Garry's Mod

   

This article is about a mod.

The subject was conceived by a third-party developer and is therefore deemed both non-canon and non-official. It cannot be used as a relevant source in articles on official subjects.

Garry's Mod
Release date	November 29, 2006
Genre	Physics sandbox game
Mode	Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution	Digital distribution
Specifications
System requirements	1.2 GHz processor, 256 MB RAM, DirectX 8 compatible video card, Windows 2000/ME/XP/Vista, internet connection, Source engine game.
Platform	Windows, Mac, Linux
Input	Keyboard and mouse
Engine	Source
Production information
Developer	Facepunch Studios

Garry's Mod, or GMod for short, is a sandbox modification for Half-Life 2 but later became a stand-alone game. It allows the player to manipulate objects and experiment with the physics of the Source engine, often with interesting results due to the power of the engine. Being a sandbox type game there is no goal as such or a way to win, rather users can modify the game and play the mod however they wish. Many different game modes have emerged with many different objectives and styles. Some even choose to remain in the sandbox mode to construct contraptions or scenery with the props and maps from most of Valve's games.

The current version of Garry's Mod is version 13, which still receives regular updates via Steam. Before this version, it was required to have at least one Source engine game. Garry's Mod no longer requires one, although it is still possible to mount a game to be able to use its content. Valve also no longer categorizes Garry's Mod as a modification, but rather as a full game, due to its ubiquity and popularity.

Overview

Garry's Mod is a game modification, created by Garry Newman in 2004, and a successor to JBMod, the original sandbox Half-Life 2 modification. While GMod does not possess any actual gameplay value in a traditional sense, it enables the player to freely manipulate all of the objects and features of the Source engine except for the background features. As mentioned, this has allowed an extensive community to build up and create other mods and mini-games within GMod'. GMod can be used as a map editing tool that interfaces with Valve Software's proprietary editor Hammer to add furniture and small items through its first-person interface, letting users graphically interact with their map. GMod 9 is the last free version of the modification, and was last updated to version 9.0.4 on the 27th of November 2005. Garry's Mod (previously known as GMod 10) is the first commercial iteration of the mod. It was released on 29th November 2006.

The old, and most iconic, Garry's Mod 11 game menu.

The newer game menu introduced in late 2009.

Most players familiar with Garry's Mod before its commercial release refers to it as Garry's Mod 10. The current version of the game does have a price tag and also requires a Source engine game to run. Essentially, almost all functionality within Garry's Mod (tools, constraints, shaders, menus, etc.) can be altered using Lua scripts and therefore can be heavily customized by the player.

Features of the mod include:

• More versatile camera tool.
• Appearance of thrusters can be altered, right down to the effects.
• Player models now visible in vehicles.
• Color-wheel within bloom and color-gun tool modes.
• The Physics Gun can move any entity. (Except for other players and the map itself)
• Improved client-server interaction.
• Reworked motion-blur.
• Hydraulic tool-gun.
• Motor tool-gun: allows props to automatically rotate. Controllable with the number-pad.
• Winch Constraint tool-gun: a constraint that allows control of a length of rope at set speeds with the number-pad.
• Keep upright tool-gun
• Hoverball tool-gun: attaches hovering balls to objects and hovers them at set heights. They will allow players to make more complex flying machines as well as aid in steering such objects.
• A Morphing visual effect that allows the player's view to be distorted, in a watermarked position on the screen, this is still beta.
• A higher-quality Depth of field effect with a more intuitive interface. Can select the focal point by clicking at the point.
• The new spawn menu has a configurable system of categories and filters from a base list of all of the resources available and will also automatically generate icons for spawnable items, eliminating both the need to produce icons for every object in the world and keep up with new releases and concerns about not covering third-party creations.
• From the videos and screenshots, it appears that the connections are now dynamic.
• An inflator tool, which makes NPCs' or ragdolls' body parts smaller or bigger, but makes some NPC's or ragdoll's whole bodies inflate/deflate, such as the headcrab.

According to The Steam Review Valve had given Garry Newman, in exchange for 50% of the profits from Garry's Mod 10, Garry was given the full Source engine source code to overcome the limitations of the free Source SDK.

Stock tools

The tools of GMod are the most essential part of the game as they allow various aspects of the map the player is on, and the Source Engine in general, to be manipulated to create a variety of effects and contraptions, which are user built machines made from in-game props that can perform a variety of function.

Physics Gun

Manipulates, rotates and freezes objects in mid-air, everything from ragdolls (used to create comics and ragdoll poses, with interesting results) to props. It is a slight edit of an original unused physics cannon script in Half-Life 2's code. It used to use the skin of the supercharged (light blue) Gravity Gun and the slightly altered icon of the Tau Cannon. It can now have its color changed via the Context menu (default C)

Camera Gun

Appearing as a large photo camera to other players, this weapon or tool allows the one using it to take screenshots by clicking the left mouse button. The HUD and the weapon view model are removed while using this. Right-clicking allows a player to zoom and tilt the view and reloading resets it.

Tool Gun

A new gun introduced in Garry's Mod that replaced the crossbow tool gun in earlier versions of the mod. The Tool Gun allows the player to use the many tools in the game such as; Rope tool, Weld tool, Balloon tool and the Thruster tool. It seems to be a modified Colt Python.

Face Poser tool

Gives the player the ability to adjust the faces of ragdolls, and was first seen in Version 6a.

Paint Tool

A tool-gun that gives the player the ability to paint decals such as blood, bird excrement, beer splash, alien blood and other substances onto different surfaces such as walls, objects and ragdolls.

Spawn Menu

The player can spawn items or "props" into the map by using the spawn menu (opened by pressing and holding the Q key). This menu gives the player access to most physical objects, such as rocks or furniture, and character ragdolls, such as enemies and characters.

Camera Tool

This tool lets the player create a camera in the world that, upon the pressing of a designated numpad button, can shift the player's view to where the camera is pointing in order to see the world through the camera's eyes.

Rope Tool

Allows the player to make a rope between two solid surfaces such as; Walls, Ragdolls, NPC's and Props. The player can set how wide the rope should be and what it looks like.

Weld Tool

Allows the player to weld two objects together or to weld an object to a wall. The two objects will be tied together, essentially creating one object from multiple ones.

Pulley tool

The pulley tools take four steps. The first step is selecting the object to be attached to one end of the pulley. The second and third shots are anchors for the constraint, where the rope must go through. (The pulleys) The last step is selecting the other end of the constraint. This tool can be used to let an object move along the pulley rope in a way that real pulleys work.

Axis tool

The axis tool creates a point on which an object will rotate on another object.

Ball socket tool

The Ball Socket tool lives up to its name: It creates ball-and-socket joints on which an object can pivot and rotate in any direction.

Balloon Gun

Attaches floating balloons to all kinds of objects. The upward force of a balloon can be altered. The balloons themselves used to be watermelons that had been altered to fall upwards, i.e. as if they were filled with helium. As of GMod 9, the watermelons have shiny, flat color textures to appear as balloons, as opposed to previous versions where they were merely watermelons with different colors. In Garry's Mod 10, a proper balloon model was implemented to be used instead of any re-textured and recolored watermelons.

Thruster Tool

Attaches thrusters to an object or wall that can be controlled by the number-pad. They are essential in the function of flying contraptions and applications where land vehicles are simply not efficient or fast enough with wheels.

Wheel Tool

Attaches rotating wheels to anything. Once applied, the player can control the direction and speed of the wheels. There are many different types of wheels, ranging from actual car tires to saw-blades and barrels.

Color Tool

Allows players to change the colors of objects or certain walls using RGB sliders.

Material Tool

Changes the textures of objects. Can be used in conjunction with the Color Gun to create props that are many different colors and textures.

Magnetise Tool

Converts ordinary objects, regardless of their materials, into magnets which attach to any object or ragdoll. This tool also has a few interesting side effects, such as making breakable props unbreakable, removing all constraints from a prop and unfreezing frozen props when used. The magnetism can be altered via a slider.

Dynamite Tool

Creates remote explosives that can be set off with a button on the keyboard. The player can control how powerful the explosion is. Dynamite has many uses including cannons and traps in-game.

Post-Processing Effects

There is a number of post-processing effects that can be utilized in Garry's Mod. Some examples are depth of field - a blur effect that simulates how a camera/eye lens focuses on different distances. Bloom: an effect that causes light to spread or is an important component of HDR rendering. Color Mod: an effect that allows the way and the color intensity of the world for the player to be changed. Not all graphics cards support these features.

NPCs

Garry's Mod contains enemies from Half-Life 2 and its episodes. On the steam workshop many people create or port NPCs from other games or other Half-Life mods or games. In Garry's Mod the game comes with both Combine and Resistance (as well as Creatures and Zombies) NPCs.

Resistance

• Alyx Vance (Spawns her with her Alyx Gun, SPAS-12 and SMG1.
• Barney Calhoun (Spawns with his OSIPR, SPAS-12 and SMG)
• Isaac Kleiner.
• Father Grigori
• Eli Vance
• Judith Mossman
• Dog
• Vortigaunts
• Rebels (Various weapons)
• Refugee (Similar to the Rebels).
• Citizen (Can pick up nearby weapons from corpses or spawned by the player).

Enemies

• Civil Protection
• City Scanner
• Overwatch Elite
• Overwatch Soldier
• Combine Soldier
• Shield Scanner
• Combine Dropship
• Combine Gunship
• Strider
• Stalker
• Turret
• Rollermine

Zombies/Creatures

• Barnacle
• Headcrab Zombie
• Fast Zombie
• Fast Headcrab
• Headcrab
• Poison Zombie
• Poison Headcrab
• Zombie Torso
• Antlion
• Antlion Guard
• Antlion Guardian
• Zombine

Others

• Wallace Breen
• G-Man

GMod 10 Addons

Thanks to the implementation of Lua code for Garry's Mod 10, there are countless scripted modifications for Garry's Mod. These can range from simple mods with increased life or speed, to incredibly complex game modes, to SWEPS (Scripted Weapons) or STOOLS (Scripted Tools). Some of the more popular game modes are:

• RolePlaying (DarkRP, Tacoscript, Cakescript, JailRP, GangwarsRP, etc.) - Roleplaying allows the player to immerse themselves in a user run world where each person has a job (like being a cook, a policeman, a gangster) and interacts with other people as their character. Conversely, some servers run as strict in character places where those playing create characters they expand over long periods. The Half-Life 2 universe is a common example of a place roleplayed in, in a serious format.

• Sandbox - The default game mode for Garry's Mod. Here players can do as they feel building contraptions, traps, buildings, scenes or whatever one feels like doing. This is the most popular mode, and the default for playing singleplayer.

• Zombie Killing - Many game modes have been created that involve the player teaming up with other players from around the world to fight NPC zombies or NPC Antlions en masse. This general atmosphere and maps of this game mode are usually custom-created ones of the players fighting hordes of zombies in a post-apocalyptic world though on occasion standard Valve maps can be modified to work with this game mode.

Some of the most popular addons are:

• PHX3 - A model pack that adds many props useful for construction, such as large flat plates. Was officially added on December 15, 2010. This has been added to be included in Garry's Mod vanilla in an update.
• Wiremod - An addon that adds lots of devices that can be wired together to make complex automatic contraptions. This can range from simplistic rockets, complex computers, or guided missiles. However, this mod has been known to crash via certain updates, sometimes making the game unplayable. This mod also comes with Advanced Duplicator, a tool that allows people to save creations without having to save the game itself. This also allows people to upload their creations onto multiplayer servers.

• SpaceBuild 3 - A mod that adds things such as spacecraft and weapons. This also works with wiremod, life support 3, gas systems, and resource distribution. An effect of this is added generators such as gas reactors and solar panels, along with a limited air supply when underwater.

Machinima making

Many users on Garry's forums, Facepunch Studios, have used Garry's Mod to create movies. Some examples are:

• War of the Servers a War of the Worlds parody. It is also one of the longest machinimas ever published, being approximately 100 minutes long.
• Dr. Strangeman Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Plant The Bomb, a 39-minute two-part parody/remake of the movie Dr. Strangelove.
• The Idiots of Garry's Mod 12, a well-known collection of parodies and random silliness.
• The Gman Squad, a comedy/improv machinima series made using both Half-Life: Source and Garry's Mod, it has gained some popularity in the Gmod community. It is also by the makers of Dr. Strangeman.
• Gmod Idiot Box, created by DasBoSchitt, probably one of the most well known and famous machinimas is another comedy series that revolves around City 17, #1, Dr. Hax, Chuckles the Cheat, UberKleiner and Gravity Cat.
• Half-Life: Full Life Consequences is a 5-part series based on A fanfiction of the same name by squirrelking. It stars John Freeman in his quest to defeat the Combine.
• Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware is an improv comedy/roleplay series by WayneRadioTV. The series’ premise is that some of the NPCs of an experimental copy of Half-Life: Source are modified to have an artificial conscience.
• Z Rzyci Wzięte (loosely translated to "Dumbass Tales"). A polish machinima series about a group of electrical engineering school students from Silesia. The series is renowned in Poland for its messed up humour, using iconic models for dumb characters (such as G-Man being a crazy cab driver) and usage of Silesian dialect (found funny by non-Silesians).

Influence on popular culture

GMod has also become a tool for users to create music videos, comics and other forms of Machinima. For example, the webcomic Concerned, which parodied Half-Life 2, was made using GMod.

Currently, it is the most popular third-party modification for Half-Life 2 with online player counts beating popular Half-Life mods such as The Specialists and Sven Co-op.

As seen above, many different "Mini Mods" or game modes have been made by users. An example is "Wooden Wars", where teams make vehicles or buildings out of wood, and then add weapons made up of anything from gas canisters with thrusters on them to shells launched from "home-made" cannons. They then destroy the other team's work. It was even featured on the G4 series X-Play during a Half-Life 2 special episode as the best mod for the game.

Community

Garry's Mod has a thriving internet community based around the game. Multiple forum websites and servers are creating smaller communities within the community at large. The official GMod related community is FacePunch Studios, the website run by GMod creator Garry Newman. It was also used for numerous YouTube videos. There are also numerous addons of the game as well some porting things from the original Half-Life while also adding fan-made creations of the Combine and others.

Awards

Garry's Mod 9 has won three Mod of the Year awards:

1. GameSpy: PC Mod of the Year 2005 (December 2005)
2. PCGamer US - Best Mod 2005 (January 2006)
3. ModDB: Mod of the Year! (January 2006)

External links

Official

Garry's Mod official site

Facepunch - The Garry's Mod official forum

Garry's Mod Official Wiki

Garry's Personal Blog

Garry's Mod Files - The official website for Garry's Mod addons and extras.

Garry's Mod on the Steam Store

Garry's Mod on Mod DB

Community

Garry's Mod - German forums, IRC Chat, Wiki and database

GangWars - A Garry's Mod community with one of the leading Roleplay game modes named GangwarsRP, as of the 31st of May, 2011, they also have a Minecraft server.

NoxiousNet.com A Garry's Mod community with custom game modes such Capture The Flag and Zombie Survival.

Black Brains Role-playing - An open-minded Garry's Mod community aimed towards fun and role-playing

FaceWAN Gaming Community - A Garry's Mod and Counter-Strike community

LemonPunch - A Half-Life 2 roleplaying community made by Gurrazor. Running both City and Outland servers.

Half-Life 2 Land - A Half-Life 2 game community made by Personal Jihad. Famous for its Role Playing servers.

Wiremod Forums - A forum dedicated to the Wiremod addon for Gmod.

BB Servers - A Garry's Mod community with custom game modes such as Roleplay, Sandbox, Stranded, Deathrun, and Melon Racer.