Sledge Alpha Build file - Half-Life 2: Deathmatch

Alpha Build!

Sledge is currently in public alpha, which means that there are still many changes being made and it will be updated often. Alpha builds may be unstable.

What is Sledge?

Sledge is a completely free and open-source replacement for Valve's Hammer Editor, with a focus on compatibility with both Goldsource and Source engines. The purpose of Sledge is to offer advanced editing features from later versions of Hammer and other editors and make them available to all users, regardless of which engine they choose to use.

Sledge uses the same file formats as Hammer does (RMF, MAP, VMF) and maps are compatible between both programs. The editing process is almost identical to Hammer, the hotkeys are the same, as well as many of the screen elements and dialogs. Switching to Sledge will not be difficult for users who are familiar with Hammer.

Sledge Public Alpha

Sledge is currently in alpha stage, so it may be unstable and some features are missing. Missing features include:

• Built-in support for prefabs/instances
• Automatic detection of game configurations

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.

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!