Talk:Tool textures (Source)

Skyfog

I didn't know that there were that many. some of these will really help me. What is the sky fog used for, i see that there is nothing for what it does. Cubedude 16:36, 10 Feb 2006 (PST)

Read a little better: “ toolsskyfog.vmt does not contain any properties. ” This explains why it isn't rendered by games... --CrabbyData 04:19, 5 May 2006 (PDT)

Block Bullets Tool

Could someone tell me if the Block Bullets Tool Texture works in CS:Source? Because, when I shoot on something, behind a wall with the texture of Block Bullets, it still gets shot... --CrabbyData 09:53, 5 May 2006 (PDT)

Why not build a test map with some bots and test it out like that? Bots on one side, you on the other side and the block between the both of you. --Giles 15:16, 5 May 2006 (PDT)

Will do that, right away ^^ I'll give an update in a sec... --CrabbyData 02:47, 6 May 2006 (PDT)

...and he was never heard from again. Lx45803 19:14, 3 April 2010 (UTC) (Almost 4 YEARS later)

I'd say I'd test it, but I don't want to disappear. According to CrabbyData's history, he hasn't logged in in TWO years. --Quantumoftoaster 22:12, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

I built a DoD:S map with thick (32 unit) block bullet brushes to protect spawn, and they worked. Now I'm working up another with what I can only call a "thin staircase". The risers are triangular brushes when viewed in cross-section, and meet at the vertexes. Currently everything is in the developer orange and gray textures. During testing, a player was effectively blocking entrance to an area by sitting high on the staircase, and killing players by shooting down through it. So I put a 1 unit block bullet brush on the underside of the staircase, but when I compile and run the map, I can still paint bullet-hit decals on walls through the staircase. Do I need to tie these brushes to some sort of function or entity? I could make them thicker, but at some point they will prevent players from passing through - on the first map I mentioned above, block bullets also blocks players. --Fishrokk 00:51, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

Seems there may be an answer to my question below - chalk it up to yet another time I shoulda just kept reading...--Fishrokk 01:09, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

Or not. Further experimentation (and this applies to the discussions below) and results: I used a block bullets texture on a func_brush with solidity set to "Always On". This did not stop bullets. I did not try the tips mentioned below with any nodraw textures, as a visible nodraw creates real rendering problems. I'm going to try clipping it next, see if that works. --Fishrokk 01:15, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

Block LOS Tool

This will fail to work if the brush is made into an entity, something that had me puzzled for a while.

It has to stay part of the world geometry. I had a func_brush textured with it and it didn't work at all. -- sagesource, 31 December 2007.

Doesn't it block LOS for NPCs? --Welsh Mullet 12:04, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

I tested it out with the aid of the ai_debug_los console variable, and it turns out that you have to make it a solid func_brush. (It can still be walked through.) Just set its solidity to Always Solid and it should work just fine. --MossyBucket (formerly Andreasen) 03:05, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Block sounds?

Do any of these block the spread of sound? Suppose I had an NPC on one side of a window, and the player on the other. The NPC can't see the player because of a brush textured with a Block LOS texture. The player fires a pistol behind the window. I don't want the NPC to hear it, but I DO want the NPC to hear everything on his side of the window. Will any of these block the sound of the pistol, or do I have to find another workaround? -- sagesource, 1 January 2008.

At first glance, I'd say that what blocks VIS should also block PAS. Try an Invisible texture, or a NoDraw, along with that LOS Block. Also, keep in mind that some NPCs are pretty deaf to begin with, so an env_microphone and a couple of OnHear outputs for the other side, could make him react to the outside. Also, as a gunshot can probably be heard around the wall, maybe you need to fake it: When you enter that area, you can use an ai_relationship to switch the NPCs AI to "Neutral" or even "Like", and then back to "Hate" when you leave. --MossyBucket (formerly Andreasen) 05:19, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

NoDraw Roof

The only use I can imagine for this texture, is when it comes to taking areal screenshots or temporal ingame views from above, where it will be easier to replace all the roof texture at once. (I think this might be able to do ingame, but I'm not sure.) Anything in the code that specifically mentions this texture?

Also, I cannot find this texture for HL2SP. Is it game specific? --Andreasen 13:43, 17 Aug 2006 (PDT)

Its only in CSS --Angry Beaver 14:16, 17 Aug 2006 (PDT)

Apparently, it is identical to normal NoDraw, but it makes a metallic sound when you walk on it. I remember reading that somewhere.--Quantumoftoaster 22:10, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

No Draw or NoDraw?

I've always thought the texture was called NoDraw, as what can be read on the texture. Where does it say No Draw? --Andreasen 15:30, 17 Aug 2006 (PDT)

I've always thought the texture was simply called nodraw, without any caps. --NykO18

It really doesn't matter...they all get across the same exact point—ts2do 13:49, 11 Sep 2006 (PDT)

Fine, C3po. Hope you get my point. --Andreasen 17:26, 25 Sep 2007 (PDT)

It's nodraw. >.> --Frostbite 17:33, 25 Sep 2007 (PDT)

Texture name is Nodraw.--Gear 20:11, 25 Sep 2007 (PDT)

I'm at a loss for these texture names in general. When looking at the texture broser, "toolsblock_los" leads me to believe that spaces are indicated by an underscore, but then the rest of the textures gets written together, and this is despite of what is written on the actual texture. From now on, I'm going to go with what's written on the actual texture, and if there is a linefeed in the name, I'm going to go with space only if it makes sense. (It's still Nodraw, though, because there's no space in the name on the actual texture.) --MossyBucket (formerly Andreasen) 14:06, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Resources?

How expensive are clip brushes? Is there a point where having too many will start to affect game performance? Or does the way they go into the BSP keep them from affecting performance at all? Thelonesoldier 02:07, 6 Feb 2007 (PST)

They should be quite cheap on the rendering part, but on the physics they should be the same as walls.

Solid Block Bullets?

For some reason, in all my maps, the Blockbullets texture is completely solid to everything (bullets, physics objects, npc's, player, etc.). Also, I have a feeling that it might even block an npc's LOS. Is this normal? --Darthkillyou 16:08, 6 May 2007 (PDT)

No not really at all hmm thats quite odd. Instead try making a brush textured in the materal NODRAW and make that brush a func_detail as a replacement for the blockbullets material. That might work better.--Gear 11:02, 17 Jul 2007 (PDT)

func_detail? that's not solve him question about SolidType, you may want to said a func_brush textured with block bullets and Solidity set to Never? --Gectou4 10:35, 19 Jul 2007 (PDT)

Yeah it does. Im simply stating that this is an alternative. However i did state that it depends where the loacation of the brush may be. If it helps any with the misconception of clarity amongst Gectou, then darth, simply dont use block bullets texture. Yet if im wrong gectou, why did you fail to correct me by awnsering the question presented by DarthKillYou? Simply its not about telling me that im wrong but simply stating that, "darth, this is the way to do this" Therefore anwsering his question.--Gear 02:31, 20 Jul 2007 (PDT)

You guys are confusing me... So, basically, don't use blockbullets? And a NODRAW'ed non-solid func_brush seems quite useless to me.--Darthkillyou 18:55, 18 Sep 2007 (PDT)

A nodraw brush set to Func_brush with solidity on.--Gear 19:02, 18 Sep 2007 (PDT)

But that blocks everything! --Darthkillyou 19:03, 18 Sep 2007 (PDT)

Yeah thats why it would need to be placed somewhere the player will not touch it, yet i do not know of any other fix. Sorry.--Gear 21:45, 18 Sep 2007 (PDT)

SDK Hammer: Block bullets and not the player http://forum.tsgk.com/viewtopic.php?t=4896 --http://www.gtamikes-maps.piczo.com 07:22, 10 October 2011 (PDT)

It's just func_vphysics with the "Don't allow bullet penetration" flag checked. You can texture with nodraw, if you like. --ThaiGrocer 08:12, 10 October 2011 (PDT)

Link is down

http://www.sdknuts.com/tutorials/wiseClipped.asp doesnt work. --Andreasen 10:03, 16 Sep 2007 (PDT)

Now, why am I not suprised??? None of the sdknuts or akilling links work anymore! --Darthkillyou 19:00, 18 Sep 2007 (PDT)

Obviously. Do we have any replacement site for them yet? --Andreasen 18:39, 25 Sep 2007 (PDT)

How about here? --Darthkillyou 20:00, 25 Sep 2007 (PDT)

dead as doornails, 404 page not found error. sagesource, 31 December 2007

Sorry guys, several of us have been trying to update the links.
All of my AKG and previous SDK Nuts links are sdknuts.net now. --wisemx 09:27, 30 Dec 2007 (PST)

thankx

sdknuts.net has been taken and will reopen for other purposes.
I've got Marks permission to port the tutorials to the wiki.
Link change to WiseClipped --Peter [AGHL] 15:05, 6 Feb 2008 (PST)

Block Bullets

Can I texture a brush in block bullets, have it occupy the same space and area as another brush (door to be specific) and then turn it into a func_brush? I want to parent it to to the door so that it will move with it but not be effected by the physics gun.

Help would be greatly appreciated. Sltungle 03:50, 20 Jan 2008 (PST).

Please sign your comments. --Tourorist 03:23, 20 Jan 2008 (PST)

(Thank you :)) Can anyone help then? Sltungle 03:50, 20 Jan 2008 (PST)

Seems each of the block materials were intended for solid world brushes.

You can however use a func_brush parented to a door.

I've found some of these effects require the brush to be 16 units thick however. --wisemx 09:56, 20 Jan 2008 (PST)

So blockbullets will still work if it's a func_brush? Sltungle 16:47, 20 Jan 2008 (PST)

No, at least not in Team Fortress 2. I just ran into this problem myself, where block_bullets blocks everything and was unable to find a solution.--Draco18s 10:18, 2 January 2010 (UTC)

Visibility

I'm a bit confused by some of the jargon in the notes, particularly the use of "visibility" and "invisible" ... If I've got this right, there is

1. not rendered (ie "invisible" to the player - which includes all the tooltextures except toolsskybox ?)
2. casts shadows (ie "blocks light")
3. blocks LOS (ie NPC line of sight)
4. divides visleafs (which is the same as "cuts world brushes" right?)
5. seals leaks (which inevitably "divides visleafs" ?)

--Beeswax 19:18, 13 May 2008 (PDT)

World_brush or brush_entity

I'm a bit confused about how entity properties and tooltexture properties overlap. Unless the note says "use with" some brush entity (areaportal, occluder, trigger) should I assume that the tooltexture must be applied to a world brush? in which case does it inherit the visleaf division, etc from worldspawn bruswork? I can see why toolshint and toolsskybox must be placed on a world brush, but the others ? --Beeswax 19:18, 13 May 2008 (PDT)

-dx10

I'm not entirely sure what these ones are for (Popped up in Source Shared 2007.) They seem to be made for a dx10 mode of hammer or half-life 2. Although I cannot find any such mode (Besides dx9.7 as pointed out by Varsity.) --JakeB 13:50, 3 Sep 2008 (PDT)

Player Clip and Left 4 Dead

On mild experimentation, Player Clip textures only apply to the Survivors. Special infected, including player controlled special infected are not blocked by Player Clip.

Brushes with the "Player Clip" texture on them are meant to block Survivor players. Brushes with the "Clip" texture on them are meant to block everyone. There's a brush entity called "func_playerinfected_clip" that you will need to use to block players on the Infected team.
Read here
--Bit Mage 13:44, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

New format, and also coloring suggestion

The Special attributes column was too confusing, so I introduced more columns. (...because let's say that you don't even mention if a texture casts shadows or not, then what was the reader going to assume?)

I also added some color to the table to make it easier to compare the textures to eachother, copying the Wikipedias Template:Yes, Template:No and Template:N/a.

--MossyBucket (formerly Andreasen) 13:39, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Use of Nodraw needed for textures between brushes?

If a texture is side-by-side with another texture, and the player cannot see it, does it need to be textured with nodraw, or because zero light will hit the texture, does it even matter? I noticed Valve never really bothered using nodraw on textures that are "inside" brushwork in some Half-Life 2 maps. --Mattshu 17:00, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

I think that the rule is that all non transparent faces that are side by side of another non transparent face of the same entity (like the world) will be automatically removed for you by VBSP.

I am not sure about world vs detail brushes. They are kinda special.--Henke37 10:53, 8 August 2011 (PDT)

New wiki layout

Now that the wiki has a fixed width (instead of full screen), I think these tables don't look good any more. The width became smaller, so the rows are much higher. For example: if you want to know the properties of the Occluder texture, you have to scroll up, even on a 1080p monitor. I'd like the wiki back in full screen. Your opinion? --StephenB 03:49, 29 June 2011 (PDT)

Doesn't look that way for me, then again my resolution is 1920x1080.—Mattshu 06:08, 29 June 2011 (PDT)

I mean, Block LOS for example is twice as high as it was. This causes that the table is too high. --StephenB 06:21, 29 June 2011 (PDT)

Unless the usage/notes section is condensed, or maybe if a scroll bar was added, I don't think the height can be shortened--if that's what you're talking about—Mattshu 06:27, 29 June 2011 (PDT)

No, shortening the information wouldn't be good, I only say I prefer the wiki when it is full screen. --StephenB 11:25, 29 June 2011 (PDT)

New texture?

I was working in hammer and stumbled upon a texture named "tools/toolsinvisibledisplacement", but it isn't in the list. Could someone research this for me?--Henke37 10:49, 8 August 2011 (PDT)

Block light

This texture inhibit the press action and cause issues with doors or button that need to be press throught a block light texture. This can occure when a block light as been placed inside a door to prevent light from passing throught. I think it would be appropiate to mention it in the page. Maybe propose a solution to the problem (I don't have any). --Seitan (talk) 21:00, 28 February 2019 (UTC)

What game did you see this in? It's not solid in anyway for csgo. Loudslappingsounds (talk) 21:54, 28 February 2019 (UTC)

I saw it in counter strike source by using block light inside a door and also by completely surrounding a button. --Seitan (talk) 09:00, 2 March 2019 (UTC)

Ah... I see that now. What you could do for brushes is add vrad_brush_cast_shadows 1 to the properties. For models IDK. Maybe make the blocklight a func_brush that's non solid? Loudslappingsounds (talk) 11:29, 2 March 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for the tip, I changed the brush into a non solid func_brush and check "yes" to the Shadows option (vrad_brush_cast_shadows 1) and it works perfectly fine. For the models IDK part, I don't see what you mean, is there a issue related to blocklight concerning IDK ? --Seitan (talk) 13:10, 2 March 2019 (UTC)

Nah, nevermind that. Loudslappingsounds (talk) 13:20, 2 March 2019 (UTC)

bots vs. PlayerClip and NPCClip

Hm, sorry for that, I thought bots are considered NPCs, because they are actually blocked by NPCClip. But wouldn't a note make sense to tell the reader that bots in are blocked by PlayerClip AND by NPCClip? I don't think at all that it is self-evident. Popcorn (talk) 00:32, 7 December 2020 (PST)

I guess maybe it isnt self evident. hearing that npcclip blocks them is surprising to me lol Loudslappingsounds (talk) 03:21, 7 December 2020 (PST)

Game Separation

I like the way of the russian version, which moved all portal 2 specific tools to its own list.
It would certainly help cleaning up if all base tool textures would be in one list, while all the other black and nodraw textures would be in their own game listing.
should we change this?
--MrFunreal (talk) 00:45, 27 March 2021 (PDT)

Sounds good to me. Having game-specific sections for textures that only appear in one game would really clean this up, especially concerning , and .

--Popcorn (talk) 16:27, 27 March 2021 (PDT)

Replace "Yes/No" with what it stands for

When looking at a long list of tool textures, like in the middle of the game specific general textures, it's easy to forget what the "yes" stands for. So you gotta scroll up to read the title and remember it.
Therefore i think it would be a better idea to make the list look like this:

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
	Nodraw Portalable	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 (No Marks)	Identical to Nodraw, the only difference is that Portals can be placed on this texture.
	Viscluster	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	Identical to Trigger but used for func_viscluster

Or maybe even this, to make sure it's very obvious. Since the color coding alone behind the text could confuse people:

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
	Nodraw Portalable	Invisible if world brush	Casts shadows	Cuts VIS leaves	Blocks NPC LOS	Solid to NPCs	Solid to player(s)	Solid to physics	Solid to bullets (No Marks)	Identical to Nodraw, the only difference is that Portals can be placed on this texture.
	Viscluster	Visible if world brush	Doesn't Cast shadows	Doesn't Cut VIS leaves	Doesn't block NPC LOS	Not solid to NPCs	Not solid to player(s)	Not solid to physics	Not solid to bullets	Identical to Trigger but used for func_viscluster

In which case the color coding isn't even needed anymore either. Shame, because they look pretty.
Thoughts?

Alternatively, just adding a solid grey block where you ca nsee the titles, after every 10th listing might also be good. --MrFunreal (talk) 10:16, 19 April 2021 (PDT)

I don't have a definite answer for that but writing the actual meaning in every cell will look very messy and a lot of aesthetics is lost. When writing it only in some cells, the aesthetics also suffers.

I think it would be better to simply repeat the table headline in the middle of the table, if it is too long. That seems only to be necessary for the sections General - Game specific and Miscellaneous.

--Popcorn (talk) 15:46, 19 April 2021 (PDT)

Valid point. I just made a new template with the same style as the title and inserted it after every tenth listing in those two tables.

--MrFunreal (talk) 09:20, 20 April 2021 (PDT)

adding "textures used as tools" even though they are not actual tools?

Would it be a good idea to include textures that aren't actually tools, but are used as tools?
Like L4D2 breakwall cue texture. It is not a tool, but kind of used as one. I'm on the fence wether or not i should list it here. What do you think?
Edit: Additionally, some of the obscure Dev/ textures might also find a place here.
--MrFunreal (talk) 11:21, 24 April 2021 (PDT)

I personally would vote for this page to be strictly "tools/" texture based, but if something is used like a texture would be then you could add it under miscellaneous non-tools or something. Darnias (talk) 12:29, 24 April 2021 (PDT)

Valid point. I was thinking about textures like the RT camera textures. there's a few in the dev folder. In my opinion those do count as a tool.

--MrFunreal (talk) 09:32, 28 April 2021 (PDT)

Re-/moving CS:GO materials?

Since Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is now Counter-Strike 2, this page contains obsolete Cs:Go only textures, such as Grenadeclip, Droneclip and WrongWay Timer. In my opinion, we should either add a "Deprecated" template to show its is now no longer in use because the game is "gone", or remove it entirely and move it to the "Source 2" page. But at the same time, Cs:Go is still playable using the DLC legacy option, and the authoring tools are also still available. Except that i can't run it atm. There would be alternatives like Hammer++ though.
What are your opinions on removing or moving mentions of cs:go textures and all mentions of how some textures worked in cs:go?
--MrFunreal (talk) 10:48, 13 October 2023 (PDT)

I don't think there is any need to worry. Since mapping for CS:GO is still possible, I wouldn't remove them from the page. --popcorn (talk) 06:28, 18 October 2023 (PDT)

Other clip materials?

I have found some other clip textures when i was mapping for Garry's Mod a long time ago. --Mr. SystemError (talk) 04:38, 20 April 2024 (PDT)

I guess maybe they should be included under their own section Wisdurm (talk) 15:57, 20 April 2024 (PDT)

Maybe we can put them in Clips - Game specific section? Mr. SystemError (talk) 01:40, 21 April 2024 (PDT)

Those are mentioned at Tool textures (Source)#clip. Those variants are quite a lot, so I'm unsure of whether they need explicit mentioning, unless there's something special about them that is worth mentioning. They could also fit to Clip texture. --popcorn (talk) 06:00, 23 April 2024 (PDT)

They function like regular clips, only differing in $surfaceprop. The alternative versions in different versions probably should be listed somewhere, but I don't believe they should clog up the main page, since anyone can make them for any $surfaceprop just by making a modified VMT.
— SirYodaJedi (talk) 15:31, 25 April 2024 (PDT)