Something admins should read about the new change to the Source Engine...
It appears Valve is keeping the Source Engine alive and trying to do their website in improving it.
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7388-QPFN-2491
It appears Valve is keeping the Source Engine alive and trying to do their website in improving it.
General questions
Q. What’s happening?
We are upgrading TF2, DoD:S, CS:S, and HL2:MP to be delivered through SteamPipe, Steam’s new content distribution. This will change how the game is downloaded, and how it is stored on your computer. The benefits to players are:
Q. Do I need to do anything?
- Faster and smoother downloads
- Faster game boot times and map load times
- Easier distribution, installation, and management of mods
- Smoother dedicated server distribution and update rollover
Probably not. A few groups of users might need to take special action:
If you aren’t in any of those groups, you can ignore this message.
- Authors and users of client-side mods (for example, those that require you to download a .zip and extract it into your installation folder) will want to switch to the new system for distributing and installing these mods.
- Users who make custom versions of game files (custom models, custom HUDs, etc) will need to make some simple changes in order to continue using those customizations.
- Gameserver operators will need to switch to the new download tool, Steamcmd, and be aware of how the changes to the filesystem affect any customizations they have made. (Please see the separate FAQ for gameserver operators.
If you are in one of the above groups, then you might want to read further. Install the client beta and try it out! Certain types of customizations might be broken or be made inconvenient by this change, and we want to get those problems corrected before we convert the release versions of the games to SteamPipe.
Q. What games are being converted?
Here are the games being converted, and their current status:
Day of Defeat: Source Converted. Half-life 2: Deathmatch Converted. Counter-Strike: Source Converted. Team Fortress 2. Will be converted on Tuesday, April 23.
NOTE: Unlike the other Source engine games, the TF2 beta is a separate game from TF2.
The Team Fortress 2 beta app has been converted.
NOTE: In the remainder of this article, we will use folder names particular to Day of Defeat in the examples. The same principles apply to all of the games being converted, so just replace "dod" with "tf", "cstrike", or "hl2mp"
Q. Will I have to download the entire game again?
No. A one-time conversion process will occur, which will take a bit longer than the usual download. You should expect your computer to do a lot of disk work, and you will need enough free hard drive space for about two full copies of the game. After the conversion process is complete, the game will take less space on your hard disk than before. (For TF, it's around 1GB less.)
Q. Where did the game move to?
Previously, each user had a folder that contained several game files. For example,
[steam installation directory]/steamapps/[username]/day of defeat source/.
When the game is converted to SteamPipe, the installation directory is shared between users. The directory will probably be something like
[steam installation directory]/steamapps/common/Day of Defeat Source/.
Q. What happened to the .GCF files?
SteamPipe does not use .GCF files. Instead, content is packed up into VPK files, which are similar to .zip files. VPK files are used by other Valve games such as DOTA2, CS:GO, and Left4Dead 2. VPK files are also used on the dedicated server.
Customization
Q. Can I still download custom maps and other files from gameservers?
Yes, and we've improved how this works.
Files downloaded from gameservers will go into the dod/download folder. This segregates downloaded files from shipping files and your own customizations.
Q. What will happen to files I already downloaded or customized?
The conversion process can't tell which custom files you downloaded from a server, and which you intentionally customized. To be on the safe side, it will move all custom files into the dod/download folder.
If you have customized a shipping file, however, you will need to move it from the dod/download folder into a subfolder under the dod/custom folder. (This is described in the next question.)
Q. Can I still customize any game file?
Yes. Create a folder such as dod/custom/my_custom_stuff/ and put your custom files there.
For example, you might customize the scoreboard by extracting the resource/ui/scoreboard.res file from the appropriate VPK (using the VPK tool in the bin folder, or a free tool such as GCFScape) asdod/custom/my_custom_stuff/resource/ui/scoreboard.res, and then modifying it. When the game boots, it will see the subdirectory my_custom_stuff and add that folder as a search path. Then your version ofresource/ui/scoreboard.res will take priority over the official shipping version of the file.
You can have more than one such subfolder under dod/custom, (for example, you might be working on two different customization projects and don’t want to get the files mixed up), but each folder is another search path added in front of the VPKs will slow down load times a little more. When you’re done tweaking your customization, you can always pack it up into a VPK and delete the subfolder.
Q. Why can't I just edit files directly in the game folder like I did before?
Modifying files directly in game installation folders (dod/resource, dod/materials, etc) won't always work anymore. Here's why.
Previously, when the engine looked for a file, it would first search folders on your hard disk, and then look inside the Steam GCF files. This meant that custom files in the dod folder would take priority over the files in the GCF.
This method had two disadvantages:
The new system searches VPK files first, and then search folders on your hard disk. This reduces load times significantly. But it means that the file in the VPK's we ship will always take priority over loose files in the dodfolder.
- It slowed down loading, because the vast majority of files were in the GCFs. Booting the game or loading a level would cause many thousands of operating system calls to attempt to open files, most of which would fail.
- Files from many different sources were mixed together. (Files you intentionally customized, files downloaded from gameservers you visited, files from third party mods, and any official shipping games files that were not in the GCF.) Removing a mod was difficult because the files were scattered across several directories. This problem will be exacerbated with SteamPipe, because more game files are shipped loose on disk than was the case when GCF's were used.
Users interested in understanding the filesystem search paths in more detail should take a look atdod/gameinfo.txt.
Q. Can custom content be put into VPK's?
Yes! And this is the recommended method.
Installing a mod distributed as a VPK is easy: just copy the VPK file to the dod/custom folder.
Q. How can I create a VPK?
The VPK tool ships with the client, in the bin folder. It's a command line tool, but there is one easy way to use it without any typing. If you drag a folder onto the executable, it will create a VPK with the same name as the folder, with the contents of the folder.
Q. I have a mod distributed as a .zip. The instructions say to unzip it directly into my game folder. Should I?
Probably not. First, check if the mod you are installing is available in VPK format. If so, then download the VPK and put it into your dod/custom folder.
If the mod you want to use is only available in a .zip format, then unzip it into a subdirectory under the game'scustom folder. For example, if the .zip contains custom player models that look like (heaven forbid) ponies, and one of the files is materials/models/player/scout/scout_head.vtf, then you might make a dirctory such as tf/custom/i_love_ponies. You should unzip the mod such that the custom scout head texture ends up at tf/custom/i_love_ponies/materials/models/player/scout/scout_head.vtf.
Don't unzip the .zip directly into the custom folder! Make a subdirectory!
Bugs
- Create a subdirectory in the dod/custom folder. For example, dod/custom/lots_of_custom_stuff
- Copy the directory structure under dod into the new directory you created. For example, the files that were in the dod/materials/ folder should end up in dod/custom/lots_of_custom_stuff/materials/.
Q. Where do I report a bug or give feedback for these changes?
For issues particular to gameservers, please send an email to the HLDS mailing list. (You can subscribe to this mailing list here.)
Otherwise, please communicate your feedback using the github bug database.
Q. What are the known issues?
Known bugs:
Client beta
- The dedicated server might fail to load the Steam libraries the first time you boot it. Booting it a second time will fix the problem.
- The auto conversion process for the beta will move all existing files to the new installation directory, maintaining the current directory structure. In particular, it will not move any content to the custom folder or downloads folder, which is where we recommend this content go.
Q. How do I get the Team Fortress client beta?
The Team Fortess 2 beta is a bit different from the other games. It is a separate game. So to run the beta, simply install the game "Team Fortress 2 Beta".
Q. How do I get the HL2M, and CS:S client betas?
This will move all of your files to the new installation folder (see above) and delete existing .GCF files.
- In the Steam client, right click on the game in the games list, and select “properties.”
- Select the “betas” tab.
- Select the “steampipe” beta.
- Close the properties dialog.
- Click “play” to launch the game.
- You will be prompted with a dialog prompting you that existing content will be converted to the new format.
- The conversion process will take a few minutes.
Q. Can I opt back out of the beta?
Yes, but it will not move your settings files and custom files back to their original location.
Q. Can a beta client connect to a non-beta server?
No. The beta client is only compatible with a beta server (a SteamPipe server), and the standard game is only compatible with the standard server. Clients should only see matching servers in the in-game server browser. (This will not work in the Steam server browser.)
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7388-QPFN-2491
