For XP:

1. Open the start menu. Click the "run" button. Enter "regedit", without the quotes.

2. On the tree view at left, click on "HKEY_CURRENT_USER". Go to Software, Valve, Hammer, 3D Views.

3. Right click "BackPlane". Click "Modify..." and change the base to decimal.

4. Enter the value you want to change the back plane to, and click OK. Done!

For Vista:

1. Open the start menu. In the search bar, enter "regedit". Follow the instructions for XP from step 2.

(Half-Life 2 will be used as a 'wildcard', to be replaced with what games configurations you would use)
Models:
/%account name%/Half Life 2/Models

For Materials for models
/%account name%/Half Life 2/Materials/Models

Custom Textures
/%account name%/Half Life 2/Materials/
Must contain the .vmt and .vmt

Requirements: BSPTwoMap
Hammer 3.5 (the hl1 steamless version)

Half-Life 2 (gets you access to Source SDK, thus Hammer 4.1)

Hammer 4.1 (the hl2 steam version)

Mapfool (for the textures)

GCFScape (for the wad files)

VTFEdit (for creating vtf’s)

(Download links for the stuff above are found in the bottom of this post)

First off, you’re going to need “BSPTwoMap”, which is kinda hard to find (atleast the version I’m using is), so you can grab it off the end of this guide.

Extract the bsptwomap.zip file in a new directory, (in my case C:\BSPTwoMap)

Now, you’ll have two files, “BSPTwoMAP.exe” and “readme.txt”. We don’t really need readme, anyway, so you’re free to delete it except if you really want it.

Great, we have the prog. Let’s get the map. Grab the GoldSource BSP you want to port, and throw it in the BSPTwoMap directory.

Create a new txt file with Notepad, and write this inside it:

Replace the directories with the ones you’ve put BSPTwoMap and your BSP in and replace mapname with the bsp’s filename.

Save it, and rename it’s extension to “.bat”.

Run the bat file, and it’ll do the conversion pretty fast.
When it’s done, you’ll get the message “Press any key to continue.”
Press any key, and the window will close.

Yay! We just made our new map file!

Now you need the program “MapFool”. We’ll use it to extract the textures or/and delete any unwanted entities.
You can snatch it off the Download Links section, in the bottom of this guide.

Open “MapFool”. You’ll be greeted with a user-friendly interface (well, not really, I mean, it’s a pretty clean GUI, but it may confuse some people :P)
Go to File>Open and open the map file that BSPTwoMap created before..

The raw data tab will be full of numbers ‘n’ sh*t.

This means that it works! :D

See some lines saying about the “wad” files?

If they are from HL, you’ll need to export them from the “half-life.gcf” file, using GCFScape (again provided in the bottom of the guide). If they’re from another GoldSRC game, extract the wad file(s) from the corresponding GCF. If they’re from a mod, take them from the mod’s folder, and if they’re nowhere to be found, search for them in the internet.
After acquiring them, go to File>Options. You’ll see the “Wad files imported” thing, from there import the wad files that are written in the raw data tab (the ones we extracted).

Also, if you want the program to directly convert them to VTF files, you’ll need to add the path to VTEX.exe, which is located in the directory “Steam\steamapps\username\sourcesdk\bin\vtex. exe”
(The Steam folder is the folder where you have installed Steam!)

Then, add the “full path to textures folder” path (where it’ll put the tga textures) and you’re done.
After you’re done, press OK.

Make sure you didn’t miss any WAD file.

Now go to “Tools>Export textures to TGA”, and it’ll already have the “full path to textures folder” folder set as the output path. Click at proceed. After it tells you they’re extracted, you can either close MapFool or Proceed to making materials.

Converting TGA’s to Source Materials, if you're going to make them yourself just restart reading below the bold "end material conversion part" line.
Click “Tools>Make Materials” The source path that it will take the TGA’s from MUST end with “materialsrc” in it. When you get an error that says that the textures "are not a power of two”, resize them to a power of two (Like 64x64, 128x128, 256x256, 512x512, 1024x1024 etc.).

NOTE: The material folder must be made inside (and throw inside the tga’s) in a mod’s/game’s directory, or you’ll get an error about “Gameinfo.txt”.

For some reason, it only made the VMT’s for me, so I guess you’ll make the VTF’s by yourself.

end material conversion part

Now, you’ll also need “Hammer 3.5”, the steamless old version of Valve’s Mapping Tool. Like all the previous stuff I told you to download, you’ll find it in the end of this guide.

http://home.comcast.net/~ninjagrinch/hammercfg.htm

Use the link above this line to configure Hammer 3.5 with Half-Life, Counter-Strike or any other GoldSRC game you want, and add the wad’s of the map (the ones we extracted previously)

Now, go into Hammer 3.5 and open the map file. It may tell you some solids weren’t loaded, but it doesn’t really matter. It may ALSO tell you that there was a error loading the map file, click yes to see the report, which should be empty, and close the report. There’s your map, yay!

(note: If you don’t get how to load map files, click the drop down menu that says “RMF” and select map)

Now, go to the entity report (Map>Entity Report) and delete ALL entities. This will delete useless stuff (lights, NPC’s, guns etc.) that you can/will remake later on Hammer 4.1.

Go to File>Save As and save the file as a RMF file.

Close Hammer 3.5

Go to Steam, Tools, open the Source SDK, and from there double click Hammer to open it (this is Hammer 4.1).

Open the RMF file we saved on 3.5.

Now the map should open, if it doesn’t, either it’s the map’s fault, or you suck and didn’t follow the guide correctly.

Save it as a VMF and you’re ready to play with it. Hope my little guide helped! :)

And remember, don’t release ports of custom maps without asking their creators first!

Download links (as said in the beginning of the guide):

BSPTwoMap:
http://oifymod.timeparadox.org/hammertime/BSPTwoMap.zip

Peppyfool’s MapFool:
http://oifymod.timeparadox.org/hamme...MAPfool1.2.zip

Hammer 3.5:
http://games.softpedia.com/get/Tools...r-Editor.shtml

Hammer 4.1
No download link. You need Steam and a legal copy of HL2, this will give you access to the Source SDK (found in the Tools menu in Steam). Open it, and there’s Hammer.
NOTICE: This guide was made before the Orange Box SDK, so I suggest you to switch the engine to HL2:Ep1 and whatever game you want from it, because I'm not sure if the Hammer of OBSDK opens ".map" files.

GCFScape:
http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/fil...cfscape166.exe

VTFEdit:
http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/fil...edit124-11.exe

Consider the 2D viewports:

Top (x/y) = X is horizontal and Y is vertical.

Right of the origin is X positive.
Left of the origin is X negative.

Above the origin is Y positive.
Below the origin is Y negative.

Counter-clockwise around the origin is Z positive.
Clockwise around the origin is Z negative.

Front (y/z) = Y is horizontal and Z is vertical.

Right of the origin is Y positive.
Left of the origin is Y negative.

Above the origin is Z positive.
Below the origin is Z negative.

Counter-clockwise around the origin is X positive.
Clockwise around the origin is X negative.

Side (x/z) = X is horizontal and Z is vertical.

Right of the origin is X positive.
Left of the origin is X negative.

Above the origin is Z positive.
Below the origin is Z negative.

Counter-clockwise around the origin is Y positive.
Clockwise around the origin is Y negative.


The origin can be in relation to the grid or an object.

For a basic particle, you need what is in this list (This is under the properties tab):

Anything in red is very important.

• Properties

The only thing you should worry about here is the material, and the max particles. For material you only want to use sprites or things in the directory. The max particles should not be set over 2000 (Otherwise, it brings your FPS down massive amounts)

• Renderers

render_animated_sprites - This tells it to use a sprite/ particle material.

• Operators

Cull random - This kills particles after some time.

Alpha Fade & Decay - This sets the alpha and time that it takes for particles to fade away.

Movement basic - The most important one here! Without this particles won't form! This tells it to move somewhere.

Rotation basic - tells it to move in random ways. It's not noticeable, but it makes it less repetitive.

Radius scale - Sets size of particles spawned.

• Initializers

Lifetime random - This gives each particle a lifetime. Without this, you will not see particles! Set the lifetime max to 15.

Color random - Sets the color of your particles! Without this you get ugly white particles!

Position within [box or sphere] random - Gives your particles a place to spawn in. The size corresponds to hammer units, so a max size of 512 512 512 is 512 units on the X Y and Z axis in hammer. Don't mess with the min size.

Sequence random - Use if your sprite/particle has more than one sequence. Set the max sequence to whatever the number of sequences the particle has.

• Emitters

Emit Instantaneously - Tells the particles to immediately start spawning. You can set this to slowly start in.

Emit Continuously - Tells the particles to keeps spawning and spawning (Optional)

There was a tutorial on Interlopers.net that's now obsolete in the OB engine, and it kinda sucked, so I made my own.


Creating a Mounted gun, for Orangebox games and mods. (Ep2, etc)

Setting up the stand.
Step 1. Create a prop_static with the model of:
models/props_combine/combine_barricade_short01a.mdl
Place this where you want the gun to be mounted. This coudld be substituted with a pile

of rubble or otherwise. Here it is used to give me an idea of how high the gun should be mounted. (45-50 units if you wish to do it with a brush.)
Setting up the gun model.
Step 1. Create a prop_dynamic with the model of:
models/props_combine/bunker_gun01.mdl
Place this ontop of your barricade, with the feet resting on the edges.


Name the prop_dynamic:
Barricade_Gun_Model, or something to that effect.
Disable Shadows: Yes
Start Fade Dist: 1000
End Fade Dist: 2000
Collisions: Not Solid
Default Animation: idle_inactive


Setting up the func_tank.
Step 1. Create a 16x16x16 cube centered over the models feet, textured with

tools/toolsblockbullets.

Tie this block to func_tank. (Ctrl + T) Now, copy the following settings. Most settings

should be left default, unless otherwise noted.
Name: Barricade_Gun_Tank
Parent: Barricade_Gun_Model //Obviously the model that is being used for the turret.
Control Volume: Barricade_Gun_ControlVolume
Yaw Rate: 200 //How fast does it yaw? (Turn left to right)
Yaw Range: 60 //How far can it turn?
Pitch Rate: 120 //How far does it pitch? (Turn up to down)
Pitch Range: 60 //How far can it turn?
Barrel Length: 31 //Length from orgin of func_tank to the end of the muzzleflash sprite.

Used for sprite placement.
Barrel Vertical: 8
Rate of Fire: 15 //How fast does it fire?
Damage per Bullet: 9 //How much do the bullets do?
Damage Per Bullet Vs Player: 5 //How much do the bullets do to PLAYERS?
Firing Persistence: 4 //AI: How long to keep firing at last known position, after loosing

sight of target.
Firing Persistence2: 2 //AI: How long to occasionaly shoot after last position.
Bullet Accuracy: Small Cone //How accurate is the gun?
Maximum Target Range: 2500 //AI: How far away can you aquire the target from?
//DO NOT CHANGE ANY VALUES BELOW, UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
Gun Base Attachment: aimrotation
Gun Barrel Attachment: muzzle
Gun Yaw Pose Param: aim_yaw
Gun Pitch Pose Param: aim_pitch
Gun Pitch Pose Center: 7.5
//DO NOT CHANGE ANY VALUES ABOVE, UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. (Is related to the

bunkergun model, and code.)
Ammountion Count: -1 //How much ammo does this gun have?
NPC Man Point: Barricade_Gun_Manpoint
Player Lock Time: 0.1 //AI: How long to be tracking the player before shooting?
Effect Handling: AR2 //Effects sounds
Ammo Type: AR2 //What ammo does it use, how much damage, etc. MODDERS: Uses ammotypes

defined in hl2_gamerules.cpp


Step 1.5: Go to the func_tank's flags, and check:

Active
Controllable
NPC Controlable
Non-Solid

Step 2: Create a 80x35x128+-ish brush, texture it with tools/toolstrigger, and tie it to a trigger_multiple. These numbers do not need to be exact, and can be changed for your

liking. (This defines in what area the player can "Use" the func_tank. If he is pushed

out of it, he will stop using it.

THIS MUST BE TALLER THEN THE PLAYER HEIGHT.

Name the trigger_multiple: Barricade_Gun_ControlVolume
And under Flags check:
Clients

Step 3: Create an info_target and inch or so off the ground, with the name:
Barricade_Gun_Manpoint

Place it exactly 32 units behind the center of the func_tank volume. This is used for

AI's controling the gun, and tells them where to stand, so animations work.



Setting up the outputs

This one's a bit of a doozy. You have to set several animations, with delays, so I'll do

it like this. Output | Targetname | Input | Parameter | Delay.

OnFire | Barricade_Gun_Model | SetAnimation | Fire
OnGotControler | Barricade_Gun_Model | SetAnimation | Activate
OnGotControler | Barricade_Gun_Model | SetDefaultAnimation | Idle | 0.1
OnGotPlayerControler | Barricade_Gun_Model | SetAnimation | Activate
OnGotPlayerControler | Barricade_Gun_Model | SetDefaultAnimation | Idle | 0.1
OnLostControler | Barricade_Gun_Model | SetAnimation | Retract
OnLostControler | Barricade_Gun_Model | SetDefaultAnimation | Idle | 0.1
OnLostPlayerControler | Barricade_Gun_Model | SetAnimation | Retract
OnLostPlayerControler | Barricade_Gun_Model | SetDefaultAnimation | idle_inactive | 0.1

And since that's confusing:



If you compile that, (after putting in the rest of the map, and a spawn...) and go into

game, it should work.


Adding some cool effects.
Because frankly, effects are awesome. Were going to create a light that turns on when the gun is in use, and turns off when it's not. (And moves with it. ;)

Create a env_sprite, with the following settings:
Name: Barricade_Gun_Model_Sprite_Glow
Parent: Barricade_Gun_Model
Render Mode: Worldspace Glow
Scale: .3
HDR Color Scale: .5
FX Amount: 215
FX Color: 225 255 255
Render Mode: Additive


Place this at the tip of the barrel, near the small flashlight.

Create a point_spotlight, so that there's an actual effect.
Name: Barricade_Gun_Model_Sprite_Spotlight
Parent: Barricade_Gun_Model
Spotlight Width: 18
Spotlight Length: 128
HDR Color Scale: .7
Color: 225 255 255


Now, to make it move with the gun, create a logic auto with the following outputs:
OnMapSpawn | Barricade_Gun_Model_Spite_Glow | SetParentAttachment | muzzle
OnMapSpawn | Barricade_Gun_Model_Sprite_Spotlight | SetParentAttachment | muzzle



Now, we've got a light that tracks around. Pretty cool, but you know, it could be cooler.
Add two more Outputs:
OnMapSpawn | Barricade_Gun_Model_Sprite_Glow | HideSprite
OnMapSpawn | Barricade_Gun_Model_Sprite_Spotlight | LightOff
This could also be accomplished by checking the flags inside of the Spotlight, and the

Sprite, but that would require you going back to those entites. ;)

Go to the func_tank, and add these Outputs:
OnGotController | Barricade_Gun_Model_Sprite_Spotlight | LightOn | 0.15
OnGotController | Barricade_Gun_Model_Sprite_Glow | ShowSprite | 0.2
OnLostController | Barricade_Gun_Model_Sprite_Spotlight | LightOff | 0.05
OnLostController | Barricade_Gun_Model_Sprite_Glow | HideSprite | 0.1

Duplicate your efforts for OnGotPlayerController, and OnLostPlayerController.


Feel free to experiment.

I'll take it from the top. My 7800GTX exploded so it was replaced by an 8800GTS by BFG. Then after i installed the drivers etc i went to run faceposer, but just as it were about to load the 3D screen... it crashed and i get the dreaded error reporting screen.

When i looked at the crash information it looked like shaderapidx9.dll was causing it. I tried a ton of things to fix it. I searched on the google machine and many other people are having this problem. Here are some things that people including me tried but didn't work.

- Reinstalling source SDK
- Reinstalling steam and all of the games (I didn't do this)
- Formatting their hard drives (I didn't do this)
- Scanning for viruses
- Using a WMI fix (I didn't do this)
- entering some sort of network code into the command prompt

It seemed some things worked for some people and others didn't. Mainly changing back to their old graphics cards.

So what i done is this.

FIX IS BELOW THIS
- Go to my computer
- Go to the hard drive of which Source SDK is saved on (80% ofthe time it's C:)
- Program files
- Valve
- Steam
- Steamapps
- *Yoursteam username here*
- source SDK
- bin

Now, look for a file called "Dxsupport". Double-click it, if it asks you what program to open it with, choose notepad. If you've done that right it should say "DO NOT EDIT" at the top of the page.

Now you need to scoll down and find the name of your graphics card. Mine would be:

"655"
{
"name" "NVIDIA GeForce 8800"
"VendorID" "0x10de"
"MinDeviceID" "0x192"
"MaxDeviceID" "0x192"
"m_nDriverVersion_Build" "8421"
"DefaultRes" "1280"
"ConVar.mat_antialias" "4"

Now, where it says "DefaultRes", it would have either a 3 didgit number of a 4 didgit number, depending on how good your card is. Mine is 1280.

now you need to go into your graphics control panel and change your resolution to the one stated above. Here are some examples.

1024 - 1024 by 768 (These will be different if you're using a widescreen monitor.)
1152 - 1152 by 864

Mine would be 1180 - 1180 by 962.

Once you've set it to the resolution try running either Source SDK or model viewer. It should work.

[B]Some problems[/N]

Once you've set your resolution, things may appear very small, but you can set it back to normal once you're finished.

You may get a "Incorrect input" or something flying around your monitor, try using another resolution that has the same starting number (EG,1024).

I don't think many people have this problem on facepunch, but it will come in handy for you Google viewers, i found alot of forums with people needing help when i was looking through google. I even found some on This forum.

If it still does not work. Then i'm stumped.

1. Use GCFScape to open "Steam\SteamApps\base source engine 2.gcf" and locate

bin\dxsupport.cfg

2. Extract that file to SourceSDK\bin\orangebox\bin\

3. edit the file and change the line
"ConVar.mat_picmip" "2"
to
"ConVar.mat_picmip" "-1"

If you are missing the logical viewport, don't worry you can get it back.
You can set any of the viewports to it with the registry.

To restore the Undo/Redo bar:

1. If Hammer is running, exit.
2. Open the Run prompt.
3. Enter in "regedit".
4. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER / Software / Valve / Hammer / Barstate-Bar1
5. Locate a key "Visible". It should have a value "0".
6. Change the value to "1".
7. Run Hammer. The bar should be located in the middle of the Hammer window.

VRAD will become unstable and crash at around 1.5GB RAM usage due to the 32Bit program RAM usage limit.

You can fix the problem by either compiling a 64Bit version or enabling LAA (Large Address Aware, 3GB max RAM usage on a 32Bit OS, 4GB on a 64Bit OS) by downloading Visual Studio (There is a free version on the microsoft site) and following these instructions:
Go to the folder containing vrad.exe (it's in the compile log you schmuck)
Make a copy of vrad.exe and re-name it to vrad_LAA.exe
Open the VS Command Line Interface (Start>All Programs>Visual Studio) and use the cd command to change directory (use quotes for the directory) to where-ever vrad_LAA.exe is located
Enter - Editbin /LARGEADDRESSAWARE vrad_LAA.exe
Go to the Hammer Compile/Game Options Menu (Or your .bat files or batch compile starter if you use that) and change the VRAD .exe name to the new .exe name which is vrad_LAA.exe
Watch titular content for the 10-40 minutes it takes to compile your map

I assume you have at least 4GB RAM.

Half-Life 2 (Part 1)
Half-Life 2 (Part 2)
Half Life 2: Episode One
Half Life 2: Episode Two

Oh, and I checked out the ent data limit, and it turns out there really isn't one. VBsp is warning you that it's "full" because it's getting close to 384k, which was a size we considered a reasonable amount of ent data. Even though it uses 384k for reporting, it doesn't use that as a limit. It will go ahead and allocate as much memory as you need.