Tools and Resources for the Source Engine Last edited 1 week ago2024-12-28 14:06:46 UTC

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Some Info before you continue

TWHL is a site that focuses on GoldSrc (GoldSource / Half-Life Engine), the best place to look for Source Tools will always be the VDC ( Valve Developer Community), so this page will be kept simple, as there is no way that we can add as much (or more) Info than the VDC has.

General Modding / Mapping for the Source Engine

Map Editors

Valve Hammer Editor (Hammer 4.x) - Included with every Source game install, along with the corresponding compilation tools.

Dont use Valve Hammer Editor (Hammer 4.x)

You should use an editor like Hammer++, which is a vastly improved version of the Valve Hammer Editor, adding features such as a (rough) lighting preview, gizmos, instances, 3D skybox previews, particle FX etc.

Hammer++ - Provides a Hammer style Workflow, while adding new features such as a lighting preview, gizmos, prefab support, 3D skybox previews, instances and more.
Slammin' Source Map Tools - A modified version of the Valve Hammer Editor, also including new features.

Game Data Files (FGDs)

In order to use the point- and brush-Entities, you'll need an FGD File.
Most (if not all) Source games, provide their own FGD file, so you'll have to find them under a specific path.
This path in most cases is: steamapps\common\<game>\bin\<game>.fgd

Compilation Tools

VCT (Valve Compilation Tools) - These are provided with every Install of a Source Game, along with the VHE
Slammin' Source Map Tools - These tools come with Compilation Tools already provided to take advantage of newer Hardware and Editor Feautures.

Note

You dont have to use the Slammin' Source Map tools with the Slammin' Hammer Editor, you can as an example, use the Slammin' Compilation Tools while using Hammer++.

Decompilation Tools

Don't steal maps from people using these decompilation tools!

They are useful for seeing how a Map works, but dont steal Maps.

BSPSource - BSPSource is a GUI-based map decompiler for Source games (some people consider it an unofficial continuation of VMEX). Some of its signature features include, being able to decompile multiple maps at once, extracting embedded assets, and various other features. BSPSource is based on VMEX for its decompilation process. BSPSource supports all Source games.

Valve Map Extractor - Valve Map Extractor (or more commonly referred to as VMEX), is another decompiler, for Source Engine maps, being able to convert BSP files into .vmf Files for any compatible editor to load. VMEX supports all games up to Left 4 Dead.

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9 Comments

Admer456

Commented 1 week ago2024-12-27 17:24:47 UTC Comment #106575

@Tarek

I am not sure if this page is a very good addition to the wiki. We already have a Tools and Resources page which you could extend with Source-specific tools, but I would highly advise you to consult admins about this first.

Tarek

Commented 1 week ago2024-12-27 17:41:47 UTC Comment #106576

Yea I wrote that under my forum Post, if it would be better to just integrate it, I shouldve consulted the Admins, but I didnt even know how to contact them, Ill ask the admins to delete the page or integrate it depending on whether or not the admins want it to exist or not.

Tarek

Commented 1 week ago2024-12-28 13:33:38 UTC Comment #106579

@Admer456
I have asked Logic, and he said its fine to have a seperate page, which is why I will keep working on this for now. Please let me know any further feedback you have.

kimilil

Commented 1 week ago2024-12-29 14:41:15 UTC Comment #106585

I propose the page be renamed to Tools and Resources (Source)

Tarek

Commented 1 week ago2024-12-29 16:27:37 UTC Comment #106586

Sure, but we should then rename the other page Tools and Resources (GoldSrc) or smth like that...

Erty

Commented 1 week ago2024-12-29 23:55:00 UTC Comment #106587

I very much disagree. If anything, I think we could split the Tools and Resources page into a GoldSrc section and a Source section.

"TWHL is a site that focuses on GoldSrc"

Not really. This is The Whole Half-Life, and even the tagline is "Level design resources for GoldSource, Source, and beyond".
The prevalence of GoldSrc content and guides has more to do with the userbase than the site itself.

The work gone into compiling this list of resources is of course appreciated.

Tarek

Commented 1 week ago2024-12-30 09:10:47 UTC Comment #106588

While your argumentation is correct,

Logic and Trick told me to put a small info at the top

Admer456

Commented 1 week ago2024-12-30 15:58:14 UTC Comment #106589

I have asked Logic, and he said its fine to have a seperate page, which is why I will keep working on this for now.

Alrighty, nice then.

Tarek, this is good work so far. I have some feedback about capitalisation:

Yours:

These are provided with every Install of a Source Game, along with the VHE.

Proper:

These are provided with every install of a Source game, along with VHE.

Most words are not capitalised in English, only personal names and brand/company names are, e.g. "Microsoft Visual Studio" is capitalised, but "Microsoft's code editor" is not capitalised because that's not a branded name, that's just a generic couple of words.

Also please write GoldSource instead of GoldSrc, since that is the convention on TWHL Wiki, even if people sometimes write just GoldSrc (or me personally: GoldSRC) in the forum threads.

Tarek

Commented 1 week ago2024-12-30 16:38:41 UTC Comment #106590

Thanks, English is my second language and ive never had proper capitalisation and in german, we write almost every word capitalised. as for GoldSource, ill change them once I am working on the page again.

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