HLMV++ (Half-Life Model Viewer++) is a new build of HLMV created by ficool2. The goal is the same as Hammer++, to fix long-standing bugs in HLMV and add new features and functionality to make the program better to use, whether you're doing model renders for artwork or for wiki articles.
You can download the latest testing build of HLMV++ here. You can also report issues or provide feature suggestions here in the Issue Reports.
Alternatively, if you're on Discord, we have a Discord server now where you can submit bugs or feature suggestions!
Click here to join the HLMV++ Discord!
HLMV++, like ficool2's other project, Hammer++, is closed source. Due to ficool2 being a licensed Source Engine developer, the source code for HLMV++ cannot legally be released.
- Team Fortress 2
- Can also work with the various Team Fortress 2 Source mods like TF2Classic, Pre-Fortress 2, Open Fortress and Team Deathmatch Classic.
- Follow this guide on setting up HLMV for Pre-Fortress 2, but instead of creating a shortcut for hlmv.exe, create it for hlmvplusplus.exe. Then add the -game parameter to the Target field of the shortcut as normal and point it to whichever mod's directory. If you have issues with this, please join the HLMV++ Discord and we can assist you further.
- Left 4 Dead 2
- Garry's Mod
- Portal 2
- Source SDK MP2013 (which means the shortcut trick won't be necessary to get this working for TF2 mods and other Source game mods)
Download the EXE and the DLL files from this repo and extract them into your steamapps/common/Team Fortress 2/bin or steamapps/common/Left 4 Dead 2/bin folder (where hlmv.exe is stored). Then just launch hlmvplusplus.exe instead of hlmv.exe and you're done!
I desperately need to update this section with all the new features from the recent Version 5 release.
- New Feature (22w45b): You can now load particle effects in!
- New Feature: View > Show/Hide Control Panel.
- Allows you to show/hide the lower-third controls panel, for larger renders.
- New Feature/Fix: Options > Make Screenshot.
- I don't know if this option ever worked in HLMV, nor what type of image file it would/should have outputted, but it now functions correctly, and functions way better. It now generates a TGA formatted screenshot, complete with a proper automatically-created alpha channel for easier background-removal, even on models with transparent/semi-transparent areas.
- New Feature: Options > Make Video.
- Ever wanted a better way to make GIFs/APNGs of model animations in HLMV? This new "Make Video" option generates individual TGA screenshots for each frame of the animation you're viewing, complete with auto-generated alpha channels for easy background removal.
- New Feature: "Picmip", "Antialias" and "Anistropic" dropdowns added to the "Render" tab on the lower-third controls panel.
- Those dxsupport.cfg tweaks that you used to have to do to increase render quality should no longer be necessary.
- New Feature: Live VMT material editing.
- This should make learning what VMT variables do what, and learning how to work with VMT files in general, a hell of a lot easier.
- Fixed: VMT Material Proxies not being respected.
- HLMV kind of ignored the entire Proxies section of VMT files for models. HLMV++ respects those proxies and thus, will display what the model would look like ingame.
- Upcoming Tweak: An option to toggle whether or not to respect the Proxies section is planned.
- New Feature/Fix: Facial flex panel overhaul.
- Kiss those dropdown boxes goodbye. The flex list is now auto-populating and paginated so there's no need for dropdown boxes to change a targeted flex.
- This fixes the age-old bug where facial flexes you had changed would be reset to their default values when you changed which flex a dropdown box was targeting.
- New Feature: The ability to save and import facial flex layouts has been added. More info and an example layout can be seen in the next section.
If you are familiar with using the Registry Editor (regedit.exe) to modify the "trans", "rot" and "lightrot" settings for models, there is now a new key that is added for models with facial flexes. The new key is called "flex" and can be used to export/import facial flex layouts.
Here is an example "flex" key layout for models/player/heavy.mdl:
DS;0.000000;MB;0.000000;right_CloseLid;0.500000;left_CloseLid;0.500000;multi_CloseLid;0.500000;blink;0.000000;upset1;0.000000;upperAngry3;0.000000;P;0.000000;dead03;0.000000;actionfire01;0.000000;happy1;0.000000;painbig;0.000000;dead02;0.000000;upset2;0.000000;actionfire02;0.000000;happybig;0.000000;upperSad3;0.000000;upperSad1;0.000000;upperSuprise1;0.000000;happybig02;0.000000;happysmall02;0.000000;upperAngry2;0.000000;mad;1.000000;idleface;0.000000;upperHappy1;0.000000;upperHappy2;0.000000;upperUpset1;0.000000;dead01;0.000000;happyBig02Upper;0.000000;happybigUpper;0.000000;Neutral;0.000000;ER;0.000000;RR;0.000000;SH;0.000000;EEE;0.000000;WQU;0.000000;FFF;0.000000;AIY;0.000000;AH;0.000000;ST;0.000000;LTH;0.000000;UH;0.000000;OH;0.000000;eyes_updown;0.500000;eyes_rightleft;0.500000;
- The Make Screenshot function may not work correctly when HLMV++ is stretched across multiple monitors. Doing so may result in a very wide screenshot with two copies of the same model in it. This is, to my knowledge, not fixable.
- TF2CutContent - Commissioned the creation of this project.
- ficool2 - Programming. The entire reason this even exists.
- Gabrielwoj - Bug testing, providing feedback and insight on changes/new features. Also made the Discord server image.
- Andrew360 - Bug testing, providing feedback and insight on changes/new features.
- ArielChandia2 - Bug testing.
- A Paint Bucket Named Huey - Bug testing.