VBSP

A compiling tool that creates 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.

Options

Use these in combination with expert compile mode or a batch file:

Common options (use -v to see all options)

-v (or -verbose): Turn on verbose output (also shows more command-line options).

• -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

• -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 vertices 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 options
• -replacematerials : Substitute materials according to materialsub.txt in content\maps
• -FullMinidumps : Write large minidumps on crash.

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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:

Map Compiling Theory

Decompiling Maps

VRAD

VVIS