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[dill37]

I'm following the Hammered to the Max youtube tutorials (really great by the way, can't wait for the next one), and trying to make a very simple map, basically just some textured brushes. The problem is that I cannot find any .vmt files on my system. I have CS:GO installed, plus its SDK. If I try to texture something in Hammer, I can see a lot of textures, so I guess they are in maps somewhere? Do I need to extract them or install something else?

Also, I tried to create my own material using a procedural 3DS Max one, exported it, but if I load the map in Hammer or try it in the game, everything just shows up as white. Do I need to attach/copy the material files to the map somehow?

[wallworm]

Welcome to the world of Wall Worm :)

Right now, if you want to bring in textures, use the Material Library Generator.

Note that the video on that page is very out-of-date and probably discusses extracting VMTs/VTFs from your VPK. That is no longer necessary and is all automated if you have Max 2015+.

As for procedural textures, those will only export directly form Max if using WW Pro. If using the free version, you must use Bitmap nodes and they must be TGA.

Hopefully this helps.

[dill37]

Thanks for the quick answer! I have 3DS Max 2015, but it seems that the material generation directly from .vpk doesn't work for me. I only have .vpk files, in the directory 'csgo' that are named like 'pak01_000.vpk', 'pak02_000.vpk' etc. I tried to just generate a library for the first one, with the settings like the attached picture - his results in the error message as above. I set the material root the 'csgo' directory where all the vpk files are.

What would be the alternative, to generate .vmt files from .vpk?

[wallworm]

Instead of using a file filter of pak , simply use this as your setup:


Folder Filter: brick
File Filter: *
Name the Library Brick

It will make a library of the Brick Materials from the VPK.

Do the same for Concrete. Etc.

It's not a good idea to make a material library of the entire materials folder. So it's best to do smaller groups.

[dill37]

Oh I see, I should have looked inside hammer to find out how the textures are named, then generate libraries with those names. I've generated one, and the textures now work properly!

Right now I'm struggling with adding my own textures. What is the workflow in this case? I find that objects are missing after exporting, even though the textures are in hammer's material browser. Does copying an object affect the map generation in some way? Sometimes some objects are white, and if I export again they become textured. Is there a specific order to exporting materials? I tried exporting multiple times, sometimes I get the message "$basetexture in VPK!" in the export dialog and can't export that material anymore, even though I deleted the vmt and texture files from the materials folder, and have to restart Max.

[wallworm]

When you see the warning "$basetexture in VPK!" it means that the particular VTF resides in the VPK and you should save it to a new location (by renaming the TGA or the bitmap node's name which will change the path it exports to).

Here was the last major video I did on creating brush materials. Note that it relates to WW Pro and Substance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6pXGCoMbVE

[wallworm]

I wanted to let you know that now, aside from creating a Material Library, you can also use the new VMT Browser under the Materials menu in WW that was added this morning.

[wallworm]

As it turns out, the new VMT browser had some significant bugs. I've updated it and will show it's usage soon.