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.
Source 2 and New Source Tools Casually Released with Dota 2 Update
News & Rumors
The new Hammer Editor features a better look, ease of use, new tile system, real-time lighting preview, and new compilers. No need to recompile your map just to check to see if your it has the lighting you want. It’s very ‘what you see is what you get’. The Valve Hammer Editor has remained mostly the same since the late ’90s, and now the SDK has been updated to compete with engines like Unreal and Unity.
But this isn’t Source… this is Source 2. Yes, every new tool has references to ‘Source 1’ and the console in the new 64-bit client refers to itself as ‘S2’. This set of tools ditches .bsp and brushes altogether. Geometry on the map is rendered no different than models. The engine has been split into components that will allow them to be plug and play with new engine components. This is a very different beast from Source 1.
All of these tools are available for you to use right now. Update Dota 2 and head over to the ‘Tools’ section of Steam and download the ‘Dota 2 Workshop Tools Alpha’. The tools require a 64-bit version of Windows and a DirectX 11 GPU. Just remember that this is all ‘Alpha’ so crashes are expected. (Though in my time playing the new tools, I never had a crash, only hangups!)
If you need help with how use any of the new stuff, the Valve Developer Wiki is here with full documentation.
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Dota_2_Workshop_Tools
We will keep covering the future of these Source tools as they develop, but I can already say that the future is looking pretty bright. No word yet of when or if these tools will be available for other Source games like Portal 2, CS:GO, or Half-Life 2.
That’s all there really is to say, get modding, we can’t wait to see what you make!
Edit: Here’s something interesting in one of the DLL folders, a portrait of Wallace Breen:
A hint of a potential use for the new consul or just Valve trolling us? You decide!
If you want to keep update with our Source 2 coverage, check out our own sub-topic.
Around the International Community
HL Inside – Инструменты разработчика Dota 2 на Source 2
HL Portal – Dota 2, Tools nutzen Source Engine 2
ValveTime.net – Dota 2 Workshop Tools Introduce “Hammer 2014”
Steam User’s Forums – Alpha Testing Has Begun for Dota 2 Workshop Tools
I guess that means no Half-Life 3 anytime soon. If they were getting close to finishing HL3 they would wait with the release of Source 2 so it’s simultaneous and be even more wowing. So, now we are probably going to have to wait until Source 3 (at least).
🙁
Here’s an image of “vconsole2” in action:
http://s30.postimg.org/hxy5cvzrk/hammer2.jpg
That looks great.
Glad we’ve finally got a look at the new editor, this should be great news for mappers. Unfortunately I don’t have access to a computer to try it out 🙁
How did I know it was going to go this way.
I thought after seeing the “release” of those icons for the new “hammer editor” a while back, the new editor was going to be WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).
And not overly suprised it came along in DOTA 2, where people want new maps, and where Valve has been testing quite a few new features.
What can we expect out of gamescom?
HI.
I like your news, but I have a questions. What’s the RSS feed link for Source 2 news?
Best Regards Asger Nørgaard 🙂
*question, not questions
Hi, thanks for asking as I just realised it is no longer generating the links for them for topics, ill try fix this and get back to you. It works for tags though, http://lambdageneration.com/tagged/authoring-tools/feed/ should cover any Source 2 modding stuff like this post for now.
Sorry about that
Thanks.
Now I can’t wait for 2015 to come. It must bring a Source 2 game with it 🙂