Hidden Source Beta 4b - Animated Spray Tutorial

Very basic guide for creating animated sprays/logos to be used in Hidden Source Beta 4b for HL2 :).

Overview and Minimum Required programs

This tutorial will very basically show you how to import animated logos/sprays into the HL2 mod Hidden Source Beta 4b. This guide will only show you the setting that I use to put logos into this mod and will most likely not work for other games that run on or of of the source engine (basically a Hidden only tutorial, sorry). Being very unfamiliar with VTFEdit and hidden's settings, if something happens after completing this tutorial that makes your spray not work in game, I'm afraid that there is nothing I will be able to help you get it to work if it is not explained here. The only assistance to offer is to just go back through the steps and make sure all the setting are the same. :)

To get started you are at the very minimum you are going to need VTFEdit, The Individual frames of the image you want to animate in either jpg or bmp format, (file size as far as I can tell is irrelevant for VTFEdit will convert the image anyway) and of course you will need Hidden Source Beta 4b to actually use your sprays. XD

I also advise having image manipulation program like Gimp or Photoshop. However it is not required if you have the frames for you spray ready to go. :)

Useful links

VTFEdit (FREE!!)[nemesis.thewavelength.net]
Gimp (also FREE!!)[www.gimp.org]

Also, .gif files won't work which is why I suggest you get a half decent image manipulation program so you can split your .gif's (I will not cover how to do this in the tutorial, you will have to find out elsewhere).

I think that pretty much covers it. If you notice anything missing or have any suggestions let me know. :)

If it all works out then hopefully you will end up with your very own animated spray in The Hidden. Just like this voiceless phenomenon in the video below. No audio :/

VTFEdit Import Settings and Saving

Here comes the fun part! YAY!

First you need to get the frames for your image. The easiest way is to probably split a .gif that you like, using an image manipulation program that is able to show layers or frames.

YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO MAKE YOUR LOGO FIVE FRAMES LONG!!!

Keep this in mind when getting your frames, if you got a gif with too many frames you can try just selecting five of those frames, by leaving a pacing or two, so chose every second frame. This won't always look good as a spray in game however but on the other hand sometimes you wouldn't even know the difference. You can see a preview of what your animated spray will look like with very minimum effort just a few steps down so it is easy to tweak it to you liking. :)

Open VTFEdit and go File-Import. Locate where you images are saved, select your 5 images at once (or less if you wish, still works, just not with more) and then hit open. Make sure you select all the frames you want and that they are in the rite order.


Now at the setting page that pops up be sure to enter the setting exactly as they are in the two photos below. Just leave the resources tab with both boxes unchecked, if they are checked then uncheck them. Once you have them the same hit ok



You should now see a still image pertaining to the files you have chosen and on the left a series of tabs, each with settings and such. Be sure not to touch the File System or Resources tab. If you click on the Image tab within you will see a play button which will play your spray. I would not trust this however because it tends to play through the frames way to fast compared to what it actually does in game. In game it will go through all five frames in about 1 second. if you want a better idea of how it will look, then in the same tab at the top you will see Frame. Hit the arrows and it will go through the frames one by one.

Once you have your image ready to save be sure to check and make sure that the image and info tab are the same as the two pictures below. With the Flags in the Image tab the only box that is checked is the Eight Bit Alpha, as seen in the pic. Also under the info tab, do not stress if your Size is not the same as mine. So long as it is under 120kb your spray will work. If it isn't then you will have to lose a frame I'm afraid, or recheck your import settings to make sure they were the same as the picture above.



Once checked hit File-Save and save as a .vtf to a location that you will remember. Whatever you decide to call it is what it is called when selecting it in game. I suggest a relatively short name with no unusual characters. After saving you will then also need to go to Tools-Create VMT File, and create a .vmt by duplicating the setting that I have below.

Be sure that where Base Texture 1 is, in the box you put where you saved your .vtf file from earlier, Not what I have in that photo. Normally it just comes up automatically for you.






Now all we need to do is put these two files in your steam directory where logos are located for hidden. If you have no clue where to start looking then you will need to open your steam clients settings and under the downloads tab you will see steam library folders. Click it and it will tell you where steam files are located. You can find the settings in the top left corner of there main page under the steam menu (pictured below). or through the system tray at the bottom right of your desktop (also pictured).

Once found you will need to go to Start-Computer and find your steam directory using the information you got from your steam settings. You then need to navigate through your steam files in this order. Steamapps-Sourcemods-Hidden-Materials-Vgui-Logos. An example of my directory is in a picture below if this made you a little bit confused. Your steam directory will be different to mine however, but It might just help you out a bit.

Once in the logos directory copy your .vmt and .vtf file. Also mak another copy of tor .vtm file and put it into the UI folder within the logos folder. If there is no UI folder then just add another folder called UI and then put a copy of the .vmt in it. So you have a .vmt in the UI folder as well as one in the logos folder. You are now done and should be able to use the spray in Hidden. :D

Selecting Your Spray in Hidden

Now comes the moment of truth for you to start up hidden and test your logo out.

Once at the main menu of the game go into options and under the Multiplayer tab you will see Spray Image Details. You will not need to import your spray, just click the little arrow and scroll thru the list until you find your spray (pictured below). If it is not there then you did not save it to the rite directory in the last step of the previous page. If it is there however select it, click Apply and then Ok. Now at the main menu select tutorial and pick the iris. When the game loads up choose any class and weapon load-out you wish (except spectator) and spray you spray on the ground in front of you to see if it works. You may also need to set a key for your spray since the game doesn't have a default (options-keyboard then).

Extra - Info and Other Things I Might Have Missed

One you have your spray working you can now start to play around with the settings while importing and saving from VTFEdit. I have yet to actually hit a limit with an amount of sprays you can have in your quick select menu within the game so feel free to go ballistic. If you start to get too many or want to remove ones that don't work or aren't wanted any more then just go to your Hidden's logos files where you have been saving your .vtf and .vmt files to delete them.

One setting within VTFEdit that might offer some great help in making you logo more entertaining is to change the size of your project from 128x128 to 64x64. You can do this by when importing, while adjusting your setting of your import, under the general tab on the left side change your Maximum Width and Maximum Height to 64 and 64. This will allow for more that double the frames you can make your logo at the cost of half the quality. It is good to try for most of the time it still looks perfectly fine within game and will give you the option of making your spray have allot more depth. Just remember to keep the file size under 120kb.

Thank you for following the tutorial and I hope it all worked out as perfectly. :D
If you have any questions or complaints let me know and I will try to help/fix them if I can. No guarantees though. Have fun impressing unsuspecting friends. XD

[Pettingson]

Thanks! Didn't work at first but when i redid it the same way it worked. Idk why but yay :D Awesomes!