Publishing to the Workshop

Uploading is done with the Black Mesa Content Publishing Tool, blackmesa_publish.exe, in the game's bin folder.

Before you start

• Steam is running and signed in to the account you want to publish under. The tool publishes as whoever Steam is signed in as.
• You've accepted the Steam Workshop contribution agreement. Until you do, your items stay hidden from everyone else.
• You have an upload folder containing only your VPK. See Packing a VPK.
• You have a preview image: a JPG or PNG under 1 MB. It's the thumbnail people see when browsing the Workshop, so make it a striking shot of your map with your title on it. 16:9 at 1280×720 is a safe choice.
• You've worked through the testing checklist.

Publish a new item

1. Open bin/blackmesa_publish.exe. The window lists Your published content.
2. Click Create new content.
3. Fill in the fields:
   • Title: what players will see. Use a real name, like "Access Point", not a file name.
   • Description: you can polish this later on Steam, but it can't be blank.
   • Tags: help players find your item when they filter the Workshop.
   • Content folder: choose your upload folder (the one containing just the VPK).
   • Preview thumbnail: choose your preview image.
4. Click Apply changes to UGC. The tool uploads everything and confirms when it's done.

Finish the item's Steam page

Your new item is on your Steam profile under Workshop Items. Open it and use the controls on the right to:

• Check the visibility. Make it public when it's ready. Use friends-only or hidden while you test.
• Add screenshots and videos. Players decide from the images.
• Add contributors, so everyone who worked on it can update it.
• Edit the description. Steam supports BBCode for headings, lists and links.

A good description answers the questions players will otherwise ask in your comments:

[h1]Access Point[/h1]
A three-map singleplayer campaign set in a high-security storage facility.
About 30 minutes long. Best played after Black Mesa's Office Complex chapter.

[h2]How to play[/h2]
Subscribe, restart Black Mesa, then choose Add-ons in the main menu
and pick Access Point on the Campaigns tab.

[h2]Known issues[/h2]
[list]
[*]The lift in map 2 can trap physics props; nothing needs carrying through it.
[/list]

[h2]Credits[/h2]
Mapping: you. Testing: your friends.

For a multiplayer map, tell players it's at the end of the map list on the Host screen. See Multiplayer maps for what it needs to show up there.

Test the published version

Uploading isn't the last step. Test what you actually uploaded:

1. Take your VPK out of bms/custom/ and remove any loose test files.
2. Subscribe to your item and wait for Steam to download it.
3. Restart the game and run through the in-game checklist again.

Updating your item

1. Rebuild your VPK and copy it into the same upload folder, replacing the old one.
2. Open the publishing tool and select your item in the list.
3. Change what you need: point Content folder at the upload folder to upload the new files, or edit the title, description, tags or thumbnail.
4. Click Apply changes to UGC.

Steam updates subscribers automatically. Add a change note on the item's Steam page (Change Notes tab) so players know what's new.

If something goes wrong

• "You need to Accept the workshop agreement": accept it on Steam, then click Apply again.
• "Please choose a valid content folder" / "You cannot have a blank UGC content folder": the content folder is missing or empty. Choose the upload folder that contains your VPK.
• "Failed to query for your published UGC": restart Steam, then the tool.
• The item uploads, but nobody else can see it: check its visibility and the contribution agreement.

More fixes are on the Troubleshooting page.