Before we start we need to have a few things setup before we start on this badboy.


Ingredients include:

• Left 4 Dead 2
  
  
  
  
• L4D Authoring Tools
  
  
  
  
• Machete Mod Pack[drive.google.com]
  
  
  This package will be consisting of:
  
  • Raw source files
    
  • Maya scenes
    
  • and scripts
  Needed to make a Machete Mod
  
  
• Source FilmMaker's Maya Tools
  
  To get these tools to work you will have to go through a rather odd way of setting them up. Please visit the following tutorial to have everything setup
  SDK TOOLS
  
  
• Maya 2009 > 2013 (32x BIT)[students.autodesk.com]
  
  In order to use Valve tools you will need Maya (which is what Valve Employees use).
  Maya has a free student version which has limits, but should have everything needed to tackle a mod.
  Student Version:
  http://students.autodesk.com/?nd=download_center

Models

Buckle up and proceed to the next step.

Animations

Jump to Step "Setting up the Animation Scene"

Textures

First Youtube some nifty Photoshop Texture Tutorials like this VVV
LINK
Then come back here and jump onto Step "Making Textures".

Everything!!!

Keep Scrolling

At this point you could add or remove elements from the mesh if you wanted. To do that you would probably need to familiarize yourself both with basic concepts of 3d modeling and Maya usage as well. For the sake of this tutorial we’re not going to cross that bridge just yet. What we’re going to so is port a model from another game because it’s a little easier and quicker to deal with for now. Where you get the model doesn’t really matter ultimately…basically any format Maya can read is OK. There are LOTS of free model sites out there that will let you download models already in a format Maya can read.

Here's a few selected sites.

• http://thefree3dmodels.com/stuff
  
  This is a decent one just because it has a lot of models already in 3dsmax friendly formats and it tells you the format it’s in on the thumbnail so it’s easy to see what will work for you.
  
  
• http://www.models-resource.com/
  
  Full of old school game models and a few slightly newer ones. Also organizes models from what game and platform they came from for easy navigation.
  
  
• XNALara Community[xnalara.home-forum.com]
  This Community is full of models and has a great set of folks that has made more rips then a fat man in skinny jeans. Also they have alot of custom content made by dedicated fans as well.
  
  
  To find models just google "Xnalara models" or visit two of the following sites
  xnalara customized[xnalara-customized.deviantart.com]
  tombraiderforums[www.tombraiderforums.com]
  
  
  These models must be extracted with a specific program/s tho.
  XNALARA: Link[www.tombraiderforums.com]
  XNALARA XPS: Link[xnalara.home-forum.com]

But for this tutorial we shall be using the Dota 2 Pudge's Cleaver.

If you would like to follow along CLICK HERE[drive.google.com] for the cleaver.

Alright everything is in place and we can now get this ball rolling....now let's hold hands and try to keep this ball from rolling downhill.

First lets open Maya with your new RunMaya.Bat shortcut you made in the "Materials Needed" Step.

From here you can open either "w_machette.ma" or "machete_rig.ma" from the "Machete Maya Files" Folder. For now I will be using the "w_machette.ma" first then moving on the more difficult 1st person rig.

You should be seeing something a lot like this VVVV






Now if you're following along lets IMPORT the Pudge's Cleaver, the file should be "cleaver.smd".


From here will need to position the cleaver to the best of your abilities to match up with the machete. You may need to scale and adjust the your custom model to fix the size of the machete's handle so no odd model clipping occurs.

Now it's time to play doctor ladies and gents. This operation will consist of a simple Mesh Swap. Now since this weapon is weighted to one bone no skinning will be needed so this will go pretty easy.


From here you will want to open your Outliner Window, which can be found in two of the locations shown on the below screenshot.




Now that your Outliner is open you will need to move the custom mesh into the "Weapon_bone" tab and delete the machete's mesh, for me my custom mesh will be the cleaver:cleaver.






From here you can save the Maya scene as a NEW file, for me I'm going with the name of "Cleaver of Awesomeness". This new scene will act as a custom "w_machette.ma".

Now before we complete this export we must get rid of the purple and black texture off this model.

At last, we can now export the results of your hard work into a file ready to be converted over into L4D2.

First you will want to go to the FILE > EXPORT ALL tab.
Now we shall navigate to your "MACHETE PACKAGE Folder"'s compiling Files


Now before we export, set the (Files of type:) to Valve SMD Model.
You will now have a set of options to the right side of the Export All window like below.

On these options you will want to have:

Simon says you may now choose your File Name and click EXPORT ALL.


Congrats you now have a new World (3rd person) Model ready to be compiled.

Now take the this new knowledge and repeat the same steps going from

"Setting up for The Switch" to "Exporting the Model"

are taken to create the custom 1st person model as well.

From here if you don't wish to make a custom Animations then please jump to step "Making Textures". But if not then strap in because this ride isn't over just yet.

Now before jumping to this step note that I'm assuming you already have some understanding of how a Rig System works. With that being said Prepare yourselves.


So first lets start off by starting up Maya.
Now we will open your desired animation you wish to replace.
(All animation scenes can be found in the Machete Maya Files folder under the Animations folder)


For me I'm going to replace the Deploy animation, so lets begin:

• First Open the Scene (*/Machete Maya Files/Animations/Deploy.ma)
  
  
• After selecting an animation Maya scene you will be prompted with this message V
  
  This file will be located in the "Machete Maya Files" Folder titled machete_rig.ma, however if you've been following along and made a custom 1st person model then you will need to select the Maya scene that has your custom 1st person model.
  
  
• After you have that scene selected you will then be greeted with another window.
  
  This file will be in the "Machete Maya Files > Arm Rig" folder.
  
  
• Finally after the popup windows are gone your work space should be like the image one the left.
  At this time I suggest checking one of the arm layers located in the Channel Box/Layer Box Tab.
  

To keep this short I will be only working with the Weapon Bone Control (The BLUE Box).

So from here we will be wanting to verify how long this animation is by first selecting the Weapon Bone Blue Box and seeing where the red Key Selections end.
(This will tell us how many frames we can work with)
As you can see we have 30. :)



We now know our limits, so lets go crazy and make our own set of Red Key sections.



If you have done everything correctly you will now be able to switch through each keyframe and see your custom skeleton positions. If you would like to see how your animation would behave ingame you could always Press the Play Button in the bottom right.
Here's my example of what my frame 1 will look like.



At this point it would be wise to save your project with a custom name like "My_Cool_New_Animation.ma" ....or something like that.

After you feel satisfied with your new animation we can now EXPORT.




On these options you will want to have:

Now be sure you name this animation something so you know what animation it replaces. To keep things simple it shall be DEPLOY.SMD.



Congrats you now have a custom animation ready to compile into a mod....If you're only here to make an animation then please jump to step "Setting up for Compiling"

In order to make textures work within Source engine you will need to be using VTF and VMT files.


To make these files I suggest using the following program.

VTFedit: Link[nemesis.thewavelength.net]

Now open each texture that the cleaver uses and save them into
Machete Package\materials\models\weapons\Melee
under the same name in .VTF format. If you're just here for retexuring the original Machete then you will just need to replace the existing Machete.VTF. If not just delete everything in the folder.

If you're new to VMTs and VTFs I highly suggest visiting the following link to know all your possibilities of how you can make a texture behave in the game.

Valve Texture Format


You can now exit Vtfedit and open the new VMT you made in VTF edit and mess around with the settings. For me I added the normal map and a few settings to give the cleaver the ability to draw up blood when it's in-game.

Now that we have our new Models, Animation, and/or Textures we are ready to compile.

1st lets edit the file you will be using to compile everything..Which is the COMBILE.bat file located in:

Machete Package\models\weapons\melee\Compiling Files

Inside this bat file you will need to change the paths to where your L4D2 directory points to. For me it's directly on my D:\ Drive.
(Most of you will have it in your C:\Program Files or C:\Program Files (x86) directories.)

After that deed has been done, save and exit.

For educational purposes I will be showing visual changes to Machete.qc and let you use what you learn to tackle the W_Machete.qc.

Now open Machete.qc in Notepad ++. Depending on what you have made during this tutorial will determine what line of code you will need change. Follow the graph below to see where you fit in.




Also to keep issues from happening it's wise to keep your custom files named exactly or close to the original files they are to replace. Here's an example of how the QC should look if you have been following along all the way through my tutorial.


You now may save this and move to the next Step.

Now the moment of truth is here to see if you have set everything up properly.

Now if your not already go to your "Compiling Files" Folder

Now all together now!
Grab your machete.qc or w_machete.qc and drag it onto the COMPILE.bat file. Some cool Matrix like code will appear in a box and process your skills and convert you amazingness into compiled Model Files.



If done right you will see this Heavenly message


You may be asking yourself, "Dammit Splinks where did my creation scurry off to"?
Easy children I will tell you where your files have gone to.

• First locate your L4D2 Game Directory
  
  *\Steam\SteamApps\common\left 4 dead 2
• Now open the "left4dead2" folder
  
• Now the "models" folder
  
• Continue on to the "weapons" folder
  
• Take a deep breath and open the "melee" folder

Now move all those files to your Melee folder inside of the Machete Package folder.
Presto!!! We're practically done, but not entirely.

We’re finally ready to build and test out the mod. Hard to believe but here we are. So, let‘s browse to this folder:

*\Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead 2\bin and locate the file vpk.exe.

Right click on vpk.exe and send to desktop as a shortcut. Now drag your entire Machete Package folder onto vpk.exe shortcut and let it work its magic. A few seconds later you should be greeted with Machete Package.vpk. Hell Yes! Let’s test it out. Browse to your l4d2 addons folder located here:

*\Steam\steamapps\common\left 4 dead 2\left4dead2\addons

Copy your vpk into this folder and voila! You just installed it. Make sure there are no other mods in there that might conflict with it (like another Machete mod or something) and if all looks well start up your game. Load any random map you like. If all the stars aligned you should see this:

Now it's time to clean up a few things and add a few bits of tuning to this package.


First lets remove the unneeded things. These would be the following 2 folders.

Machete Package\models\weapons\melee\Compiling Files

and

Machete Package\materials\models\weapons\Melee\PSD

Now we will be adjusting the AddonInfo.txt file.
Just open this in either notepad or notepad ++ and replace the fields with the proper data that credit the author/s and point out the mod in detail of what it does.


After both of these tasks are complete remake the VPK and place it into your addon folder.