Sledge

Sledge

Sledge is a completely free and open source replacement for Valve's Hammer Editor, with a focus on compatibility with both Goldsource and Source engines. The purpose of Sledge is to offer advanced editing features from later versions of Hammer and other editors and make them available to all users, regardless of which engine they choose to use.

Sledge uses the same file formats as Hammer does (RMF, MAP, VMF) and maps are compatible between both programs. The editing process is almost identical to Hammer, the hotkeys are the same, as well as many of the screen elements and dialogs. Switching to Sledge will not be difficult for users who are familiar with Hammer.

Sledge Requirements

• Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8)

• Microsoft .NET 4.0

• OpenGL compatible graphics card

• FGD for the game of your choice

Sledge does not currently have many compilation options and an external compiler such as The Compilator or Nem's Batch Compiler is recommended.

Advantages of Sledge

-Sledge brings many editing features available in Hammer 4 into the Goldsource editing environment.

• It is built using modern frameworks and libraries, and is tested on modern operating systems.

• It is constantly being enhanced and new features are always being added.

• It is open source, which means the source code is available to everybody to modify and improve.

Features in Sledge

*Runs on modern operating systems and graphics cards

• Full support for Goldsource editing

• Reads and writes RMF, MAP, VMF files

• Complete compatibility with Hammer maps

• Proper decimal precision for sub-grid geometry

• Support for large maps

• Support for multiple visgroups per object

• Automatic visgrouping

• Displays models from unextracted PAK files

• Improved texture browser filtering and display options

• A huge number of settings to customize to your liking

...and much more!

Sledge Public Alpha

Sledge is currently in alpha stage, so it may be unstable and some features are missing. Missing features include:

-Advanced compile options

• Built-in support for prefabs/instances

• Automatic detection of game configurations

• Windows jump-list/shell integration

• Arch and sphere brush types

Source Support

The current milestone is to fully support Goldsource editing. Once the alpha test is complete, work to add support for Source will begin. Full Source support is expected to be released in version 2.

Many Source editing features will be available in Goldsource as well, such as displacements and instances. These features will convert to Goldsource-compatible brushwork when a map is compiled. Future Possibilities

Because Sledge is open source, the possibilities for future expansion are endless. Some popular ideas include the following:

Future Possibilities

• Collaborative editing and multi-user support

• A plugin system and support for scripting

• Built-in support for version control systems like SVN and Git

• Powerful displacement editing tools

• A complete 'Sledge SDK' containing other editing and creation tools based on the Sledge code base...and anything else you can think of!

External links

• Official Homepage
• Sledge on GitHub