VRAD (Source 2)
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VRAD3 is the command-line tool that calculates and embeds lighting data into compiled maps, using a graphics card (GPU) with ray tracing support (or CPU on older engine versions). It is the 
Source 2 counterpart of 
Source 1's VRAD.
Earlier Source 2 games, such as 
Half-Life: Alyx and 
SteamVR Home, use VRAD2 to preview baked lighting in Hammer using CPU to bake lighting.
Newer versions of the engine, such as 
Counter-Strike 2, use VRAD3 which requires a GPU with ray tracing support, such as NVIDIA RTX series, AMD RX 6000 series (or later/other RDNA2) cards or Intel Arc (since Jan 2025) graphics cards.
VRAD2 and the old CPU lighting compiler have been removed in Counter-Strike 2 as of the Armory Update.
Bug:Systems with the latest NVIDIA (and possibly AMD) drivers may have issues with VRAD3, causing it to crash (with VK_ERROR_DEVICE_LOST) while baking lighting during map compilation. (tested in: )Games with VRAD2
- All Source 2 games except Counter-Strike 2, and newer versions of
Dota 2 (since 2023/2024).
Games with VRAD3
Valve
- Counter-Strike 2
- Dota 2 (later version)
- Half-Life: Alyx
- SteamVR Home (later version)
Third-party
Todo: Add more information about Source 2's VRAD2/VRAD3 lighting.
Command line options
Todo: List more command line options.
VRAD2
[Todo]
VRAD3
| Argument | Description |
|---|---|
| -script | Specify VRAD3 script file. |
See also
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