VBSP++

VBSP++ ▶ VVIS++ ▶ VRAD++ ▶ BSPZIP++

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VBSP++

Developer(s)

ficool2

Initial release

Jun 28, 2025

Stable release

Jan 18, 2026

Operating system

Type

Map compiler

Target engine(s)

Distribution

Freeware

Download

Official website
GitHub repository

VBSP++ is a community-made modification of Source's VBSP developed by ficool2.

Differences

• Automatically reduces brushes and brushsides usage of the map by 10-30% (MAX_MAP_BRUSHES, MAX_MAP_BRUSHSIDES)
• Automatically reduces planes usage of the map up to 40% if limit is hit (MAX_MAP_PLANES)
  • If plane limit is exceeded, VRAD++ must be used or lighting will be broken
• No t-junction limit
• No detail prop limit
• Raised overlay limit to 8192 and internal entity limit to 65536
• Increased maximum switchable lights from 32 to 96
• -leaktest is now enabled by default, i.e. stops compile on leaks
  • Added -noleaktest to disable this behavior
• Added AppID mounting in gameinfo.txt
• Added support for mounting custom shaders in mods
• Added support for custom $surfaceprops on clip brushes
• Added support for compiling 4-way blends (for games that support it)
• Added func_detail_blocker (like newer VBSPs)
• Added -blocksize (default is 1024)
  • Useful to compute visibility faster on open, large maps like surf (I recommend 2048)
  • Using a higher blocksize also reduces your vertex count, useful to circumvent vertex limit
• Added -allowdynamicpropsasstatic (allows any props to used as static props)

- Note that some props might work right with this, particularly props that aren't compiled with $staticprop

• Added per-prop ambient occlusion toggle
  • To use, set disableambientocclusion 1 keyvalue on the entity
  • Does not work on HL2/Singleplayer BSPs due to older static prop format
• Added proper support for compiling power of 4 displacements (like CS:GO)
  • Update: this is now reverted due to causing crashes on Linux servers. Slammin is also affected by this.
• Added parallax_obb entity support for mods that have parallax cubemaps
• Added func_detail_illusionary (identical to func_detail but non solid)
• Added %compileNoShadows
• Added func_nobevel support
• Added -nobevel (disables brushsides for all angled geometry. I do not recommend using this, use func_nobevel instead)
• Added optimization to automatically disable vertex lighting for props with $bumpmap/$phong
  • Reduces time spent in VRAD with -staticproplighting
  • Use -showineligiblevertexlitprops to show what props were marked ineligible for vertex lighting
• Added logging if FGD has parsing errors
• Added -nonamefixup to disable default instance name prefixing with InstanceAuto
• Added -singleplayer option to compile maps for HL2 (SDK13 Singleplayer) BSP format
• Added warning if using info_lighting on dynamic entities
• Added %compileNoShadows support
• Added support for compiling lightmaps on Water if $lightmapwaterfog is set (for mods that support it)
• Added support for high lightmap sizes (useful for games that support -maxlightmapdim)
• Added support for saving enablelightbounce flag for static props
• Added support for reading decimal values from face lightmap scales
• Added -nohdrcubemap to not write HDR cubemaps to BSP, useful if map is compiled in LDR only
  • Likewise Template:Code- exists to not write LDR cubemaps
• Added -nobump (disables bumpmap lightmaps on all faces)
• Added -maxluxelscale (clamps maximum luxel scale, default is no limit)
• Added -report_search_paths to list current search paths for debugging
  • -leaktest will now stop on areaportal leaks
• Restored support for -maxlightmapdim and -defaultluxelsize parameters
• func_occluder, func_areaportal, func_viscluster, func_nobevel, parallax_obb no longer count towards the brush limit
• Improved clarity of some warnings and removed useless ones
• Fixed instances not collapsing correctly if FGD had unrecognized types
• Fixed instance names prefixed with ! being remapped
• Fixed remapped instance I/O always using ESC separators (fixes HL2 compatibility)
• Fixed smoothing groups not working on func_detail
• Fixed displacements not being rotated correctly in instances
• Fixed occluders not being collapsed correctly in instances
• Fixed missing texture cubemaps if skybox has mismatched side dimensions
• Fixed crash if an instance overflowed brush or brushsides limit
• Fixed crash if instance name was too long
• Fixed crash if no surfaceprops were loaded
• Fixed bug where brushside count was varying depending on the CPU

Supported games

VBSP++ is currently available for all games on Team Fortress 2 branch, as well as Garry's Mod (64-bit only).

The older BSP format used by Source 2013 Singleplayer games is also supported via the -singleplayer argument, but the compilers need to be installed to a supported 64-bit game such as Source SDK Base 2013 - Multiplayer or Garry's Mod.

Note:Any features which require Static prop flags greater than 0xFF are unavailable when compiling for the singleplayer format, as the static prop lump used by the older format only supports 8 bits of flags, instead of 32.

Todo: Guide on setting up Tools++ for .

External links

• Download