Hammer++

Hammer++

Developer(s)

ficool2

Initial release

Mar 14, 2021

Stable release

Aug 1, 2025
(build 8870)

Operating system

Type

Map Editor

Target engine(s)

Distribution

Freeware

Website

Website

Download

Latest Release

This article is about the tool. For documentation on Hammer++, see Hammer++ Documentation.

Hammer++ is a community-made modification of Valve Hammer Editor for Source that provides an updated, more stable, feature-rich version of the editor.

Supported games

Hammer++ currently officially supports the following:

• Source 2013 Singleplayer
  • Source SDK Base 2013 - Singleplayer
  • Half-Life 2 and its episodes (via )
• Team Fortress 2 branch (x64 only)
  • Counter-Strike: Source (via )
  • Day of Defeat: Source (via )
  • Source SDK Base 2013 - Multiplayer (2025 version, via )
  • Team Fortress 2
• Left 4 Dead 2
• Portal 2
• Garry's Mod (x64 only)

It is also included with Military Conflict: Vietnam (x64 only), in lieu of vanilla Hammer. Half-Life 2 RTX also includes Hammer++ alongside Slammin' Hammer 5.2.

Hammer++ for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is no longer supported and no longer receives updates; Ficool recommends using Garry's Mod's Hammer++ and porting the lightmapped_4wayblend shader^[How?]. Alternatively, the Military Conflict: Vietnam's version of Hammer++ can be used, although it is also behind on updates.

Likewise, Hammer++ for Source 2013 Multiplayer (and legacy version of Source SDK Base 2013 - Multiplayer) is also no longer technically supported after 8869 update, and should be only used for mods built on pre-2025 Source SDK Base 2013 - Multiplayer or third-party games running on Source 2013 Multiplayer. Despite this, the Source 2013 Multiplayer received 8870 update. Games running on TF2 branch and updated version of the Source SDK Base 2013 - Multiplayer (since 2025) should use Team Fortress 2 version of Hammer++.

Important:Do not follow any outdated instructions on how to install Hammer++ (especially outside VDC or Hammer++'s official website), as this can often leads to users downloading the wrong version of the application for the game (like Hammer++'s Source 2013 MP version for GMOD), and preventing it from working.

Always select the correct version (Hammer++ for Garry's Mod for example), and install it in the appropriate game's directory. If your game isn't officially supported by Hammer++, you can try following instructions on Other games/mods tested.
Hammer++ 64-bit version must be installed on bin\x64 folder and not bin folder.

Other games/mods tested

Main article:  Hammer++/Docs/Installation for Other Games

See also:  Hammer++/Bugs and limitations with unsupported games

Important:In order to use CS:GO Hammer++, you must have the csgo_legacy beta branch installed for Counter-Strike 2. The CS:GO Hammer++ no longer receives updates, so it's highly recommended that you use the Garry's Mod version alongside it instead, if you have GMod.

Game	Engine branch (game)	Hammer++ Version	Notes
Alien Swarm	Alien Swarm engine branch	Garry's Mod	Errors about reading particles, use mount.cfg to mount Alien Swarm data. Note:Functions differently than Hammer, instead of using a func_brush with name structure_seal, use a normal brush to close your maps. If compiled it forces the map to be fullbright even if there are lights. Important:Use func_details for your entire map as it will generate unwanted portals
Half-Life: Source	Source 2013 Singleplayer	Source 2013 Singleplayer	Configure Hammer for Half-Life: Source, then install to game's bin folder normally.
Half-Life Deathmatch: Source	Team Fortress 2 branch	Team Fortress 2	Configure Hammer for Half-Life: Source, then install to game's bin/x64 folder normally.
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch	Team Fortress 2 branch	Team Fortress 2	Install to game's bin/x64 folder normally.
Left 4 Dead	Left 4 Dead engine branch	L4D2	L4D2 Hammer++ appears fine on Left 4 Dead, except when compiling the map. Once compiled and joining the map, an error will appear and display: STEAM validation rejected and unable to interact with the menu after pressing ok. Workaround:Before compiling the map, check the box Don't run the game after compiling and then compile the map, after it has been compiled, enter Left 4 Dead and via console, type: map <map name>. Tip:You can enable dev by going to manage < properties and on Launch options, type: -dev 1. Fix:Remove the steam_appid.txt from the hammerplusplus folder.
Left 4 Dead 2		L4D2	Identical to Left 4 Dead, without the Steam rejection, only displaying error on console and unable to interact with the menu when exiting the map. Fix:Remove the steam_appid.txt from the hammerplusplus folder.
Momentum Mod	Strata Source	Garry's Mod	Need retest using GMOD version. [confirm]
Source Filmmaker	Alien Swarm engine branch	Garry's Mod & Portal 2	Need retest using GMOD version. Portal 2's compile tools also work. Hammer++ shouldn't be installed in SFM's bin folder, but works when pointed to from another game.
Team Fortress 2 Classic	Source 2013 Multiplayer	Source 2013 Multiplayer	Setting up Hammer
Black Mesa	Xengine	Garry's Mod	Follow this guide to make it working. Check out issues in relevant subpage. A separate version for Black Mesa is not planned.
Black Mesa (mod) (2012 mod version)	Source 2007	Source 2013 Singleplayer	Install to Source SDK Base 2013 - Singleplayer's bin folder and add a game configuration pointing to the mod; the Source 2013 SP compilers generate BSPs that are compatible with Source 2007.
Mapbase	Source 2013 Singleplayer	Source 2013 Singleplayer	Install to game's bin folder normally. Check out the issues below in the relevant subpage.
Pirates Vikings & Knights II	Source 2013 Multiplayer	Source 2013 Multiplayer & Team Fortress 2	Hammer++ shouldn't be installed in PVKII's bin folder, but works when pointed to from another game. Important:Requires the Use special I/O delimiter (ESC) setting to be off.
Postal III	Source 2009	Source 2013 Singleplayer	Requires modification to Postal 3's FGD file(s); Recommended to use Postal 3's compilers instead; Some Hammer features from Postal 3's are missing like 'prefabs' (not to be confused with Prefab on Hammer); Requires Source SDK Base 2013 MP/SP to be installed; Requires folder linking inside SDK Base's sourcetest folder to load assets; Hammer++ will crash if placed inside Postal 3's bin folder.
Portal	Source 2013 Singleplayer	Source 2013 Singleplayer	Install to game's bin folder normally.
Portal 2: Community Edition	Strata Source	Garry's Mod?	Check out the issues on the relevant subpage. Support by developers is not planned, and usage is strongly discouraged; some Hammer++ features will be added to Strata Hammer.
SDK Base 2013 - MP (2025)	Team Fortress 2 branch	Team Fortress 2	Install to game's bin/x64 folder normally.
Source SDK Base Source 2006 games & mods (including Counter-Strike: Source v34, Half-Life 2 Old Engine, etc...)	Source 2006	Source 2013 Singleplayer	See Installation for Source 2006 games. Don't forget that Source 2006 games will have less textures (including tools textures such as 2D Skybox), differences in LDR + HDR lighting compared to Source 2007 and later (including Hammer++ lighting preview). So remember to run both Source 2006's Hammer and Hammer++ and check see if the same texture exists in Texture Browser on Source 2006's Hammer before adding it to the map.
Hunt Down the Freeman (launch version)	Source 2013 Singleplayer	Source 2013 Singleplayer	Install to game's bin folder normally.[confirm]
Hunt Down the Freeman (latest)	Source 2013 Multiplayer	Source 2013 Multiplayer	Install to game's bin folder normally.[confirm] This build uses Source 2013 Multiplayer to reduce map size.
Jabroni Brawl: Episode 3	Counter-Strike: Global Offensive	Counter-Strike: Global Offensive	Install to game's bin/win32 folder normally.[confirm] FGD must be modified to replace soundscape and sky KVs with string. As CSGO version of Hammer++ is frozen on an older version, it may be desirable to use H++ alongside the native CSGO version, to take advantage of newer features like Propper++.

Features

• Accurate lighting preview
• Upgraded graphic fidelity
• Significantly better stability
• Particle rendering
• 2D + 3D skybox preview
• New model browser, particle browser, color editor, and keybinding editor
• Realtime display of fog and ropes
• Variety of new tools such as physics simulation, gizmo manipulation, drawing of polygon shapes, and convex brush merging
• New func_instance tools
• Built-in version of propper
• Quality of life improvements
• Jumpman mode
• ... and much more!

A more detailed feature list can be found on the Hammer++ website and you can support ficool2 via Ko-fi

Issues and caveats

Bug:

• On some machines, always uses Windows's high-DPI scaling setting, even when scaling override mode is set to "Application" in  File Explorer's compatibility settings for hammerplusplus.exe. This can result in less real estate than Hammer 4.x, depending on Windows settings.
• On some systems or the way Windows was configured (usually happens on Windows 10 or later), Hammer++ may crash when it tries to open the Select File window. You can workaround this by editing the hammerplusplus\hammerplusplus_settings.ini, and change FileDialogHack to 0. This would disable the new file dialog (which makes it quicker & easier to navigate compared to old file dialog). This issue is not affected on Windows 7 (and possibly 8.x), and original Hammer (which also use new file dialog and does not have such issue).
• Brush entities that have a non-FGD classname upon VMF load are ignored by the lighting previewer until changed to an classname in the FGD or a world brush. This does not apply to entities that are changed to a non-FGD classname from one in the FGD.
• Crashes when attempting to load a map with an info_overlay_transition.
• Overlay faces are not preserved when brushes are merged.

Warning:

• Does not support some features from Hammer 4.x, such as "Convert WAD to VMT...", or loading GoldSrc MAP or RMF files directly (this also includes being unable to load ENT files extracted from Source maps via GCFScape).
• Ignores %notooltexture, with no option to disable this change; as such, textures which aren't intended to be used on brushes/displacements directly (and may not work correctly) will appear in the texture browser.
• Manifests are not supported, only instances.
• Instances are always fullbright in the lighting preview, and do not cast shadows.
• Lighting preview ignores _minlight and %CompileNoLight.
• Tool textures outside of the tools/ directory aren't accounted for by the lighting preview and the toolbar button that toggles visibility of tool textures in the 3D view.

Note:

• Due to computational constraints, the lighting preview does not include per-vertex lighting or lightmaps for static props, nor are brush/displacement lightmaps supersampled.
• Custom internal brush entities which get collapsed to worldspawn (ex: func_group, func_nobevel) do not cast shadows in the lighting preview unless vrad_brush_cast_shadows is enabled, which is inaccurate. Entities prefixed with func_detail are hardcoded to always cast shadows in the lighting preview.

Hammer++ game specific issues

Additional bugs can be found in the official issue tracker, which is no longer maintained.

See also

• Hammer++ for Linux
• Half-Life Model Viewer++
• Propper++

External links

• Official Hammer++ Website
  • Hammer++ Version History
• GitHub releases page - contains previous version of Hammer++