Extract Content from VPK files

Requirement :

With this tutorial you need to get the latest version of GCFScape (1.8.5 ) to open the VPK files and extract some files from there.

Download GcfScape




So let’s starts, in that tutorial we will extract some Dota 2 assets into a source filmaker project we have called Dota_2. We will extract the important files, so the model viewer will displays the models and textures correctly.

You can extract the full contents or just extract what you need ( heroes and default weapon) myself i choose to extract the full contents.

  • Go at “Steam\steamapps\common\dota 2 beta\dota”
  • Open the pak01_dir.vpk with gcfscape
  • Extract these directories to “steamapps\common\SourceFilmmaker\game\dota_2”
/models/items/
/materials/models/items/
/models/heroes/
/materials/models/heroe




I will Extract the Antimage models and his default weapon (Antimage).

so you can simply extract the mdl files and associated files that comes with the mdl file.

Go to models/items/antimage/ and from models/heroes/antimage/, you must to extract : common/sourceFilmmaker/game/dota_2/models/heroes/antimage/.


Now, from : materials/heroes/antimage/ you must to extract Common/sourceFilmmaker/game/dota_2/materials/models/heroes/antimage/.


Dota 2 workshop submission require that you follow the exact same shader that the weapon use originally.




Now launch the model viewer from the SFM launcher.

  • File > Open the model viewer and load the antimage
  • File > Load a weapon > open antimage_weapon.mdl


The Assets are now properly extracted and readable by the model viewer.




The tutorial is finish and you could continue the reading :
if you read the Dota 2 assets creation guide, click here to return to the summary of the Guide.
You should want to learn how to decompile an MDL file using Studio Compiler or Crowbar.