Hammer editor

What is the Hammer Editor?

               The Hammer Editor is Valve's Program for making maps used in both the gold-source and source engine.
               The biggest thing to note if you were to use Hammer is that there is a huge difference between 
               Hammer for gold-source (Version 3.5) and Hammer for Source (Version 4).

            

These files are used mostly by Hammer for map editing

• ".WAD" (Wheres All the Data) Used for storing textures
• ".BSP" (Binary Space Partitioning) a traditional map format that dates back to Quake
• ".RMF" (Rich Map Format) Valve's Proprietary format for Hammer Projects up to version 3.5

These files are used for debugging or fixing your map

• ".LIN" This file is generated by QBSP and locates the coordinates of a leak (non enclosed area in Hammer) in a map

    112.000000 -128.000000 144.000000       «« First XYZ coordinate value of leak
    96.000000 -140.000000 0.000000          «« Second XYZ coordinate value of leak
    -80.000000 -140.000000 -160.000000      «« Third XYZ coordinate value of leak
    -64.000000 -128.000000 -204.000000      «« Fourth XYZ coordinate value of leak
                    

• ".PTS" This file is also used to aid in finding links but stores a series of lines that can be followed from the origin to the leak
• ".map" A widely used text format that lists brushes (any object thats not considered an entity), entities, and they're locations + textures.

{
"classname" "worldspawn"
"sounds" "1"
"MaxRange" "4096"
"mapversion" "220"
"wad" "\sierra\half-life\valve\halflife.wad;\sierra\half-life\half-life\half-life\valve\frens.wad"
    {      /---------------XYZ values--------------------\ /-texture-\ /------Rotation--------------\
        ( -256 -128 192 ) ( -256 192 192 ) ( 128 192 192 ) AAATRIGGER [ 1 0 0 0 ] [ 0 -1 0 0 ] 0 1 1 
        ( -256 192 160 ) ( -256 192 192 ) ( -256 -128 192 ) AAATRIGGER [ 0 1 0 0 ] [ 0 0 -1 0 ] 0 1 1 
        ( 128 -128 160 ) ( 128 -128 192 ) ( 128 192 192 ) AAATRIGGER [ 0 1 0 0 ] [ 0 0 -1 0 ] 0 1 1 
        ( 128 192 160 ) ( 128 192 192 ) ( -256 192 192 ) AAATRIGGER [ 1 0 0 0 ] [ 0 0 -1 0 ] 0 1 1 
        ( -256 -128 160 ) ( -256 -128 192 ) ( 128 -128 192 ) AAATRIGGER [ 1 0 0 0 ] [ 0 0 -1 0 ] 0 1 1 
        ( -256 192 160 ) ( -256 -128 160 ) ( 128 -128 160 ) AAATRIGGER [ 1 0 0 0 ] [ 0 -1 0 0 ] 0 1 1 
    }
    {
        ( -256 192 -192 ) ( -256 -128 -192 ) ( 128 -128 -192 ) AAATRIGGER [ 1 0 0 0 ] [ 0 -1 0 0 ] 0 1 1 
        ( -256 -128 -160 ) ( -256 -128 -192 ) ( -256 192 -192 ) AAATRIGGER [ 0 1 0 0 ] [ 0 0 -1 0 ] 0 1 1 
        ( 128 192 -160 ) ( 128 192 -192 ) ( 128 -128 -192 ) AAATRIGGER [ 0 1 0 0 ] [ 0 0 -1 0 ] 0 1 1 
        ( -256 192 -160 ) ( -256 192 -192 ) ( 128 192 -192 ) AAATRIGGER [ 1 0 0 0 ] [ 0 0 -1 0 ] 0 1 1 
        ( 128 -128 -160 ) ( 128 -128 -192 ) ( -256 -128 -192 ) AAATRIGGER [ 1 0 0 0 ] [ 0 0 -1 0 ] 0 1 1 
        ( -256 -128 -160 ) ( -256 192 -160 ) ( 128 192 -160 ) AAATRIGGER [ 1 0 0 0 ] [ 0 -1 0 0 ] 0 1 1 
    }
}
                    

• ".BSP" (B.inary S.pace P.artitioning) A format designed by ID software that Simplifies complex geometry, This file is not a text format and has to be decompiled into a .MAP file