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:
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:
Last updated