How to port CS:S maps to CS:GO

This guide will teach you how to port maps from Counter-Strike: Source to CS:GO.

Software/downloads you'll need

you'll have to download three things before you continue:

• GCFscape [nemstools.github.io] (for porting assets)
  
• Counter-Strike: Source (to get said assets from)
  
• CS:GO SDK (to edit the map)
  
• Decompiled versions of the CS:S maps [gamebanana.com]

Please note, to get the CS:GO SDK, you'll need to have CS:GO installed, and have prime status.

Once you have all the above, you can start porting!

Porting the assets

CS:GO, surprisingly, has assets from CS:S - but not all of them. Let's get the missing ones.

Step 1: Opening the directory
Open GCFscape, then hit 'File' > 'Open' and navigate to:
[your steam installation]/steamapps/common/Counter-Strike Source/cstrike/

Once here, click on 'cstrike_pak_dir.vpk', and click 'Open'. You'll see something like this:


Step 2: Extracting to CS:GO's directory
Now, select 'materials' and 'models', right click them, and click 'Extract'.
Then, in the window that pops up, navigate to your 'csgo' folder
(for me, this would be D:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\csgo).
Then, click 'Ok'. Wait until it's finished extracting, then you can close GCFscape.

Well done - you've ported the assets across!

Opening the map in Hammer & fixing bugs

Open the CS:GO SDK & launch the Hammer World Editor.

Click File > Open and go to where you saved the decompiled CS:S maps. Find the map you want to port and double click it.

It should now be open in the editor. Because CS:S's version of Source and CS:GO's version of Source are very similar, the majority of entities and brushes should have translated over nicely.
There will be issues, though:

• Some props may not be included, for whatever reason - in this case, use the other variant of the model if possible (i.e. if car002a is missing, use car002b).
  
• Brushes with the 'tools/toolsareaportal' texture won't be 'func_areaportals' - you'll have to manually do this.
  
• Some nodraw brushes cover models like window props - hiding the prop. It's as simple as scaling the brushes back.
  
• The bombsite letters are swapped (i.e. it says 'A' where bombsite B should be on the radar) - this is fixed by swapping the 'func_bomb_target' entities around.

There most likely will be other issues - a good bet to find them is to click 'Map' > 'Check for problems'. Otherwise, running around the map & inspecting everything is a pretty good idea too.

Once you're happy with the map, save it in the csgo/maps folder and compile it.

Congratulations!

You've ported your first CS:S map to CS:GO!
Please post any questions in the comments - i'll do my best to respond to them.

[FrenchFry_14]

csgo