Lighting Tools

In order for the map to be lit correctly, I had to go to the somewhat laborous process of creating light masks and ‘vis’ boxes. This took a while but now it’s done I should be able to compile the map.

Compilation Issues

Unfortunately I’ve run into some issues with compiling the map fully, which isn’t the end of the world, but it does mean the final product might not look as high quality as it could. Unfortunately this is just something I’ll have to live with.

The Map is Playable!

Here are some screenshots:

Adding the Finishing Touches

Next to B site, I’ve added fences and props in order to create pathways for the teams to walk through. This is mainly just finishing touches now as I have a limited time to get the map done.

In hindsight, I might have relyed too heavily on crates and sacks.

Outside of T spawn, I’ve added fencing and trucks with props on to make it look like the map is in an active state of construction.

I think this fits the dockyard vibe, as there would likely be a lot of maintenance and construction taking place.

On the left side of the map, outside the building next to T spawn, I’ve added a large stack of containers. This is cargo that would be taken to and from the dockyard on cargo ships. I think it adds to the visual storytelling of the map well, and the callout would be ‘crates’ or something similar.

Finally, I’ve added skybox assets (lower quality assets that will be seen from a distance) around the edge of the map. This is to sell the idea that the dockyard is located near a city. In hindsight I think I might have made the buildings a little too small and close, but it looks okay in the map from eye level.

Next is adding all the admin assets.

Warehouse

As you can see in the image above, I wanted to have a large warehouse for this site. This would be a nice switch from the other site which is all open. I couldn’t find quite the warehouse I had in mind online, but I did find one that I thought fit quite well.

As you can see in the images above, I’ve imported the warehouse I found (on Sketchfab) into CS2, and textured it. I made some adjustments as well, as previously there were no doors into the building.

In the image on the right you can see that I have populated the inside of the building with props in order to create an interesting site to play around.

The raised area on the left of the image is the bomb site, which has cover and open space depending on how you want to play it. I think this site has a unique style to it which will be fun to play on.

In this image you can see that I have placed props and trucks around the T side of the building. This gives Terrorists a nice way to approach and set up an attack. You can even throw flashbangs and smokes into the vents on the top of the building.

Next week I’ll be adding some finishing details and that will be the main bulk of the map done.

This week I’m going to try and work to get A site complete. I’ve broken this task down into 3 seperate steps:

• Create a “middle” building, that has an entryway onto A site
• Find unique and interesting assets to put onto A site to make playing on it interesting
• Create a wall to seperate CT spawn from A site.

Middle Storage Building

In order to make middle a little more visually interesting than a wide open space seperated by fences, I’ve created a building that you will have to walk through as a CT to get to A site and defend it. The Terrorists can also walk from middle through the building and onto site in order to catch CTs off guard.

On the outside of the building I’ve placed some props to make it feel a little more alive. I especially like the security cameras here, as it makes it feel like a higher stakes mission for the terrorists.
On the right of the building you can see the pathway you can use to walk to the other side of middle.

The inside of the building is a lot more open than the one I made last week. This is done on purpose, as it connects to a wide mid. I wanted middle to have quite sparse cover and a more open playstyle, which this should help. I’ve also gone for a boat storage in this building, with a few lifeboats on the right.

With this building done I’ll start working on A site now, with the planned truck in the middle of site.

A Site

In order to block off CT spawn from A site, I decided to create a wall that would look like it’s on an old fashioned British dockyard. I specifically used a texture that looked like it was weathered with damp creeping up from the bottom. I think I did a good job with it and it looks nice. In the A site screenshot below you can see that I continued this wall around the site in order to block off sight lines.

You can see in this image of A site that there are a lot of props I’ve added in to make unique angles for the teams to play off of. Sight lines are a very important concept in Counter-Strike, hence why I’ve focussed on them in previous posts so much. That concludes most of the left site of the map, with work only needed on B site and the right side of middle.

In order to create fill in the building that I planned for the highlighted area in the image on the right, I’ve decided to create a building with cramped pathways, to make it easier for Terrorists to hold CTs trying to flank.

This is because walking through mid at the moment is an easy way to catch the Ts off guard, and has almost no downsides.

In the images above you can see that this is the building I’ve ended up with. Since northernmost side will be facing T spawn, I tried to add some interesting details to it, however in hindsight this makes it look a little too cluttered. Next time I will devote more thought to why and how the assets placed on it exist, because I don’t think I have enough time at the moment to completely rework this building.

This is an image taken from inside the building with a final lighting estimation enabled.

I think it looks nice, and fits the theme of the dockyard nicely as a storehouse of some kind.

Next week I’m going to take a look at creating another building in the centre of the map, which will probably also be some sort of storage facility.

Construction Work

In order to create the idea that this is an operating dockyard, I opted to put in a crane, which has it’s hook over the top of the boat. This implies that it may be working on renovating or restoring it.

I wanted to find a crane with a large circular base, more akin to the type that operate in dockyards, however I couldn’t find any similar ones in the CS2 files. Some existed online but none were under a license I could use, so I had to opt for this yellow crane and work around it.

I used one of the template buildings that I created here to block off CT spawn from being seen by T spawn. The lineup of Terrorist agents you can see on the left is the ‘team win’ entity, which is where the winning team will strike a pose upon winning the game.

You can see on the right of the topdown image above that I have started to use this fence asset to block off sections. This is my solution to not being able to create bespoke assets for each part of the map. Given enough time I could probably have made unique barriers, but this will have to do for now.

Dockyard Paraphernalia

In order to try and create the dockyard look, I’ll be aiming to make the buildings similar to the ones pictured in the image below (Chatham Dockyard). Creating buildings in CS2 is not quite as simple as drag and drop – you need to create and texture the mesh yourself, and apply decals and assets to make them look convincing. I’ll try my best to create buildings that are unique and good looking, but I won’t waste too much time making them look perfect.

My First Building

Variations

I created a couple of variations of the building to place into the map. These will act as seperators between corridors and spots on the map.

Starting the Layout

This week I’ve mainly been concerned with working on my teamwork project, which fell behind a bit. I haven’t been able to get much done, however I have started work in engine for the map and created a Git repository for version control.

Using the Hammer editor, I created this basic layout, with a focus on maintaining good topology. This will be important for compiling without errors when I finish the map.

With this layout in place, I can now extrude it and create an interior. The walls and ceiling will be using the ‘skybox’ texture, which will end up looking see-through, however it is important to use, otherwise I’ll end up with bad performance when building and running the map.

In this image you can see I’ve taken the time to overlay plans of where buildings, crates and fences will go on top of the in-engine layout.

I’m not sure I’ll stick to this entirely faithfully, but it is a good jumping off point. I haven’t considered any obstacles that will go on the sites, but I think that will be something I’ll have to feel out in engine. It’s hard to imagine the sight-lines based on just a top down image.

In the image on the left, you can see that I have now extruded the layout into 3D rooms. I also added CT and T spawns, and a submarine and ship model I found on Sketchfab and Poly Haven respectively.

The truck model is one already in the CS2 files (I believe it is found on the map Overpass). I’ll be using many more assets already in CS2, as the model import process is somewhat lengthy, and I’m already pressed for time.

Verticality (or Lack Thereof)

The standard Counter-Strike map tends to feature verticality, which is something I’ve been thinking a lot about while creating the layout for this map. Planning verticality on a top down image is not something that is easy, which is why most Counter-Strike maps are not created from an image of the map, but rather trial and error in engine.

3kliksphilip (a large map and content creator in the Counter-Strike scene) created a video ‘Mapping for Fun’, in which he critiques this method of map development, and states that verticality should be something kept in mind from the start, not to be added as an afterthought.

Unfortunately, without devoting hours to trial and error, I’ve had to opt for the top down creation method, essentially creating the mini-map first and the actual map after. This won’t make my map unplayable, just a little less interesting. It’s a sacrafice I’ve had to make to maintain within scope.

Change in Scope

After last week, where I learned how to use the Hammer 5 engine, I’ve realised that I probably shouldn’t limit myself to a Wingman map (2v2 bomb defusal). Given I have almost 2 months to work on this project, a standard 5v5 map should not be out of scope.

Although I am going to change the size and scope of the map, I won’t be changing theme. Part of this decision comes from an evaluation of my previous Wingman layout that I created on this post. When I started to formulate ideas of how this would play in game, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that the interactions between teams would probably be boring. With a more elaborate and well planned 5v5 map, this should not be the case.

Researching 5v5 Maps

These images are taken from this tutorial for creating Counter-Strike maps. Despite it being 13 years old, it covers concepts that are still entirely relevant for modern Counter-Strike (Dust 2 is still almost entirely unchanged to this day). The main takeaway from this post is to focus on player interaction; the teams should meet at certain points in the map and ‘clash’. This terminology is not used often anymore, however the idea behind it is relevant.

Planning for a Larger Map

Using the basic two site and middle concept that the majority of Counter-Strike maps employ, I have created a rough layout for the map which should help me put together a basic prototype in engine.

As with all Counter-Strike maps, the Counter-Terrorists have a shorter path to both bomb sites, allowing them to position themselves ready for the Terrorists to attack.

Site A (left in the drawing) has two entrances from T spawn and one from middle, with site B only having one entrance from T spawn and middle.

This difference in entrances for each site creates a different dynamic when attacking and defending either. For example, A site will be easier to attack, considering there are more paths to infiltrate from. On the other hand, site B will be easier to defend, as there are less entrances to hold.

In the annotated diagram, I have located where I believe fights will happen. It’s important I mark these down early so I can structure the obstacles and layout to promote fights that aren’t too one sided.

Of course maps naturally tend to favour T or CT (hence why teams switch halfway through), but without early planning it might sway too far in one direction. Of course play testing is the easiest and best way of finding out whether maps work, which I’ll do once I have a playable map.

Where To Start?

Counter-Strike maps are created using Valve’s in-house level editor Hammer. If I had embarked on this project a couple of years ago, I would be stuck using Hammer 4: the map editor for CS:GO. Luckily, the modern counterpart released for CS2 (Hammer 5) has the standard workflow expected from a modern level editor. This should make learning the engine a much easier task.

There are many tutorials across the internet on how to create a CS:GO map in Hammer 4, but a much more limited amount on how to make one for CS2. After a little research, I decided to follow Eagle One Development Team‘s tutorial series on CS2 mapping (found here) as it seemed like a comprehensive and concise guide.

In today’s post I am going to cover all the techniques I will use to create my final map, in the form of a simple test map.

My First Room

Following the guide, the first thing to do was create a room. This introduced the general techniques used by mappers in CS2. By creating a cube and inverting its faces, you can easily define a room, and then by setting the ceiling mesh to the skybox material, you can allow the sun to light it.

While this may look simple, it is the main tool used to create CS2 maps. Next, I need to learn how to create doorways and halls.

Hallways and Bomb Sites

Following along with the tutorial, I’m now using assorted extrude and rotate tools to create hallways, which will connect to two simple bomb plant sites.

Again, using extrude, scale, bevel and transform tools, I created 2 bomb sites and a ‘mid’ (short for middle, this is usually the area of the map connecting the two sites, although I’ll add the connecting hallways in the next step).

Connecting Rooms and Adding Light

Although it might seem easy, connecting two rooms is not quite as simple as making a hole in two walls, it involves stitching the mesh together at the connecting points. This is an important technique that will help me later down the line a lot, which I’ve applied here.

I then added some entity lights. These will help brighten up dark spots that I can’t reach with the skylight.

Finishing Touches

In this step I added the counter-terrorist side using the mirror tool, and put boxes around the map to make peeking and moving more interesting.

I also added some geometry to middle to prevent the two spawns being able to see eachother.

I then added the necessary prerequisites to build any CS2 map. This includes the terrorist and counter-terrorist spawn positions, the skybox entity and other technical pieces.

Building and Playing

After building the map (as simple as configuring a few options and pressing build), the map is now playable! Here’s a couple screenshots of me running around:

Next week I’ll start work on the map that I will be submitting, with the knowledge of how to create all the pieces fresh in my mind!