Here is a quick guide that will help you import all of Dota 2 models in the Source Filmmaker that currently only comes with support for Team Fortress 2.
This guide will contain all the details pertaining to importing the models / props / particles and etc into the Source Filmmaker. Like I did with the cosmetics guide, I will give a short description for things while I go about the tutorial so you can have a better understanding of the steps.
Step 1: Extracting Dota 2 Resources
This procedure is exactly the same as the one I mentioned on the Cosmetics Guide and if you are already familiar with it, then you can directly skip to Step 2.
So the first step would be to extract the models / materials / animations and other raw content from inside the game that will be used in the Source Filmmaker. Valve stores all of their packaged content (never code) under the VPK (Valve PAK) format. If you’re familiar with modding other games from the company, you will be familiar with GCF files. The VPK’s are more or less the successors to these files and can be extracted in the same way the GCF’s were done – using GCFScape.
Download and install GCFScape. Now visit your Dota 2 folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\dota) and find the “pak01_dir.vpk” which is the parent extraction file that will rip out all the content from all archives attached to it. Open this file in GCFScape and extract all the content you see to a new location.
Step 2: Copying your resources to SFM folder
Now that you have your resources, it is time to copy them to the Source Filmmaker folder to be able to use them later in the program.
Go to your Source Filmmaker directory inside your Steam folder and look for the folder called “game“. The game folder is the the root folder in which all your resources are stored. If you take a look at this folder, you can see sub-folders like hl2, tf and etc which are nothing but the resources of Team Fortress and Half Life that you get to pick and choose from when you are inside the program.
You will need to make a resource folder for Dota 2 too. Create a new folder called “dota” and copy all your extracted content from Step 1 in to this folder. Do not alter the file locations as hierarchy needs to be maintained.
Once this is done, you will need to tweak the texture files of Dota 2 to make them work with the SDK that is used by the Source Filmmaker. In order to do this, get a program like Notepad++. Once you have the notepad installed, open it and go to Search > Find in Files.
In the dialog box that opens below enter the following. Make sure “In All Sub-Folders” is ticked.
Find What: CustomHero
Replace With: VertexLitGeneric
Filters: *.vmt
Directory: YourSteamLocation\Steam\SteamApps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\dota\materials\models
Once you press replace, the program should get to work and at the end of it you should have a message saying that a certain number of occurrences have been replaced.
Congrats! You now have tweaked all your content to work with the SDK that powers the SFM.
Step 3: Making SFM read your content
A fairly simple procedure. You now have your resources in place and you will need to tell the SFM to scan through these files too when it loads up.
In order to do this, go to the mod folder that you are working on which is by default “usermod” that you can find in the root SFM directory. Open gameinfo.txt and add a new path for the “dota” folder that you just created. Check out the image below to see how it should look like when you’re done.
Step 4: It’s Done!
All your work is done. Now just start up SFM and load up any map. Once that is done, go to your Animation Set Editor (on the left hand side) > Create Animation Set for New Model.
This will bring up the model loader where all you need to do is press “Rescan” and all your models will be read by the SFM. Just add them and create your magical movies.
All the models will come with all sequences that are defined to it. You can make use of them if you wish to or you can always puppet your own little moves and give us some absolutely fantastic movies. Particle effects from Dota 2 can also be used and attached to your models using the SFM.
Step 5: Secret!
I’ll get to this soon. Sshhh!! 🙂 Until then do say hello to Sven-Man (fan-art)!