Valve Hammer Editor
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This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality because: Needs more information regarding its origins as a mapping tool for Quake and versions before 3.x.
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The Valve Hammer Editor (more informally known as Hammer, and previously called Worldcraft) is the official mapping tool for the Goldsource and Source engines (which most newer Valve games run under). It is also included in every game made with Source Engine that is not a mod. In this page, the history of the mapping tool is documented.
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Version History
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Originally developed with the name The Forge (until September 12, 1996) and distributed under the name Worldcraft on the retail Half-Life CD, Valve Hammer Editor 3.x is the official Goldsource mapping tool. The program is available on Steam (Half-Life SDK) and certain other websites.
Beta
Version | Release date | Features |
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0.920 | September 20, 1996 | Fixes:
Fixed a lot of Direct3D crashing bugs. I hope this helps some people. Unfortunately, it won't help people with Matrox cards.
New functions:
(Sidetrack: I am adding a "Vertex/face manipulation mode." Watch for it in the immediate future!) How to use this: - Click on a face to select/deselect it. - Hold down CTRL to select multiple faces. - Hold down SHIFT to select/deselect all of a solid's faces. SHIFT must be combined with CTRL to select multiple solids' faces. When you enter the mode, a dialog box is displayed that contains info about the currently selected faces. Modify the info and hit APPLY to make it permanent. Hit REVERT to restore the original information. While you're in this mode, you can still use the other tools - magnify, camera, etc. However, you MUST select the pointer tool to select more faces. Also, You can use Edit|Clear Selection to deselect all faces.
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1.007 | October 7th, 1996 | Fixes:
d:\program files\worldcraft, even if d:\program files\ does not exist.
New functions:
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1.022 | October 22, 1996 | |
1.030 | October 30, 1996 | Fixes:
New functions:
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1.031 | October 30, 1996 |
On December 9th Ben Morris announce plans for Unreal support. Fixes:
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??? | November 23, 1996 |
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Worldcraft 1.x
Version | Release date | Features |
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1.0 | December 3, 1996 |
The full version of Worldcraft was released, the price for the full version was $34.95. Worldcraft was initially distributed by ACDSystems. Registered users would receive updates via mail on CD's. Some CDs were not shipped before January 6, 1997. New functions:
The new feature is the use of the , and . keys to cycle backwards and forwards in the Hit List. This also works with 2D views - the left button adds all the "hit" objects to the Hit List, and you can use the PGUP and PGDN keys to cycle thru the objects. Again, hold down CTRL *before* you click to keep the current selection.
- no player 1 start - solid has mixed face contents. - object whose 'target' value has no matching 'targetname' in another object Use Map|Check for Problems or Alt+P to access it.
Fixes:
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1.0a | December 5, 1996 |
Fixes:
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1.0b | February 15, 1997 | |
1.1 | January 27, 1997 | Fixes:
New functions:
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1.1a | February 20, 1997 | Fixes:
New functions:
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1.2 | February 25, 1997 |
On July 14, 1997, Valve hires Ben Morris and acquires Worldcraft. They did so with the intent to use it for the development of Half-Life and later release it with Half-Life. |
1.3 |
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1.5 | September 5, 1997 |
New functions:
- you can combine a group with another group by click-dragging it over the destination; - you can delete a group by dragging it out of the listbox - you can rename a group by selecting it and then clicking it again in the listbox.
- the active camera (drawn with a red line) moves in 2D when the 3D position changes. - press DEL to delete the active camera. - press PGUP and PGDN to cycle through the existing cameras.
- unrecognised texture - a texture on a face that's not found in any of the currently loaded WAD files. FIXing this error replaces the texture with the currently selected texture. - invalid brush - a brush that's been mangled by vertex manipulation or other strange phenomena. FIXing this error causes Worldcraft to closely approximate the invalid shape with a valid one. The results might not be desirable all the time. Other Small Features:
Tiny features:
- Ctrl+E behavior: - centers on selection - centers on map (if no selection) - centers on selected vertices (if in vertex mode)
- fixed the 1-off scaling problem - fixed texture browser ugliness in NT - pasting objects snaps to grid - fixed the 45 degree texturing problem - toolbar doesn't flash anymore - copying a command sequence in the expert run map feature used to crash. - lines are much crisper in the 2D views - no jaggies on 45 degree lines, for example. - shearing objects now snaps to grid. |
1.5a | September 24, 1997 | New functions:
Fixes:
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1.5b | October 9, 1997 | New functions:
Fixes:
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1.6 | March 6, 1998 |
Announced December 18, 1997. Released March 6, 1998. At the same time Ben Morris announced that he has left Valve Software. New features:
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1.6a | August 25, 1998 |
A Shareware version was released with the 1998 September issue of PC Accelerator Magazine. |
1.6b |
Worldcraft 2.x
Version | Release date | Features |
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2.0 | November 19, 1998 | Version 2.0 of Worldcraft was released with the release of Half-Life.
Worldcraft 2.0 represents the largest jump in feature enhancements and additions to date. Below are a list of the new things along with links to more information about them. There are a few new features on the toolbars. Map Tools:
Map Operations:
Msp Views:
The Texture Application mode (Face Properties dialog) has been enhanced with several new features. A smooth groups feature allows you to specify an angle at which qrad will consider an object "rounded" and will smooth the lighting accordingly. Any angles at or under the value specified will be smoothed. The material feature shows what material type the currently selected texture is. Material type will effect sounds made directly on the surface of a brush with that texture (footsteps, bullet ricochets, etc). Last, the Quake II surface parameters are available to you, letting you control things like surface lighting and detail brushes. There are several new options available to you through the menus as well.
• general • 2D views • 3D views • textures • game configurations • build programs The game configurations dialog contains all the information for setuping up multiple game configurations. This lets you specify what entity set and map format to use, as well as palette and default entity information. The build programs dialog allows you to specify which compile tools to use with which game configuration. As well, all values entered here are easily referenced in the expert compile dialog by a series of static variables ($game_exe, $bsp_exe, etc). The compile tools included for Half-life are somewhat different than previous games, but operate in a very similiar manner. The tools are as follows: You should say that qcsg analyzes all the geometry, textures, and entities in your map. qbsp2 divides that map up into visible areas, and then vis determines more rigorously which polygons are visible and which ones aren't. You can invent a word "visable", meaning "a level which can be vised" as opposed to "visible", "that which can be seen" You should explain that ahead of time so people don't think it's a typo
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2.1 | April 09, 1999 | Version 2.1 of Worldcraft was released for free, but only worked with Half-Life.
Updates:
New Features:
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Hammer 3.x
Version | Release date | Features |
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3.3 | June 8, 2000 |
Highlights: The editor has been given a facelift, with a completely rewritten OpenGL renderer for the 3D views. This enables the addition of engine rendering code for previews of such things as sprites and glow effects. Texturing, normally the most time-consuming aspect of mapmaking, has also been streamlined. And, a number of other productivity-enhancing features have taken the most common hitches out of mapmaking.
Features: Aside from the above highlights, there have been a number of smaller changes as well.
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3.4 | 31 March, 2002 |
An updated version of Valve's level editing tool is now available for download. This release includes new functionality and several fixes. It also introduces a new name for the product, Hammer. Changes include:
Fixes:
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3.5 | April 18, 2003 |
A beta version of Hammer 3.5 was released. This was the last version that fully worked with Goldsrc. This version was released as just the main exec and required hammer 3.4 to be installed to work. New features:
Changes:
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FGDs
- Half-Life (FGD)
- Counter-Strike (FGD)
- Condition Zero Deleted Scenes (FGD)
- Day of Defeat (FGD)
- Deathmatch Classic (FGD)
- Half-Life: Blue Shift (FGD)
- Half-Life: Opposing Force (FGD)
- Ricochet (FGD)
- Team Fortress Classic (FGD)
Hammer 4.x
Version | Release date | Features |
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4.0 | November 05, 2004 | Initial release of Hammer in the Source SDK.
Updates:
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4.1 | November 22nd, 2005 |
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Valve Hammer Editor 4.x, provided as a component of the Source SDK, is the official Source mapping tool. Apart from the construction of level architecture, Valve Hammer Editor 4.x is also heavily involved with creating level events and scripting.
FGDs
See also
- Hammer Editor Documentation
- Level Design Documentation
- Hammer Feature Requests
- Hammer What's New
- Brush
- Entity
- FGD
External links
- Wikipedia:Valve Hammer Editor
- Download Hammer 3.4 from Gamebanana
- J.A.C.K – an alternative to Hammer for GoldSource. The program supports Windows and Linux and adds a number of features for level editing and modding.
- Sledge – a free and open-source alternative to Hammer for GoldSource. The program supports Windows. It is no longer being developed.
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