SDK Docs

Source SDK Documentation Index

General

Source SDK Release Notes

Source SDK FAQ

Developer Console

Source SDK Files and Directory Structure

Demo Recording Tools

Source TV

Known Issues

Source SDK Release Notes

Advanced Configuration

The Game Directory

The GameInfo.txt File Structure

Level Design

Welcome to Source Level Editing.

See the bottom of the page for alphabetically organized tutorials

Getting Started Installation Level Design Overview Your First Map Inputs and Outputs Hammer Editor Reference Documentation Hammer Hotkey Reference Hammer Feature Requests [ Deprecated] Valve Hammer Editor Versions Hammer++, a modified version of Hammer Editor that includes bug fixes and quality of life improvements General Dimensions Optimization The Face Edit Tool Displacement Surfaces (Terrain) Prop Types Overview 2D Skyboxes Grouping and VisGrouping Entity Hierarchy (parenting) Filter Applications List of entities Creating and Using Prefabs Instances Adding Water Trigger Events Between Levels Lighting Lighting HDR Lighting Basics Intermediate Lighting Advanced Lighting Connecting Areas Doors Working Ladders Elevators Teleporters Curved Hallways Angled Geometry Detailing Environmental Lighting, Sun, Weather, & Outdoors Displacement Grass Glass & Windows Cables and Ropes Sound and Music Complex Brush Creation Special Effects Physics Physics Entity Overview Trains Beams and Lasers Explosions Dust, Fog, & Smoke Color correction Sprites Lists of Special Effects NPCs and AI Introduction to AI Nodegraph construction Finishing Up 3D Skyboxes Cubemaps Optimization Expert compile mode Bspzip (Embedding Custom Content) Pre-publication evaluation Fixing lighting on a static prop Level Transitions

Other Engines GoldSrc Level Design Source 2 Level Design Source 2 Level Design category - contain pages related to Source 2 level design. Specific Games Alien Swarm Black Mesa Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Counter-Strike: Source Dark Messiah of Might and Magic Day of Defeat: Source Garry's Mod Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2 Episodes Half-Life 2 Deathmatch Half-Life: Source Half-Life Deathmatch: Source INFRA Left 4 Dead Left 4 Dead 2 Portal Portal 2 SiN Episodes: Emergence Team Fortress 2 The Ship Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines Other Source Mods Design Theory Single-Player Mapping Tips Bounce (level design) Loops (level design) Push Gameplay Map Compiling Theory How to Develop a Map That Works Adding More Detail to a map Color Theory in Level Design Decompiling Maps Creating High-Quality Maps in Source Troubleshooting Source SDK/Hammer Troubleshooting Troubleshooting Level Design Level Design FAQ Compile Errors Source SDK FAQ In-game/Engine Troubleshooting Engine Hunk Overflow Using the Showbudget Panel External links Level Design Video Tutorials - A list of video tutorials related to Source mapping. Mapping Sites - sites about mapping, including tutorials, articles General Sites - Sites covering a wide variety of topics including mapping Map Archive Sites - sites where you can download maps for Valve's games File Hosting Sites - A list of reliable websites for hosting user-created maps Image Hosting Sites - A list of reliable websites to share screenshots of user-created maps News Site List - A list of websites for hype/advertisement and discussion

Choreography / FacePoser

FacePoser Documentation

Material System

Terms Valve Material Type (.vmt) Valve Texture Format (.vtf) Half-Life Wads (.wad) Source 2 Vmats (.vmat) Texture Shader Basics Creating a Material Material optimization Decals Skybox (2D) VTFEdit, VMT Editor and VTF Shell Extensions Patch Shader Commands List of Shaders List of Shader Parameters

Common Shader Effects Lighting Bump map Parallax mapping Half Lambert Reflection Phong Specular Water / Refract Blending WorldVertexTransition Troubleshooting Fixing DXT Green Tint Compression Proxies Material Proxies List Of Material Proxies material_modify_control Procedural Materials

Sound System

Modeling

Getting started Model Creation Overview Exporting a model Compiling a model Studiomdl ItemTest Category:QC Commands Key features Skeletal animation (with inverse kinematics) Facial animation (with eyes) Vertex animation Level of detail Physics: Collision meshes Embedded physics data Physics bones Hitboxes Tutorials Materials for models Skeletons and Rigging Physics and Ragdolls Character Creation Overview Character Setup Overview Character Textures and Materials Character Facial Animation Shapekey Set Eye Position Setup Locking Npc Animations View Models Level of detail Vehicles (modeling) Porting Goldsource content to Source Fixing CStrike models for HL2 Skeleton motion mapping Physics Box Model in Milkshape3D	Modeling package help Freeware: Blender GMax Softimage kHED Shareware: Maya 3DS Max Modo Lightwave Cinema 4D Fragmotion MilkShape 3D
	Troubleshooting Troubleshooting Modeling Common compile errors
	Tools Half-Life Model Viewer qc_eyes Crowbar Propper VMF to SMD Wall Worm Model Tools

Programming

See also:  For GoldSrc Programming, see Category:GoldSrc Programming

Getting started My First Mod (or Swarm SDK Create a Mod) My First Entity Authoring a Logical Entity Authoring a Model Entity Authoring a Brush Entity Generalities On Entities Solution Configuration setup Compiler choices Source SDK 2013 Installing and Building Building without Visual Studio Setup mod on Steam Launching from Visual Studio 2013 Source SDK 2013 community repos Compiling under VS2022 Fix Visual Studio Warning Level Error Alien Swarm SDK Swarm C++ Code Overview Source SDK 2007 Launching from Visual Studio Introduction to Source Control Common techniques Accessing other entities Think() Create() Developer Console Control TraceLines Animating a model Sound Vectors Game initialization (defines C++ player class, GameRules, etc.) Abstract coding Category:Abstract Coding Levels & XP Optimization Procedural Textures Scopes & Sniperrifles Special effects Vehicles Threads Save Game Files Dynamic Weapon Spawns Dynamic Weapon Spawns (Advanced) Miscellaneous Free source code Gibs Invisibility cloak Regenerating Health Adding Call of Duty Style Low Health Regeneration Fading Out NPC Ragdolls Adding an inventory Adding MySQL++ Adding Proximity Voice Importing CSS Weapons Into HL2 Separate Viewmodel for Arms Edit VPC scripts Adding Weapon Inspect Adding a Camera Bone to a Viewmodel Viewmodel Blood Splatter Overlay Adding Empty Reload Animations Legs in Firstperson (2013) Forcing previous2021 Beta SDK Fixes and Tips General SDK Snippets & Fixes Duck Jump Fix Duplicate Animation Events Fix Weapon Respawn Fix Source SDK missing files Source 2007 Template Fixes Viewmodel Prediction Fix Client missing DT class CWaterBullet prop_detail (Aspect Ratio Fix) env_projectedtexture Fixes Fixing first time HL2DM compile problems First Person Fix Fixing VPK mounting for older Source SDK Bases Plugins Creating A New Plugin Client plugins Mani Admin Plugin SourceMod (server plugin) Server Plugins Left 4 Dead Plugins Metamod Reference Programming Sites Engine Structure Frame Order Category:Interfaces Category:Functions Category:Classes Weapons Category:Weapons programming Adding a new weapon to your mod Authoring a weapon entity Lowering your weapon on sprint Adding New Ammotypes Ammo-related coding Adding Ironsights Weapon script Adding a Dynamic Scope Dual Pistols (CSS Style) Muzzle Flash (CSS Style) Muzzle Flash Lighting Grapple Hook Making a weapon Heal players Weapons on Spawn Battlefield Style Hitmarker Quick Grenade Changing the viewmodel bob Delayed Attacks

Artificial Intelligence Category:AI Programming AI Programming More about AI Programming here: Category:AI Networking Category:Networking Source Multiplayer Networking Networking Entities Networking Events & Messages Working With Prediction Master Server Query Protocol Server Queries Source RCON Protocol UTIL_ Category:UTIL UTIL_Remove UTIL_TraceLine UTIL_EntitiesInBox UTIL_EntitiesInSphere UTIL_GetLocalPlayer Rendering Material proxies Shader Authoring Source SDK 2013: Shader Authoring Particles Fading The Player In Thirdperson Overlaying a material onto model entities L4D Glow Effect TF2 Glow Outline Effect Parallax Corrected Cubemaps Physically Based Rendering Adding a dynamic sky to your mod User interface (VGUI) Category:VGUI VGUI Documentation Create graphical menu (with images) Understanding VGUI2 Resource Files Understanding VGUI2 Animation VGUI2 Programming Best Practices GameUI HUD Elements and Basic Hud Modification Making GameUI panels Hardcoded Controls Models on VGUI Panels VGUI HTML Screen VGUI Creating A Custom Screen Creating a VGUI screen Creating a VGUI task list Creating a health progress bar Creating an interactive keypad at the screen Overriding the main menu with GameUI Animated Main Menu Background Creating a custom loading screen depending on the map Clipping the cursor to the game window Changing the default Orange color in a HL2DM Chat box Creating a VGUI Soundscape maker External libraries Adding Lua Adding Python Adding the Source Shader Editor Embedding Lua in the Source Engine Implementing FMOD Implementing libcurl Implementing Adobe Flash Implementing Awesomium Implementing Discord RPC Implementing Sentry Changing genres Third Person Camera 2D Fighter/Arcade game Over the Shoulder View Multiplayer Team Icons MOTD Removal Death notices with custom weapons Alternate Multiplayer Physics Creating server-side bots Adding the Game Instructor Fixing Per-Material Footsteps in HL2MP Fixing AI in multiplayer Randomizer Gamemode Alien Swarm L4D Glow Effect in Swarm Third Person View First Person View 2D Fighter/Arcade Game View Swarm C++ Code Overview Game movement and camera Using a tool texture for ladders First Person Ragdolls in Multiplayer First Person Ragdolls in Singleplayer Legs in First Person Camera Bob Camera View roll Legs in Firstperson (2013) Vehicles Category:Vehicle Programming Vehicles Adding Headlights to the Buggy See also Programming for GoldSRC. External links Programming Sites - sites about programming, including tutorials & articles.

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Third Party Legal Notices

Community SDK Documentation

Level Design

• A BSPzip tutorial
• Advanced Lighting
• Source AI

Modelling

• Modelling

Materials

• material properties*