Interlopers.net Forum - Half-Life 2 News & Tutorials

After Pi Mu Rho's article SDK – Soul Destroying Kit?, A Steam group was started for the purposes of uniting a disparate community under one cause: SDK Improvement Group, or SDKIG.

There are already many well-written posts describing the problems that are faced when modding for the Source engine in the news thread, so I'll simply attempt to summarise and collate them here.
This is not the first time these criticisms have been levelled against the Source SDK, but is AFAIK the first effort to get something done about them.

Your participation is essential in gaining critical mass and recognition, here's what you can do:

• Join the steam group!
• Invite your friends, link to this thread
• Help us draft a public letter to Valve outlining our issues with the SDK and proposing rational solutions

The deadline for the letter being sent will be 1st September, after being carefully adjusted for Valve Time.

Dear Valve/Gabe Newell

Outline:

• Valve's SDK tools have fallen behind standards expected from the userbase; specifically in ease of use as compared to those of Crytek, Epic Games, etc.
• There is a lack of prior information regarding the SDK updates and subsequent potential to cause significant issues with mods or the SDK tools with engine/SDK updates.
• Despite SDK's popularity - due to the massive Steam userbase for Source games - it remains outdated and inefficient compared to other toolsets.

We suggest:

• The individual or cabal tasked with the SDK maintenance interact with community actively.
• An improvement of the SDK workflow, and the usability of the SDK tools, namely:
  
  • A simplification of the texture & model import processes for Source
• The release of the source code required to create new engine tools
• Extending Hammer to allow the writing of plugins for it

on behalf of
The Modding Community

Please note that this is not a list of bugs to be fixed, (post those at VDC Category:Feedback), neither is it a list of demands; these are all suggestions, some more feasible than others.
We need descriptions of specific workflow, content creation and usability problems - problems that are generally not present among the Source SDK's competitors.

Please comment here or on the SDKIG group with suggestions or amendments, and I will modify this accordingly.
I can be PM'd on this forum, or contacted via my Steam profile.

• Added release of in-game tools code suggested by Varsity
• Added OS'ing SDK tools based on suggestions by saxon, & .eXeC!, coder for the newly released Nightmare House 2 [Removed]
• Altered wording from "We request" to "We suggest", removed more documentation suggestion for reasons mentioned here
• Corrected spelling mistake, added sub-bulletpoints for workflow improvement suggestions and Hammer plugin ability, thanks vcool
• Changed "Unreal" to "Epic Games", removed open-sourcing of SDK tools suggestion, thanks MáØ
• Incorporated changes made by Major Banter to wording and structure

Well, I'm in. *tosses chips*

Thank the lord! I'm in, we need mod support for Source 2009 and being able to move the camera in the texture tool.

Doesn't really concern me, but what the hell, I'd love to help out

Ark11 wrote:Thank the lord! I'm in, we need mod support for Source 2009 and being able to move the camera in the texture tool.

Hit Z to enter freelook mode. It's very useful.

I can understand making a group, or some thread on the steam forums or something, but for some reason people really seem to think that solves issues.


"This game has bad performance!?" - "Surely making a thread or steam group shall get Valve's attention!"

Instead, you should have all of your members email valve about it, or compose something to send them.

MrTwoVideoCards wrote:I can understand making a group, or some thread on the steam forums or something, but for some reason people really seem to think that solves issues.


"This game has bad performance!?" - "Surely making a thread or steam group shall get Valve's attention!"

Instead, you should have all of your members email valve about it, or compose something to send them.

I think this thread is more about that than the steam group.

We need a list of what we want to see fixed or changed. To which I request 'official and up to date mdl decompiling tools'.

MrTwoVideoCards wrote:I can understand making a group, or some thread on the steam forums or something, but for some reason people really seem to think that solves issues.

"This game has bad performance!?" - "Surely making a thread or steam group shall get Valve's attention!"

I am under no illusion that the group doesn't solve any issues, other than that of coordinating a large number of disgruntled modders; it's merely a means to an end.

MrTwoVideoCards wrote:Instead, you should have all of your members email valve about it, or compose something to send them.

Great suggestions, I think we should go with the latter option.

Noodles wrote:We need a list of what we want to see fixed or changed. To which I request 'official and up to date mdl decompiling tools'.

Nope, that's pretty much what the VDC's Hammer Feature Requests is for, the list of possible improvements is endless; we simply want something to be done about them, and openness from valve regarding the current state of the Source SDK.

Looking Good.

If its that bad, dont bitch. Move to Unreal and when Valve sees the Steam stats of SDK usage dropping to critical numbers, they will do something. In the meantime, people will still use it regardless.

If it isnt broke (usage numbers), why fix it?

I support this but like M2 I think our approach is all wrong.

We should get our demands printed on some nice paper, certified and embossed by a notary public, placed into a recreation of the TF2 briefcase, have someone dress up as a scout and run in carrying the briefcase screaming TF2 quotes and seeing how far into the office they can get before someone stops them.

We could also make a touching video showing screenshots and video clips of the SDK phailing to be gud set to sad soft rock music.

I like Happy's idea hehe

haha >:)

Mr. Happy wins a fucking medal. I'd do it but I live roughly one Atlantic Ocean and one Baltic Sea from USA >: (

I'm serious, somebody should actually do it. And for exact details about their office we could watch the video they showed a while ago to exactly know how to run into the knifero- err... Gabe's office.

In terms of a name; Community Against the SDK

Or similar. Something that contains the community as a whole - I mean EVERYTHING Source related - and our issue.

I'll take the courtesy of contacting PlanetPhillip. Anyone else want to contact the big hitters, go right ahead.