installing prop packs into hammer

[KayEf]

Howdy fellas, Hotdoge here

Now, here's a question I hope can get answered, how do I install the prop packs I downloaded into hammer? I realize that you have to put the folders in certain directories, but I don't know which ones!

I downloaded the medieval and mayann prop packs but I don't know how to put em in, please help me and thanks for reading!


sincerely,
Hotdoge Mcgee

 

[Davekillerish]

medieval

The medieval prop pack is a VMF, I dont know about the mayan as I didnt install it (im sure im the ONLY ONE shocking).

So simply put the VMF download into your mapsrc folder where the rest of your VMFs are.
Not sure what im talking about?
Open hammer > File > Open > Look at the file destination up top, and copy it.
Now get the download file and click/drag it into the Open file browser popup.

 

[YM]

The mayann pack follows the standard TF2 folder structure, put the contents into ...Steam/steamapps/common/Team Fortress 2/tf/

If you don't have them before, and you extracted the pack to tf/ you should have /tf/materials /tf/models and /tf/scripts.

The only file that doesn't follow the standard /tf/ directory structure is the zoo vmf which you can put anywhere you like (probably wherever you put your other map vmfs)

 

[KayEf]

Thanks guys

 

[worMatty]

If you prefer to keep your TF2 asset directories free of custom stuff, you can install it in tf/custom. For the Mayann pack, you could copy the extracted ZIP to tf/custom/mayann_project_asset_pack_v1 and inside that you'd have materials/ models/ scripts/ and so on. Anything in tf/custom/whatever is mounted as if it were actually in the tf dir, and is available as usual to both TF2 and Hammer. This method gives you more options for organisation.

 

[Tumby]

If you prefer to keep your TF2 asset directories free of custom stuff, you can install it in tf/custom. For the Mayann pack, you could copy the extracted ZIP to tf/custom/mayann_project_asset_pack_v1 and inside that you'd have materials/ models/ scripts/ and so on. Anything in tf/custom/whatever is mounted as if it were actually in the tf dir, and is available as usual to both TF2 and Hammer. This method gives you more options for organisation.

However, tf/custom is not made for adding content, only replacing it. Some packers like VIDE will not search for content in tf/custom.
I don't even understand what kinda organisation is needed. I just throw stuff in /tf and that's it.

 

[Izotope]

I don't even understand what kinda organisation is needed. I just throw stuff in /tf and that's it.

It's easy.
The highlighted folders are for you only, meaning it's very easy to organize which assets belongs to which packs/theme.
Hammer or TF2 "ignores" these as if they are cut and /materials/ and /tf/ are put together.
Team Fortress 2/tf/custom/packname/materials/models/
Team Fortress 2/tf/custom/epicpackv2/materials/models/

I agree that this is better for user organization, if you just throw everything into /tf/ and want to uninstall something, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

[Tumby]

if you just throw everything into /tf/ and want to uninstall something, you're gonna have a bad time.

The first question is why would anybody even want to uninstall anything. And even if, every pack/author uses seperate folders anyways. Wanna get rid of mayann? Good bye every folder containing temple or mayan. (There's a search function for a reason)

 

[worMatty]

If you put all your Mayann assets in tf/custom/mayann it's very easy to remove them. You just delete that folder. If you have things in materials/, models/ and scripts/ you'd need to remove at least three times the number of folders. And searching isn't accurate.

It's useful to separate content packs using single folders in case you need to isolate them, for debugging. If you don't need asset packs installed because you won't be using them for some time, you can move them out of tf/custom temporarily which makes the game load faster because there's less stuff to scan. VPKs avoid that problem because of their indexes.

 

[MeMe TANWIG (G.E.W.P)]

Hey,
So if you download sfm props from the steam workshop and copy them to whatver custom folder you use for hammer it will work right ?
help i am so lost XD

 

[McLovin]

Hey,
So if you download sfm props from the steam workshop and copy them to whatver custom folder you use for hammer it will work right ?
help i am so lost XD

I don't know if I'm right (because I've only tried it once) but I believe SFM props are not compatible in Hammer.

 

[MeMe TANWIG (G.E.W.P)]

What if i convert the file extension through blender or somethng would it work ? cus it is still a 3D and i dont really see any reason why it wouldn't

 

[henke37]

You can't "convert a file extension". That's just a label. You actually have to run the converter tool to reformat the data into a new file format.

Also, blender can neither import nor export 3d models in the file formats that source uses. You need separate tools for that. Valve gives you the model compiler for exporting to their games, but you will need a 3rd party tool for the other direction.

 

[Tumby]

Blender won't help you a bit. You need to convert the MDL (and its sister files) for a different engine branch by decompiling and then simply compiling again. Crowbar is more than enough. http://steamcommunity.com/gid/103582791434761767
SFM should be compatible with TF2 models, but maybe it's just a one-way compatibility? Just try it out man.

 

[Pocket]

The main reason SFM props "don't work" in TF2 is because they're almost never compiled with a prop_static option. I still don't know why in the holy hell being usable as a static prop requires a flag to be set, since static props require the least information of literally any type in order to work, but there you are. The second reason is that they might be using a newer version of VTF for their textures, like some of the leaked beta content does.

That said, you should probably avoid converting props to work for TF2, because the creators did not approve them for that purpose and probably won't be reachable if Valve ever wants to buy your map. And also because they won't have LODs, which is vital for having a well-optimized map.

 

[henke37]

The simplest reason why props can't be used as static props? A lack of trust. Valve has gone onto record stating that they don't trust their level authors to be consistent about prop use and are forcing mappers to use props "correctly" so that a consistent experience is ensured for players.

 

[Pocket]

Oh, you mean like... trying to use props that don't have LODs? That makes a lot of sense actually.

 

[MeMe TANWIG (G.E.W.P)]

ok thanks for the good infos guys

 

[henke37]

I meant like physics props vs static props. Remember, source was for Halflife 2 mainly. That game has a lot of props that you can pickup and/or throw at enemies.