Valve today launched new Half-Life: Alyx modding tools which will allow developers and tinkerers to make and publish mods and user-generated content via the Steam Workshop system. Valve says the tools will allow for the creation of new levels, models, textures, and animations for the game.
It’s been about a month and a half since Half-Life: Alyx launched and made its mark as one of VR’s most acclaimed games ever. Today Valve has released the promised modding tools which will allow the game’s community to make and distribute new content for Alyx.
Valve says the Alyx Workshop Tools are still in beta and it plans to improve them over time, but for now here’s what’s being released:
- Hammer – the latest version of the Source 2 level editor.
- Material Editor – the tool for creating and tuning materials in Source 2.
- ModelDoc – a tool for viewing, editing, and compiling models with animation, collision, and other gameplay attributes.
- AnimGraph – our animation tool used to create complicated animation setups with blends and transitions.
- Particle Editor – for making new particle effects.
- Subrect Editor – for creating smart texture sheets known as “hotspots.”
- Source Filmmaker – the Source 2 cinematic renderer and animation tool.
The tools include several sample maps which demonstrate the pipeline that Valve used to make the game’s levels.
“The entire set of Half-Life: Alyx maps is also included as editable source for reference; this includes a large collection of interactive objects and prefabs. We’ll have news on more features and some smaller additional tools and examples in an future update,” Valve writes.
Developers and modders can download the official Half-Life: Alyx modding tools here on the Valve developer site where they’ll also find documentation, though Valve notes that it’s still writing the docs.
Once published, players will be able to install Half-Life: Alyx mods through the game’s Steam workshop page.
Alongside the release of the Alyx modding tools, Valve today also released a native Linux version of Half-Life: Alyx which uses the Vulkan rendering API. This also brings optional Vulkan rendering support to the Windows version of the game.