ExtractBSPToFolderForVPK

This is a script made to work around a bug in Source Engine which does not allow it to read assets embedded in .bsp files when they are inside a .vpk

Run it with the GUI

To run it with user interface, run the file "gui.py" with the Python interpreter (python3 on Linux, python on Windows.) A new window will open, choose an input and output folder and click "start process". Wait a while, it may take long, but it will inform you if there is an error. The folders are:

• Output: Should be an empty folder where the result of the process is. You can drag this folder directly to VPK.exe
• Input: The folder where you downloaded the maps where that you want to extract. Should have at least a maps/ subfolder.

After running the program, use VPK.exe to transform it to a vpk file (instructions here). If the filesize of the output folder is more than 200MB, run VPK.exe in multichunk mode (described in the website).

Run it with the command line

Run "cli.py" using the python interpreter (python3 on Linux, python on Windows), the script will prompt you to indicate the input and output folders respectively

• Output: Should be an empty folder where the result of the process is. You can drag this folder directly to VPK.exe
• Input: The folder where you downloaded the maps where that you want to extract. Should have at least a maps/ subfolder.

After running the program, use VPK.exe to transform it to a vpk file (instructions here). If the filesize of the output folder is more than 200MB, run VPK.exe in multichunk mode (described in the website).

Command line parameters

The program supports various parameters:

• -i | --input can be used to specify the input folder before running.
• -o | --output can be used to specify the output folder before running.
• -s | --singlethread makes the program only use a single thread for computing, which may slow down the process significantly.

Why?

There is currently a bug in Source Engine (which I know exists in Team Fortress 2, don't know about other games) that prevents the game from loading asset files embedded in a map file (.bsp file) while the map file is inside a .vpk file.

What does the script do?

It grabs all the asset files inside the map files (the assets which wouldn't be read if the map was in a vpk) and puts them directly in its appropriate folder so that the game can read it even if the map is in a vpk. For example, it transforms this folder structure:

• Root dir
  • maps
    • cp_example
      • materials
        • texture.vmt (this file wouldn't be read if root dir was a vpk)

Into this:

• Root dir
  • maps
    • cp_example
      • materials
        • texture.vmt (this file still wouldn't be read if this was a vpk)
  • materials
    • texture.vmt (this file would be read by the game and the map would use it instead)