Embedding textures into existing HL BSP

[JasonX]

Does anyone know how to embed existing textures from WADs into a compiled HL BSP? I can do it with the .map and compiling a BSP, but can i do it with a compiled BSP that i don't have the source?

[andrewj]

HL BSP does not require textures to be in the BSP, they can be external referenced from WAD3 files.

I guess it depends on how the BSP you have were compiled, whether the textures are external or internal. If they are external, you should (in theory) just need to supply the different ones in a WAD3 file (or some other method if using DarkPlaces).

[JasonX]

I have implemented BSP support in my engine but i didn't want to add WAD support. Just read the embedded textures. Much easier!

[JasonX]

Any ideas, guys? Thanks in advance!

[hogsy]

To be honest I've never understood why you'd want to embed the textures into the bsp since if you have two maps that might use the same textures it's just wasteful :roll:

[Baker]

See compiler documentation. It is a command line parameter which I have used, but not lately and I do not remember the name of it.

You could probably look through the Half-Life SDK for the compiler read me files.

[Ghost_Fang]

Which is more memory efficient? Textures baked into the HLSBP or using an external texture wad file? Like for the PSP for instance.

[leileilol]

If you keep it external you'll get less data redundancy which will lead to a smaller overall file size. The memory usage should remain the same.
Quake2 went all external for a reason. Look how small many of those custom maps are!

[ceriux]

try quark, i found out today before work. that quark can even edit the entities in an already compiled .bsp, it also lists textures. maybe you could add,change, or delete textures as well?

[Ghost_Fang]

Download and Use Zoner's Half-Life Tools ( http://zhlt.info/ ) in Hammer.
The compile with the commands " -nowadtextures "

As seen on this page:
http://zhlt.info/command-reference.html#hlcsg

Along with a bunch of other commands you can use as well.

If you keep it external you'll get less data redundancy which will lead to a smaller overall file size. The memory usage should remain the same.
Quake2 went all external for a reason. Look how small many of those custom maps are!

Ah ok, yea that makes sense. I figured there would be some difference in memory usage though, drawing the required texture from a separate map rather than loading them with the bsp. So if you use external wads you might also get increased loading times wouldnt you?

[leileilol]

So if you use external wads you might also get increased loading times wouldnt you?

The only real loading time difference here is if it's a disc-based media - redundant copies help the latter for the sake of read caching. Console games do this a lot.

[Ghost_Fang]

Oh ok, yea that makes sense.