How to load external assets (models/materials) in Hammer?

[The Tiny Desk Engineer]

I'm considering making a Portal-themed TF2 map since there's so few of them on the Workshop, and I know how to extract materials and other assets from VPKs, but I don't know how to make Hammer load them and show them in the viewports. Do I just put them somewhere in the game directory? Or is it more complicated than that?

 

[worMatty]

Yes, you add them somewhere in the game directory. No, it's not typically more complicated than that but you can make it more complicated if you like. Here's a guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2216526350

Do bear in mind that some games' assets will be a version that's not compatible with TF2. You may need to convert some models or textures. You ought to check the Source SDK wiki for info.

 

[The Tiny Desk Engineer]

Yes, you add them somewhere in the game directory. No, it's not typically more complicated than that but you can make it more complicated if you like. Here's a guide: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2216526350

Do bear in mind that some games' assets will be a version that's not compatible with TF2. You may need to convert some models or textures. You ought to check the Source SDK wiki for info.

Well, Portal and Team Fortress 2 are both included in The Orange Box, I wouldn't expect them to be too different, if at all.

 

[The Tiny Desk Engineer]

Okay, it seems that the "height-ssbump" textures are causing problems, so I have to remove them and individually edit each VMT to get it to stop displaying a semi-transparent black and purple checkerboard over the actual texture.

 

[The Tiny Desk Engineer]

Nope, that just made it worse, now the ceiling textures are also broken.

Which is strange since I'm pretty sure I didn't change anything about them.