Installing Hammer++ for Other Games
Hammer++ is a powerful mapping tool that solves many issues that the Valve Hammer Editor introduces, and adds some much needed features that useful to every mapper. However the only official versions of Hammer++ available are for Counter-Strike: Source, Source 2013 Singleplayer, Source 2013 Multiplayer, Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Thankfully, it is possible to configure Hammer++ to use assets and compilers for other games that they were not originally intended for, including Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Black Mesa, and more! Almost every source game can run using some version of Hammer++. The games in the list below have been proven to work using the method below:
Important:In order to use CS:GO Hammer++, you must have the csgo_legacy beta branch installed for 
Counter-Strike 2.
| Game | Hammer++ Version | Notes    
|
|---|---|---|
 Portal 2
|
CS:GO | |
 Portal 2: Community Edition
|
CS:GO | Check out the issues on the main page. Support by developers is not planned, and usage is strongly discouraged; some Hammer++ features will be added to  Strata Hammer.
|
 Alien Swarm
|
CS:GO | |
 Left 4 Dead 2
|
CS:GO | Some models may appear as errors. |
 Left 4 Dead
|
CS:GO | Some models may appear as errors. |
 Momentum Mod
|
CS:GO | [confirm] |
 Source Filmmaker
|
CS:GO | |
 Titanfall engine branch games
|
CS:GO | [confirm] |
 Garry's Mod
|
Source 2013 Multiplayer | Check out the issues below in the main page. Similar to standard method, but make sure to view this file as well for additional steps |
 Day of Defeat: Source
|
Source 2013 Multiplayer | |
 Black Mesa
|
Source 2013 Multiplayer | Check out the issues below in the main page. A separate version for Black Mesa is not planned. |
 Black Mesa
|
Source 2013 Singleplayer | Use  Source 2013 Singleplayer compilers
|
 Mapbase
|
Source 2013 Singleplayer | Check out the issues below in the main page. |
 Postal III
|
Source 2013 Singleplayer | Requires modification to Postal 3's FGD file(s); Recommended to use Postal 3's compilers instead; Some Hammer features from Postal 3's are missing like 'prefabs';
Requires Source SDK Base 2013 MP/SP to be installed; Requires folder linking inside SDK Base's 'sourcetest' folder to load assets; Hammer++ will crash if placed inside Postal 3's bin folder. |
 Hunt Down the Freeman
|
Source 2013 Singleplayer | |
| Hunt Down the Freeman (beta)
|
Source 2013 Multiplayer | This build uses Source SDK 2013 Multiplayer to have less map size. |
 TeamSpen's Hammer Addons
|
Any which supported by TeamSpen's Hammer Addons | Check out the issues below in the main page. |
This method and accompanying pictures were taken from this steam guide by the user RosemaryWebs.
Installing Hammer++
Note:For the sake of this tutorial, Portal 2 will be used as an example. Make sure to replace the appropriate files and downloads with the corresponding version stated above.
According to Erin-Rose-Webs' original guide, Ficool2 has announced the possible release of a dedicated Portal 2 version of Hammer++. If this does come to fruition, this tutorial will persist but will have the examples changed to instead use a different supported game (Editor's note: Will likely be installation for Garry's Mod, L4D2, or Black Mesa when it happens, because that is the next biggest use case that I see-Equalizer5118, an idiot who cant spel (talk) 11:02, 15 October 2023 (PDT))
Discuss this here!
Warning:Make sure you have opened the expert compile dialogue in stock Hammer at least once before this process, as doing so creates an important file that must exist before any map can be compiled in Hammer++.Download List
In order to proceed, you will have to download the following programs:
- Supported Hammer++ version for your game (See Above, Portal 2 uses
CS:GO) - Link Shell Extension (This is not required, but will make a further step much easier)
- Game with supported Hammer++ version (See Above, Portal 2 uses CS:GO)
Installing Hammer++ on supported game
The next step is actually installing Hammer++ into the files. Extract the bin folder in the archive into the Counter Strike: Global Offensive folder in your steamapps/common folder. Now, go into the bin folder and launch Hammer++. Now, we will create a new configuration pointed at the Portal 2 assets. Now, this is where things can get complicated. You will now launch the hammerplusplus.exe executable. You will get a popup that says that there are no configurations. Make sure to click no, otherwise you will get redirected to another article on this wiki. After clicking no, you will see a screen that is similar to the one seen below, but just completely blank:
Then, copy the information that is seen above into the respective boxes. If your game is in a separate folder than your normal steam directory, you will have to replace $SteamUserDir with the full file directory. Now click "Ok" to close and save this information. You will get two popups that say how this information will not update until Hammer++ restarts, but they are not important so just click "Ok" on both. With this completed, you are halfway done with configuring Hammer++.
Now, for compiling the map, we need to define the build programs. Go to Tools>Options>Build programs and copy the information below:
After you do this, press "Apply" then press "Ok" to save your changes. Then, close Hammer++. Now, we will have to bring over Portal 2's lighting data into CS:GO. Because Portal 2 had different texlights compared to CS:GO, we need to define portal 2's lights in the CS:GO directory l. Open Portal 2's lights.rad located in Portal 2/portal2 with any text editor and copy all of its contents. Then, go to CS:GO's lights file and paste Portal 2's contents at the bottom of the file. It should look similar to this (comments not needed):
You have now completed the setup of Hammer++! However if you load a new map you will find that many of your custom models and textures are missing. This is because the program is searching through the CS:GO directory for the necessary files and then it doesn't find them it presents you with a missing model/texture. To fix this, we will need to create symbolic links.
Adding custom content
This is where things can get complicating. You can copy-paste all your custom files, but that can bloat your hard drive more than it needs to. Instead, it can be more space effective to create symbolic links. This is where the Link Shell Extension can help, but it is possible to use command prompt.
First, navigate to Portal 2\portal2\Gameinfo.txt and add all the Portal_dlcx folders as well as all your custom folders following the format seen below:
We do this because CS:GO's engine, and in turn Hammer++'s engine, do not search automatically for the dlcs folders, so we have to manually list them.
Link Shell Extension
Go to your base Portal 2 directory and Ctrl+Left click all your custom folders and dlcs folders and right click. Select "Choose link source" to start creating links. Then, go to your CS:GO directory and right click an empty space. Hover over "Drop link as" and select "Symbolic Links".
Command Prompt Method
Press the Windows key on your keyboard and type "cmd". Right click "Command Prompt" and click "Run as Administrator." A User Account Control prompt should pop up, press "Ok".
Note:If you are on 
Windows 11, you do not need to run Command Prompt as administrator to access the mklink commandWarning:Running any program as administrator is incredibly dangerous to your device! We are only running as Administrator to access the mklink command in 
Windows 10. Never run random apps as administrator or type strange commands you don't know into Command Prompt! It can cause permanent damage to your device!
We will now use the mklink command to create a symbolic link. The syntax for this command is as follows:
The first directory is the name of the folder the link will be named. The second directory is the name of the folder you are linking to. To simplify, by running this command you are creating a folder in the first directory that, when you open it, will show all the contents of the linked folder in the second directory. By creating a link from your CS:GO directory to your Portal 2 directory, you are not actually copying the files in those folders, you are essentially tricking Hammer++ into thinking that it is accessing a folder in CS:GO's directory when it is actually seeing files located in Portal 2's directory. This also works across drives, so you can have symbolic links on your D: drive that point to folders in your C: drive.
An example of this command is as follows:
Tip:Make sure to replace the file paths with the file paths that link to your CS:GO and Portal 2 directories.You will now repeat this process for every custom folder you use, including the dlc folders. This is not needed for the base game (in this example portal2) folder, as hammer automatically mounts this directory.
Final Result
After you make links to all the folders, your CS:GO folder should look similar to this, just with all your custom folders instead:
Now to fix the Hammer models, open the Counter-Stike Global Offensive\platform folder and delete/rename the materials and Models folder and replace them with Symbolic Links to their respective folders in the Portal 2\platform folder. It should look similar to this:
Note:Even after all these steps, some L4D2 models or textures may appear as missing or as white meshes. This is because L4D2 uses a unique model format and some unique material shaders that are unsupported in CSGO, and by extension Hammer++ for CSGO. Unfortunately, this cannot be fixed. If you need to accurately position these models or textures, use the version of Hammer included in the Left 4 Dead 2 Authoring Tools. Do remember to save frequently; stock Hammer does have some stability issues.After you do this, open Hammer++ again. Now, you should be set! To get a list of all new features, try checking out the Hammer++ website and its page on this wiki. For general Hammer assistance, check out this article.
Note:Some Steam mods use the original game's assets folder for shared content. While this is a bad practice, it must also be taken into account when pointing towards game files. Make sure that if this is the case to also create symbolic links to the original game's vpk folder.