------Updated tutorial that does not require the source SDK multiplayer base, utilising ficool2's tf2-compatible propper setup-----
Required:
*Propper FGD, updated propper.exe
Installing Propper:
Simply drag and drop propper.exe and propper.fgd into /Team Fortress 2/bin/. You can find the download for them here. Next, go into hammer -> Tools -> Options -> Configurations, and adding propper.fgd to 'Game Data Files' with the Add button. You may need to have it at the top of the 'stack' of FGDs if it doesn't work.
Creating your propper_model:
Now that you've set propper up, select the group of brushes which you'd like to be a model and hit ctrl+t, making them a propper_model. Other propper_ entities are things that you'll want to set up seperately to achieve certain effects with your model, the wiki page on propper goes more into depth on this. Set up your paths correctly, make sure that the material and model paths are set up as so:
The material path 'models/propper_test/' makes it so that the materials will be put in tf/materials/models/propper_test/. In your model path, you will need an additional piece of information - the model name is the final part of the directory given. The model will be called 'metalbeam01' in the given example. You may also want to name the propper_model if you wish to set up other things such as particles with the model.
Compiling your model:
Now your model is set up and propper is installed properly, it is time to compile the model. Go to File -> Run Map -> Expert and press 'Edit' in the top center of the box. You'll want to then press 'New' to create a new configuration, and call this something such as 'Propper'. Now select your newly created configuration from the dropdown menu, and press 'New' to create a new and empty compile commands box.
On the command section, press the 'Cmds' button and choose 'Executable'. Navigate to the propper.exe that you put in /Team Fortress 2/bin/ earlier, and select it. Next in the Parameters box, put -game $gamedir $path\$file
If you get an error while compiling relating to not being able to find a VMF, change '$path\$file' to the full directory of your VMF + the VMF's name (such as C:\Maps\test.vmf) although you'll likely not have this issue. If set up properly your Expert Compile window should now look like this:
Now simply press 'Go!' and the model should compile.
Misc Tips:
*Origin is inherited from the propper_model entity! Make sure the Auto-Centre keyvalue is not on as well
*Create a collision mesh using the Physics Mesh keyvalue!
*Propper models can't be made out of displacements only. Hide a solid, non displacement brush with a single solid face somewhere in the propper_model to get it working!
*Tooltexture faces will be deleted when you compile your propper model. Use this to optimise polygons the player can't see, but make sure you always have at least one opaque non-displacement face somewhere!
*For proper lighting on your propper models, you may want to set up lightmapping. More information on that here: https://tf2maps.net/threads/how-to-setup-a-propper-gernerated-model-for-light-mapping.38979/!
Old tutorial using the source SDK base 2013 system below, if needed
Hopefully this guide is useful. If you have any additional questions, things that I forgot to cover or clarification on anything needed, please let me know.
Full credits to ficool for their updated propper.exe, and to tuxxi for their original recompiled propper and FGD.
Required:
*Propper FGD, updated propper.exe
Installing Propper:
Simply drag and drop propper.exe and propper.fgd into /Team Fortress 2/bin/. You can find the download for them here. Next, go into hammer -> Tools -> Options -> Configurations, and adding propper.fgd to 'Game Data Files' with the Add button. You may need to have it at the top of the 'stack' of FGDs if it doesn't work.
Creating your propper_model:
Now that you've set propper up, select the group of brushes which you'd like to be a model and hit ctrl+t, making them a propper_model. Other propper_ entities are things that you'll want to set up seperately to achieve certain effects with your model, the wiki page on propper goes more into depth on this. Set up your paths correctly, make sure that the material and model paths are set up as so:
The material path 'models/propper_test/' makes it so that the materials will be put in tf/materials/models/propper_test/. In your model path, you will need an additional piece of information - the model name is the final part of the directory given. The model will be called 'metalbeam01' in the given example. You may also want to name the propper_model if you wish to set up other things such as particles with the model.
Compiling your model:
Now your model is set up and propper is installed properly, it is time to compile the model. Go to File -> Run Map -> Expert and press 'Edit' in the top center of the box. You'll want to then press 'New' to create a new configuration, and call this something such as 'Propper'. Now select your newly created configuration from the dropdown menu, and press 'New' to create a new and empty compile commands box.
On the command section, press the 'Cmds' button and choose 'Executable'. Navigate to the propper.exe that you put in /Team Fortress 2/bin/ earlier, and select it. Next in the Parameters box, put -game $gamedir $path\$file
If you get an error while compiling relating to not being able to find a VMF, change '$path\$file' to the full directory of your VMF + the VMF's name (such as C:\Maps\test.vmf) although you'll likely not have this issue. If set up properly your Expert Compile window should now look like this:
Now simply press 'Go!' and the model should compile.
Misc Tips:
*Origin is inherited from the propper_model entity! Make sure the Auto-Centre keyvalue is not on as well
*Create a collision mesh using the Physics Mesh keyvalue!
*Propper models can't be made out of displacements only. Hide a solid, non displacement brush with a single solid face somewhere in the propper_model to get it working!
*Tooltexture faces will be deleted when you compile your propper model. Use this to optimise polygons the player can't see, but make sure you always have at least one opaque non-displacement face somewhere!
*For proper lighting on your propper models, you may want to set up lightmapping. More information on that here: https://tf2maps.net/threads/how-to-setup-a-propper-gernerated-model-for-light-mapping.38979/!
Old tutorial using the source SDK base 2013 system below, if needed
I've decided to create this guide because I can't find a functioning guide on how to use Propper after the Steampipe update which broke the pre-2013 versions of propper, and the wiki doesn't seem to properly explain how to set this new updated version up for most games (I've only seen one or two people who actually seem to know how to get it to work with TF2).
Required tools:
*Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer (download this from your library -> tools section on steam)
*GCFscape
*VTFedit is good to have but not necessary (just helpful for VMT editing)
Installing Propper:
Once the Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer is installed, download Propper from this link. Simply drag the .exe and the .fgd from the .zip into your /common/Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer/bin/ folder. Do not drag it into your TF2 bin folder or the compile will fail! After this, open TF2's hammer and go to Tools -> Options -> Configurations and select the propper.fgd from your Source SDK /bin folder (It likely doesn't need to be in there, the FGD can probably also sit in the TF2 /bin/ folder, but what matters is the .exe is in the source SDK /bin folder.)
Simply restart hammer now, and the setup of propper is done for now
Creating your propper_model:
Now that you've set propper up, select the group of brushes which you'd like to be a model and hit ctrl+t, making them a propper_model. Other propper_ entities are things that you'll want to set up seperately to achieve certain effects with your model, the wiki goes more into depth on this. Set up your paths correctly, make sure that the material and model paths are set up as so:
The models/propper_test/ makes it so that the materials will be put in tf/materials/models/propper_test/. Don't add the additional component found at the end of your modelname value, as that is not a folder - it is simply the name of the model that you wish to be created. You may also want to name the propper_model if you wish to set up other things such as particles with the model.
Compiling your model:
Now your model is set up and propper is installed properly, it is time to compile the model. Go to File -> Run Map -> Expert and press 'Edit' in the top center of the box. You'll want to then press 'New' to create a new configuration, and call this something such as 'Propper'. Now select your newly created configuration from the dropdown menu, and press 'New' to create a new and empty compile commands box.
On the command section, press the 'Cmds' button and choose 'Executable'. Navigate to the propper.exe found within /Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer/bin/ and select it. Next in the Parameters box, put this:
-game $gamedir $path\$file
If you get an error while compiling relating to not being able to find a VMF, change '$path\$file' to the full directory of your VMF + the VMF's name (such as C:\Maps\test.vmf) although you'll likely not have this issue. If set up properly your Expert Compile window should now look like this:
Now simply press 'Go!' and the model should compile.
Fixing materials:
At this point, you'll have probably noticed that your model has no materials. This can be easily, fixed, simply write down a small list of what materials your brushwork uses in hammer, then open tf2_misc_dir.vpk with GCFscape. Search for the name of the material, and copy the resulting VMT into your materials directory that was set within the propper_model. In this case, I'd put my VMT(s) into /tf/materials/models/propper_test/.
Now open the VMT(s) in notepad or VTFedit, and at the top of the file change "LightmappedGeneric" to "VertexLitGeneric" (LightmappedGeneric is usually used with brushes, while VertexLitGeneric is intended for models). Don't rename the VMT(s), the name is fine as is. Restart hammer, or open the model in HLMV, and the material should be working now.
EDIT: Material scale and rotation may be messed up, please tell me if this is an issue
Required tools:
*Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer (download this from your library -> tools section on steam)
*GCFscape
*VTFedit is good to have but not necessary (just helpful for VMT editing)
Installing Propper:
Once the Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer is installed, download Propper from this link. Simply drag the .exe and the .fgd from the .zip into your /common/Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer/bin/ folder. Do not drag it into your TF2 bin folder or the compile will fail! After this, open TF2's hammer and go to Tools -> Options -> Configurations and select the propper.fgd from your Source SDK /bin folder (It likely doesn't need to be in there, the FGD can probably also sit in the TF2 /bin/ folder, but what matters is the .exe is in the source SDK /bin folder.)
Simply restart hammer now, and the setup of propper is done for now
Creating your propper_model:
Now that you've set propper up, select the group of brushes which you'd like to be a model and hit ctrl+t, making them a propper_model. Other propper_ entities are things that you'll want to set up seperately to achieve certain effects with your model, the wiki goes more into depth on this. Set up your paths correctly, make sure that the material and model paths are set up as so:
The models/propper_test/ makes it so that the materials will be put in tf/materials/models/propper_test/. Don't add the additional component found at the end of your modelname value, as that is not a folder - it is simply the name of the model that you wish to be created. You may also want to name the propper_model if you wish to set up other things such as particles with the model.
Compiling your model:
Now your model is set up and propper is installed properly, it is time to compile the model. Go to File -> Run Map -> Expert and press 'Edit' in the top center of the box. You'll want to then press 'New' to create a new configuration, and call this something such as 'Propper'. Now select your newly created configuration from the dropdown menu, and press 'New' to create a new and empty compile commands box.
On the command section, press the 'Cmds' button and choose 'Executable'. Navigate to the propper.exe found within /Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer/bin/ and select it. Next in the Parameters box, put this:
-game $gamedir $path\$file
If you get an error while compiling relating to not being able to find a VMF, change '$path\$file' to the full directory of your VMF + the VMF's name (such as C:\Maps\test.vmf) although you'll likely not have this issue. If set up properly your Expert Compile window should now look like this:
Now simply press 'Go!' and the model should compile.
Fixing materials:
At this point, you'll have probably noticed that your model has no materials. This can be easily, fixed, simply write down a small list of what materials your brushwork uses in hammer, then open tf2_misc_dir.vpk with GCFscape. Search for the name of the material, and copy the resulting VMT into your materials directory that was set within the propper_model. In this case, I'd put my VMT(s) into /tf/materials/models/propper_test/.
Now open the VMT(s) in notepad or VTFedit, and at the top of the file change "LightmappedGeneric" to "VertexLitGeneric" (LightmappedGeneric is usually used with brushes, while VertexLitGeneric is intended for models). Don't rename the VMT(s), the name is fine as is. Restart hammer, or open the model in HLMV, and the material should be working now.
EDIT: Material scale and rotation may be messed up, please tell me if this is an issue
Hopefully this guide is useful. If you have any additional questions, things that I forgot to cover or clarification on anything needed, please let me know.
Full credits to ficool for their updated propper.exe, and to tuxxi for their original recompiled propper and FGD.
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