VMEX

(October 14, 2017)

"I swear r_speeds are still relevant—"

VMEX has largely been supplanted by BSPSource. VMEX doesn't support post-Orange Box Source games and is much glitchier than BSPSource. VMEX is also no longer in active development and is only archived here for historical reasons.

VMEX (Valve Map Extractor) is a Java-based map decompiler for Source games. It converts BSP files back into VMF files for use in Hammer. Decompiled map names have _d appended to differentiate them from the original. In GUI mode, browse for the BSP or type its path into the "File" box, set any settings if necessary (though the default settings work for most maps), and click "Decompile".

You can also run VMEX from the Command Prompt by running vmex [path to map.bsp] after navigating to the folder where you've installed it. Older Windows 9x machines should use vmex2.bat, also included.

Decompiling maps with VMEX may not give you a perfect VMF. Often, complex solids made by carving or the Arch tool will be broken, world geometry may be slightly misshapen due to rounding errors, and editor-specific functions such as visgroups won't be recovered. Areaportals also will not be usable without post-decompile fixing.

Also included in this mirror is a special version of VMEX for the modified BSP format used by The Ship. This version will not work with normal Valve and Half-Life 2-based games, and The Ship maps cannot be decompiled with the normal tools.