XBLAH's Modding Tool
XBLAH's Modding Tool is a tool written by XBLAH to improve Valve games modders productivity and quality of life.
Modding
Libraries
The libraries used by the games and mods in the tool are automatically set if you have a legit Steam installation. Keep in mind the libraries set here are only used by the tool, and the games and mods will still use their gameinfo to mount their contents.
The libraries can be checked and and new libraries can be added through File > Steam Libraries.
New Mod
Creating a barebones Source engine mod usually requires more than just creating a gameinfo.txt. Mods based on Half-Life and Half-Life 2 games can be created with the XBLAH's Modding Tool using an intuitive interface, that creates all the required files and directories. Mapbase mods are also supported.
- When creating Half-life 2 mods, it will replace the default font file so all letters are available, since the stock font file only contains the letters that make Half-Life.
- When creating Mapbase mods, it will include Thexa's PBR Shaders by default.
This can be accessed within the tool through Modding > New.
See more in Create a Mod.
File Explorer
All the files mounted into the game info can be previewed with XBLAH's Modding Tool in the File Explorer. The File Explorer replaces the GCFScape as the ultimate file browsing tool, since it will mount all the VPKs and loose files according to the game info, to show the modder a compreensive list of files. This relieves the modder of having to browse vpks individually, and the integrated features of the tool usually dismisses the necessity of extracting the files from the vpks, since they can be accessed natively.
This can be accessed within the tool through Modding > File Explorer.
See more in Game Directory.
The File Explorer contains context menus for each file, targeting them to their respective native editor.
Clean mod
Before shipping the mod, the XBLAH's Modding Tool provides the modder with a list of unnecessary files, which can be removed with the push of a button.
This can be accessed within the tool through Modding > Clean.
See more in Pre-publication evaluation#Excess_files.
Game info
The mod information can be edited with XBLAH's Modding Tool through a comprehensive UI without requiring the modder to mess with text files. It includes all the major keys of Source SDK 2013 Single-player and Source SDK 2013 Multi-player, more than enough for the majority of Source modders.
This can be accessed within the tool through Modding > Game info.
See more in Gameinfo.txt.
Name
Options
Steam games list
Engine and tools
Chapters
Chapters for single-player games can be created with XBLAH's Modding Tool through an UI. The modder can easily create new chapters, select the chapter images, chapter background images, the first map of the chapter, the background map, and the tool will do the dirty work of creating the required vtfs, vmts and scripts. It gives the option to automatically blur the background images, so the modder can just take a screenshot of the background map and the tool will apply the usual blur. This replaces the need of saving VTFs, creating chapter images with weird proportions, and so on.
This can be accessed within the tool through Modding > Chapters.
See more in Adding chapters to your mod and Menu Background Map.
Menu
Main menu items can be added, modified or removed with XBLAH's Modding Tool] based on a provided list of options.
This can be accessed within the tool through Modding > Menu.
See more in Manipulating the game menu items.
Menu items
Add item
Content Mount
The mod mounted content can be edited with XBLAH's Modding Tool, pointing to directories and vpks in the desired order, without the risk of messing the game info.
This can be accessed within the tool through Modding > Content Mount.
Assets
Exporting
You can select a few VMFs in XBLAH's Modding Tool and it will list you all the required assets, showing you to which pack or loose folder they belong, and giving you an option to copy what you want to a separate folder under /custom/. By default, it will select all the files not located inside VPKs, but you can extract the files from the VPKs on the go, if you want to, in case you are using assets from games not everyone own.
Currently, it detects the following files:
- Compiled maps
- Materials (and required files)
- Models (and required files)
- Sprites
- Sounds (used by ambient_generic)
- Particles
- Skyboxes
This can be accessed within the tool through Modding > Assets > Export.
Materials
Skybox Editor
LDR Skyboxes can be created straight from image files with the XBLAH's Modding Tool using an intuitive interface, that creates all the required vtfs and vmts. All you have to do is select each cubemap face, preview it, and save. It has a built in 3D previewer to check if the skybox is seamless, and supports the regular square skyboxes and the clamped ones.
This can be accessed within the tool through Materials > Skybox Editor.
See more in Skybox (2D).
