could somebody walk me through the 3d model > prop process

[muted kernel]

what's mostly confusing to me is just the entire file setup and structure that i need to have and how it should all work.
most tutorials seem to kind of just slither around different sections of the game files and modify the game directly, which seems like it wouldn't really facilitate workshop export
welcome to source engine

trust me it's a lot easier than most modern engines I've tried

might be a workflow preference

which i'd assume should just work through a single folder(?)
/garrysmod/garrysmod/addons

make a new folder there

then you can stuff your materials/models/etc in that new folder.

in order for HLMV to see your addon folder, you'll need to add the folderpath to /garrysmod/garrysmod/cfg/mount.cfg

don't ask why this is needed, it just needs to be done that way

otherwise, everything else can be done through crowbar

most addons have a structure like:
/addons/MyAddon

• /materials/models/Me/MyModel/that.vtf
• /materials/models/Me/MyModel/this.vmt
  • points to "$basetexture" "models/Me/MyModel/that"
• /models/Me/MyModel/thing.mdl etc
• /lua/something (this gets complicated)
  essentially, the game "mounts" MyAddon to the root folder /garrysmod/garrysmod.

crowbar (the studiomdl wrapper) doesn't really care about paths. Only thing that matters is that your SMD paths are relative to the .qc compile script by default. though they can be absolute paths if you want.

everything else in the .QC is relative to the game(addon) folder.
also note: there is absolutely no info is stored in a model except for skeletal mesh animation & filepaths.

likewise, blender source tools only exports skeletal mesh animation. it does not save textures or materials, just the names of the materials only.

that is why you $cdmaterials in your .qc. it tells the game what folder to look for the .vmt.

[rich fable]

trying to stay as open minded as possible but due to my complete lack of competence in this engine i'm not really entirely sure what that all means 😭

[rich fable]

how do i add folderpath

[muted kernel]

there are examples in the cfg file.

[rich fable]

finally managed to get the model into the game but it's insanely heavy for no reason (i used automass in the qc before compile), is there any way to change the weight without having to modify qc and go through the compile process again

ground literally shakes when it falls

changed the mass values in the .phy to no avail so i'm worried what needs to be changed is locked behind all the gobbledygook

nevermind i got it

changed mass values again and it worked apparently gmod is just trying its hardest to sabotage me

now just need to prevent the model from flying out of water

[small delta]

wouldnt that bloat the mount.cfg file? i feel like its easier to just have your models and materials stuffed in the regular garrysmod/models and materials folder

[muted kernel]

you can comment out the lines you don’t want mounted

(Besides that, mounting file systems isn’t that big of a performance hit..)

[muted kernel]

but anyways, I use addon folders for organisation sake.
You have enough development projects done you don’t want the additional clutter of old files lying around in the same folder.
Safer/Works better for workshop publishing that way, as well.