The Trenchbroom manual is literally (not hyperbole) the single best Quake related manual you will ever see. It will show you amazing things like vertex/edge manipulation etc. (what you need in this case) Just look for the help menu item. That will launch the manual. Kristian used to have a version online but I don't think it's up any longer.

Seriously take a 1/2 hour of your time and take a read. And FYI I have to refer to the manual quite often and forget or miss things... this it what manuals are for and the dev took the time to write it for YOU. 

Use that clip
Give the brush the nip
...
When a problem comes along
You must clip it!
If the brush is too long
You must clip it!
When something's going wrong
You must clip it!
Now clip it!
Into shape
Shape it up
Get straight
Go forward
Move ahead
Try to detect it
It's not too late
To clip it!
Clip it good! 

U just won func!! 

i went threw my trenchbroom file and i found the manual but all it is are gifs i don't really understand what theya re showing me there isn't just a writtten guide somewhere? 

It's a written guide, open it from the help menu inside TB 

dude thank you so muchy man i love the quake community you guys are not condescending at all and are so helpful man thanks a bunch my dude. 

dude thank you so muchy man i love the quake community you guys are not condescending at all and are so helpful man thanks a bunch my dude. 

Thanks, Preach, for helping me make my first mod with custom models! :) If I finally finish my next map, you can be sure to be in the credits!

I also found out how to make the models solid, by adding the following line to the misc_model function:

self.solid = SOLID_BBOX;

and by adding the appropriate "mins" and "maxs" keys for the entity in the map editor.

But I was wondering if there was a way to allow the mapper to decide whether he wants the misc_model entity to be solid or not (without making two separate misc_model functions, where one is for solid models and the other for non-solid).

First I tried to do it by removing the above line from the code and adding the key "solid" to the custom entity in the map editor, with the value "SOLID_BBOX".

It didn't work, so then I thought that maybe I'd have to rephrase the code into something like

self.solid = (code that reads a key from the entity with the desired SOLID_NOT/BBOX etc. value, and then outputs it);

Am I getting somewhere here, or are my intuitions just plain amusing to you seasoned QC coders? xD 

I tried to circumvent the problem by setting the mins and maxs values far away from the map to place the bounding box far away from the entity, but it didn't seem to work. I guess Trenchbroom issues the bounding box to the model from the entity definition file?

Are the mins and maxs keys completely unnecessary then?

Should I just solve the problem by placing skip textures inside the models that I want to be solid? That way I could also have the models cast shadows. 

Whoops, I meant brushes with skip textures. You probably knew what I meant, but just had to make sure. 

SOLID_BBOX is a macro that just gets replaced with the number 2. In your level editor, assign one of the numbers below to solid.

From defs.qc:
float SOLID_NOT = 0; //nonsolid
float SOLID_TRIGGER = 1; //trigger
float SOLID_BBOX = 2; //brush entities
float SOLID_SLIDEBOX = 3; //monsters
float SOLID_BSP = 4; // the world

All of the ALLCAPS variables get replaced by the number or string they represent.

Mins and maxs I believe are automatically generated from the model size and shouldn't be necessary. 

I've toyed with the idea for using it for ice or even as a type of player freeze brush since it prevents jumping. In my Keep mod I have a func_slidebox that can let you do that. 

Although what QMaster posted will work, you can make it a bit more user-friendly using spawnflags. This will make it so that mappers can switch between solid and not using a tickbox. The code you want is something like:

if(self.spawnflags & 1)
self.solid = SOLID_BBOX;
else
self.solid = SOLID_NOT;

The part in the bracket checks if the first spawnflag is ticked, and the second line only happens if that is true. The fourth line only happens if the box is not ticked, because of the else keyword.

If you want to use a different spawnflag (maybe for another feature), it's worth knowing that the boxes are numbered in a surprising way:
1
2
4
8
16
32
...
and so on, doubling each time. So if you want the feature to be controlled by the fifth spawnflag, you would change the condition to

if(self.spawnflags & 16)
 

So is there a tutorial/.map file I can shamelessly copy paste from to get the horizontal opening doors from e1m1? The base style ones. Seems like very complicated brushwork. :[ 

You can get the original map sources here:

https://www.quaddicted.com/files/maps/sources/quake_map_source.zip 

just started making quake maps using J.A.C.K. a couple days ago and for the most part I've been able to figure out stuff on my own, but I'm having trouble with func_trains. I'm trying to trigger an event where a platform with a monster on it rises up from the floor but using func_train isn't working the way I want it to. I created a trigger to move my platform) from corner 1 to corner 2 but whenever it reaches corner 2, instead of stopping, the platform just disappears and gives me an error with a bunch of information abut the train.

I'm wondering if there's another method for this kind of thing or if I'm just doing it wrong? 

Have corner 2 target corner 1 but use "wait" "-1" to stop it permanently. 

awesome, thanks 

You really should learn by doing it. It's really not that hard and you'll learn a lot about whatever editor you are working with. Hint: use the clip tool.

Copy and pasting brushwork is weak (unless it's for a Speed Map and you've done the same creation before, which I think is fair.)

Challenge yourself, when you succeed you'll be a better person. 

...using Trenchbroom.

https://youtu.be/5xL_vmMfHFU 

I missed a brush (see if you can find what I did wrong) but hopefully you'll figure it out on your own. 

Sorry for all the posts - this is a revised video.

https://youtu.be/96-oRhYiF-o

I need some coffee. 

Just started mapping a few days ago, and have become hopelessly addicted. Oops. I can't figure out how to make a fullbright texture. is there a way to do so?

Thanks in advance. 

why do items placed in the editor sometimes not show up in-game? like I'll try to place two ammo boxes next to each other but when I boot up the game one of them isn't there.