Batch Compile Tool - Released!

[ProZak]

Have you considered making it an option to select which binaries to use? I mean selecting the individual exe's. That's a thing that annoys me with VBCT.

[qUiCkSiLvEr]

Originally Posted by ProZak

Have you considered making it an option to select which binaries to use? I mean selecting the individual exe's. That's a thing that annoys me with VBCT.

Compile binaries can be changed in the GameConfig.txt file with the 1.0t version of VBCT but since I haven't tested alternate executables the results are unknown.

Basically if the path declared in the GameConfig.txt file to vbsp.exe, vvis.exe and/or vrad.exe is different from the SDK path, or if the executables are not the regular names then VBCT will attempt to execute them.

VBCT has been updated to 1.0t and should work properly with the new SDK. A summary of the update:

VBCT has been updated to track with the new SDK update, IE: some mods were moved to the "source2009" folder and there is a new Source MP selection for "Orangebox" Multiplayer games.

The Launch Hammer button was also updated and now works properly. A minor update to the GameConfig.txt parser that allows custom compile module executables to be run (untested option though so user beware).

One last set of changes is there are now SDK Launch options in [...] for Portal2, Left4Dead and Left4Dead2 - VBCT won't directly compile for these mods yet but these are placeholders for this eventual capability.

[shadowmancer471]

I tried to compile a Portal 2 map with VBCT, but apparently although the option is there, vbct will not actually compile the map for portal 2


----------> Starting the Portal 2 SDKLauncher!
----------> Note: the SDK Launcher will not start if vbsp, vvis or vrad are busy.
It apparently needs write access to the executables on Startup.


Is there any way to get the map compiled. My Hammer doesn't compile maps, as the vbsp.exe crashes in every case.
Would it be possible to actually compile a Portal 2 map with VBCT in it's current version (I have vbct 't').
The site says

'One last set of changes is there are now SDK Launch options in [...] for Portal2, Left4Dead and Left4Dead2 - VBCT won't directly compile for these mods yet but these are placeholders for this eventual capability.'

But I was wondering it it was still actually possible to compile.

[qUiCkSiLvEr]

Unfortunately I'm still working on implementing full support for Portal2, L4D and L4D2 for VBCT. I'm getting closer but it's not there yet.

You should be able to compile from Portal2 Hammer but a quick look seems to indicate that something there is broken - I'll take a look later tonight if I have a chance and see what's going on.

[PotcFdk]

Thank you very much for this awesome tool!
Hammer always crashes for me,
Nem's Batch Compiler crashed and didn't even open the file.
This one handled it without a problem.

[MasterPenguin]

Extremely helpful! I have just one question though, how can I get it to copy a file to a specific directory after compiling? In Hammer, I can use the expert options, and put:

Copy File $path\$file.bsp c:\whateverstuffiwant

But I can't seem to find it.. Is it possible?

[qUiCkSiLvEr]

Originally Posted by MasterPenguin

Extremely helpful! I have just one question though, how can I get it to copy a file to a specific directory after compiling? In Hammer, I can use the expert options, and put:

Copy File $path\$file.bsp c:\whateverstuffiwant

But I can't seem to find it.. Is it possible?

Normally you want to copy the compiled map to the maps folder for the mod you're working on - just check the option to copy the compiled BSP to the Game Map folder.

If you want to copy the BSP somewhere else, you can easily do this as a post-compile operation, click the Advanced Options button and go to that option. You'll have make a small .bat file that will do the copy for you.

[MasterPenguin]

Originally Posted by qUiCkSiLvEr

Normally you want to copy the compiled map to the maps folder for the mod you're working on - just check the option to copy the compiled BSP to the Game Map folder.

If you want to copy the BSP somewhere else, you can easily do this as a post-compile operation, click the Advanced Options button and go to that option. You'll have make a small .bat file that will do the copy for you.

Awesome. I'm actually on CSS, it's just I'm using a dedi server to test my map (as I had a few plugins required), so I'd like it to go to the servers directory rather then the usual. Bat file seems pretty easy though, thanks!

[XFunc_CaRteR]

This tool looks awesome.

Forgive me if this has been answered - I've tried searching and googling, but haven't gotten a result - but does this compiler work with Alien Swarm?

[qUiCkSiLvEr]

Originally Posted by XFunc_CaRteR

This tool looks awesome.

Forgive me if this has been answered - I've tried searching and googling, but haven't gotten a result - but does this compiler work with Alien Swarm?

I haven't tested it (alien swarm) in a while but it should work, it has in the past. I'll take a look at it this evening.

Update: it looks like the last SDK update messed things up, I'll work on a solution this week to get support back online for mods.

[ProZak]

Have you considered adding support for minimizing this to the system tray? I usually leave it running when I'm not using Hammer, and it would be nice to minimize it fully

[qUiCkSiLvEr]

Originally Posted by ProZak

Have you considered adding support for minimizing this to the system tray? I usually leave it running when I'm not using Hammer, and it would be nice to minimize it fully

I have this on my to-do list, ty!

[H4wkeye998]

Is the tool still not officially supporting L4D2?

[qUiCkSiLvEr]

Originally Posted by H4wkeye998

Is the tool still not officially supporting L4D2?

Not yet but I'm coding a new scheme this weekend that should get me a lot closer.

The problem is that VBCT supports all the stock and custom mods that are available through the normal SDK but Valve created totally isolated SDKs for L4D/2 and Portal2 so I'm having to make the tool handle multiple isolated SDK folders and files.

[H4wkeye998]

Originally Posted by qUiCkSiLvEr

Not yet but I'm coding a new scheme this weekend that should get me a lot closer.

The problem is that VBCT supports all the stock and custom mods that are available through the normal SDK but Valve created totally isolated SDKs for L4D/2 and Portal2 so I'm having to make the tool handle multiple isolated SDK folders and files.

Ah, good. Hopefully, it'll be supported soon. Happy coding!