SFM/Converting Existing Assets

While sounds don't need to be recompiled, and can be copied to your ugc directory, models require some edits first. For your models, you'll need to make some simple edits to your .vmt's and your .qc's and copy a couple directories around. (Note that in the instructions below, any text in ALL CAPS needs to be replaced with the appropriate text for your assets. So STEAMID needs to be replaced with your own steamid, for example) Here's the process in two steps: materials and models.

Materials

The best practice is to copy your .tga's in your content directory, and recompile them:

copy content/usermod/materialsrc/models/PATH/* to content/usermod/materialsrc/models/ugc/STEAMID/PATH

compile content/usermod/materialsrc/models/ugc/STEAMID/PATH/*.tga with vtex.exe

copy game/usermod/materials/models/PATH/*.vmt to game/usermod/materials/models/ugc/STEAMID/PATH

edit game/usermod/materials/models/ugc/STEAMID/PATH/*.vmt as described below

But if you're in a hurry, you can probably just copy the entire directory containing your .vtf's and .vmt's, and skip copying and compiling your .tga's:

copy game/usermod/materials/models/PATH/* to game/usermod/materials/models/ugc/STEAMID/PATH

edit game/usermod/materials/models/ugc/STEAMID/PATH/*.vmt as described below

The only edit you'll need for .vmt's is to insert "ugc/STEAMID" into your path like so: (where "$VAR" is any material variable that references a texture, like "$basetexture" or "$bumpmap")

change "$VAR" "models/PATH/TEXTURE" to "$VAR" "models/ugc/STEAMID/PATH/TEXTURE

Models

For models, there's only one choice, and that is to recompile them. While the texture format hasn't changed between different games and sdk's, the model format has. So to convert your models, you'll need to copy the directory containing your .qc's, .smd's, etc:

copy content/usermod/models/PATH to content/usermod/models/ugc/STEAMID/PATH

Most models will only require this change to your .qc's:

change $modelname PATH/FILENAME.mdl to $modelname ugc/STEAMID/PATH/FILENAME.mdl

change $cdmaterials models/PATH to $cdmaterials models/ugc/STEAMID/PATH