The New Valve Editing Tool, It replaces the old WorldCraft utility. The most common Half-Life map editor

This is the index of entities to be used in WorldCraft 3.x or Hammer 3.4 for Half-Life. This is the most recent version and has undergone some heavy fixes and cleanups. Use this only if you are using WorldCraft v3 or Hammer v3.4

If you haven't heard of Zoner's, you probably have no business mapping for Half-Life anyway, but just in case you aren't aware, Zoner's replaces the pre-packages qrad, qbsp, qvis, and qcsg that is packaged with WorldCraft. This is the most current version and you shouldn't compile with anything else. If you don't compile with Zoner's, your friends will laugh at you, you parents will disown you and your girlfriend will leave you. Take the hint and download this now. If you already have Zoner's, make sure you have this latest version.

The latest work-in-progress version of Hammer released for a test run over at the Valve Collective. This is a BETA so use it at your own risk. This has some cool new additions to it, like model viewing from within the editor, a first for the Hammer/WorldCraft series.

When Hammer 3.5 becomes final, it will be moved up to the "essentials" list.

Half-Life FGD for Hammer 3.5. You will need this for the model support

For use with Hammer 3.5. Required for model support. Oddly, they have released a DoD FGD, but not a CS FGD.

Some people don't like to use WorldCraft/Hammer. Enter QuArK. QuArK stands for Quake Army Knife. As you can tell from that name, it was originally built for use with Quake, which makes it a highly versatile map editing tool, as it can be used with almost all Quake based games on the net (this include Half-Life of course). Some people will swear by the program over anything, as if it was the holy bible. For others, it may take some getting used to. If you are looking for an alternative to Hammer, this may be your best bet.

This is a snapshot, which means it's just zipped up. This also includes Python support (which is included in this build). To run this, all you have to do is extract the zip to whatever directory you choose. Enjoy.

An earlier version of QuArK. The build listed above is an alpha release after all, so should you have problems, download this version here.

NOTE: QuArK requires Python to run. You can download the required Python mini-install below.

An even earlier version of QuArK.

NOTE: QuArK requires Python to run. You can download the required Python mini-install below.

This is required to run QuArK. You need to install this before installing QuArK.

GTKRadiant is generally used for Quake 3 and Quake 3 based games. However, like QuArK it is versatile to many other games as well, such as Half-Life. This is a really nice map editor and I personally rather like it. A good alternative if Hammer isn't your thing.

If you use Linux and want to use GTKRadiant, or just need an editor that will run with Linux, this is your file.

An earlier build of GTKRadiant

If you need the earlier build of WorldCraft, here is version 3.3. Just in case the Hammer version isn't working for you.

FGD for Counter-Strike, for use with WorldCraft or Hammer v3.x

This is the index of entities to be used in WorldCraft 2.x for Half-Life. This isn't just a repost of the old FGD file but, as with the 3.x FGD has undergone some heavy fixes and cleanups. Use this only if you are using WorldCraft 2.x

FGD for Counter-Strike, for use with WorldCraft v2.x

A Counter-Strike FGD for advanced users.

FGD for Opposing Force, for use with WorldCraft or Hammer v3.x

FGD for Opposing Force, for use with WorldCraft v2.x

FGD for Team Fortress, for use with WorldCraft or Hammer v3.x

FGD for DMC, for use with WorldCraft or Hammer v3.x

FGD for DMC, for use with WorldCraft v2.x

FGD for Team Fortress, for use with WorldCraft or Hammer v3.x

FGD for Ricochete, for use with WorldCraft v2.x

Formerly HLCC. Probably not widely used anymore, but still may be quite useful to some. This program is a compilation controller that eliminates Worldcraft's compiling errors. It should still be compatible with the latest Zoner's Tools, and it supports any quake-based game. The homepage is now defunct, so support on it may be hard to find outside of the packaged documentation, but a lot of people love this program, so it may be worth checking out.

If for some reason the version of Zoner's above is causing problems or you need an earlier version, here is an earlier version of Zoner's

The full and complete software developers kit for Half-Life. If you ever wanted to poke around with Valve's original files, original models, original game code, it can all be found here. A must have if you plan to create any serious mods. Be aware, this is a pretty massive 111MB file. If all you want is the source, consider downloading the source only package below

If all you want from the SDK is the source or you just can't handle a 111MB download, then this is probably what you're looking for

This is an excellent program for viewing HL models, with the ability to go straight into the .pak file, use hardware acceleration, cycling through animations, skins, modifiers, and other great stuff. However, I've noticed that it takes up 100% of the CPU resources when running. This is really no big deal, but might be a consideration for somebody with a 300- MHz CPU.

Another model viewer that imports and exports textures and skins, exports models, and performs a variety of other useful functions. It was last updated two years ago, but might still be useful for some of you.

A small but useful utility for viewing all of Half-Life's sprites.

This is an excellent graphics package for making, editing, converting, paletting, and doing everything else to game textures. It supports most modern game engines, and has numerous essential functions. This is truly a useful powertool.

Tool Box Lux RAD is a nifty little utility for editing your .rad file (where the texture lights are defined). It lists the light textures, their values, and has a color chooser box. Pretty darn convenient.

Pak Explorer is a neat application that allows one to view and extract the contents of .pak files. These are the files that contain most of the media-type content in quake-based games and some others. With Pak Explorer, you can view these files within the .pak file, and if you wish, extract them for your own use. Use this program to extract sounds, sprites, models, and other such content from Half-Life.

An awesome program that generates realistic (or intentionally unrealistic) terrains and surfaces for your levels. Read our tutorial about it to get accustomed to the expert features.

The original came with Worldcraft 2.0 and contained some usefull information. At the very least, it lists the flags and bitfields for each entity. Please note that this guide does have some out of date information.

Both of the manuals from Wc2.0 which includes the entity guide as well as tutorials on the basics of mapping as well as covering the use of AI nodes. Essential reading for any newbie mapper.