Questions re: Garry's Mod...

[laserhawk64]

H'okay. Got me some questions for ya'll gamer types... but first I want to explain a little bit on my own side.

I'm a total n00b when it comes to FPS games. I once played Unreal Tournament (I think it was the '03 edition, I really don't know for sure) for an hour and a half, and my score at the end was a whopping -8. In other words, my aim is so bad that I couldn't hit a beach ball with a tennis racket if I tried. Besides, blood-and-guts-go-all-explodey-like kinda just grosses me out. So I tend to avoid that sort of game, preferring instead more simple (to me) sorts of games... like the Myst series of quiet, peaceful puzzle-adventures.

So, naturally, I don't know anywhere near as much about gaming as ya'll folks. I know enough to get some of the vocabulary (FPS = first person shooter, fragging = go all explodey like, etc.) and I know that for PC games, asking what's best is sort of like going into an NRA convention and yelling, "HEY, YA'LL WHAT'S YER FAVORITE GUN?!" (I do believe that game consoles are just as controversial, but that's a topic for another place.)

So, here's what I want to know. I've seen a lot of jerky but entertaining videos of odd folks and the occasional cartoon character doing interesting things in 3D. All of these videos seem to mention a program or part thereof named "Garry's Mod" or "GMod" (I *think* they're the same thing, but I'm not entirely sure). I went to the Garry's Mod website, courtesy of gooooooooogle, and learned diddley squat.

So, educate me. What *is* Garry's Mod? How does it work? How does one use it? How do I get it? Does it plug into something else, or is it standalone?

As they say far too often in primary school testing, "Be descriptive. Include lots of details in your answer."

Thanks, folks!

 

[dpodblood]

It's a sort of environment where you build objects, and can place characters in the environment. It's all based on the half-life 2 engine, objects, and characters.

 

[dpodblood]

This will give you a more detailed explanation:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garry%27s_Mod

 

[laserhawk64]

Interesting. Still not enough info for me, though...

- If it's standalone, why am I (for example) not allowed to purchase it by itself? i.e. I have to buy GMod + [insert game here] rather than /just/ GMod.

- Can one create player characters? (Not terribly interested here, just curious, since it's not mentioned on Wiki)

- Why are all the movements so jerky and ragdoll-like?

- If I wanted to use a model/mesh/whatever that someone else had made, how would I do that?

- How hard to learn and use is this "Lua" programming language? (Assume I've essentially no programming experience. Not true, but it might as well be, for our purposes.)

I'd also like to see what GMod looks like from the user's standpoint... interface screenshots and all that, if'n ya'll don't mind...

EDIT: The level of detail I'm looking for here is "write me a novel". Just wanted to be more clear.

 

[dpodblood]

Interesting. Still not enough info for me, though...

- If it's standalone, why am I (for example) not allowed to purchase it by itself? i.e. I have to buy GMod + [insert game here] rather than /just/ GMod.

You need another source engine powered game (half-life 2, half-life 2 deathmatch, left 4 dead, etc) to take advantage of the source engine.

- Can one create player characters? (Not terribly interested here, just curious, since it's not mentioned on Wiki)

I don't believe you can. You can only manipulate the existing characters.

- Why are all the movements so jerky and ragdoll-like?

The source engine has ragdoll physics.

- If I wanted to use a model/mesh/whatever that someone else had made, how would I do that?

Not sure.

- How hard to learn and use is this "Lua" programming language? (Assume I've essentially no programming experience. Not true, but it might as well be, for our purposes.)

You do not need to be anything near the level of a programmer. You play the "game" from a first person perspective using tools. The basics are easy to get into, and you will learn more advanced stuff as you go along.

I'd also like to see what GMod looks like from the user's standpoint... interface screenshots and all that, if'n ya'll don't mind...

I will upload some screen caps for you when I get a chance.

EDIT: The level of detail I'm looking for here is "write me a novel". Just wanted to be more clear.

See bolded above.

 

[laserhawk64]

Thanks! That gets me closer to understanding...

I wonder why GMod doesn't just come with the source engine, if that's what it uses?

 

[dpodblood]

Thanks! That gets me closer to understanding...

I wonder why GMod doesn't just come with the source engine, if that's what it uses?

I'm not sure, but it would be pretty damn rare for someone to be interested in gmod, and have never played a half-life based game. You are by far the exception.

 

[dpodblood]

For your entertainment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY2rD322UR4

 

[dpodblood]

Oh; I should also mention this can be played in multiplayer, so you and your friends can work on projects together. I will post pics of stuff we have come up with later on tonight.

 

[laserhawk64]

Great!

That video was pure distilled hilarity! I just about fell off my chair from laughing.

 

[dpodblood]

A few pics as promised. More to come.

 

[laserhawk64]

That's the programming environment...? WISIWYG? That's interesting... I'm used to programming environments that look like a bunch of words on a screen

TBH, I do know a little programming... I learned to work with QBASIC a little. I made a game with it (the game is little and it basically sucks) but I'm not that great.

QBASIC looks like DOS or a BIOS screen -- blue background w/ white text So that's what I imagine when I hear the term "programming".

 

[dpodblood]

 

[dpodblood]

That's the programming environment...? WISIWYG? That's interesting... I'm used to programming environments that look like a bunch of words on a screen

TBH, I do know a little programming... I learned to work with QBASIC a little. I made a game with it (the game is little and it basically sucks) but I'm not that great.

QBASIC looks like DOS or a BIOS screen -- blue background w/ white text So that's what I imagine when I hear the term "programming".

Like I said there is no "programming" involved. You use all the tools from a first person perspective. You just spawn objects into the world, and then manipulate them as you see fit.

 

[laserhawk64]

D*mn That's impressive. So how do you record your creations to post it on YouTube? Hot key or some such? Is there an undo button if you screw up? Different camera angles are obviously possible... more hot keys?

You can tell I'm intrigued by this... this sounds really, really cool...

EDIT: thought of another question approximately 3-1/2 seconds after hitting the submit post button. Aaargh.

Is there any way to change the "ragdoll" aspect, or is that hard-coded in? It's more cabbage patch than real life by far...

 

[dpodblood]

I don't think there's any way to change the physics. To make those videos you would need more than one person. One to manipulate the characters and another to record from a their perspective. I don't believe there is any way to record things in game. You can use an external video capture program for that. I should mention; I'm no expert. Just getting started in it myself.

 

[fatpat268]

Gmod is an excellent game to "lose" a few hours in. You're not really doing any programming at all. Especially if you're just starting out with the game. As you go on, you can download and install some scripts and addons to add new stuff to the game, but you're not necessarily going to be writing these scripts on your own.

There's a lot of stuff to do. Honestly, one of the first things I do whenever I go back to the game after a long layoff is to create a rocket. Spawn a large cylinder object, weld a seat on it, attach some rocket engines, and blast off. There's a lot of cool stuff you can do, even at the beginner level.

Honestly, to get a general feel of the game look up some gmod tutorials on youtube.

Also, gmod was originally...well... a mod. It used to be free and required Half-Life 2 to play. Well it still requires HL2 (I may be mis-remembering, but I think it requires Day of Defeat Source and/or Counter Strike Source as well. I could be wrong though), but it's not free any more. At any rate, if you do buy Gmod, I urge you to give Half-Life 2 a shot as well.

 

[Maximilian]

Zombie survival is fun to play in gmod, all the other servers are roleplay lameness.

 

[laserhawk64]

I have to confess (again) I'm not really into all that guts-go-explodey-all-over-the-screen sort of stuff. (This, of course, includes zombies.)

My reasoning is that when I see copious amounts of gory glory, my stomach undergoes a content inversion followed by a directed containment failure through the upper loading hatch.

Which is to say, I would hurl my balls out (not quite literally), and thus there will be a mess IRL to clean up, not just lots of red polygons on my screen. That, and I'm quite lazy with the mop and bucket.

All of that said, I /am/ interested in this thing still... even if I have to pay for it. Someday I'll have money again! (That's a promise that I've made to myself.)

 

[blurredvision]

I'm kind of surprised nobody has just said exactly what gmod is....it's a "physics sandbox". That's pretty much it. Like said before, there is no programming knowledge needed. You do everything from the first-person perspective and dialog box where you can manipulate physics settings and the items you place into the world.

I've always played around in gmod just trying to do stupid stuff or build strange things that even have a semblance of working. There's not really any gore or shooting stuff unless you go out of your way to do it.

 

[Azeroth101]

Zombie survival is fun to play in gmod, all the other servers are roleplay lameness.

RP's can be fun if you can get into them. You clearly just don't have the attention span to play such game modes. I have lots of fun in my clans new spacebuild rp server, also its post nuke rp server. If you get a bunch of friends to play with it can be really fun.

 

[Maximilian]

RP's can be fun if you can get into them. You clearly just don't have the attention span to play such game modes.

Nah they just suck...

 

[Regs]