Normal map issues [SOLVED]

[CaptainGoodstuff]

I'm having a problem with normal maps that creates some very strange lighting effects. I made the alpha channel of my normal map a back and white phong mask, since the $bumpmap line in a vmt makes the alpha channel not work in the main texture. When I test it out in game however, the lighting makes all the faces of the model visible as if the model is in flat shading. (Ignore the strange battery thing protruding from the side, that's another issue for another time..)

http://i.imgur.com/4Eep0vT.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/ONQoDBP.jpg

I know the normal map doesn't do this without the alpha channel on it, and I know it isn't the model because everything looks fine without the normal map on there.

I tried to match the vmt of other weapons that use normal maps, specifically the manmelter. Here's what my vmt looks like right now (and what I've tried is in comment lines): http://i.imgur.com/Tw36t04.png


Any idea what the problem is?

[CaptainGoodstuff]

Ok I figured out the problem, and this will help anyone else having normal map issues... I was using VTFEdit to convert my .tga file into a .vtf. Don't.

Instead, I draged and dropped my .tga onto "vtex.exe" which is located in:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SourceSDK\bin\orangebox\bin

You have to put the .tga in a certain place to make it work, and make note of where vtex.exe outputs your new .vtf, go here to figure that out:
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Vtex_troubleshooting#Problem_figuring_out_outputdir

Beyond that, using "$normalmapalphaenvmapmask" "1" makes the alpha map work fine.

[mkwabo]

thanks that was very useful post.