Setting up Hammer for counter-strike mapping

A guide for setting up the Hammer editor, using the Half-life SDK

Downloading the Tools

Lets start by downloading the tools we need.

Start steam
Mouse over the Libary tab, and click on tools.
Find "Half-life SDK" right click and install.
Depending on your connection this might take a while to download.



The sdk tools are old so you will need to download the newer versions.

Download Hammer 3.5 from here

http://www.slackiller.com/hlprograms.htm

Download the FGD fromm here

http://forum.17buddies.net/index.php?act=attach&type=post&id=2423

Download either the 32 or 64 bit version of the compilers, if your not sure use the 32 bit version.


Windows 32 bit compiler.
http://downloads.ammahls.com/zhlt/zhlt34f_x86_sse2.zip

Windows 64 bit compiler
http://www.slackiller.com/hlprograms/zhlt34x64final.zip

Updating the SDK tools

Once the `Half-life SDK` has downloaded we need to update these tools.
The new version of hammer renders models which makes it easy to add and position models in our maps.

Update Hammer

First replace the old hammer editor with a new version.

• Open folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor
  
  
• rename hammer.exe to hammer-34.exe
  
  
• Open hammer_testbuild04.zip and extract the new version of hammer to the folder.

Update FGD

For the models to show in hammer we need to use a new FGD.

• Place the halflife_cs_expert_35b.fgd file to the following folder.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor\fgd\counter-strike


Update compile tools

The sdk compilers are very old and as these do all the hard work we need to update them. we will be using Zhlt because they are much easier to use.

• Open the folder C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor
  
• Add a new directory called zhlt
  
  
• Extract the compilers to the zhlt folder.

Setting up Hammers Game configurations menu

These settings are for 64 bit, you will need to adjust them for 32bit windows

Start hammer either by making a short cut to the hammer.exe or double clicking Half-life SDK in your steam libary tab.

Hammer will ask if you need help setting it up, click no.

You should now have the main settings menu for hammer, click the Game configurations tab

• Press the top Edit button, next to the Configuration
  
  
• Click Add and type Counter-strike zhlt

• Click ok, and then click close
  
  
• Click the Add button next to Game Data files
  
  
• Select halflife-35.fgd from the folder:-
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor\fgd\half-life

• Set Game Executable Directory
  
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam
  
  
• Set Mod directory to
  
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life\cstrike
  
  
• set Game directory to
  
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life\valve
  
  
• set Rmf directory to
  
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Half-Life SDK\Map Files
  
  
• Click Apply button

Setting up Hammers Build Programs

These settings are for 64 bit, you will need to adjust them for 32bit windows

Click the Build Programs tab



Make sure configuration is set to half-life zhlt

• In Game executable type

steam.exe

Use the following paths for 64bit windows.

• Set Csg executable to:-

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor\tools\zhlt\hlcsg.exe

• Set Bsp executable to:-

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor\tools\zhlt\hlbsp.exe

• Set Vis executable to:-

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor\tools\zhlt\hlvis.exe

• Set Rad executable to:-

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor\tools\zhlt\hlrad.exe

• Set Place compiled maps to:-

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life\valve_downloads\maps

(You can place the maps into the steamapps\common\Half-Life\cstrike folder, but they could overwrite the default maps)

Set the textures

Before you start you need to add a special wad file.

• Click the Textures tab
  
  
• Click Add wad
  
  
• Select zhlt.wad from this folder:-

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor\tools\ZHLT

• Click Apply, then keep clicking OK. You must restart hammer for texture changes to take effect.

zhlt.wad has some special textures, read about them below.

http://www.countermap2.com/Tutorials/tutorial3ca5.html?id=53

• Add a few Cs textures you will find them here

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life\cstrike

The half-life textures can be found here.

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life SDK\Texture Wad Files

Run CS after compile

If you want hammer to run CS when your maps are compiled you will need to change these settings.

• Press F9 to compile
  
  
• Click expert
  
  
• Select Counter-strike in the configurations
  
  
  
  
• Tick the Use process window box
  
  
• Highlight $game_exe
  
  
• Type/paste this in to the the Prameters box
  
  
• -applaunch 10 -dev -console +map $file (for non english CS replace 10 with the correct ID at the bottom of the page)

To stop CS running after a compile just uncheck the $game_exe in the Compile/run commands

Steam Application IDs

https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steam_Application_IDs

10 Counter-Strike
11 Counter-Strike Base Content
12 Counter-Strike French
13 Counter-Strike Italian
14 Counter-Strike German
15 Counter-Strike Spanish
16 Counter-Strike Korean (Teen)
17 Counter-Strike Simplified Chinese
18 Counter-Strike Korean (Adult)
19 Counter-Strike Traditional Chinese

[LiveWire]

vhlt is easier for beginners as you don't need special entities for water and texture lights, and I find vhlt can have issues with complex brushwork.

[seedee]

why are u still using zhlt, use vhlt v34

[Stone]

Nice, don’t forget to drop a Like and Fav on my profile, have a nice day.

[LiveWire]

Hi, a lot of people are now using J.A.C.K instead of hammer as it has a few important features like

Texture skewing (called UV lock)
Null and Clip brush view on/off toggle
Vertex tool that helps prevent invalid brushes
Auto save
Realtime Texture Effects

Full list here http://jack.hlfx.ru/en/features.html

I recommend zhlt for beginners as its easier to use, VHLT needs light_surface for water & texture lights to work this might trip new mappers up watching older youtube tutorials.

[MOCOLONI]

Hi. So first of all I'd like to thank you for (finally) leading me to the proper tool to make maps for Counter-Strike 1.6/GoldSrc. I've been searching for a tool since 2012 although I dropped the researching interest a year later when I got into Source and its handy Hammer.

Anyway, I'm here to suggest you replacing ZHLT with VHLT in your guide(s) since it's a great improvement over ZHLT. The most noticeable thing is the 'better lighting', which gives GoldSrc maps' a special lighting similar to the fashion on Source maps. This also seems to fix a weird bug related to random shadows appearing when the map's main ground has (intended) holes in it (either that or it's simply consisting of various solid blocks). Not even ZHLT could get rid of them, it only decreased the darkness in those spots, while VHLT seems to compile in a very different and better way, as if its compilers were a direct port from Source to GoldSrc.

[LiveWire]

hmm can`t think why that would be

[Pitu]

Hey Dude!! I discovered something

If i go to Tools in Steam and open Half-Life SDK , The map compiles and starts correctly. But if i go to "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\Half-Life SDK\Hammer Editor" and open hammer.exe, the game closes after compiling the map

[LiveWire]

weird, it work from steam?
Tbh I have that part unchecked as it restarts the game every time a compile finishes

[Pitu]

If i run the map from the game with the command "map test", it works but it doesn't work if i run it from hammer

[LiveWire]

does the map work ok if you run cs from steam?