v2.53r17)
The Valve Hammer Editor, henceforth referred to as "Teh Hammre" is what you will use to physically build your map. With it you decide the placement of walls, textures, player starts etc.. ZHLT converts, or compiles your map so that Half-Life can load and play it.
Install Teh Hammre and start the program. Click NO when it asks you something upon starting up. You should look at the help guide later but for now it has too much information all at once. Then you should see something similar to this:
It's time to configure!
Get Learned! Step 2 - Plug It InCONFIGURE
Many new users of Teh Hammre are so scared by the configuring process that they run away, never to come back. There's a TON of stuff to set up! The trick is that you can ignore most of it, so here's all you need to do:
1) Click the Game Configurations tab
2) Click the Edit button
3) Click the Add button in the dialog that pops up
4) Type "cstrike" in the textbox
5) Click the OK button
6) Click Close
7) Now click the Add button on the big Configure window
8) Add the file called "halflife-cs.fgd" ..Locationof fgd file?... or Download halflife-cs.fgd here...Google will get directories listed...open anyne and download .fgd file ....Else get this
9) Click the Textures tab
10) Click the Add WAD button
11) Add the file called "cstrike.wad" Location of wad file? or Download cstrike .wad FILE
12) All done -- click OK to close the big Configure window
You can get back to the Configure window by selecting Tools->Options from the menu bar. You should go there and look around once you are familiar with map design.
If you completed everything on this page, you're now ready to start building!
Get Learned! Step 3 - Buildin' BlocksBRUSHES
You should have Teh Hammre open, so now select File->New from the menu bar. You should now see 4 big black rectangles, or viewports, labelled camera, top, front and side. To the right, you should see a panel that looks like this:
That panel shows what texture is currently selected. A texture is a picture that is plastered onto a wall, floor, ceiling, or surface in a 3d game. You've probably seen them before. You can choose a new texture by clicking the Browse button. It will display a list of all the textures you have loaded right now. (Remember opening the file 'cstrike.wad'? That's where these textures came from.)
Once you have selected a texture that makes your heart filled with gladness, click the button on the left that looks like this:
This is the brush creation tool. A brush is a 3d chunk of space defined by a few surfaces. For example, a cube is defined by 6 surfaces or planes. Move your mouse pointer over the viewport labelled 'top'. It should look like a plus with a fuzzy rectangle. Now click and drag on the grid in the top viewport to draw a rectangle. When you let go of the drag, the rectangle should turn white and 8 little white handles should appear around it. You can use the handles to resize your rectangle.
KEY POINT: Look at the other viewpoints. Your rectangle is actually a 3d box! Isn't that rad? What you need to get used to is looking at a 3d object from different 2d views. If you can master that, you'll be able to create just about anything you like!
Now notice that you can resize your box in all 3 viewports. This may not seem important now, but when you are building a complex shape later, this is super-duper useful. Also try clicking inside your box and dragging it. This is how you move it around.
Now hit Enter on your keyboard. Your box should have turned blue or green, meaning it actually exists now. Before it was just a plan. You can click on your box, or brush, like I said earlier, and it will turn red. In Hammer, when something is red, that means it is selected. You can resize and move selected brushes just like you did before.
Now glue on your wings because it's time to get to the next page, Sally!
Get Learned! Step 4 - Learn to FlyCAMERAS
See that big juicy red button that looks like this?
That's the camera button, and we're going to use it to look at stuff! So click it and enter camera mode. In camera mode you can't move brushes around, you can only look around. So, hold shift and click and drag in the top viewport from A to B as shown:
That's how you create a new camera. The blue circle is the eye and the red line is the direction of sight. By clicking on either end you can move them around. To delete a camera, just press Delete on your keyboard while it is selected (red).
If you created your camera correctly, you should see a 3d box in the upper left viewport like this:
If you don't see it, look in your top, front and side viewports to make sure that the line of sight is pointing from the eye to your brush. If you STILL can't see it, make sure your camera isn't too close to your brush. Don't read further until you can see your brush in 3d!
If you can see your brush in 3d, left click and hold in the 3d viewport and move the mouse around A LITTLE BIT. This is how you turn the camera view, or look around.
Now RIGHT click and hold in the 3d view and move the mouse A LITTLE BIT. This is how you move the camera in it's plane of vision -- any direction but forward. Get used to this and then continue reading.
Ok, now here's where it gets wild, LEFT AND RIGHT click at the SAME TIME and hold in the 3d view and move the mouse. This is how you move forward.
These controls may seem odd but once you get used to them you'll be able to fly around your map with the greatest of ease. The reason why I told you to move the mouse A LITTLE BIT is because if you move too much you can get lost in the scary blackness. If this happens to you, just create a new camera in the top viewport that is pointing at something to look at.
Now that you can fly, let's build a room...
Get Learned! Step 5 - PlumbingLEAK PROTECTION
Before I explain what a leak is, why don't you click where it says camera in the 3d view and select 3D textured:
You should now see that your brush is wall-papered with that texture you picked earlier. You can click any of the viewport labels to change what each view is, but don't worry about that now. Back to the main subject, here's the most important point of all this:
Your job as a mapper is to build a 3d container that holds water (or beer).
Stunned? Let me explain. Think of brushes as solid blocks of wood you can glue together and build stuff with in real life. Now whatever you build, we're going to magically fill it with precious, precious beer. Then we're going to turn it upside down and shake it around A LOT. If any of the beer comes out, you have a leak. LEAKS ARE BAD. The biggest problem beginners have is leaks.
Take a look at this box, maybe it's going to be a room in a Counter-Strike map:
It's got an open top, and that's not good. You know why? The beer! We're going to lose the beer! All we need to do is slide a brush on top to seal up the room:
Only in picture 3 is the beer going to be safe. No matter what shape map you make it has to be all sealed up with NO leaks. Example:
Check it out! This complicated system of rooms and hallways is just a bunch of brushes sitting in the right places. I made it by positioning each one where you see it: