VBSP

A command-line tool that compiles the BSP (Binary Space Partition) file that will be your map. Can be run by itself to create a (test) map, but the additional use of the other two tools (VVIS and VRAD) is recommended for release maps.

Vbsp also places Detail Props on appropriate surfaces in a map.

There are various command-line options that can be used in combination with expert compile mode, a batch file, or directly at a Windows command prompt. For a complete list, envoke %sourcesdk%\bin\vbsp.exe at the commmand prompt, with no other parameters.

Syntax

vbsp [options...] mapfile

Example:

%sourcesdk%\bin\vbsp.exe -onlyents sdk_trainstation_01

Common options

-v (or -verbose)

Turn on verbose output (also shows more command-line options). Use without any other parameters.

-onlyents

This option causes vbsp to only import the entities from the vmf-file. -onlyents won't reimport brush models.

-onlyprops

Only update the static props and detail props.

-glview

Writes .gl files in the current directory that can be viewed with glview.exe. If you use -tmpout, it will write the files into the \tmp folder.

-nodetail

Get rid of all detail geometry. The geometry left over is what affects visibility.

-nowater

Get rid of water brushes.

-low

Run as an idle-priority process.

-vproject <directory>

Override the VPROJECT environment variable.

-game <directory>

Same as -vproject.

Other options

Run %sourcesdk%\bin\vbsp.exe -v to display these options.

-novconfig

Don't bring up graphical UI on vproject errors.

-threads

Control the number of threads vbsp uses (defaults to the # of processors (times 2 for Hypertreading CPU's) on your machine).

-verboseentities

If -v is on, this disables verbose output for submodels.

-noweld

Don't join face vertexes together.

-nocsg

Don't chop out intersecting brush areas.

-noshare

Emit unique face edges instead of sharing them.

-notjunc

Don't fixup t-junctions.

-noopt

By default, vbsp removes the 'outer shell' of the map, which are all the faces you can't see because you can never get outside the map. -noopt disables this behavior.

-noprune

Don't prune neighboring solid nodes.

-nomerge

Don't merge together chopped faces on nodes.

-nomergewater

Don't merge together chopped faces on water.

-nosubdiv

Don't subdivide faces for lightmapping.

-micro <#>

vbsp will warn when brushes are output with a volume less than this number (default: 1.0).

-fulldetail

Mark all detail geometry as normal geometry (so all detail geometry will affect visibility).

-leaktest

Stop processing the map if a leak is detected. Whether or not this flag is set, a leak file will be written out at <vmf filename>.lin, and it can be imported into Hammer.

-bumpall

Force all surfaces to be bump mapped.

-snapaxial

Snap axial planes to integer coordinates.

-block # #

Control the grid size mins that vbsp chops the level on.

-blocks # # # #

Enter the mins and maxs for the grid size vbsp uses.

-dumpstaticprops

Dump static props to staticprop*.txt

-dumpcollide

Write files with collision info.

-luxelscale #

Scale all lightmaps by this amount (default: 1.0).

-lightifmissing

Force lightmaps to be generated for all surfaces even if they don't need lightmaps.

-keepstalezip

Keep the BSP's zip files intact but regenerate everything else.

-xbox

Enable mandatory xbox optionsm (Can cause memory leaks on Windows with out applying the patch code to your mod found at SDK_Known_Issues_List)

-replacematerials

Substitute materials according to materialsub.txt in content\maps

-FullMinidumps

Write large minidumps on crash.

Nonfunctional Options

-linuxdata

Force it to write physics data for linux multiplayer servers. ( It will automatically write this data if it finds certain entities like info_player_terrorist, info_player_deathmatch, info_player_teamspawn, info_player_axis, or info_player_coop. )

-nolinuxdata

Force it to not write physics data for linux multiplayer servers, even if there are multiplayer entities in the map.

-virtualdispphysics

Use virtual (not precomputed) displacement collision models

See also

• VRAD
• VVIS
• Map Compiling Theory
• Decompiling Maps