Kuriimu2 vs Source 2 Viewer

Kuriimu2 is a free, open-source project manager and toolkit for game translators, ROM hackers, and game modders. It helps inspect, extract, edit, and rebuild game resources across formats. Its tools handle archive, image, and text extraction and injection, as well as font inspection and modification; archive repacking is also supported. The project provides graphical and command-line builds, a modular plugin architecture, and an API for custom plugins. A compatibility spreadsheet lists its large collection of supported game formats. Version 1.2.1 is the latest stable release and adds all image plugins from Kukkii plus batch injection in the command line. Kuriimu2 is listed for Windows; the quick start directs users to launch Kuriimu2.exe. The project says to install the latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable before use. It is under GPL-3.0, with no paid plans or usage limits stated. The project describes preservation, translation, research, and modding as intended uses.

Source 2 Viewer is a free, open-source tool for browsing VPK archives and inspecting or exporting assets from Source 2 games. It can search, extract, and create archives, including VPK versions from Source 1. Its renderer displays maps, models, physics, and particles with real-time lighting and animation playback. The tool also inspects textures, audio, shaders, and other Source 2 resources. Maps, models, physics, and animations can be exported to glTF 2.0, with material conversion and batch export; maps, models, and materials can be decompiled into editable formats for Hammer, ModelDoc, and Source 2 Workshop Tools. Texture tools cover channels, depth layers, mip levels, cubemaps, and HDR, with image export. Its audio player supports WAV, MP3, and Source 2 formats. The graphical interface is Windows-only, though the guide describes running it on Linux and macOS through Wine; the command-line utility is available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. The GUI is portable and requires no installation. Some data may be lost during export, and reverse-engineered format support is incomplete. The project is volunteer-built and says it is not affiliated with Valve.