I came across this issue when I was attempting to add a custom model to Black Mesa. The model itself does not appear in-game, even though the MDL file has been installed properly (at least I think it has). I’ve added a search path to the gameinfo.txt and added the files as .vpk files. Not sure If I messed up the installation somehow or what, but I’m hoping there’s a solution.
I’m not sure about your specific problem, but generally for assets not showing up a good solution is to move them to a folder named “custom” instead of “addons” and setting the info path to that.
That said…
Devs, PLEASE add official support for this sort of thing…
Pretty sure VPKs in your addons folder is the official support. It works fine.
Ensure all files for the model are there, and not just the MDL.
There should be 5-6 files added depending on how you compiled it…odds are you didn’t compile it correctly. Source is very picky. If you can see the model in hlmv then you should see it in game. If not you messed up somewhere in the compile.
As the person who made the model in question I can confirm it was compiled correctly, and shows up in the Half-Life 2 hlmv/Hammer just fine when installed there. He didn’t mention and unsure if it has bearing, but it’s a totally new model, not a replacement.
I can confirm that it has been installed in the “custom” folder, so that’s not the problem (I think).
And I would assume that all of the files, and not just the MDL files were sent, so that’s probably not the issue either.
So anyways, I’m not sure what the issue could be. Maybe I really did screw up, or maybe it’s something else. I’m sure there’s a solution, just haven’t found it yet.
Is it a static, dynamic or physics prop? And is it used correctly in Hammer?
For instance, if a model is compiled as a static/dynamic prop and set as a physics prop in Hammer it still shows up in Hammer but disappears in game. (I’ve done that mistake a few times myself)
As far I know, the prop is being used correctly. The compiler simply states “Error loading studio model props_security/camera_dome.mdl”, and I’m not getting anything like “to compile this model with prop_static, It must be compiled with $staticprop”.
Also, thought I’d put the model name out there, I’m not sure if that might be causing the problem.
The MDLs from engine to engine are not necessarily interchangeable. Try compiling with the Black Mesa studioMDL.exe and see if we can rule that out.
Well, we tried recompiling the model with Black Mesa Studio, and there wasn’t any significant difference. We didn’t do an in-game test because we assumed that that wasn’t the problem. But if that isn’t the issue, I’m not sure what is.