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Official SFM Compatibility Thread
Topic Started: Apr 30 2017, 02:23 AM (1,147 Views)
Orpheus
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The Gunsmith

Seeing as I've spent the better part of the last two weeks trying (and largely failing) to get non-compatible Source content to work properly in Source Filmmaker, I've decided to dedicate a thread to the topic. Why? Two reasons: One, I can't keep all my thoughts straight and I find it helpful to keep a diary of sorts, keeping track of my daily progress and making note of bugs and other issues to be addressed down the road. And two, sadly there isn't nearly enough official support from Valve on the subject, and most community threads and tutorials, if they exist at all, are woefully inadequate at answering even the most basic questions. Hopefully this can be a useful resource for those of you who are also interested in this sort of thing, and who are also frustrated by the lack of community support.

My hope is to continually update this thread to keep you guys in the loop on any new developments if (and I strongly emphasize IF) I actually make progress on this little project of mine. My ultimate goal is to find a way to mount Source content (specifically, Half-Life 2 and FakeFactory's Cinematic Mod) to SFM as easily as it can be mounted to any third-party Source mod, e.g. Garry's Mod. However this is a pretty ambitious goal and considering my lack of experience in mapping, modelling and frankly every other related field I can't exactly promise a miracle. But hey, let's see how far we get.

Feel free to contribute, ask questions, and so forth!

Maps I'm currently testing:
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Update
FakeFactory's Cinematic Mod 9/9.5
FakeFactory's Cinematic Mod 12
FakeFactory's Cinematic Mod 2013

Tutorials List
[SFM Tutorial] Resizing Models in Source Filmmaker - RaptorNX01

Bug Fixes
Models appearing invisible ("Bones Only"): SFM - Why Does My Model Display as Bones Only in SFM, and HOW DO I FIX IT?? - Pte Jack
Engine Hunk Overflow: What does "Engine hunk overflow!" mean? - Steam Community

Edited: To keep the OP from getting too cluttered, I have decided to post updates as replies. See below.
Edited by Orpheus, May 23 2017, 06:51 PM.
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ESToomere
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BLAST!

Keep them in /usermod, Steampipe will overwrite/delete everything custom in stock folders.
One thing that I can suggest with CM/FF files is to mimic the path into usermod OR outright change the .vmt's - contact me on Steam, I'll try to assist as much as I can.
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Orpheus
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The Gunsmith

Thanks, Erik!
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ESToomere
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BLAST!

Sorry, I'm still installing CM, left it running over the night. Will report back tonight (10+ hours)
I've dug around a bit, the folders are structured super weirdly (as you know), will dig on.
I first configured CM2013 to be "Maximum Valve" then copied over the .vpk content into the usermod folder, blatantly ignoring the HL2 file structure and setting it up as a regular Source game/mod but I can't actually test it because I keep running out of memory in SFM for some reason.
Edited by ESToomere, May 2 2017, 07:15 PM.
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Orpheus
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The Gunsmith

How much RAM do you have installed? As far as I know SFM can't read VPKs, but I can try copying them into usermod if you like.
Edited: To keep the OP from getting too cluttered, I have decided to post updates as replies. See below for previous updates:

UPDATE 10:27 PM 4/29/2017
I can't confirm this because I haven't had a chance to test all of the maps yet, but I have apparently fixed an issue that causes CM2013 maps to crash shortly after startup in SFM. The error reads "Failed to lock vertex buffer in CMeshDX8" and it's apparently a common issue with Source games. All of the fixes online said add the line -dxlevel 70 in the launch options, thereby forcing the engine to revert to DirectX 7. However, this didn't work and the error continued to happen. I pretty much gave up but then on a whim I decided to change the line in the startup options to -dxlevel 90, i.e. force DirectX 9.0, and POOF, no more vertex buffer warnings! HOWEVER, the lighting and materials for CM2013 maps are still an absolute shitshow, thanks to the incorrect search paths / file hierarchy. I've still got maps loading in fullbright despite (I think?) HDR being enabled, and the missing models and textures are still there, but nonetheless it's a proof of concept: we can in fact successfully (more or less) load huge HL2 maps loaded with custom assets into SFM without the program crashing spontaneously. The next step is to see if there's anything to be done about missing assets, and try to figure out the issue of search paths.
UPDATE 10:51 PM 4/29/2017
Just encountered the vertex buffer crash in one of the CM2013 Canal maps despite -dxlevel 90 in launch options. More later.
Update 10:58 PM 4/29/2017
Just successfully loaded a third-party map for Half-Life 2: Episode 2. The map was installed to the SFM usermod/maps folder and appears to be stable. Predictably, without any Episode 2 assets installed, there were a ton of missing models and textures. Next step is to unpack the assets from my copy of Episode 2 and install them to the usermod folder. This should give me a better idea of whether SFM will interpret the search paths correctly without any additional effort.
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UPDATE 11:09 PM 4/29/2017
I installed the HL2:Ep2 assets (maps, materials, models, particles) to the usermod folder and the map now appears almost 100% functional. Take a look:
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Whereas before the assets were missing (as indicated by red errorcubes for missing models and black/purple tiles for missing textures), they are now right where they should be.
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Still not sure what's up with this thing. Could be something I missed when copying the files over from the ep2 directory, or maybe it's an asset from Episode One that the map requires, although the map's author made no mention of this. (EDITED: After installing the Episode One assets, the texture now displays properly.)
Overall this is a good sign. SFM was able to locate the map assets even though they were distributed across two different directories, i.e. game/hl2 and game/usermod.
Gotta run, that's all for now folks.
UPDATE 9:53 AM 5/5/2017
It's been a few days since I posted an update, but don't let the silence fool you. ESToomere, Fort, and myself have all been taking stabs at getting Cinematic Mod content to work in SFM. On a side note, I was able to successfully torrent every single version of Cinematic Mod (263 GB total), so we have plenty of material to work with.
UPDATE 12:52 PM 5/8/2017

Well, guys, it's been quite a journey. After several weeks of frustration, I believe I've finally reached a verdict on this little experiment. To recap, the question I set out to answer was this: Is it possible to use highly-detailed source maps, such as FakeFactory's Cinematic Mod for Half-Life 2, in Source Filmmaker? The answer I've arrived at is yes, it is possible - but it's not really worth it.

Here's why: If you've been keeping up with the thread, you probably know that the main challenge I've been facing has been locating all of the various assets required by Cinematic Mod: models, textures, particles effects, shaders, and so on. These assets are scattered throughout numerous subdirectories in the steamapps folder, and without them the Cinematic Mod maps appear horribly broken when loaded up in Source Filmmaker. Error cubes, checkerboard textures, wireframes, and other glitches litter the maps, rendering them totally unusable. My original plan for fixing this called for extracting all of the Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Episode One, and Half-Life 2 Episode Two content from the hl2, episodic, and ep2 folders found in the steamapps/common/Half-Life 2 directory, and then copying this content into Source Filmmaker's "usermod" folder along with the Cinematic Mod content. While this did alleviate the issue of missing assets, it by no means fixed it entirely.

Then I stumbled onto this thread, which provides a list of all the GCF files required by Cinematic Mod to run. (The thread lists CM12 only, but the same is true for all other versions of Cinematic Mod except for CM2013, which uses the Steampipe/VPK structure. More info on this available on the Cinematic Mod website.) The list is as follows:
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GCF files needed by FAKEFACTORY Cinematic Mod 12
episode 1 shared.gcf
episode one 2007 content.gcf
episode two content.gcf
episode two maps.gcf
episode two materials.gcf
episodic 2007 shared.gcf
half-life 2 2007 base content.gcf
half-life 2 content.gcf
half-life 2 episode one.gcf
half-life 2 episode two english.gcf
source 2007 binaries.gcf
source 2007 shared materials.gcf
source 2007 shared models.gcf
source 2007 shared sounds.gcf
source materials.gcf
source models.gcf
source sounds.gcf

I realized that instead of fumbling around subdirectories trying to cobble together assets, all of the content I needed was contained in these GCFs. After downloading the files, I extracted them to a common folder and copied the relevant content (i.e. the cfg, maps, materials, materialsrc, models, particles, reslists, scripts, and shaders folders) into SFM's usermod folder. Then I copied the Cinematic Mod content (v12.21 in this case) into usermod, overwriting files when necessary. When I loaded up the maps in Source Filmmaker, I was pleased to see that almost all of the assets were in their proper place; no more checkerboard textures or errorcubes.

So what's the catch? The catch is that even with these assets in place, the maps are still very difficult to work with. The most glaring issue is that SFM does not automatically load the individual props that normally populate the maps. In short, any physical object that's not "baked into" the .bsp file is left out, leaving the maps looking barren at best and broken at worst. Another persistent issue is the presence of wireframes in areas that use unknown shaders or shaders that are incompatible with SFM. Not being a mapper myself, I have no idea how to fix this. And lastly, all of this is a moot point if your map doesn't have HDR enabled, in which case it will load in Fullbright.

Yes, it's possible to spawn map props yourself, and yes, it's possible to work around the occasional wireframe and other issues. You can even recompile a map with HDR enabled if you know how to do it. But remember, all of this takes time. I originally gravitated to SFM because it offers a faster, more efficient alternative to scene rendering than Garry's Mod. But if all the timesaving measures offered by SFM, from the advanced lighting and camera tools to hassle-free animation editing, are cancelled out by time spent fussing with maps, it's not a practical improvement. This is a shame, because Garry's Mod requires a much more time-intensive posing process and doesn't offer advanced features like ambient occlusion rendering.

So where do we end up? I guess it depends on the map you're using and how easily you can compensate for the issues caused by SFM. A good compromise might be to use a combination of methods when rendering your scenes, leaning heavily on SFM for model poses and close-ups while sticking to GMod for wide shots involving a lot of map detail. I can't speak to the practicality of this, but where there's a will there's a way.

Feel free to post your feedback or suggestions. I expect to revisit this in the future, so stay tuned for future updates.
Edited by Orpheus, May 8 2017, 06:02 PM.
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ESToomere
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Orpheus
May 3 2017, 03:59 PM
I realized that instead of fumbling around subdirectories trying to cobble together assets, all of the content I needed was contained in these GCFs.

That's where I stumbled, the sheer amount of folders, I tried sticking to HL2-only but clearly that's impossible.

Orpheus
May 3 2017, 03:59 PM
So where do we end up? I guess it depends on the map you're using and how easily you can compensate for the issues caused by SFM. A good compromise might be to use a combination of methods when rendering your scenes, leaning heavily on SFM for model poses and close-ups while sticking to GMod for wide shots involving a lot of map detail. I can't speak to the practicality of this, but where there's a will there's a way.

Also what I was thinking. I'm sure something very artistic could work like that, unsure about "vanilla" looking comics like Mythos' TAoHC because of the nature of how uncinematic HL2 actually is. (And thusly I realise where the "Cinematic" in CM comes from)
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Orpheus
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ESToomere
May 8 2017, 09:34 PM
Also what I was thinking. I'm sure something very artistic could work like that, unsure about "vanilla" looking comics like Mythos' TAoHC because of the nature of how uncinematic HL2 actually is. (And thusly I realise where the "Cinematic" in CM comes from)
I agree. The newer versions of Cinematic Mod (11, 12, 2013) are very gaudy since FakeFactory went crazy with needless tacked-on props and HD models, but some of the earlier editions (9 LE & 10 LE) are truly magnificent in their texture and map detail. I love the vanilla Half-Life 2 content but after so many years it just looks dated. The effect is compounded when you try to use high-quality models in an otherwise low-quality setting.

Erik, do you know how to recompile maps with HDR enabled? I'm a huge fan of the CM9 LE maps, but seeing as they don't have HDR, SFM loads them in fullbright.
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ESToomere
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Orpheus
May 8 2017, 10:14 PM
Erik, do you know how to recompile maps with HDR enabled? I'm a huge fan of the CM9 LE maps, but seeing as they don't have HDR, SFM loads them in fullbright.
Yes.
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Orpheus
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ESToomere
May 10 2017, 06:52 AM
Yes.
Here's the link you asked for.
I think I may be on to something. Remember how SFM doesn't spawn ambient map props? Well, a look into the console after loading up a map (in this case d1_town_01) reveals something interesting. Take a look:

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Notice all the allusions to various .mdl files being "out of date"? This could have something to do with why the models get left out when loading up maps. I'll have to look into it some more.

UPDATE 9:15 PM 5/20/17
Following up to my earlier post, I may have found the root cause for .mdl files registering as "out of date" in Source Filmmaker. See this thread for more info. I quote:
Quote:
 
VTX files out of date: DX80.VTX and/or SW.VTX files are present, while Source FilmMaker is DirectX 9-only, leaving DX80.VTX and SW.VTX files useless and unused. Ignore the warnings.
As you probably know, most Half-Life 2 models contain a .dx80.vtx and a .dx90.vtx file - as well as an .sw.vtx file. The presence of these older, DirectX 9.0 files (SFM being a DirectX 9.0 utility) may be causing the incompatibility that leads to the models not spawning. I'm not certain of this, but it's a good place to start. Apparently Source models can be modified in Maya (see this thread), so the next step is to recompile some miscellaneous models (barrels and so forth) as DirectX 9.0 assets (i.e. like Left 4 Dead 2 models) and then test them in SFM to see if they spawn.
Edited by Orpheus, May 21 2017, 01:19 AM.
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Mythos
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The Maladjusted

That's probably editable out. I remember when I wanted to hex models with different names, it didn't take much more than replacing the extra spaces with 00 in the hex editor, so perhaps removing the DX8 fallbacks would be as simple as that?

I'm no programmer but it's worth a shot, right?
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