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

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.

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!

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

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" "[ ]" }