SourceToSoF2

Converts Source engine maps (.vmf) into Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix multiplayer maps: brushwork, displacement terrain, props, decals and overlays, textures, shaders, collision, lighting, the 3D skybox and the map's own ambient sounds. One window, ten steps, one button.

Tested on Counter-Strike: Source maps and CS:GO maps decompiled to .vmf (de_dust2, de_cache, de_overpass, de_mirage, de_cbble), for SoF2 MP 1.03.

Download SourceToSoF2.exe

One file, nothing to install. Windows 10/11 64-bit.

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What you need

Windows	64-bit Windows 10 or 11.
The map	The map's .vmf. For a map you only have as .bsp, decompile it with BSPSource first.
Source content	Your Counter-Strike: Source install (or its cstrike folder), or folders/.vpk files the map's materials and models come from. If the map packs its own content into its .bsp, keep that .bsp next to the .vmf or under the content folder - the tool finds it and reads it first.
The map's own .bsp	Recommended. Besides packed content, it holds the map's texture lights (fluorescent tubes, light panels, lamps that glow by their texture), which exist only in the compiled .bsp, not in the .vmf. Without it, rooms lit only that way stay dark. The GUI shows whether it found one.
Soldier of Fortune II	A SoF2 install with its base folder. A separate copy for mapping is a good idea.
q3map2	NetRadiant's q3map2.exe (it has SoF2 support). Use this one: see below.

You do not need Python or anything else installed - it is all inside the .exe.

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Quick start

1. Run SourceToSoF2.exe.
2. Fill in the fields:
   • Source .vmf - the map.
   • Source content root(s) - your CS:S install or extracted content (several folders: separate them with ;).
   • Output folder - an empty folder; everything the tool makes goes here.
   • Map name - filled in from the .vmf.
   • SOF2 base folder - e.g. ...\Soldier of Fortune II - Double Helix\base.
   • q3map2.exe - the q3map2 you compile with.
3. Leave all ten steps ticked and press Run Selected Steps.
4. When it says Done, open base\maps\ and run compile_<map>.bat (or compile_<map>_quick.bat for a fast test build: less visibility culling, same lighting as the full build).
5. Start SoF2 and \devmap <map>.

The compile also writes <map>_release.pk3 into your output folder: the whole map in one file, to give to other players - they drop it into their base folder. Source normal maps, ssbumps and specular/env masks are left out of it - idTech3 has no stage that could use them - which on de_overpass saves 34 MB.

Hover over a field or a step for what it does.

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Which q3map2

Use NetRadiant's q3map2.exe. A converted CS map is a lot of geometry, and NetRadiant's q3map2 grows the .bsp draw-vertex and draw-index lumps as needed. Other builds - GtkRadiant 1.6.7's among them - keep those lumps in fixed arrays of 524,288 and stop part way through -bsp with:

MAX_MAP_DRAW_INDEXES

The same build also stops at 8192 shaders (MAX_SHADER_INFO exceeded) once a few converted maps sit in base side by side, though the compile works around that one on its own.

Use a 64-bit q3map2 as well. -light asks for one block of a few hundred MB for the trace nodes (measured: 214.5 MiB on de_overpass), and a 32-bit q3map2 often cannot give it:

safe_malloc failed on allocation of 224919552 bytes

That is the address space of a 32-bit program, not your RAM.

The compile also passes -brightness, -vertexscale and -gridscale values worked out for each map (see Lighting below). NetRadiant's q3map2 has all three; a build without them lights the map several times too bright.

The tool checks the q3map2.exe you pick and says so before it runs, and the compile .bat prints the same note. You can keep editing in whichever Radiant you prefer - this is only about the build that compiles.

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Before you play: com_hunkMegs

SoF2 loads the whole .bsp as one block of memory, inside the 2 GB a 32-bit game can use. A very large hunk (for example com_hunkMegs 1024, a common "performance tweak") reserves half of that at startup, and a bigger map then fails to load with:

Z_Malloc(): Failed to malloc ... bytes!

Use com_hunkMegs 256 (in your config, or +set com_hunkMegs 256 on the SoF2MP.exe shortcut) and restart the game. Measured on de_overpass: the map peaks at about 134 MB of hunk, and with 512 instead of 1024 the largest free block went from 54 MB to 393 MB.

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Options

• Terrain mode - how displacements are built. lwo (default): one seam-free terrain model, built the way Source builds it. patch and brush are older modes.
• Skybox props -> real map space - moves 3D-skybox props to the real position and size they stand for. Leave on.
• Skybox landscape brushes - detail of the 3D-skybox landscape. Default 4.
• Props at original quality - off by default. Needs NetRadiant's q3map2. SoF2 has to fit the map in a size limit, so by default the tool simplifies props and drops small clutter until it fits (architecture - windows, arches, trims, doors, railings - is never dropped). Tick this to keep every prop at full detail and trim the map yourself; the log says how big the .bsp will get.

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What to expect

• Props: maps built mostly from props (de_cbble, for one) cannot keep every prop at full detail inside SoF2's limits. Expect simplified props and missing small clutter (cans, bottles, tools) on those. The step 6 log lists exactly what was simplified and what was dropped.
• Sounds: each map's own CS soundscape sounds, as SoF2 speakers. Random background sounds beyond 32 speakers are left out (each speaker costs one of the entities SoF2 sends to every player).
• Prop skins: a Source prop placed with a skin other than the first one is converted with skin 0. Mostly this shows on foliage and light fixtures, where Valve used skins for colour variants. The step 10 audit lists every prop it affects.
• Game logic: Source's entity I/O (buttons, triggers, timers wired to each other) has no SoF2 equivalent and is not converted. Bomb sites and buy zones are not converted either.
• Lighting: matched to the lighting Valve baked into the CS:S map, from the map's own light_environment and lights, and from its texture lights when the .bsp is there. Measured against Valve's lightmaps, de_dust2 comes out at 1.00 in sunlight, shade and lamp-lit areas. Two things CS:S does on top are not reproduced: its HDR tonemapping and bloom, which make sunlight look a little punchier with HDR on (mat_hdr_level 0 in CS:S shows the look that is matched), and per-pixel bump/specular. Compiles take longer than a plain q3map2 compile: q3map2 normally cuts dim light off at its edges, and the converted map is set up so that it does not (de_dust2: 484 s -> 666 s on 16 threads). The bounce pass of big prop-heavy maps takes longest.
• Several converted maps side by side: shaders for shared CS textures come out identical from every map, so one map cannot spoil another's look.

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When something goes wrong

Your output folder also gets _missing_assets.txt: what the map referred to and step 2 could not find. It separates the few files a conversion would have used from the Source model and per-pixel-lighting files it never needs, so a long list there is normal.

Every run writes SourceToSoF2.txt next to the .exe: the full log of all ten steps. When you report a problem, attach that file, plus the compile window's output if it was the compile that failed.

• Z_Malloc error in game - see com_hunkMegs above.
• "MAX_MAP_DRAW_INDEXES" in the compile - the q3map2 you used keeps the .bsp draw lumps in fixed arrays. Use NetRadiant's q3map2 (see above). If you have to use another build, convert again without Props at original quality so there is less geometry.
• "safe_malloc failed on allocation of ... bytes" - your q3map2 is 32-bit. Use a 64-bit one (see above).
• The map is lit several times too bright, or the .bat warns that q3map2 "does not know -brightness" - the q3map2 you used is not NetRadiant's. Use NetRadiant's q3map2 (see above).
• A room that is lit in CS:S is dark - check the GUI found the map's own .bsp (the "Map's own .bsp" line): rooms lit by glowing textures need it. Then run the steps again.
• The compile .bat cannot find q3map2 - set the q3map2.exe field and run step 10 again, or edit the Q3MAP2 line at the top of the .bat.
• "MAX_SHADER_INFO exceeded" in the compile - q3map2 can load 8192 shaders and each converted map adds 700-1500, so the compile leaves the other converted maps' shader files out of shaderlist.txt while it runs and puts the list back afterwards. It prints what it left out and roughly how many shaders are left. If it still stops, your base holds a lot of other custom shaders: move the unused loose .shader files out of base\shaders.
• "SourceToSoF2.exe was not found" from the .bat - the compile runs some helpers through SourceToSoF2.exe; if you moved it, run step 10 again.
• Windows Defender / antivirus warns about the .exe - single-file programs packed with PyInstaller are sometimes flagged by mistake. The program only reads your source files and writes into the output and SoF2 base folders.

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Reporting issues

Open an issue on this repository's Issues tab: the map, what you saw (a screenshot and the in-game viewpos help a lot), and SourceToSoF2.txt.

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Content and legal

SourceToSoF2 is a converter. The maps, models, textures and sounds it converts belong to their owners (for Counter-Strike content, Valve Corporation), and converting them does not change that. Share converted maps only where you have the right to. This project is not affiliated with Valve, Raven Software or Activision.

License

The tool is released under the MIT License - see LICENSE.

The .exe carries a Python interpreter, NumPy and Pillow inside it; their licenses are listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.

Made by KENNITHH.