Teamspen's Hammer Addons

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Features

• A "postcompiler" application which processes BSPs, allowing most of the new features.
• Auto-packing - Automatically packs non-stock game files into the bsp. Filtered based on search paths in the included custom gameinfo and FGD database. Assets can also be packed manually with comp_pack entities.
• Static prop combining - merges together adjacent props to allow them to be efficently drawn in batches. To use, specify studioMDL's path then place comp_propcombine_volume or comp_propcombine_set entities.
• A unified FGD database, allowing keyvalues to be shared among games, and accurately defining when features were added and removed.
• Many more entity options, and an improved editor layout.
• New sprites for almost all entities, both custom made and from a number of other sources.
• Adds lots more AutoVisgroups for easily hiding entities.
• Improvements for games supporting VScript:
  • In any RunScriptCode input, backticks can be used for string literals, instead of the disallowed " character.
  • In addition to the normal Entity Scripts section, a new Init Code field can be used to write code that's packed and added to those scripts. Useful for setting configuration options etc. Backticks can be used here too.
• New comp_ entities. These are mainly intended for use in instances, allowing modifying entities outside of the instance to conform or doing normally impossible things like positioning things in the void. Below are short explanations, see the "Help" display on the entity properties in Hammer for detailed functionality:

Entity	Description
comp_adv_output	Adds a single output to another entity, while allowing instance renaming or $fixups to apply to only certain parts.
comp_case	Version of logic_case which is optimised away by the compiler.
comp_choreo_sceneset	Chains a set of choreographed scenes together.
comp_entity_finder	Finds the closest entity of a given type, then applies various transformations. Outputs from this entity will be moved to the found entity.
comp_entity_mover	Shift an entity by a given amount. This is useful to place entities into the void, for example.
comp_flicker	Fires on/off and skin inputs repeatedly to simulate a flicker-on or off effect.
comp_kv_setter	Sets a keyvalue on an entity to a new value. This is useful to compute spawnflags, or to adjust keyvalues when the target entity's options can't be set to a fixup variable.
comp_numeric_transition	When triggered, animates a keyvalue/input over time with various options.
comp_pack	Explicitly identify resources to pack into the map, in addition to automatic detection.
comp_pack_rename	Pack a file into the BSP, under a different name than it starts with.
comp_pack_replace_soundscript	Replace a soundscript with a different one.
comp_piston_platform	Generates the appropriate logic to sequence a Portal-style piston platform.
comp_player_input_helper	Fake entity that allows Hammer to autocomplete inputs fired at the special !player name (and other similar ones).
comp_precache_model	Force a specific model to load, for runtime switching. Duplicates will be removed.
comp_precache_sound	Force a specific sound to load, for runtime switching. Duplicates will be removed. More keyvalues can be added.
comp_prop_cable/comp_prop_rope	Generates 3D cables using a static prop.
comp_prop_cable_dynamic/comp_prop_rope_dynamic	Modifies the above to generate a dynamic prop, instead.
comp_prop_rope_bunting	Adds additional props or geometry along the 3D cables.
comp_propcombine_set/comp_propcombine_volume	Specifies a group of props that will be combined together, so they more efficiently render.
comp_relay	Simplified version of logic_relay which is able to be optimised away by the compiler.
comp_scriptvar_setter	Assigns data or a group of data to a variable in an entity's VScript scope on spawn.
comp_sequential_call	Finds a sequence of entities (by distance or numeric suffix), then fires inputs delayed in order.
comp_vactube_end	Marks the end point of a vactube. Objects reaching here will be cleaned up.
comp_vactube_junction	Marks a junction in a vactube, where they're forced to change direction. Scanner models near straight nodes will be detected automatically.
comp_vactube_object	Registers objects that can appear in the tubing.
comp_vactube_sensor	Triggers outputs when a vactube object passes close by.
comp_vactube_spline	Generates a dynamic vactube model following a set of points.
comp_vactube_start	Marks the start point of a vactube. This is where they spawn.

Installation

• Follow this guide.
• If using BEEMOD2.4, change Hammer -> Options -> Build Programs to use vrad_original.exe.

Credits

• Mapbase's FGDs have been imported as a submodule.
• Some entity sprites are taken from:
  • The TF2 Ultimate Mapping Resource Pack
  • ZPS: Supplemental Hammer Icons
  • ts2do's HL FGDs
• Parts of Allison's Portal 1 FGD edits have been integrated into the fgds.

Development

Installing dependencies

The code requires Python 3.13, and is mainly written on Windows (since that's where Hammer works). But it should work fine on Linux. To get dependencies:

1. You'll likely want a virtual environment to keep the packages isolated - see Python's venv module. Running python -m venv some_folder/ will create one, then you can run the activate script inside there to enable the environment.
2. Run python -m pip install -r requirements.txt to install neceessary modules.
3. Optionally python -m pip install -r test-requirements.txt to run some test code.

Building FGDs

FGDs are stored as individual files, in a unified format tagged with games. This allows appropriate FGDs to be assembled for any Source game. To build an FGD for HL2 (for example):

cd src
python hammeraddons/unify_fgd.py export hl2 srctools -o "build/hl2.fgd"

Consult the lists at the start of the script for available tags. The first is the game/mod, any additional ones are "features" like srctools for postcompiler features, or propper for those ents.

Building from source

Many features require the postcompiler, which is a Python application. Releases have a compiled build, but for development purposes it may be useful to build locally or run from source. This also creates the gen_choreo utility.

Run python -m PyInstaller postcompiler.spec to freeze the application. Optionally pass --workpath XXX and --distpath XXX to specify a temp folder and the destination respectively.

The compiler can also be run from source by executing hammeraddons/postcompiler.py, with src/ in PYTHONPATH.