MAN .vs PakRat

[Tutorial]

MAN Vs. Pakrat

pakrat download
http://www.geocities.com/cofrdrbob/pakrat.html

MAN download
http://www.map-lounge.de/man/index.html

Or why you should own both if you do all your own custom content for a map.

You should only be reading this if you plan to include custom content in your map.

Man.

Pro's
-Super fast
-Can read .vmf files. (can scan a pre compiled map for content)
-Saves a back up the of the orinal .bsp before zipping
-Some color coding
-Can save a content file, nice if you manually built your list and don't want to lose it on the next compile.
-Can save a content list (list of custom files that was included in the .bsp in .txt form)
-Can save a map info file, all the details from the .bsp
-Shows some files that were not included.

Con's
-hard to tell when you have added new files (manually selected)
-Cannot delele or otherwise edit the list

Pakrat.

Pro's
-Easily see added files before saving
-Can delete enteries, removing them from the .bsp, great for correcting mistakes
-Can edit the paths and view .txt style content, like .vmt's, hex dump for all other content
-Can save out content, export, great for taking stuff that the author did not want you to have
-Auto corrected pathing for added files
-Saves a list of ALL the texures used, including stock.

Con's
-Very slow
-No back up of orginal .bsp
-Cannot scan .vmf files
-No color coding, harder to pick stuff out


I have had trouble with both not including files, so far I found, static props, shiney textures(uses cubemaps), and gibs from breakables. Their maybe more, I only know about the ones I have worked with.

For breakables I found that manually selecting the base model and gibs seems to work the best. I still had problems with gibs not showing when just selecting gibs only.

Niether app seems to find de_mymap_radar.vft and de_mymap_radar.vmt, add them manually, for radar supported mods.



I have had the best luck using MAN, after compiling the map, I open the map file, the .vmf, and have it scanned then update the .bsp, instead of scanning the .bsp. I find this includes most all the content, still misses gibs and the radar files though. This saves alot of time manually adding shiney textures and static props. For some reason zippers seem to miss files in the .bsp that can be read in the .vmf, via MAN.

You need to test your zipped .bsp now. Make new folder and drag and drop the materials, sound, maps, resourses, models, and script folders into it. Make a new maps folder and copy the newly zipped map into it. Start a game and load the map. This will ensure for a fact what got included and what was left out. So you should never hear that someone did not get this texture that or sound this. When done, drag and drop the removed folders back, accept to override all.

If you fully want to test the job you did, you can start a dedicated server with you map loaded. Need to only temperary remove only the maps folder. If needing to test with a .res file too, remove the materials, sound, maps, resourses, models, and script folders as above. Now start the game and join your server, the maps will start to download and you can see if any custom content is missing.

The only file that can not be included as I understand it, is the .nav file. If you include the .nav file, then you alter the .bsp file and it will mismatch the .nav and you will get a console warning. It thinks that the map was not analzied with the version of the .nav. If analized again it will write the then new .nav file to the maps folder and not .bsp. Then try to add the .nav again to the zipped .bsp and end still end up with a console warning. It's just a warning and will not stop the map from running, but to be professional you sure fix it by making a .res file so the .nav file is included in the download. A good thing would be to do your .nav mesh last, after building cudemaps and zipping the map, so you don't alter the .bsp in anyway after doing the .nav file (if you alter the .bsp in anyway it will generate the console message).

I recommend you own both. Both have unique and powerful features. If you have a problem with one you have back up and a way to test the against other.

slayera

[JamesL]

Small correction; Pakrat does backup the bsp everytime you save custom content to it, it just renames the backup to mapname.bsp.BAK

It is also extremely fast if you are using the Java version. Scans in a couple of seconds, writes bsp + custom content in another couple of seconds.

[Mr. Happy]

Is there any reason not to use bspzip with a .lst? It kinda seems to me like even though it's harder and more time consuming, doing that will work perfectly and better everytime.