Get Learned! Step 7 - Finish LineCOMPILE & PLAY

In Step 1 I told you to download the ZHLT Windows executables. That file should be a ZIP file so go ahead and extract all the files in it to a new folder on your hard drive. A good place for this is:

c:\zhlt\

Open that folder so you are looking at the contents:



If you do not see file extensions on your files, like the '.exe', '.txt' above, then click here it's very important!

As shown in the picture, create a new text document by right clicking in the white-space and then using the pop-up menu. Name the file 'mapname.bat' where mapname is what you decided to call your map.

Go back into Hammer and click File->Export to .MAP. Save you map as 'mapname.map' in the folder where you just created 'mapname.bat'. Then close Hammer and go back to the folder where 'mapname.bat' is.

Now right click on 'mapname.bat' and choose Edit. This should cause Notepad to open with nothing in it. Type the following stuff into the document exactly as shown, replacing 'mapname' with whatever name you are actually using:

Without Steam @echo off hlcsg mapname hlbsp mapname hlvis mapname hlrad mapname copy mapname.bsp "C:\half-life\cstrike\maps" cd C:\half-life pause hl -dev -console -game cstrike +sv_cheats 1 +map mapname "C:\half-life" may not be the correct location of Half-Life on your computer. Make sure you type the correct location on both the lines where it says that. With Steam @echo off hlcsg mapname hlbsp mapname hlvis mapname hlrad mapname copy mapname.bsp "C:\Steam\SteamApps\EMAIL\counter-strike\cstrike\maps" pause "C:\Steam\Steam.exe" -applaunch 10 -dev +sv_cheats 1 +map mapname "C:\Steam" may not be the correct location of Steam on your computer. Make sure you type the correct location on both the lines where it says that. Also replace "EMAIL" with your account name. And if you do not have a "maps" folder, create one.

When you're sure you have it right, save the file and close Notepad. Then double click on the file 'mapname.bat' to run it. Lot's of confusing stuff will show up in a command window as ZHLT compiles your map. When it is done you will see (at the bottom):

Press any key to continue . . .

Now do NOT press a key! First make sure nothing went wrong. Look in the folder where 'mapname.bat' is and if you see a new file called 'mapname.err' then your map FAILED to compile. If it failed, click here. Otherwise you can continue.

Go back to the command window and press any key. This should cause Counter-Strike to start and load your map. You should be able to use cheats like noclip and god and impulse 101 for testing. That's it, man! You've made your first map. Ain't you one special duckling!