Mapping for Kingpin Power 2 Mod v1.1

Modified and reformatted 2nd October 2016 by Captain Death from the original Power 2 mapping guide.

Mapping for Power 2 is much like mapping for any other mod except that props and weather effects can be used along with the Power 2 specific entities.

The naming convention for Power 2 maps is mapname_power2.bsp

Usage

Extract the power2.def and harpoon.def files to your KPRAD directory and run Radiant.

If you have a kingpin_power2.def file from a previous version of Power 2 then this must be deleted.

Maps created for v1.1 can still be used with previous server versions, and older maps will still work with server v1.1.

You will see two new options in the entity list called:
power_control_point
weapon_harpoon

Note that if you also have a power.def file in your KPRAD directory there will be more than one power_control_point entities listed in Radiant.
As the entities are exactly the same, it is safe to delete the power2.def file and still be able to map for Power and Power 2 mods.

Adding the new entities to a map

power_control_point

Each map should usually have three control points spread around the map with reasonable distances between them.

Power2 v1.1 allows between 1 and 3 control points to be added to a map. The HUD will show the number of control points in the map when playing.

More than three control points can be added to a map, but only the first three spawned will be recognised. All others will be deleted by the server.

The control points should be given a name that describes their location. For example, if the control point is located in a swimming pool then call it pool, if it's on the top of a truck call it truck, if it's in a location called central square then call it central square, etc.

Click on a control point you have added and press 'N' to open the Entity menu. You need to enter info into the Key & Value fields like this:

key	name
value	control point location/name

We suggest not placing player spawns too close to the control points.

weapon_harpoon

The harpoon is normally given to each player when they spawn, but this can be disabled by the server operator.

If you want to make sure harpoons are available on your map, then you can drop a weapon_harpoon entity onto your map and it will show up like any other weapon for a player to pick up.

Spawn Points

Power uses the same spawn points as deathmatch (info_player_deathmatch) so just add them as you would to a dm map. We recommend you add 16+ spawns to your map.

Additional Entities

You can add props, breakables, weather effects and rats into Power 2 maps.

*The following information is courtesy of Whoop Ass*

Lesson1 - Breakable Objects

Before I start with how to make a breakable object, you should first understand why and where to use them.
Breakable objects are great fun, but do not forget that once broken the player is left with the rest of the map to have fun on. So you should remember not to make them the most important part when designing and making your map.
Remember not to make anything breakable that will stop the flow of the map. If you need to jump on a crate to reach a key area and the crate is broken, what happens next? Add some additional crates surrounding or on top of the required one(s) so people can break them and still get around easily.

There are three main types of breakable in kingpin: -

• Glass - Windows etc
• Wood - Crates, planks, boards etc
• Metal - Fences, supports etc

Unfortunately, brick is not really supported by the game so breaking walls is not really an option. There is a sound for "brickfall" and you can use one of the above types when making the wall, but when broken you won't see any brick debris.
The other key thing to remember is r_speed. Breakable objects are part of the Func group, and as such are not solid objects.

Here is a list of the main features: -

• They do not cast a shadow - not recommended for areas that are dimly lit or have shadows.
• They do not block visibility - never make an object that keeps two or more areas from seeing each other into a func. It may look nice to be able to see right through into the other section, but it will become unplayable due to the increase in r_speed.
• They do increase epoly - most of us are aware of wpoly, the number of polygons your graphics card has to draw at once when playing. But when using func's, epoly is also an important consideration. Players, weapons, ammo, breakable objects, rats, dogs all cause epoly's. If you expect an area of a map to be busy I would try to keep the epoly count down to around 2500 - 3000 when you are on your own. This will prevent the choppy lag effect you get when the map gets busy. Another key indicator of this is when your weapon disappears from your hand when you are playing, a sign that your card cannot cope with the amount it has to draw and has cut some out.

How to make a breakable object

1. Create your crate or window as usual
2. Select the object you just made (as an example I am going to make a crate) and bring up the entity list (normally right click). Under func you will find the func_explosive, select this option.
3. With the func_explosive selected press 'N' to bring up the world options.
4. To give the func_explosive a 'type', click on the field section and put in 'type'. Press Enter and put in either glass, metal or wood, which are explained earlier.
5. To give the func_explosive a health level, click on the field section and put in 'health'. Press Enter and put in the value of health you require. As an example I have given my crate a value of 25 so it breaks easily, large crates were given a value of 75.
6. Now give the crate a 'mass'. Click on the field section again and put in 'mass'. Now press Enter and give it a suitable value. For a small crate I have matched the mass value to the health value (i.e. 25). This will generate small pieces of debris when broken, the higher the value the bigger the pieces and quantity that you will get.
7. All that is required now is sound. Create a target_speaker from the target section on the entity list (you don't need to make a brush to do this, just right click on the grid). Click on the field section and put in 'noise'. Press Enter and choose the wav sound you wish the speaker to play.
   These are the most common: -
   • world/boardbreak - used for wood
   • world/glasbrk - used for glass
   • world/metalbreak - used for metal
   • and if necessary: world/brickfall - used for crumbling walls
8. Now to target the breakable object to the speaker.
9. Make sure that both objects are not selected and while holding down the Shift key, first click on the func_explosive. Now with Shift still held down, click on the target_speaker. When both objects are selected press Shift + K together to target the breakable to the speaker. If done correctly a red line will appear pointing from the crate to the speaker.
10. Deselect both objects and select the speaker on its own. Now move it to within the middle of the crate. This is done so that the sound will come from the correct place when the crate is broken.

This process can be completed for all type of breakable, just change the 'noise' of the speaker and the 'type' of the breakable used.

Lesson 2 - Adding rats

Rats are another simple addition, though a little bit harder to do. The only real things I would consider when adding these are r_speed, which we are aware of, and the annoyance level.
Annoyance - these rats bite! And as such, although a room filled with them will look good, it will also be hard to play in and annoying too. If placing in a large room add say 10 - 15, a small room 5 - 10. They do wander quite far so outside the main fighting area(s) would be fine.

How to add the rats to the map

1. Right click on the grid to bring up the entity list. Look under props for the rat_spawner and select it.
2. Place the rat_spawner somewhere near to where you want the rats to appear, do not worry about hiding it, it will not appear in the actual map.
3. With the rat_spawner selected press 'N' to bring up the world options and click on the field section. Put in 'deadticks' and press Enter. Now put in a quantity. Deadticks is used to specify how many rats will appear at any one time. They will keep respawning each time they die and match the deadticks value.
4. You can also change the health of the rat by entering 'health' into the field section and specifying a value. The default is 10 and seems to work quite well.
5. If you want to make the rats more dangerous, enter 'dmg' in the field section followed by a value. Again the default is 2 and it is annoying but not life threatening.
6. Now de-select the rat_spawner and bring up the entity list again. Go into props and select the rat_spawner_node.
7. position the rat_spawner_node where you would like the rats to 'spawn' from. Leave it selected and press 'N' to bring up the world options.
8. Choose an angle from the bottom to set the direction the rats will be running in when they first appear.
9. De-select the rat_spawner_node.
10. Holding shift down select the rat_spawner followed by the rat_spawner_node. Press Shift + K to link the two entities together. If done correctly, you will see a red line pointing from the rat_spawner to the rat_spawner_node.

That is all that is required to add rats to the map, happy target practise.

Lesson 3 - Weather effects

There are two types of weather in kingpin, rain and snow. There is little difference between them, except rain is the most common.
Weather effects have no effect on the game server and don't cause lag for everyone who is playing, but for those with lower specification graphics cards there will be a loss of performance when used. For this reason, you may want to give a light shower effect as opposed to a full storm. Let's see how we add it first.

Adding rain and snow to the map

1. Load up the common texture set and find the trigger texture.
2. Create a brush at the top of the area you want the rain to fall in. Make it as close to the sky as possible so that people cannot go above it where there is no rain.
3. Right click on the grid and select elements followed by elements_raincloud (replace with elements_snowcloud for snow).
4. With the brush still selected, press 'N' to bring up the world options. Click on the field section and put in 'firetype'. Now press Enter and put in either '1' or '2'. Putting in '1' will give you rain, '2' will only give you drips of rain.
5. Now click on field again and put in 'fxdensity'. Press Enter and put in a value between 400 and a 1000. This is to choose the amount of rain you would like to fall from this brush (the amount of rain is proportional to the size of the brush, a small brush with fxdensity 1000 will give off significantly more rain that a large brush with the same value).

And that is how you create rainfall, it sounds straight forward, but now the problems: -

Each elements_raincloud you create can have a maximum 'fxdensity' of 1000. If you make the brush too large (i.e. too wide and long) the rain will hardly be visible. The solution for this is to make the brush smaller and create another one next to it the same size. They will now give off the same amount of rain but you have twice as much.
Simple? Well most of the time this works fine, but if the map has large area's and you increase the rain in one part, you may find the rain vanishes from somewhere else. The solution to this is to delete and resize the existing elements_rainclouds until the weather appears everywhere.
I believe there is a built in safe level of weather in kingpin that prevents you from flooding the map, but as yet I haven't found it listed anywhere.
The only other real problem with rain is when it comes into contact with func's. As func's have no effect on visibility, any rain above them will pass straight through. So it is not recommended you place a breakable window below where it is raining.

Adding sound to the rain

1. Create a target_speaker and press 'N' to bring up the world options.
2. Click on the field section and put in 'noise'. Press Enter and choose the wav sound you wish the speaker to play.
   Here are the most common: -
   • world/rainout - used in the outdoor area's
   • world/raintin - used when the rain is falling on tin
   • world/rainwood - used when the rain is falling on wood
   • world/woodin - used when the rain is falling on wood and you are indoors
3. The only other thing to set on these speakers is the looped-on flag. This is just above the field section in world options. Tick the checkbox and the speaker will now play continuously.
4. Come out of world options and position your speaker(s) in the level. These are best placed equally around the level and roughly three of the large squares on the grid apart. Remember not to go too close to the buildings or it will sound like it is raining inside too.

With a little playing around rain (or snow) should now be falling quite happily in your map.

Written by Whoop_ass 1999 - 2002