Adding chapters to your mod

This page is currently being worked on... Adding chapters to your mod is a little complecated because you need to modify a number of files in order to add new chapters.

=== STEP 1: Chapter config files === Create a chapter1.cfg file and put it in the cfg folder like so yourmodfolder/cfg/chapter1.cfg. Then edit the file to read ...

map Map1

Replacing Map1 with the name of your own map.

=== STEP 2: Strings file === Goto your yourmodfolder/resource folder an copy the HL2_english.txt file and give it the name YourModName_english.txt. (Again replacing YourModName with the name of your mod) Now you will need to edit the YourModName_english.txt file. At the top of the file add the fallowing lines above HL2_Chapter1_Title like so ...

"YourModName_Chapter1_Title"		"Title of the chapter goes here"

"HL2_Chapter1_Title"		"POINT INSERTION"

You can leave the original HL2_Chapter1_Title title entries as they will not affect your mod by being there.

=== STEP 3: Chapter titles === Open up the yourmodfolder/scripts/titles.txt file and scroll down to the CHAPTER TITLES section and modify the chapters entries like so ...

//CHAPTER TITLES

$fadein 0.01
$holdtime 3.5
$position -1 0.58

CHAPTER1_TITLE
{
#YourModName_Chapter1_Title
}

STEP 4: Chapter images

Chapter Image

Next you will need to create *.vmt and *.vtf image files for your chapters. Place the *.vmt and *.vtf into the yourmodfolder/materials/vgui/chapters/ folder. Be sure to name your images chapter1.vtf, chapter1.vmt and chapter2.vtf, chapter2.vmt respectivly.

Make sure to make the image files 256x128 in size (IE: Power of 2). Also be aware that when your chapter is selected in the new game dialog that only a portion of the image will be visible from the top left corner pixel 1,0 to the bottom right corner pixel 152,86.

STEP 5: The map list

Now that you have your images setup you can do not forget to create a yourmodfolder/maplist.txt file containing a ordered list of maps that your mod will use. For example inside a maplist.txt file would look like ...

Map1
Map2

STEP 6: Chapter map loading images

You will need to edit the yourmodfolder/scripts/chapterbackgrounds.txt file and specify what loading images you want to be displayed while your mod is starting and the background map is loading. Below is an example of what a chapterbackgrounds.txt might look like.

"chapters"
{
	1	"YourImage1"
	2	"YourImage3"
	3	"YourImage3"
	4	"YourImage4"
	5	"background03"
	6	"background03"
	7	"background04"
	8	"background04"
	9	"background05"
	9a	"background05"
	10	"background06"
	11	"background06"
	12	"background07"
	13	"background07"
	14	"background07"
	15	"background07"
}

Be sure to create your images 1024x1024. The trick to creating a image that is displayed properly

Additional notes

If you want your chapters to be unlocked when you first play your mod then be sure to edit the yourmodfolder/cfg/config.cfg file. Scroll down to about line 162 and edit the line ...

sv_unlockedchapters "1"
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