Rusted PackFile Manager vs Source 2 Viewer

Rusted PackFile Manager (RPFM) opens, inspects, edits and saves PackFiles for Total War games from Empire onward, including Pharaoh, Warhammer 3, Troy, Three Kingdoms, Attila and Rome 2. Its pack editor handles multiple archives and supports bulk file additions, extraction, renaming, duplication and deletion. Editors cover database tables, localisation, scripts, animations, models and other listed game formats. The DB editor offers schema-aware lookups, sorting, filtering and TSV import and export; localisation data can also be exchanged through TSV. Global search and replace spans packs, vanilla data and parent mods, and diagnostics flag issues including invalid references, missing localisation, portrait variants and animation gaps. Per-game MyMod workspaces include asset folders, templates, import and export, and one-click installation to a game's data folder. Translation tools connect mod translations with the Total War Translation Hub. A headless server provides a documented WebSocket protocol and an MCP endpoint with more than 150 tools, prompts and resources. RPFM is free under the MIT License; listed platforms are API, Linux, self-hosted and Windows.

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.