VMAP

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VMAP stands for Valve Map, and it is the main map file extension used by Template:Game name Hammer. The file itself is just a DMX file under binary encoding version 4, however Hammer can export an ASCII-encoded vmap by clicking "Save Copy As Text".

Some key differences with preceding formats:

	Template:Game name	Template:Game name
Geometry uncompiled	Brushes in Valve Map Format	Meshes in half-edge format
Geometry partitioning	Node and leaf lump / BSP	.vwnod_c file / Octree
Geometry compiled	Face lump	.vmdl_c files
Visibility compiled	Visibility lump	.vvis_c file
Physics compiled	Physics lump	.vphys_c file
Entities compiled	Entity lump	.vents_c file

Valve Map Compiled

VMAP_C stands for Valve Map Compiled, and is the main map file extension used to load maps in Template:Game name. The .vmap_c file is used to refer to various map dependencies (including vwrld, vwnod, vvis, vphys, vents, vtex, vmdl, vrman; usually residing in maps/<mapname>/) as well as other external assets used in the map.

This file along with its main dependencies usually get bundled together into a single VPK file, the latter of which serves similarly to the .bsp. Since lumps are separate files, they get packed and live next to other assets in the VPK. This makes post-compile addons much more convenient than in Template:Game name (see Patching EP1 levels vs. HL:A Map Extensions).