Tool textures
From Valve Developer Community
Revision as of 18:09, 19 July 2019 by MrFunreal (talk | contribs) (moved "skip" texture into the optimization group, as it is mostly used together with "hint")
"Clip" redirects here.
- For clip textures, see clip texture.
- For the Hammer Clip Tool, see Hammer Clipping Tool.
Tool textures are used, mostly by the tools but sometimes by the engine, to perform special tasks. They can easily be found in Hammer by using "tools\" as a filter in the texture browser.


General
Image | Name | Visible if world brush |
Casts shadows | Cuts VIS leaves |
Blocks NPC LOS | Solid to NPCs | Solid to player(s) | Solid to physics | Solid to bullets | Usage / Notes |
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Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (marks) |
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Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (marks) |
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Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (marks) |
Identical to tools/toolsblack texture only in white. |
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Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
Foremost solid to bullets, but also to NPCs and physics projectiles. It does not block all projectiles, though. Projectiles from NPCs such as the acid spit from antlion workers, will still get through. To allow NPCs and their line of sight to pass through, turn the brush into a func_brush with its Solidity keyvalue set to a solid state. |
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No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
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No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
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No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Solid to all objects and projectiles, not solid to bullets.![]() ![]() |
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Non-Solid |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | ![]() |
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No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Used with func_ladder in the most multiplayer games except Half-Life 2 Deathmatch.![]() ![]() |
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No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
Not drawn in game, seals leaks, and is skipped by VRAD. Blocks visibility if used on all surfaces of the same brush. Optimally, every face that can't be seen during normal gameplay should have this texture.![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
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No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
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No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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Invisible |
No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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Noshadow |
No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
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N/A | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Deprecated for use in Source, not available in all branches. (After giving the error "origin brushes not allowed in world" the compiler will fail.) Origin brushes were used in GoldSource to set the rotation origin of rotating entities. It can still be used to override a brush entity's origin when used as one of its brushes. |
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No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Blocks the line of sight of NPCs and bots. mat_wireframe 1/2 will reveal that while this texture doesn't block visleaves, it draws crossing polygons, and them alone are capable of preventing the engine from rendering enveloped brushwork. This can be worked around through turning the Block LOS textured brush into a func_brush with its Solidity keyvalue set to a solid state. (A Block LOS func_brush can still be traversed in this state.) |
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No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | Casts shadows artificially. Only used at compile time by VRAD. Does not seal leaks. See more uses here. |
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Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Used on Trigger and func_viscluster entities. |
Optimisation
Image | Name | Visible if world brush |
Casts shadows | Cuts VIS leaves |
Blocks NPC LOS | Solid to NPCs | Solid to player(s) | Solid to physics | Solid to bullets | Usage / Notes |
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Yes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | Use with areaportals (func_areaportals and func_areaportalwindows). Can be used with other brush entities, such as some triggers. |
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No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | This texture is used to instruct the compiler to cut visleaves. |
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No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Has no effect on anything. Useful in combination with Hint tool textures. Skip faces are removed during compile, so a brush textured with skip won't prevent leaks. Also useful as a tool in Hammer for grouping, moving and place-holding objects. |
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Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | Used only for func_occluder entities. |
Clips
Image | Name | Visible if world brush |
Casts shadows | Cuts VIS leaves |
Blocks NPC LOS | Solid to NPCs | Solid to player(s) | Solid to physics | Solid to bullets | Usage / Notes |
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No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | Solid to players and NPCs but not other objects. In Source 2013, it's also solid to item pickups like ammo packs but not dropped weapons.![]() ![]() ![]() |
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No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Solid to NPCs only.![]() ![]() |
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No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Solid to players only. In Source 2013, it's also solid to item pickups like ammo packs but not dropped weapons.![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Yes | Yes | Yes | No? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (marks) |
Available only in Source 2006 and earlier. It is obvious that this texture has to be tied to an entity to gain any special abilities, but what entity is not yet confirmed. Seems that it is necessary for func_vehicleclip. (See "player clip" above for the tool texture that restricts player movement.) |
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No | No | No | No | No | No | Grenades only | No | ![]() |
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No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ![]() |
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No | No | No | N/A | N/A | No | No | No | ![]() |
Sky and fog
Image | Name | Visible if world brush |
Casts shadows | Cuts VIS leaves |
Blocks NPC LOS | Solid to NPCs | Solid to player(s) | Solid to physics | Solid to bullets | Usage / Notes |
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Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (marks) |
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No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
This texture is used to make 3D skyboxes. Casts light if there is a light_environment entity in the map. Cannot be used in the same PVS as the toolsskybox2d tool texture. Things such as another area of a map will render on top of the skybox. An areaportal can stop this from happening, but it's generally better practice to add more scenery to cover the stuff that shouldn't be seen, reposition those things out of view, or just don't have an opening in that area. |
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NoLight |
No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
Available only in Source 2007 and later. Use to make 2D skyboxes without displaying the 3D Skybox. Casts light if there is a light_environment entity in the map. Cannot be used in the same PVS as the toolsskybox tool texture. |
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No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (marks) |
The SkyFog texture does not contain any properties. There is currently no existing corresponding Shader called "skyfog". (Generates error Error: Material "tools/toolsskyfog" uses unknown shader "SkyFog" .) ![]() | |||
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Yes | No | No | Available only in Left 4 Dead and later. Used in conjunction with multiple env_fog_controllers to change fog colours and densities in a level |
Miscellaneous
Image | Name | Visible if world brush |
Casts shadows | Cuts VIS leaves |
Blocks NPC LOS | Solid to NPCs | Solid to player(s) | Solid to physics | Solid to bullets | Usage / Notes |
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Not actually a texture. It is the backside of a displacement. This side of the displacement will appear invisible, but solid. | ||||||||
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No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ![]() ![]() | |
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Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (marks) |
A face textured with this texture is rendered on top of all other brush geometry. Furthermore, a brush with Dotted on any face will not block visibility nor cull any face that it touches, meaning that any area enclosed in a Dotted-textured brush will not be removed from the map in any way. | |
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Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (marks) |
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No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
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No | No | N/A | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ![]() ![]() |
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No | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
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Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (no marks) |
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Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |
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Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | ![]() |