I need help with running the half life model viewer with sfm

[Haru Okumura | Frijoles.tf]

I want to open the model viewer, so I can test models before putting them in the program, but I can't find a way to get it started, and no tutorials I've found have helped. So I hope someone here can give a simple tutorial to someone who doesn't know anything about DOS and things like that.
First time posting btw.

[Marco Skoll]

Can you be more specific about does happen when you try to start it, and how you are trying to start it?

[Haru Okumura | Frijoles.tf]

I've tried opening it with SourceSDK but it will prompt a message saying that It can't find the game directory, and I can't find any of the files I should direct it to. And if I open it through the .exe file on the bin, it just doesn't work.

[Marco Skoll]

What is the exact message you're shown?

[Haru Okumura | Frijoles.tf]

Well, I get multiple different messages, but most tell me that "gameinfo.txt" or some other file is missing, then shows a link to a valve website (It doesn't help me btw) or it tells me that the directory is invalid. This is if I try to open it with SourceSDK

[green]

You can't have SFM and HLMV open at the same time, as you can't have two instances of the Source Engine running at once.

[Marco Skoll]

I doubt that SFM actually said "Gameinfo.txt or some other file is missing".
(Tip for the future: If someone asks for the exact message, don't paraphrase it vaguely. Screenshot it if you have to - sometimes the exact details are important).

Have you yet tried either removing the environment variables or resetting the game configurations?

Originally posted by Hunter in the Green Vest:

You can't have SFM and HLMV open at the same time

This is not the case.

While Steam will stop you from trying to launch the SDK while SFM is running, it's entirely possible to have SFM and HLMV running at the same time (either by launching the SDK then launching both from there, or by launching them from File Explorer).

You can even have multiple HLMVs running at once.

[Haru Okumura | Frijoles.tf]

Thanks for the tip, Marco! And I would screenshot it but idk if you can send pics through the steam forums, but if you can, then please tell me how.

[Capt Fuzzy]

Originally posted by Toad Warrior:

Thanks for the tip, Marco! And I would screenshot it but idk if you can send pics through the steam forums, but if you can, then please tell me how.

Here ya go:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1377815899

[Zappy]

Originally posted by Toad Warrior:

I've tried opening it with SourceSDK -

Depending on what you mean, you shouldn't do that for Source Filmmaker.
Instead, right-click Source Filmmaker in your Steam library (in the "Software" or "Installed" categories), choose "Launch SDK" (which will open what we (at least I) refer to as Source Filmmaker's "SDK", not Source SDK as that's an entirely different thing that also exists), and click "Model Viewer" in the window that pops up.

[Haru Okumura | Frijoles.tf]

Sorry for replying late, but thank you all! I finally got it working, thanks to Zappy's comment, but everyone else also helped a lot. It was nice talking to you all.

[Hitsuga]

I have the same problem. I want to view models for Left 4 Dead 2, but hlmv.bat is either not located in ANY folder of ANY source game, or hlmv says gameinfo.txt is not found...

How can I start hlmv.bat/exe and from what game folder it works?