The VG Resource

I love the saxophone model used for the Sniper taunt 'Killer Solo' and want to do a render of it (side tangent of me nerding out: for such a low-poly model, it is actually very good. Like the keys aren't just some ambiguous circles on the texture, they were actually modeled as clearly-identifiable parts of the sax. Also, there's an octave key! A little wonky looking, but still, octave key!). I was really disappointed to see it wasn't already uploaded to TMR. I decided I'd try to rip it myself, but I ran into a problem.

The guide I was trying to follow (https://wiki.vg-resource.com/Source_Engine_games) provides links to various tools: gcfscape, vtfedit, crowbar, crafty (I don't think I'll need that one since it sounds like it's for maps), and gmad (I don't think I need this one?). Unfortunately, all the links, with the exception of crowbar, seem to be dead. Are there any mirror links to these tools?

Also, the guide is incomplete, with a note to add details later. Under the model ripping section, it says:

Quote:Then you will need crowbar to rip models. Simply extract the entire folder the .mdl is in from the vpk/gcf and open the .mdl in crowbar's decompile function. (note: need to add detailed tutorial for this part)

Anybody able to weigh in on the unfinished part? Is there anything I should know about crowbar's decompile function (e.g. any setting I might need to check is right)?

There's an unofficial mirror of Nem's site here, with working downloads of their tools. Also, I believe Noesis should support Source mdl and vtf files right out of the box without any need to decompile the mdls. I only have some Portal static prop models on hand at the moment to test it with, but they do load for me without issue. It looks like it can extract GCF files as well. But I expect it would only extract the entire thing at once, not allow you to pick out specific files. So, GCFScape would probably still be better for that.

It's been quite some time since I extracted any models from Source games. I don't have any experience with Crowbar, either, so I can't help you there, unfortunately. But hopefully Noesis will do what you need, and you'll end up not actually needing Crowbar anyway.

Firstly, you need a program to open VPK files (Valve Package), these are bundles assets are kept in. Programs like GCFScape and Crowbar can do this.

Go to your TF2 installation folder, then the "tf" folder inside. The VPK files you want are the "dir" ones. Models, textures, sounds, choose the one you want.

The file formats are as follows:

• MDL - Model format. Can be opened with the included hlmv.exe in most games or imported into Blender with an addon like SourceIO.
  
• VTF - Valve Texture Format. Can be opened with programs like VTFEdit Reloaded.
  
• VMF - Valve Material Format. Dictates the properties of a material, but not required for ripping assets.
  
• BSP - Compiled Map Format. Can be imported into Blender using SourceIO or decompiled back into VMF (decompiled map format) to reimport back into Hammer (Source engine mapping program) using BSPSource.
  

Usually, models and their textures follow the same format. Like if Medic's model was at models/player/medic.mdl his textures would probably be in models/player (or a subfolder of this called medic).

Sounds are stored in the WAV format, a very widely used format.