The Ship SDK Installation
The Ship SDK, an extension of the Source SDK, includes custom map compilation tools, a modified version of VMEX, The Ship's FGD, and a custom tool called Deckplanner used to create decks for your maps. The tools is created to be used by the Source SDK Developer Tools rather than being a stand alone development kit, as such make sure that you have it installed beforehand.
Download
The official The Ship development tools are not available via Steam, instead start off by downloading them from ModDB and extract the content using something like 7-Zip to somewhere on your computer like your desktop.
If you plan on using the deckplan script generator, you should also make sure you have the Microsoft .NET Framework Version 4.0.
Installation
Before the installation process can begin, make sure you have run the Source SDK and hammer at least once. Then copy all the folders inside of the newly extracted folder (SourceSDK,sourcesdk_content,The Ship) to the directory where your steam library is located (example C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\), althrough you may skip SourceScheme.res if you are prompted to replace it.
Next you will have to tell Hammer where to look for these files you have just pasted. To do this, open the GameConfig.txt file located in the \bin\source2009\bin\ folder inside of the Source SDK directory and add the following entry to the "Games" block. You also have to correct all instances of the $SteamUserDir strings, to the directory where your steam library is located on your computer:
"The Ship"
{
"GameDir" "$SteamUserDir\The Ship\ship"
"hammer"
{
"GameData0" "$SteamUserDir\SourceSDK\bin\source2009\bin\ship.fgd"
"TextureFormat" "5"
"MapFormat" "4"
"DefaultTextureScale" "0.250000"
"DefaultLightmapScale" "16"
"GameExe" "$SteamUserDir\The Ship\ship.exe"
"DefaultSolidEntity" "func_detail"
"DefaultPointEntity" "info_player_deathmatch"
"BSP" "$SteamUserDir\SourceSDK\bin\ship\bin\vbsp.exe"
"Vis" "$SteamUserDir\SourceSDK\bin\ship\bin\vvis.exe"
"Light" "$SteamUserDir\SourceSDK\bin\ship\bin\vrad.exe"
"GameExeDir" "$SteamUserDir\The Ship"
"MapDir" "$SteamUserDir\sourcesdk_content\ship\mapsrc"
"BSPDir" "$SteamUserDir\The Ship\ship\maps"
"CordonTexture" "tools\toolsskybox"
"MaterialExcludeCount" "0"
}
}
Accessing The Ship SDK
To use to the map development tools, simply launch the Source SDK from your Steam library like any other game, then select "Source Engine 2009" for Engine Version and "The Ship" for Current Game. From here you should be able to create new maps by using the Hammer Editor and using the prefabs that are a part of the sdk installation to easier make your first level.
It is furthermore recommended that you decompile the official maps located in \The Ship\vpks\depot_2402_dir.vpk to get a sense of how to construct the map's gameplay and functionality. GCFScape is a handy tool for extracting the BSP map files which are found within the folder ship/maps in the VPK package. If you want to create deck plans, please see How to create a Deckplan for the steps to putting together a deckplan for your maps.
Package includes
The package includes:
- The Ship FGD file.
- 28 premade frabrications for Hammer.
- Suite of Hammer map command line compiling utilities.
- The deckplan script generator, used to create deck plans.
- Resources required to get the tools running with Source SDK.
Where do I go from here?
- The The Ship Level Creation is a good place to go if you are familiar with Source mapping already. If not, you will need to master the basics of Source level design first (Level Design).
- If you want to learn about how to create content for the Source Engine in general, the main page of the Source SDK documentation is a good place to start.
Bugs and issues
- If you have a bug specific to the The Ship SDK or game and perhaps know a fix, please add it as an entry to The Ship Bugs.
- See the Source SDK FAQ for answers to general SDK questions.
- For level design and Hammer editor issues, see the Level Design FAQ.
