Since there is no Guide to a Portal Hammer Configuration
for those who only own Portal. I made up this one
which is basicly a modification of NullSoldiers guide.
So thanks to Nullsoldier and
thanks to ebola, for his huge hint

Preparation: Download these files:
- GCFscape, use this to extract files from GCF files. Very handy tool. Link: http://nemesis.thewavelength.net/index.php?p=26
- Portal FGD. Link: File removed. Check the Download Database.
- FIXVTF Version 7.3 to 7.2 VTF converter. Link: File removed. Check the Download Database.**
- special GameConfig.txt. Link: http://freenet-homepage.de/theemerald/t ... Config.zip

1. Start Steam, go to the "Tools" tab and install "Source SDK" and "Source SDK Base".

2. Modify the "GameConfig.txt" so that it fits for you.

3. Copy "GameConfig.txt" and "portal.fgd" to "..\steam\steamapps\$Username\sourcesdk\bin".

4. Create a directory named "source sdk base" in "..\steam\steamapps\$Username".

5. Start GCFscape,
5.1 Open "..\steam\steamapps*source sdk base.gcf" and under "root" extract "reslists" and "sourcetest" folder to
"..\steam\steamapps\$Username__source sdk base"
5.2 Open "..\steam\steamapps*source 2007 shared materials.gcf" and under "root/hl2" extract "materials" and "particles*" folder to
"..\steam\steamapps\$Username\source sdk base__sourcetest"
5.3 Open "..\steam\steamapps*source 2007 shared models.gcf" and under "root/hl2" extract "models" folder to
"..\steam\steamapps\$Username\source sdk base__sourcetest"
5.4 Open "..\steam\steamapps*portal content.gcf" and under "root/portal" extract "materials" and "models*" folder to
"..\steam\steamapps\$Username\source sdk base__sourcetest"
6.** Copy "fixvtf.exe" and "tier0.dll" to "..\steam\steamapps\$Username\source sdk base\sourcetest".
Drag the "materials" folder onto "fixvtf.exe"

A command prompt window will come up explaining it is processing the materials folder. During this time you will not see any text untill it is completed and it may take a number of minutes depending on the speed of your computer.
When it is finished it will inform you that it was successfull. Don't worry if there were a few errors. Thats ok. Close fixvtf when it has completed successfully.

7. Start "Source SDK", let it build up its database.

8. Now that all files are copied, choose "Hammer Editor".

9. Hammer will pop the "First Time Setup" choose "No" ! (otherwise your GameConfig.txt will be overwritten and you would have to put it into sourcesdk\bin again)
Since you aborted the "First Time Setup" you can close Hammer.

That's it ! you are ready to go !

EDIT: Removed as FAQ was updated.

I've utilized this FAQ
Hammer runs clean, i had to do the GameConfig.txt mod as a LAST
step however b/c I didn't realize to what extent I needed to modify the
file.

FYI, for others, the "..." should be replaced with whatever path gets you to the steam directory.
so for me, I needed to replace all "..." with "c:\program files" b/c that's
where my Steam directory was.

the "Username" was an obvious, so I replaced all "Username"s with
my steam ID as shown under the steamapps directory (case sensitive to
be sure).

From there, Hammer runs, I have yet to add a file with it, but I give this
FAQ a 5/5 for content. It works!

yes, you are right, i've corrected it.

I'm not using Edit b/c this is a different post

I've created a hollow block with an info_player_start in it
I selected Run Map and have VIS RAD etc being used on it
and everything compiles fine, but when it tries to load portal
with the map, i get a MountFileSystem error Already in use.

Any ideas? Or is there an FAQ I should be reading somewhere?

FYI, I CAN load it manually when running portal, but I think I'm missing
something to be able to run Portal from Hammer.

Sounds like Portal is trying to read a file that something already has "dibs" on. Are you running this while Hammer is still open?

No, Portal wasn't already open when attempting to Run map from Hammer.
but after I got the error, i loaded up portal manually and loaded my map
from there.

Only other thing running is the source SDK and Hammer to my knowledge

Yekyaa wrote:
... i had to do the GameConfig.txt mod as a LAST
step however b/c I didn't realize to what extent I needed to modify the
file. ...

actually, i used Hammer's "First Time Setup" and it overwrote my modified GameConfig.txt (b/c i didn't know^^), so i'm not 100% sure if the 9th step works

Yekyaa wrote:
... I selected Run Map and have VIS RAD etc being used on it
and everything compiles fine, but when it tries to load portal
with the map, i get a MountFileSystem error Already in use.
...
FYI, I CAN load it manually when running portal, but I think I'm missing
something to be able to run Portal from Hammer.

i have the exact same problem
but no freaking idea how to fix it ...

nono, the 9th step works, the problem is I hadn't changed the "..." to match
my path to the steam directory, so it gave me an Invalid GameConfig error
and did the FirstTimeSetup, even after I did the FirstTimeSetup and cancelled,
it still overwrote my GameConfig.txt so I had to reextract... maybe change
the GameConfig.txt thing to be the last step, just close hammer, edit, save
and drop it in place of the one that hammer generates (same directory).

Epic post though for those that don't have HL2 or HL2DM

On another note, the error I'm getting is

"MountAppFilesystem() failed: SteamMountAppFilesystem(215,23,0x1d69fd74) failed with error 21: A different version of this FS is already in use"

Anyone have a clue on this one?

the thing is you need the GameConfig.txt to start Source SDK.
without it Source SDK won't start all, it doesn't even give you a error msg in that case...
took me some time to find that out ^^

ps: my error msg.. identical to yours..

im glad u figured everything out. ;p anyhow no one can run the map straight from hammer at this point so don't worry about that emerald.

meh, oh well, workaround for now, run portal in the background and select not to run program after map compile