SSwift: I wasn't addressing my points to you really. I know you were a level designer for System Shock 2. I think it's also been discussed on here before that System Shock 2 did things entirely differently to editors like Worldcraft, which is - from what I've seen of it ( about 1 hour several years ago ) the way Halo's gone with Cartography Shop.
I seem to recall there was a thread on here a long time back where someone was having a really big pop at the way most CSG level editors work. I'm not sure if it was you, but if not they apparently shared your sentiments.
What you're saying is that you can have a single object make up an entire room, in which case having local texture coordinates makes sense. But since you can't do that with CShop, you can't expect the texture mapping to work the same way. Mixing and matching between different styles of level editors wouldn't suit fans of either type of editor.
You also have to remember that not everyone is used to working on high quality commercial games like SS2. While the method you suggest would certainly make it easier to build very large levels with a lot of complexity, it would also make it harder to build simple levels. Specifically it would require the user to go in with a very clear idea of where they're going with the level. Have it all sketched out on graph paper probably. I can't see more than a few pros such as yourself, GFK and a few of the others who would be that organised and professional with it.
So yeah, I guess CShop is targetted more towards the novice level editor. Which is good for me, because I only want something to build simple geometry quickly. I don't agree that texture-fixing should be the default, it's something you're going to want off more than on unless you have everything well planned. But I do agree that you should be able to turn it on if you want. Maybe you can, but i haven't found that option.
On reflection, I think you may be right about not creating lightmaps for the separate objects. They do have some lighting calculated for them, I'm sure of that, but maybe he bakes vertex colours or something for some simple lighting. Doesn't UnrealEd do that as well? Think so anyway.
I seem to recall there was a thread on here a long time back where someone was having a really big pop at the way most CSG level editors work. I'm not sure if it was you, but if not they apparently shared your sentiments.
What you're saying is that you can have a single object make up an entire room, in which case having local texture coordinates makes sense. But since you can't do that with CShop, you can't expect the texture mapping to work the same way. Mixing and matching between different styles of level editors wouldn't suit fans of either type of editor.
You also have to remember that not everyone is used to working on high quality commercial games like SS2. While the method you suggest would certainly make it easier to build very large levels with a lot of complexity, it would also make it harder to build simple levels. Specifically it would require the user to go in with a very clear idea of where they're going with the level. Have it all sketched out on graph paper probably. I can't see more than a few pros such as yourself, GFK and a few of the others who would be that organised and professional with it.
So yeah, I guess CShop is targetted more towards the novice level editor. Which is good for me, because I only want something to build simple geometry quickly. I don't agree that texture-fixing should be the default, it's something you're going to want off more than on unless you have everything well planned. But I do agree that you should be able to turn it on if you want. Maybe you can, but i haven't found that option.
On reflection, I think you may be right about not creating lightmaps for the separate objects. They do have some lighting calculated for them, I'm sure of that, but maybe he bakes vertex colours or something for some simple lighting. Doesn't UnrealEd do that as well? Think so anyway.