UPDATE
This project is dead – Long live the King!
The Basics
The objective of the site, website and project is to encourage, cajole and blackmail modders into converting DeathMatch maps for Half-Life 2 into simple Single Player maps.
Hence the name DM2SP!
How It Works
You take a HL2DM map and convert it to a single player map.
All the maps submitted are played by the judges.
The winner will be the best adaptation, making best use of architecture, lighting, enemies and gameplay.
Prize Fund
I currently have $140 dollars allocated for the prize fund. If you would like to donate and help increase it, please contact me.
Ready to Start?
Read the rules and get converting. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me.
The Website
Everything you need to know is on the website.
PlanetPhillip (2350)
andyb (1022)
Mel (819)
Goddess Alyria (424)
Stef (404)
Jasper (364)
AI (314)
piledriver (311)
Grey Acumen (298)
Kasperg (283)
21 June 2009 at 9:11 pm
When I see the buttyfull stuff that are done for deathmatch I would really would like this to be done but not only for HL2 (which is regarding CC science-fi something not that complecated to do) but also for other game and especially COD series
21 June 2009 at 10:31 pm
I forgot to email you back.Sorry bout that Phillip.But what you asked me is possible/can be done as long as everything is the same ie:hl2/ep1/ep2. Not sure if they could be used together as I havent tried that lol.
22 June 2009 at 10:07 am
Yes, everything will be HL2. Although some custom assets may be included.
21 June 2009 at 10:33 pm
What a fabulous idea, and about time somebody came up with it. Good on you Phillip!
I hardly ever do the DM thing anymore but did like to see some of the designs that mappers came up with for their creations. The other thing that sprang to mind was that virtually every DM map I’ve ever played worked many times smoother than the majority of SP maps, so I for one would be interested to see if this was the case with DM conversions…….(Still saving up for that better PC!)
21 June 2009 at 11:11 pm
For once I wished I had any *playable* homebrewn maps in my HL2DM folder. … Contact me when you launch SP2DM!
22 June 2009 at 12:29 am
Having just looked through the actual site, I can’t help but notice the (apparent) lack of RSS feed for maps submitted. I’m perfectly sure this is just an oversight, seeing as how there aren’t any as yet, but just was going to subscribe to them if I could……Just a thought…….
Good luck with the whole thing though, this could just really go places…..!
22 June 2009 at 9:57 am
There is no RSS Feed for the maps submitted becasue submission are made via email. Once a map has been received I’ll post the details quickly on the “maps” page and then probably use the DM2SP twitter account to let interested people know a new entry has been recieved. You won’t be able to play any of the maps until after the competition and they will be released through special mappacks here on PP.
http://twitter.com/dm2sp
Did you know that you can follow twitter updates via RSS Feeds and not have to worry about having an account?
http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/46684237.rss
22 June 2009 at 10:12 am
I’ve made the RSS feed visible and available on each page. Now I’ll make the twitter page look a bit nicer.
22 June 2009 at 12:29 am
This is an interesting idea, although ultimately I don’t think much will come of it.
This is obvious but DM maps are arenas, so essentially most of the game play your going to get is going to fall very flat and be uninteresting in its progression.
Not to mention its virtually impossible to create a fun experience just by placing monster entities from the console if you don’t have the source file to a DM map. To create compelling SP experiences you need to script events and enemy attack tactics.
In the rules it states that if you submit a map you must either be the author or have permission from the author. Well, if that’s the case, wouldn’t it just be better to design a one level SP map from the ground up that’s built for, well… single-player?
Just my two cents – as a level designer myself.
Blitz
22 June 2009 at 10:03 am
You could be right and it could fail, but unless somebody tries we’ll never know for sure.
Obviously, not all DM will be suitable for conversion. But I believe that with so many DM maps available “some” have to be.
In answer to your last aprt I believe there are at least two answers. Firstly, it should make releasing an SP map faster becasue the basic work has been done. Some of the DM maps that I have seen have been beautiftul and a lot of work has been put into them. To do that from scratch would take too long.
Secondly, this competition may encourage mappers who have never map an SP map to have a go. Sure, it’s not going to be a masterpiece but some of the dedicated SP maps can be terrible too.
As an example of what can be done please see HoloReality. This is a mod I produced with CubeDude89 that used one of Kasperg’s Dm maps as an SP map.
22 June 2009 at 11:18 am
At first this seemed like a good idea but I read the comment from Blitz and suspect he’s correct. DMs are arenas and we already get lots of these.
Would it not be better, perhaps easier, to convert Co-Ops?
22 June 2009 at 11:28 am
Jasper, play Kasperg’s map in HoloReality and tell me you didn’t enjoy it.
22 June 2009 at 1:11 pm
“Jasper, play Kasperg’s map in HoloReality and tell me you didn’t enjoy it.”
Yes I enjoyed it but:
1: Most DM modders do not match Kaspberg’s or CubeDude89’s abilities. Indeed, I suggest that most of these modders produce DMs purely because they are much simpler to do.
But you already know this for sure
2. I’m still with Blitz on this.
3. What you picking on me for?
22 June 2009 at 1:21 pm
I’m not picking on you, just responding to your comments.
Well, let’s hope you and Blitz are wrong.
The way I viewed it was..“What’s the worst that could happen? We get no entries or the ones we get are terrible.” At least I tried. If it fails then I’ll move onto something hnew and have an SP mapping competition early next year.
It’s worth noting that CubeDue89 hasn’t released any DM maps and also there are plenty of speciailist DM mappers that we may convince to try their hand at SP mapping that we might not have done with an SP only competition.
22 June 2009 at 1:39 pm
I’ll try. One question, Valve’s deathmatch maps counts?
22 June 2009 at 2:16 pm
Well, I was originally planning just for HL2DM but as was asked on this week’s Podcast17 recorded yesterday, yes I suppose any Source game that can have its assest made available to a HL2 player. Unless of course this means stealing the assets.
Oh Wait, I just understood your question. No, not unless you have permission from the original author. Although I thought most of the Valve DM maps came from HL2 anyway, they had just been modified. Kinda like the opposite of this project.
22 June 2009 at 2:38 pm
We’ll do a recycling, nice
Now the problem is finding a good DM map for me. I’ll have a look around.
22 June 2009 at 2:03 pm
“I’m not picking on you”. You beast you! I’ll have the matadors sent round to you.
“Well, let’s hope you and Blitz are wrong” Yes, lets hope we are.
“CubeDude89 hasn’t released any DM maps” I did not say he had, I was referring to his abilities.
“…DM mappers that we may convince…” I hope you are right and wish you success with this.
civanT’s comment above looks positive.
22 June 2009 at 2:17 pm
I’m more scared of the bulls than the matadors!
04 July 2009 at 10:00 pm
Hmm DM to SP. Hope it goes well for you Phillip!
22 June 2009 at 5:21 pm
It would be interesting to se counter strike maps ported to hl singleplayer.Both hl1 and hl2
22 June 2009 at 5:34 pm
Then this may interest you: /posts/css-sci-fi-version-2-half-life-2/
22 June 2009 at 5:38 pm
I have a problem the hl2dm maps are bsps and not vmfs so i dont know how to get them on hl2 sdk
22 June 2009 at 5:52 pm
Neither do I, but you will need the original author’s permission to convert them and if they give you permission then they should also give you the .vmf file. Unless you are trying to convert the official HL2DM maps in which case you haven’t understood the concept properly.
The idea is to convert one of the hundreds of custom made HL2DM maps available.
22 June 2009 at 5:55 pm
oh ok thanks
22 June 2009 at 6:02 pm
i found something for it
http://www.geocities.com/cofrdrbob/vmex.html
22 June 2009 at 6:08 pm
Looks good, just don’t forget the written permission point. Looking forward to seeing what you enter.
22 June 2009 at 6:28 pm
Speaking from a mappers point of view, I have to say that getting HL2DM mappers to convert their maps to HL2SP will be an easier task than getting them to give their VMF files to someone who just asks for them. At least from my own experience in the matter and seeing the reaction of other map makers, we tend to be very possesive about the source files for our maps, which can be re-released and claimed to be made by others if they fall into the wrong hands.
There are cases of mappers who distribute their VMF file with the BSP, but it is not the norm.
@planetphillip: Have you made a post about DM2SP in sites like Snarkpit or TWHL? I longer visit them but I’m pretty sure a lot of competition entries would come out of there.
22 June 2009 at 6:37 pm
I’ve sent them both the Press Release. Just have to wait and hope they post it.
The sites I sent stuff to are:
PHL
HLFallout
TWHL
Snarkpit
CSNation
vossey
hlportal.de
halflife2.net
interlopers.net
The foxhole
Mapcore
SteamFriends (I seriously doubt they will post it, they have NEVER posted any thing I send them beflore!)
http://www.hl2dm-university.com/
hl2world.com
Have I missed any?
22 June 2009 at 7:20 pm
I maybe missing the point, yet again, but this has been done with CS SMOD.
22 June 2009 at 7:41 pm
I’ve never heard of CSS SMOD, but if you mean CSS SCI-FI then almost. This is taking custom made maps and turning them into SP maps, CSS SCI-FI was much more involved and used mostly (if not all) offocial maps rather than community made ones. I believe that version 3.0 will include some custom made maps.
26 June 2009 at 6:37 pm
How many entries have you gotten?
26 June 2009 at 7:16 pm
Just yours, so far!
27 June 2009 at 2:30 am
May I have some suggestions about how to find DM maps? I’m kind of stuck.
27 June 2009 at 10:14 am
Check out Snarkpit and Lanmaniax, they are both great site for DM. Then find a map you like and contact the author. Alternatively consider using of the stock DM maps. I have decided to allow this for people like yourself who haven’t made a DM map.
27 June 2009 at 7:01 pm
But it seems only dm_lockdown (the Nova Prospekt based HL2DM map) has an available VMF file. Decompiling existing maps is only useful for entity work. The geometry of the map usually becomes useless after decompiling.
I have three HL2DM maps which are candidates to be converted, and I could try looking for them if anyone is really interested. Mind you, since I will be taking part in the judging process, I’d be extra critical with those
If you want to see them in their deathmatch version, browse to the bottom of this page. Some of the links might not work though, but at least you can see the screenshots.
http://22ghooligan.googlepages.com/22ghooliosamazingmappage
28 June 2009 at 5:10 pm
Might I add that dm_lockdown, dm_overwatch and dm_runoff are already converted from existing HL2 Singleplayer maps? Which kinda beats the purpose of reconverting them back to SP (or actually making them “SP remakes” in the process).
28 June 2009 at 5:24 pm
I understand what you are saying but there are plenty of ways to convert to SP. Wait untill you play the Lockdown before you completely decide.
I am not going to release links to all the entries but here is this one:
http://www.garrysmod.org/downloads/?a=view&id=71378
I am interested to hear what you think.
29 June 2009 at 4:18 pm
One comment to this topic: I don’t know whether this is possible with HL2, but with HL using the QuArK level editor is was possible to just change the entities of a map without decompling the whole map or anything…
12 July 2009 at 3:39 pm
use this to convert the hl2dm levels
http://www.geocities.com/cofrdrbob/vmex.html