Hammer++ : Exposing Hammer's Shitness

You've played CS:GO's maps. Now see how the poor mappers made them. Get Hammer++ here: ficool2.github.io/HammerPlusP...
0:00 - Hammer++
1:04 - Real-time lighting
3:10 - Fog
3:38 - Skyboxes
4:45 - Rope physics
5:19 - Particles
6:40 - Placing things in your level
7:13 - Sprinkling lots of props
8:00 - Putting props on the ground
8:22 - Physics tool!
9:25 - Hammer can't count
10:00 - Other
10:16 - Conclusion

[@suilui0180]

I really cannot believe Valve employees use the same Hammer as everybody else. I would've quit my job after 3 days at max.

[@imn0trelevant290]

This is what I think about everytime I see a tf2 map, like Upward

[@Ultra289]

I mean its their tool, pretty sure they would some experience on it and also no strict deadlines so...

[@Kadeo64]

i can almost guarantee that they use internal dev builds that get updated more frequently

[@Torenu]

@@Ultra289 there are no deadlines inside valve xd

[@lynxovski]

That's the funny part, I don't think they do. There was rumors awhile back that Valve employees use Hammer++ themselves.

[@sourceeee]

ive always considered source mappers literal gods, cause to make something so pretty/polished in such a shit and unintuitive editor is magic to me. We don't give enough respect to these ppl imo

[@sillowillo]

@@hoffer_moment I love you

[@sillowillo]

@@hoffer_moment Let's ride the tessie together

[@cralo2569]

it's mostly patience to finish a polished map, things can get slow in hammer

[@friendofp.24]

Yes... Bow down to me.

[@QuintessentialWalrus]

@@cralo2569 Fully agreed, it's all about patience. I've made two Left 4 Dead campaigns in Hammer and I'm working on a third. No Hammer++ compatibility yet so it's all vanilla. I fully confess that anyone who wants to finish a project as big as a L4D2 campaign -- working solo no less -- needs an insane amount of patience and dedication. I enjoy Hammer and general Source modding as a hobby, but I'm increasingly convinced this is because my brain is leaking sanity out of my ears.

[@UnwovenSleeve]

Hammer++ really is a game changer. It’s akin to switching from MS paint to photoshop in terms of quality of life features and ease of use.

[@jacobshirley3457]

I noticed you didn't say GIMP, lol.

[@johnathanmcdoe]

Going with that analogy, the excellent PaintNET might be closer. I'd think PS is more like UE (all of the features, overwhelming), while Hammer++ is still Hammer, but with features you'd expect to be there in the first place.

[@LieseFury]

@@jacobshirley3457 as a linux and foss fangirl myself, gimp is the worst software i've ever used and we should really stop bringing it up if we want to attract new users.

[@johnnystankiewicz295]

ive never used photoshop, but im still sure its easier than GIMP

[@TheGeekRex]

@@LieseFury People also really need to stop saying gimp is an alternative to Photoshop. It's not even close. It's like saying Microsoft Word and Notepad are the same thing.

[@TheKaleidobros]

Okay but of all the amazing things in this, seeing the tool that lets you align sloped wall textures to the slope of the wall blew my fucking mind. The amount of agony I went through trying to size and align wall textures next to stair cases is insane. Even top mappers and (goldsource) mods like Cry of Fear have walls with this exact issue because it's so difficult to get right. What a game changer.

[@MrNeoHL]

That's an existing feature in hammer already, an obscure hidden one - having to align the camera to look at the wall in an specific angle, to then use the "Align to view" feature

[@QuintessentialWalrus]

@@MrNeoHL You can change the angle of the 3D view camera? I've never seen that in the options menu, although I suppose I wasn't looking for it.

[@The_Viktor_Reznov]

@@MrNeoHL That sounds like a Source workaround bandaid fix alright

[@Marcos42563]

@@QuintessentialWalrus Yea I think you have to use the camera tool in the 2D view, place the 3D camera on a snapped grid position, then drag its red sight direction over to the other grid position so that the angle is just right, then use align to view pain in the a

[@PedanticPig]

There's another existing obscureish feature in Hammer that you can do this with. If you select the texture on the bottom or top of the wall brush and then alt+right click on the face of the wall it'll copy the texture and alignment from the top/bottom, keeping it aligned to the edge. Still a bit of a pain though.

[@__aceofspades]

I cant believe that Hammer hasnt been drastically improved to add these quality of life features in over a decade. I remember struggling so much with Hammer when I was a kid trying to make custom Zombie Mod maps. I ended up never trying to make maps or games/mods for other games after being so frustrated with Hammer because I assumed they were all this bad.

[@SwirlyTwirl]

I remember trying to learn to create maps with hammer when I was a kid. I couldn't even make something as simple as an empty cube because Hammer just crashed randomly every few minutes and there was absolutely no fix for it. I have never attempted to make maps ever since.

[@CrAzYpotpie]

I have been using Worldcraft/Hammer for 20+ years, and I sucked at it at first, too. I just decided to never give up after the first few hurdles, and to this day, I still dream of an editor for a powerful new engine that allows as fast prototyping as I was able to get done in Hammer. Nothing is the same.

[@outrowed]

Damn, respect for those mappers who have been making maps since before Hammer++ even existed.

[@Matzu-Music]

@@outrowed danke.

[@henryfleischer404]

That's funny, learning to use Hammer made Unity so confusing I immediately gave up.

[@neones375]

as someone who's dabbled in Doom map creation with UDB, i'm suprised Source has gone so long without real-time edit features

[@henryfleischer404]

What's UDB? I'm pretty interested in making a DOOM WAD somewhat soon.

[@lukkkasz323]

@@henryfleischer404 Ultimate Doom Builder which is based on GZDoom Builder, which is then based on Doom Builder 2, which is then based on Doom Builder 1, which is then based on other older Doom map editors. So in short - a much better family tree than Hammer.

[@henryfleischer404]

@@lukkkasz323 I'll take a look at it, since I can't get SLADE to work on my laptop.

[@sxrub3310]

@@lukkkasz323 I'm gonna assume the first Doom map editor was in a typewriter

[@salami99]

ur profile picture is stunning 😍

[@Zuckerkome]

the ++ is a probably a reference (like with notepad++ or c++) to programming, where when you do variable++, it increases the variable by one, so it means one version higher

[@jacobshirley3457]

Oh. Never connected the dots there, lol.

[@kdee1428]

That's what i always thought of ++

[@reidprichard]

Yep. The post increment operator.

[@offspringfan89]

🤯

[@fungoose2195]

​@@reidprichard ++Hammer...

[@The1Wolfcast]

I remember switching from hammer to hammer++ for gmod mapping and I just cannot go back because of all of those features. I am so glad this program exists

[@semtux8615]

Hammer++ works for gmod now? Ive been waiting for it to release

[@annilator3000]

@@semtux8615 yea you have to follow a little tutorial it's easy

[@FrostDzNz]

This really makes me want to give mapping another shot.

[@swhipple]

You should 100%. It's a million times less painful. Find the right game and gamemode you want to make a map for and you can do it!

[@r0niii_]

Mapping is fun but overmapping may cause mental illness without you noticing it. You may get funny thoughts or get depressed. Other stuff may happen. So if you begin then don't get too attached and map with caution. I would recomment joining a community and asking for help and make a plan of a map before mapping it. It may save time and stress/effort. Less effort for same quality and less time waste.

[@beqa2758]

its so useful for creatin coop maps, placing props in 3d with some quick rotations and bam ofc theres way more than that

[@r0niii_]

@@beqa2758 many people doesn't know but in stock hammer you can use the 3d view to place things and resize them aswell. No one does that because it's not as comfortable as you were doing it in 2d view.

[@cralo2569]

it's way easier with hammer++. it's already easy when you get the hang of the basics, but it's fix and addition after another. just do it!!!

[@swhipple]

Not to mention there's literally just a million stupid things that went wrong in hammer for who knows why. Hammer++ in general just doesn't have those problems. You just find yourself NOT running into stupid errors or crashes. It's a blessing thank you ficool2

[@AussieBleuu]

Hammer is the sole reason I started mapping 12 years ago, and it was the reason I quit mapping in 2014. It required a certain kind of patience and creativity, especially if your scope was rather large. Part of it was imagining how your map would look before rendering. Sometimes I’d have to remember certain values for entities when I started on a new map entirely. The patience was in the crashes, figuring out what caused what, and waiting for the map to compile before realizing you’d just made a critical error so you go back to try again. Out of laziness I would make a bunch of big changes before seeing how it worked, instead of making one change then going to render the map every time. That’s where remembering some of those “values” came in. Making *small* incremental changes at a time was far more efficient. The addition of real-time editing in Hammer++ is a godsend as well. It all makes me wonder why someone didn’t think to make this sooner. I’m sure if it was an easy task, then it would have happened. There are plenty of talented folks/veterans in the Source community. The guy that put this all together has done more for the Source & modding community than valve has done in quite a while. I understand not many folks will read this, but I’ll leave it on this - many of us find ourselves going over to UE or unity because Source is so outdated by this point. But many of us find ourselves coming back to Source, because it is most familiar. Hammer++ is not a replacement to those, it is not meant to compete against other engines, but it adds that extra edge for those who needed it so long.

[@pinkmail6841]

Are going to try hammer++?

[@NeCtRiCkS]

Exactly, I've tried to change my approach to mapping several times, because of how long compiles take. So each compile had to be error-free and an improvement over the previous compile. That's exhausting. I eventually quit mapping due to how time consuming that was, just to achieve an ok result. Let alone the fact that, if you wish to stand out with your map, you still had to make custom textures and models, out of Hammer, WHILST fighting with Hammer haha. But I see things are getting better now, especially with more capable PCs which can deal with maaany models a bit better.

[@RustyShackleford556]

I didn't know Hammer++ existed and tried to get into mapping with Hammer. I gave it a few hours and said fuck it, this editor was created before I was born and it feels like it too. It just FEELS old.

[@TechnologicallyTechnical]

+SpunkyPixel Just so you're clear on exactly how far Source dates back, the engine itself is 18 years old, but it's modified from an engine that was originally made 26 years ago (that being the Quake engine, which was created in 1996). Even Source 2 still seems to have a bit of code from the original Quake engine. It's an extremely tall tower of duct tape.

[@RustyShackleford556]

@@TechnologicallyTechnical Oh I know; Source only came out 25 days before I was born with HL Source, and I grew up with some old ass tech but even then I could tell it felt older than other programs of the time. The original Hammer literally feels like it's stuck in a time vortex for early 2000's software. Everything about it is nostalgic, but that's not a good thing considering programs of that nature then were basically unusable to their full extent except for the people that made them. Like someone else here said, I cannot believe Valve uses that shit. I think I might quit if I had to build HL2 on that... thing.

[@amentco8445]

@@RustyShackleford556 Think about what the alternatives were in the late 90s to the 2000s. Hammer was actually easy in comparison.

[@vigilurbis3394]

@@TechnologicallyTechnical Instead of Source 2, Valve should just have Source++

[@RustyShackleford556]

@@amentco8445 Fair lol

[@reNINTENDO]

For those curious, the "++" names you see on things (and languages in the case of C++) are referencing an "increment by 1" operator, which is essentially a shorthand way to add 1 to a number in most programming languages. For example, if x equals 1, x++ will mean x now equals 2. I've had some good and frustrating times with Hammer, but it's been a while. It was the first level editor I ever used, so I didn't know any better with all of the features it lacked. Though even then the lack of any form of lighting/shadow estimation hurt. Ficool2 is an absolute legend making this. Part of me kind of wants CS:GO to stay in Source 1 just to justify the amazing work done here for longer. Though if I ever get back into L4D2 campaign making and this works for that... Yeah, I'm sold.

[@norXmal]

2:12 - You are 100% right, how much I wished for real-time rendering of light when using Hammer over the years, how much time wasted waiting for the map to load, only to regret your adjustment.

[@cobrazoid]

Bruh Nexodus, this is my 2nd time stumbling upon you in the comments. And this is a bit awkward too...

[@norXmal]

@@cobrazoid My guy, hope everything has been well since last and I doubt this will be the last we stumble upon each other. We are either in the same algorithm or just like the same content.

[@cobrazoid]

@@norXmal Oh everything has been well for me since the last! When I saw you in a different channel I just shrugged it off and called it a coincidence. But, now this is 2nd time and I was here just by the algorithm and I was basically scrolling and reading the comments til' I saw you. I mean, I have nothing against stumbling upon the same people from different channels, but I just find it a bit awkward and interesting at the same time whether its by the algorithm or the same content we enjoy. Take care man!

[@ScottishAtheist]

I just finished a seven year project where I recreated my house and surrounding area in absurd detail. See this video, start crying about how much time and stress it would have saved. Wow, all the simple quality of life improvements like the lighting preview, and the piling up of physics objects (this would have come in so handy). Good job on modernising the editor, wish I’d had it years ago.

[@medicindisquise4271]

the physics tool sounds like it'd be more useful in singleplayer mapping. Think HL2 or either portal game; physics would be really helpful in just being able to see how props fall for working around setpieces or puzzles

[@wizardmon1337]

No, it's not about "what would happen if the player did this or opened some sort of lever" those physics can be done in-game just fine already. The real game changer about this is making a battle torn city block where you can just go "Okay, I want the players to be playing in & around this blown out building but I don't want to manually place all of the debris by hand - if I just simulate the explosion you will have a realistic result done for you, all of those blocks/boards/window fragments & props all placed down for you and in exactly where they would be after the explosion blew out the wall.

[@tailnowag8753]

Yeah it would really help with timing and stuff like "so if this barrel rolls down this slope, when will it reach the player?" a lot of good use cases

[@user-sl6gn1ss8p]

@@wizardmon1337 Yeah, even a small part of a wall fallen in the right way adds a lot already. I've spent far too long mentally calculating how broken things would fall and carefully snapping them into place and over another, and that's for small details with a few parts. Cutting this work out is a huge quality of life improvement

[@ViciousVinnyD]

Honestly I think everyone's getting way ahead of themselves with the surprisingly powerful capabilities of this tool and overlooking just how useful it actually is. I think by far the most important use of this tool is for saving time in mundane tasks like dropping boards over gaps or stacking boxes for the player to climb onto. Sure, you could use the mouse, but making it not float or clip takes time which is now completely skipped by a single button press. That's a game-changer, especially for mappers with less time on their hands or experimental mappers who just want to mock up a design for testing.

[@KalkuehlGaming]

Philip talking about Mapping and the Hammer Editor is the most nostalgic thing I witnessed. Mapping is a core memory of my past. Now I will give it another shot.

[@SonicFan535]

6:45 - If you press X in regular Hammer, you can move things in the 3D view just like you can in the 2D views. It's a very useful feature so I don't know why it's off by default. I always press X after starting Hammer and keep it on all the time.

[@zacharymichel1272]

Finally someone pointed that out the only improved thing is the gizmo which just makes it easier to move stuff in the 3D view I personally dont use it but I think im just too used to the original method

[@zesse]

Hammer is horrible but yet somehow I always look back at it when working with Unity or Unreal thinking it is somehow better to work with. It's just so easy to make simple levels with it. Maybe S2 will finally one day allow me to go back to similar type of editor.

[@JavaJumper]

Same dude

[@spiderjerusalem8505]

Nah, source 2's hammer is unfortunately not that good

[@charlieking7600]

It's really easy tool, if you make something simple and ugly as flat surfaces and walls with perfect 90 degrees and no details in it. But if you want to make detailed environment, VHE becomes painful tool.

[@del.1356]

@@spiderjerusalem8505 What ? I never heard someone saying that source 2 hammer is "not that good". It is more the opposite that I hear, almost only positive comments.

[@4dblock314]

I agree. You don't need to have some coding knowledge to use source engine's I/O system or its ai which adapts to map changes. I think the problem that makes it difficult to make detailed maps is the fact that source has the same restriction as the quake engine. The engine can only handle simple shaped maps.

[@optimise.]

Now that Hammer++ is here it’d be a great time for you to start a series similar to The Making of de_sparity. It was my personal favourite and something I never get tired of re-watching. 3kliksphilip, please make

[@vbgfrnc]

Exactly, or another series of tutorials but 2k22++ edition

[@danin900]

I like how Philip is incapable of censoring himself whenever the Source's spaghetti nonsense rears its ugly head.

[@narrowgauge0727]

i gotta be honest, as much as i despise hammer, its really cool to use, and its very satisfying to make things it, once you learn what everything does. the happiness fades though once your save file corrupts and have to learn how to convert bsps back into vmf files or something.

[@TechnologicallyTechnical]

+NarrowGauge07 tbf I like Hammer's user interface, in particular the three grids representing each axis, but having to load the map to see what everything looks like IS ultimately what puts mappers off. I spent three damn years finishing the first CSGO map I ever started, partially because I tend to procrastinate, but largely because I dreaded the long loading times.

[@Pepso8P]

I am genuinely surprised Valve haven't done this sooner themselves. They always seem to put so much thought into anything they create, yet the Hammer editor felt like an alpha version compared to Hammer++. Amazing work by ficool2. I hope Valve decides to compensate him for his immense help for the mappers community.

[@user-sl6gn1ss8p]

Hammer is pretty much a series of modifications of WorldCraft, which was used for Quake all the way back at least 1996. This was so because the goldsrc engine (of the original half-life and it's mods) was also a modified version of the Quake Engine. I the editor was pretty nice for it's time, and some of it's limitations made more sense for the engines it targeted. So Hammer is 25+ year old technology with some patchwork and not a creation of valve, in a sense. But yeah, still weird how little they decided to modify the thing. I wonder if they have better internal versions.

[@stitchfinger7678]

It feels like Hammer was much more of an internal tool they publicized just to be cool, where with SFM (as many problems as it has...) it feels a little more like releasing it was on purpose.

[@user-sl6gn1ss8p]

@@stitchfinger7678 I think the original version and the quake editors were already available, so it would only make sense for them to share their version of hammer (then worldcraft) too

[@cesarc3658]

Hammer++ made me actually get back a finish a project I was working on. Huge QOL improvements

[@cook_it]

As someone who messed about with hammer years ago ( and never released anything but got quite the enjoyment out of making whacky stuff in TF2 for myself) theses features are just unbelievable. I just can't wait to see what quirky stuff can now be made real, thanks to this amazing mod! Thanks ficool2!

[@popeyedanzii467]

Ficool2 got that backdoor labradoor drip

[@razamondo]

I remember back in highschool I tried my hand at mapping for Gmod TTT and CSS mini games in hammer and the process was so painful that even though still to this day almost 9 years later I STILL want to make things for source game I don't bother as hammer is so incredibly cumbersome and annoying to use in so many ways (don't you dare even THINK about ladders) this is an absolute game changer and may actually get me into it. While I'm not too big a fan of CSGO and haven't played it in many years I frequently play source games with friends and with an actual working editor it could open the doors to so many new experiences not just for CSGO but all source games that use hammer.

[@vectonaut1503]

Real time lighting preview in Hammer what!? Back in the day the one thing I loved about Unreal Engine 2 was the real time lighting in editor. Plus all of these other QoL features! I was actually thinking of getting back into Hammer now that the Half Life 2 VR mod is out... and then you drop this video... fantastic!

[@ianjohnston5205]

"Hammer++ let's you view the lighting in the editor. It also lets you..." I'm already sold. I've only dabbled casually in the Hammer editor, but getting the lighting to look how I wanted was so goddamn tedious!

[@0Blueaura]

I started watching your channels 10+- years ago and thank you for the old func_precipitation tutorial and what not, these videos have so much charm :)

[@ihorko3161]

"The sound previews now support rare and exotic file formats like... mp3" :D It's a bit silly that such functions appeared after over 20 years, lol. Kudos to ficool2. I wish we have something similar for GoldSource as well.

[@LL-kz7ge]

Oh god, watching this was the most painful and yet the most mind blowing thing I have ever seen. All those dreams of maps I wanted to make but was beaten by Hammer are suddenly becoming possible.

[@DarkeningDemise]

I was making maps for Counter-Strike: Source a while ago. I forgot Valve broke the editor and Source SDK itself back in 2013. You can't tell what the lighting is till you get in game after waiting forever and it looks ugly every time. I just gave up on the lighting and focused on making the map playable with bots and adding multiple ways to get around. I was proud of my underground bunker map. Really its nothing special but I am proud of what I was able to make given I haven't used Hammer since 2014. Amazing what you can remember after so many years. My last map was for Gmod Operation Quarantine. That's nothing special. I may try to share my CSS map one day. But Valve and its tools are a pain. I may never use Source 2 given my rocky experience with Source 1. I've moved onto other engines and game editors making maps and mods for various games. Valve and Source was just the beginning to teach me the basics so I could expand in the future.

[@Nicholas-dd9js]

Operation Quarantine Part 2 when?

[@saintaodhan]

Trust me, you should give Source 2 a try. Or at least look at some of the tutorials for it, because imo Source 2's map making tools are much much better than Source 1. There are still some quirks from Source but overall it's nice.

[@joesfather9122]

0:18 i hate that i know what his pfp is from :(

[@pancaxd1450]

That's awesome! I applaud ficool2 for the efforts put into this project. I definitely stumbled upon many issues in the past that this Hammer++ seems to solve, great work!

[@XradicalD]

I think the most impressive part is that it took years for someone to go ahead and do this. Hammer's shortcomings weren't anything new but I guess we all became adjusted to it. Hopefully Hammer++ will support most games and add more features, I know I needed it for a L4D2 map I was making.

[@GreenSwede]

The only reason Hammer++ exists is because it's using leaked source code, so its legal use is questionable.

[@ficool2722]

@@GreenSwede Hammer++ does not use leaked code, I am now licensed to use it legally

[@ItzKyber]

Nearly spat out my drink when i saw ficool's legoshi pfp. If you know, you know.

[@mprosso2000]

If you know, you know.

[@apenasumcaraqualquer204]

if you know, you know

[@deerby1500]

I was gonna say the same thing. Like christ, its such a mental flashbang for it to just be casually shown on screen and everyone being none the wiser.

[@lilBernier]

Swapped to hammer++ a few months ago. My jaw dropped when I saw the lighting preview for the first time.

[@Terrown]

I am in the process of making a map right now and this will really make my mapping experience so much better. This came out just at the right time :) Thanks again that you cover these topics.

[@InteractiveBUD]

This video is like a blast from the past. Probably ~15-17 years ago I used one of your original tutorial videos to learn how to make TF2 maps. It's been such a long time since I've used hammer. Very cool to see a subscription vid of yours pop up on my feed! Hope you're doing well brotha.

[@ZetaPrime77]

This looks incredible, I might even get into mapping because of it. I was always intimidated by the horror stories I heard about Hammer, but this looks great.

[@ThatsMySkill]

been using hammer++ for quite some time and i absolutely love it. so many things that improve your workflow.

[@IDisagreeWithYouAlot]

Man it’s so cool to see you still making videos. I used to watch your tutorials when I was like 13-14. I spent 12 hours a day on hammer and ended up getting really good with it. I know that program inside and out now.

[@ReickyTcharles]

Dude i met your channel a long time ago through the hammer tutorials videos, if I'm not mistaken it was like 12 years ago, your videos were the best, straight to the point, it woke up in me the passion for game development, well, congratulations :)

[@paincult7121]

The whole fact of having to switch in and out of the game to check delicate lighting setups was one of the biggest bothers of map-making. Might have to give Hammer++ to be honest.

[@kytkinpommiracing]

Hello please look my videos they are very epic

[@jankkhvej434]

the better model browser and lighting preview are by far my favorite features of hammer++

[@jesuschrist194]

Beautiful, you represent everything nostalgia from my life, bless you man, great videos :)

[@sm00se]

i appreciate the effort put into the subtitles

[@Hombzy]

I've been using Hammer++ for tf2 for months and it made my mapping life so much less miserable. It's mind-boggling how bad the standard version of Hammer is compared to this tool.

[@orhanerdogan2590]

Great video man 👍. Keep it up man

[@Larry.]

you pace your videos very well, I learned a lot in 10 minutes without realizing how much time had passed

[@jacobshirley3457]

Funnily enough, he learned that skill when he was making Hammer tutorials. He just disliked the overlong tutorials out there.

[@SeazonHDx]

Man i was 12 and your hammer tutorials made my life much easier back then thank you and thanks ficool for hammer++ even if stopped mapping long time ago

[@deepsnow4994]

6:44 - You can actually grab and move objects in 3D view in vanilla Hammer as well (either grab those white square handles or grab the "BBox" that is drawn around the object when you have it enabled with X). I use this all the time, and it's much easier than using 2D views (but sometimes it's still better to use 2D views for more precise adjustments).

[@firstnamelastname-ed6ef]

L4D2's Hammer definitely has the particle-preview window. You can also already manipulate entities and brushes in the 3D view. Are these really things CSGO's Hammer can't do?

[@Kidnation_Source]

The 3D view moving has been a thing since Source's introduction, but without the axis movers seen in Hammer++. The particle viewer wasn't introduced until L4D2, and even then, the particle viewer there crashes A LOT and lags A LOT even in CSGO, compared to Hammer++'s. Everything else here is either new to Hammer or made actually working. Like the lighting preview has been present but has never worked for any Hammer version until Hammer++, and the physics tool is all new.

[@Alivebyte]

yes, you can manipulate, but H++ does that with gizmos, which is way more cooler than hammer used to have

[@michaelwesten4624]

imagine making maps with two rocks and a stick. man cs is outdated just let it rest in the dumpster

[@TheBranchan]

@@Kidnation_Source Ah the memories of crashing Hammer just trying to explore different props to put in my levels :')

[@slendydie1267]

That made me appreciate the time and effort put into optimising a map. Hiding stuff, aligning objects and skyboxes, placing lighting and fog. I always imagined a mapper would be able to see that realtime as it's being edited but alas. Having to render the map just to see a texture is misaligned by a tiny bit is so stupid. I'm excited for the future maps.

[@stevethepocket]

I don't know what you mean about textures; those are perfectly visible in even the oldest editors.

[@slendydie1267]

@@stevethepocket Haven't used hammer but I left with the impression that you cant check much out without rendering it. So I imagined just stacking some crates and they end up leaving a small gap. I usually watch videos on 2x so i could've gotten distracted and made something up but the main point still stands :D.

[@oblivitv1337]

There was a tool called "BSP Viewer" that did some of this awhile ago if I'm remembering correctly. It could load up vmf, etc. Glad to see the community is continuing to innovate.

[@Micha-Hil]

Philip using the word "Shit" in the title really sets it into stone how much he hates Hammer

[@circuz4167]

I'm still attempting to upload my l4d2 campaign and this is really what I needed to see, someone talking about how terrible Hammer is.

[@Max_Jacob]

I never really stopped mapping, always do it here and there, and something like this is always great news! glad to see it's making people want to give it another shot

[@silenceyouidiot]

Glad to see you cover Hammer++. Been playing around with it in Portal 2 a couple months ago, people also have guides on how to get it to work with L4D2, Black Mesa or that new HL2 mod, Entropy Zero 2.

[@Wheagg]

Tried to get this running on gmod a while ago. Never worked. But I will use this eventually. It's just too good.

[@nilslindstrom1494]

I've used Hammer++ since it's release; It made me way to excited first time I heard of it lol

[@Jschip]

Hey Philip when you talked about the being able to use physics in the engine for building it made me think of this bit of mapping info I remember from left for dead. In left for dead the static body piles in the map look a lot more realistic than other games at the time. And the way they did this was instead of modeling the piles they instead took zombie corpses with physics and threw them around until they looked like more natural body’s. This seems like the kind of thing we could see mappers using this tool for. Anyway thanks for reading my comment if you do, and also thank you for the content I always look forward to any of your videos :)

[@LinkiePup]

I’ve been using hammer++ to update de_sparity! -Thx Again for the opportunity Philip!-

[@ethhics]

I make surf maps with Hammer++ and it's been a good experience so far. Except leaks, I hate leaks in my maps

[@fatcatplanet]

Conclusion: Valve pls fix.

[@Gest_613]

I've never mapped before, but this reminded me of the time back when I used to use the default image viewing app called "Preview" on MacOS as an image editor because I didn't know any better. It was horrible to edit on since it wasn't made for editing images, but I used to spend hours on it drawing stuffs and making stupid edits to show to my friends or whatever. Time has passed quite a bit since then, but because of this, I think have so much more appreciation towards people who makes amazing creations despite the horrible tools they use. And I can't thank all the mappers enough for all the amazing maps they've made purely from passion and excitement, including probably you philip. (sry if the writing is scuffed, im not a native english speaker;)

[@quorthonsinferno5119]

Glad this video came out as I start my new map! Gonna be using hammer++ as the standard from now on :)

[@teajai45]

You can also play Super Mario 64 in the maps you make in Hammer++.

[@kipchickensout]

is packing of custom objects easier too? or do you still need to create tedious configuration files for each model and then packing them successfully 3 different ways just for them to still be shown as ERROR blocks on other people's PCs?

[@lukassundkvist7564]

I've been waiting for you to make a video about this!!

[@CS2tipsnclips]

I first found ur channel when trying to make CSS maps Many moons ago. You are a legend.

[@sodaslurp]

The main reason, why hammer sucks like that is because it is so old, that the computers back then could not handle these new real time previews and stuff. Hammer++ is a real gamechanger

[@PaperMario]

My PC is old and even 32 bit and it handles the hammer++ lighting rendering in real time fine. It's just Valve didnt bother updating Hammer with new features as its something usually they only used and not thinking about others even with the SDK out.

[@Ikethepro18]

I've never truly thought about just how many things are just wrong with hammer, it's unbelievable

[@shashiro_the7461]

I've never heard Philip so excited before. Makes me smile. Great video! :)

[@JDRuse]

one of my favorite tools in hammer++ is the polygon tool, it has been very helpful for me adding more than just right angled corridors into my maps and makes me actually add more shape into my map

[@SamiClouded]

ficool2's profile pic is a gift to know

[@Ramonatho]

It always amazes me how an individual or small group can accomplish something so far beyond what a massive corporation ever desired to do.

[@ErumTheProwler]

The only reason why I stopped making maps was the lighting preview problem, thank you very much for showcasing Hammer++ :D

[@CB66941]

I remember watching your videos on Hammer and thought just how much work was needed to make a map. I was mapping with DoomBuilder which easily allowed me to see the lighting preview and dabbled with Unreal which had so many features moreso than H++. When I wanted to map for Black Mesa I immediately switched to H++ and it really did just feel like this is how the editor should be. The support for BM is limited however so sometimes I had to switch between Hammer and H++, and the limitations for Hammer are so glaring Also H++ has autosaves and a log when your session crashes. ❤️ Ficool

[@augustday9483]

I can't wait to see a new wave of mappers and modders enabled by better Source 2 tools. The future is bright!

[@imirr]

Hammer++ is a lifesaver. Native hammer is really disappointing and i don't know why Valve not updating it now sadly

[@gbnp5579]

Thanks to 3kliksphilip some people (like me) will fortunetly start using Hammer++ instead of native, now that we know it exists...

[@kubaku4]

h++ author mentioned he's now "licensed under valve" and while vague I believe h++ is going to replace hammer

[@mou1660]

Philip, I've been watching you for a reeaaally long time, and I keep coming back to old videos of yours. Specifically mapping videos and your game making journeys. Though I still watch every single one of your videos, enjoy the 'newer' way of your content and see how analytics and watchtime goes deeply into your considerations of videoprojects as this is your job... I really miss the 'old' content style you had. Making bigger projects is very time consuming, but game-making and mapmaking has gone a long way since your old videos, and with Hammer++ and Unreal(in some ways klikandplay;)) you bringing 'bingy adventure' video projects back would be very refreshing. Your passion is what brings the content alive, and I feel like it gets a bit lost in the newer KZbin, where it seems like focus always to a very large degree relies on only uploading content that you know is going to perform well for a new and larger audience. The niches you at times have big focus on really brings people as myself in, and I can only hope for you to some day return to bigger niche projects. Of course I can't know what you want, and if you really find these interesting anymore, but if a Patreon, a streaming service like CuriosityStream, or giving the possibility for the community to support you in some other way can make this happen, I would love to help out. (Probably should have posted this on 2kliks)

[@francesboy2]

Never created a map nor been interested in creating one, but seeing how excited Philip got in this video and how well he sold the features makes me want to try.

[@Kono_Dio-Da]

God if only we could get an SFM++

[@Ultra289]

Whats the point? Blender was always better and still is ofc

[@Kono_Dio-Da]

@@Ultra289 SFM has a lot more community support though. Not that Blender's community support isn't amazing, but the sheer amount of stuff on the Workshop is amazing

[@inkoalawetrust]

@@Ultra289 Every other map editor ever is also better than Hammer too, like Phillip said, but Hammer++ still exists.

[@DOOMSMANN]

i hate that i know exactly where ficool2's avatar is from.

[@nymfyb9298]

was looking for this comment LMAO

[@johny_mo8318]

Thanks for this video as always. I made a map once for CS 1.6, it was a Zombie Escape map and really it just ended up being a modified version of a stock map. Even that was a challenge for me, but I can only imagine how much more time-intensive the process would have been if I made something completely from scratch. I have more experience making maps for Unreal Gold/UT99 (under the moniker Jaypeezy) and, in a lot of ways, your discussion of Hammer++ made me think of the Unreal 1 Engine's integrated development environment (IDE) and its trajectory. Very similar in that the stock UnrealEd tool we got was insufficient in many ways, buggy as hell and prone to crashing. Much like with Source/GoldSrc, it took the love and dedication of folks in the Unreal community to get us to UnrealEd 2.2, which along with just being a more stable software to use included new features (addition of renderers like D3d8/9, ability to convert brushes to meshes and vice versa, ability to export custom classes that would otherwise be baked into your map, etc. etc.) And ultimately it just goes to show the contrast between game engines that are 'open' to modification and tinkering like these, and others where your choices are more limited because the inclusion of that IDE didn't happen for some reason or was deliberately left out and opposed. People still love these old dusty games for a multitude of reasons, and it's wonderful to be able to come back to these every now and again and make something new and exciting because the possibilities have been opened up through these improvements.

[@Nightmare78hAlo]

I have only ever spent about 200 some hours in Hammer long ago when i was goofing around making my own TF2 and HL2 maps to learn it and this made me actually wanna return to it and re-learn source map making since i just got so tired of the limitations and issues the original hammer had, it's always been nuts to me that some people stuck with it for so long and so many years with the problems it has.

[@Nitedontdie]

He took the multi-billion dollar company's $500 mapping tool and brought it up to a $10,000 mapping tool. Valve, explain yourselves.

[@greyish7212]

Because Valve is switching to Source 2 and fixing the og hammer is the least of their concerns.

[@robinrai4973]

I'm an idiot so I don't know if you were joking or not but the ++ is from programming, it increments a variable by one of itself, so for example if a variable was an int of value 4, variable++ will make it 5 I remember loading up hammer, making four rectangles, then promptly closing hammer

[@Ynkev]

2:53 Nice reference to Two minutes papers, not gone unnoticed😉

[@uppedtrout]

glad to finally see a video on this, great video philip

[@meatystalactite531]

I thank the lord daily that 95% of the people who watch this video don't know where ficool2's pfp comes from.

[@pixelrunner2775]

Im just glad I can now put the rare and exotic sound file format, .mp3, in my maps.

[@stevenclaiborne2587]

I'm always glad to see new spins on the Hammer Editor. I don't think it's a terrible map editor, but finalizing details like lighting and skyboxes have always been a major pain. I personally work with the SDK for The Ship and on top of the original tools being broken on release, they still lack in terms of other SDKs. I wish that more Hammer variants (like this or Sledgehammer) would show more love to the more underground Source games.

[@gdmohdpiece]

In recent updates of Hammer++, you can invite a plumber to your map as an Easter egg. Hands down the greatest feature I adore.

[@yaba2352]

what? how lmao

[@gdmohdpiece]

Help >> Jumpman (Requires clean rom of m64 in the hammer++ directory)

[@ErkkolaJatka]

Tbh I really liked hammer from the small amount I used it (probably why I liked it), it's sooo much better than the level design tools in most modern game engines. CS2 hammer on the other hand.... Fooken brilliant - as a long time Blender user I absolutely adore it

[@trickguy3608]

insanely good video!! averything good to you and the hammer ++ guys

[@imsethtwo]

that displacement mapping clip at the end sold me more than anything else in this video

[@jockeyfield1954]

i tried to make a csgo map awhile back, and a "leak" went through the floor all the way into the abyss saying that the map is unrenderable because of this leak. i spen 3 hours trying to fix it, and gave up once i didn't find a solution it's been months since then, and i have no intention of going back to it. i hope hammer++ can finally fix this issue, as even deleted the map, and copy-pasting it back into a different save did nothing to fix the problem