This tutorial will show you how to create custom textures for use in creating maps for the Source engine. The process is also the same for creating textures for models, sprays, mods and essentially any image data within any Source game.

If you followed Part One of this guide, you should have some idea about the Source engine’s basic lighting capabilities. Now let’s go a step further to look at the more advanced techniques that the engine has to offer, including the extra capabilities of Portal 2, CS:GO and Dota 2.

Thanks to our previous Source tutorials you may have created an excellent map, but without lighting your players are going to feel left in the dark.

There are a range of different entities responsible for providing illumination in the Source engine, and the number and complexity of options open to you depends on which game you are mapping for. This guide will begin with basic lighting for Half-Life 2 and other Source 2007 games, before shedding some light on more complicated techniques.

Welcome to the first of our new Modding & Development Tutorials. In this installment we’ll help you take your first steps into creating a map in Valve’s Source SDK.

Creating levels can be challenging, fun and very rewarding (albeit sometimes frustrating) and you will be able to release your creations to thousands of players worldwide.

Recently Valve introduced new tools for the Dota 2 Workshop. But these are no meager ‘Authoring Tools’, this a full blown, updated, next gen, set of tools. Complete with a new version of Hammer, a Material Editor, and a Model Editor. 

My name is Jim Partridge and I’m a modder primarily for Half-Life 2. My previous work includes Half-Life 2: Deep Down, Half-Life 2: Daylight and numerous PlanetPhillip competition entries. I decided to join LambdaGeneration this year as a contributor for the site’s Modding & Development section. My primary interest is in level design with a focus on gameplay, I’m a gameplay nerd in fact… Join me in my nerdiness!

Welcome to the first Community Spotlight on LambdaGeneration!

To start off, we have chosen a small project from the community known as “Half-Life Mobile”. As the name may suggest, the project is an attempt to bring Half-Life to the mobile platform.

It’s an amazing effort which combines the experience of Half-Life with the technical potential of the modern smartphone.

UPDATE 3: Facepunch member J*Rod has created an insightful and very informative explanation of how Source 2 might work, based on what we’ve seen in the leaked code. If you can’t read code (or as I like to call it, hieroglyphs), then this is your lucky day.

UPDATE 2: LambdaGen fan 3rrorVirus has made this hilarious little video about this whole Source 2 debacle – check it out!

UPDATE: Facepunch member DevinWatson has compiled a full list of just about every single Source 2 reference in the SFM files. Take a look!

Yeah, it gets better. Waaay better.

Learn how to install the Source SDK correctly and how to use Valve’s Hammer Editor.