Introduction to Half Life 2 Modding

1. Introduction to Half Life 2 Modding • Seminar Five – The Texturiser • The story so far: • Creating a mod via Source SDK • Introduction to Hammer • Basic Hammer techniques • Advanced Hammer techniques • This week: • Importing custom textures for use in maps • Homework: • Further work with custom textures

2. The 'Valve' way • SDK provided tool – Vtex.exe • Vtex used to convert TGA files into VTF files • Command line tool • Basic usage : “vtex.exe texture_source.tga” • Uses the source directory to position final VTF files • i.e. if texture_source.tga is in materialsrc\walls\, texture_source.vtf will be created in materials\walls. • Can also be used to generate VMT files.

3. The Easy way • Use a Photoshop plugin • Nem's VTF Plugin • nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?c=154 • Allows VTF generation via Save As dialogue (see right). • Faster and Easier than VTex!

4. Creating a VMT • Each VTF requires a matching VMT • VMT files describe what shader and properties the VTF is rendered with. • VMT files are simple text files with a specific format. • The format of the VMT is as follows: • Shader declaration: • “LightMappedGeneric” and “VertexLitGeneric” are the most common shader types used. • Parameter declarations: • “baseTexture” is a requirement for majority of shaders

5. Example VMT "lightmappedgeneric" // shader parameter { // diffuse texture (vtf file) "$baseTexture" "wall/ds_wall_metal_hullplate01" // surface type for hit impacts "$surfaceprop" "metal" // normal map (also a vtf) "$bumpmap" "wall/ds_wall_metal_hullplate01_normal" // tells engine to use env_cubemap output "$envmap" "env_cubemap" // env mask is taken from base map alpha "$basemapalphaenvmapmask" 1 // dictates env map contrast / saturation "$envmapcontrast" 1 // RGB value, controls level of reflection "$envmaptint" "[.25 .25 .25]" }