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Author Archives: Nacimota
First Impressions: Windows Live Messenger 2010
Microsoft has just released a beta of their upcoming 2010 version of Windows Live Messenger. I decided to download it and explore. The first thing I noticed was that much like Internet Explorer 9 and some other Microsoft products, Windows … Continue reading
Windows 7 in .Net – Jump Lists
Editor’s Note: This article was originally written in February 2010, and at the time the released version of .Net (version 3.5) did not implement features new to Windows 7. These features are now accessible in .Net 4.0 which has since … Continue reading
New Theme and E3
Okay so despite my promises of content two months ago I haven’t really posted anything. WordPress 3.0 came out very recently which gave me yet another excuse to update this site. The new default theme is fittingly titled “twenty ten” … Continue reading
Still Alive
It’s been months since my last post here; I’ve been tied up with work, trips to Brisbane and other issues such as pure laziness. I decided about a week ago to start working on this site again but I figured … Continue reading
The Carve Tool and You
There’s something I’ve always wanted to discuss in regards to mapping with Valve Hammer Editor, and that is the use of the carve tool. As far as I’m aware, the carve tool was never intended to be used with anything other than a rectangular brush, because when given a more complicated primitive to work with (such as a cylinder) the results become quite messy.
This has resulted in many veteran mappers adopting a viewpoint that is essentially “NEVER USE THE CARVE TOOL”, which is then passed on to new and aspiring source mappers who read those kinds of comments in tutorials and forum posts. Despite this, the carve tool remains a useful technique for quickly creating rectangular holes in a brush and shouldn’t be discarded from your mapping arsenal. Continue reading
Upgrades and Stuff
So after waiting a whole week, I finally got myself a copy of Windows 7 (and two gigs of extra RAM). I used the public beta and release candidates so I haven’t seen any big surprises but I’m definitely enjoying the experience. Windows 7 has a bunch of cool features like Jump Lists and progress bars in the taskbar (not sure what they call that exactly). They’re actually unexpectedly easy to work with, so I’ll probably write a tutorial on those within the next week or so. Continue reading
Australian gamers left for dead by the Classification Review Board
The Australian federal government’s Classification Review Board announced today that Valve Software’s Left 4 Dead 2 will not be awarded an MA 15+ rating, which the game requires in order to be legally sold in Australia. Continue reading
Excuses and Litigation
Okay so it’s been just under three months since I last posted and that has been for a variety of reasons, which I will now outline. Continue reading
Creating Source Maps with SketchUp
Valve released the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools recently, which included some plugins for Google SketchUp. In this video, I’ll show you the basics of exporting SketchUp geometry into the .VMF format. The plugins export generic VMF data, so it works with other Source games too. If you don’t have Left 4 Dead, you won’t have the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools, so I’ve uploaded the SketchUp plugins for anyone who wants them for mapping in other source games:
http://files.nacimota.com/sketchup_plugins.zip Continue reading
Upcoming Content
I have some stuff I’m planning to publish within the next few days, starting with an introduction to C#, one of my favourite programming languages. I’m also planning of writing up some walkthroughs for Valve Hammer Editor, which is part … Continue reading