Pulley

Pulley is a content importing tool for Source Engine that imports content from other Source Engine titles. It runs based off of a pulley_config.json configuration file.

Using Pulley

Setting up the configuration file

The Pulley configuration file uses the following format:

{
    "config": {
        "paths": {
            "depots": "./pulley_imported/",
            "mdl_compile": "C:/SourceSDK2013/bin/studiomdl.exe",
            "mdl_decompile": "./PulleyLib/studiomdl_decomp.exe"
        },
        "profiles_to_run": [
            "profile_1"
        ]
    },
    "profiles": {
        "profile_1": {
            "uses_vpk": true,
            "depot_to_import_to": "depot_name",
            "content_dir": "path/to/content/directory",
            "content_to_import": [
                "materials/material/to/import.vmt",
                "scripts/or/other/content.txt"
            ]
        }
    }
}

• config: Holds the primary configuration information.
  • paths: Information on where Pulley can find resources and tools.
    • depots: A path where depot content resides. Should be a string value.
    • mdl_compile: A path to the .MDL compiler exe. Should be a string value.
    • mdl_decompile: A path to the .MDL decompiler exe. Generally, this should stay as the default value. Should be a string value.
  • profiles_to_run: A list of profiles for Pulley to process and import. Should be string values.
• profiles: A list of profile definitions.
  • <profile_name>: The name of a Pulley profile. Should be a string value.
    • uses_vpk: Does the profile import from .VPK content? Should be either true or false.
    • depot_to_import_to: The name of a content depot to import to. When running this profile, content will be imported to <config:paths:depots>/<value>. Should be a string value.
    • content_dir: The directory to import content from. Should be a string value. If uses_vpk is set to true, this should be a path to a directory vpk, otherwise it should be a path to a content directory.
    • content_to_import: A list of content to import. Values are relative to the content directory. Should be string values.

Running a Pulley import

To run Pulley, you should directly run the Python script, or run py pulley.py in a command line. Pulley will run through and process each profile listed in the profiles_to_run section of the configuration. Once an import is completed, the content should be available within the depot directory.

Example config

Below is an example Pulley config, that imports 3 textures and a material from Portal

{
    "config": {
        "paths": {
            "depots": "./pulley_imported/",
            "mdl_compile": "C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Source SDK Base 2013 Singleplayer/bin/studiomdl.exe",
            "mdl_decompile": "./PulleyLib/studiomdl_decomp.exe"
        },
        "profiles_to_run": [
            "aperture_parking_lot"
        ]
    },
    "profiles": {
        "aperture_parking_lot": {
            "uses_vpk": true,
            "depot_to_import_to": "portal",
            "content_dir": "C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/steamapps/common/Portal/portal/portal_pak_dir.vpk",
            "content_to_import": [
                "materials/nature/escape_vista_01.vtf",
                "materials/nature/escape_vista_02.vtf",

                "materials/signage/overlay_aperture_logo_worn.vmt",
                "materials/signage/overlay_aperture_logo_worn.vtf"
            ]
        }
    }
}

The output of the above configuration looks like the following:

• pulley_imported
  • portal
    • materials
      • nature
        • escape_vista_01.vtf
        • escape_vista_02.vtf
      • signage
        • overlay_aperture_logo_worn.vmt
        • overlay_aperture_logo_worn.vtf

Other Notes

• The tool has special import procedures for .MDL model files. Pulley will attempt to decompile models, and then recompile them under the SDK 2013 toolset.
• Pulley is not designed to be used for copyright infringement. Support will not be provided in cases where you use Pulley to infringe on copyright.
• The pulley_config.json includes a sample import_test profile, to show how the tool operates.
• Pulley makes use of CrowbarDecompilerCMD, a derivitive of Crowbar for model decompilation.