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Garry's Mod

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Garry's Mod
Developer(s)Team Garry
Publisher(s)Valve Corporation
Designer(s)Garry Newman
EngineSource engine
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows PC
ReleaseNovember 29 2006
Genre(s)Physics sandbox
Mode(s)Singleplayer, multiplayer

Garry's Mod (GMod for short), is a "sandbox" mod for the first-person shooter computer game Half-Life 2. It allows the player to manipulate objects and experiment with the physics, often with interesting results thanks to Source's physics engine. The construction of complex machines within the game could be said to be a contemporary spin on the Rube Goldberg machine principle.

The current (and final) version of Garry's Mod is version 10, which still receives regular updates via Steam. An older version, 9.0.4, is available as a free download at download.com among other places. However, it also requires Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Deathmatch and Counter-Strike: Source to run properly. Version 10 (now known simply as Garry's Mod) has been available for purchase on Steam since November 29, 2006 for $9.95 (excluding tax); it requires at least one Source Engine game in the user's account to play, and therefore is offered in a reduced-price bundle with Counter-Strike: Source for those who do not meet that criteria.

There is a discussion forum at the Facepunch Studios forums.

Overview

File:Gmodcomic.png
It is possible to create a wide variety of scenes in Garry's Mod.

Garry's Mod is a game modification, created by Garry Newman, and a successor to JBMod the original sandbox Half-Life 2 modification[1]. While GMod does not possess any actual gameplay value in a traditional sense, it enables the player to freely manipulate most of the objects and features of the Source engine. This has allowed an extensive community to build up and create 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[2]. Garry's Mod (previously known as GMod 10), the first commercial iteration of the mod, has been released through Valve Software's game management platform Steam, at a cost of $10 USD.[3] It was released on 29th November 2006.[4]

GMod 9

Several basic 'gamemodes' are included with the mod, with fairly self-explanatory names like "Build to the Top" and "Melon-racing". Lua Scripting has been implemented into the mod, which allows players to create their own gamemodes and weapons (SWEPs - Scripted WEaPons) by the Garry's Mod community.

Stock tools

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 script in Half-Life 2's code.

Tool Gun

A new gun introduced in Garry's Mod that replaced the crossbow 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.

Face Poser
Gives the player the ability to adjust the faces of ragdolls, and was first seen in Version 6a.
Paint Gun
A tool-gun which 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 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
Hides the weapon and HUD, and takes a screenshot when the player clicks the mouse, making screenshots easier to take.
Post-processing effects
There are a number of post-processing effects that can be utilised 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 which causes light to spread; or 'bloom' if you will, this effect is an important component of HDR rendering. Not all graphics cards support these features.
Rope Tool
Allows the player to make a rope between two physics such as; Walls, Ragdolls, NPC's and Props. The player can set how wide the rope should be.
Weld Tool
Allows the player to weld two objects together or to weld an object to a wall or so. Also it is called the weld tool, all it does is attach one object to another so they move with each other.
Pulley tool
The pulley tools takes 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.
Axis tool
The axis tool creates a point on which an object will rotate.
Ball socket tool
The Ball Socket tool lives up to its name: It creates ball-socket joins 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 colour 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 will be used instead of re-textured and recoloured watermelons.
Thruster Tool
Attaches thrusters 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 with wheels.
Wheel Gun
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.
Colour Gun
Allows players to change the colors of objects using RGB sliders.
Material Gun
Changes the textures of objects. Can be used in conjunction with the Colour Gun.
Magnet 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. Note that the magnet does not attract objects.
Dynamite Tool
Creates infinitely reusable remote explosives that can be set off with a button on the keyboard. These have many uses including cannons and traps.
File:Source melon drag.jpg
In this multiplayer session of Garry's Mod (8.4, the current v9), several players have been turned into physically simulated watermelons and are roped to a scanner NPC (also physically simulated). By rolling themselves around, the players are, with a coordinated effort, able to drag the NPC around the area.

Gmod 9 Mods

There are countless Lua scripted modifications for Garry's mod. These can be ranging from simple mods with increased life or speed, to incredibly complex gamemodes.

There are basic categories

Roleplay (RP)

You have money, and have tools which enable you to sell items on the map, or to interact with other players.

Newer RP gamemodes have inventories and highly advanced capabilities including Item Combining and Stock Markets.

Action Mods

Action mods include some of the mods already distributed with Gmod9. These include the 'Freeze' mod, where when you are killed you are frozen, and have to be 'thawed' by one of your team-mates standing near you for 5 seconds.

Racing Mods

Racing Mods either give the players a car, or turn the players into physically simulated objects with which they must manoeuvre around in a course, racing against each other.

The only official Racing Mod is "Melonracer" by Garry, which can be played either in a map designed for the purpose, or in a modified version of Overwatch, a popular map from Half-Life 2: Deathmatch.

Building Mods

Building mods include Lua scripts that ease the process of creating contraptions/buildings/vehicles. These may include scripts to prevent other people from removing or tampering with your creations.

Silly Mods

These mods are commonly made by new, unskilled Lua scripters. They are mods which, for example, simply increase values such as player health, speed, ammo, or other easy-to-change variables to arbitrarily large values.

SWEP Weapons

SWEP is an abbreviation for 'Scripted Weapon'. They are programmed in Lua, and are very versatile; as they can be suited to function as extra toolmodes to simple guns.

These weapons are included in gamemodes. One notable example is the gun from the Laserdance gamemode. It appears as a FAMAS; the primary fire propels you backward at a high speed. The secondary fire fires a green laser that heals your team-mates.

Garry's Mod

The newest version of Garry's Mod was released on Steam, Valve's content delivery system on November 29, 2006. Most players familiar with Garry's Mod previous to its commercial release refer to it as Garry's Mod 10. If the game is purchased on a Steam account which already has a supported Source based game, it costs $9.95 (excluding tax.) If the account does not own a supported Source Engine game, Garry's Mod is available as a bundle with Counter-Strike: Source for $19.95 USD. Essentially, almost all functionality within GMod (tools, constraints, shaders, menus, etc.) is now completely powered by Lua and therefore can be customized or created by the player.

New features and changes 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 colour-gun toolmodes.
  • The Physics Gun is able to 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 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.

According to The Steam Review, Valve has given Garry Newman, in exchange for 50% of the profits from Garry's Mod, the full Source Engine source code to overcome the limitations of the free Source SDK.[3]

A scene from Concerned, a popular webcomic made using Garry's Mod.

GMod has become instrumental on many websites for the creation and propagation of memes. They range from the mundane to the grotesque, but are often humorous. GMod has also become a tool for users to create music videos, comics and other forms of Machinima. For example the web-comic Concerned, which parodied Half-Life 2, was made using GMod, as was the web-comic Misplaced, which is also based in the Counter Strike: Source/Half-Life 2 world. Also, one of the running jokes at the website YTMND use GMod and normally revolve around the use of a ragdoll version of the Gman[5].

It is currently 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. [6] Many different "Mini Mods" have been made by users including for example, "Wooden Wars", where teams make a vehicles or buildings out of wood, and then add weapons made up of anything from gas canisters with thrusters on, to shells launched from "home made" cannons. They then destroy the other team's work [7].

Viruses and Lua scripting

It has been reported that because of Lua scripting, there are security vulnerabilities with GMod. Gmodsecurity.com lists 43 (and counting) known viruses and worms of varying severity[8]. However, in the GMod 10 FAQ, it has been officially said that viruses and worms will not be a problem. As of the 11th of October 2006, Valve has updated the Source Engine to disable downloading of all .lua files by clients[9], meaning that users are "mostly protected"[10] from potential threats. However, clients may still download .lua scripts from web-based servers such as FacePunch Studios for things such as game modes and SWEPs. So, unless an established GMod Lua scripter decides to lose their reputation (since usually, .lua scripts are highly criticised by the harsh video game community until they make good stuff that everyone wants), most .lua scripts will either be at least slightly obvious to the average GModder that they have viruses in them, or they will be 100% clean, and at most, glitchy (but only because of inexpierenced users or weird updates through Steam that conflict with code, so nothing bad or frequent...).

Awards

Garry's Mod 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)

See also

References

  1. ^ http://gmwiki.garry.tv/index.php/JBMod
  2. ^ http://gmod.garry.tv/changelog.php
  3. ^ a b "Garry's Mod to be sold on Steam". The Steam Review. April 13 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=4000&/
  5. ^ http://www.ytmnd.com/list/?search=gman
  6. ^ http://www.steamgames.com/v/index.php?area=stats (click on "View detailed statistics by game")
  7. ^ http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3143251
  8. ^ http://gmodsecurity.com/?mod=known
  9. ^ http://steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=news&id=778&
  10. ^ http://www.gmodsecurity.com
Official
Garry's Mod official site
Garry's Mod 9 archived site
Garry's Mod official forum
Garry's Mod Official Wiki
Garry's Personal Blog
Garry's Mod Community - Includes a database of custom content for Garry's Mod
Community
GModCentral - Forums, Servers, IRC Chat
Garry's mod database - News, comics, awards and forums
MelonBrew.com Roleplaying
Sigma Seven Roleplaying - A growing Garry's Mod roleplaying community
GModSecurity - "a portal for all information about exploits, viruses and vulnerabilities in Garry's Mod 9"
GMod 9 Database - Database of Garry's Mod 9 Files (Beta)
Press
Garry's Mod Releasing on Steam announcement
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