MAPFool

MAPFool
A .map importing utility for Half-Life 2

Version 1.2 released 04 Feb 05!


!! IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR UPGRADING - SEE INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS BELOW !!

Description

I started writing this program shortly after my first lengthy attempt to bring a T2DEF map and its textures into Hammer 4.0 for use in Half-Life 2. As many have found out the hard way, this is not an easy process, and I was not willing to go through so many repetitive tasks for the multitude of maps that I want to convert. Thus, I wrote MAPFool to automate many of these tasks and help make the import process easier.

What MAPFool will do is let you pre-process your map file before bringing it into Hammer 4.0 to perform several upgrade tasks, to make the amount of rework you have to do in Hammer a lot less. MAPFool's key features are:

Texturing

• View the textures used in a map file, along with their frequency of usage
• Export individual or all of the textures used in a map file to .tga
• Convert exported .tga files into material .vtf files
• Auto generate generic .vmt files for both regular and transparent textures
• Globally prepend (insert before) a folder name in front of all the texture names used in a map file
• Globally replace a texture name from a user supplied list or file

Editing

• Let you view and analyze all entities and their key values in your map file
• Replace all usages of obsolete texture names (like AAATRIGGER) with their Source equivalents
• Convert obsolete entities (like func_wall) into their new Source equivalents
• Auto "explode" func_water into world brushes and texture it with tools/toolsnodraw
• Delete individual entities or all of a particular type

Analysis

• Generate a sequence event summary that shows which entities trigger other entities, the order of firing, and the time to fire.

The basic process is simple: Start MAPFool, open a map file, run some upgrades on it, then save the modified map file. Finally, fire up Hammer 4.0 and import the modified map file. You will now have a lot less rework ahead of you.

Note that your map must be in the MAP format (i.e., a structured text file with the .map extension) - MAPFool will not read the Hammer .rtf format. If you only have the .rtf files, you'll need to load them in an older version of Hammer and export them as .map files before you can use them with MAPFool.

Revision History

Download

MAPFool is available as a self-installing download (275 KB) from the following links:

Installation

The program is a self-installing .msi file. You will need to have the Microsoft .NET Framework level 1.1 or greater installed on your machine in order to install and run MAPFool. If you're not sure if you have the .NET Framework, check Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs and see if it's there. If not, you'll need to download and install it before you can install MAPFool. The easiest way to get it is to just do a Windows Update and it should show up as an option. Unfortunately, in classic Microsoft fashion, it's a lot of bloat at 23MB.

I have tested MAPFool on two different machines, each running Windows XP. I don't know if it will run properly on any other Microsoft OS's, like Windows 2000 or Win98.

IMPORTANT NOTICE FOR UPGRADERS: If you have an older version of MAPFool already installed, you will need to uninstall it before you can install this newest version; HOWEVER, you should make a backup copy of the "mapfool.cfg" file from the installation directory (typically ../Program Files/MAPFool) before uninstalling the old version. You can then copy "mapfool.cfg" back into the installation directory, overwriting the default one installed. This will preserve your custom settings like replacement textures etc.

Technical Support

MAPFool comes with a detailed User's Guide, but if you need additional support, there is a forum topic for MAPFool related issues located in the forums at www.peppyfool.com/forum/

Future Releases

I am already working on ideas to integrate into the next release, including:

• Allow you to edit key values on individual entities
• Analyze the logic of all of the Outputs and Inputs in a Source (.vmf) map file