Chips' Fun House ~ View topic - Setting up Valve Hammer 3.4/3.5 Beta for your Steam Account

Some of you may want help configuring Valve Hammer 3.4 or 3.5 Beta for use with your Steam account directly. Here is my guide, please submit any suggestions you have (or if I've done anything wrong).

This is NOT a mapping guide, it's an editor and compiler configuration guide. For mapping guides, head over to somewhere like TWHL.

Installing Valve Hammer

Get Valve Hammer 3.4 from here, and then get the 3.5 Beta update from here. Make sure you download the Half-Life FGD for 3.5 Beta (also on this page).

Install Valve Hammer, and paste the 3.5 Beta exe over version 3.4. Replace the Half-Life FGD file with the 3.5 Beta one (in the FGD\half-life folder within Valve Hammer).

Get Zoners Half-Life Tools here. Download either the 32-Bit or 64-Bit version, depending on your processor and operating system. For the 64-Bit version to work, you require both a processor and Windows XP/2003 for x64 CPU's.

Navigate to your Valve Hammer folder in Program Files. Inside it, make a ZHLT folder to extract the Zoners Half-Life Tools into, then extract teh files.

You will need Zoners Half-Life Tools to compile your map. You can use the old Quake compilers with Valve Hammer if you wish, but they are quite buggy. This guide is adapted for ZHLT version 3.4.

Configuring Valve Hammer

Open Valve Hammer then goto Tools > Options. I am presuming you have not modified default configurations!

General

Tick everything apart from independant window configurations, and set the undo levels to 100.

2D Views

Tick Crosshair cursor, and set the Grid size to 16. Put the grid intensity to 0, then while the slider is selected hit your Right Arrow key twice to increase it 2 units.

3D Views

Nothing changed.

Textures

Here is where you tell Valve Hammer what textures you want it to use. This list of WAD files is not saved into your map directly, so if you use custom textures you WILL have to keep adding/removing relavent WAD files. Even across different games! Annoying isn't it?

All Half-Life games should be using these Zoner's Half-Life Tools textures, for special purposes.
C:\Program Files\Valve Hammer\ZHLT\ZHLT.wad

This contains the Half-Life decals (numbers printed in, bullet holes, blood, etc)
C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\your account\half-life\valve\decals.wad

This contains the vast majority of Half-Life textures. You'll most likely want them.
C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\your account\half-life\valve\halflife.wad

This contains all the liquids (water, slime, gunge, etc) from Half-Life.
C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\your account\half-life\valve\liquids.wad

Finally, this contains all the alien textures found in the Xen world of Half-Life.
C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\your account\half-life\valve\xeno.wad

Next, you'd probably want the TFC specific textures. Make sure you add both!
C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\your account\team fortress classic\tfc\TFC.wad
C:\Program Files\Steam\Steamapps\your account\team fortress classic\tfc\TFC2.wad

If you are using custom textures in your map, import the wad file for that too. Please remember not to use more than 8 wad files, as this can cause problems (although I've never seen any). If you use the 4 Half-Life wad's, 2 TFC wad's, and ZHLT wad, you only have room for 1 more.

Use something like Wally to put all custom textures you decide to use for your map in one wad file.

You HAVE to restart Valve Hammer for any wad files you've added/removed to take effect !!

Game Configurations

Click the top right edit button, and add Team Fortress Classic to the list. If it's already there, call it TFC [Steam] or something. Select it in the list after.

Game Data Files:
Add the FGD at C:\Program Files\Valve Hammer\FGD\team fortress classic\tf15f.fgd

Texture Format:
WAD3

Map Type:
HalfLife / TFC

Default Point Entity:
ambient_generic

Default Solid Entity:
button_target

Game Executeable Directory:
C:\Games\Steam\Steamapps\your account\team fortress classic

Mod Directory:
C:\Games\Steam\Steamapps\your account\team fortress classic\tfc

Game Directory:
C:\Games\Steam\SteamApps\your account\half-life\valve

RMF Directory:
C:\Program Files\Valve Hammer\Maps\TFC (make these folders if they don't exist)

Build Programs

Select your TFC for Steam configuration, and fill in these details.

Game executable:
C:\Games\Steam\Steamapps\your account\team fortress classic\hl.exe

CSG executeable:
C:\Program Files\Valve Hammer\ZHLT\hlcsg.exe

BSP executeable:
C:\Program Files\Valve Hammer\ZHLT\hlbsp.exe

VIS executeable:
C:\Program Files\Valve Hammer\ZHLT\hlvis.exe

RAD executeable:
C:\Program Files\Valve Hammer\ZHLT\hlrad.exe

Place compiled maps in this directory before running the game:
C:\Games\Steam\Steamapps\your account\team fortress classic\tfc\maps

Click OK, then close Valve Hammer to save all changes. That's the configuration part over.

Basic Compiling / Map Testing

When you are ready to test/compile your map, hit F9. You have to compile your map to play it. This can take from a couple of seconds to a couple of days, depending on the size of your map, and how professional your mapping skills are.

CSG and BSP should both be complete in under

CSG: Normal.
BSP: Normal.
VIS: Normal (Use Full when compiling a public release, or Fast when doing a quick personal test).
RAD: Normal (Use Extra when compiling a public release, or No to disable lighting, which applies full brightness everywhere).

That's the simple way to compile the map. By default, TFC will be launched and your map is loaded when the compile process is finished. If you do not want TFC to load, tick Do not run the game.

Advanced Compiling

You may (and most likely will) require more advanced compiling, however I don't recommend you do until you get an understanding of Half-Life map development. Advanced compile parameters are for specific reasons, and used incorrectly will result in much wasted time when you find that your map does not appear how you want it to.

If you want to use advanced compile parameters, click Expert. You can click Normal to switch back to basic compiling.

Firstly, select Team Fortress in the configurations at the top.

You will be shown a list of all the commands executed during the compile process. Modify them at your own risk!

For a list of Zoner's Half-Life Tools parameters, go here.

To add, remove, or modify a command parameter, select the command below and do it in the Parameters text box above (NOT command).

Shared parameters shown on the command reference page need to be added to all 4 commands (csg, bsp, vis, and rad/light). I highly recommend you use -chart and -estimate shared parameters.

Here are my common compile parameters. These are for guidelines, and vary from map to map. My compile parameters might not be right for you!

Shared

-chart
-dev 2 (show errors and warnings)
-estimate
-low (if I compile on the same machine, and want to do other things; I don't recommend you use -high, unless you don't need to use the machine while the map is compiling).
-lightdata 8 (for large maps only)
-texdata 8 (for maps using a vast range of textures only)

You can find out how much texture memory you will require, by going into Map > Map Information in the editor.

HLCSG

-cliptype precise
-nowadtextures (USE ONLY IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO DISTROBUTE YOUR CUSTOM WAD FILES, this will result in a much larger BSP file)
-wadautodetect

HLBSP

Nothing Smile

HLVIS

-full (I always use this. If you design your blockwork correctly, HLVIS should never take longer than say 10 minutes on modernish computers)

HLRAD

-bounce 2
-extra (I like to see quality lighting. You won't need it in personal or closed-group testing, it just adds compile time for nicer lighting)
-lights adam.rad (more information below)
-notexscale
-smooth 50

Texture Source Lights / RAD File

A texture source light is where you can simply put a texture on a face that you want to act as a light. It will give off light just like a point entity light does, but you can't turn this light on/off in game, or apply any effects (flickering, pulse, etc).

Idealy, you'd want to use this for things like lava, glowing acid, and lights in rooms that are always on. You should use point entity source lighting for things like candles, flickering lights, lights you want to turn on/off, spot lights, and the sky (use a light_enviroment for the sky).

The great advantage of texture lights is that they do not require an entity to work; just a block (or face on an existing block). This saves on your entity count, which is often valuable.

A RAD text file defines which textures will give off light, what colour the light will be, and how bright it is.

You get a file called Lights.RAD with ZHLT. This will always be included AUTOMATICALLY! If you do not want texture lighting (or the textures defined in this file), I recommend you rename this RAD file so it won't be included.

Feel free to add, remove, or modify stuff this RAD file, but I recommend you keep a backup of the original. You may not like your changes!

That's all for now. Have fun Smile

Forum H4xor Joined: 08 Dec 2004 Posts: 2504 Location: NJ

Good Job adam, now someoone move this to mapping modeling section. KTHANXZ

While your moving this, remember to move Nirvana's MUM into the DONE section.

Very Happy

owned.wav

She's done? Who started her?

*raises hand*

Forum H4xor Joined: 08 Dec 2004 Posts: 2504 Location: NJ

LIES YOUR ALL LIEING

WHO HASN'T????

OOOOOOO!!! Surprised

Owned

hehehe

jk nirvana Wink

Forum H4xor Joined: 08 Dec 2004 Posts: 2504 Location: NJ

im going to cry myself to sleep now thanks alot, ban please Razz

Adam way to take a 14yr old's candy. Good Job!

Aud, you must be his other mommy then!

Thanks Adam!

NP

Good luck with it.

If you have any problems, please let me know; I'd be happy to help.

Well never ever try and spawn on a team with no respawn, it won't call you a dumbass for tyring(which was what I was hoping), instead it crashes everything Crying or Very sad

You tried it? Very Happy

lol, yes, I wanted to be sure it wouldn't work, and I thought that it'd only yell at me for even attempting it, but I was wrong, it crashed my whole computer Crying or Very sad

How do I get backpacks? >_> <_<