in an effort to learn how source works, I decided to compile my own texture. supposedly all you have to do is create a .tga of the right size, save it to the materials folder of your game, then drag it onto the vtex.exe icon. problem is, it didn't work. :evil: I keep getting:
"problem figuring out outputdir for ect, ect..."

wtf?

also, is there a better way to browse the source textures? I see a crapload of textures in hammer, but when I go to the game folders there isn't much there. are they compressed into a pak file somewhere? can I unpak them, or is there a viewer to look at them still packed?

You need a .vmt file to handle your .vtf file (the one that is made by vtex).

Use gcfscape to see how materials are always made of two different files. extract a texture (both files) and see how the vmt works.

Edit: I should be a bit more precise, blend textures are only a .vmt file because they combine two vtf that already exist, and not a new vtf you would create.

Originally posted by Furyo
You need a .vmt file to handle your .vtf file (the one that is made by vtex).


I have a .vmt file, but supposedly vtex.exe would create it for you anyway. either way it says it can't find the outputdir.


my .tga is in "username\counter-strike source\cstrike\materials"

vtex.exe is in "username\sourcesdk\bin"

both on the same drive.

Your problem is that you aren't putting the tga in the right directory.

The tga should be in "username\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\materialsrc"

The VTF that it makes will be in "username\counter-strike source\cstrike\materials"

If you have any other questions read this (http://www.valve-erc.com/srcsdk/Materials/materials_creation.html). It is kinda confusing but should help you.

http://www.wunderboy.org/3d_games/utils/sourcetools.php#vtftool

Does a lot of the hard work for you and doesnt require the command prompt. Might also want to check out Nem's VTFEdit.

Originally posted by phantom
Your problem is that you aren't putting the tga in the right directory.

The tga should be in "username\sourcesdk_content\cstrike\materialsrc"

The VTF that it makes will be in "username\counter-strike source\cstrike\materials"

If you have any other questions read this (http://www.valve-erc.com/srcsdk/Materials/materials_creation.html). It is kinda confusing but should help you.

THANK YOU! that was the problem.

thanks for the link too jed. I will definately take a look at that as well. I am not to good as a texture artist, but I wanted to know how the prossess worked to help me better understand how to map.

Its not easy josh, takes alot of practice to become even midly "ok" at it.

Just remember - when converting .tga's, make sure the directory structures are identical in your materialsrc and mod\materials folders. Vtex wont work if they arent.

Photoshop users -

Surprised it wasnt mentioned, but there is now a .vtf plug-in extension available, which allows you to directly save a photoshop document to a .vtf file with no converting, etc etc.

ALSO - a fairly new program by Jed and Nem called vtf lib/edit is available and lets you associate your .vtfs with it.

Check out the all wonderful and amazing Nems Tools site:

http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php

another thing, if you're just dragging files onto vtex, is that it'll compile the texture in the folder of whichever game the SDK is currently set to. launch the sdk, and in the drop down list of games, whichever is selected is where the textures will go. i've had some trouble with this and textures going in the wrong place so if the textures aren't going where they should, check that (it'll tell you in the compile where it's saving to and from anyway).

Oh and if you've got Photoshop or PaintshopPro, you can use Nems VTF plugin which lets you load/save VTF files direct without needing to save as TGA and do any conversion.

All the flags you would set in the config file with vtex you can set in the plugins save dialog.

P.S. VTFEdit and the VTF plugin are actually *better* than Valves VTEX as it properly supports all 27 VTF formats and has a greater range of filters for the MIP maps.