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For a community that centres its user base around the Source engine, I thought I should get a discussion thread going, as well as, establishing a sort of repertoire for others to share and exchange ideas amongst one-another. Source SDK:: You can download an SDK by selecting the "Library" tab and the "Tools" subset. However, you only need to download an SDK if you plan to do some experimenting with the Source engine (i.e. a Sourcemod). The majority of the more popular and commonplace tools are generally bundled with Valve's Source-based titles in the game's bin folder: e.g. C:\..\Steam\SteamApps\common\TeamFortress 2\bin\ In this folder, you will find useful tools like: hammer vpk vtex vtf2tga ... and so on. If you intend to use Hammer or any other toolset for CS:GO, Left 4 Dead, or Half Life (GoldSrc) - you will need to download the Authoring Tools provided in the Tools Library. References:: [community-driven wiki containing well-documented information about the development processes for creating content for the Source engine; horse's mouth] Valve Developer Wiki: Valve Developer Community [well recognised youtuber -provides insightful hammer editing tips] 3kliksphilip: 3kliksphilip [another youtuber, same stance] TopHATTwaffle: TopHATTwaffle Hoogland Tools & Miscellaneous:: [GUI for converting image files to the Valve Texture Format] VTFEdit: Nem's Tools [VTFLib - Download - VTFEdit v1.2.5 Full] [GUI for editing the contents of a Binary Space Partition map file (requires the Java Runtime Environment)] Pakrat: Pakrat [Tool used for decompiling bsp files (be warned that decompiled maps are imperfect - meaning warped texture mappings with the possibility of invalid geometrical calculations resulting in broken world brushes. Makes a great tool if you're wanting to reference something. Also requires the JRE.)] BSPSrc: BSPSource - A VMEX-based Source Engine Map Decompiler