Configuring Source Filmmaker

The Source Filmmaker was never officially released by Valve. They have stated they would release the tools (among other things) but i assumed it would never happen. After being tired of waiting, I went on a hunt. I discovered that the tools were accidentally leaked by Valve in the first week of release of the Team Fortress 2 beta between 09-17-07 and 09-26-07. It was during this period of time that the SFM tools were available to the public (or maybe, were for the public, but Valve changed their minds due to glitches or other obligations). At any rate, these tools no longer function (at their current state) with the most recent version of Team Fortress 2.

The solution? Acquire the TF2 Beta between the dates of 09-17-07 and 09-26-07, make it function as a standalone program without steam and add the tools (if needed) to the bin\tools directory. How do you know if you have the tools? Here are all of the required files to make it work;

bin\tools\

actbusy.dll
commedit.dll
foundry.dll
ifm.dll
pet.dll
sampletool.dll
vcdblock.dll
vmt.dll

bin\

p4lib.dll
enginetools.txt

If you do not have these tools, never fret! They are still able to be acquired! http://www.hl2world.com/bbs/2-vt48251.html?postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15 Scroll until you find a post by "blants" posting an external link and brief explanation, those are the files you are looking for!

Let's say you don't still have the TF2 Beta .gcf/files backed-up somewhere on your computer. Then what do you do? Sadly, if i told you, Valve would send many powerful, scary men to bust down my door and break my legs. Getting the beta is your own issue. I can, however, tell you how to make your files steam standalone, if they aren't already.

If anyone actually got this far, (you brave, brave souls!) there's one more crucial step. Find your beta's directory folder and find hl2.exe (Half-Life 2.exe for you dip-shits). Right click the exe file and click send to -> desktop (create shortcut). This will create a shortcut to TF2 Beta that we can set specific launch properties. First, right click the shortcut and look where it says "target" followed by an editable text box. After the already present text, add:

"-game tf -applaunch 440" without " and "

Now, launch the game at least one time, load up any old map, then close the beta. Right click the shortcut again. This time, add:

"-window -noborder -novid -tools" again without " and "

Once these parameters are added to the shortcut, you should end up with a screen something like this:


If a dialog box pops up with a bunch of coding and .dll gibberish when loading the beta or loading a map, just click ok, it has no effect on the program or gameplay. After that, you're done! Make some movies, takes some screenshots and pass anything new you learn onto your peers here or on facepunch.

Any other problems, e-mail me, leave a comment or go to the facepunch thread to ask or look for someone else who already (and probably has) had your problem. I plan on adding an FAQ page and pictures to this tutorial at a later date. Please DO NOT e-mail me or anyone else about how to get the beta, as it annoying and considered illegal to tell you. Thanks for reading and i hope it works for you =]