Hammer Tutorial 3: How to fix cubemap reflections
In this tutorial, I will step away from the Hammer application and show you how to fix cubemaps due to the SteamPipe update. The method is shown below if you do not want to watch the video:
Make a Hammer map with cubemaps in it
Compile as normal
Download Pakrat and open the map you created, deleting all texture (NOT materials)
Open the map in the respective game (preferably in HDR mode) and type mat_specular 0
buildcubemaps
mat_hdr_level 0
buildcubemaps
mat_specular 1
mat_reloadallmaterials
mat_hdr_level 2 OR restart to reload the map
Following this process, the cubemaps should have been built correctly and metallic textures should reflect the world. The impulse 81 command can be used (sv_cheats 1 has to be typed in beforehand) to check if the cubemaps have been built correctly. I do not take credit for finding this method, but I sincerely thank the person who found this out. Thanks for watching as always, everything helps :)