Difference between revisions of "User:LloydBlack"

Revision as of 08:02, 25 December 2017

Contact Info

I try to keep my Facebook friends list genuine. I don't just add people for higher numbers.

I need to know the person and/or have significant reasons to keep the person on the list.

If you friend request me, be prepared to be ignored. I need to really know you first and that takes time.

So, understand it's not personal, well, it is but no harm is meant by it. It just means I don't know you.

FamiLAB Related

• Wiki Related

Wiki Admin (one of a several)

Wiki Project Manager

See Wiki Wine Wednesdays for more details on updating the wiki.

• Some clarification about my role with updating the FamiLAB wiki and what the wiki is:

My role as a "Wiki Project Manager" is not to run the wiki alone but to guide and encourage it's updating with continued contributions with other editors.

I do not control the wiki, I merely update it in collaboration with other admins and editors.

The wiki is a community resource that is a collection of useful information about FamiLAB and it's members who opt to provide their information.

I encourage anyone wishing to contribute to the wiki to contact an admin (including me) for a wiki account.

You may contact me via Slack and DM me your info I need to create your account. Please DM me first, I will then ask you the necessary questions at that time.

• Theater Discussion Night:

This event is held on the 2nd and 4th Fridays of every month in the classroom. Please see the FamiLAB calendar to see exact dates.

My role with this event is to manage the event by selecting the movies to be shown and show the movies in the classroom using the projector.

The wiki page for this event is Theater Discussion Night and that page is entirely maintained by myself.

There's also a Slack channel for this event, #theater_discussion. You may contact Lloyd on that channel regarding the event and even suggest a movie.

The event is educational and is for the viewing of select movies and discuss the movie afterward.

The movies are selected by me and not voted on. People may request movies though and the movies are added to a list which is also featured on the wiki page.

If a specific movie is desired please contact lloyd.black on Slack. No promises can be made but it will be considered.

My desire to operate this event is comes from my appreciation of movies in general. I don't consider myself to be a big movie buff, because there are people who know way more than I do.

However, my desire to know about movies lead me to go to college for "Film and Video Production".

That's where I spent two years and honestly didn't get a degree, but was able to get the equivalent education of an associates of the arts.

Hobbies

• Making "Half-Life 2" single-player custom maps. If anyone else enjoys "Half-Life 2" and wants to talk about custom maps let me know.
• Working on the FamiLAB wiki. Yes, it's a hobby for me since I enjoy working on it.
• Collecting movies, which goes with my events here: Theater Discussion Night
• Running the Theater Discussion Night is also a hobby for me because it's a fun event.
• Collecting hats, I have over 30 so far.

Favorite Quotes

Favorite movie quote: "We must all go through a rite of passage, and it must be physical, it must be painful, and it must leave a mark." - Captain Howdy from "Strangeland"

• "I want to have a social life but I hate people."
• "Complaining about a problem without proposing a solution is called whining."
• "Creativity is intelligence having fun" - Einstein
• "Anti-social behavior is a trait of intelligence in a world full of conformists." - Nikola Tesla
• Instead of "single" as a marital status, I prefer "Independently owned and operated".
• "Common sense is not a gift, it's a punishment, because you have to deal with everyone who doesn't have it."
• "I don't judge people based on color, race, religion, sexuality, gender, ability or size. I base it on whether or not they're an asshole."
• "I'm not mean. I'm blunt. Which means I will tell you the clear difference between a bit naive and incredibly fucking stupid."
• "Honesty is the best policy, but insanity is the best defense."
• "If you have a problem with me, please write it nicely on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope, fold it up, and shove it up your ass."
• "Chances are if it's tasteless and inappropriate I will think it's totally hilarious."
• "If silence is golden shouldn't duct tape be gold instead of silver?"
• "I have no special talents, I'm just passionately curious."
• "I'm not going to censor myself to comfort your ignorance."
• "Once upon a time, I actually gave a fuck, well that's not today."
• "I'm the kind of friend who will help you hide a dead body, but if you betray me, just remember, I know how to hide a dead body."
• "Confidence isn't walking into a room with your nose in the air and thinking you're better than everyone else, it's walking into a room and not having to compare yourself to anyone else in the first place."
• "I'm only responsible for what I say, not for what you understand."
• "Never apologize for saying what you feel. That's like saying sorry for being real."
• "I see dead people. Well, technically they are stupid people, but give me a few minutes."
• "Vegetarian" is an old indian word for bad hunter.
• "Going to the gym to relieve stress is not nearly as effective as burying the person who caused it in the first place."
• "They say revenge is a dish best served cold. They also say that revenge is sweet. So, basically, revenge is ice cream."

Random Data

• Appreciates animals, especially cats.
• Is the 'parent' (not owner) of a cat named Jack (named after Jack Nicholson). I don't believe people should "own" a pet.

We merely care for them as guardians and adoptive parents to give them high quality of life.

My cat "Jack", linked image is 600x660px. He's the other part of my mental illness treatment program. Five minutes of holding him is worth 800mgs of my main medication and works faster.

100px

• Individualistic by nature. I don't lead or follow.
• Loves Halloween and B-movie horror movies, even the cheap ones because they're funnier than being scary.
• I'm an introvert, but I still socialize.
• I believe in myself. I don't need to believe in another person or being.
• Smokes too much (cigarettes and cigars).
• Seriously hates the sun.
• Hates the color blue. Loves red, black and dark greys.
• Owns a reusable body bag, for those rare occasions.
• Collects hats (30 hats so far).
• Collects skulls (donations accepted)
• Personal belief system consists of an odd combination of Pantheism and LaVeyan Satanism.
• Believes in a balance of dark and light in life generally and personally. Dark doesn't mean evil, it's just not part of the light which most people live in.
• I will be opening a video production company somewhere in 2018. It will not be a 'for hire' company. It will be for producing specialty videos of mostly an adult nature.
• Just to be honest, I do suffer from a mental illness called "schizoaffective disorder depressive type" which is fairly well managed with medication.
• Additionally, on the physical side, I suffer from having three herniated disks and Psoriatic Arthritis. This is managed with pain medication and procedures called Rhizotomies. A Rhizotomy involves going into the back with needles and burning the nerves involved with the pain. If it sounds painful and uncomfortable, it's because it is, but it works but only lasts several months and has to be repeated. My back problem is why I do not volunteer to lift things that weigh too much. Being in pain all the time also effects my mental illness because being in pain will bring anyone down, not just people with a mental illness. The extra pain stress alone adds a significant amount of pressure to make my depression worse not to mention not being able to participate in things I'd like to do but can't.

Additional information about my mental illness:

• With having this illness I often suffer from depression and anxiety regardless of medication. Medication does not treat mental illnesses 100%.

At best, medication helps 90%, there's always some residual symptoms.

Schizoaffective disorder is NOT schizophrenia, there is a difference, although it shares many of the same symptoms.

I do not hide this illness and I will openly discuss it with people who are open enough to learn about mental illnesses.

• If you're still reading this then you're really curious or have a lot of time on your hands. Either way, I appreciate it and there's something you should read.

Being medication doesn't handle my illness 100% I do suffer from depression enough that it effects me often. So, if I look like I'm having a bad day or week, it's likely I am.

So, if you feel you want to make a difference and think I'm doing something beneficial, go ahead and let me know. You can do that without inflating my ego which I don't have much of anyway but you can help improve my mood.

Usually, I keep everything to myself so I'm hiding my depression which I've learned how to do fairly well. However, I'm often feeling fairly shitty. So, go ahead and help me in whatever way you can.

If you can't contribute something positive to me, then leave me alone and I'll move on with my day. One word of caution though, DO NOT preach religion to me as a solution for my illness even if it's well meaning. That's a very quick way of pissing me off. Mental illnesses are usually a chemical imbalance in the brain, that means it's a physical difference, not something you can just pray away. Also, I'm not christian, so any religious push is going to just anger me.

• Also, I'm on disability for my mental illness. This may sound odd to be on disability for a mental illness but the illness involves dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. Panic attacks interfere with holding a job as they are very severe and disables the person from functioning normally for the rest of the day. Additionally, the depression I suffer from can and has totally fucked over my ability to function.

However, with all that, I still personally prefer to work and miss working a regular job even though I'm unable to. So, I do things like web design for myself and select friends. I'm also planning on doing some video production in the near future.

My Enjoyment of "Half-Life 2", Making Custom Maps

• Half-Life 2 (released in 2004) is an old game in the history of recent games these days. However, it's still a fun game.

Half-Life 2 is well known as a FPS (First Person Shooter). It was good when it was released but is so far behind now that it's really only of interest to some modders who have kept it alive in my opinion.

Making new custom maps is considered to be modding even if it's in the most simplest way. I still enjoy making maps or this wouldn't be here.

"Half-Life 2" Wikipedia's article: Half-Life 2

• Making custom maps is incredibly simple compared to modern games of the same type. This makes it even more enjoyable as it has a quick way to generate custom maps.

Half-Life 2 currently comes with the map editor, Hammer, when it's purchased and downloaded via Steam.

Keep in mind that quick is subjective when it comes to making custom content for games. It's easy to spend hours and days to make decent custom maps. Sometimes weeks are easy to pass on a good map.

• I make custom "single-player" maps because it's easy to create maps with simple purposes. For me, that means single-level custom maps with the goal being to kill enemy soldiers.

Killing enemy soldiers is common for any game, but for the story based games it usually involves saving people, finishing objectives, stealing items, etc.. Those are things I can't be bothered with to be honest.

Single-level means that the map doesn't connect to another map. Half-Life 2 usually had some linear nature but connected to other maps before it and after it. Half-Life 2 isn't open world.

Most of the time I make custom maps simply for the purpose of making custom maps. I just like making virtual environments and buildings. This also encourages me to explore designs, layouts and floor plans of locations I wish to use an inspiration.

I also know how to make multi-player maps for Deathmatch games but I usually don't do well because the design and psychology of making those maps is different than single-player maps.

However, deathmatch maps are similar to the maps I prefer because they're single level maps and don't connect to other maps. I prefer a single map for a single game.

• Finding inspiration for maps is fairly simple. Using "Google Images" is one of my main sources of designs, floor plans, textures and other graphical information.

Obviously, using the right keywords is the most important aspect of getting what you want. Often I use simple, obvious keywords like blueprints, floor plans, layouts when I want to come up with some floor design.

I've made my share of malls, hotels, and the like for custom maps. I also enjoy making mazes and the like but I usually enjoy those myself and not my brother.

He prefers locations to shoot soldiers that resemble regular buildings, bunkers and dungeons.

• However, the only person, so far, who enjoys my custom maps is my brother who previously only played the original Doom. The difference is huge, so he now enjoys playing Half-Life 2.

If anyone else also enjoys Half-Life 2 and wants to discuss the simple pleasures of custom maps feel free to contact me. Just understand I'm not a professional and I enjoy it as a hobby.

• Currently, I make about one map a week, or sometimes I have two or three maps in the progress at any given time. Additionally, I sometimes will push out a map within an hour or two but they're basic with few textures.

It all depends on my mood and level of creativity for the time I want to spend on making a map. Most of my maps don't involve too many moving elements like elevators but I do use them on a regular basis.

Making custom textures is also very easy through the use of common image editors and some have a plug-in for them that helps make the VTF file that the Source engine uses.

• The following information is for creating custom textures to Half-Life 2:

Keep in mind, you do not need to create custom textures in order to make a custom map. Half-Life 2 comes with a wide variety of textures ready to be used. However, they are textures used in the existing game.

For each custom texture, there's two files. The VTF file which is the texture image itself and the VMT file which has the texture properties.

• Proper file organization is important when creating new textures for Half-Life 2. If you don't think you can properly organize new materials/textures, don't bother trying to make new textures.

Each new texture should be organized into a material type folder. For example, instead of just putting a texture into the materials folder consider putting them into a custom folder for that type of texture.

Like all stone textures should be put into a folder named "stone". Then you can place marble and other stones into this folder. That makes it easier to find textures in the materials browser in the map editor.

• File types for textures:

VTF = Valve Texture Format

VMT = Valve Material Type

• New textures need to share the same file name for both files. For example, a new marble texture named: green_marble_001 will need the following files:

green_marble_001.VTF

green_marble_001.VMT

Leaving out either file will result in the texture not showing up in the materials browser.

• Placement of new textures is fairly easy as long as you put them in the right folder. They do need to go into the materials folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2\materials

From there, they should be placed in folders matching the material type, as mentioned above. Stone textures should be put into a stone sub-folder but keep sub-folders there. Try not to go any farther with sub-organization.

Here's an example of a stone sub-folder within the materials folder:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life 2\hl2\materials\stone

• VTF files must be made using the resolution by the power of 2, such as 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024, etc..

Most of the time, there's no need to go above 512 pixels. Unless you want to retain a lot of detail, then going above 512 is acceptable but the file size will be excessive.

The use of the texture to different sizes can be adjusted within the map editor.

• VMT files tell the engine what kind of texture it is such as rock, cement, metal, etc.. which effects how it sounds when walked on and other properties.

There is a list of material types available which would be added to a VMT file. The VMT file is actually a text file with special formatting.

VMT files can easily be made in a basic text editor such as Notepad for MS-Windows machines. If you use another text editor, make sure it's writing plain text.

Files with font formatting and other text formatting will NOT work, it must be plain text (.txt) or the engine will not understand the file.

Also, custom textures may be combined into a custom map so that the custom textures don't need to be installed separately ahead of time.

That may be done with different applications, including one called Pakrat which requires the installation of Java, as it runs on it.

This section is unfinished. I will add other information about adding custom textures to Half-Life 2.