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'Garry's Mod', or 'GMod' for short, is a 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 the Source engine. The construction of complex machines within the game can also be a contemporary spin on the Rube Goldberg machine principle.
The current (and ultimate) version of ''Garry's Mod'' is version 10, which still receives regular updates via Steam. An older, unsupported version, 9.0.4, is available as a free download. Version 10, now known simply as ''Garry's Mod'', has been available for purchase on Steam since November 29, 2006 for $9.95 (excl. 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 criterion.

Contents

Overview

Garry's Mod 10

WireMod

GMod 9

Gmod 9 Mods

Influence on popular culture

Community

Awards

See also

References

External links

Overview

'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 all of the objects and features of the Source engine except for the background features. 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 $9.95 USD.^[3] It was released on 29th November 2006.^[4]

Garry's Mod 10

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The ultimate 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''. The game costs $9.95 (excl. tax,) however it requires a Source engine game to run. ''Garry's Mod'' is available as a bundle with ''Counter-Strike: Source'' for $24.95 USD. Essentially, almost all functionality within ''Garry's Mod'' (tools, constraints, shaders, menus, etc.) is 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.

★ Inflator tool-gun: allows different parts of ragdolls to be inflated or deflated.

★ A finger posing tool.

★ A "Trails" tool. If attached to any physical object, creates a trail of user-defined particles when in movement.

★ A lightbulbs tool.

★ A Morphing 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.
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

WireMod

An addon is available for Garry's Mod called WireMod. This addon allows players to build complex circuits into their creations. For example, a player could link wire buttons to wire thrusters on a car they have made, and input the thruster force via a value chip. This would allow the thrusters speed to be changed via buttons (not on the keyboard), without the need to update the thruster entity.
The mod includes objects such as screens, gps, buttons, switches, several different chips (that can perform complex calculations), wired thrusters, wired hoverballs, wireless senders/receivers and much much more. All of these can be linked together using a wire tool to create functioning circuits. As well as complex circuits, you are able to do things such as making automatic turrets and alarms for your base realistic engines for vehicles.

GMod 9

Gmod 9.0.4 is an older version of the mod, which has been superseded by the commercial Garry's Mod, and is still freely available although now it is unsupported. 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 - 'S'cripted 'We'a'p'ons) by the Garry's Mod community.

Gmod 9 Mods

There are a very large number of Lua scripted 3rd party modifications for Garry's mod. These range from simple mods with increased life or speed, to incredibly complex gamemodes. For example, in a server running the Roleplay modification, you have money and 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.

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 web-comic Concerned, which parodied Half-Life 2, was made using GMod.
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''. ^[5]
Many different "Mini Mods" have been made by users. An example is "Wood Wars", where teams make 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 ^[6].

Community

Garry's Mods has a thriving internet community based around the game. This mainly consists of programmers who code new weapons, levels, tools for the game and other such items. Many GMod related sites (such as Garry's Facepunch Studios forums) have a large area where map programmers can discuss their plans for levels. Other sites such as Garrysmod.org serve as a download portal for custom content for the game.

Awards

Garry's Mod 9 has won three 'Mod of the Year' awards:
# GameSpy: PC Mod of the Year 2005 (December 2005)
# PCGamer US - Best Mod 2005 (January 2006)
# ModDB: Mod of the Year! (January 2006)

See also

★ Half-Life 2

★ Source engine

★ Rube Goldberg machine

References

1. http://gmwiki.Garry.tv/index.php/JBMod
2. http://gmod.Garry.tv/changelog.php
3. Garry's Mod to be sold on Steam
4. http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=4000&/
5. http://www.steamgames.com/v/index.php?area=stats (click on "View detailed statistics by game")
6. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3143251

External links

;Official
:''Garry's Mod'' official site
:''Garry's Mod'' official forum
:''Garry's Mod'' Tutorials''
:Garry's Personal Blog
:''Garry's Mod'' Files - Includes a database of custom content for ''Garry's Mod''
;Community
:MelonBrew.com Roleplaying - One of the largest (After Facepunch Studios) and oldest Garry's Mod communities, dedicated to using Garry's Mod as a platform for roleplaying.
:PHW - Community dedicated to putting out quality Garry's Mod comics and movies.
;Press
:''Garry's Mod Releasing on Steam'' announcement