For foliage, use MDL with alphamasked textures.

There aren't any minimally good urban civilian vehicles in any custom Quake maps, so you'd have to create your own anyway. AD has some cool military vehicles though.

BSP prefabs can save HUGE amounts of time if the mapper is a perfectionist. Imagine aligning all the textures of complex shapes to ensure that their textures will be smoothly filtered across the edges — this shit can be time expensive as hell.

The time saved on small details could then be spent on creating larger structures and polishing the map as a whole.

That Prefab Warehouse website is amazing, too bad it's dead. An active catalog similar to that would be incredibly helpful. 

I realise I'm a little late to the party, but I just want to state my (pretty strong) feelings on the issue; not hoping to convince anyone and I also realise others see things differently.

I'm basically with dumptruck_ds on this one, and -- though it may be a bit harshly/emotionally phrased -- share the basic sentiments of post #8 (though I don't recall the specific map the post mentions).

I also feel that map sources are there to be studied and learnt from, but treated with respect -- which means not abusing the spirit of sharing and generosity by grabbing someone else's hard work simply because you can.

Sure, creating brushwork takes time, proper texture alignment takes time and learning how to do both well takes time, but that's all part of the art of mapping. For a novice mapper to take something like the AD vehicles (which are some of the highlights of the pack because they are the result of the kind of brushwork and texturing skills that requires both talent and years of practice to hone) and paste it into their own beginner map strikes me as at best a form of cheating (and at worst stealing or plagiarism, if done without the mapper's permission and/or without crediting them). I love Quake maps, but I'm interested in what people have created themselves, and not what they've simply taken from others.

Even in cases where mappers say things like "I don't care" or "licences are pointless", it often seems to me to be more a matter of resignation or cynicism about the fact that you can't ultimately prevent people from being arseholes and stealing your work. But one can at least signal that this kind of thing is not ok -- as opposed to condoning or actively encouraging it. This applies especially to decompiling and then lifting brushwork, which I find completely indefensible: just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should.

I also feel compelled to react to this part of post #9:
"That being said, I would wonder how you would suggest that maps like e1m1rmx/e1m1quoth and Travail's DM2 remix were constructed as both of them predate the Quake map source release. The end results of those maps were awesome."
Irrespective of the fact that I very strongly disagree with Baker's position, this argument doesn't work at all, and I'm a little surprised no-one else has mentioned this. The implication here seems to be that a map like e1m1rmx -- a from-scratch remake of e1m1, with obviously entirely new and original brushwork -- could not have been created without decompiling and lifting brushwork from e1m1. Surely this is patently false.

*****************
Again, I understand that others have different views on the matter, but this is how I feel and wanted to get it off my chest. 

This kind of drama is another reason why a dedicated prefab catalog is important: The purpose of prefabs is to be copied & pasted, the purpose of map sources is not. 

Just so everyone knows Therektafire and I and on very good terms on Discord. If I sounded rude in my post I apologize to everyone here for my tone. And especially to Therektafire. 

If you're transplanting any kind of prefab vehicle into quake it's going to look retarded and you'd be better off building it with minecraft squares. Same goes for anything else that isn't simple vegetation or clutter.
Code-men, we don't need your optimisation here. 

Some quality bum-roasting going on here.

I think it should be pretty blinking obvious that lifting stuff from someone else's map without their permission is bad, both morally and artistically, and I don't know why this is a such a debate. I remember back in the day, when people wrote map readmes that all kinda followed the same format, they had a line like:

"You may use this map as a base for your own work as long as you credit me bla bla bla".

or conversely "You may not use this map as a base...."

I think the rule of thumb should be: if you want to use someone else's brushwork, check the reeadme. If nothing there, and you still want to use it, try to contact the author. If you can't get a "yeah sure", then don't do it! 

OP:
There may be prefabs around but they're uncommon and I'm unaware of any updated resource. Quake mappers usually build from scratch and occasionally (if they're feeling generous) release the map source for others to learn (but NOT copy) from.

If you don't have time to learn how to map then maybe you shouldn't be mapping. Perhaps you could use the time instead to create those prefabs yourself? You could be the one to make them commonplace.

Everyone:
Consider that OP may be from other games where the 'editors' are simply drag-&-drop affairs with actual level design being non-existent (eg. doom snapmap). Or maybe the brushwork possibilities are so rudimentary that every area is just a box which you fill with monsters.

The right thing to do would be to educate OP that plagiarism/drag-&-drop/copy-pasting is not the answer to avoiding "time consuming" brushwork. 

I miss prefabs, 'cause I like to build stuff from brushes. Must I say that it speeds up the process significantly? A nice collection of pre-made stuff (stairs, caves, door frames, platforms, lamps and e.t.c.) is a crutch I'd loved to lean.

The editor I'm currently using don't support prefabs (like really!), don't know about the others. 

17: lol

18: nailed it.

20: It would actually be nice to have a list of the most needed prefabs. I don't do actual level design yet, but sometimes I brush out some stuff to study how to do BSP environmental art, and maybe I could contribute some.

I don't think a whole cave would fit into the purpose of prefabs, though. IMO, prefabs shouldn't influence the layout of the map. 

Seriously why not just go and do something else?
I'm teaching my cat how to use trenchbroom, and as soon as she figures out how to use the compiler you will see a map made by a cat.

Brush prefabs? Why even map for Quake at all. If you don't want to spend any time on it its going to look like sh*t even with your prefabs. Laying brushes can be done by anyone dragged off the street.

3D models is a different story. You have to learn entirely new software, and it can be exceedingly complex to make the model. Using other peoples .mdls for trees and vehicles, etc. Just reference the author and get permission if necessary.

Seriously brush prefabs, just go jump into a lake for crying out loud. 

When starting a new map, usually the first thing to decide on is which texture theme to use. Easy, choose a set.

THEN start making prefabs, like arches, plats, doors, elaborate pillars, pipes, rotators and so on.
Save those prefabs along with your actual map in the .map itself, so you can access them while mapping and you dont have to switch to another window while doing the c&p, rotate and placing.

Works great in every editor.

Rockwork brushes are another topic, one where your skill is challenged at first i admit, but once you get the knack of it, it's fun to do on the fly.

Study provided .map files, dont just copy them.

/my 2 cents 

There are a few instances where prefabs are quite useful.

• Stock ID1 features. E.g. the zigzag door in base maps or other constructions such as slipgates.
•Arches using any of the arch textures.
•Breakable AD bookshelves.
•Breakables in general (crates e.g.).
•Anything remotely complex that you've made yourself, that took forever, and that you don't feel like doing again but still want to uae in multiple maps.

For the first examples, you can copy and paste straight out of the original ID1 maps which are freely available: https://rome.ro/news/2016/2/14/quake-map-sources-released

For arches, such as Kell arches or the skull arches I recommend making them yourself. Many times I've gone to copy an arch out only to find it was too chunky and made them myself to make them a little smoother. I have a prefab file around here somewhere with all the arches and texture specific brushsets in it...

Breakables, you can copy and paste out some generic breakables from the AD maps, such as crates, windows, and the like or the fancier bookshelves (Credits credits in your readme!!).

In the end, make your own prefab file and store what you think you'll want later. I have arches, crates, cave tri-soup, bookshelves and a few other odds and ends in mine. 

There should be a middle ground in copying and pasting stuff from other maps. Obviously you shouldn't copy objects that are unique to certain maps and are clearly result of a very creative and hard process(e.g. the portal from Kell's func_mapjam9 map). But it makes little sense to make common arches, windows, crates and doors from zero because even their textures are optimized for a specific shape. One could argue that it's important to learn how to make them (and it is), but the same could be said for textures; there are plenty of free image editing tools, why are we reusing other people's works? 

Making crates, arches, windows and doors from scratch is what mapping is about. If you don't want to map then find another hobby. You're not going to do anything interesting pasting premade shit into your maps. Even if the texture is the same you can always cut the brushes a little different or do something new. Whats the rush? It doesn't take 2 minutes to make an arch and flip and paste it around.
When it comes to custom textures there isn't much original in this game, it's all recycled and re-purposed. 

but the same could be said for textures

Sure but we're talking about the intent of map authors who share their work. I share my maps so people can see how I created a particular piece of geo or how I scripted something to happen and that's it. If I tell you explicitly in the readme not to do it you shouldn't - regardless of the logical arguments you can make in favor.

If someone did that with a texture (they probably wouldn't) I'd respect that. 

I was kind of surprised to learn how negative people are here towards using prefabs.

I'm with vaf on the matter. I think mapping isn't all about laying down brushes from scratch, it's about making interesting looking and fun maps for people to enjoy. And I see no problem using prefabs if they have the original creators' permission.

Some people may do this more for the journey (laying down brushes etc.) while others are more driven by the destination (a finished map), and some mappers might be passionate about designing spaces, but not so much about the items occupying them. A mapper might want to design a parking hall but really doesn't feel like making the cars from scratch, finding it really tedious. So for the things the mapper's not passionate about, prefab cars would be the perfect solution. 

Prefabs are one thing, and copy other's people work from their maps is another thing.

Prefabs are cool, quake community use them since the 90s. Copy from other's maps are not cool (except when the author gives permission in the readme file).

Have said that, there are some really old sites with a lot of prefabs out there. I found these with a quick search on google:

https://www.quaddicted.com/webarchive/prefab.planetquake.gamespy.com/quake/tech.shtml

http://quark.sourceforge.net/userprefabs.php#Q1

https://www.quakewiki.net/archives/qpp/prefabs.htm

(prefabs are divided by category, just choose on the menus and download them) 

"If I tell you explicitly in the readme not to do it you shouldn't - regardless of the logical arguments you can make in favor."

In this case a totally agree with you. Even if you come up with a original shape, let's say a different and unique style of bridge, and you allow others to copy it, I don't think other should copy it. I'm talking specifically about generic objects.

The walltorch entity is a good way of thinking it. Sometimes you just want a generic looking torch, sometimes you make your own brush and put a flame on it. I don't think that the existence of a torch entity limits the creativity. 

Some people's vision is too limited:

You're not going to do anything interesting pasting premade shit into your maps.

The levels in Super Mario 3D Land are mostly made out of premade assets. I'll let its public reception speak for itself.

Some people only sees Quake stuff through Quake lenses. They're completely unable to see how different approaches could be made to work in Quake. Lazy minded people only sees things from the most ridiculous angle, which is why they ridicule everything. 

Prefabs made to be copy and pasted are awesome. I played with them when that old site was still live.

Jam 9 featured some nice prefabs I used in my map actually! Some Knave windows and door arches. I felt free to use them as that was the intent of the jam organizer.

I think we all agree that Prefabs designed to be used are great resources. And I do agree with the wall torch analogy there.

So copy and paste bad. Prefabs good. Me want a banana. 

The only thing I'm against is having some kind of "repository" of prefabs for people to pick doors etc from. And people keep on suggesting it as some good idea, because it'll "save time".. Nobody wants to see the same doorway 10 times in 10 different levels. It's fucking lazy and the idea deserves to be ridiculed. 

A tileset editor kinda thing for Quake could be pretty cool imo. 

What we really need is http://oblige.sourceforge.net/
combined with prefabs from all of socks maps. 

Making crates, arches, windows and doors from scratch is what mapping is about. If you don't want to map then find another hobby.

Brave claim as to what mapping is about, from somebody who may very well have produced 0 maps ever. 

I use arch prefabs all the time because I have 0 patience for fucking with microscopic vertex alignment, my time is much better spent on texturing, lighting, and gameplay.

There are people who consider bsp an art form, and appropiately they produce art (i.e. skacky). I'm a complete fucking barbarian who carves almost everything and guess what, my DM4 map may not have looked anywhere as good or detailed as some others but it was still allegedly one of the best in the pack.