Level Design

Important:The articles below for Counter-Strike 2 assume that you have already mastered the basics of level design in Source 2.

Warning:Hammer Editor uses Path Tracing to bake and preview lighting. See the System Requirements listed below before you start creating levels for Counter-Strike 2.

Todo: Rework everything here.

Getting started Lighting Addon Sounds SmartProps Compiles and Post-Compile Cleanup Working with Legacy Maps Workshop ‒ Port maps and assets over to Counter-Strike 2. Import Tool Documentation ‒ Import the contents of the Source 1 map using a Python script. Post Import Fixup steps ‒ Tips for fixing skyboxes, cleaning up meshes and converting cubemaps.

Guides Audio Blocker Custom breakable windows References List of CS2 Entities - List of Entities found in CS2. List of CS2 Maps - List of CS2 Maps. List of CS2 Skyboxes - List of Skyboxes and their Light settings used in official CS2 maps. List of CS2 Soundscapes - List of Soundscapes found in CS2. Decompiled CS2 Maps - Decompiles of official CS2 Maps to be used for research. Source 2 Tools Textures - List of Tools Textures in Source 2 games, useful if you're confused about what a given texture does. External links Source 2 Viewer - Formerly known as VRF; Is able to open VPKs, compiled vmaps and decompile compiled assets (including maps and materials). RadGen - Also known as Jimwood's Radar Generator; A program that is capable of generating radars similarly to the way Valve maps are styled.

Hammer System Requirements

Hammer now leverages GPU-Accelerated raytracing to both preview and bake lighting for Counter-Strike 2 maps, drastically speeding up compile times, even on lower-end hardware. As such, a GPU capable of raytracing is now required for Hammer to be fully functional.

Note:-lightmapcpu was removed with the Armory update; CPU compiling is now completely unavailable.

	Minimum	Recommended
System memory (RAM)	16 GB	32 GB
Video card (GPU)	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 (or Quadro/Titan equivalent) Note:Although some GTX 10 and 16 cards do support GPU-Accelerated raytracing, Hammer doesn't support GPU-Accelerated raytracing because of a lack of RT cores. AMD Radeon 6600 XT (or other RDNA 2 cards) Intel Arc series (tested on Battlemage)	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti+ (or Quadro/Titan equivalent) AMD Radeon 6800 XT+ (or other RDNA 2 cards) Intel Arc series (tested on Battlemage only as of Jan 5th, 2025.)