Source

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Source engine logo.svg

Source is a game engine developed by Valve. It was released in 2004 and is the successor to GoldSrc and the predecessor of Source 2. Source has been used in games such as Half-Life 2, Portal and its sequel, Team Fortress 2, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Source Engine games are relatively simple to rip, as a lot of public information about Valve's file formats are documented well.

Formats

  • .mdl - Model format
    • .phy - Colision Models
    • .vtx - Can store LODs and triangle strip data? (More description needed)
    • .vvd - Vertices, Normals, UVs & Weighting Data
    • .ani - Animation format (Optional)
  • .vtf - Texture format
  • .vmt - Material format
  • .bsp - Map format
  • .vpk - Archive format
  • .gpf - Archive format (Deprecated)
  • .mp3 - Audio format
  • .wav - Audio format

Ripping Tools

  • Crowbar - Can pack and unpack .vpk archives, can decompile .mdl files to .smd .vta & .qc.
  • SourceIO - Blender plugin for importing .mdl files & .bsp maps.
  • VTFEdit - Edits and Exports .vtf texture files.
  • GCFScape - Allows unpacking files from .gcf and .vpk archives.

For the rest of this tutorial I am going to assume you have extracted all of the files you need from the vpks/gcfs.

Model Ripping

Crowbar

First off, you will need to rip the textures needed for the model.

Then you will need Crowbar to rip models. Simply extract the entire folder the .mdl is in from the vpk/gcf and open the .mdl in Crowbar's decompile function. (note: need to add detailed tutorial for this part)

Blender Source Tools

Blender Source Tools can simply import Source engine model files (such as .MDL files) into Blender. Follow the installation instructions to install the add-on, then select "File>Import>Source Engine Assets" and choose a format to import into Blender.

Noesis

Noesis can view the contents of an .MDL file. Right-click the file in Noesis, select "Export", change the export settings if needed, then click the "Export" button.

Texture Ripping

Texture ripping is extremely easy. Just open the .vtf files you wish to rip and just click export. VTFedit also has support for batch converting a whole folder

Sound Ripping

You just extract the .wavs and .mp3s from the archives. Pretty easy.

Map Ripping

Yes you can do this. Just open it in crafty and export it. Can give issues sometimes and occasionally won't load a texture or two, but those can be easily fixed by hand.

List of games that run on Source

This list is not complete, please feel free to add games that are currently missing from the list

Name Platform(s) Notes
Alien Swarm PC
Aperture Tag: The Paint Gun Testing Initiative PC Also simply known as Aperture Tag
Blade Symphony PC
Consortium PC Consortium VR and Consortium Remastered both use Unreal Engine instead of Source
Contagion PC
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Counter-Strike: Source PC
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic PC, Xbox 360 Also known as Dark Messiah: Might and Magic and Dark Messiah: Might and Magic: Elements on Xbox 360
Dino D-Day PC
Dota 2 PC Used to use Source, now uses Source 2
Dystopia PC
Fistful of Frags PC
Garry's Mod PC
G String PC
Half-Life Deathmatch: Source PC
Half-Life: Source PC
Half-Life 2 PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox, Xbox 360
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch PC
Half-Life 2: Episode One PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Half-Life 2: Episode Two PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Half-Life 2: Lost Coast PC
Hybrid Xbox 360
Insurgency PC
Left 4 Dead PC, Xbox 360
Left 4 Dead 2 PC, Xbox 360
No More Room in Hell PC
Nuclear Dawn PC
Portal PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Portal 2 PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Postal III PC
Sin Episodes: Emergence PC
Team Fortress 2 PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines PC
Vindictus PC
Zeno Clash PC, Xbox 360