Wall Worm Forums

I got stalled out last month with my day job so I didn't make much progress since then. This weekend I troubleshooted some issues with exporting a VMap. Still digging into why some scenes are working and some are not.

• Entity Output Connections in VMap
• Support for PBRMetalRough material in the main Material Exporter
• Started new Custom Attribute for S2 Materials

If you want to know why Wall Worm updates have been sluggish for a while, it's because I've been head down at work for so long overseeing USD features in 3ds Max and Maya. What's all the buzz about USD? See some examples of how it's used in a webinar where I gave a live demo in Max, Maya, Houdini and Unreal.

• WW Pro FGD Parser for S2 in Max 2022+
• Multiple Datas in VMap Export (cameras, entities, basic mesh)

Things to note:

The process of exporting a WWMT Helper to a model is the same as it was for Source. This means that the tutorials/docs are generally the same:

• Assign Meshes to WWMT
• Export the Materials/VTF with the Export VTF button in WWMT
• If using custom gibs, compile them from the Prop Data & Custom Gibs rollout
• Export the WWMT

Key differences:

• WWMT uses the PBRMetalRough() material for Source 2 instead of the Standard Material
• Some advanced settings like $jigglebones, IKs, QC Eyes, etc are not yet exported

In my local build I now can export:

• Prop Data
• Custom Gibs (breakable prop)
• Basic Hitbox info

Now S2 support in WWMT in my local build for:

• Attachments

The next release of WW will have support for the Counter-Strike 2 version of Source 2; HL:Alyx and Dota 2 are not supported. In this release, Wall Worm can export models from WWMT Helpers as well as their materials and textures.

This thread will detail the current capabilities and known issues.

If you want to test these tools before they are officially released, simply contact me directly for an installer.

With this first release of Source 2 support, Wall Worm will only have limited support of the features that work for Source/Goldsource. At this time, the capabilities are limited to models and their materials and textures. Level exporting has been started but does not work yet. There are no importers and the MDL loader is not yet working for Source 2.

Setting Up WW

To properly set up WW for Source 2 you will have to manually configure your global WW Settings for Source 2. There is no GameConfig.txt file that WW can use to configure your settings. You will also need to install the CS2 Workshop tools from the DLC. You can do this in your Steam library by right-clicking CS2, clicking properties, then going to the DLC section.



You need to set the modelsrc, materialsrc and mapsrc paths to the models, materials and maps folder in your CS2 content addons folders.

Set the GameInfo folder. The default is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\game\csgo
Then set the Bin Dir to the Bin folder for the compile tools. By default that is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\game\bin\win64
For the FGD settings, you need to manually point WW to the FGD file. by default that is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\game\csgo\csgo.fgd
Finally, set the Engine to Source 2.



Exporting Assets

The workflow for assets is very similar to Source but there are a few differences.

#1) Only use the PBR Material (Metal/Rough) (PBRMetalRough()) on your models. You can use them with Multi/Sub-Object Materials. This material maps extremely well to the Source 2 materials.

#2) Not every feature of WWMT yet works in the export.

The features that will work:

• Meshes
• Hulls
• LODS**
• Bodygroups
• Sequences
• Multiple Skins
• Attachments
• PropData
• Custom Gibs
• Materials***

** LOD Material Replacements not yet supported.
*** You should set the texture names to .tga and the Material names to use .vmat.

When you export the models with custom materials, the materials will continue to appear red in the modeldoc tools in Source 2. I don't know why yet, so at this time you have to open the model after compile and select materials in the modeldoc and double-click them--they will open in the material editor and suddenly work. Click the Save All button in the material editor to keep the textures working.

Entities

Wall Worm now supports the CS2 FGD for entities. It will honor the new @exclude command as well as the @OverrideEntity and delete_keys command.

VMap Exporter

The Level Exporter now has limited VMap export. At this time, entities should export as expected. However, displacements and world meshes are not yet exported correctly and will crash Hammer if you try to load a VMAP exported from Wall Worm with anything other than entities.


That is it as of now. Please share feedback as you test it.

Now WW can export:

• Bodygroups

I now have support for exporting:

• WWMT Sequences
• WWMT Skins

Features I have working as of now in my local build:

• WWMT can export LODS
• Level Exporter can export basic scene with entities to VMAP
• MAXScript FGD Parser now supports the CS2 FGD

I have gotten around of updates done internally. At this point here is what is supported:

WWMT:

• Meshes
• Hulls
• Export to VMDL + model assets (dmx, fbx or smd)
• Support for some WWMT settings
  
• Compiling to VMDL_C

Materials:

• Material to VMAT
• Support for Max's PBR Material

I'm hopeful that by the holidays I'll have Sequences, LODs, Skins and breakable props implemented. Once those basic set of features are done, I'll release an update to the public.

I wanted to give everyone a heads up on where I am with Wall Worm in Source 2 along with a general roadmap.

First, I've planned on doing Source 2 for years, but I never felt the need yet because of limited games and documentation. CS2 forced my hand on the issue to a degree.

First, expectations. Although I am passionate about WW and maintaining it, the reality is that the amount of time I have for developing WW these days is relegated to the weekends. And truthfully, I often don't want to be at a computer on weekends. So it's really down to when I feel inspired.

Where I am with S2:

Right now I have tools to export WWMT to DMX and VMDL. The support is currently limited to creating a simple VMDL document that will reference the main meshes and collision hulls. My intent is to make WWMT functionality as robust for S2 as S1 but it will take some time.

Once I get enough personal testing of the current VMDL Export with mesh and hulls, I'll release it for testing.

VMDL Export support

• CVMeshList from WWMT Meshes
• CVphysicsMeshList from WWMT Collision Hulls
• Basic settings in Mesh/Hull data from WWMT

Next:

• Animation Sequences
• BodyGroups
• LODs
• Morphs

VMAT Export support

I have not yet started on this. Since my understanding is that S2 is PBR, I might be able to simplify the material authoring with the PBR material that ships with Max.

VMAP Export support

I have looked at the VMAP format briefly and I understand it's a version of DMX. Hopefully I can get that done sometime in 2024.

VMDL Loader

Loading VMDL into Max like the MDL Loader is high on my priority but I would not expect it before the end of 2024.

Instructions on being able to continue a project started that was configured to CSGO but stopped working after the Counter-Strike 2 release on Source 2. https://dev.wallworm.com/document/269/using_legacy_csgo_with_wall_worm.html

There are definitely limitations to the MDL > WWMT importer. Unfortunately, I don't have the bandwidth to dig into this particular problem at this time. You might try using Crowbar to convert the MDL into QC+SMDs and see if the QC import has better results.

Quote from: AeRo on June 05, 2023, 02:17:38 AMAny chance for 2024 version?

This is already included in WW Pro installer. I'll look to update the standalone download in the next week.