First of all, I want to inform you why I am writing another sets of tutorials for CS:S. There are already countless tutorials on the internet on the same subject, but what makes these tutorials stand out is that I am going to make you into a good (or even great) mapper. I am going to teach good mapping techniques from the start, so you don't develop bad habits. I am going to infuse you with practical knowledge from the perspective of an experienced mapper. It's not just about the technical aspects of mapping--you can get that from any other counter-strike website. Follow my advice, and I'll save you from regret and massive mistakes in your mapping career.

In addition, I am going to cover the aesthetics aspects of mapping as well as the technical skills. Mapping really should be considered an art form. Simply getting a map to compile and load without error is not sufficient. A serious mapper should set his sights on something more. Not only are we going to discuss gameplay, but we're also going to cover performance optimization and how to make your maps realistic and beautiful. These will be covered in the advanced topics later, but once you mastered them, you're going to impress your friends and clan members to no ends.

So, without further delay, let's get right to it. By the end of this tutorial, you will know how to make a simple room in CS:S. But before we get started, you should already be familiar with the Steam directory structure and know how to work with the CS:S console. If not, I strongly recommend you reading up on the tutorial Configuring Hammer and Working with CS:S Console first.

When Hammer first loads, there is no map open. Go ahead and start a new map by picking "New" under the "File" menu. Once the new file is created, there are two toolbars on the screen--one horizontally on top and one vertically down the left side. You will be using the tools on the left most frequently. The section on the right hand side is mostly for texture and entity selection. We'll cover them one by one in detail later.

Let's tidy up the various tool bars on the screen first. Drag the "VisGroups:" bar all the way to the right side (sometimes it starts out cluttering the screen, depending on the resolution of your monitor), so you'll have more screen real estate for viewing your map. The VIS groups is an organizational tool for map editing. I don't find it particularly useful, and many experienced mappers don't really bother themselves with it either. So let's ignore it for now.

After you've cleaned up your screen a bit, it should look like this:

The central part of the screen consists of four different views of your map. The camera view is the most difficult to understand, but it's also the most powerful. Imagine you are actually inside the map, getting a preview of what your map is going to look like once it's done. You can "fly around" in the map using different camera controls, but we won't get into that right now.

The 3D camera view has several options, and you can select them by clicking on the word "camera" in the upper left corner of the grid. I find the "3D Flat" option most practical, but I occasionally use the "3D Textured" view as well. The other options are for specialized mapping tasks. Set it to "3D Flat" for now.

The top (x/y) view is the view of your map from a birds-eye perspective. It's the easiest to work with. Whenever you become disoriented, it's the best place to get you back on track. The side and front views are self-explanatory. They are important because they give you the position of objects along the vertical axis (or the z-axis). The z-axis determines how tall or how high the objects are in your map.

After the tedious technical process of configuring Hammer and setting up your editor, this is the moment you have been waiting for. We're going to make your first map. It will not be considered a masterpiece, but it will be your very significant personal milestone.

The first thing you need to do is select the brush constructing tool, also known as the Block Tool. A brush is the term mappers use for a block of solid geometry. It could be a wall, a ceiling, part of a window, or even glass. For now, you can just think of a brush as something solid that the player cannot walk through in the map. The Block Tool is on the left side of the screen, as shown below:

With the Block Tool, drag a square-shaped block in the top (x/y) view. Drag out a 256x256 block. Don't make it too big. The dimensions in Hammer is generally bigger than you expect. After you're done, it should look like the screen below:

In the side (y/z) view, drag the rectangular shape until the block is 192 unit tall. When the block is 256 unit wide, 256 unit deep, and 192 unit tall, hit Enter to create the block.

You're not done yet. The block you just created is completely solid. It's just like the wooden block kids play with. Players and entities cannot exist inside a solid block. So now you need to hollow out the inside of the block to make it into a room.

With your box still selected (the edges of the box in 2D view should be red), press Ctrl-H. A small dialogue box pops up, asking you for the thickness of the wall. As prompted in the dialogue, a negative number will extend the thickness of the wall outward, allowing more space inside the hollowed box itself. I tend to always hollow outward, so type in -32 for the thickness, and press Enter.

For future references, the external wall of a map should always be at least 8 unit thick. Anything thinner might cause a problem with leaks. I'll address leaks in another tutorial. For now, -32 units will do the trick.

No, we're not there yet. We still need at least a light entity and a spawn point in the box. These are the minimal requirements for a map to load.

Basicly Source and half life mapping is almost the same anyway nice Tuts