Tool textures (Source)

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Tool textures are used, mostly by the tools but sometimes by the engine, to perform special tasks. They can easily be found in Hammer by using "tools\" as a filter in the texture browser.

Anyone can make their very own tool texture, by utilising available Material Map Compile Flags, such as %compilenonsolid 1, %compileDetail 1 and %compilenodraw 1 for a tool texture which is not solid, does not cut visleafs and is invisible.
A %tooltexture may also be set, which is only to be seen in Hammer, while the $basetexture is seen ingame.
However, the self made tool textures must be shipped with the map, else they might not work.

Tip:WiseClipped - tutorial on using many of the Source Tool textures shown below.

Note:All tool textures that are assumed to be texturing an entity, work exactly like ordinary textures if applied to world brushes instead. As this makes them useless for world brushes, their visibility as world brushes is irrelevant. Also, many tool textures cut visleafs. If you aren't texturing an entity, you should tie the brush to func_detail or func_brush for optimization.

Note:Some games may have outdated or obsolete tool textures in the "Dev" folder. Such as "Dev/dev_windowportal" in the L4D series.

General

General - Common

These tool textures are available in every source 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 ,,,, ect.

Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Black	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Note:This is the Tools/ToolsBlack texture, not the Halflife/Black texture. This texture is often used for brushes that are far away and they are dark. It cannot be lit by any type of light, but is affected by fog color. An example of its use is in the "space" backgrounds during the G-Man monologues in Half-Life 2, or crude buildings in the 3D Skybox. Uses UnlitGeneric in: Uses LightmappedGeneric in: While at least in L4D2 the different shader has no impact, it might be possible that it does have a different function in other games. In which case you may want to use vgui/black instead, or make your own tool texture.
	White	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsBlack texture only in white. (in all games since )
	Block Bullets	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Foremost solid to bullets, but also to NPCs and physics projectiles. It does not block all projectiles, though. Projectiles from NPCs such as the acid spit from antlion workers, will still get through. To allow NPCs and their line of sight to pass through, turn the brush into a func_brush with its Solidity keyvalue set to a solid state.
	Invisible	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Solid to prop_physics, projectiles, players, npcs. Not solid to bullets. Also solid to bullets. Smokers, Boomers and Spitters can attack you through it. Survivors stop being dragged towards smokers when touching a tools/invisible wall. Risk of Confusion: Tools/ToolsNodraw_Noshadow uses the same tool texture in the texture browser, which also blocks LOS!
	(Invisible) Ladder	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Used with func_ladder in the most multiplayer games except Half-Life 2 Deathmatch. Ladder will not work if used with func_ladder.
	Nodraw	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Not drawn in game, seals leaks, and is skipped by VRAD. Blocks visibility if used on all surfaces of the same brush. Optimally, every face that can't be seen during normal gameplay should have this texture. Portals can be placed on it, but not in . Use Nodraw Portalable instead if this behavior is desired. Note:The "glass footsteps" version of this texture in does not seal maps. Note:While no lightmap data is generated on nodraw faces, nodraw brushes still cast shadows. Note:Despite common misconception, it is not necessary to use nodraw on faces that don't touch visleaves, as these are automatically removed by VBSP. This means faces that are outside the map and faces that are flush with another one.
	Origin	N/A	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Leftover from GoldSource, where a brush with this texture was used to set the rotation origin of rotating entities. It is still functional in Source (overriding the entity's origin keyvalue), but no longer necessary. When placed outside of a brush entity, the compiler will fail with the error origin brushes not allowed in world. Not available in all branches.
	Block LOS	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Blocks the line of sight of NPCs and bots. mat_wireframe 1/2 will reveal that while this texture doesn't block visleaves, it draws crossing polygons, and them alone are capable of preventing the engine from rendering enveloped brushwork. This can be worked around through turning the Block LOS textured brush into a func_brush with its Solidity keyvalue set to a solid state. (A Block LOS func_brush can still be traversed in this state.)
	Block Light	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Casts shadows artificially. Only used at compile time by VRAD. Does not seal leaks. See more uses here.
	Trigger	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Used on Trigger and func_viscluster entities.

General - Game specific

These tool textures are only available in specific source engine games.

Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Black Cheap	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsBlack, the only difference is that uses special "black" shader. has a replacement that works with older engines. Todo: Find more about "black" shader
	Black Nofog	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsBlack, but no fog will appear in front ot it. Uses "UnlitGeneric" shader. Suprisingly uses City17 %keywords in VMT, despite HL2 not having this texture.
	Black Noportal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsBlack. Seems to have been intended as a non-portalable version, but this is already the case with the normal texture in the final game
	Black Noportal Nofog	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsBlack, but does not render fog.
	Black Noportal Skybox	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsBlack_Cheap.
	Nolight	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsBlack, but for some reason is used instead.
	Black Arkane	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Identical to Tools/ToolsBlack, but for some reason is used instead.
	White Arkane	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Identical to Tools/ToolsWhite, but for some reason is used instead.
	Block Bullets 2	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsBlockBullets, but doesn't block visleaves.
	Blocks Bullets Forcefield	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsBlockBullets, but uses forcefield surfaceprop.
Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Invisible Non-Solid	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Not solid to anything, but blocks LOS. Useful as a utillity texture, like buttons you should be able to clip into.
	Nodraw Roof	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsNodraw, but with a different texture name.
	Nodraw Wood	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsNodraw, but will make wood impact sounds when hit.
	Nodraw Stone	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Identical to Tools/ToolsNodraw, but will make stone impact sounds when hit.
	Nodraw Invisible	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	A translucent Nodraw texture, cannot be used to seal the map.
	Nodraw Noshadow	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Identical to Tools/ToolsNodraw but does not cast any shadows. Risk of Confusion: Uses Tools/ToolsInvisible texture instead.
	Nodraw Metal	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsNodraw but with metal surfaceprop, Does not show metal marks. You may want to use Tools/Invismetal instead.
	Nodraw Surfaceprop	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Seven materials all Identical to Tools/ToolsNodraw but uses different surfaceprop types (chitin, dirt, grass, metal, sand, stone, wood) and also do not casts any shadows.
	Nodraw Portalable	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Identical to Tools/ToolsNodraw, but Portals can be placed on this texture.
	Viscluster	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Identical to Trigger, but used for func_viscluster
Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	XOG Volume	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Identical to Trigger, but used for newxog_volume
	CSM Volume	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Identical to Trigger, but used for trigger_csm_volume
	Color Correction	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	A tool texture used for color_correction_volume
	Soundscape Trigger	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	A tool texture used for trigger_soundscape

Optimisation

Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Areaportal	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Use with areaportals (func_areaportals and func_areaportalwindows). Can be used with other brush entities, such as some triggers.
	Hint	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Instructs the vvis to cut visleaves along this texture, no matter its orientation.
	Skip	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Has no effect on anything. Skip faces are removed during compile, so a brush textured with skip won't prevent leaks. Useful in combination with Hint tool textures, and as a tool in Hammer for grouping, moving and place-holding objects.
	Occluder	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	Used only for func_occluder entities.

Clips

Clips - Common

These tool textures are available in every source 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 ,,,, ect.

Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Clip	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Solid to players and NPCs but not other objects. In Source 2013, it's also solid to item pickups like ammo packs but not dropped weapons. Solid to dropped C4. Features clip brush textures with different material types: Concrete, Dirt, Glass, Grass, Gravel, Metal, Metal Sand Barrel, Metal Grate, Metal Vehicle, Plastic, Rubber, Rubber Tire, Sand, Tile, Wood, Wood Basket, Wood Crate. See more about clip texture here.
	NPC Clip	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Solid to NPCs only. Solid to bots. Solid to infected only, but does not stop Smokers, Boomers and Spitters from attacking through it.
	Player Clip	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Solid to players only. In Source 2013, it's also solid to item pickups like ammo packs but not dropped weapons. Solid to players and bots. Solid to dropped C4. Solid to the survivors only.
	Player Control Clip	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Available only in Source 2006 and earlier, but brought back in . It is obvious that this texture has to be tied to an entity to gain any special abilities, but what entity is not yet confirmed. Seems that it is necessary for func_vehicleclip. (See "player clip" above for the tool texture that restricts player movement.)

Clips - Game Specific

These tool textures are only available in specific source engine games.

Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Grenade Clip	No	No	No	No	No	No	Solid to Grenades	No	Solid to grenades only.
	Stairs	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No	Functionally the same to player clip but allows for steeper angles when walking on, up to 63.4349488°.
	Drone Clip	No	No	No	N/A	N/A	No	No	No	Used to prevent drone getting stuck on complex geometry.
	Clip Xen Leaves Version	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	A special clip used for clipping the leaves in xen

Sky and fog

Sky and Fog - Common

These tool textures are available in every source 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 ,,,, ect.

Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Fog	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Confirm:Does not seem to work? (You can use this for func_smokevolume instead of the trigger texture but NOT for func_dustcloud.)
	Skybox	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	This texture is used to make 3D skyboxes. Casts light if there is a light_environment entity in the map. Cannot be used in the same PVS as the toolsskybox2d tool texture. Things such as another area of a map will render on top of the skybox. An areaportal can stop this from happening, but it's generally better practice to add more scenery to cover the stuff that shouldn't be seen, reposition those things out of view, or just don't have an opening in that area.
	2D Skybox	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Available only in Source 2007 and later. Use to make 2D skyboxes without displaying the 3D Skybox. Casts light if there is a light_environment entity in the map. Bug:Light cast from this texture can still be blocked by 3d skybox geometry.  [todo tested in ?] Cannot be used in the same PVS as the toolsskybox tool texture.
	SkyFog	No	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A	Yes	N/A	Yes (Marks)	The SkyFog texture does not contain any properties. There is currently no existing corresponding Shader called "skyfog". (Generates error Error: Material "tools/toolsskyfog" uses unknown shader "SkyFog".) Confirm:It can be fixed to function properly if it's vmt settings are changed in the Source code and recompiled
	Fog Volume	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	(in all games since ) Used in conjunction with multiple env_fog_controllers to change fog colours and densities in a level. Fog inside its volume will not appear to have different atributes when viewed from outside its volume, as it globally changes the appearance of all fog across the map when entered.

Sky and Fog - Game Specific

These tool textures are only available in specific source engine games.

Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Skybox NoLight	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Identical to Skybox, but does not casts any light rays.

Miscellaneous

Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Block Bomb	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Original purpose probably was to only block the C4 but it currently works just like a normal Clip brush.
	Climb	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	A ladder only for Infected. Not Visible to Infected Players during Versus, but can be climbed up on. Use Climb Versus Instead.
	Climb Alpha	Visible to Infected	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Seemingly identical to Climb Versus. The only difference is "tools\climb_alpha.vmt" uses $alphatest while "tools/climb_versus.vmt" uses $additive. This tool texture has so far never been used in an official campaigns.
	Climb Versus	Visible to Infected	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	A ladder only for infected, must be used with func_ladder, otherwise it will be ignored by the navigation mesh editor and Special infected which do not require a navigation mesh to move.
	Dotted	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	A face textured with this texture is rendered on top of all other brush geometry. Furthermore, a brush with Dotted on any face will not block visibility nor cull any face that it touches, meaning that any area enclosed in a Dotted-textured brush will not be removed from the map in any way.
	Dynamic Difficulty	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (Marks)	Solid to grenades. Tied to the trigger_dynamic_difficulty entity for the game's difficulty system.
	Func Fishes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Used with the func_fishes entity to spawn fish inside of its volume.
	Func Leaves	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Used with the func_leaves entity to spawn leaves particles inside its volume.
	Gray	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Purpose unknown, just a grey texture.
	Hide	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	A gradient from transparent to black.
Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Interactive	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Utility texture tied to the ship_base_interaction brush entity to specify the only surfaces available for the player to interact with the entity
	Invisible Displacement	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Light is not blocked by this texture, except for . Todo: Explain where it is used and how it works
	Invismetal	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Invisible texture, with metal surface properties. Simmilar to how Nodraw Metal Should have worked. Does not seal maps. Creates metal sparks when shot, but bullets pass through.
No Image	Locked	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	This is a special tool texture, intended to prevent vmex from decompiling any maps using this custom tool texture. BSPSource ignores this, rendering it useless. It does not really exist, as every user has to make their own, but it is listed here for completeness sake.
	Non-Interactive	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Utility texture tied to the ship_base_interaction brush entity as a measure to help identify surfaces from which the player are unable to interact with said entity
	Ship Room	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Utility texture tied to the ship_trigger_room brush entity to create several different rooms and special areas upon the ship
	Vitrail Light	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Purpose currently unknown, properly used with some type of brush entity.
	Warm Light	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not a real tool texture, as it is a basic UntilGeneric texture. However, used as if it was a tool texture with func_brush to make it non-solid and fade away when approached. It being UnlitGeneric, makes it seems as if it were glowing in a warm color, but is not in lights.rad, so it won't actually emit any light for vrad to compile. Only used in C8M2_Subway behind the three windows to the right of the entrance of the end map saferoom building.
	Waterbounds	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	N/A	Used underwater when water meets the skybox.
Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	WrongWay	Visible to Infected	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes (No Marks)	Used to indicate the borders of the playable area. Only visible to Infected players. No campaign uses this tool texture anymore. See L4D Level Design: Blocking the Infected Team for more info Used especially for the Wingman gamemode. It has the same properties as 'WrongWay Timer. Its VMT file uses the PlayerProximity and Subtract material proxy so that it is only visible to players that are close to the origin of the entity that this material is applied to. Tip:All Yes/No flags can be changed if applied to a func_brush.
	WrongWay Timer	Doesn't work correctly	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Used as an indicator for a temporary blocker, when blocking Terrorists during the freezetime of the Retakes gamemode. Its VMT file uses the PlayerProximity and Subtract material proxy to manipulate $alpha, so that it is only visible to players that are close to the origin of the entity that this material is applied to. Warning:All world brushes or func_details with this texture use the same $alpha proxy as the closest functional application on screen, causing the material to bug out and freeze in the wrong visibility state.. Tip:All Yes/No flags can be changed if applied to a func_brush.

VR specific tool textures

Image	Name	Visible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets	Usage / Notes
	Teleport Clip	No	No	N/A	No	No	Yes	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.