L4D Level Design/Ladders

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Go back to Hammer to create a ladder.

Depending on your machine, you might want to quit out of the game.

Duplicating walls to make a taller room.
Duplicating walls to make a taller room.

Select the ceiling of the second room you created in tutorial01.

Move the brush 128 units higher than it is.

Select the wall brushes in the second room and duplicate them so that the new set of walls rests on top of the old ones.

Image:note.png Note: By duplicating the walls and moving them on top of the old ones instead of making the original walls higher, you have more freedom with how you want to texture the walls.


Make sure to seal the level properly.
Make sure to seal the level properly.

You will now see a hole to the blackness outside our contained rooms and hallway. Levels will not compile correctly or run correctly if there is a hole or leak to the outside.

Select one wall to the side of the hole and expand its size to cover the opening.


Making one of the bottom walls a ledge.
Making one of the bottom walls a ledge.

Select the lower portion of the back wall in the second room.

Widen the wall in the Top viewport so that it is 128 units wide.

Deselect the brush by pressing the Esc Key.


[edit] Texturing a Brush Face

Just to illustrate how to change the texture of a brush face, let's make all of our floors and ceilings the dev/dev_measuregeneric01b texture.

To edit individual faces of brushes, click on the 6th icon on the Tool Bar, the Texture application mode button.

Image:l4d_hammer_texture_mode.jpg


The Face Edit Sheet dialog box.
The Face Edit Sheet dialog box.

You will see the Face Edit Sheet dialog box appear.


Lifting a texture from an existing face.
Lifting a texture from an existing face.

You can browse for the texture just like when you used the Texture Box Browse Button to find the texture, or you can lift it from an existing face. To lift it from an existing face, simply left-click on the ground where you see the gray developer texture.

This will replace the thumbnail with the measuregeneric texture.


Applying a texture to a face.
Applying a texture to a face.

To apply it to another face, hold down the Ctrl Key and right-click on the face you want to receive the texture.


[edit] Placing a Ladder Model

Go into the Entity Creation Tool and select "prop_static" from the Objects drop-down menu on the Entity Box if it isn't already set as this.

Place a prop_static by clicking on the back wall that you just widened.

Selecting a ladder from the Model Browser.
Selecting a ladder from the Model Browser.

Deselect the prop_static by pressing the Esc Key then double-click on it to bring up its properties.

Click on the World Model row.

Click on the Browse Button on the right of the Object Properties dialog box.

Type "ladder" into the Filter field.

Select props_c17/metalladder002.mdl and click on the OK Button.


Placing the ladder.
Placing the ladder.

You should now have the ladder where you placed your prop_static.


Moving the ladder into position.
Moving the ladder into position.

Rotate and move your ladder so that it is in the middle of this back wall and the bottom touches the floor.


[edit] Creating a func_ladder

Now that you have the model that shows where your ladder is, you will need to place the actual entity that allows players and npc's to climb it.

Making the tools/toolsnodraw texture the current texture.
Making the tools/toolsnodraw texture the current texture.

Click on the Browse Button on the Texture Box.

Type "nodraw" into the filter.

Double-click on the texture "tools/toolsnodraw"


Decrease your grid size to fit the ladder better by pressing the [ key twice.

Drawing a brush over the front of the ladder model.
Drawing a brush over the front of the ladder model.

Click on the 5th icon on the Tool Bar (the Block Creation Tool) and then draw a brush in the Top viewport in front of the ladder.


Now, you will need to make one face of the brush (the face that points out from the ladder) a ladder texture. To edit individual faces of brushes, click on the 6th icon on the Tool Bar, the Texture application mode button.

Image:l4d_hammer_texture_mode.jpg

The Face Edit Sheet dialog box with the nodraw texture on it.
The Face Edit Sheet dialog box with the nodraw texture on it.

You will see the Face Edit Sheet dialog box appear.


The tools/toolsinvisibleladder texture.
The tools/toolsinvisibleladder texture.

With this dialog box still appearing, select the face pointing away from the ladder in the Camera viewport with the left mouse button.

Click on the Browse Button in the Face Edit Sheet dialog box and you will see the Textures window appear again.

Type "ladder" into the Filter field.

Double-click the texture "tools/toolsinvisibleladder".


The ladder texture in the Face Edit Sheet.
The ladder texture in the Face Edit Sheet.

You should see the LADDER texture now occupying the thumbnail in the Face Edit Sheet.


Applying the current texture to the selected face.
Applying the current texture to the selected face.

Now click the Apply Button and your selected face should change to the LADDER texture.


Selecting Tie to Entity from the Tools menu.
Selecting Tie to Entity from the Tools menu.

Exit the Texture application mode by closing the Face Edit Sheet dialog box.

Select the brush with the LADDER texture on the one face.

Go to Tools > Tie to Entity


Creating a brush entity with the default Class.
Creating a brush entity with the default Class.

This will make the brush a Brush Entity. The default brush entity is a func_detail which we will talk about a little later.


Changing the func_detail to a func_ladder.
Changing the func_detail to a func_ladder.

We want to make this brush entity a func_ladder. Pull down the drop-down menu choices and select "func_ladder".

Then click on the Apply Button.

Close the Object Properties dialog box and then save your level as "tutorial02.vmf".

Now compile the level by pressing the F9 Key and then clicking on the OK Button.

Image:note.png Note: Make sure you have the file "tutorial02.nav" in your left4dead\maps directory. This file can be found in: \pages\downloads\tutorial02.nav


You should see your ladder look something like this:

The ladder in the game.
The ladder in the game.