Tool textures (Source 2)

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Source Engine ( official | third-party )

Source 2

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These files were quickly thrown here from Half-Life: Alyx and Counter-Strike 2. Most info is probably identical to their Source counterparts^[confirm]

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Categorize textures between ones specific to one game, and engine wide ones

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Filtering tool textures in Source 2 Hammer (screenshot from Half-Life: Alyx).

Tool textures are used, mostly by the entities they're named after, but sometimes by parts of the engine such visibility calculations, to perform special tasks. They can be easily found in the Asset Browser using "tools" (or alternatively, in Counter-Strike 2, click the Edit filter () icon and type "tools", then click Tag "Tools Nodraw Material" or simply type "tag=@vmat_tools_nodraw", or in Half-Life: Alyx/older Source 2 games, click on "X/X Tags", then check Tools Nodraw Material) as a filter. However, like Source, some tool textures may be located in different directory (e.g. dev or effects folder). Additionally, some tool textures, like toolsblocklight, are not tagged in Tools Nodraw Material.

Note:Some tool textures only function properly if the mesh was brush/block-shaped, or one of the mesh faces isn't deleted.

General

General — Common

These tool textures are available in every Source 2 engine game.

Some of these textures have special function in some games. These special functions are noted by having the game's icon listed in the description (such as , , , etc.).

Todo: Categorization.

Image	Name	Visible if Mesh	Casts shadows	Block Visibility	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Blocks sound (only in )	Usage / Notes
	toolsblockbullets	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Warning:Like the Source 1 counterpart, this tool texture is actually just a solid invisible wall in every way shape and form. However, unlike Source 1, it stops bullets even if the mesh was very thin, it does not block VIS, and it does block NPC LOS. See Blockbullets for info on how to actually block bullets and projectiles. Shows bullet impact when shooting at it. Has toolsblockbullets_cs variant, which does not show the bullet impact when shooting at it.
	toolsblocklight	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Block light. Does not create VIS. Note:Not tagged in Tools Nodraw Material (confirmed in Half-Life: Alyx).
	toolsblock_los	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Blocks the line of sight of NPCs and bots.
	toolsblocksound	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Same as AudioBlocker, but with slightly different tool textures parameters Confirm:Also present in Half-Life: Alyx, test whether this does anything.
	toolsinvisible	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Solid to prop_physics, projectiles, players, & NPCs. Not solid to bullets.
	toolsinvisibleladder toolsinvisibleladder_wood	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No Yes	No	No	Used to create non-object ladders (with metal surface sound). (only in ) Also has a wood version of the texture, which makes wood sound.
	toolslightmapres	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Placed near playable bounds of a map, helps the Lightmap generator in VRAD3 to calculate which meshes to prioritize and which ones to bias down
	toolslightvolumeboundary	No	No	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	?	No	Todo: Figure out
	toolsnodraw	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Bullet impacts)	No	Not drawn in game, and is skipped by VRAD. While it still works, it mostly no longer needed on surfaces the player will never see in-game, as you can now simply just select the mesh's face and delete it entirely.
	toolsnodraw_bounce	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Bullet impacts)	No	Same as toolsnodraw, but doesn't block VIS.
	toolsnodraw_grate	No	No	Yes	Yes No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Bullet impacts) No	No	Identical to Tools/ToolsNodraw, it also supposed to make grate impact sounds when hit or stand on top and moving around it but seems to make the same exact sounds as Tools/ToolsNodraw. Same as above except it's not solid to bullets, and does not block LOS.
	toolsnodraw_metal	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Bullet impacts)	No	Makes metal sounds when walking on it, and creates metal bullet impact when shooting at it. Does not block VIS.
	toolsnodraw_wood	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Bullet impacts)	No	Identical to Tools/ToolsNodraw (confirmed on ) Makes wood sounds when walking on it, and creates wood bullet impact when shooting at it.
	tools_postprocess_volume	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	No	Meshes with this texture are meant to be tied to the post_processing_volume entity.
	toolssolidblocklight	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No (in ) Yes	No	No	No	Same as Block light (toolsblocklight), but create VIS. Note:Not tagged in Tools Nodraw Material (confirmed in Half-Life: Alyx).
	toolsteleportclip	No	No	N/A	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Half solid to players. Blocks player movement in VR (teleport or smooth locomotion), but not their hands. Confirm:Does not appear to function in SteamVR Home. (also in )[Why?]
	toolstrigger	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Used on trigger(s) entities

Uncategorized

These tool textures have not been organized yet.

Image	Name	Visible if Mesh	Casts shadows	Block Visibility	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Blocks sound (only in )	Usage / Notes
	audioblocker	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Muffles audio if mesh blocks line of sight of the audio origin. See Audio Blocker page for more info
	postprocessingvolume	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	No	Todo: Figure out Might only be used in HLA or other Source 2 games? Not in CS2
	tools_cs_place	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Meshes with this texture are meant to be tied to the env_cs_place entity to create Location name callouts. (only in )
	tools_spawn_volume	No	No	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	Todo: Figure out
	toolsblockbomb	No	No	No	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes (Bullet impacts)	No	Acts like ToolsInvisible. Does not block VIS, however.
	toolsgrey	Yes	Yes	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	?	No	Todo: Figure out
	toolsignorenpc	No	No	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	?	No	Todo: Figure out
	toolsmarkupvolumeai	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	No	Todo: Figure out
	toolsnavattribute	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	No	Used for NPC navigation.
	toolsprecipitation	No	No	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	Todo: Figure out

General — Game-specific

These tool textures are only available in specific Source 2 games.

Counter-Strike 2

Image	Name	Visible if Mesh	Casts shadows	Block Visibility	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Blocks sound (only in )	Usage / Notes
	toolsgrenadeclip	No	No	No	No	No	No	Solid to Grenades	No	No	Solid to grenades only. Works only if the mesh was brush shaped, and one of the faces isn't deleted.
	toolsnavspaceclip	No	Yes	?	?	?	?	?	?	No	Todo: Figure out
	toolsnodraw_plastic	No	No	Yes	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes (Bullet impacts)	No	Identical to Tools/ToolsNodraw (confirmed on )

General - Obsolete / Non-functional

These tool textures are obsoleted (deprecated) or no longer works as intended.

Image	Name	Visible if Mesh	Casts shadows	Block Visibility	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Blocks sound (only in )	Usage / Notes
	toolsblack	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Deprecated:Only shown in Hammer, not shown in game (except on cubemaps), making it act almost like toolsnodraw (Nodraw) texture. Seems to cast lightmap shadows only. Use other black texture instead, such as dev/black_simple, cs_italy_black (both cast lightmap and CSM shadows, however they also renders bullet marks). (Confirmed on & )
	toolswhite	No	Yes	Yes[confirm]	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Deprecated:Removed in . Does not rendered as fullbright like tools/toolswhite in Source. Use other white texture instead, such as effects/glows/solid_white_glow.

Optimization

Image	Name	Visible if Mesh	Casts shadows	Block Visibility	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Blocks sound (only in )	Usage / Notes
	skyvisblocker	No	No	?	?	?	No	No	?	No	Deprecated:Deprecated since Half-Life: Alyx and should not be used.
	tools_func_occluder	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	No	Todo: Figure out
	toolsskip	No	No	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	Has no effect on anything.
	toolsoccluder	No	No	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	Todo: Figure out Presumably the same as tools_func_occluder, just from a different game[confirm]
	visblocker	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Block VIS.

Clip

Clips — Common

These tool textures are available in every Source 2 engine game.

Some of these textures have special function in some games. These special functions are noted by having the game's icon listed in the description (such as , , , etc.).

Image	Name	Visible if Mesh	Casts shadows	Block Visibility	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Blocks sound (only in )	Usage / Notes
	toolsclip	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Solid to players and NPCs but not other objects.
	toolsplayerclip	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Solid to players only.
	toolsnpcclip	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Solid to NPCs only.
	toolsnavclip	No	No	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	Todo: Figure out
	toolsotherclip	No	No	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	Todo: Figure out
	toolscontrolclip	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Leftover and previously deprecated in Source 2007, but present in Team Fortress 2.

Clips — Game Specific

These tool textures are only available in specific Source 2 games.

Sky and Fog

Sky and Fog — Common

These tool textures are available in every Source 2 engine game.

Some of these textures have special function in some games. These special functions are noted by having the game's icon listed in the description (such as , , , etc.).

Image	Name	Visible if Mesh	Casts shadows	Block Visibility	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Blocks sound (only in )	Usage / Notes
	toolsfog	No	No	?	?	?	Yes	Yes	?	No	Todo: Figure out Likely leftover from Source, which does nothing and have no effect.
	fogvolume	No	No	?	?	?	No	No	No	No	Todo: Figure out
	toolsskybox	No	No	Yes	?	?	No	No	?	No	This texture is used to display 3D skyboxes. Works similar to toolsnodraw, but non-solid.

Sky and Fog — Game Specific

These tool textures are only available in specific Source 2 games. ^[Todo]

Miscellaneous

These are textures that have a special use, sometimes only seen in one single game.

Some of these textures are not even "real" tool textures, as they do not possess any Compile Flags, but they have some important use that no other texture available can do.

Image	Name	Visible if Mesh	Casts shadows	Block Visibility	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Blocks sound (only in )	Usage / Notes
	climb	No	No	No	?	?	Yes	Yes	No	No	Leftover when Valve imported L4D2 into Source 2 internally. Works the same way as toolsinvisibleladder, but with default sounds (confirmed on ).
	climb_versus	No	No	No	?	?	Yes	Yes	No	No	Same as above.
	wrongway	Yes	Yes	No	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	No	Used to indicate the borders of the playable area. Especially used for the CS:GO/CS2 Wingman game mode. It has the same properties as WrongWay Timer. Unlike Source (), bullets mark will shown when you shoot at it.
	wrongway_timer	Doesn't work correctly	No	No	?	?	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	No	Used for brushes that are temporarily blocking Terrorists during the freezetime of the CS:GO Retakes game mode. Counter-Strike 2 does not have Retakes (technically still exist in code) game mode, so this is completely unused. Partially invisible in-game, unless shooting or knifing at it, which would briefly show the texture, and does not render correctly in Hammer.