Vtex - Compile Parameters

Vtex can accept a list of additional compile parameters during its execution. These parameters are optional, but sometimes necessary to get a good result.

The list is written in the form of a simple text (.txt) document with the same name as the targa (.tga) image to compile, and it should be put in the same folder as it, namely in the SteamApps/common/gamefolder/materialsrc/ folder, where gamefolder is the game folder of the current game (cstrike/dod/hl2/hl2mp).

Example usage from one of the files for the console background:

nonice 1
nolod 1
nomip 1

Parameters

allmips

Force texture to use all mipmaps (No minimum mipmap).

alphatest_hifreq_threshhold

alphatest_threshhold

alphatest

To do: What do these do?

alphatodistance

Creates alpha-to-distance textures.

anisotropic

Force at least Anisotropic filtering on the compiled texture.

bumpscale

Sets texture's bumpscale value, which controls normal map intensity.

clamps

clampt

clampu

Do not allow the texture to wrap in the S, T, or U coordinate space, respectively. This is most often used for sprites that are not tiled.

**Tip:**When a texel is requested that is outside of the texture, one of two techniques is used: Clamping limits the texel to the texture size, moving it to the nearest if it is more than the texture size. Wrapping makes the texel move back into the texture by increments (each to size of the texture). Wrapping causes a texture to be repeated; clamping causes it to be in one spot only.

distancespread

How much to spread alpha when creating alpha-to-distance textures.

dudv

Texture is a Du/Dv map.

dxt5

Force DXT5 compression, even if the source has no alpha channel.

maxheight

maxheight_360

maxwidth

maxwidth_360

Sets maximum texture size for "High" (mat_picmip 0) texture quality. Negative mat_picmip settings will go above this limit.

mipblend

To do: Figure out how to make this work

nocompress

Do not use compression on this texture. Useful for textures with fine gradation (like light halos).

nodebug

No debug override.

nolod

Do not use lower resolution versions of this texture regardless of texture quality (mat_picmip) settings. Used for non-world graphics such as HUD art.

nomip

Do not use mipmapping for this texture. Used for materials like skyboxes and menu backgrounds.

Bug: The MIPs are still generated and loaded! Use VTFEdit to reduce texture footprint.

nonice

Do not use NICE filtering on this texture’s lower mip-levels.

normal

Texture is a normal map. Implies nonice, so all normals will be kept normalized during mipmap generation.

**Note:**Automatically applies when the texture name ends with _normal

normalalphatodudvluminance

Use alpha channel as luminance when converting from normal maps to Du/Dv maps

normaltodudv

Converts the texture to a Du/Dv map.

numchannels

How many channels to import from source file. (1 = Red only, 2 = Red and Green, 3 = RGB, 4 = RGB + Alpha) Omitted color channels are replaced with full color intensity.

oneovermiplevelinalpha

Alpha channel fades out as mipmaps get smaller.

pfm

Source texture is a portable floatmap. Used for HDR.

pfmscale (float)

Used to scale floatmap intensity.

pointsample

Do not filter this texture in-game.

premultcolorbyoneovermiplevel

Color channel fades out as mipmaps get smaller. Used when converting normal maps to Du/Dv maps.

procedural

Texture is procedural.

reduce

reducex

reducey

Downscales on both, only X, or only Y axes, respectively. Value must be a power of two, and tells VTEX how to reduce the dimensions (2 = half size, 4 = quarter size, 8 = eighth size, etc.).

rendertarget

Texture is a rendertarget.

singlecopy

To do: What does this do??

skybox

Used for compiling skyboxes. This assures the edges match between each facet.

spheremap_negz

spheremap_z

spheremap_negy

spheremap_y

spheremap_negx

spheremap_x

To do: Are these functional?

ssbump

Used for self-shadowing bump maps($ssbump).

**Note:**Automatically applies when the texture name ends with _height-ssbump

startframe (integer)

endframe (integer)

Used for animated textures. Textures must be named as texture000, texture001, texture002, etc. The startframe defines the beginning frame and the endframe defines the ending frame. Up to 1,000 frames are allowed.

stripalphachannel

Used to tell Vtex to ignore the source texture's alpha channel.

stripcolorchannel

Used to create a texture with no color data.

trilinear

Force at least Trilinear filtering on the compiled texture.

volumetexture

Creates a volumetric texture.

Using .psd 'file info' parameters

Textures compiled from .psd files can have command line parameters saved into the .psd directly. To do this, use the 'File Info' menu in Photoshop and add your Vtex commands into the "description" text field. These parameters will get evaluated by Vtex when the .psd file is compiled.

Here's an example of usage for creating a flashlight that won't tile:

clamps 1;
clampt 1;
border 0;

Source: https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Vtex_compile_parameters