1. What is "Sledge"?
Sledge is a free and open source drop-in replacement for Valve's Hammer Editor made by Penguinboy from TWHL , currently under development.
It reads and writes RMF, MAP, and VMF files, and it can be used to create maps for both GoldSource and Source engines.
2. Features in Sledge
◾Runs on modern operating systems and graphics cards;
◾Full support for Goldsource editing;
◾Reads and writes RMF, MAP, VMF files;
◾Proper decimal precision for sub-grid geometry;
◾Support for large maps via FGD attributes;
◾Support for multiple visgroups per object;
◾Automatic visgrouping;
◾...and much more!
A number of file format parsers are currently available, including FGD, RMF, VMF, MDL (limited support), and WAD (via HLLib).
3. Reasons to Try Sledge
Sledge is built using modern frameworks and libraries, and is tested on modern operating systems. Sledge brings many editing features available in Hammer 4 into the Goldsource editing environment. Sledge is constantly being enhanced and new features are always being added. Sledge is open source, which means the source code is available to everybody to modify and improve.
4. Sledge Public Alpha
Sledge is currently in alpha stage, so it may be unstable and some features are missing. Missing features include (currently):
◾Advanced compile options;
◾Built-in support for prefabs/instances;
◾Automatic detection of game configurations;
UPDATE
The below features have been added since the website has been updated:
◾Support for opening multiple maps at once;
◾Rendering models;
◾Autosaving;
◾Support for PAK/GCF packaged installs;
◾Transparent tool brush rendering;
◾Support for editor cameras.
5. Source Support
The current milestone is to fully support Goldsource editing. Once the alpha test is complete, work to add support for Source will begin. Full Source support is expected to be released in version 2.
Many Source editing features will be available in Goldsource as well, such as displacements and instances. These features will convert to Goldsource-compatible brushwork when a map is compiled.
6. Future Possibilities
Because Sledge is open source, the possibilities for future expansion are endless. Some popular ideas include the following:
◾Collaborative editing and multi-user support;
◾A plugin system and support for scripting;
◾Built-in support for version control systems like SVN and Git;
◾Powerful displacement editing tools;
◾A complete 'Sledge SDK' containing other editing and creation tools based on the Sledge code base. ...and anything else you can think of!
7. Sledge's last update (NEW! 20 Feb 14):
Full list:
◾Draw selection box size in the 2D viewports. Resolves #120.
◾Only open the properties window on double click in the 3D view. Fixes #109.
◾Add nice update notification dialog to display release notes.
◾Add transform as a menu item in the viewport right client menu. Resolves #111.
◾Holding down control moves all points of the clip tool. Resolves #107.
◾Update the box coordinates in the status bar when transforming. Fixes #119.
◾Fix issue where models would not render due to flexible casing and type in the FGD format.
◾Make sure the brush controls are displayed in the correct order. Fixes #125.
◾Sort the entity flags when reading them to apply, stops the flags from being swapped randomly.
◾Don't mess with texture settings when rendering the entity tool. Fixes #102.
◾Ctrl+click in the 3D view of the VM tool can deselect solids. Fixes #122.
◾Don't select extra vertices in the VM tool unless the mouse is clicked. Fixes #108.
◾Hold control to scale proportionally in the box tools. Resolves #123.
◾Implement 3D movement settings. Fixes #116.
◾Keep the recent texture list in sync between the texture tool and the sidebar panel. Fixes #101.
◾Tweak the tolerance value for invalid solids to match Hammer's behaviour. Fixes #114, also hopefully fixes #68 as well.
◾Add setting to change the mouse wheel move distance in the 3D view.
Be sure to follow every update on the pages below, or help the developer by leaving a comment on the official forum thread:
TWHL.info - Official Sledge forum thread
GitHub
