$renamematerial

$renamematerial is a QC command available in all Source games. It allows a model to use a different material to the one specified in its reference SMD.

Renamed materials remain independent from each other for identification purposes, even if they share a new material name. As a result, this command cannot be used to lower the original material count.

Tip:This behavior can be exploited for potentially useful means, such as renaming eyeball_L and eyeball_R to a shared material, allowing the eyes to still function but requiring only a single material file rather than two copies.

Syntax

$renamematerial	<current material>	<new material>

Usage with $texturegroups

Renamed materials must be stated with their original material names when listed in a $texturegroup, see below:

$body "model_1.smd"  //Mesh using material "material_1"
$body "model_2.smd"  //Mesh using material "material_2"

//Rename "material_2" on "model_2" to match the material name on "model_1"
$renamematerial "material_2" "material_1"

$texturegroup skinfamilies
{
	{ "material_1" }
	{ "material_3" }
}

The above example would result in only the faces from "model_1" being changed to "material_3" because the compiler still identifies the faces on "model_2" as being assigned to "material_2" even though it was renamed to match.

In order for the materials to change correctly, you must list the original material name in the first texture group and state the rename command after.

$texturegroup skinfamilies
{
	{ "material_1" "material_2 }
	{ "material_3" "material_3" }
}

$renamematerial "material_2" "material_1"

Tip:You can temporarily rename the default materials to your alternate skin's materials if you want to display them as the default skin while working on them.

See also

• $cdmaterials
• $texturegroup "skinfamilies"
• $lod "replacematerial"